Constant Contact is one of the most successful email marketing platforms. Its history as a forward-thinking software company dates back to 1995 and has unquestionably played a huge role in advancing digital marketing capabilities for the last 25 years. In 2015, Endurance International acquired Constant Contact for $1.1 billion, which goes to show just how competitive it has remained all this time.
Over the past decade, however, the digital space has developed drastically. Constant Contact has definitely enjoyed continued success, especially among non-profit organizations and traditional SMEs. But, several new entrants have dominated the field with innovative features that are more relevant to today’s ecommerce landscape.
Some of the best Constant Contact alternatives have evolved from mere email marketing tools to comprehensive platforms on which you can run your entire marketing campaigns. While it doesn’t seem like Constant Contact is going anywhere anytime soon, there are several other options that are comparable in price but are superior in features.
Best for | Highlights | Channels | Start Price | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Constant Contact | Newbies, Traditional SMEs | Easy drag-and-drop, visual email editor, Basic email automation | Email, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads | From $20/month |
Omnisend | Ecommerce | Omnichannel, Powerful automation, Split automation | Email, SMS, Push Notifications, Google Ads, Facebook Ads | From $16/month |
Hubspot | Newbies/Intermediate | Native integration with HubSpot CRM | From $50/month with Marketing Hub Starter. | |
ActiveCampaign | CRM | Drag-and-drop interface, Excellent CRM sales options, Lead scoring | Email, SMS, Facebook Ads, Site Messages, Live Chat | From $9/month |
GetResponse | Webinar Marketing | Webinar-specific forms & invites, Advanced workflow builder, Basic ecommerce tools | Email, Facebook, Ads | From $15/month |
ConvertKit | Bloggers | Easily customizable templates, Easy to organize subscriber lists | From $29/month | |
Mailchimp | Newbies | Easy to use visual email, Forms builder | Email, Google and Facebook Ads, Postcards | From $9.99/month |
Sendinblue | Intermediate | Multichannel marketing automation A/B testing capabilities, Email heat maps | Email, SMS, Chat, Facebook ads | From $25/month |
Omnisend pushes the boundaries of email marketing and provides a host of features specifically designed to support your entire ecommerce operations. While everything anchors on email – which, by the way, they do incredibly well – the tool goes beyond that, allowing you to engage in marketing automation across a variety of channels.
Pricing
What we like about it
HubSpot, makers of inbound marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM software, recently launched a powerful email marketing product. Not only is it easy to use, it boasts impressive deliverability, and of course, native integration with all other HubSpot products (as well as hundreds of other popular marketing tools).
In addition, the tool gives you the ability to A/B test different content and template designs, in addition to engaging in powerful segmentation and personalization. Basic reporting comes with the free version, and paid versions have even more robust behavioral analytics.
Pricing:
HubSpot Email Marketing starts with a free tier that includes basic automation and up to 2,000 contacts, but you really get the robust personalization, behavioral targeting, A/B testing, and analytics for transactional emails on the upper pricing tiers. These tiers include several other features like landing pages, marketing automation, and live chat.
Free Plan: includes up to 2,000 contacts. 25 static list segmentations, and 5 “smart lists”
Starter Plan: starts at $40/month
Professional Plan: starts at $800/month
Enterprise Plan: starts at $3,200/month
What we like about it:
Ease of use: One of the best parts of HubSpot’s email tool is its ease of use. The tool features a handy drag and drop visual editor, well-designed templates to get you up and running immediately as well as a easy to customize features.
Free CRM Integration: The other thing we like most about this email tool is that it comes natively integrated with HubSpot’s free-forever CRM (unlimited contacts). This allows you to store all of your contacts information in one place, from email campaigns to sales outreach and customer support. A/B testing capabilities: The tool gives you the ability to A/B test different content and template designs, in addition to engaging in powerful segmentation and personalization.
ActiveCampaign is a great option for email marketers focused on CRM. It offers a variety of automation options to help you keep your sales processes running smoothly, with minimal effort. It also has advanced marketing automation features that are thoroughly customizable using a remarkably intuitive interface. Additionally, it integrates seamlessly with a variety of communication channels.
Pricing
The cost to use ActiveCampaign heavily depends on how many subscribers you have. Its minimum pricing for small businesses with up to 500 contacts are as follows:
What we like about it
GetResponse has everything you’d expect from an advanced email marketing tool. It has a host of attractive templates for emails, email capture forms, and landing pages. But, where it excels is in its scalable workflows that are fully customizable using its drag-and-drop builder. GetResponse provides webinar marketing solutions.
Pricing
GetResponse’s pricing depends heavily on the number of subscribers you have. Here are their four available plans:
What we like about it
While ConvertKit was explicitly made with the blogger and content creator in mind, it has all the basics you need to support an ecommerce operation. For email marketing, it has customizable forms and allows for unlimited email send-outs. It also has a visual builder for automations. Additionally, it supports direct integration with over 70 apps and even more through its API.
Pricing
ConvertKit’s pricing is remarkably straightforward as it offers all the same features across all its users. The price varies based on subscriber count.
The following prices are applicable when paid annually:
What we like about it
Mailchimp is generally touted as the gateway app for email marketing. It’s reasonably straightforward and easy to use. As far as features go, it has all the basics you need to launch an email campaign and create Google and social media ads. It also has basic automation options. Additionally, it has features that help you segment your audience and test a variety of messages.
Pricing
Mailchimp’s pricing is a tad bit convoluted because it has a base fee for the plan and additional fees based on the number of subscribers.
It also has a Pay-per-Use option that allows you to pre-pay at least $150 in exchange for 5,000 email credits. The more email credits you buy, the lower the price per email.
What we like about it
The best choice among all these great Constant Contact alternatives would really depend on what you’re looking for in a tool today, and what you’d likely need tomorrow. While you can always start with the basics now and drop it for a better tool as the need arises, it’s sometimes cheaper to start with the more powerful option right away. We have also deep Constant Contact vs Mailchimp comparison.
Sendinblue was earlier seen as one of the most basic email marketing options. But, it has quickly evolved into one of Constant Contact’s most worthy competitors. Not only does it now have a few more channels to work with (email, SMS, and chat), but it also has several advanced features that help you target, segment, and convert more efficiently. Additionally, it has advanced tracking and reporting features to help you continuously improve your campaign’s performance.
Pricing
Sendinblue has several pricing plans that give you access to more features and higher email limits as you pay more. Annual pricing for available packages are as follows:
What we like about it
No commitment. Choose convenient time.