What's the difference between ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter and SpyFu?

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is ActiveCampaign's entry marketing automation product — email marketing, drip campaigns, segmentation, and basic automation at 1,000 contacts baseline for $19/mo monthly ($15/mo annual). Price scales with contact list size: 10K contacts ≈ $149/mo Plus. ActiveCampaign sells 2 additional products with independent pricing not tracked here: ActiveCampaign Sales (standalone CRM), ActiveCampaign Bundle (Marketing + Sales combined at a discount, Bundle Plus at $93/mo is the sweet spot for many customers). All three products scale with contact count. Popular with SMBs and solopreneurs graduating from Mailchimp, while SpyFu is Competitive keyword research tool positioned as the alternative to Semrush (now Adobe) and Ahrefs for teams focused on competitor teardowns ("what's my rival spending on PPC?"). Distinctive for its unlimited-search pricing at flat rates — Semrush caps searches per day at cheaper tiers. Priced $16-$36/mo (annual). Bootstrapped, popular with agencies pitching new clients using competitive-intel decks. Weaker on Google Search Console-caliber content SEO than Ahrefs. On price, activeCampaign Marketing Starter is cheaper on the entry tier at $19/mo vs $39/mo for SpyFu. They also bill differently: ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is per usage and SpyFu is flat rate, so the headline prices only match once you plug in your own volume.

Which costs less, ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter or SpyFu?

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is cheaper on the entry tier at $19/mo vs $39/mo for SpyFu.

Is ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter or SpyFu priced per seat or per usage?

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter bills on usage — contacts on top of a paid plan starting at $19/mo. The plan includes an allowance; anything beyond it is metered. SpyFu bills on a fixed plan from $39/mo, so the listed price is what you pay regardless of volume.

Does ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter have a free plan?

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter's free-plan availability isn't confirmed — check the pricing page for the latest.

Does SpyFu have a free plan?

SpyFu's free-plan availability isn't confirmed — check the pricing page for the latest.

How does ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter pricing compare to SpyFu for enterprise use?

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter offers a dedicated enterprise tier with custom pricing. SpyFu does not publish an enterprise plan.

When were these prices last verified?

Pricing was last checked on October 3, 2026.

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter vs SpyFu — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)

TL;DR

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter starts at $19/mo. SpyFu starts at $39/mo. ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is $20/mo cheaper on the entry tier than SpyFu.

Checked October 2, 2026

See price history: ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter · SpyFu

How pricing works

These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter (Per Usage) — ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter bills on usage — contacts on top of a paid plan starting at $19/mo. The plan includes an allowance; anything beyond it is metered.
SpyFu (Flat Rate) — SpyFu bills on a fixed plan from $39/mo, so the listed price is what you pay regardless of volume.

Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter

Marketing & Email

Starts at

$19/mo

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is ActiveCampaign's entry marketing automation product — email marketing, drip campaigns, segmentation, and basic automation at 1,000 contacts baseline for $19/mo monthly ($15/mo annual). Price scales with contact list size: 10K contacts ≈ $149/mo Plus. ActiveCampaign sells 2 additional products with independent pricing not tracked here: ActiveCampaign Sales (standalone CRM), ActiveCampaign Bundle (Marketing + Sales combined at a discount, Bundle Plus at $93/mo is the sweet spot for many customers). All three products scale with contact count. Popular with SMBs and solopreneurs graduating from Mailchimp.

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SpyFu

Marketing & Email

Starts at

$39/mo

Competitive keyword research tool positioned as the alternative to Semrush (now Adobe) and Ahrefs for teams focused on competitor teardowns ("what's my rival spending on PPC?"). Distinctive for its unlimited-search pricing at flat rates — Semrush caps searches per day at cheaper tiers. Priced $16-$36/mo (annual). Bootstrapped, popular with agencies pitching new clients using competitive-intel decks. Weaker on Google Search Console-caliber content SEO than Ahrefs.

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All plans compared

Tier role	Plan	ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter monthly	ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter annual	SpyFu monthly	SpyFu annual
Entry paid	Starter / Basic	$19	$15	$39	$29
Mid tier	Plus / —	$59	$49	—	—
Pro / power	Pro / Pro + AI	$99	$79	$119	$89
Teams	— / Team	—	—	$249	$187
Enterprise	Enterprise / —	$179	$145	—	—

Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.

What each is best for

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter

ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is worth it if… SMBs (500-5,000 contacts) that need email + basic automation + CRM in one tool without HubSpot's price tag. Starter covers most basic email flows; Plus adds sales automation and SMS.

SpyFu

SpyFu is worth it if… marketing agencies and in-house teams focused on competitor SEO/PPC intelligence — particularly if you want to reverse-engineer competitor keyword bids, ad copy, and organic strategy over time. Pro + AI covers most needs; Team adds more users and data.

Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is per usage, SpyFu is flat rate.

Choose ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter over SpyFu if…

Choose ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter if…

You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, from $19/mo).
You match the profile ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter is built for: SMBs (500-5,000 contacts) that need email + basic automation + CRM in one tool without HubSpot's price tag.
You need a general-purpose marketing & email option rather than a vertical-specific one.

Choose SpyFu if…

You want fixed-price predictability (flat rate, from $39/mo).
You match the profile SpyFu is built for: marketing agencies and in-house teams focused on competitor SEO/PPC intelligence — particularly if you want to reverse-engineer competitor keyword bids, ad copy, and organic strategy over time.
You need a general-purpose marketing & email option rather than a vertical-specific one.

At a glance

	ActiveCampaign Marketing Starter	SpyFu
Free plan	No	No
Entry price	$19/mo	$39/mo
Enterprise available	Yes	No
Pricing model	Per Usage	Flat Rate
Verification	Checked October 3, 2026	Checked October 2, 2026
Full pricing	View full pricing	View full pricing