Marketing automation is broader than sending a newsletter: it triggers multi-step campaigns from what a contact does, scores leads on behavior and fit, and syncs the result to a CRM so sales knows who to call.
This guide ranks the platforms on how quickly one marketer can build a working journey, what the price becomes once contacts and channels grow, how much lead-scoring and workflow depth is actually included, and whether the automation can be rebuilt somewhere else if you leave.
Vendors can pay for visibility on this page. It never changes what an entry
says about a product, including the criticism, and we earn nothing when you click through to a
vendor. How that works.
In short
What marketing automation software does
Marketing automation software tracks contact and, on some platforms, product behavior, then branches that contact through multi-step journeys across email and other channels, adjusts a lead score, and hands qualified contacts to a CRM. It differs from a plain email tool in where the center of gravity sits: the logic between messages, not the messages themselves.
Five things, in this order. Feature counts are not among them: they are the least useful
comparison in software, because every vendor ticks every box.
01
Setup effort in marketing automation software
What the first ninety days of a marketing automation software rollout cost in hours, not in licence fees. A product that needs a partner engagement before it does anything is a different purchase from one a team configures in an afternoon.
02
What marketing automation software really costs
What the bill becomes once the modules a normal buyer of marketing automation software needs are added, and whether you can read that number without a sales conversation.
03
Getting your data out of marketing automation software
How your own data comes back out, in what format, and whether that export is included in the marketing automation software contract or billed as a project.
04
Independence from the vendor
Whether you can buy marketing automation software, run it and leave it on your own terms. This test decides most of the order on this page, and it is why the largest vendors in marketing automation software often sit below the smaller ones.
05
Who the product is built for
The size and shape of company each marketing automation software product was actually built for. Most regret in software comes from buying for a company you are not yet.
The fourth test decides most of the order on this page, and it is the reason the largest
marketing automation software vendors sit below the smaller ones. A product with a published price, an export
that works and no mandatory implementation partner is a product you can leave.
A platform suite that arrives with a quote, a partner and a two-year commitment may well be
the better software and is still the harder decision to reverse. We rank marketing automation software for the
buyer who has to live with that decision without a procurement department, which is a stated
bias rather than a hidden one.
We do not publish a score out of ten. A number like 8.4 is a judgement dressed as a
measurement, and nobody can check it.
What you can check is on this page: what each marketing automation tool costs, where the vendor is
established, whether the price is published, and what we think it is bad at. Our full method
is on the how we work page.
Published plans priced by contact count, with higher tiers for team features and advanced integrations
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Automation triggered by product usage and Stripe billing events
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Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
The deepest journey builder a generalist marketer can run without an ops team
Ranked #1 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
This is the most capable automation engine at mid-market pricing, with multi-branch logic, conditional content and a CRM attached. Teams that invest a week in mapping their lifecycle get something the simpler tools cannot approach.
Teams that do not end up paying for a machine they never start — and that is the common outcome. Be honest about whether anyone will own the automation before you buy on the strength of it.
What stands out
Flexible journeys
CRM-neutral
Contact-tier pricing
Where it costs you
The automation builder rewards setup time you may not have
Overkill, and overpriced, if you only send newsletters
Right for
A team that will actually build multi-step lifecycle automation
Wrong for
A company that sends one newsletter a month
United StatesPublished plans priced by contact tier, published
Workflows and reporting on the same database your sales team already uses
Ranked #2 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Marketing Hub is sold as the marketing half of a suite, and judged that way it is strong: the email tool reads from the same contact record as sales, so attribution and lifecycle reporting work without a data project.
Judged as an email tool on its own it is poor value, because you are paying for a platform. Watch the tier boundaries rather than the headline price — the features most buyers actually want sit above the first paid tier, and higher tiers carry a mandatory onboarding fee.
What stands out
CRM built in
Full marketing suite
Steep tier jump to Professional
Where it costs you
Tier jumps are steep and contact-based
Onboarding fees on higher tiers
Right for
A company already running HubSpot CRM that wants one system
Wrong for
Anyone who needs email and nothing else
United StatesFree tier; paid tiers per month with contact tiers, published; real automation starts at Professional
Send-volume pricing and a free tier instead of a per-contact bill
Ranked #3 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Charging by send volume rather than by stored contact is the whole point: a list of 50,000 people you email monthly costs a fraction of what the per-contact platforms charge.
Transactional email runs on the same account, which removes a second vendor for most small teams. Where it disappoints is reporting — the analytics answer what happened but rarely why — and shared-pool deliverability needs a proper warm-up before a first big send.
What stands out
Volume pricing
Free tier
SMS and WhatsApp
Where it costs you
Reporting is the weakest part of the product
Deliverability on the shared pool needs warming up
Right for
A large but quiet list where per-contact pricing would hurt
Wrong for
A team that needs deep segmentation and revenue reporting
FranceFree tier; paid plans by monthly send volume, published
Behavioral lead scoring and RFM segmentation as the product, not a workflow feature
Ranked #4 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
Built by the Polish company Benhauer and now also marketed as Manago AI, it puts behavioral tracking and RFM-style scoring at the center, with email, SMS, web push and conversational AI as the channels it acts through.
Pricing scales gradually per 1,000 contacts rather than jumping between bands, which also means there is no fixed price list to compare at a glance.
What stands out
Deep lead scoring
RFM segmentation
Calculator-based pricing
PolandQuoted via an interactive calculator, priced by active contacts from 3,000
Automation, landing pages, funnels and webinars in one subscription
Ranked #5 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
GetResponse bundles things most competitors sell separately — landing pages, forms, and a webinar platform that is good enough to replace a dedicated one at the small end. For a company running monthly lead-gen events that bundle is worth real money.
What you give up is polish in the automation editor and the last few percentage points of inbox placement, which matters less for a fortnightly newsletter than for an abandoned-cart flow.
What stands out
Webinars included
Landing pages
Published price
Where it costs you
Automation builder feels dated
Deliverability trails the leaders
Right for
A small business that runs webinars and needs the list in one place
Wrong for
A high-volume ecommerce sender chasing every point of deliverability
PolandFree to 500 contacts; paid per contact per month, published
Built for ecommerce, with order and browse data native to the segmentation
Ranked #6 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Klaviyo treats an email list as an extension of the store rather than a separate database, so browse history, order value and product affinity are available in segmentation without a connector.
For a store doing meaningful revenue that produces flows the general-purpose tools cannot match, and the reporting attributes revenue per message. Away from ecommerce the value collapses: you are paying a premium per contact for a data model you are not using.
What stands out
Ecommerce data model
Revenue reporting
Deep Shopify link
Where it costs you
Expensive for a list that is not attached to a store
Setup assumes ecommerce data you may not have
Right for
A Shopify or WooCommerce store that wants revenue per email
Wrong for
A B2B newsletter with no product catalogue behind it
United StatesFree tier to 250 contacts; paid per contact, published
Prebuilt ecommerce automations without the Klaviyo bill
Ranked #7 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Omnisend ships the flows a small store actually needs — abandoned cart, browse abandonment, win-back, post-purchase — already built and reasonably worded, so the first useful automation is live the same day.
Email and SMS sit in one flow builder rather than two products. Segmentation is where it trails Klaviyo: once your catalogue has real structure and you want to segment on product affinity, you will feel the difference.
What stands out
Prebuilt ecommerce flows
Email and SMS
Published pricing
Where it costs you
Segmentation is shallower once the catalogue gets complex
Only makes sense for ecommerce
Right for
A small store that wants abandoned-cart flows working today
Wrong for
A publisher or a B2B list
United KingdomFree tier; paid per contact, published
A multidimensional customer database driving journeys across email, SMS and push
Ranked #8 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
Built by the Dutch company Copernica B.V., its Marketing Suite centers on one customer database rather than a list, so segmentation, personalisation and real-time website-trigger campaigns all read from the same record across email, SMS and push.
Access requires a request rather than self-serve signup, and the integration catalogue is smaller than the larger platforms in this list.
What stands out
Customer database
Real-time triggers
Quote-based
NetherlandsMarketing Suite priced on request, from about EUR 99/month, quote-based on send volume
Marketing automation and transactional email on one API
Ranked #9 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Mailjet earns its place on the pricing model and the hosting. Paying per email rather than per contact suits a company with fifty thousand addresses that hears from it twice a year, which is the case that makes contact-priced tools expensive.
EU data residency is available and documented, which for some buyers ends the discussion. The trade is capability: the automation builder handles a welcome series comfortably and runs out of room after that.
What stands out
Transactional and marketing
EU hosting
Priced on volume
Where it costs you
Marketing automation is basic
Roadmap set by the parent company
Right for
A team that wants product email and campaigns on one bill
Wrong for
A marketer who wants sophisticated lifecycle automation
FranceFree to 6,000 emails a month; paid by send volume, published
A genuinely free plan to 5,001 contacts, with full automation unlocked on Pro
Ranked #10 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
The free plan is the most usable entry point in this list, covering 5,001 contacts and 15,000 emails a month at no cost. Full workflow automation, WhatsApp and ecommerce features only unlock on the Pro tier, so a team that wants real automation from day one needs to budget past the free plan and Base.
What stands out
Generous free tier
WhatsApp on Pro
Prepaid option
PortugalFree plan to 5,001 contacts and 15,000 emails/month; Base from EUR 8.92/month; Pro from EUR 33.79/month
Automation triggered by product usage and Stripe billing events
Ranked #11 of 11 in Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Built for a founder or first marketer at a small software company, it reacts to product events and Stripe billing events like a failed payment or a trial ending, not just email clicks.
A small vendor means a smaller integration list and no SMS or push channel, and it offers a trial rather than a permanent no-cost plan.
What stands out
SaaS focus
Stripe triggers
Small vendor
BulgariaPublished plans priced by contact count, with higher tiers for team features and advanced integrations
Marketing automation software tracks contact and, on some platforms, product behavior, then branches that contact through multi-step journeys across email and other channels, adjusts a lead score, and hands qualified contacts to a CRM. It differs from a plain email tool in where the center of gravity sits: the logic between messages, not the messages themselves. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
9 of the 11 tools here publish what they cost; the other 2 quote per organisation, which means a sales conversation before you can compare anything. If you are buying without a procurement function, start with the ones that publish: ActiveCampaign, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Brevo, GetResponse, Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailjet, e-goi, Encharge.
02
Work out what the first ninety days cost in time
Licence cost is the number in the contract; setup effort is the number that surprises people. Ask every shortlisted vendor who does the configuration, how long it took the last customer of your size, and what happens if that person leaves halfway.
03
Check the exit before the entry
Ask for an export of your own data in a format you can open, and ask whether it is included or billed as a project. A vendor that hesitates here is telling you what renewal negotiations will feel like in three years.
04
Match the tool to the size you are, not the size you plan to be
Most regret in this category comes from buying for a headcount that never arrived. The entry-level products here are not worse; they are aimed at a different company.
05
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 11 vendors are established in 7 countries across 2 regions (Europe 8, North America 3). Where a vendor is established decides which government can compel access to what it holds, which is a different question from where the servers are. For most buyers that is a factor, not a veto.
What goes wrong most often when buying marketing automation software
Shortlisting marketing automation software on a feature matrix. Every vendor in this category ticks every box, so the matrix tells you nothing and costs a week.
Testing with clean data. Import the messy export from the system you are replacing, because that is what your first week of marketing automation software will actually look like.
Letting the vendor run the demo. Ask for a marketing automation tool sandbox and do your own three most common tasks in it, timed.
Buying for the company you plan to become. The entry-level marketing automation tools here are not worse products, they are aimed at a different size of company.
07
Frequently asked questions
9 answers
What is the best marketing automation in 2026?
ActiveCampaign leads our ranking of 11. Automations branch on site visits, email behavior, deal stages and product events, with lead and deal scoring built in.
It connects evenly to Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive rather than locking you into one CRM, and the catalogue of native integrations means a real journey is usually live within days. Reporting is weaker than the automation itself, and accounts with many overlapping automations become hard to audit.
How did you rank these marketing automation tools?
On what separates products after the demo: how much setup the first ninety days take, what the price becomes once the modules a normal buyer needs are added, how your data comes back out, whether you can buy and leave it without a partner engagement, and who the product is genuinely for.
That fourth test is why the large platform suites usually sit lower here than their market share would suggest. Not on feature counts, and not on a score we invented.
Which marketing automation tools publish their pricing?
9 of the 11, with the pricing model each one publishes:
ActiveCampaign: Published plans priced by contact tier, published.
HubSpot Marketing Hub: Free tier; paid tiers per month with contact tiers, published; real automation starts at Professional.
Brevo: Free tier; paid plans by monthly send volume, published.
GetResponse: Free to 500 contacts; paid per contact per month, published.
Klaviyo: Free tier to 250 contacts; paid per contact, published.
Omnisend: Free tier; paid per contact, published.
Mailjet: Free to 6,000 emails a month; paid by send volume, published.
e-goi: Free plan to 5,001 contacts and 15,000 emails/month; Base from EUR 8.92/month; Pro from EUR 33.79/month.
Encharge: Published plans priced by contact count, with higher tiers for team features and advanced integrations.
The other 2 quote per organisation.
Is there a free marketing automation tool?
HubSpot Marketing Hub, Brevo, GetResponse, Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailjet, e-goi offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition. Read what the free tier excludes before you plan around it.
Where are these marketing automation vendors established?
In 7 countries across 2 regions: Europe 8, North America 3.
ActiveCampaign is established in the United States.
HubSpot Marketing Hub is established in the United States.
Brevo is established in France.
SALESmanago is established in Poland.
GetResponse is established in Poland.
Klaviyo is established in the United States.
Omnisend is established in the United Kingdom.
Copernica is established in the Netherlands.
Mailjet is established in France.
e-goi is established in Portugal.
Encharge is established in Bulgaria.
Establishment decides whose courts and whose disclosure laws apply, which is a separate question from where the data is hosted.
What should you use instead of ActiveCampaign?
HubSpot Marketing Hub and Brevo are the next two on this page.
HubSpot Marketing Hub is for a company already running HubSpot CRM that wants one system; Brevo is for a large but quiet list where per-contact pricing would hurt. All 11 are ranked here with what each one is bad at.
Who should not buy ActiveCampaign?
A company that sends one newsletter a month. The automation builder rewards setup time you may not have.
Do you get paid for these rankings?
Vendors can pay for visibility, which affects where and how prominently a product appears. It does not change a word of what the entry says about that product, including the criticism, and it cannot buy inclusion for something that does not belong in the category.
We take no commission when you click through to a vendor and we do not know whether you bought anything. The full arrangement is on our disclosure page.
How often is this marketing automation guide updated?
Whenever the facts move: a price change, an acquisition, a product that stops being maintained. The published and updated dates at the top of the page are real, and a review means someone went back to the vendor documentation rather than bumping a date.
These 11 products are the ones we judged worth ranking in marketing automation. If yours belongs here and is missing, tell us what it does and who it is for, and we will look at it. Inclusion is an editorial call and it is not for sale — but nobody gets considered for a list they were never put in front of.
People land on this page with a shortlist to make, not a browsing habit to feed. That is a narrower audience than a banner reaches and a far more decided one.
Written by us, about you
We describe the product in our own words, say who it suits and say who it does not. A vendor never writes the entry and never sees it before it goes up.
A correction costs nothing
If a fact about your product is wrong here, tell us and we fix it, whether or not there is any money between us. That offer is older than any commercial arrangement on this site.
Placement is separate, and disclosed
Where a product sits in the ranking can be paid for, and the notice above the list says so on every page. What the entry says about the product is not for sale at any price.
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