ActiveCampaign vs Salesforce Sales Cloud comparison

Why PeerSpot?

ActiveCampaign and Salesforce are both solutions in the CRM category. ActiveCampaign is ranked #47, while Salesforce is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.0. ActiveCampaign holds a 0.6% mindshare in CRM, compared to Salesforce’s 2.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ActiveCampaign users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

ActiveCampaign

Read 2 ActiveCampaign reviews

2,274 Views
2,274 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Read 118 Salesforce Sales Cloud reviews

17,270 Views
12,953 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

ActiveCampaign

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Salesforce Sales Cloud and ActiveCampaign compete in the CRM landscape, offering solutions for sales automation and customer relationship management. Salesforce Sales Cloud is often considered more advantageous for larger enterprises due to its comprehensive features and scalability.

Features: Salesforce Sales Cloud includes dynamic CRM capabilities, advanced analytics, and extensive integration options. ActiveCampaign provides powerful email marketing, automation workflows, and user-friendly CRM functionalities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Salesforce Sales Cloud has a scalable and complex deployment model that can require significant implementation support. ActiveCampaign offers a quick setup and intuitive interface, with strong customer service resources that facilitate a smooth onboarding process.

Pricing and ROI: Salesforce Sales Cloud typically involves higher costs but promises significant ROI potential through its comprehensive capabilities. ActiveCampaign is priced more affordably, offering compelling ROI for small businesses looking for cost-effective marketing and CRM solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed ActiveCampaign vs. Salesforce Sales Cloud Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ActiveCampaign vs. Salesforce Sales Cloud

November 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 920,769 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

ActiveCampaign

Ranking in CRM

47th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Ranking in CRM

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

118

Ranking in other categories

Opportunity Management (2nd), Sales Force Automation (3rd), Conversation Intelligence Software (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the CRM category, the mindshare of ActiveCampaign is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Sales Cloud is 2.8%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Salesforce Sales Cloud	2.8%
ActiveCampaign	0.6%
Other	96.6%

CRM

Featured Reviews

Laura Oosterbroek

Head of Markting at Vanderkamp

Easy to use, efficient marketing automation and CRM tool

AI is upcoming, so for reporting and dashboarding, it would be nice to have some AI integrated into the system. Overall, some AI features can be added. For example, I can ask, like, we have imported conversion rates, and you can ask like, "What is the trend of the conversion of the last half year?" So, more on a reporting side you can get those kinds of AI skills. Not that you have to download an Excel and put it into another AI system to do the analysis, but that it would be possible to do it on its own.

Read full review

Jonny Katz

VP of Business Operations at PeerSpot

Uses data-driven insights to improve workflows and highlights a need for simpler automation tools

Salesforce Sales Cloud can be improved in several areas. First, the UI is an area for enhancement. Even though they've launched Lightning, it's clunky at times with page load speeds. It also needs to be made extremely more user-friendly. For new people using Salesforce Sales Cloud, there is a steep learning curve. Additionally, giving non-admins the ability to make changes on the fly is something that I feel is necessary. Currently with Salesforce Sales Cloud, you need to have a consultant. It's hard to build the flows or workflows. Making it easier for that end-user who's not so technically minded to help themselves is essential. I choose seven out of ten because I think you need a consultant or a consulting company to help you build it out. Certain changes should be made much easier and more user-friendly where an admin can do it. The automation processes need to be much simpler. If you're looking at other tools out there, for example SalesLoft or HubSpot, it's much easier to build those workflows and do automation.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"ActiveCampaign is for medium-sized companies is the better solution because it’s way less complex than the other solutions."

"It is a very stable solution."

"The user interface is pretty simple."

"From a personal perspective, one of the key things Salesforce.com provides us is insight into our business that would be difficult to achieve otherwise."

"The Salesforce Sales Cloud platform stands out from other products."

"Lots of functionality and it is a customizable interface."

"The technical support team is very cooperative, and I'm satisfied with their service."

"The most valuable features of Salesforce Sales Cloud are code hub management and sale opportunity management."

"Salesforce runs smoothly."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud pros

Cons

"AI is upcoming, so for reporting and dashboarding, it would be nice to have some AI integrated into the system."

"One consistent comment about the product internally is that it has a steep learning curve, especially for some sales executives. Simplifying the interface would be a big leap forward. Like a chatbot, fewer clicks and more direct AI interaction could help. A simplified interface with AI support would make things much easier. We need an AI feature like ChatGPT that helps us to hold conversations."

"Salesforce Sales Cloud overall is too complex. There is too much functionality, it's hard for the user, at the beginning. It takes a lot of time to update the information."

"Salesforce has a built-in functionality called changesets to move functionality from the sandbox and into production. That's a little dated now, and it's not very good for version control or backups."

"The licensing price could be cheaper."

"As a presale team leader, I see a need to better understand the platform because our current knowledge is limited. This makes it difficult to explore possible extensions of its use. We also want more detailed information on commercial opportunities included in the tool. It needs to include better documentation on the functions it offers."

"The reporting features and the dashboard must be improved."

"Sales Cloud could be improved with more training. In general, the training is very good, but you have to really seek out some good options in order to upskill yourself. Another thing, which could also be a benefit, is that Sales is very customizable. If you move from one organization to another, you can see your Salesforce as before, but their Sales Cloud may look completely different from what you're used to. It's not like Microsoft Excel or Trello, where the layout and all the functions are the same. Because it's so customizable, I feel like there is a bit of a learning curve when you inherit another Sales Cloud instance. To be honest, I think that's the beauty of Salesforce because you can customize it so much to fit your needs as a company. It follows your processes and use cases in order for you to get the most out of the system itself."

"Salesforce Sales Cloud does not integrate with Slack or WhatsApp, for example. As a result, there is no easy way to directly log a conversation with a client that occurred on one of these platforms. There are a few things that still need to be done manually in these instances."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The development costs are lower because you don’t have to have consultants changing and all that stuff."

"Sales Cloud is quite expensive."

"In terms of investment value and return of the investment, Salesforce right now is pretty good on the Western markets where the price of the employees is pretty high."

"The main issue is the price. Because it's SaaS, you will have to pay on a monthly or yearly basis."

"Price-wise, the product does not fall under the category of cheaply priced products."

"We have a yearly license, and there are no hidden costs. Considering the Indian market, the pricing is reasonable. I don't consider it to be on the high side."

"Salesforce Sales Cloud is an expensive solution."

"It's expensive, storage being the most costly aspect."

"The price is fair."

More Salesforce Sales Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Construction Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	56
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	43

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Comparisons

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Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs ActiveCampaign

Compared 15% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

Vtiger CRM vs ActiveCampaign

Compared 5% of the time

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Oracle CX Sales vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

SAP CRM vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Oracle CRM vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

Salesforce Service Cloud vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

More Salesforce Sales Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CRM

October 2026

Download ActiveCampaign product report

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Sales Cloud

October 2026

Download Salesforce Sales Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

Sales Cloud, SFDC, Salesforce

Overview

ActiveCampaign provides marketing automation, email marketing, and CRM capabilities tailored for businesses looking to enhance customer engagement. Known for its rich feature set, it offers flexible solutions to help businesses streamline processes and improve marketing efforts.

ActiveCampaign serves as a key tool for businesses aiming to integrate automation with CRM functions. Its platform offers a robust range of features that help businesses engage effectively with their audience. Known for its flexibility, ActiveCampaign helps create personalized customer experiences. The platform is continually updated, reflecting feedback from a diverse user base. Some areas for improvement include intuitive navigation and analytics capabilities. Despite these, ActiveCampaign remains a popular choice among professionals who desire comprehensive marketing solutions.

What are the essential features of ActiveCampaign?

Marketing Automation: Offers sophisticated workflows for scheduling messages and segmenting contacts.
Email Marketing: Provides customizable templates and advanced reporting tools.
CRM Integration: Automates customer data management for efficient workflow processing.
Customer Experience Automation: Creates personalized experiences with data-driven insights.
Sales Automation: Streamlines sales processes through task management and deal updates.

What benefits should users look for in reviews of ActiveCampaign?

Enhanced Efficiency: Saves time through automation of repetitive tasks.
Improved Engagement: Increases interaction rates with personalized communications.
Scalable Solutions: Grows alongside business needs, adapting to larger campaigns.
Comprehensive Support: Provides extensive resources and support for seamless use.

In specific industries like e-commerce, ActiveCampaign is implemented to manage customer journeys from lead generation to purchase conversion. Retail businesses leverage its automation features to target promotions and optimize customer retention strategies. In the service sector, companies use its CRM functionality to maintain client relationships and streamline communication. These tailored approaches demonstrate the adaptability of ActiveCampaign across different market needs.

ActiveCampaign

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a comprehensive tool lauded for its customization, ease of use, and integration capabilities. Its cloud-based nature offers seamless access and scalability, helping manage leads, opportunities, and workflows efficiently. Powerful reporting and dashboards enhance visibility and productivity.

Salesforce Sales Cloud serves as an essential aid for companies aiming to streamline sales processes. It integrates sales and marketing, manages customer data, and supports automation, which increases efficiency. Despite its expense and complex interface, its ability to forecast, track customer engagement, and automate key workflows stands out. Companies encounter challenges with system costs and integration issues, particularly regarding third-party applications and mobile functionality. Reporting and dashboards offer significant insights, although room for improvement exists. Licensing costs and storage fees are considerations for prospects, alongside the need for improved training and AI features. Users maximize the platform for sales pipeline management, forecasting, and operational analytics.

What are the most important features?

Customization: Tailor the platform to fit exact business objectives.
Integration: Seamlessly connect with apps and platforms, improving workflow.
Automation: Streamline lead management and workflows, reducing manual tasks.
Reporting and Dashboards: Gain insights for informed decision-making.
Cloud-based Access: Ensure scalability and accessibility from anywhere.

What benefits can users expect?

Enhanced Productivity: Automation and robust tracking improve efficiency.
Increased Sales Efficiency: Manage pipelines and opportunities seamlessly.
Better Forecasting: Advanced features provide valuable foresight into sales trends.
Operational Efficiency: Analytics and reporting fortify strategic planning.

Organizations across industries utilize Salesforce Sales Cloud from finance to healthcare for business development and CRM tasks. It is integral to managing accounts, leading pipelines, and aligning sales with marketing strategies. Firms improve customer relations and operational efficiency through its analytics and reporting capabilities.

Salesforce

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Coca-Cola Enterprises, Kuoni Global Travel Services, Financial Times, Just Eat, Jobsite, H.R. Owen, PlayerLayer, O2, DMGT, Philips, Xtreme.ie, Business Stream, Remote Asset Management, Dialogue Group

Buyer's Guide

ActiveCampaign vs. Salesforce Sales Cloud

November 2026

Free Report: ActiveCampaign vs. Salesforce Sales Cloud

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