ActiveCampaign vs Mailshake: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of ActiveCampaign and Mailshake to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
ActiveCampaign
6.5/10
Marketing automation platform with email, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns plus optional deal-pipeline CRM add-ons, aimed at small and mid-sized businesses.
Mailshake
6.5/10
Mailshake is a cold email and sales engagement platform with sequences, warmup, a unified inbox, a phone dialer and CRM sync, aimed at small outbound sales teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.5/10 | 6.5/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | $29/user/mo Starter |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | $290/mo Starter |
| Features | ||
| Contact Management | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Lead Management | ||
| Reporting & Analytics | ||
| Sales Automation | ||
| Built-in Calling | Not listed | |
| Collaboration | Not listed | |
| Marketing Automation | Not listed | |
| Mobile Access | Not listed | |
| Opportunity Management | Not listed | |
ActiveCampaign vs Mailshake cost by team size
| Team size | ActiveCampaign | Mailshake |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | Contact for pricing | $29/moStarter |
| 5 users | Contact for pricing | $145/moStarter |
| 10 users | Contact for pricing | $290/moStarter |
| 25 users | Contact for pricing | $725/moStarter |
| 50 users | Contact for pricing | $1,450/moStarter |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose ActiveCampaign
- Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Security score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for marketing teams (9/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for mid-market (7/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose Mailshake
- Higher Support score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for sales teams (8/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
ActiveCampaign
Pros
- Every plan, including Starter, has multi-step automation and AI campaign builders, so small teams can run nurture sequences cheaply.
- Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content and attribution tracking at a list price of about 79 USD a month for 1,000 contacts on annual billing.
- Enterprise covers compliance-heavy buyers with SSO, HIPAA support, custom objects and a Salesforce integration.
- Review sites rate it highly, at about 4.4 on G2 from around 14,700 reviews and 4.6 on Capterra.
- iOS and Android apps let users create and manage deals, assign tasks and log calls on the go.
Cons
- Pricing is tied to contact count and rises sharply as lists grow, and there is no permanent free plan.
- Deal pipelines and inbox sales email cost extra through CRM add-ons, which adds a lot to the total cost for sales teams.
- Starter allows only 5 actions per automation and 1 user, and it has no landing pages.
- Reviewers often mention a steep learning curve and slow support on lower tiers.
- Reporting customisation is limited, and deals cannot be exported without the API.
Mailshake
Pros
- Every plan includes unlimited email warmup, verification and contact uploads.
- One reviewer reported going from signup to a first campaign in under an hour.
- Support is rated highly: Capterra users give 4.5 for customer service, and a Prospeo summary cites a G2 average of 4.7.
- The Sales Engagement tier includes a dialer with unlimited free North American minutes.
- The integrations page lists many native CRM connections, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho, Copper and Freshsales.
Cons
- There is no free trial, and reviewers describe a strict refund policy.
- Invoices and cancellation confirmations are not emailed automatically.
- Reviewers say connected mailboxes can disconnect and stall sequences.
- LinkedIn steps are capped (Prospeo reports 10 messages per day), and Data Finder accuracy is described as weak.
- Per-user pricing becomes costly for teams larger than about five reps.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
ActiveCampaign and Mailshake both score 6.5/10 on our CRM criteria. The largest gap is in Cost: 5/10 for ActiveCampaign and 7/10 for Mailshake.
No, neither ActiveCampaign nor Mailshake lists a free plan.
ActiveCampaign is the better fit for marketing teams: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 4/10 for Mailshake.
