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ActiveCampaign vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

ActiveCampaign
Ranking in CRM
30th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Essentials
Ranking in CRM
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of ActiveCampaign is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Essentials0.6%
ActiveCampaign0.6%
Other98.8%
CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Laura Oosterbroek - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Markting at Vanderkamp
Easy to use, efficient marketing automation and CRM tool
AI is upcoming, so for reporting and dashboarding, it would be nice to have some AI integrated into the system. Overall, some AI features can be added. For example, I can ask, like, we have imported conversion rates, and you can ask like, "What is the trend of the conversion of the last half year?" So, more on a reporting side you can get those kinds of AI skills. Not that you have to download an Excel and put it into another AI system to do the analysis, but that it would be possible to do it on its own.
AA
Head of Commercial Excellence at Sartorius AG
Has provided a reliable service with responsive support and offers valuable features, though pricing could be more affordable
We are a large organization with 14,000 people. As a user, Salesforce Essentials is extremely easy to use. The complete rollout from minimum viable product to final acceptable product took two years for our global deployment. The business operations for our 14,000 people are managed by approximately 10 people on the business side. These business admins are responsible for sales operations, troubleshooting, training, and driving features and requirements from the sales and marketing organizations. Additionally, we work with product owners on the IT side and a team of programmers. Daily operations require about five people for IT work, security programming, system connections, and development execution. For day-to-day user support, we need eight to ten people in the business. We operate on Microsoft Azure private cloud infrastructure. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate Salesforce Essentials a 9 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"ActiveCampaign is for medium-sized companies is the better solution because it’s way less complex than the other solutions."
"Their reporting and analytics features have a very significant impact on my company's operational efficiency."
"I can download the data to Excel, create tables, and do whatever I want. I am very comfortable with the tool's mobile application. Its main benefit is transparency because I can share it with representatives."
"The solution helps to track the performance of salespersons before closing deals."
"Their reporting and analytics features have a very significant impact on my company's operational efficiency."
"The solution is very scalable and flexible. It can be customized as per the business need."
"The product is stable."
"The CRM system has SAP Sales, SAP Service, and SAP Billing, with everything integrated into an on-premise SAP CRM system. Salesforce Essentials replaced this on-premise system, bringing all functionalities onto the cloud platform."
"Salesforce makes tracking every product and customer activity easy, enabling managers to monitor their products, such as key products and their peak performance."
 

Cons

"AI is upcoming, so for reporting and dashboarding, it would be nice to have some AI integrated into the system."
"The solution needs to be more user-friendly. It's difficult for a senior to track leads when a salesperson uploads leads. The solution should also improve its integration capabilities."
"Integrating Salesforce with SAP, considering our business relies heavily on SAP for ERP, has been quite challenging due to the intricate product configurations. Unlike standard products like computers with a few options, our products have hundreds of configurable options, making the integration complex. If such integration were possible, it would have been easier to understand the unique nature of our industry and the limited number of customers who buy steel products, unlike consumer electronics."
"Salesforce Essentials does not contain domain-specific solutions."
"Salesforce should encourage new users by offering smaller license packages, such as packages for three or two users."
"When we use mixed languages, it can be uncomfortable because there seems to be no consideration for right-to-left speakers. It feels like these tools were developed by people who only speak left-to-right languages and didn't consider other language types' needs."
"Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables. This is not very user-friendly for mobile."
"I have seen Salesforce evaluate a lot of AI and analytics into that. But as an end user, I don’t have that much input."
"The solution's UI is not user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The development costs are lower because you don’t have to have consultants changing and all that stuff."
"The pricing is on the higher side, especially with additional costs for professional services like consultants."
"The pricing is a bit on the expensive side."
"We chose quarterly payments."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"It's a perpetual license, and the subscription can be expensive."
"The tool is moderately priced."
"I rate Salesforce Essentials' pricing an eight out of ten."
"Salesforce Essentials is quite expensive, almost 10 out of 10. I don't have the exact cost, but we found it to be very expensive based on our budget constraints."
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Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ActiveCampaign?
The development costs are lower because you don’t have to have consultants changing and all that stuff. I feel that it’s a bit cheaper than the other systems.
What needs improvement with ActiveCampaign?
AI is upcoming, so for reporting and dashboarding, it would be nice to have some AI integrated into the system. Overall, some AI features can be added. For example, I can ask, like, we have importe...
What is your primary use case for ActiveCampaign?
I use it For marketing automation purposes and for share repurpose purposes.
What do you like most about Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce provides the best they have with the current version. Most of the features we need are already there, and it's very easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce Essentials is very expensive, but it delivers exceptional value. It is a good platform to have if you can afford it because it has numerous add-ons and modules. Anything that Salesforce ...
What needs improvement with Salesforce Essentials?
The mobile access can be improved in several ways. Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables. This is not v...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about ActiveCampaign vs. Salesforce Essentials and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.