Zoho CRM vs ActiveCampaign

by Gralio Feb 20, 2025

Zoho CRM and ActiveCampaign offer distinct approaches to customer relationship management. Zoho CRM provides a comprehensive suite of integrated tools, while ActiveCampaign specializes in advanced marketing automation. Choosing the right platform depends on whether your business prioritizes a unified business ecosystem with robust sales features or advanced marketing automation capabilities with personalized customer journeys.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 7443 reviews and 20 websites, saving 1 day, 17 hours, 31 minutes of reading.

About

Zoho CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management tool designed for mid-sized to large businesses. It provides a central hub to manage contacts, sales pipelines, marketing campaigns, customer support, and more. It offers workflow automation, reporting and analytics, and integrates with many other business applications. Its focus on comprehensive features and integration makes it suitable for businesses seeking to streamline operations and improve customer interactions within a single system.
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It helps you create personalized customer journeys across various channels like email, SMS, and ads. You can automate repetitive tasks, track customer behavior, and improve your marketing campaigns with its CRM and sales automation features. ActiveCampaign integrates with over 900 popular business tools and offers a wide range of pre-built templates and automation recipes to streamline your marketing efforts.

Summary

Main difference
Zoho CRM is a comprehensive, all-in-one CRM platform best suited for businesses needing robust sales automation and a wide range of integrated features within a single system. ActiveCampaign excels in marketing automation and customer journey orchestration, making it ideal for businesses prioritizing personalized marketing campaigns across multiple channels.

Relative strengths of Zoho CRM (compared to ActiveCampaign)

  • Stronger sales automation features and pipeline management.

  • Wider range of built-in features, including customer support, project management, and more.

  • Tighter integration with other Zoho products, creating a unified business ecosystem.

Relative weaknesses of Zoho CRM (compared to ActiveCampaign)

  • Less sophisticated marketing automation capabilities compared to ActiveCampaign.

  • Steeper learning curve and potentially overwhelming interface for simpler use cases.

  • More focused on sales and might be less flexible for other business functions.

Who should use Zoho CRM VS. ActiveCampaign

Zoho CRM is a cloud-based solution ideal for businesses of all sizes looking to enhance customer relationships and streamline operations. Users praise its clean interface, easy integration with other Zoho products, and customizability. However, some have noted issues with duplicate data and customer support. It's a valuable tool for businesses seeking an affordable yet comprehensive CRM.

ActiveCampaign is a powerful marketing automation platform perfect for businesses aiming to enhance customer engagement and streamline marketing efforts. Users praise its ease of use and comprehensive features, especially for creating targeted campaigns and automating workflows. However, some users have noted occasional glitches and slow loading times. ActiveCampaign offers a wide array of integrations and pre-built templates to simplify the process.

  • Ideal for small, medium, and large businesses seeking streamlined operations and improved customer interactions.

  • Suitable for various sectors, including healthcare, finance, retail, and more.

  • Best for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) seeking robust marketing automation.

  • Ideal for various sectors, including E-commerce, Healthcare, Finance, and more.

Zoho CRM and ActiveCampaign features

Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

  • Drip Campaigns
    Partially supported

    Zoho CRM supports drip campaigns, but it is more effectively managed and enhanced when integrated with Zoho Campaigns.

    Supported

    ActiveCampaign supports the automation and sending of pre-defined sequences of emails to nurture leads or onboard users with personalized content.

  • Workflow Automation
    Supported

    Zoho CRM supports workflow automation to automate sales workflows and tasks to reduce manual effort and improve efficiency.

    Supported

    ActiveCampaign supports workflow automation to automate sales workflows and tasks to reduce manual effort and improve efficiency.

Qualities

  • Value and Pricing Transparency
    -0.07
    Neutral sentiment
    -0.28
    Neutral sentiment
  • Customer Service
    -0.16
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.42
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Ease of Use
    +0.58
    Rather positive sentiment
    +0.65
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Reliability and Performance
    -0.03
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.21
    Neutral sentiment
  • Ease of Implementation
    -0.12
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.21
    Neutral sentiment
  • Scalability
    -0.5
    Rather negative sentiment
    +0.12
    Neutral sentiment

Zoho CRM and ActiveCampaign Pricing

Local taxes (VAT, GST, etc.) will be charged in addition to the prices mentioned.
Plans

User sentiment

Neutral
-0.07

See full Pricing page

ActiveCampaign offers four main pricing tiers: Starter, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise. Each tier offers a different set of features and contact limits. Add-ons are available to enhance CRM capabilities and add SMS marketing.
Plans

User sentiment

Neutral
-0.28

See full Pricing page

Zoho CRM and ActiveCampaign review insights

7376 reviews analysed from and

Users love

  • Clean and user-friendly interface.
  • Easy integration with other Zoho products.
  • Highly customizable to specific business needs.
  • Affordable pricing, especially for small to medium businesses.
  • Easy to use and has all the features I need.
  • Campaigns get tracked and I know what works and what not.
  • Automations are easy to build.
  • My business is working while I am lying on my sofa.

Users dislike

  • Duplication issues: Several users complain about duplicate data entries and leads.
  • Customer support is slow and unhelpful.
  • Steep learning curve and complex navigation.
  • Mobile app lacks functionality and feels like a stripped-down version.
  • The UI can be a bit glitchy.
  • It can be slow to load, I tend to have several browser tabs open to avoid losing time with the pages loading.
  • Prices for Brazil are expensive, there could be regional or student discounts.
  • Support in your own language would be nice.

Zoho CRM and ActiveCampaign Ratings

  • G2
    4.1/5
    (2511)
  • G2
    4.5/5
    (2486)
  • Capterra
    4.6/5
    (2388)
  • Glassdoor
    3.6/5
    (444)

Company health

Employee growth

22% increase in the last year
4% increase in the last year

Web traffic

3% decrease in the last quarter
11% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

No data
January 2021 - $360M

How do Zoho's pre-built integrations compare with ActiveCampaign's 900+ integrations?

While Zoho offers numerous pre-built integrations, ActiveCampaign's explicit mention of 900+ integrations suggests a significantly broader range of readily available connections. This implies ActiveCampaign may be better suited for businesses reliant on diverse third-party tools, reducing the need for custom integrations.

Which product better handles complex sales workflows, given ActiveCampaign's marketing focus?

Zoho CRM is better suited for handling complex sales workflows than ActiveCampaign. While ActiveCampaign offers some CRM and sales automation features, its core strength and focus remain on marketing automation. Zoho CRM, being a dedicated CRM platform, provides more comprehensive tools for managing complex sales processes, including account management, detailed sales pipelines, and advanced workflow automation. This makes Zoho CRM a more suitable choice for businesses prioritizing robust sales management capabilities.

What are the advantages of Zoho CRM?

Zoho CRM's advantages include a clean user interface, tight integration with other Zoho products, and high customizability. It's praised for affordability, making it attractive to small and medium-sized businesses. As a comprehensive CRM, it offers a central hub for managing various business functions, from sales and marketing to customer support, all within a single system.

What are the disadvantages of Zoho CRM?

Zoho CRM users report issues with data duplication and slow, unhelpful customer support. Some also find the software has a steep learning curve and complex navigation, while the mobile app lacks important features compared to the desktop version. While generally considered affordable, its pricing can be complex depending on the chosen features and user tiers.

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Page co-authored by
MK
Michal Kaczor
CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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