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ActiveCampaign vs n8n
A detailed comparison to help you choose between ActiveCampaign and n8n.
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Paid | Open Source |
| Free Tier | No | Yes |
| Monthly Cost (Solo) | $29 | $0 |
| Target Audience | small-business | solopreneurs, startups, developers |
| Verified | No | No |
| Solo-Friendly | No | Yes |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
| Editorial Rating | 4.4/5 | 4.4/5 |
| Categories | Email Marketing, CRM, Automation | Automation, Developer Tools |
| Key Features | Email marketing and automation, Visual automation builder, CRM with deal management, Landing pages, SMS marketing | Self-hostable, Visual workflow editor, 400+ integrations, Custom code nodes (JS/Python), AI agent workflows |
| Free Tier Quality | None | excellent |
Pricing Breakdown
ActiveCampaign
Lite: $29/month (1,000 contacts). Plus: $49/month (CRM, landing pages). Professional: $149/month (predictive sending). Enterprise: $259/month.
n8n
Self-hosted: free, unlimited. Cloud Starter: $24/month (2,500 executions). Cloud Pro: $60/month (10,000 executions). Enterprise: custom.
Integration Overlap
Shared Integrations (1)
Only in ActiveCampaign (9)
Only in n8n (9)
Use Case Fit
ActiveCampaign
- * Marketing automation workflows
- * Email campaign management
- * CRM and sales pipeline
- * Lead scoring and nurturing
- * Multi-channel marketing (email + SMS)
n8n
- * Self-hosted workflow automation
- * AI agent orchestration
- * Data pipeline and ETL
- * DevOps automation
- * Custom API integrations
ActiveCampaign
Pros
- + Most powerful automation at this price point
- + Built-in CRM eliminates separate tool
- + 800+ integrations
- + Excellent deliverability rates
Cons
- - No free tier
- - Steep learning curve for automation
- - Per-contact pricing gets expensive
- - CRM is basic compared to dedicated CRMs
n8n
Pros
- + Self-host for free
- + Full data privacy
- + AI workflow capabilities
- + Active open-source community
- + No vendor lock-in
Cons
- - Requires technical setup for self-hosting
- - Smaller integration library than Zapier
- - Cloud pricing can add up
Editorial Verdict
n8n takes the lead for solo founders — it offers better value and is explicitly solo-friendly. ActiveCampaign may still be the right pick if you need deep Email Marketing features or plan to scale to a larger team.
SaaSLens Editorial Team
Editorial Team