ActiveCampaign or HighLevel

Updated 2026-09-19

Stay on ActiveCampaign if email automation is the heart of your marketing and your other tools are settled. Move to HighLevel if you are paying for a scheduler, a page builder, a course host and an SMS tool beside it, and you want them in one account with one contact record.

What ActiveCampaign is built for

ActiveCampaign is built around email marketing automation with a CRM attached, priced by contact count, aimed at businesses that automate marketing across email and other channels without adding headcount. It suits a business whose growth engine is email automation and whose other functions, from booking to pages, already work well elsewhere.

The point where email alone runs out

A business built on ActiveCampaign often reaches a point where its contact count is driving the bill up while its needs have grown past email: a booking calendar tied to the same contact record, a page builder for landing pages and funnels, a course or membership host, and SMS or phone as a channel alongside email. Each of these is a channel the business has added, not a shortfall in the email tool.

How HighLevel covers the gap

With HighLevel, email sending is billed by volume rather than by how many contacts sit in your list (roughly $0.675 per 1,000 emails sent through the built-in system, as at September 2026), and a calendar, page builder, courses and SMS sit on the same subscription as the CRM. Where ActiveCampaign can still be the fit: an email-only list with refined automations and no real need for phone, booking or pages has less reason to add a second system.

What carries across, what you rebuild, what stays behind

Contacts, tags, custom fields and list membership generally export as a CSV; verify current export options on ActiveCampaign's own site. Automations are rebuilt as workflows, and deal pipelines are rebuilt with your stages mapped across by hand. Past automation reporting and site tracking history do not move and are lost in the switch (as at September 2026).

A realistic timeline for the move

An ActiveCampaign move typically runs 2 to 6 weeks, as at September 2026, driven mainly by how many automations need rebuilding. This is the move where deliverability is most often lost, because the list is large and email is the whole channel: start the sending domain warm-up on day one, keep both tools sending during the overlap rather than cutting over in one step, and clean up tag hygiene before the import rather than after it. We have advised a business whose email tool and HighLevel reported different click counts for the same send; the two systems simply count differently, so pick one as the system of record before comparing anything, and compare trends inside that one tool rather than totals across two. the email deliverability page and the setup timeline tool cover this in full.

Weighing the stay-or-move call

Stay on ActiveCampaign if:

1. Your automations are the asset, and they are working as they are today.
2. Your list is large and your marketing is email-only.
3. Your team has no current need for phone, booking or pages.

Move to HighLevel if:

1. Your contact count is driving the bill and you need more than email.
2. You need a pipeline tied to booking and SMS on the same contact record.
3. You run several businesses and want them separated under one login.

The mistake that costs the most in the first month is treating deliverability as a later task rather than a day-one one, since a list this size punishes a cold sending domain fast. the plan fit test turns the conditions above into a verdict for your own business before you set a moving date.

Questions people ask

Can I move from ActiveCampaign to HighLevel?

Yes. Contacts, tags, custom fields and list membership generally export as a CSV, and automations are rebuilt as workflows using that export as the reference.

Will my automations transfer?

No, they are rebuilt rather than imported, since the two platforms structure logic differently. Rebuild the automations that drive revenue first, then work through the rest.

Will my deliverability hold after the move?

Only if the sending domain is warmed before the list moves. the email deliverability page covers the 2 to 4 week warm-up and the overlap period step by step.

What will a big list cost on HighLevel?

Email sending is billed by volume rather than by contact count, roughly $0.675 per 1,000 emails as at September 2026; the usage fees page and the cost calculator turn your list size and send frequency into a monthly figure.

How do I keep both running while I move?

Run both tools sending through the overlap period rather than cutting over in one step, using one platform as the system of record for click and open counts so the two do not appear to disagree. mailchimp and kit cover two other email-first platforms if either is a closer description of your current tool.

Who should own the deliverability side of this move?

One named person, since the sending domain and warm-up are the step most likely to be skipped under time pressure. Give that person the job of confirming warmup status before any list segment moves over, not just the job of clicking send on the first campaign.

Do site tracking and lead scoring carry over?

No. Past site tracking history and any scoring built on it stay in ActiveCampaign and are not imported, since the two platforms track visitor behavior differently. Treat this as a fresh start for tracking rather than a continuation of the old data.