ActiveCampaign vs Loops
ActiveCampaign is a all-in-one marketing platform while Loops is a email marketing platform. ActiveCampaign has been around since 2003, giving it a 19-year head start over Loops (founded 2022). ActiveCampaign is the more affordable option at $15/mo — that's $34 less than Loops's $49/mo entry point. Loops offers a free plan (1,000 contacts, 4,000 sends/month, Loops branding), while ActiveCampaign does not. ActiveCampaign has the edge with A/B testing, landing pages, SMS marketing.
Quick Verdict
ActiveCampaign wins on price, deliverability, integrations.
Loops wins on rating, free tier.
Best for most users: ActiveCampaign (ecommerce).
ActiveCampaign
Marketing automation that drives growth
ActiveCampaign is widely regarded as having the best marketing automation capabilities in the email marketing space. It combines email marketing with a built-in CRM, making it ideal for businesses that need sophisticated automation workflows and sales pipeline management.
Loops
The email platform built for SaaS
Loops is a developer-first email platform designed exclusively for SaaS companies, combining marketing and transactional email in a single clean interface. Built by Y Combinator alumni, it features a Notion-style block editor, event-based automation triggered by user behavior like signups and upgrades, and contact-based pricing with unlimited sends. Its standout strength is letting small SaaS teams replace both their marketing email tool and transactional service (like SendGrid) with one unified platform.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | Loops |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.5/5 | 4.6/5 |
| Starting Price | $15/mo | $49/mo |
| Free Plan | No free plan | 1,000 contacts, 4,000 sends/month, Loops branding |
| Founded | 2003 | 2022 |
| Email Templates | 250 | 15 |
| Integrations | 900 | 24 |
| Deliverability Rate | 97.5% | 95% |
| Marketing Automation | ✓ | ✓ |
| A/B Testing | ✓ | ✕ |
| Landing Pages | ✓ | ✕ |
| Segmentation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Drag & Drop Editor | ✓ | ✕ |
| SMS Marketing | ✓ | ✕ |
| Ecommerce Features | ✓ | ✕ |
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-Language | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web Push Notifications | ✕ | ✕ |
| Live Chat | ✓ | ✕ |
| Advanced Analytics | ✓ | ✕ |
ActiveCampaign: Pros & Cons
Pros
- +Industry-leading automation builder
- +Built-in CRM for sales teams
- +900+ integrations (largest ecosystem)
- +Excellent deliverability
- +Powerful segmentation and contact scoring
Cons
- −No free plan available
- −Steep learning curve for beginners
- −Gets expensive with higher-tier features
- −Reporting could be more intuitive
- −Landing page builder is basic compared to dedicated tools
Loops: Pros & Cons
Pros
- +Clean Notion-style block editor with extremely fast email creation and minimal learning curve
- +Unified platform for both marketing and transactional emails eliminates need for separate services like SendGrid
- +Simple contact-based pricing with unlimited sends and no per-seat charges on all paid plans
- +Strong developer-focused API with direct integrations for Stripe, Supabase, Clerk, and webhook support
- +Founder-led customer support with direct access via live chat, email, and 1:1 Calendly calls
Cons
- −Limited automation logic — lacks advanced multi-branch workflows and conditional logic found in mature platforms
- −No built-in CRM or detailed contact history, requiring external tools for relationship management
- −Editor has reported bugs including no undo functionality, risking accidental content loss
- −Narrow SaaS-only focus makes it unsuitable for ecommerce, media, or non-tech industries
- −Very small integration ecosystem (24 native integrations) compared to competitors with hundreds
The Verdict
ActiveCampaign and Loops are closely matched — both score within 0.1 points of each other in our overall rating. Your decision should come down to specific needs rather than overall quality. On deliverability, ActiveCampaign reports 97.5% compared to 95% for Loops — a meaningful difference if inbox placement is critical for your campaigns.
| Criterion | Weight | ActiveCampaign | Loops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | 30% | $15/mo | $49/mo |
| Deliverability | 25% | 97.5% | 95% |
| Rating | 25% | 4.5/5 | 4.6/5 |
| Integrations | 10% | 900 | 24 |
| Free Tier | 10% | No | Yes |
Weights determine how much each criterion counts toward the final score. See full methodology
Choose ActiveCampaign if…
- + You want lower starting costs ($15/mo)
- + You need SMS marketing
- + You need ecommerce integrations
- + You need built-in landing pages
Choose Loops if…
- + You need a free plan to get started
- + You're a saas startups
- + You're a developer first teams