.webp){kind=small}
What is Constant Contact?
Constant Contact is one of the oldest email marketing tools out there - the company has been around since 1995.
Constant Contact's target audience is typically small businesses, non-profit organizations, and self-employed individuals. Over the past few years, the company has expanded its offering to go beyond email and become a marketing platform with a form tool and website builder to help you reach a wider audience.
Constant Contact is a popular choice for businesses, especially in the event management industry, due to its functions as event management niche. The tool itself is easy to use and offers a massive set of integrations. It also has excellent deliverability rate.
But if you're here looking for alternatives to Constant Contact, you're probably aware of its limitations. Common complaints generally relate to the limited automation and customization features and the slightly higher-than-average price.
Before we get started, let's take a look at the strengths of Constant Contact and the drawbacks that might encourage you to turn to another messaging tool.
Pros
- High deliverability rates
- Easy to use drag-and-drop editor
- Large selection of free customizable email templates
- Niche functions for surveys and event management
- Free website builder
- Over 500 integrations across all business sectors
Cons
- Limited automation (autoresponders only) and optimization functions (a/b testing for subject lines only).
- Limited contact management
- No RSS email function
- Limited reporting (basic email metrics)
- Registration forms and landing pages are basic and difficult to customize.
- Expensive for what it offers
Whether you're desperate for a new email marketing tool because Constant Contact isn't right for you anymore, or you're just looking to see what else is out there, I've rounded up 9 Constant Contact alternatives that you should consider and how they compare in terms of features and price.
Let's get started.
What are the best alternatives to Constant Contact?
Here's my pick of the best alternatives to Constant Contact.
1. MailerLite
MailerLite has recently grown in popularity and is a good alternative to Constant Contact for anyone who needs an affordable email marketing tool.
MailerLite and Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
As with most of the email tools on this list, MailerLite beats Constant Contact when it comes to email automation. The automation flow builder is less sophisticated than high-end platforms like HubSpot or ActiveCampaign, but it does the work for email. Trigger options include form submissions, clicks, and cart abandonments.
- Email creator and templates :
Mailerlite and Constant Contact are both great when it comes to using the email generator itself. Both offer the option of using a drag-and-drop editor and an HTML email editor for those who prefer to code their emails themselves. They both support email surveys and e-commerce campaigns, but Constant Contact has a wider range of email templates to choose from.
- RSS email campaigns :
MailerLite's RSS-to-email feature automatically inserts the latest posts from your blog into an email and is available in the free package. Constant Contact, surprisingly, does not have this feature.
MailerLite vs Constant Contact: Price
- MailerLite offers a free plan that gives you the choice between a drag-and-drop email editor and a rich text editor, but no access to newsletter templates. This plan includes up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. You have landing pages, registration forms and pop-ups, an unsubscribe page builder, email automation, RSS campaigns, A/B testing, email campaign reports, and surveys.
- For comparable features, you'll need to sign up for Constant Contact's Email Plus plan, which starts at $45/month.
- Paid plans for MailerLite start at $10/month and the cost increases as soon as you exceed 1,000 subscribers. These plans include access to the custom HTML editor, newsletter templates, custom domains, custom domains, promotion pop-ups often used in e-commerce, the option to automatically refer subscribers who didn't open your first email, time zone delivery optimization, dedicated IP addresses, and advanced tracking.
Start with MailerLite.
2. ActiveCampaign.
ActiveCampaign is another growth platform that covers marketing, sales, and service. It's a good alternative for more experienced marketers looking to incorporate advanced automation into their marketing strategy.
ActiveCampaign vs Constant Contact: Features
- A/B testing :
As mentioned earlier, one of the main drawbacks of Constant Contact is the fact that it only allows you to test the subject line. With ActiveCampaign, not only can you test both the subject line and email content, but you can also test the performance of your entire automation workflow with up to 5 versions at once. Anything you can automate, you can test.
- Automation :
Constant Contact has very simple automation features that can easily become quite limiting if you are looking to expand. ActiveCampaign uses triggers and actions as well as site and event tracking to create truly powerful automations. Triggers you can add include subscribing or unsubscribing someone from a list, submitting a form, forwarding an email, replying to an email, abandoning the cart, etc. ActiveCampaign also comes with an integrated CRM that you can combine with automation tools to improve your sales.
- Analyses and reports :
Constant Contact reports offer standard email metrics: open rate, click rate, bounce rate, and unsubscribes. You can also compare up to 5 emails to see how they stack up against each other. ActiveCampaign reports are much more comprehensive. They are divided into five report categories: campaigns, automation, goals, contacts, and chats. Each of these reports is then divided into sub-reports for more details.
ActiveCampaign vs Constant Contact: Price
- ActiveCampaign doesn't have a free plan, but its lowest paid plan starts at $9/month, which is significantly lower than Constant Contact's lowest plan at $20/month. ActiveCampaign's Lite plan generally has more going for it than Constant Contact's Email plan, including marketing automation and unlimited forms and autoresponders. ActiveCampaign's Lite plan includes unlimited email sends for 500 subscribers.
- For $20/month, Constant Contact's Email plan also allows you to send unlimited emails to 500 subscribers, but it doesn't include forms, and the only automation available on this plan is to resend emails to people who haven't opened them.
- The higher ActiveCampaign levels start at $49/month and include more advanced features like Facebook custom audiences, integrations, and SMS marketing. Deep automation and machine learning are available starting at $149. The price varies depending on the number of subscribers you have.
Start with ActiveCampaign.
3. GetResponse.
GetResponse is another interesting alternative to Constant Contact, especially for publishers, e-commerce, blogs, or startups.
GetResponse vs Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
With GetResponse, you can send 2 types of automated messages: time-based messages (you can use it to send happy birthday messages, for example) and action-based messages (with your standard trigger options). You can also use the tool to automatically mark and note contacts or move them to another list. These automation funnels integrate registration forms, landing pages, emails, online payments, and even webinars. Constant Contact, on the other hand, offers limited automation options (autoresponders and referral to those who didn't open your email), even with its most advanced plan.
- Email creator and templates :
With GetResponse, you can a/b test the content of your email messages, subject lines, form fields, and the day and time each email was sent. As already mentioned, Constant Contact only allows you to test subject lines. GetResponse offers over 200 customizable email templates and over 5,000 free stock photos. Constant Contact gives you access to over 100 customizable email templates, but with a limited number of free stock photos. GetResponse also has an anti-spam test that checks your emails against known spam words and other behaviors to make sure your emails don't end up in your recipients' spam folders, a feature that's not available on the ConstantContact platform. GetResponse also allows you to create newsletters with RSS.
- Analyses and reports :
GetResponse offers the same reporting features as Constant Contact, but it also tracks your email activity in real time, provides you with a geographic map so you can see where in the world the subscribers who opened your emails and clicked on your links are located.
GetResponse vs Constant Contact: Price
- Both GetResponse and Constant Contact are fully paid (not freemium) and their pricing models are based on the number of contacts you have.
- While GetResponse doesn't have a free plan, it's a cheaper alternative to Constant Contact, starting at $15/month. This plan gets you started with 1,000 contacts and includes all email, landing page, and form features, as well as some automation, which is more than Constant Contact's superior plan.
- GetResponse's top-tier plans start at $49 and include advanced automation, abandoned order recovery, and access to their webinar software.
Start with GetResponse.
4. Brevo.
Brevo and Constant Contact are both email marketing platforms that are easy to use and perfect for beginners, but Brevo also has more sophisticated features that make them a more attractive alternative for advanced marketers.
Brevo vs Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
Constant Contact offers a welcome series and automated sequences on their more expensive plan, but has fewer automation options overall than Brevo, and Brevo has automation features available on their free plan. The automation features that Brevo has and that Constant Contact does not include automation workflows using if/then/else logic, dynamic segmentation, automatic lead evaluation, database automation, abandoned cart (Constant Contact only has it with Shopify), on-page event tracking, SMS automation, and the prospects attribution in CRM. Only autoresponders are common to both tools.
- Optimization :
Constant Contact allows you to a/b test your subject lines, but BrevoBrevo also allows you to a/b test your content. Brevo also makes it possible to optimize the sending time, which Constant Contact does not.
- More marketing tools :
Brevo is more than just an email sending tool; it's a marketing platform that gives you lots of different ways to reach new customers and grow your business. Both Sendinblue and Constant Contact have a creator of landing pages and Facebook ads. However, Brevo also has a sales CRM, retargeting ads, live chat, and SMS marketing.
Brevo vs Constant Contact: Price
- Brevo's free plan lets you send 9,000 emails per month (or 300 emails per day) and includes a mobile-friendly email designer, email templates, SMS marketing, comprehensive CRM features, transactional emails, and basic automation and reporting.
- Brevo's pricing model is based on the number of emails sent rather than stored contacts, which means you can have as many subscribers as you want across the board. Constant Contact charges per stored contact, which can quickly become expensive for a small business whose list is growing rapidly.
- Paid plans for Brevo start at $25/month, but the most exciting features like no Brevo branding, a/b testing, and advanced reports are available on levels above $39/month and $66 for landing pages, marketing automation, and Facebook ads.
Start with Brevo.
5. HubSpot Email Marketing.
The email marketing tool of HubSpot is part of a much larger all-in-one platform. The HubSpot platform includes marketing, sales, and customer service tools that enable you to grow and scale your business.
HubSpot vs Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
Constant Contact lets you create automated email sequences, but that's about all you'll get in terms of automation. The HubSpot automation tool goes way beyond the boundaries of email marketing. HubSpot allows you to create customizable autoresponders and complex automation flows. Emails can be triggered when a person performs a specific action or based on a particular characteristic, based on CRM data. You can use one of the pre-built automation flow templates or create your own from scratch. These workflows help you manage your email campaigns, but also manage the internal functioning of your team through contact management, lead evaluation, etc.
- Personalization :
The real power of HubSpot Email Marketing comes from CRM. While Constant Contact offers personalization tags that you can add to your emails, HubSpot's free CRM collects all sorts of data about your website visitors and contacts so you can personalize your emails at scale. CRM not only collects basic information about your subscribers, but it also records all the interactions they have with your business.
- More than just messaging :
HubSpot's free plan offers a lot more value than most email software because of the comprehensive suite of tools you get when you sign up. There are standard email add-ons like forms, CRM, CRM, landing pages, and marketing automation, but you also get an ad management platform, live chat, a chatbot builder, customer service ticketing software, and more. All these tools are natively integrated into the email marketing tool to make your emails more powerful. And it's free! When you upgrade to paid plans, you get even more value for growing your business, such as content strategy, SEO, and social media management tools. Beyond email, Constant Contact has a website builder and an ad creation tool, but HubSpot generally offers more value overall.
HubSpot vs Constant Contact: Price
- Constant Contact doesn't have a free plan, which can be a deterrent if you're just starting out and don't want to commit to a subscription yet. HubSpot's free plan gives you unlimited subscribers and up to 2,000 email shipments per month. You get all CRM features, forms and popups, live chat and bots, and ticketing for free.
- Constant Contact offers 2 paid plans: the Email plan at $20/month and the Email Plus plan at $45/month. Both plans include unlimited mailings for 500 contacts (the price increases as you increase your contact list). Compared to the free HubSpot plan, signup forms are available on the $20 plan, but popups only on the $45 plan.
- HubSpot's paid plans start at $50/month and provide access to advanced automation, personalization, and optimization features. Pricing also changes based on contact levels. You start with 1,000 free contacts and then pay for each additional thousand.
- HubSpot is generally cheaper when you're just starting out or have a small subscriber base. As you go up in payment levels, HubSpot gets more expensive, but you also get a lot more value for growing your business.
Get started with HubSpot Email Marketing.
6. Moosend.
Moosend is another all-in-one marketing platform that has various tools to grow your business. It is a particularly attractive alternative to Constant Contact for e-commerce and travel businesses.
Moosend vs Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
Moosend has more advanced email automation than Constant Contact. The pre-established workflow library includes several templates that are particularly suited to e-commerce. E-commerce templates allow you to send an email to someone who has left items in their cart or someone who has made a particularly important purchase, so you can follow up without having to remember them. There are lots of triggers to choose from, including when someone views a certain product or subscribes to a certain list.
- Personalization :
Constant Contact's customization features allow you to add certain labels to match your contact information, but customizing Moosend is a bit more complex. For example, if you are a clothing store, you can make recommendations based on the weather conditions where your subscriber lives. So you can adapt the content of your emails to show warm sweaters and boots if it's winter in one part of the world and sandals and swimsuits in the other. You can generate product recommendations based on similar purchases made by other customers, or remind someone that it's time to restock a certain product and encourage repeat sales.
- Pay how you want :
If you don't want to commit to a monthly plan, Moosend offers an option called “credits” that allows you to access all the features available in the Pro plan, but you only have to pay for what you need at once.
Moosend vs Constant Contact: Price
- Moosend offers a free plan that allows you to send an unlimited number of non-transactional emails to up to 1,000 contacts and have access to all form types, design options, automation, tracking, and most reports.
- Most of these features are only available on Constant Contact's Email Plus plan, which costs $45.
- Moosend's paid plans start at $10/month and give you access to landing pages, custom reports, and more personal customer support options.
- At the end of the day, Moosend is a much cheaper option than Constant Contact. As with most email tools, the cost actually increases when you increase the number of subscribers to your plan.
Start with Moosend.
7. Omnisend.
Omnisend is another great email sending tool that is popular with online retailers for its e-commerce features and attractive pricing plans.
Omnisend vs Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
Constant Contact offers a bit of customization and automation, but these features are quite limited. Omnisend has pre-established automation models for when someone abandons their cart or simply to welcome a new potential customer. You can also promote cross-selling opportunities by recommending products to your customers based on past purchases. Each template is customizable to fit your own customer journey.
- Forms :
Constant Contact doesn't have custom field options, but you can change the look and feel of your forms to match your brand. Omnisend offers a wide variety of forms with advanced customization options. Omnisend offers popups, embeddable forms, and even a wheel of fortune for a more fun and fun email capture experience.
- Analyses and reports :
Constant Contact offers basic email metrics such as clicks and opens. Because Omnisend is focused on e-commerce, the tool's analytics reports track the performance of your automation workflows with key sales metrics so you can accurately determine what's driving sales and when. In addition to standard engagement metrics, you can measure the ROI of your sales and determine revenue attribution across channels and devices.
Omnisend vs Constant Contact: Price
- Omnisend offers a free plan that allows you to receive up to 15,000 emails per month (or 2,000 per day), one month of historical website tracking data, 3 active signup forms, exit forms, popups, signup boxes, signup boxes, registration boxes, landing pages, landing pages, landing pages, unique discount codes, product content blocks to display your products in your emails, and other e-commerce features.
- Some of Omnisend's free features (e-commerce marketing and landing pages) are available in the Constant Contact Email plan for $20/month. To get customizable popup forms and coupons, you should opt for the $45/month Email Plus plan.
- Paid plans for Omnisend start at $16/month and include more features like automation, SMS marketing, advanced segmentation, unlimited forms, Facebook custom audiences, priority support, and more.
Start with Omnisend
8. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a good Constant Contact alternative for bloggers, YouTubers, freelancers, and affiliate marketers to consider. The platform was built with content creators in mind.
ConvertKit vs Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
ConvertKit offers more advanced email automation features. While Constant Contact's automation feature is limited to autoresponders and drip email campaigns, ConvertKit uses “if this, then that” logic to allow you to build marketing automation flows and sales funnels. You can also combine multiple drip campaigns into a single workflow and tag subscribers based on their preferences for more targeted campaigns.
- Email creator and templates :
Constant Contact has a much larger variety of models than ConvertKit. Convertkit's templates are actually pretty basic. They want to encourage users to create simple emails without too many graphical distractions. Constant Contact has a drag-and-drop creation tool, while ConvertKit has a rich text editor. So here, the choice could depend on your personal preferences.
- Forms :
Convertkit allows you to create various types of forms that are particularly relevant for content creators, such as content offers, newsletter signups, and blog subscription forms for specific blog categories. The form tool is easy to use and allows you to set up a confirmation email once someone has just signed up.
You can also see how Convertkit compares to Mailchimp for more information on this platform.
ConvertKit vs Constant Contact: Price
- ConvertKit offers a free plan that allows you to send emails to up to 1,000 subscribers. You also get unlimited landing pages and forms, customizable domains, and subscriber tagging.
- The most exciting ConvertKit features (i.e. automations and sequences) are available on the paid plan, starting at $29/month, and the price increases based on the number of subscribers you have.
- While Constant Contact doesn't have a free plan, the cheapest paid plan ($20/month) is cheaper than ConvertKit's paid plan and also includes landing pages, signup forms, and custom domains. But ConvertKit's $29 plan offers more value than Constant Contact's $45 plan in terms of automation.
Start with ConvertKit.
9. Mailchimp.
Finally, Mailchimp is a free alternative to Constant Contact for SMEs that offers a good combination of marketing tools to grow your business.
Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: Features
- Automation :
Constant Contact has simple autoresponders and personalization. With Mailchimp, you can send personalized product recommendations and purchase follow-ups and trigger email deliveries based on how your subscribers engage with you.
- Forms :
Both have form builders, but Mailchimp's offers more customization options with custom fields to capture information that is then sent directly to the CRM. Constant Contact fields only offer the standard checkboxes for first name, company name, etc. You can also create a QR code that links to your form within the Mailchimp platform. To do the same with Constant Contact, you need to use a third-party application.
- Analyses and reports :
Constant Contact reports on basic metrics such as opens, clicks, and transfers. Mailchimp offers more advanced reports that explain the various email settings in more detail. You can see how users are engaging with your emails thanks to the click map feature...
Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: Price
- Mailchimp's pricing is much more flexible than Constant Contact, with one free plan, 2 low cost plans, and one premium plan.
- The free plan allows you to send 12,000 emails per month to up to 2,000 subscribers. You get basic segmentation, behavioral targeting, surveys, basic models, a website builder, some automation, and most email functions. Functions similar to Constant Contact are only available on the $45 plan.
- Mailchimp's Essentials and Standard plans, which cost $9.99 and $14.99 per month respectively, give you access to more advanced CRM features, automation, and optimization, as well as a lot more email deliveries and subscribers. The Premium plan is then offered at a much higher price, namely $299 per month, for advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, and adaptations for larger teams.
Get started with Mailchimp.
Conclusion
Bonus: If you're already using MailChimp but want to explore other options, check out this list of best alternatives to Mailchimp.
Constant Contact is a good tool for basic email marketing campaigns and it offers plenty of customer support options. However, it lacks some functions of marketing automation and advanced reporting that people might be looking for in an email marketing tool.
If you need a tool that is more robust, has greater automation and customization, and is scalable, opt for HubSpot or ActiveCampaign.
