Best Keap Alternatives for Marketing Automation and Email Marketing 

Keap, formerly Infusionsoft, is a CRM platform for small businesses. It combines CRM, marketing automation, sales automation, and e-commerce functionalities. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of more affordable Keap alternative options that let you achieve exceptional results. Let’s review the top ones. 

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Overview of Keap Competitors 

The best alternatives to Keap range from specialized marketing automation platforms to comprehensive CRM systems that offer integrated sales and customer management solutions. Each one offers a solution targeted at a specific audience with specific features. 

Here’s an overview to help you compare them at a glance: 

Feature	Campaign Refinery	HubSpot	SendGrid	Ontraport	Constant Contact	Active Campaign
Target Audience	SMBs, Solopreneurs	SMBs, Large Enterprises	SMBs, Developers	SMBs	Small Businesses	SMBs
Key Strength	High email deliverability	All-in-one solution	Email automation	CRM integration	User-friendly interface	Marketing automation
Value for Money	10	8	6	8	6	7
Ease of Use	10	8	7	7	9	7
Tag-based Email System	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Advanced Sender Reputation Practices	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Campaign Modification per Subscriber	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Complex Workflows	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Engagement Rewards	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Automatic List Cleaning	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Price for 50,000 Contacts	$299/month	$735/month	$120/month	$549/month	$430/month	$486/month

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Campaign Refinery

At Campaign Refinery, we began with a clear mission to offer a superior alternative to Infusionsoft, now known as Keap. Our focus isn’t just to be another all-in-one service with email marketing features. Instead, our platform is built from the ground up for email marketing.

The table below shows how our platform stacks up against Keap. 

Feature	Campaign Refinery	Keap
Pricing structure	Per email – optimized for growth	Per contact – hinders growth
Campaign optimization	Advanced	Basic
Automation flexibility	High	Moderate
Ease of Use	10	7
Affordability	10	5
Email list segmentation	✅	✅
Unlimited contacts	✅	❌
Advanced deliverability	✅	❌
Advanced sender reputation practices	✅	❌
Engagement gamification	✅	❌
Built around proven email marketing frameworks	✅	❌
Automatic list cleaning	✅	❌

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Pros 

• High email deliverability: Starting from day one, we maintain your sender reputation with best practices like domain authentication. This ensures your emails stay clear of the spam folder and the promotions tab. 
• Quality community: Every client at Campaign Refinery goes through a strict vetting process. We focus on quality senders, keeping spam and cold emailing out. This boosts sender reputation for everyone.
• Growth-friendly pricing: Our credit-based pricing links your spending directly to email marketing efforts. We support your growth without hidden fees or increasing charges as your email list grows.
• Effortless list cleaning: Our platform automatically cleans your list every 30 and 180 days. We proactively remove risky contacts to protect your sender reputation.
• Advanced automation: Create personalized drip campaigns with our Branch & Rule builder. Use tags, custom fields, and engagement data for tailored messages. Adjust your messaging based on subscriber actions.
• Easy to use interface: Our user interface is straightforward and efficient. Everything is accessible within a few clicks, and we continually update it for even better usability.

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Cons 

• Limited focus: We’re laser-focused on email marketing. While we don’t offer side-features like landing page builders, if you prioritize email effectiveness, Campaign Refinery is an excellent fit.

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Pricing

At Campaign Refinery, our pricing is based on a credit system, not on how many contacts you have. This means you pay only for the emails you send and the number of times you clean your list. There are no hidden fees or unexpected charges.

We don’t offer a standard free trial. Instead, we thoroughly vet every new client before they join our platform. This process ensures our community consists of dedicated marketers focused on responsible and effective email strategies.

You can learn more about our tiers and apply to become a valued client on our pricing page. 

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Hubspot 

HubSpot is a comprehensive automation and email marketing platform known for its robust inbound marketing capabilities. As a Keap competitor, HubSpot offers CRM, email marketing, social media marketing, content management, and web analytics. 

Users can manage almost every aspect of their marketing strategy within a single ecosystem, from content creation and SEO to lead nurturing and analytics. 

Plus, HubSpot’s user-friendly interface and extensive training resources make it a good choice for both beginners and experienced marketers. 

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Pros

• Powerful analytics: The platform offers comprehensive analytics and reporting features. You can easily track campaign performance and make data-driven decisions. 
• Rich learning resources: HubSpot offers extensive learning materials, including guides, webinars, and courses. These are ideal for small business owners who need to improve their digital marketing skills. 

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Cons 

• Limited advanced features: Although HubSpot is comprehensive, it’s not specialized in any one area. So, if you need specialized email marketing frameworks, you’ll find the platform lacking.
• Inbound focus: HubSpot is primarily designed for inbound marketing. Companies that rely heavily on sales and advertising won’t find all the tools they need. 
• Complex onboarding process: Some users find the onboarding process to be time-consuming and complex. While HubSpot offers extensive training resources, getting fully up to speed with all its features can be a challenge, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. 

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Pricing 

HubSpot users often point out its pricing as a significant drawback. The costs escalate quickly as your business grows because the company charges you based on the number of contacts and the features you use. 

The lowest plan starts at $20 per month for 1,000 contacts. You’ll get 10 percent off if you commit to an annual plan. 

• Price for 10,000 contacts? Starting at $176 per month. 
• Price for 100,000 contacts? Starting at $1616 per month. 

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SendGrid 

SendGrid is primarily known for its email delivery services. The company specializes in email marketing and marketing automation. 

SendGrid is a popular choice for businesses looking to manage large-scale email campaigns and transactional emails. The platform offers robust tools for creating, sending, and tracking emails. 

SendGrid lets you send both marketing and transactional emails. That means you can send your promotional campaigns and order confirmation emails from the same platform. But you have to pay for two separate subscriptions if you want both types of functionalities. 

SendGrid’s focus on email can be a deal breaker if you want an all-in-one marketing automation platform with CRM integration or advanced segmentation. 

We also have a full article on SendGrid alternatives on our blog. Don’t miss it. 

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Pros

• Custom HTML: SendGrid has a custom HTML building tool that lets you create unique, free-form email templates from scratch.
• Reliable with easy API integration: The platform is known for its reliability, and most users say that its API integration is straightforward and user-friendly. 
• Generous free version: Compared to other Keap alternatives, SendGrid’s free version supports up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 sends. 

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Cons

• High Pricing: SendGrid’s pricing is on the higher side compared to many other Keap competitors, which might be a concern for budget-conscious businesses.
• Shaky customer support: Some users complain about the quality of customer service responsiveness and helpfulness. 

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Pricing 

The platform offers multiple pricing tiers with different features and contact caps. SendGrid also charges you based on the number of teammates that access the platform. So, if you want more than one person to handle your marketing automation account, you’ll have to pay extra. 

• Price for 10,000 contacts? Starting at $25 per month. 
• Price for 100,000 contacts? Starting at $500 per month. 

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Ontraport 

Ontraport is a versatile marketing automation and CRM platform for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers a range of tools for email marketing, lead capture, landing page creation, and payment processing. Ontraport supports diverse business models, like event management, membership courses, and affiliate marketing.

Unlike many all-in-one platforms, Ontraport users seem happy with the specialized features they receive. Ontraport claims to replace a whole range of marketing platforms with its comprehensive features, including Keap, HubSpot, ClickFunnels, and Kajabi. 

But the platform’s broad functionality can be overwhelming for new users. Some users find the automation maps confusing, and aspects like email creation can be clunky. Additionally, the platform’s costs can also be a barrier for smaller businesses.

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Pros

• Robust customer support: Ontraport is famous for its helpful customer support. Their responsiveness is a plus for many customers. 
• High customizability: Users can tailor Ontraport extensively to fit their specific marketing and CRM requirements.

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Cons

• Steep learning curve: New users often find Ontraport complex and overwhelming, requiring significant time to fully understand and utilize its extensive features.
• Cost considerations: Because it has a lot of features, Ontraport can be expensive, especially for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets. 
• Clunky email interface: Some users report that creating, saving, and sending emails can be awkward and  unintuitive.

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Pricing

Ontraport typically offers tiered pricing plans that cater to different business sizes and needs. These plans are different in terms of number of contacts, team member seats, and features. If you pay annually, you’ll get two months for free. 

• Price for 10,000 contacts? Starting at $269 per month. 
• Price for 50,000 contacts? Starting at $549 per month. 

Note: Ontraport users with larger lists have to contact the sales department for a quote. 

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Constant Contact 

Constant Contact is a feature-packed platform that focuses on small businesses. It offers tools for email marketing, CRM, social media marketing, SMS marketing, and more. The platform is known for its user-friendly interface and making digital marketing accessible to novices. 

The integrated CRM lets you build customized automations, such as lead nurturing campaigns and follow-up messages with sales. 

A key feature of Constant Contact is its extensive library of email templates, coupled with its drag-and-drop email editor. 

But the same level of simplicity that makes constant contact a great tool for beginners takes away from its appeal for advanced marketers. As an all-in-one solution, Constant Contact doesn’t offer the same level of specialization you can get from its alternatives like Campaign Refinery. 

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Pros

• User-friendly interface: The platform features a clean and intuitive interface, making it easy for users to navigate and manage their email marketing campaigns.
• Simple email campaign creation: With its drag-and-drop feature, building email marketing campaigns in Constant Contact is straightforward and user-friendly, even for those with limited technical skills.

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Cons

• Customer support issues: Many customers are unhappy with the quality and speed of customer support. 
• Clunky email builder: Some users find the process of building emails a bit clunky and less smooth than expected.
• Limited integrations: While Constant Contact offers some integrations, users often rely on Zapier. 

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Pricing 

Like many Keap competitors, Constant Contact offers a tiered pricing structure based on the number of contacts in your list. Each tier also has a cap on the number of team member seats, storage capacity, and monthly email sends. 

If you commit to a six-month or annual plan, you’ll get 10 and 15 percent off, respectively. 

• Price for 10,000 contacts? Starting at $120 per month. 
• Price for 50,000 contacts? Starting at $430 per month.

Note: If your list is larger than 50,000 contacts, you’ll have to contact the sales department for a personalized quote. 

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ActiveCampaign 

Like many Keap alternatives, ActiveCampaign offers tools for email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM. But it has a reputation as a reliable email marketing solution. 

Key features include a campaign designer, template options, segmentation, and personalization. The platform can handle complex automations and track customer interactions across multiple touchpoints. 

ActiveCampaign isn’t beginner-friendly, though. For one, the most affordable plan, aka Lite, is severely limited and it costs relatively higher than other platforms. Secondly, the sheer volume of features makes the platform challenging for novice marketers. 

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Pros

• Strong CRM: The platform offers a seamless CRM that enhances your ability to track and manage customer interactions.
• Comprehensive feature set: You can get a lot done with this all-in-one solution. There are options for advanced campaign design, segmentation, and personalization options.

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Cons

• Learning curve: You have to invest significant time and effort to learn how to use ActiveCampaign’s full capabilities effectively.
• Glitchy campaign designer: Some users have reported issues with the campaign designer tool, including glitches and saving problems.
• Slow customer support: Resolving issues through customer support can be slow, according to some customers, and it might cause delays in your operations.
• Short free trial: The platform only offers a 14-day free trial, which may not be enough to fully explore and understand its extensive features before making a commitment.

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Pricing

ActiveCampaign’s pricing is structured into tiers with different features, contact limits, and number of users. According to the company, this structure lets customers only pay for what they use. But, in reality, you may end up paying much more than you anticipate, especially as your business grows. 

• Price for 10,000 contacts? Starting at $174 per month. 
• Price for 50,000 contacts? Starting at $486 per month.

Note: If your list is larger than 50,000 contacts, you’ll have to contact the sales department for a personalized quote. 

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Nimble

Nimble is a streamlined CRM platform that also incorporates elements of marketing automation. It focuses on simplifying CRM for small to medium-sized businesses. 

Nimble sits on top of Microsoft 360 or Google G Suite and integrates email interactions into CRM functionality. 

What sets Nimble apart is its social media integration. The platform collects information from various social media channels and integrates it into customer profiles. This feature is ideal for businesses that heavily rely on social media for marketing and engagement.

But Nimble’s marketing automation capabilities are basic compared to specialized platforms. If you’re looking for in-depth marketing automation and email marketing features, Nimble might not be for you. 

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Pros

• A single plan: Nimble offers a straightforward, single-plan approach, making it easy for users to access all available features without the complexity of multiple tiers.
• Robust customer support: The platform is known for its strong customer support, providing reliable and helpful assistance to users.

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Cons

• Limited growth potential: Nimble only supports up to 35,000 contacts at the time of writing. So, it might not be a great option if you’re looking to scale your email list. 
• Basic analytics: The platform’s analytics and reporting features are somewhat limited, which could be a drawback for data-driven businesses.
• Only 2GB of storage: Users find the storage in Nimble restrictive, especially as their customer data and interactions grow. You can get extra storage, but it comes at an additional cost. 

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Pricing 

Nimble offers a straightforward pricing structure with a single plan at $29.99 per month. This plan includes up to 25,000 contacts and 2GB of storage. The price drops to $24.99 if you commit to an annual plan. 

If you need more capacity, adding 10,000 more contacts costs an additional $10 per month. And increasing storage by 10GB also sets you back an extra $10 per month. 

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Vtiger One

Vtiger One is a CRM software designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It’s built on an open-source core, which means you can modify and extend the code if you want to customize the solution to match your needs. 

Like other open-source email marketing software, the core version is free. The commercial version supports sales, automation, and help desk automation. 

But Vtiger One doesn’t offer the seamless experience you can get from many of the platforms on this list. Some users aren’t happy with the organization features and complain about the clunky update process and the user interface. 

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Pros

• Mobile accessibility: Vtiger offers a mobile app for both Android and iOS, giving you convenient access to your CRM on the go.
• AI support: Vtiger Calculus is an AI-based tool that offers intelligent insights and advice to simplify decision-making for customer-facing teams.

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Cons

• Steep learning curve: The open-source nature of Vtiger can make it more challenging to learn how to use the platform, especially for users who aren’t tech-savvy. 
• Customization requires technical skills: To achieve true customization in Vtiger, you need a good level of technical skills, which may not be feasible for all businesses.
• Limited community support: Despite being open-source, there’s a noticeable lack of a robust community around the core version, which can be a drawback if you want community-driven support and resources.

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Pricing

Vtiger has a free edition called Vtiger Pilot, a simple marketing automation platform that lets you manage contacts and send 1000 emails per month. You can purchase add-ons, such as custom fields and live chat agents, to increase Pilot’s functionality. 

Vtiger’s pricing is on the strange side because the plans have a cap on the number of database records. 

The most affordable plan starts at $15 per month. You’ll get a single CRM with one user seat and 100,000 database records. 

If you need more features and higher caps, you’ll have to upgrade to the Professional or Enterprise plans. 

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Salesforce 

Salesforce is one of the leading and most comprehensive CRM platforms in the market. Its features cover sales management, customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development. 

The platform is highly scalable and supports businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. Nevertheless, enterprise-level businesses get the most out of Salesforce’s platform. 

Salesforce’s AppExchange marketplace lets you extend the platform’s functionality and integrate it with almost any platform you can imagine.

That said, Salesforce’s complexity and wide range of features can be overwhelming to small businesses without a dedicated IT team. Using the platform requires a significant investment in training and customization. Plus, the pricing can be on the higher end. 

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Pros

• Comprehensive lead and sales tracking: Salesforce is excellent at managing various aspects of a business, including lead generation, sales, contacts, and interactions in almost all industries and business models.
• No-code customization: The platform offers a no-code approach, allowing users to customize and adapt it to their needs without requiring advanced technical skills.

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Cons

• Steep learning curve: Salesforce’s complexity leads to a steep learning curve, which can be a hurdle, especially for small businesses or those without a dedicated IT team.
• High cost for premium features: Accessing premium features can become costly, particularly when needed for multiple users, which might be a significant investment for some businesses.

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Pricing

Salesforce offers various products, each with its own pricing structure. For their CRM targeted at small businesses, Salesforce offers four pricing tiers, starting at $25 per user per month with an annual commitment. The higher tiers offer more advanced features and go up to $80 per month at the time of writing. 

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Ready to Switch to the Best Keap Alternative? 

Discover how Campaign Refinery surpasses Keap with our advanced deliverability optimization and email automation. 

We know your success hinges on reliably reaching your audience’s inboxes. That’s why we’ve developed a robust system focused on optimizing deliverability. 

But don’t just take our word for it. Hear it from our happy clients who’ve seen real results and experienced the difference firsthand.