Constant Contact is an established email and marketing automation platform. But users keep searching for alternatives, primarily due to pricing concerns.
There are several compelling Constant Contact alternatives for small businesses and enterprises. Some even feel that other programs are better at the same job than Constant Contact.
Numerous providers have built solid value propositions with the recently evolving email and SMS marketing ecosystem. Several of Constant Contact’s competitors are worth looking into if you want more features and flexibility.
We’ve selected the nine best Constant Contact alternatives based on data we acquired from several websites. But before comparing the different providers, let’s look at what Constant Contact offers.
Constant Contact Features & Pricing
Constant Contact is an all-in-one solution primarily focusing on email marketing automation. They provide numerous other features that help automate marketing operations like social media, SMS campaigns, event marketing, etc. In short, they provide businesses with the following:
- Email marketing tools, templates, and campaign automation features;
- eCommerce promotional tools such as coupons, transactional emails, payments, etc.;
- Website builder;
- Social media ad management tools.
- Other branding tools aimed at SMBs.
Constant Contact, like many other rivals, offers a tiered payment system. Yet, unlike many others, they have divided their pricing plans into two major categories:
- Email plan — Starts at $9.99 per month, providing basic email marketing features and scales for up to 500 contacts. Tiered pricing is applicable for more contacts.
- Email Plus — Starts at $45 per month, offering all-in-one marketing automation solutions and scales based on the number of contacts.
Why Consider Constant Contact Alternatives?
Many business owners keep searching for Constant Contact competitors for several reasons. Some are unhappy with their existing pricing plans, others seek more features, while others don’t appreciate the limited automation capabilities. Here are the primary reasons why people look for alternatives:
- High Pricing: Constant Contact has a comparatively higher pricing plan compared to similar companies like Constant Contact with many non-useful features, making it not a viable option for many small business owners and early-stage startups.
- No Free Plan: The platform offers no free plan to test the features and deliverability. This makes it hard to test the platform and see if it fits the brand’s email marketing strategy and future marketing campaigns.
- Limited Automation Capabilities: Constant Contact’s email automation features aren’t very promising. The platform only provides automatic sending to non-openers and a small list of triggered events to automate marketing campaigns. Many competitors allow their users to create highly customizable automated workflows, which makes more sense in the age of personalized user experiences.
- Basic Email Editor: Constant Contact offers a basic email editor with old-school templates. Business owners look for more dynamic, powerful, and intuitive editors when comparing different platforms. So, the lack of advanced features becomes a deal breaker for many.
- Email Deliverability: While other providers can push nearly 80% of emails directly to the inbox, Constant Contact struggles to reach such a higher number. Their best performance is about 73%, which means 27% of emails didn’t even reach the subscribers, according to third-party sources.
Best Constant Contact Competitors in 2023
If you’re contemplating making a switch and need a comprehensive review of better email marketing services than Constant Contact, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll use third—party resources, Capterra ratings and reviews, and our domain expertise to compare Constant Contact competitors, like:
- Sender;
- Mailchimp;
- ConvertKit;
- AWeber;
- ActiveCampaign;
- Campaign Monitor;
- Sendinblue;
- GetResponse;
- HubSpot.
By the time you end up reading this blog, you’ll have all the details related to programs similar to Constant Contact to make an informed decision. So, let’s begin:
1. Sender – Best Constant Contact Competitor
Sender is a multi-purpose marketing automation tool with an extensive feature set that’s better than Constant Contact in every regard. The best thing — you get to use all the pro features even on a free plan, without any restrictions for up to 2500 subscribers.
- Automation workflow builder;
- Automated email and SMS campaigns;
- Signup and popup form builder;
- Smart segmentation and personalization capabilities.
Sender puts a lot of emphasis on email deliverability. With customized solutions that retain high sender reputations, your emails are delivered to inboxes instead of spam or failing to arrive. Additionally, Sender also tracks bounced emails, which allows you to clean up your campaign lists for inactive addresses quickly.
While tailored to SMBs and up-and-coming businesses, Sender works perfectly well for established brands. Extensive automation features and robust integrations make it easy for marketers to migrate faster, even with the most complex tech stacks.
Why is Sender the best Constant Contact alternative?
Sender is a powerful solution that can beat Constant Contact any day with its omnichannel capabilities, drag-and-drop workflow builder, and generous pricing plan. Here’s why you should think of using Sender over Constant Contact:
| Constant Contact | Sender | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Email & SMS automation Responsive email templates library Drag and drop automation workflow builder |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | No landing page builder (in progress) |
Best for
Ideal for eCommerce business owners and startups looking to start or scale email marketing without breaking the bank. Advanced automation workflow and SMS marketing make it easy to nurture leads.
Pricing
- Forever-free plan available with no feature restrictions for up to 2500 subscribers;
- Paid plans start at $8.33 per month for sending up to 30,000 emails monthly.
2. Mailchimp – Constant Contact Alternative with Landing Page Builder
Mailchimp is one of the most popular email automation tools. It offers an extensive feature set tailored for email marketing. Mailchimp markets itself as an all-in-one platform that turns emails into revenue.
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Email optimization capabilities;
- Basic automation features;
- Appointment scheduler.
Mailchimp is a full-service solution that provides great value, especially for beginners. It has a user-friendly interface and has categorized all features in easy-to-navigate menus for simplicity.
Most importantly, it’s cheaper than Constant Contact while providing everything Constant Contact does. Mailchimp has an appointment scheduling feature and email optimization feature as part of their feature set.
However, Mailchimp could be better at pricing and is quite predatory for a user. They add every active, inactive, or duplicate subscriber to the total count to increase your cost per email and overall email marketing costs.
Why is MailChimp a good Constant Contact alternative?
MailChimp can be a great alternative to Constant Contact if you’re bored with the limited capabilities of the platform. But don’t pin up your hopes much. First, look at the capabilities and cons of picking up MailChimp over Constant Contact:
| Constant Contact | Mailchimp | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Appointments scheduling Drag-and-drop builder Email optimization |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Adds up inactive, duplicate, and unsubscribed users to the total subscriber count Minimal features for standard plans |
Best for
Best for small businesses or email marketing enthusiasts. However, the recent price hike and quite limiting free plan increasingly make it an unviable competitor to Constant Contact.
Pricing
- Free plan available for up to 500 subscribers and 100 emails sent per month;
- Paid plans start at $9.29 per month (billed annually) for up to 500 subscribers and 500 email sends.
3. ConvertKit – Best Constant Contact Alternative for Nonprofits
ConvertKit is the “creator marketing platform”. They have positioned themselves as an all-in-one tool for artists, creators, influencers, musicians, writers, etc. Of course, this makes it ideal for nonprofits and SMBs too.
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Responsive email template library;
- Opt-in and lead magnet automation;
- Automation with standard reporting.
As an alternative, Convertkit is much better for nonprofits, small businesses, and early-stage entrepreneurs. Many features focus on offering a comprehensive solution to a problem and helping save time. In fact, their tagline — ‘Spend less time on marketing and more on creating’ is an apt embodiment of their philosophy.
One of the standout features of Convertkit is its excellent customization features. It could be considered a mini-CMS, looking at the creation features. All other standard email marketing features are similar to any other solution on the list.
On the other hand, ConvertKit has its drawbacks — primarily associated with scaling. There are limited seats available which can lead to annoying log-offs if you have a growing team. Additionally, many advanced features used by pro marketers are pretty disappointing.
Why is ConvertKit a good Constant Contact alternative?
ConvertKit is a powerful competitor to Constant Contact with its opt-in, and automation features. Check out the special features of both platforms side by side and pick one that’s more suitable for your business goals:
| Constant Contact | ConvertKit | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Landing page Creation Opt-in forms Lead magnet automation |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Basic segmentation & reporting features with the standard plan Limited user seats |
Best for
Suitable for business owners in the creative, artistic business, or coaching business. Opt-in and lead magnet automation features makes it easy for anyone to start building an email list.
Pricing
- Paid plan starts at $9 per month that supports only 300 subscribers;
- Free plan is also available with limited features and capabilities.
4. AWeber – Constant Contact Alternative for Newsletter Templates
Aweber is another email marketing service designed for small businesses. Like many other such email service providers, they also provide additional features such as popup forms, push notifications, etc.
- AMP email support;
- Sign up form builder;
- Standard automation features;
- Native integrations with all major CRM and marketing suites.
In addition to all the advanced features, Aweber has a few unique ones – AMP emails and hosted broadcast archive. Comparatively, few providers have these functionalities, and Constant Contact isn’t one of them.
While Constant Contact has no free plan, most pricing strategy matches with Aweber being slightly cheaper. Customer support functionalities are similar too. Constant Contact and Aweber offer live chat, email, or phone support.
Why is AWeber a good Constant Contact alternative?
Aweber is a decent email marketing software with advanced features that you need for optimizing your campaigns better. Here’s why Aweber is better than Constant Contact:
| Constant Contact | AWeber | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | AMP emails & hosted broadcast archive |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Outdated user interfaceLack of advanced smart automation capabilities |
Best for
AWeber is a great platform for you if you’re planning to run periodic newsletters and email promotions for your business.
Pricing
- Starts at $12.50 per month for up to 500 subscribers and one email list;
- A free plan is also available for up to 500 subscribers and 3000 emails sent per month.
5. ActiveCampaign – Similar to Constant Contact in Deliverability
ActiveCampaign is a powerful platform that offers email marketing and CRM tools as part of its package. ActiveCampaign focuses on conversions and optimizes the sales part of e-commerce marketing primarily.
Sales automation is one of their standout features. They allow users to aggregate data from numerous sources to improve the probability of a conversion. Important sales features, such as lead and contact scoring and deal win probability, are available as part of the package.
- Campaign automation and personalization capabilities;
- Drip campaign automation and sequences;
- Omnichannel campaign creation;
- Lead and contact scoring for sales funnel automation.
ActiveCampaign is a highly modular platform, and there’s barely anything that can’t be customized. Starting from email newsletter templates to drip campaigns, you can customize anything. As a result, it makes ActiveCampaign a great alternative for those who can take advantage of the features.
Unfortunately, due to the high level of customization available, ActiveCampaign has a steep learning curve. For non-tech-savvy people, getting the hang of ActiveCampaign can take a lot of time. Email automation is a prime example. While the interface offers many powerful automation tools, the process is needlessly complex. You should set some time away just to learn the automation process on ActiveCampaign.
Why is ActiveCampaign a good Constant Contact alternative?
ActiveCampaign is much more powerful when it comes to sales automation and complex funnels. Several other capabilities make ActiveCampaign better than Constant Contact. Check them out below.
| Constant Contact | ActiveCampaign | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Sales funnel automation capabilities |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Complex email automation |
Best for
Suitable for B2B SaaS and tech-oriented businesses with large teams. As the platform requires significant learning and has complex automation capabilities, it might not be ideal for small businesses or small teams.
Pricing
- Starts at $29 per month for up to 500 subscribers;
- A 7-day free trial is available.
6. Campaign Monitor – Best Competitor with Salesforce Integration
Campaign Monitor is another email automation platform that has best-in-class segmentation features. They still need to branch out to other functionalities (such as sales automation) but are good at email features.
Like most email marketing platforms, they have a relatively extensive set of features related to email automation. However, their standout feature is intelligent contact segmentation, which allows users to hyper-target and personalize emails.
- Drag-and-drop email template builder;
- Advanced segmentation with custom fields;
- Automation flow builder;
- Hyper-targeting capabilities for campaign personalization.
They also pepper in some minor features that significantly benefit small businesses. For example, the Link Review tool automatically scans emails for broken links and is a great nice-to-have addition to any marketing campaign.
As with all email marketing platform providers, Campaign Monitor has its drawbacks. Campaign Monitor hasn’t developed all features as extensively. Some of them need to be improved. For example, most tools have a landing page editor or builder. Unfortunately, Campaign Monitor provides no such functionality. In addition, their email template builder is quite limited compared to Constant Contact.
Finally, cost-wise, Campaign Monitor is a clear winner. However, costs start scaling quickly and catch up to Constant Contact standards with a growing email list. While it remains cheaper at all subscriber counts, the differences eventually become negligible.
Why is Campaign Monitor a good Constant Contact alternative?
CampaignMonitor is superior when it comes to segmentation and advanced automation. Plus, Constant Contact doesn’t have great automation capabilities, making Campaign Monitor a viable alternative.
| Constant Contact | Campaign Monitor | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Smart contact segmentation Transactional emails |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Doesn’t have a landing page builder Limited email template builder |
Best for
It has native integration with the SalesForce suite, so the platform is suitable for companies that already run on Salesforce. It’s also great for businesses trying to nurture warm leads.
Pricing
- Paid plan starts at $9 per month for up to 500 subscribers and 2500 emails sent per month;
- Free limited-period trial is also available.
7. Sendiblue – Best Contact Contact Alternative with Unlimited Contacts
SendInBlue is a fairly established all-in-one email marketing software and automation platform. Just like most other platforms, it provides the ability to create emails without coding, automate campaigns, build signup forms, etc.
- SMS marketing capabilities with shared inbox;
- In-built CRM features;
- Store & manage unlimited subscribers;
- Deep analytics features.
SendInBlue also has an SMS marketing automation feature that allows companies to nurture users who love texting and take full advantage of the fast reaction times provided by the channel. However, their truly unique feature is the shared inbox. SendInBlue offers the opportunity to connect all related inboxes into one. As a result, users can see all communication with every client and lead.
Yet, Constant Contact does have an advantage over SendInBlue. The former provides much better reporting and analytics features across all pricing plans. While the reporting and web analytics features can be improved with SendInBlue by paying more, the standard plan is heavily limited.
Additionally, SendInBlue has a rather unusual pricing model. Instead of charging based on the number of subscribers, SendInBlue charges you based on the number of emails sent per month. As such, businesses might need more time to predict the cost of using their platform upfront.
Why is SendInBlue a good Constant Contact alternative?
SendInBlue has a host of useful features like shared communication inbox, SMS marketing, etc., which makes it better than Constant Contact. Check out why you should pick SendInBlue over Constant Contact:
| Constant Contact | SendInBlue | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Shared inbox SMS Marketing |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Limited reporting features with the standard plan |
Best for
Ideal for companies looking to deliver an omnichannel experience to prospects and customers. With a shared inbox, you can sort all their incoming queries and check their recent interactions from a single screen.
Pricing
- Starts at $25 per month for sending up to 20,000 emails monthly;
- A free plan is also available for sending up to 300 emails per day.
8. GetResponse — Better than Constant Contact for B2C Marketers
GetResponse is a powerful email marketing service known for affordability, deliverability, and full-service features. The company offers every tool you need to communicate, engage, and delight your users across multiple channels.
- Advanced email autoresponders;
- Conversion funnel builder and optimizer;
- AI-powered recommendation engine for eCommerce;
- Behavioral and engagement-based segmentation.
GetResponse allows you to embed live chat on all your web pages and landing pages. This will boost conversion rates, engage your audience better, and enhance customer delight operations. It also offers every standard feature in any email marketing solution.
Unlike Constant Contact, GetResponse offers a better omnichannel campaign-building experience and a better pricing plan, making it an affordable constant contact alternative. Plus, the automation features are also great, considering the pricing plans they offer. However, automation features aren’t part of the basic plan.
If you’re serious about deliverability and want an alternative that promises a better result, you should definitely look into GetResponse. Plus, the free plan allows you to look around without spending money.
Why is GetResponse a good Constant Contact alternative?
GetResponse has some powerful AI capabilities that allow deep personalization, which might not be possible using Constant Contact. Plus, there are other features and capabilities that you should check out while comparing both platforms:
| Constant Contact | GetResponse | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Live chat integration AI-powered personalization recommendations |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Complicated segmentation features Restricted features on lower plans Email list management features aren’t at par with other players |
Best for
Suitable for B2C businesses, eCommerce stores, and community-based businesses that thrive on the power of personalization. Add live chat widgets on any page or website and even automate personalized email campaigns.
Pricing
- Starts at $15.58 per month (billed annually) for up to 1000 subscribers;
- Free plan is also available for up to 500 subscribers and 2500 emails per month.
9. HubSpot — Best Constant Contact Competitor for Marketing Automation
HubSpot is a popular Constant Contact competitor driven to automate email, sales, support, and many other aspects of your marketing strategy. HubSpot cloud application is designed around its CRM system that you can use for free, even on the Free HubSpot plan.
- Free in-built CRM solution;
- Form builder;
- Integrations with all major marketing solutions;
- Advanced contact segmentation.
If you’ve read our blog on marketing automation, you’d already know that HubSpot is jam-packed with features beneficial to help you win the inbound marketing game. Compared to Constant Contact, HubSpot stands higher in simplified UI, better marketing automation features, and deeper analytics.
However, HubSpot can get quite limiting as the basic plan has several limitations in terms of features and subscribers. Not that Constant Contact is any better, but HubSpot pricing plans can still get costly for a budding or growing business.
If you’re in a B2B business or running a model with an elaborate sales funnel needing deep nurturing, consider switching to HubSpot from Constant Contact. It has dedicated modules to help you scale faster.
Why is HubSpot a good Constant Contact alternative?
Hubspot is a great email marketing tool that works great for large businesses that need advanced email nurturing. Here’s why HubSpot works great for elaborate email marketing campaigns compared to Constant Contact:
| Constant Contact | HubSpot | |
| Special Features | Event & donation management Social media management | Marketing automation features Revenue intelligence automation Free CRM |
| Cons | Basic email design editor Restrictive automation Limited email testing features | Costly pricing structure Paid add-ons Steep learning curve |
Best for
HubSpot is suitable for large business enterprises, B2B SaaS companies and mid-market businesses that have the resources, capabilities, and a team to run full-fledged automated marketing operations.
Pricing
- Starts at $18 per month (billed annually) for up to 1000 subscribers;
- Free limited-period trial available with feature restrictions.
Free Alternatives to Constant Contact
If you’re planning to run marketing campaigns for your business but are searching for an affordable alternative, here are three platforms that you can use for free. Let’s look at each of these and see how you can use these for launching your email marketing strategy without paying any money:
Sender
Sender is the best free alternative to Constant Contact. It offers all the advanced features like automation workflows, email list management tools, and a robust email builder, which you won’t find in Constant Contact.
The best thing is that Sender doesn’t restrict free users from using professional features up to 2500 subscribers. So, you can start leveraging the power of Sender for email marketing without paying anything extra when you migrate from Constant Contact.
You’ll save money as Sender is cheaper than Constant Contact in the long run. Here are all the features you can enjoy with Sender’s free plan:
- Drag-and-drop email marketing automation workflow builder;
- Pre-built workflows and custom trigger automation;
- Intuitive drag-and-drop builder with product blocks, video blocks, and complete personalization;
- Deep segmentation with custom profiling for dynamic personalization of campaigns;
- Popup form builder with behavioral triggers and automation features, and a lot more;
Sender costs nothing for up to 2500 subscribers. So, why wait? Try all the premium features and excellent deliverability without breaking the bank.
Sendpulse
Sendpulse is another alternative that you can use if you have an email list of up to 500 subscribers. You can use it to send 15,000 emails every month for free. There aren’t many customization, personalization, or segmentation features available on the free plan, but you can use the platform for the following:
- Launching and promoting your online webinars and courses;
- Create beautiful and responsive emails to send to up to 500 subscribers;
- Run chatbots and web push notification campaigns;
- Verify email addresses.
Sendinblue
SendInBlue allows you to have a free account that you can use for sending up to 300 emails per day. As the platform doesn’t charge based on the number of contacts, you can store unlimited contacts on SendInBlue and use it for free.
SendInBlue is a powerful tool with all the features you need to run a successful email marketing campaign. You can use it as a free Constant Contact alternative, but only if you want to send up to 300 emails every day. Here are some of the useful features of SendInBlue:
- Store unlimited contacts on the free account;
- Drag-and-drop email builder;
- Send transactional emails;
Alternatives to Constant Contact: Price & Feature Comparison Table
Want to compare the cost of Constant Contact, fees, and how it compares to other email marketing platforms on the list. Here’s a detailed table of all Constant Contact alternatives with their cost, features, and capabilities to help you make a better choice:
| Sender | Mailchimp | ConvertKit | Aweber | ActiveCampaign | CampaignMonitor | Sendinblue | HubSpot | |
| Contacts | Up to 2 500 (Free Plan) | Up to 500 (Free Plan) | – | Not specified | 100 Contact (free plan) | Up to 500 contacts (Starter Plan) | Unlimited | Up to 1,000 (free plan) |
| Emails | Up to 15 000 (Free Plan) | Up to 1000 | – | Not specified | 100 emails (Free plan) | 2500 emails per month (Starter Plan) | Up to 9000 | Up to 2,000 (free plan) |
| Daily limits (Free account) | Unlimited | – | – | 100 per day | – | – | 300 | 500 per day |
| Support | 24/7 Live Chat + Email | Email-only, first 30 days | Email Support | 24/7 Live Chat + Email | Email and Live Chat | Email Support | Email-only | Email and Live Chat (free plan) |
| WordPress Integration | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Email Automation | “+” | Basic | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Email Templates Library | “+” | Basic | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Advanced Segmentation | “+” | Basic | Basic | “+” | “+” | “+” | Basic | “+” |
| Email Scheduling | “+” | – | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Advanced Reporting | “+” | – | Basic | “+” | “+” | “+” | – | Basic on Lower Plans |
| Geography & device reporting | “+” | – | – | “+” | “+” | – | – | “+” |
| Heat map reporting | “+” | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Advanced open & click stats | “+” | – | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | – | Basic on Lower Plans |
| Multi-user access | Unlimited | Limited on Lower Plans | Limited on Lower Plans | Unlimited on Higher Plans | 3 Users | Limited on Lower Plans | Limited on Lower Plans | – |
| Pricing | $8.33 per month for 2500 subscribers and up to 30k emails per month | $9.36 per month for 500 subscribers and 5000 emails per month | Paid plan starts at $9 per month that supports only 300 subscribers; | Starts from $20 for 500 contacts | $9 per month for 500 subscribers | Paid plan starts at $9 per month for up to 500 subscribers and 2500 emails sent per month; | $25 per month for sending upto 20k emails/month (No restriction on subscribers) | $45 per month for up to 1000 contacts (subscribers) |
Key Takeaways
- Always look for competitors that offer better support and features;
- Try out each of the alternatives mentioned above before you finally pick and migrate to a solution;
- Choose a cheaper alternative with an unrestrictive free plan.
Also Read: 10 Best Mailchimp Alternatives for 2022 (Free & Paid)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Constant Contact Free?
No. Constant Contact isn’t a free-to-use email marketing platform. You can try it for free for a few days but switch to a paid plan later. However, you can check out the free alternatives to Constant Contact, like Sender, which allows you to set up email campaigns for up to 2500 subscribers without paying any money.
How Much Does Constant Contact Cost?
Constant Contact’s paid plans start at $9.99 per month for up to 500 subscribers. If you have a large subscriber list, there’s a tiered pricing plan available that charges based on the number of subscribers.
Author Bio
Anmol Ratan Sachdeva is a content marketer and small business consultant who has a strong grip on topics like marketing automation, email marketing, and content marketing. He loves to write about building, improving, and growing a business.
