From paid search to SEO and social media, there are more ways than ever for your business to reach your target audience.
However, one channel that has continued to prove valuable at turning your prospective customers into loyal clients is also one that’s been around longer than any other:
Email.
Eighty-one percent of small businesses rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel, and for a good reason. Email generates $42 for every $1 spent.
Email marketing offers an effective way for businesses to build long-term relationships with their prospects and send relevant offers based on their interests. But you’ll need software to streamline your efforts and measure your results.
You may have heard of Constant Contact — a leading marketing automation and email marketing platform that helps businesses reach and convert prospects across multiple channels.
But is this marketing automation software the best option for your business?
Are there other alternatives to Constant Contact?
The answer is yes.
To help you find the right marketing automation solution for your business, we’ve put together an in-depth guide that compares the leading Constant Contact alternatives on the market.
Constant Contact Alternatives:
Introduction to Constant Contact
What the Vendor Says: “Powerful email marketing made easy.”
About Constant Contact
Constant Contact is a marketing automation and email marketing solution that helps organizations acquire more leads and engage with their audience from every device.
What’s Offered by Constant Contact?
Constant Contact offers a plethora of customizable and mobile-optimized email templates for use across different industries. The intuitive drag-and-drop editor allows organizations to design professional-looking emails without any coding experience.
Businesses can easily upload contacts from sources like Excel, Outlook and Salesforce. Other features include marketing automation tools that can trigger emails based on specific actions and resend emails to non-openers. Companies can track their results in real-time and view critical metrics about their email marketing campaigns like open rates and click-through-rates.
Additional key features include:
- Marketing automation
- Contact management
- Statistical reporting
- Real-time tracking for emails
- E-commerce integrations
- 24/7 customer support
Dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Constant Contact Cost?
Constant Contact has three monthly pricing plans. The Lite plan includes basic features and starts at $12 per month for up to 500 contacts.
The Standard plan adds on A/B testing, email resends to non-opens, prebuilt automation template, contact segmentation and social media ads integration. It starts at $35 per month for up to 500 contacts.
The Premium plan adds advanced email marketing features, custom automation, search engine optimization (SEO) and advanced ads. It starts at $80 per month for up to 500 contacts.
Constant Contact offers a Marketing Automation+ platform for organizations that need robust functionality. It starts at $449 per month and includes features like sales automation, lead scoring, advanced workflows, tracking and analytics and a dedicated onboarding expert.
There is a free 60-day trial available, double the length of what most of its competitors offer.
Pros and Cons of Constant Contact
Pros: Intuitive drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to customize email templates and build marketing campaigns. Multiple uploading options. Ample learning resources available.
Cons: Lack of granular control over user permissions. Additional steps required to save individual text or image blocks.
Check out our in-depth Constant Contact review for more information.
Constant Contact Alternative #1: Mailchimp
What the Vendor Says: “Start with Mailchimp. Our all‑in‑one Marketing Platform has the tools you need to grow — no coding or design skills required.”
Introduction to Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a robust all-in-one marketing software that brings email marketing and powerful automation tools together in a single platform.
What’s Offered by Mailchimp?
Mailchimp offers user-friendly tools, including a drag-and-drop editor. Users can create engaging emails and landing pages without any coding experience or choose a template that works across all devices.
Mailchimp also offers powerful behavioral targeting features that enable marketing teams to create more personalized campaigns. These include advanced list segmentation and purchase-based automation that can send product recommendations or welcome new buyers. Marketing teams can keep tabs on their campaigns with built-in reporting features and view key metrics like open rates and conversions.
Additional key features include:
- Marketing automation
- Custom templates
- Campaign personalization
- Advanced segmentation
- Performance tracking
- A/B testing
- Multi-user accounts
- Third-party integrations
Dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Mailchimp Cost?
Mailchimp provides four pricing plans.
The Free plan includes one audience, 500 contacts, 2,500 monthly emails, seven marketing channels, basic templates and email support for the first 30 days.
The Essentials plan offers three audiences, 5,000 monthly emails, email templates, A/B testing, custom branding and 24/7 support. Prices start at $13 per month (500 contacts).
The Standard plan provides five audiences, 6,000 monthly emails, advanced customer journeys, predictive segmentation, send time optimization, custom-coded templates and dynamic content. Prices start at $20 per month (500 contacts).
The Premium plan includes unlimited audiences, 150,000 monthly emails, advanced segmentation, multivariate testing and phone support. The price starts at $350 per month (500 contacts).
Pros and Cons of Mailchimp
Pros: Robust email marketing tool with a built-in drag-and-drop editor. Over 300 integrations with popular applications. Free plan available for new businesses.
Cons: Plans can be pricey for businesses with a large number of subscribers. Some users note limitations with the reporting features.
To learn more, check out our comprehensive Mailchimp review.
Constant Contact Alternative #2: SharpSpring
What the Vendor Says: “A complete sales & marketing platform.”
Introduction to SharpSpring
SharpSpring is a cloud-based sales and marketing platform with a robust set of features that are primarily targeted at small to mid-sized companies.
What’s Offered by SharpSpring?
SharpSpring offers powerful email and marketing automation tools that turn more visitors into qualified leads. With a drag-and-drop editor, marketing teams can create appealing emails or choose from a library of pre-built layouts.
SharpSpring also offers a click-and-drag interface for building automation marketing campaigns. Companies can easily set up nurturing campaigns when prospects fill out a form and assign scores to new leads. The platform automatically sends notifications when prospects are ready to buy.
VisitorID uses reverse IP lookup to identify the companies of site visitors. Sales teams can use this feature to identify high-value leads and set up automated workflows based on the pages they visit. SharpSpring also includes built-in reporting features, so companies can measure their campaigns and make better decisions.
Additional key features include:
- Behavioral-based email automation
- Custom landing pages
- Campaign tracking
- Dynamic forms
- Landing pages
- Customer relationship management (CRM) integrations
- Analytics and reporting
Dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does SharpSpring Cost?
SharpSpring offers several pricing plans with full features, unlimited users and free support. For example, companies pay $449 per month for 1,000 contacts, $999 per month for 10,000 contacts or $1,449 per month for 20,000 contacts. There’s also an onboarding fee for $1,999.
There’s also a plan designed for marketing agencies and an Enterprise plan for companies with millions of contacts. The vendor doesn’t publicly provide pricing for those last two plans, so contact them directly for a quote.
Pros and Cons of SharpSpring
Pros: Robust all-in-one marketing tool with CRM and sales automation. Ability to track the life of a lead via the VisitorID feature. Open API available for integrations.
Cons: Steep learning curve for non-technical users. Features like the landing page builder and integrations require advanced knowledge. Limited functionality with the reporting features.
Check out our SharpSpring review for more information.
Constant Contact Alternative #3: ActiveCampaign
What the Vendor Says: “ActiveCampaign gives you the email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM tools you need to create great customer experiences.”
Introduction to ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a powerful all-in-one solution that combines email marketing, automation marketing, sales and CRM and messaging into one platform.
What’s Offered by ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign offers a robust marketing automation solution designed to help small to mid-sized companies turn more leads into customers. Businesses can utilize the built-in tools to build email campaigns, segment their lists, track new leads and even send personalized messages across different channels.
Users can use the drag-and-drop marketing automation tools to set up automated workflows with just a few clicks. ActiveCampaign also provides a way for businesses to score and rank their leads, so sales teams know which leads are the highest priority. The platform integrates with popular applications, such as Shopify, WordPress, Zapier and more.
Additional key features include:
- Built-in email templates
- Marketing automation
- Lead and contact scoring
- Event tracking
- Automation builder
- A/B testing
- Autoresponders
Dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does ActiveCampaign Cost?
ActiveCampaign offers four plans: Lite, Plus, Professional and Enterprise.
The Lite plan is $29 per month for up to 500 contacts, a single user, unlimited sending, email marketing, newsletters, marketing automation, and chat and email support.
The Plus plan costs $49 per month and offers up to 1,000 contacts, up to three users, CRM integration, contact and lead scoring, custom domain and branding, SMS marketing and one-on-one training.
The Professional plan is $149 per month for up to 2,500 contacts, up to five users, site messaging, attribution, predictive sending and win probability features.
The Enterprise plan includes up to 10 users, custom reporting, a custom mailserver domain, free design services, free social data, uptime Service Level Agreement (SLA) and a data migration service. Pricing is no longer available, so please contact the vendor for a quote.
Pros and Cons of ActiveCampaign
Pros: Robust marketing automation platform with an intuitive dashboard and sales automation features. Ample learning resources for new users.
Cons: Lack of a landing page builder and limited reporting capabilities. Some users note that sending large campaigns can take a long time.
Be sure to check out our ActiveCampaign review to learn more about this vendor.
Constant Contact Alternative #4: Marketo
What the Vendor Says: “Solutions for every digital marketing need.”
Introduction to Marketo
Marketo is a leading marketing automation platform built with advanced capabilities that small to mid-sized businesses and enterprises can use to boost their digital marketing efforts.
What’s Offered by Marketo?
Marketo’s robust set of features are broken into the following applications:
- Marketing automation
- Account insights
- Mobile
- Social
- Web ads
- Marketing analytics
- Content AI
Marketo is built as a comprehensive platform that companies can use to generate leads across different marketing channels and build automated marketing campaigns. With a drag-and-drop interface, companies can create professional emails and landing pages or choose from a selection of templates.
Marketo also offers native integrations with many CRM solutions, such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics. The marketing analytics application allows companies to measure their marketing ROI and gain actionable insight into their campaigns.
Dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Marketo Cost?
Marketo offers four packages that bundle different marketing applications together. Companies can choose a package based on their digital marketing needs or configure their own.
Here’s a snapshot of the bundles that Marketo offers:
Pricing depends on the number of contacts a company manages. Prospective clients can reach out to Marketo’s sales team to request a quote.
Pros and Cons of Marketo
Pros: Ability to purchase application bundles around digital marketing needs. Has the capability to automate complex workflows. Responsive customer support.
Cons: Email templates lack drag-and-drop functionality. Tedious setup process for small teams. Some users note a higher cost compared to other marketing automation solutions.
For more information, check out our Marketo review.
Constant Contact Alternative #5: Pardot
What the Vendor Says: “Pardot provides a full solution that helps marketers create meaningful connections, generate more pipeline, and empower sales to close more deals.”
Introduction to Pardot
Pardot is a B2B marketing automation platform by Salesforce that helps organizations streamline their lead management and improve their marketing workflows.
What’s Offered by Pardot?
Pardot offers a full suite of tools that enable B2B organizations to capture and nurture leads through each stage of the sales process. The platform provides solutions for email marketing, lead management, sales alignment, lead generation and ROI reporting.
Users can use the intuitive visual editor to build emails and set automation rules based on contact engagement for better targeting. Pardot also integrates with Salesforce’s CRM solution, allowing marketing and sales teams to gain actionable insights about their leads.
Additional key features include:
- Automated engagements
- Personalized messaging
- Activity tracking
- ROI reporting
- Sales alignment
- Customizable dashboards
- Social media marketing
- Landing page builder
Dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Pardot Cost?
Pardot offers three plans: Growth, Plus and Advanced.
The Growth plan is $1,250 per month and includes email marketing, 50 forms and landing pages, leading nurturing, leading scoring and more.
The Plus plan is $2,750 per month and includes advanced email analytics, engagement programs, social profiling and more.
The Advanced plan is $4,000 per month and includes custom user roles, custom object integration, a dedicated IP address and more.
Pros and Cons of Pardot
Pros: Offers a robust framework for building marketing automation workflows and deep integration with Salesforce. Strong customer support.
Cons: Primarily intended for B2B organizations. Some users note an overwhelming onboarding process.
Check out our Pardot review to learn more about this vendor.
Constant Contact Alternative #6: Ortto
What the Vendor Says: “Marketing automation software made visual.”
Introduction to Ortto
Ortto (formerly Autopilot) is the industry’s first self-service, multi-channel marketing software for visualizing and automating the customer journey.
What’s Offered by Ortto?
Ortto offers an attractive drag-and-drop interface that companies can use to design personalized customer journeys — no coding skills required. Users can segment their audience based on activity and build workflows to create more personal messages across multiple channels like email and SMS.
The platform also offers collaboration features, like the ability for users to annotate a customer journey and share their work with other team members. Autopilot integrates with Salesforce and popular applications like Slack and Zapier.
Additional key features include:
- Action-based trigger automation
- Multi-channel journey setup
- Performance tracking
- Funnel visualization
- Activity streams
- Email analytics
Dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Ortto Cost?
Ortto has three plans. The Professional plan starts at $599 per month for 10,000 contacts. It includes the data platform, the journeys feature, SMS marketing, analytics, email marketing, A/B testing, web push notifications, form and pop-up builder, AI suggestions and predictions, report and dashboard builder, lead scoring, integration with many third-party software solutions, and 24/7 email and chat support.
The Business plan costs $999 per month for 10,000 contacts. It includes all of the features of the Professional plan, plus up to mobile push marketing, transactional emails and SMS, multiple email and tracking domains, email delivery optimization tools, dedicated email IPs, cohort reports, user roles and permissions, professional onboarding and priority support.
The Enterprise plan costs $1,999 per month for 10,000 contacts. It adds on a dedicated success manager, quarterly business reviews, email deliverability consultant, custom setups for large volume sending, service level agreement (SLA), custom user roles and permissions, Microsoft Active Directory, early access to beta features, and multiple workspaces and partitions.
Pros and Cons of Ortto
Pros: Attractive visual interface for automating the entire customer journey. Offers a wide selection of marketing templates. Ample learning sources for users.
Cons: Lacks integration with some platforms like Mailchimp. Some users have noted slow performance from a web browser.
Check out the following comprehensive Ortto review for more information.
The Right Constant Contact Alternative for Your Business
Businesses today have many marketing automation solutions to choose from, which makes selecting the right one more challenging.
Here are some Constant Contact alternatives that we recommend for different types of businesses:
The Right Constant Contact Alternative for Startups
We recommend startups check out:
The Right Constant Contact Alternative for Small to Mid-Sized Companies
We recommend small to mid-sized companies check out:
The Right Constant Contact Alternative for Enterprises
We recommend enterprises check out:
Conclusion
Marketing automation software helps businesses capture more leads, build customer relationships and move prospects through the sales funnel.
Constant Contact is a popular marketing automation solution that allows businesses to create engaging email campaigns and track their results in real-time.
However, if you need extra features like CRM capabilities, other Constant Contact alternatives may be a better option for your business. Better Buys has several resources you can use as a starting point to make an informed decision.