Kartra vs. ActiveCampaign: Who Wins In 13 Critical Features?

Kartra and ActiveCampaign are two popular marketing automation platforms businesses can use to streamline their marketing efforts. While both platforms offer email marketing capabilities, there are some critical differences between them.

Kartra is an all-in-one platform that provides businesses with features such as email marketing, landing page creation, membership sites, and e-commerce capabilities. 

ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, is more focused on advanced marketing automation tools. It offers features such as email marketing, CRM, and sales automation, making it a popular choice for businesses that want to automate their marketing and sales processes.

In this comparison guide, we will closely examine the key features and differences between Kartra vs ActiveCampaign to help you determine which platform is best for your business. Whether you need an all-in-one platform or advanced automation tools, I will provide the necessary information you need to make an informed decision.

Overview of Kartra vs ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign and Kartra are web applications providing marketing automation and customer relationship management (CRM) services.

Kartra Vs ActiveCampaign: Features Comparison

As previously mentioned, Kartra and ActiveCampaign provide comparable functionalities but exhibit distinctions. And now, I will show their similarities and differences to enhance your comprehension.

#1. Free Trial 

Both Kartra and ActiveCampaign provide a 14-day trial to new subscribers. However, there is a crucial difference between them. 

While ActiveCampaign offers an entirely free trial without requiring credit card information, the Kartra trial requires your credit card details.

Therefore, in terms of the free trial offer, due to the obnoxious credit card information requirement by Kartra, ActiveCampaign wins this feature.

#2. Tracking and Analytics

Kartra and ActiveCampaign offer similar tracking and analytics features, including email tracking, website visitor behavior monitoring, and conversion tracking.

However, Kartra's analytics reporting is more robust, providing insights into sales funnel, email, and affiliate management analytics. Additionally, Kartra's tracking and analytics features are more integrated with other marketing automation tools within the platform, while ActiveCampaign's tracking and analytics features are more standalone.

ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, has more user-friendly and straightforward reporting features. It also offers A/B testing for email campaigns, which Kartra does too.

For this reason, and coupled with the fact that Kartra is more advanced and synced with other tools within the platform, Kartra wins this section.

#3. Email and Marketing Automation

Both Kartra and ActiveCampaign offer email marketing and marketing automation features to help you create, send, and track marketing campaigns. 

Both platforms provide customizable email templates and drag-and-drop editors to create visually appealing email campaigns. They also offer automation workflows to trigger follow-up emails, segment contacts, and personalize communications. You can track email opens, clicks, and conversions on both platforms.

On the other hand, ActiveCampaign has more advanced CRM and sales automation features, allowing you to manage and track deals, and automate sales processes.

Kartra's email editor is more limited compared to ActiveCampaign. Furthermore, ActiveCampaign offers SMS marketing as an additional channel, while Kartra does not provide SMS marketing capabilities.

#4. Landing Page Builder

Both Kartra and ActiveCampaign offer landing page builder tools to help you create and publish optimized pages for lead generation and conversion. 

They both provide templates and drag-and-drop editors to create visually appealing landing pages. You can customize elements like headlines, images, forms, and buttons.

However, there are also some differences between the two platforms. Kartra's landing page builder is more advanced, allowing you to create more complex pages with advanced features such as pop-ups and countdown timers.

Additionally, Kartra provides pre-built campaigns and templates, which include pre-made landing pages, email sequences, and automation that can be used as a starting point.

In comparison, ActiveCampaign's landing page builder is simpler and more limited compared to Kartra. However, ActiveCampaign integrates with external landing page builders such as ClickFunnels, Salesforce, and Shopify, providing more options for customization and flexibility.

Another key difference is that Kartra provides a built-in checkout feature, allowing you to sell products directly from your landing pages. ActiveCampaign does not have this capability. So in this section, Kartra wins.

#5. CRM Software

Both Kartra and ActiveCampaign offer CRM software to help you manage your contacts and track their interactions. You can store contact information, view contact activity, and segment contacts based on various criteria. Both platforms also offer to tag and scoring features to help you organize and prioritize contacts.

However, there are some differences between the two platforms. ActiveCampaign's CRM software is more advanced, with a more robust sales automation system and deeper integrations with other sales and marketing tools. 

It offers features such as deal tracking, lead scoring, and sales forecasting. Additionally, ActiveCampaign's CRM is fully integrated with its email marketing and marketing automation tools, allowing you to manage your contacts and automate communication in one platform.

In comparison, Kartra's CRM software is simpler and more basic, which is not a big strength for Kartra. It focuses on lead management and scoring but lacks some of the more advanced features that ActiveCampaign offers. 

However, Kartra offers more advanced funnel-building and sales automation features than ActiveCampaign, allowing you to create more sophisticated sales funnels and automate your sales process. Overall, ActiveCampaign wins in this feature.

#6. Third-party Integration

Although both Kartra and ActiveCampaign offer a range of third-party integrations, including popular tools like Zapier, Shopify, and Salesforce, ActiveCampaign wins in this section because of the reasons stated below. These integrations allow you to connect your marketing and sales tools and streamline your workflow.

However, there are some differences between the two platforms. ActiveCampaign offers a wider range of integrations and has a more robust API, allowing for more customization and flexibility. Additionally, ActiveCampaign has a dedicated marketplace where you can browse and connect with third-party apps and services.

In comparison, Kartra offers fewer third-party integrations, and its API is more limited. However, it offers direct integrations with popular tools like Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net, making connecting and managing your payments easier.

#7. Sales Funnel Builder

Both Kartra and ActiveCampaign offer sales funnel builders that allow you to create custom sales processes and automate your marketing and sales workflows.

However, there are some differences between the two platforms. Kartra's funnel builder is more extensive and includes a range of templates and pre-built funnels that you can customize to fit your needs. Kartra also includes a drag-and-drop page builder that allows you to create custom landing pages and checkout pages.

In comparison, ActiveCampaign's funnel builder is more straightforward, with fewer pre-built templates and options. However, it does offer a visual workflow builder that allows you to create custom sales processes and automate your marketing campaigns.

Kartra wins this feature because it provides many sales funnel templates, pre-built funnels, and step-by-step videos that make it easy for beginners to build their sales funnel.

#8. Membership Site

ActiveCampaign does not offer a membership site feature, while Kartra does. Kartra's membership site builder is broad, offering a range of templates and the ability to customize your site with a drag-and-drop editor. So Kartra clearly wins this feature. 

It also includes features such as drip content, which allows you to release content to members over time, and gamification, which allows you to reward members for completing specific actions. Kartra is a better choice if you require a membership site builder.

#9. White Labeling

White labeling is available in both Kartra and ActiveCampaign. With Kartra, you can white-label all aspects of your account, including your login page, customer portal, checkout pages, and more. 

This Kartra feature allows you to customize the branding to match your business's look and feel. ActiveCampaign also offers white-labeling, but it's limited to the email sender's domain, so you can send emails from your domain rather than using ActiveCampaign's.

Regarding differences, Kartra offers more extensive white-labeling options than ActiveCampaign.

Kartra allows you to white-label your entire account and even sell the software as your own at a profit, while ActiveCampaign is limited to email sender domains only. 

However, ActiveCampaign does allow you to use your custom domain to host landing pages. Overall, Kartra wins this feature because it is more extensive in its use.

#11. Course and Product Hosting

Firstly, Kartra offers course and product hosting as part of its marketing automation platform. This means you can use Kartra to create and sell digital products such as courses, e-books, or software.

However, there are some differences in how the two platforms approach course and product hosting. For example, Kartra has a built-in membership site feature allowing you to create a membership portal for customers to access your digital products. This feature also includes options for drip content so that you can release your course modules over time.

ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, does not have a built-in membership site feature, but it does integrate with several third-party platforms that provide this functionality. This means that you will need to use an external platform to host your course content, but you can still manage the delivery of your content through ActiveCampaign.

Another difference is that Kartra includes a shopping cart feature, meaning you can sell your digital products directly from your Kartra account. This feature also includes options for order bumps and upsells, which can help increase your revenue. Since this feature makes Kartra stand out, it wins this section.

ActiveCampaign does not have a built-in shopping cart feature, but it does integrate with several third-party platforms that provide this functionality. You will need to use an external platform to process your sales, but you can still manage the sales process through ActiveCampaign.

#12. Money-Back Guarantee

Only Kartra offers a money-back guarantee on their services, which means that if you are unsatisfied with their product within a specific timeframe.

Kartra's money-back guarantee period is 30 days from the date of purchase. This means you have a more extended period with Kartra to test their product and decide if it fits you.

It's important to note that while Kartra's guarantee period is long, they have a more stringent cancellation policy. You must cancel your subscription before the end of the guarantee period to be eligible for a refund.

#13. SMS Messaging

ActiveCampaign wins in this feature because it offers this feature, unlike Kartra, which is absent in its software.

Like the email marketing ActiveCampaign feature, you can easily send text messages to your customers and prospects, automating the response to their feedback. This feature is simple to use and straightforward.

Also, thanks to this software's analytics and reporting feature, you can check if your SMS is helping to grow your business, bringing in sales, turning warm leads into hot leads, etc. You can also construct excellent SMS thanks to the templates this software provides for you to use.

Kartra Vs. ActiveCampaign: Pricing Comparison 

Kartra Pricing Plans

When you visit the Kartra pricing page, you'll see a range of pricing plans to choose from. Here's a breakdown of the available plans and what you can expect from each:

#1. Kartra Starter Plan:

This plan costs $119 per month and includes up to 2,500 contacts, one custom domain, five team members, and unlimited email sends per month, bandwidth, pages, products, and more. The Kartra Starter plan does not include Funnel Stimulator, Affiliate Management System, Helpdesk support feature, Kartra Agency, and Kartra Webinars as it does on other plans.

#2. Kartra Growth Plan:

The Kartra Growth Plan costs $229 monthly and offers up to 12,500 contacts, three custom domains, and 10 additional team members. You'll also get access to everything in the Starter plan, plus features like Kartra Agency, Kartra Webinars, Affiliate Management System, Helpdesk support feature, and Funnel Simulator.

#3. Kartra Professional Plan:

The plan is Kartra's most comprehensive plan, costing $549 per month. It includes everything in the Growth plan, and more, including up to 25,000 contacts, five custom domains, 20 additional team members, real-time funnel analytics, helpdesk live chat, and advanced automations.

ActiveCampaign Pricing Plans

ActiveCampaign pricing offers a range of plans that cater to different business needs. However, navigating these plans can be challenging since there are four different features, each with at least three plans. 

The four plans include:

• Marketing,
• Sales,
• Bundles,
• And Transactional Email.

#1. Marketing Plan:

The Marketing plan is perfect for small businesses just starting with email marketing and automation. 

Prices start at $29 per month for up to 1000 contacts, and the plan includes features such as email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM tools. You'll also have access to features like email newsletters, segmentation, and contact and lead scoring.

#2. Sales Plan: 

If you're looking for more advanced sales features, then the Sales plan may be the right choice for you. Starting at $19 per month, this plan includes everything in the marketing plan, plus CRM automation, sales automation, and contact and lead scoring. This plan is ideal for businesses that are looking to grow their sales pipeline and increase revenue.

#3. Bundles Plan:

If you need both marketing and sales automation tools, then the Bundles plan is the best choice. This plan starts at $93 per month and includes all the features of both the Marketing and Sales plans. You'll have access to email marketing, marketing automation, CRM automation, sales automation, and contact and lead scoring.

#4. Transactional Email Plan:

If you only need transactional email services, then the Transactional Email plan is the best option. Prices start at $15 per month for up to 10,000 emails, and you'll have access to features such as SMTP integration, email tracking, and API access. This plan is ideal for businesses that need to send automated, personalized transactional emails to their customers.

Kartra Vs ActiveCampaign: Pros and Cons

Frequently Asked Questions 

Kartra Vs. ActiveCampaign: Which Is Better?

Kartra is an all-in-one platform that offers email marketing, automation, sales funnels, membership sites, and more. It's ideal for businesses that want a comprehensive solution to manage their online presence.

On the other hand, ActiveCampaign is a powerful email marketing and automation platform that offers advanced features such as segmentation, personalization, and A/B testing. It's a great choice for businesses that prioritize email marketing and want to take their campaigns to the next level.

Kartra Wins

My Kartra Bonuses

Below is the list of bonuses that can help you achieve the success you want in your online business using Kartra. I would greatly appreciate it if you sign up for Kartra through me so I can give you access to the following:

Here are the additional bonuses you get for free when you sign up for the Kartra with my affiliate link:

• Bonus 1: ELMessenger PRO Account ($497/yr Value)
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• Bonus 7: 3 NEW Software Licenses Every Month (INSANE Value)
• Bonus 8: Follow-Up System In A Box + White Label Rights ($197 Value)
• Bonus 9: Ultimate List of Recurring Affiliate Programs + White Label Rights ($47 Value)
• Bonus 10: Unmatched and Dedicated Support (PRICELESS)
• Bonus 11: Kartra 30-Day Trial ($119-$549 Value)

For more details and to learn how to get these bonuses, check out my Kartra bonus page.