ActiveCampaign Starter: $15/Month for 1,000 Contacts—What Happens at the Limit?

Verdict

ActiveCampaign Starter is currently referenced on official comparison pages at $15/month for 1,000 contacts. At that capacity, Starter provides a 10× contact email-send allowance, one user, and five actions per automation. The main buying risk is contact growth: for accounts created on or after November 3, 2025, all contacts count toward the contact limit regardless of list status. If the account hits the limit, campaigns stop sending and automation “Send an email” actions are skipped.

What the 1,000-contact Starter plan includes

Starter includes email campaigns, marketing automation, site tracking, A/B testing, basic forms, the Marketing CRM, limited segmentation/reporting, and limited Active Intelligence features. The current main pricing table lists one user and five actions per automation.

Starter's email-send allowance is 10× the contact limit per billing month. At 1,000 contacts, that equals 10,000 sends. Starter can scale to a maximum contact limit of 25,000, but the $15 public reference does not cover 25,000 contacts; price rises with contact capacity.

Newer accounts count every contact

For accounts created on or after November 3, 2025, ActiveCampaign counts all contacts toward the contact limit—including unsubscribed or otherwise non-marketable records. Accounts created on or before November 2, 2025 use the legacy rule where only active contacts count.

That makes list hygiene a billing-capacity issue for newer accounts. ActiveCampaign also lets you enable contact-limit auto-upgrade. Leaving it off can prevent an automatic tier increase, but it also creates a bigger operational risk if the list reaches its cap.

What happens at the contact limit

**Campaigns stop sending.** You can still create them, but scheduled campaigns that have not started will not send until capacity is increased.

**Automation email actions are skipped.** Automations keep triggering and contacts keep moving through them, but “Send an email” actions are skipped while the account is at or above its contact limit.

**Contacts may still enter the account.** Forms, APIs, and imports can behave differently, and some methods can still add contacts after the limit is reached. Outbound email can therefore be blocked while the database continues growing.

Five automation actions can be a second ceiling

Even with contact capacity left, Starter can become restrictive if a workflow needs more than five actions. Short welcome, lead-magnet, or simple follow-up flows may fit; long branching nurture programs may not.

Higher tiers provide unlimited automation actions and stronger segmentation/reporting, but the main pricing page renders exact amounts dynamically. Reprice the exact contact level and billing period live rather than reusing an old Plus price.

Trial, cancellation, refund, and alternatives

ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day trial with no credit card. Current Help says the trial is based on the Professional plan and is limited to 100 sends. If it expires without a manual upgrade, there is no charge.

Its refund policy is strict: the September 2026 policy says ActiveCampaign generally provides no partial or full refunds. Monthly accounts can cancel from Billing & Upgrade and may be eligible to pause for up to three months. A “Commit Annually, Pay Monthly” plan remains an annual commitment; cancellation takes effect at the end of the annual subscription period.

For context, HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter starts at $20/month with 1,000 marketing contacts. Kit Creator is $33/month equivalent on annual billing for 1,000 subscribers, while Kit Free supports up to 10,000 subscribers. GetResponse Starter is $19/month or $15.58/month equivalent annually for 1,000 contacts with unlimited monthly sends and one custom automation workflow. AWeber Lite is $25/month at 1,000 subscribers with a 10× send cap. MailerLite Comfort starts at $12/month for 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails. These are price/capacity references, not deliverability rankings.

Next step

Use the trial to build the longest automation you really need and test a representative contact set. If five actions and 10,000 monthly sends are enough, Starter can be a low-cost entry point. Before paying, confirm which contact-counting rule applies to the account and decide whether contact auto-upgrade should be enabled.

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