With email marketing being an essential component of any successful online business, choosing the right email marketing platform is crucial.
ActiveCampaign and TinyEmail are two popular solutions, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In this comprehensive ActiveCampaign vs TinyEmail comparison, we will evaluate key factors like market position, ease of use, features, performance, support, pricing, and reputation.
Our goal is to provide an objective analysis to help you make the right choice between ActiveCampaign and TinyEmail.
1. Understanding the Basics
ActiveCampaign was founded in 2003 by Jason VandeBoom. It has over 150,000 customers worldwide, making it one of the most widely-used email marketing platforms. ActiveCampaign holds a 9% market share.
TinyEmail started in 2020 and was created by Seamas Egan from Toronto, Canada. It has over 10,000 customers globally. TinyEmail has less than 1% market share.
ActiveCampaign has an active Facebook community with over 13.8K members. You can join the group here.
TinyEmail also has a Facebook page for users. It currently has 1,1K followers. You can join here.
In terms of market position, ActiveCampaign is significantly larger and more established than TinyEmail. However, TinyEmail has cultivated an engaged user base.
2. Features and Functionality
Below, we’re going to look at some of the most important features to help business owners select the best platform for their specific needs and budget. Our criteria focus on the core functionality and experience of using each platform.
We will look at design customization, built-in features like blogging and ecommerce, third-party integrations, speed and uptime, and overall usability. Customer support and cost will also be evaluated.
With email marketing being a vital tool for lead generation, customer retention, and brand growth, it is critical to select a platform that is affordable, scalable, and aligned with your business goals. Whether you need basic email newsletters or advanced automation, this comparison will help
Automation
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has robust automation capabilities. You can create sequences based on time or user actions. Sequences can send emails, add tags, update custom fields, and more.
With ActiveCampaign, you can set up welcome sequences for onboarding new subscribers, cart abandonment sequences to recover lost sales, and email nurturing tracks to engage contacts over time.
Segmenting contacts is easy with custom fields and tagging. You can target automation workflows to specific groups based on their interests and engagement.
Overall, ActiveCampaign provides powerful and customizable automation tools to streamline your marketing.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail has automation features, but they are more basic compared to ActiveCampaign.
You can set up sequences to send a series of automated emails. These sequences can be triggered by date, subscription, or open email.
TinyEmail’s automation features are easier to set up than ActiveCampaign but less robust. You have less flexibility with custom fields and segmentation.
The platform allows you to automate some follow-up emails and newsletters but lacks advanced behavioral targeting and segmentation options.
For users with simple automation needs, TinyEmail provides adequate capabilities. However, it lacks the sophistication of ActiveCampaign’s automation.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the winner for advanced automation capabilities. It provides significantly more advanced options for creating targeted, customized sequences and workflows. The greater flexibility gives ActiveCampaign the edge.
Email Templates
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has hundreds of professionally designed email templates. They are organized into categories like welcome emails, promotions, newsletters, and more.
You can customize any template by editing colors, fonts, images, and layouts. ActiveCampaign uses a drag-and-drop editor to easily personalize templates.
There are mobile-optimized templates that render flawlessly on smartphones. You can also save custom templates for reuse.
Overall, ActiveCampaign provides beautiful, customizable templates suitable for all industries and campaign types.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail has a small library of basic email templates. There are around 30 free templates covering common use cases.
The templates are easy to customize, but look a bit plain and generic. You can change colors, add images, and modify text blocks.
There are a handful of templates optimized for mobile devices. However, the selection is limited compared to ActiveCampaign.
TinyEmail’s templates work for simple newsletters and announcements. But those wanting more stylish and diverse options may be disappointed.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
Both email marketing tools have a healthy selection of templates. However, ActiveCampaign wins for its vast library of professional, modern, and mobile-friendly templates. The customization options and variety give it a big advantage over TinyEmail’s modest template selection.
Segmentation
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign provides powerful segmentation and targeting capabilities. You can create segments based on any subscriber attribute or behavior.
Built-in filters and tags make it easy to segment by location, email activity, order history, custom fields, and more. Dynamic segments automatically update based on subscriber data.
Combined segments feature boolean logic for very customized grouping. You can target segments with automation, specific messages, and personalized content.
Overall, ActiveCampaign has robust segmentation tools to divide your audience and personalize marketing.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail has more basic email marketing features. Its segmentation tool lacks the power of advanced automation features like those on Active Campaign but it does provide you with the ability to group subscribers by attributes like email opens, clicks, dates subscribed, and location.
There is also segmentation based on categories and tags. However, you are limited to pre-defined filters – no custom field segmentation is available.
Compared to ActiveCampaign, TinyEmail’s segmentation capabilities are fairly rudimentary. There is little ability to create combined or dynamic segments.
TinyEmail lacks the advanced segmentation tools needed for highly targeted, personalized marketing.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the clear winner for its powerful and customizable segmentation tools. It’s the ideal choice for anyone who wants more advanced features to aid in their email marketing efforts. TinyEmail has basic options, but cannot match ActiveCampaign’s ability to finely divide lists and target tailored content.
Analytics
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has powerful email analytics and reporting. You get real-time stats on opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounced emails, and more.
The platform tracks detailed metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and ROI. You can view analytics for individual emails or aggregated campaign data.
Custom reports can be created and shared with others. ActiveCampaign integrates with Google Analytics for expanded insights.
Overall, ActiveCampaign provides deep analytics to optimize campaigns and report on email performance.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail provides basic email analytics and stats. You can view opens, clicks, unsubscribes, and bounces for each campaign.
However, metrics like conversion tracking, ROI, and more advanced segmentation are lacking. TinyEmail’s reporting is fairly rudimentary.
Some custom reports can be generated, but shared access and integration with other analytics tools is limited.
For simple email stats, TinyEmail delivers. But those wanting deeper data analysis will be disappointed.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign wins for providing powerful, customizable analytics and reporting on email performance and engagement. TinyEmail has basic stats but lacks the depth of ActiveCampaign’s analytics capabilities.
Unique Features
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has several unique features that set it apart. Site Tracking allows you to track website visitors and integrate their behaviors with email campaigns. Location-based targeting enables sending emails based on subscriber location data.
Predictive Email Content uses AI to detect content interests and recommend personalized dynamic content. Event Streaming tools track live events and trigger email automation in real time. Email Surveys create and send surveys to gather subscriber feedback and data. These innovative features expand ActiveCampaign’s capabilities beyond basic email marketing.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail does not have many unique features outside of core email functionality. A few additional capabilities include SMS Marketing to send bulk text messages to subscribers, Email Scheduling to schedule the sending of newsletters and broadcasts, and Basic web forms to create simple forms for capturing leads on your website.
While useful, these features are quite common among most email platforms. TinyEmail lacks the unique innovation seen in ActiveCampaign.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign wins for offering an array of innovative features that enhance its capabilities and flexibility as a marketing platform. TinyEmail lacks unique differentiators outside basic email functionality.
3. Ease of Use
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has an intuitive, modern, and user-friendly interface. The dashboard provides easy access to all email campaigns and automation tools.
For beginners, ActiveCampaign is relatively easy to learn. The platform guides you through setting up your first campaign step-by-step.
Helpful tooltips explain features as you use them. ActiveCampaign has extensive documentation and training resources available as well.
The platform feels polished and well-designed. Workflows for designing emails, building automation, and viewing analytics are streamlined.
However, some advanced features may require more expertise to utilize fully when running your email marketing campaigns. However, the core functionality is accessible to email marketing newcomers.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail has a simplistic interface focused just on email campaigns. The pared-down design is easy for beginners to navigate.
Creating basic emails, setting up lists, and sending broadcasts is very straightforward with TinyEmail. Minimalism reduces the learning curve.
However, those wanting to leverage more sophisticated capabilities may find TinyEmail limiting. There is little guidance or documentation provided.
The barebones interface also lacks some polish and intuitiveness. But for simple email needs, TinyEmail’s simplicity helps new users get started.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign wins for offering the most intuitive interface and user experience. Streamlined workflows and robust training resources offset its more extensive features. TinyEmail is basic and limited.
4. Email Deliverability
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has excellent email deliverability rates. Their dedicated deliverability team monitors blacklist status and spam filter triggers.
The platform automatically warms up IP addresses and domain reputations for new accounts. This ensures your emails reliably reach subscriber inboxes.
List hygiene tools like bounce processing and unsubscribe tracking also optimize deliverability over time.
ActiveCampaign also lets you preview your emails across different inbox providers to catch issues pre-send.
Overall, deliverability is a top priority for ActiveCampaign. Their expertise and features maximize the reach of your email campaigns.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail does not provide much visibility into email deliverability and inbox placement. There are no dedicated specialists optimizing your account.
You can see basic stats on bounces and opt-outs. However, there is little guidance on improving deliverability over time.
IP warming and advanced inbox rendering previews are not included. List maintenance options are also limited.
TinyEmail’s barebones approach gives users less support for maximizing email deliverability. Lacking ActiveCampaign’s more proactive safeguards and optimizations.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the clear winner for prioritizing deliverability through automated tools, analytics, and human expertise. TinyEmail’s minimal features leave users with less visibility and support.
5. Customer Support and Community
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign provides multiple support options including email, live chat, phone, and support tickets. Paid plans get faster priority support.
The online knowledge base has help docs, videos, and community forums to self-serve answers to issues. Phone support is available 24/7 for urgent needs.
ActiveCampaign also fosters an engaged customer community. The ActiveCampaign Customer Community group on Facebook has over 13.8K members for sharing tips and feedback.
Overall, ActiveCampaign offers reliable support channels supplemented by an active user community ecosystem.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail offers email and in-app support ticketing for customer issues. But there is no live chat or phone support.
Their online knowledge base has limited troubleshooting content. And there is no integrated user forum for crowdsourced help.
For the community, the TinyEmail page on Facebook has around 1,1K followers. While engaged, it lacks the scale of ActiveCampaign’s community resources.
TinyEmail’s support options lag behind ActiveCampaign’s more comprehensive and responsive offerings augmented by a robust community.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign wins for providing more support channels like chat and 24/7 phone. The expansive knowledge base and active user community also outshine TinyEmail’s fewer self-help resources.
6. Integrations
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign integrates with over 250+ third-party apps and services. These include top tools like Shopify, WordPress, Zapier, and Salesforce.
Key integrations allow you to connect your CRM, ecommerce platform, help desk, and other marketing and sales tools.
This makes ActiveCampaign a central hub to consolidate data, automate workflows between apps, and create a unified customer view.
ActiveCampaign’s extensive integrations ecosystem provides deep connectivity across your tech stack.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail has lightweight integrations with basic apps like Mailchimp, Stripe, Slack, and Zapier.
There is no direct integration with most mainstream ecommerce, CRM, or help desk platforms. Connection requires using Zapier instead.
With fewer than 15 integrations, TinyEmail lacks the seamless connectivity of ActiveCampaign to crucial business systems.
TinyEmail focuses just on core email capabilities versus integrating deeply with complementary tools.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the winner, offering 250+ native integrations to centralize data, automate workflows, and unify systems. TinyEmail has limited connectivity in comparison.
7. Pricing
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign offers 4 paid plans: Lite, Plus, Professional, and Enterprise. Price is based on the number of contacts, with higher tiers adding more features and automation.
The Lite plan is $29/month for up to 500 contacts and comes with email marketing and automation tools. The Plus plan is $49/month for up to 2,500 contacts. The Professional plan is $149/month for 10,000 contacts and advanced features including an AI-powered Predictive sending tool and a customer journey builder.
Sales automation features and other tools like marketing automation, email scoring, site tracking, and CRM are included in all paid plans. There are no costly add-ons.
Discounts are offered for annual billing. Overall, ActiveCampaign is an affordable email marketing tool that provides strong value at competitive prices.
They offer free trials and customized quotes for large or complex use cases. The pricing scales well for growing businesses.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail has a free version and 3 paid plans ranging from $15 – $65 monthly.
TinyEmail is free to send automated emails to up to 500 contacts. Paid plans start at $15/month for unlimited contacts. The Pro plan is $65/month and comes with additional resources and advanced email automation features like pre-built segments, custom segments, and an AI subject line assistant.
Volume discounts are not available, so the per-contact price is higher with TinyEmail for larger lists compared to Mailchimp.
For small lists under 500, the TinyEmail free plan provides strong value. However, those needing advanced capabilities may find the pricing limiting. TinyEmail pricing works best for smaller email lists.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign wins for offering features-packed plans that scale reasonably with business growth. TinyEmail is the cheapest option but shows limitations expanding.
8. Reviews and Reputation
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign earns positive reviews for its powerful features, automation, and integrations. Users praise the platform’s intuitive interface and ease of use.
However, some reviewers feel ActiveCampaign is pricier than competitors. Occasional bugs and quirks are also cited as downsides.
But most agree ActiveCampaign is a top choice for growing businesses wanting robust email marketing capabilities. See more reviews on Capterra and G2.
TinyEmail
TinyEmail gets mixed reviews. Many appreciate the simple interface and low pricing. But others find it too basic with limited functionality.
Negative feedback on Trustpilot centers around the lack of advanced features, integrations, deliverability tools, and reporting. The stripped-down approach doesn’t work for larger email programs.
TinyEmail works well for small email lists with simple needs. But most reviewers suggest choosing a more capable platform as your needs grow.
Winner: ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign wins for earning consistently positive reviews for its balance of ease of use and powerful functionality. TinyEmail’s mixed reception stems from its barebones approach.
9. FAQ’s
ActiveCampaign FAQs
- What kind of automation is available in ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign offers robust automation for welcome sequences, workflows, lead nurturing, transactional emails, abandoned carts, and more. Automation can be triggered based on time or user actions. - Does ActiveCampaign offer A/B testing?
Yes, ActiveCampaign has built-in A/B testing capabilities to test subject lines, content, layouts, and more to optimize your email performance. - Can I connect ActiveCampaign to my ecommerce store?
Yes, ActiveCampaign integrates directly with ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce to connect store data with your email marketing. - How much do ActiveCampaign plans cost?
Paid plans start at $29/month for up to 500 contacts. More expensive tiers add more contacts, features, and automation. Discounts are offered for annual billing.
TinyEmail FAQs
- Does TinyEmail have email templates?
Yes, TinyEmail has around 30 basic email template options including newsletters, promotions, welcome emails, etc. - Is there automation in TinyEmail?
TinyEmail has basic automation for sending email sequences or triggering based on user actions like email opens. But capabilities are limited. - What integrations does TinyEmail offer?
TinyEmail integrates with MailChimp, Stripe, Slack, Zapier, and a handful of other basic platforms. It lacks broader connectivity. - How much does TinyEmail cost?
Paid plans start at $15/month for unlimited subscribers. More expensive tiers add contacts and a few extra features. Discounts for annual plans are minimal.
Final Thoughts
Choose ActiveCampaign if…
ActiveCampaign is the best choice if you want powerful automation, detailed analytics, and deep integrations. It’s optimized for growing businesses that need robust email marketing capabilities.
With its intuitive interface, extensive features, and scalable pricing, ActiveCampaign can support everything from basic newsletters to complex behavioral-based campaigns. It’s an ideal solution for mid-market and enterprise needs.
Choose TinyEmail if…
TinyEmail is best suited for startups, small businesses, and lean teams who just need basic email functionality.
With its simple interface, low pricing, and pared-down features, TinyEmail makes it easy to set up a starter email program. However, it lacks more advanced capabilities to support significant growth.
For anyone with complex email needs or large lists, TinyEmail will quickly show its limitations. Its sweet spot is simpler email use cases.
If you aren’t sure if TinyEmail is right for you, consider reading my favorite TinyEmail Alternatives.