It’s no secret that Drip email marketing software has been a popular choice for small business owners and entrepreneurs for years. But what happens when you want to switch to a different platform?
The best Drip alternatives on the market offer similar features and pricing but can differ in terms of automation, integrations, and customer support.
So, how do you decide which platform is right for your business?
In this article, we’ll explore some of the key factors to consider when choosing a Drip replacement.
Check out five of the best Drip alternatives:
- EngageBay
- HubSpot
- GetResponse
- ActiveCampaign
- ConvertKit
Happy, reading!
Drip Software in a Nutshell
Drip comes with a robust suite of functionalities to help businesses grow their revenue.
It enables you to run and automate proven email and SMS marketing playbooks.
Some of its features include:
- Web forms: It provides lead ads and forms to convert visitors into leads — and feed your segments.
- Segmentation and reports: Using Drip, you can segment your audience on various filters and run your campaigns effectively. Furthermore, you can generate reports to measure various KPIs.
- Email and SMS automation: Drip offers pre-built email templates that can be customized as needed. No wonder Drip is trusted by eCommerce companies like Spice House, Craft, Haute Hijab, and many others.
But then, why should you consider Drip alternatives for your business?
Read also: 8 Sales Email Automation Tools That Don’t Cost a Bomb
Why You Should Consider Drip Alternatives
Drip comes with some power-packed features.
However, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
When you implement a marketing automation solution, you expect to get value for money. But even with its basic plan, Drip can be expensive for small businesses and may still not meet your company requirements.
Drip is affordable for the first few thousand subscribers, but the cost shoots up as your customer base grows. This is always the problem with sliding scale plans.
Besides, you may not need all of the advanced features that Drip offers.
Drip Pricing
Drip operates on a sliding-scale pricing model. Here’s the pricing breakdown (monthly price):
- $19 for 100 contacts
- $29 for 550 contacts
- $89 for 5,000 contacts
- $154 for 10,000 contacts
- $699 for 50,000 contacts
- $1,199 for 100,000 contacts
As you can see, Drip becomes quite expensive as your contact list grows. This may not be feasible for small businesses and startups.
Read also: Keap (Infusionsoft) Alternatives: The Top 5 CRM Options to Try
User Reviews of Drip
Here are more reasons for you to move to another email marketing platform. Take a look at these user reviews and you’ll find out glaring disadvantages of using the software (don’t get us wrong, Drip has its merits, too):
The 5 Best Drip Alternatives
That’s why we’ve listed out five of the best Drip alternatives, from the most affordable to the most comprehensive tools. Take a look at their features, pricing, pros and cons, and make an informed decision.
1. EngageBay
The first in our list of Drip alternatives is our own marketing automation tool — EngageBay.
EngageBay offers an all-in-one marketing automation software that fits perfectly into the requirements of small businesses and startups.
Features
EngageBay has categorized all its marketing tools into three categories: Marketing Bay, CRM & Sales Bay, and Service Bay.
Here’s a short video about the software:
Marketing Bay
EngageBay offers an integrated marketing platform that provides you with a unified platform for all your marketing leads.
With EngageBay’s 360-degree view, you can send engaging emails to nurture leads, build beautiful landing pages, and convert leads into customers easily.
While both EngageBay and Drip offer robust marketing automation functionalities, EngageBay is simpler to use.
Besides, it offers a myriad of automation features at a more affordable price.
CRM & Sales Bay
EngageBay also offers a free sales CRM software that helps you streamline your sales processes and stay organized.
In EngageBay, setting up sales automation is pretty simple and doesn’t require extensive training.
With EngageBay’s free CRM (Customer Relationship Management) suite, you can organize all your email contacts, track deals, manage your pipeline, and boost your revenue with little effort.
Furthermore, the drag-and-drop task and deal management features let you quickly visualize and update your deals.
Service Bay
EngageBay support modules offer world-class customer service tools — ranging from a help desk to a live chat widget that can remain active on all your website pages.
As part of the CRM suite, the live chat software and the help desk are entirely free!
On the other hand, Drip does not offer customer support modules, live chat functionality, or a helpdesk.
Developer API
EngageBay’s API is available in Rest, Java,.Net, Javascript, and PHP.
Reports
EngageBay offers a more holistic reporting module when compared to Drip. It offers you deep and meaningful insights so that you can understand your company’s performance, weaknesses, and pain points at a glance.
You also get traffic analytics that show you how your visitors got to your pages, their time spent on each page, links clicked, bounces, and conversion rates.
Pros
- Easy to use and implement
- Offers a free CRM suite
- Free onboarding and migration services for a seamless setup
- All-in-one software eliminates the need for multiple platforms
- Rich set of templates for emails, landing pages, and lead capture forms
Cons
- Not enough third-party integrations yet.
Pricing
EngageBay has four pricing plans:
- Free: This plan is free for up to 15 users and offers 500 contacts, 1,000 branded emails, email marketing, autoresponders, email broadcasts, sequences, landing pages, CRM, and LiveChat.
- Basic: This plan costs $14.99 a month for 1,000 contacts, 3,000 branded emails, email templates, SMS marketing, Social Suite, tag management, web pop-ups, and so much more.
- Growth: The most popular plan costs $49.99 a month for 10,000 contacts, 25,000 branded emails, advanced marketing automation, broadcast and landing page A/B testing, custom domain, call records, service automation, proposals, and push notifications.
- Pro: Costs $99.99 a month for unlimited contacts, 50,000 branded emails, web analytics, custom reporting, uptime SLA, a dedicated account manager, proposal analytics, goals, and more.
EngageBay also offers a 10% discount on annual plans and a 20% discount on biennial plans.
Read also: ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp vs EngageBay For Email Marketing
2. HubSpot
The next in our Drip alternatives list is Hubspot, founded by two MIT students back in 2006.
Since then, it has grown to serve over 95,000 customers globally, helping businesses acquire customers, close deals, and offer customer support.
HubSpot offers a full-fledged marketing software that goes beyond automating email marketing.
It aims to help you scale your business by standardizing your workflow and automating repetitive tasks. You also get a comprehensive social media management tool to help you capture leads and nurture them across social channels.
Features
Let’s take a look at HubSpot’s features.
All-in-One Marketing Tools
This all-in-one inbound marketing software comes with a comprehensive suite of tools.
HubSpot offers tools to help you blog, create landing pages, manage leads, and analyze customer data.
Automated Email Campaigns
HubSpot aims to help businesses generate and nurture leads by automating email marketing campaigns.
It allows you to choose from dozens of triggers and actions to create multi-step automations that can eliminate the need for micromanagement.
Personalized Workflows
HubSpot lets you create personalized workflows — because let’s face it: gone are the days of mass untailored marketing.
It has a visual editor to create a simple follow-up campaign or multi-stage journey drip campaigns.
Further, you can use advanced contact list segmentation to detect and target your audiences automatically.
Pros
- Robust functionalities
- In-depth training materials
- Mobile interface
- Rich dashboard
- Advanced tools for enterprises
Cons
- Pay for additional technical support
- Mandatory, expensive orientation and setup fees.
Pricing
Hubspot offers three plans: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise:
- Starter Suite: The Starter plan comes with the Service Hub Starter, Sales Hub Starter, Marketing Hub Starter, and HubSpot CRM and starts at $112 a month. This plan offers limited features.
- Professional Suite: The Professional plan combines the Service Hub Professional, Sales Hub Professional, Marketing Hub Professional, and HubSpot CRM. This plan starts at $1,700 a month and offers a bunch of advanced features.
- Enterprise Suite: This includes the Service Hub Enterprise, Sales Hub Enterprise, Marketing Hub Enterprise, and HubSpot CRM. Though it unlocks all the features, the pricing starts at a whopping $5,600 a month!
Read also: Inbound Marketing Guide — Definition, Stages, and Strategy
3. GetResponse
GetResponse is an email marketing tool designed to simplify and automate email campaigns.
Its suite of marketing features includes lead generation, customer engagement, and online sales management.
Features
Let us look at the key features of GetResponse.
Marketing Automation
GetResponse’s marketing automation helps you deliver personalized and meaningful emails to your customers.
It sends out automated product recommendations based on the customers’ purchase history and other data.
Furthermore, it optimizes and automates workflows, tracks website visitors, and captures leads.
Email Marketing
With GetResponse drag-and-drop email creator, you can easily design and send emails in just a few clicks.
You can schedule your emails and set triggers to send emails automatically.
Before sending, you can preview designs for their responsiveness. GetResponse lets you add GIFs and free stock photos to your emails directly from the platform.
Landing Pages
You can easily create landing pages without any prior coding experience.
It comes with ready-made, mobile-responsive templates for you to choose from. With the built-in image editor, you can personalize pages to match your brand style.
Paid Ads
GetResponse helps you run targeted ad campaigns to grow your subscribers’ list. You can target your existing subscribers with paid ads or even locate people with similar interests as your existing contacts.
Webinars
GetResponse offers an easy-to-use webinar builder and scheduler.
You can further customize your webinar URL and enable easy registration.
Pros
- User friendly
- Comprehensive reporting feature
- Integrates with Google Analytics
- A/B testing
Cons
- No phone support
Pricing
GetResponse offers four pricing plans, including Free, Basic, Plus, and Professional.
- Free: This plan is free forever and offers a landing page, custom domain, a website builder, and signup forms.
- Basic: The plan starts at $15 a month for 1,000 contacts and offers autoresponders, basic segmentation, email scheduling, and more.
- Plus: The Plus plan starts at $49 a month for 1,000 contacts and features marketing automation, webinars, advanced segmentation, sales funnels, and contact scoring.
- Professional: With the Professional plan, you get paid webinars, web push notifications, unlimited funnels, eCommerce features, and so much more. The plan is priced at $99/month for 1,000 contacts.
Read also: Aweber vs Getresponse vs EngageBay — Which MA Tool is Best?
4. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is another Drip alternative option that offers email marketing, automation, and customer relationship management.
It aims to help businesses enhance their customer experience. ActiveCampaign can be used by eCommerce companies, B2B platforms, and brands going digital.
Features
Let’s take a look at ActiveCampaign features.
Email Marketing
ActiveCampaign allows you to send personalized emails to your prospects and leads.
You can segment your email lists based on various filters and send out dynamic messages to your prospects.
Marketing Automation
ActiveCampaign offers powerful marketing automation tools, including contact management, workflows, tagging, drip campaigns, and advanced segmentation.
You can also set up a welcome email series or create an automated workflow without any hassle.
Smart CRM
A smart CRM software keeps all the customer data organized in a single database.
This is where you can easily keep track of all your leads, update deals, and always follow up at the right time. You have a detailed timeline of each customer so that you can offer better services.
With ActiveCampaign, you can improve the quality of your leads through lead scoring, task management, note creation, customer touchpoints, and more.
Website Messaging
ActiveCampaign offers customer messaging tools to help you reach out to your audiences across various platforms.
The purpose is to help businesses build meaningful connections with customers.
Its features include engagement tracking, product recommendation, feedback system, and LiveChat support.
Pros
- Reliable online support
- Seamless third-party integration
- Autoresponder options
Cons
- Cluttered dashboard
Pricing
ActiveCampaign has four paid plans to choose from: Lite, Plus, Professional, and Enterprise.
- Lite: Starts at $9 a month for 500 contacts and offers marketing automation, email marketing, drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation, and campaign reporting.
- Plus: Starts at $49 a month for 500 contacts and adds landing pages, conditional content, contact scoring, automation map, and SMS marketing.
- Professional: This plan starts at $149 a month for 500 contacts and features predictive sending, split automation, attribution reporting, and website personalization.
- Enterprise: Starts at $259 a month for 500 contacts and adds a bunch of advanced tools. These include social data enrichment, custom domain, reporting, and free design services.
Read also: ActiveCampaign Pricing and Comparison with Other Alternatives
5. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is an email marketing automation platform designed specifically for bloggers, content creators, and authors.
It aims to grow customer relationships by understanding your audience through segmentation, analytics, automation, and a host of other tools.
Features
Let’s take a look at ConvertKit features.
Segmentation and Tagging
Through ConvertKit’s segmentation, you can place your audience into various buckets based on various factors — and even add your own custom filters.
Besides, its tagging feature lets you send hyper-targeted email newsletters and broadcasts.
Email Designer
ConvertKit offers designers tools to create and launch beautiful, visually appealing, and content-centric email campaigns. Through built-in personalization, your emails can turn heads and improve your conversion figures.
You can also create your own templates without having to code. The mobile-responsive design means your content will look as you intend on both desktops and mobile devices.
Landing Pages
ConvertKit lets you create landing pages with ease — no coding required.
However, it still offers custom CSS as an option for more control. You can add stylesheets to customize your landing pages in a way that reflects your brand identity.
Just like with the email designer, the landing page templates are fully responsive. You can see their previews for different devices.
Automation
ConvertKit’s automation tool is relatively easy to use.
You can schedule your email campaign and send out targeted content to your audiences.
It enables you to create a powerful automated funnel for higher conversions.
Commerce
ConvertKit Commerce lets users sell products through the web in just a few steps — the perfect tool for content creators, artists, and bloggers.
You don’t have to create a complicated eCommerce website for selling.
Besides, you can set up one-time purchases for products like an eBook. There is no limit to the number of products you can sell.
Pros
- Ease of use
- Easy WordPress integration
- Visual automation builder
- Live chat and email support
Cons
- Limited A/B testing
Pricing
ConvertKit prices its services into three plans: Free, Creator, and Creator Pro.
- Free: This plan is absolutely free to use and offers email broadcasts, unlimited landing pages, community support, and selling options for digital products.
- Creator: Starts at $29 a month for 1,000 subscribers and adds automated funnels, automated sequences, live chat and email support, and free migration.
- Creator Pro: Starts at $59 a month for 1,000 contacts and unlocks everything, including advanced reporting, subscriber scoring, newsletter referral system, and Facebook custom audiences.
Read also: Convertkit vs Mailchimp vs EngageBay — Which Tool is the Best for Small Businesses?
Wrap Up
Drip is a powerful marketing automation software, but it isn’t the only option available.
If you are looking for the best Drip alternative, the five marketing automation software mentioned in this blog are all great.
Every software has its own pros and cons.
While EngageBay is pocket-friendly for small businesses and comes with a robust suite of functionalities, ActiveCampaign can be an excellent choice for integration with other third-party applications. For content creators, Convertkit is a great choice.
But there’s a caveat.
These alternatives (except for EngageBay) operate on a sliding-scale pricing model. While it can be convenient for you — it doesn’t show the complete picture.
For example, let’s compare the higher-end plans for each alternative.
Hubspot costs $1,780 a month for 2,000 contacts. For 32,000 contacts, the pricing almost doubles to $3,050 a month.
The same goes for GetResponse. While the professional plan costs $99 a month for 1,000 contacts, the price increases to $255 for 25,000 contacts.
ActiveCampaign’s Professional plan costs $149 a month for 500 contacts but more than triples to $549 a month for 25,000 contacts.
Convertkit is no different. The plan costs $279 a month for 25,000 contacts for the Creator Pro plan (which only costs $59 a month for 1,000 subscribers)
What about EngageBay?
With EngageBay, you get the Pro plan with unlimited contacts for just $99 a month — and no hidden fees. For example, you must pay a mandatory setup fee while subscribing to HubSpot; there is no such thing with EngageBay.
Plus, you get unlimited contacts and thousands of emails!
Here’s Dan A, founder of his small business, offering a fantastic testimonial:
Sign up now for free — no credit card or commitments required. You can also book a 30-minute demo session with our experts at a time of your convenience, and we’ll give you a tour of the product.
We hope that this article will help you make the right choice for your business.
