Last updated: 22 October 2026 · By S Tracey, lifetime Scale.gg member
Affiliate disclosure: I'm an independent Scale.gg affiliate. If you buy through my links, I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
A note on this comparison: This is based on what each company publishes: Scale.gg's ClickCampaigns and pricing pages, and ActiveCampaign's own pricing and product pages. I haven't used the two together, so there are no test results or deliverability figures here. ActiveCampaign prices were checked on 22 October 2026, and Scale.gg prices on 14 October 2026.
People ask about these two together because both have "campaign" in the pitch and both now lean on AI. In practice they sit at opposite ends of the same job. ActiveCampaign is where your list lives and where your emails get delivered, tracked and automated. ClickCampaigns is where the campaign gets thought through and written in the first place.
That makes this less of a head-to-head than it first looks. The useful question is which half of the work is slowing you down: getting the words and assets made, or getting the right message to the right contact at the right moment.
The short version
ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and automation platform with a CRM. It stores your contacts, sends your broadcasts, runs multi-step automations and reports on opens, clicks and conversions.
ClickCampaigns is an AI campaign builder inside Scale.gg. It plans a launch from one brief and drafts the emails, pages, ads, scripts and decks. It does not send email.
Using both is a normal setup: draft the sequence in ClickCampaigns, then load it into ActiveCampaign (or Scale.gg's own MailBaser) to send and automate.
Side by side
ActiveCampaign figures from its pricing page on 22 October 2026, in US dollars, for 1,000 contacts billed yearly. Scale.gg figures from its pricing page on 14 October 2026. Both change, so check before you buy.
What ClickCampaigns is for
ClickCampaigns is the flagship app in Scale.gg. You start with a goal such as "launch my new programme to my list", and Alex, the AI strategist, asks about the offer, the audience and the traffic. He turns that into a plan drawn from more than 225 marketing tasks, and you approve or trim the list before any credits are spent.
The approved work then goes to specialist roles for copy, email, funnel strategy, design, paid media, video, social and SEO. Because they all read the same brief, the launch emails are meant to match the sales page and the ads. Everything lands in one workspace with versions and statuses, and you export to Google Docs, PDF, PPTX or HTML.
What it won't do is deliver anything to an inbox. For a closer look at the features, see my ClickCampaigns review.
What ActiveCampaign is for
ActiveCampaign has been an email automation name for years, and its pricing page now groups everything under four plans: Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise. Every plan includes multi-step marketing automation, email campaigns with more than 250 templates, site and link tracking, and AI credits.
As you move up, you get more. Plus adds cross-channel marketing, landing pages, site messages, generative AI for content and images, and access to the Enhanced CRM add-ons (Pipelines and Sales Engagement). Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content, advanced segmentation and attribution. Enterprise adds SSO, HIPAA support, premium segmentation and a dedicated account team. SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email are sold as add-ons, and ActiveCampaign says it integrates with more than 1,000 apps.
Its AI layer, which it calls Active Intelligence, can build campaigns and automations for you and suggest segments. That's a real overlap with ClickCampaigns, but it's aimed at messages that live inside ActiveCampaign rather than a whole multi-asset launch.
Writing the campaign vs running it
This is where the two genuinely split.
ClickCampaigns thinks about the launch as a whole. A webinar promotion needs a registration page, reminders, a replay sequence, a sales page, ads and maybe a slide deck. ClickCampaigns plans those together so the angle, the offer and the proof stay the same from the first ad to the last email.
ActiveCampaign thinks about each contact over time. Who opened, who clicked, who bought, who went quiet. It branches the journey, sends the next message at the right moment, scores leads and tells you what converted. Its AI writes and tunes messages within that system.
So ClickCampaigns is stronger at the brief-to-draft stage, and ActiveCampaign is stronger at delivery, timing, segmentation and measurement. Neither replaces the other's half.
Can you use them together?
Yes, and for many list-based businesses that's the most sensible reading of the two. A typical flow:
Brief Alex in ClickCampaigns and approve a plan with the email sequence you need.
Review and edit the drafts in the campaign workspace.
Export the emails and paste them into ActiveCampaign broadcasts or an automation.
Let ActiveCampaign handle the triggers, timing, segments and reporting.
If you'd rather keep it all in one company, Scale.gg plans from Starter up include MailBaser for email, which uses your own SMTP sender, plus Pipeleads.ai for contacts. Whether that's enough depends on how much you rely on ActiveCampaign's deeper automation, scoring and reporting, and that's a separate decision from whether ClickCampaigns is worth having.
What each costs
ActiveCampaign prices by plan and contact count. For 1,000 contacts billed yearly, its pricing page on 22 October 2026 showed:
Prices rise as your list grows, and SMS, WhatsApp, transactional email and the Enhanced CRM are extra. Every plan includes 500 AI credits, and ActiveCampaign says core AI features keep working if those run out.
ClickCampaigns comes with a Scale.gg plan. As checked on 14 October 2026: Solo $395 a year (ClickCampaigns as your one app, 1,000 one-time credits), Starter $495 a year (2,500 one-time credits plus the core apps), Pro $95 a month or $795 a year (2,500 credits a month) and Pro Max $200 a month or $1,495 a year (7,500 credits a month). Credit packs start at $25, and there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. My ClickCampaigns pricing guide covers each plan.
The two bills don't really compete. If you already pay for ActiveCampaign, ClickCampaigns is an extra cost for the writing side. If you don't have an email platform yet, a Scale.gg plan with MailBaser may cover both halves for a smaller list, while ActiveCampaign is the more developed sender.
ClickCampaigns comes with a Scale.gg plan, and Scale.gg offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on your first payment.
Who should pick which?
Pick ActiveCampaign if:
you need to send email, build automations and track what each contact does
segmentation, lead scoring, predictive sending or attribution matter to you
you already have copy, or you're happy writing emails inside your sending tool
you want SMS, WhatsApp or transactional email in the same place
Pick ClickCampaigns if:
your bottleneck is producing the campaign: emails, pages, ads and scripts that all match
you run launches or promotions and want a plan to approve before anything is made
you already have somewhere to send email, or you'd use MailBaser inside Scale.gg
Use both if you already rely on ActiveCampaign for delivery and want help writing the campaigns that go through it.
If your real comparison is with an all-in-one CRM instead, my ClickCampaigns vs GoHighLevel post covers that, and ClickCampaigns vs ClickFunnels looks at funnel hosting.
FAQ
Is ClickCampaigns an ActiveCampaign alternative?
Not really. ActiveCampaign sends and automates email and stores your contacts. ClickCampaigns plans and drafts the campaign but doesn't send it. They cover different halves of the same job.
Can ClickCampaigns send emails?
No. It drafts email sequences that you export. Sending happens in an email platform such as ActiveCampaign, or MailBaser if your Scale.gg plan includes it.
How much does ActiveCampaign cost in 2026?
On 22 October 2026, for 1,000 contacts billed yearly, ActiveCampaign's pricing page showed Starter from $15 a month, Plus from $49, Pro from $79 and Enterprise from $145. Prices go up with list size, and some channels are add-ons.
Does ActiveCampaign have AI writing?
Yes. Every plan includes AI credits and AI campaign and automation builders, and Plus and above add generative AI for content and images. It's built around messages inside ActiveCampaign rather than a full multi-asset launch.
Is there a free trial?
ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with no card needed, and advertises a 30-day results guarantee. Scale.gg doesn't list a free trial, but its plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Can I paste ClickCampaigns emails into ActiveCampaign?
Yes. You can export drafts to Google Docs or HTML and copy them into ActiveCampaign campaigns or automations. Review and test every email before it goes out.
Verdict
ActiveCampaign and ClickCampaigns aren't really rivals. ActiveCampaign is a mature sender: it holds your list, runs the automations and tells you what worked. ClickCampaigns is a campaign writer: it plans the launch and drafts every matching asset from one brief. If you need email delivered and automated, ActiveCampaign is the established choice. If you've got a sending tool but never enough finished campaign material, ClickCampaigns is designed for that gap, and the two can sit side by side.
Keep reading: ClickCampaigns review · ClickCampaigns pricing · ClickCampaigns vs GoHighLevel · ClickCampaigns vs ClickFunnels · ClickCampaigns vs ChatGPT · ClickCampaigns vs Jasper · ClickCampaigns for coaches · ClickCampaigns for course creators · ClickCampaigns for agencies · ClickCampaigns for local businesses
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