Campaign Management SoftwareSome links are affiliate links. They cost you nothing. Running campaigns across five different tools is how leads slip through. An email goes out late. A follow-up never happens. And nobody can say which campaign actually brought in the sale. Campaign management software fixes that. It puts your emails, automations, contacts and results in one place, so you can plan a campaign, send it and see what it earned. Below, we compare 15 campaign management tools on real pricing, features and fit. Start with the comparison table, or jump to the ranked list to see who each tool suits and who should skip it.
Brevo is the best all-round pick for most small teams. It's cheap, it charges by emails sent instead of contacts stored, and automation arrives on its Standard plan. Zoho Campaigns costs even less if you already use Zoho. Benchmark ONE suits teams that want a free CRM and email together. Skip Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Adobe Campaign unless you have a dedicated team and a budget for setup.
Some links are affiliate links. They cost you nothing. Running campaigns across five different tools is how leads slip through. An email goes out late. A follow-up never happens. And nobody can say which campaign actually brought in the sale. Campaign management software fixes that. It puts your emails, automations, contacts and results in one place, so you can plan a campaign, send it and see what it earned. Below, we compare 15 campaign management tools on real pricing, features and fit. Start with the comparison table, or jump to the ranked list to see who each tool suits and who should skip it. Brevo is the best all-round pick for most small teams. It's cheap, it charges by emails sent instead of contacts stored, and automation arrives on its Standard plan. Zoho Campaigns costs even less if you already use Zoho. Benchmark ONE suits teams that want a free CRM and email together. Skip Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Adobe Campaign unless you have a dedicated team and a budget for setup.
Benchmark ONE
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Zoho Campaigns
Marketing 360
Adobe Campaign
iContact Pro Marketing Automation
Keap
Wrike
Act-On
AWeber Email Marketing
Autopilot
Mailchimp
Sendinblue
SharpSpring
Freshworks CRM
Quick Picks
| Pick | Tool | Why | Starting price |
| Best overall for small teams | Brevo | Pay by emails sent, unlimited contacts, automation on higher plans | Free; paid from about $9/mo |
| Best on a tight budget | Zoho Campaigns | Free plan and very low paid tiers, strongest inside Zoho | Free; paid from about $3/mo |
| Best free CRM plus email | Benchmark ONE | CRM, automation and landing pages on a free plan | Free up to 250 contacts |
| Best all-in-one for service businesses | Keap | Leads, follow-up, booking and payments in one system | $299/mo ($249/mo billed yearly) |
| Best for B2B marketing teams | Act-On | Pay only for contacts you actually email | $900/mo for 2,500 active contacts |
| Best for planning and approvals | Wrike | Keeps campaign work, deadlines and sign-offs organized | Free; Team plan $10/user/mo |
| Best for large enterprises | Salesforce Marketing Cloud | Multi-channel campaigns on a big data foundation | Quote only |
Campaign management software compared
Prices are list prices as of October 13, 2026. Where a figure comes from a third-party tracker instead of the vendor, we say “reported.”
| Tool | Starting price | Free option | Best for | Biggest weakness |
| Brevo | Free; paid from about $9/mo | Free plan | Small teams with big lists | Starter has no automation |
| Zoho Campaigns | Free; paid from about $3/mo | Free plan | Teams already on Zoho | Few connections outside Zoho |
| Benchmark ONE | Free up to 250 contacts | Free plan | Email and CRM in one tool | Paid prices aren’t clear upfront |
| Mailchimp | Free; paid from $13/mo | Free plan | Beginners, simple newsletters | Costs climb as your list grows |
| Keap | $299/mo ($249 billed yearly) | No free plan | Service businesses | High entry price |
| Ortto (formerly Autopilot) | From about $199/mo | Free trial | Visual customer journeys | Costs rise with contacts |
| Act-On | $900/mo | Demo only | Mid-size B2B teams | Steep start, annual contract |
| AWeber | Free; paid from $15/mo | Free plan, 14-day trial | Simple email and autoresponders | Prices jumped in late 2024 |
| iContact | From $9/mo | 30-day trial | Small lists on a budget | Standard plan limits automation |
| Wrike | Free; Team $10/user/mo | Free plan | Planning and approvals | Doesn’t send campaigns |
| Freshworks CRM | $9/user/mo | Free plan | Sales-led teams | Light on campaign tools |
| SharpSpring (now Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM) | About $449/mo (reported) | Demo only | Agencies, growing B2B teams | Pricing hidden behind a demo |
| Marketing 360 | Quote only | Free account for a quote | Local businesses wanting it done for them | No public pricing |
| Salesforce Marketing Cloud | Quote only | Demo | Large multi-channel teams | Setup and add-on costs |
| Adobe Campaign | Quote only | Trial reported | Large enterprises | Slow, complex setup |
What is campaign management software?
Campaign management software helps you plan, send and measure marketing campaigns from one place. It usually covers email, automated follow-ups, contact lists, landing pages and reports. Some tools add SMS, a CRM or social posting.
A plain email tool sends messages. Campaign management software also decides who gets which message, when they get it and what happens next. That’s the difference between blasting a newsletter and running a real campaign.
Which problem are you trying to fix?
Most people shop for this software because something specific hurts. Find yours first. It narrows the list fast.
| Your problem | What to look for | Tools in this list that fit |
| Leads go cold because follow-up is manual | Automations that trigger on sign-ups and clicks | Brevo (Standard plan), Benchmark ONE, Keap, Act-On, Ortto |
| The bill jumps every time my list grows | A pricing model that matches how you send | Brevo (billed by sends), Act-On (billed by active contacts) |
| Email is in one tool, contacts in another | A built-in CRM | Benchmark ONE, Keap, Freshworks CRM, Brevo |
| I can’t tell which campaign made money | Contacts tied to deals and reports | Benchmark ONE (Pro), Keap, Salesforce Marketing Cloud |
| My team can’t keep campaigns organized | Task boards, deadlines, approvals | Wrike |
| I don’t have weeks to learn a new tool | Simple setup and templates | Mailchimp, iContact, AWeber, Zoho Campaigns |
| I want someone else to run it | Managed services | Marketing 360 |
Which tool should you pick?
- Solo, or a team under five with a small list: Zoho Campaigns, iContact, AWeber or Mailchimp’s free plan.
- Want email and CRM together on a small budget: Benchmark ONE or Brevo.
- Service business that wants leads, booking and invoices in one place: Keap.
- Already on Zoho: Zoho Campaigns, no contest.
- B2B team with a long sales cycle: Act-On or Ortto.
- Agency running campaigns for many clients: SharpSpring (Constant Contact Lead Gen & CRM), or Benchmark ONE’s agency plan.
- Team that struggles with planning and approvals: Wrike, paired with a sending tool.
- Sales team that also sends some email: Freshworks CRM.
- Large company with IT support: Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Adobe Campaign.
- No time to run it yourself: Marketing 360.
How to choose campaign management software (Buyer Guide)
- Start with one problem
Use the table above. If you can’t name the problem in one sentence, you aren’t ready to buy yet.
- Check how the price scales
Some tools charge for contacts stored. Some charge for emails sent. One charges for contacts you actually email. A few charge per user. Run your own numbers, not the starter price.
- Test a real campaign
During the trial, build a welcome sequence, import a real list and send a test. Then look at the report. If you can’t tell what worked, keep looking.
- Check your connections
List the tools you already use: your CRM, website forms, payment tool and ad accounts. Confirm each one connects directly, not through a workaround.
- Plan your exit
Ask how you’d export your contacts and what happens if you cancel. Check for auto-renewals and annual-only billing.
Red flags in a demo
- The rep can’t show pricing for your list size.
- Setup is described as “easy” but no timeline is given.
- They won’t show a report from a real campaign.
- Key features are “coming soon.”
- There’s a long lock-in and no clear way to export your data.
How much does campaign management software cost?
Expect $0 to $50 a month for simple email tools, about $200 to $900 a month for tools with automation and a CRM, and custom quotes for enterprise platforms.
Pricing models at a glance
| Model | How it works | Tools in this list | Watch out for |
| Per contact stored | You pay for the size of your list | Mailchimp, AWeber, iContact, Zoho Campaigns, Benchmark ONE, Ortto | Unsubscribed contacts can still count |
| Per email sent | You pay for volume | Brevo | Frequent senders pay more |
| Per active contact | You pay for contacts you email | Act-On | Annual contract |
| Per user | You pay per seat | Wrike, Freshworks CRM | Costs grow with team size |
| Single plan | One price, limits on contacts and users | Keap | High entry price |
| Quote only | You talk to sales | SharpSpring, Marketing 360, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe Campaign | Add-ons and setup fees |
Two worked examples
Example 1: A small business with 500 contacts and one newsletter a week. At list prices, a year costs roughly: Zoho Campaigns $36, iContact $108, Brevo $108, Mailchimp $156 and AWeber $180. None of these is expensive. Pick on features and ease of use.
Example 2: A team that needs automation and a CRM. Approximate first-year cost at list price, with different contact limits, so treat it as a rough guide:
| Tool | Roughly, year one |
| Ortto (Starter) | $2,388 |
| Benchmark ONE (Pro, plus $199 onboarding) | $2,827 |
| Keap (billed yearly) | $2,988 |
| SharpSpring (about $449/mo, plus reported onboarding) | $7,387 |
| Act-On (Professional) | $10,800 |
Costs that surprise people
- Setup fees: Benchmark ONE’s Pro plan includes a $199 onboarding package. SharpSpring’s is reported near $1,999.
- Add-ons: Zoho’s dedicated sending address is $35/mo. Brevo’s logo removal on Starter is about $10/mo.
- Automatic tier jumps: Mailchimp can move you up a plan if you exceed send limits.
- Annual contracts: Act-On requires one, and Wrike’s Business plan is billed yearly only.
- Price rises: AWeber raised prices sharply in December 2024. Mailchimp’s prices have also crept up.
Always confirm current prices on the vendor’s site before you pay.
What you get back: the business value
A tool pays for itself when it saves time or wins deals, you’d otherwise lose.
Try this math. Two people each spend four hours a week on manual sends, list pulls and follow-ups. At $30 an hour, that’s about $240 a week, or roughly $1,040 a month. If a $200/mo tool cuts that time in half, you save about $520 a month. After paying for the tool, you’re up about $320 a month, before counting a single extra sale.
But it only works if people use it. Here’s what usually goes wrong:
- Nobody owns it. Pick one person to run it.
- Messy data goes in. Clean your list before you import it.
- You pay for features nobody turns on. Don’t buy an automation plan if you only send newsletters.
- Emails land in spam. Set up your domain’s sending authentication before your first big send.
- Too many tools overlap. If your CRM already sends email, check whether you need a second tool.
Three illustrative scenarios
These are examples, not customer case studies.
A solo consultant with 400 contacts. She needs a monthly newsletter and a welcome email. A free or very low-cost plan from Zoho Campaigns, Brevo or iContact does the job. She spends an afternoon on setup and skips paying for automation she won’t use.
A six-person service business. Leads arrive from a website form and a phone line, and follow-up is inconsistent. Keap, or Benchmark ONE Pro, puts the pipeline, automated follow-up and reporting in one place. Setup takes a couple of weeks, and the first thing to build is the new-lead follow-up sequence.
A 40-person B2B company with a three-person marketing team. They run webinars, nurture emails and lead scoring. Act-On or Ortto fits the volume, and Wrike keeps the team’s campaign calendar and approvals tidy. The budget is real, so they negotiate the contract and ask about onboarding costs first.
How we evaluated these tools
We compared each tool on automation, CRM and reporting, pricing clarity, setup effort, connections to other tools, and fit by team size. Pricing and plan details come from vendor pricing pages and documentation, cross-checked against independent price trackers, and were last checked on October 13, 2026. We haven’t hands-on tested every tool for this page, so figures from third-party sources are marked “reported.” Where a vendor doesn’t publish pricing, we say so instead of guessing.
Our commercial relationships, including affiliate links, are disclosed on the site. They don’t cost you anything.
Frequently asked questions
Q. What is campaign management software?
A. It’s software that helps you plan, send and measure marketing campaigns in one place. It typically combines email, automation, contact lists, landing pages and reports, and some tools add SMS and a CRM.
Q. What’s the difference between campaign management software and an email marketing tool?
A. An email tool sends messages. Campaign management software also automates who gets what and when, and tracks results across the whole campaign. Many tools on this list do both.
Q. Which campaign management software is best for small businesses?
A. For most small businesses, Brevo offers the best mix of price and features. Zoho Campaigns is the pick if you already use Zoho, and Benchmark ONE suits teams that want a CRM and email together. Choose based on your biggest problem, not the longest feature list.
Q. How much does campaign management software cost?
A. Simple email tools run from free to about $50 a month. Tools with automation and a CRM typically run about $200 to $900 a month. Enterprise platforms are quote only. Add setup fees and add-ons to the sticker price.
Q. Is there free campaign management software?
A. Yes, with limits. Brevo, Zoho Campaigns, Benchmark ONE, Mailchimp, AWeber, Wrike and Freshworks CRM all offer a free plan. Limits vary: Brevo allows 300 emails a day, Benchmark ONE and Mailchimp cap you at 250 contacts, and AWeber stops at 500 subscribers.
Q. Do I need a CRM built into my campaign tool?
A. If you track leads and deals, it saves a lot of copying between tools. Benchmark ONE, Keap, Brevo and Freshworks CRM include one. Others connect to a CRM you already use.
Q. How long does setup take?
A. Simple email tools can be running in a day. Tools with automation and a CRM usually take days to a few weeks, depending on how much data you import. Adobe Campaign is at the far end: G2 reviewers report about four months on average.
Q. How should I compare tools before buying?
A. Pick two or three that match your problem. Run the same test campaign in each trial, check what each costs at your list size, and ask about setup fees and contract terms before you decide.