CentriWebGoHighLevel vs ActiveCampaign comes down to the channel that wins you work. ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and automation platform priced by the size of your contact list, with sales pipelines and SMS sold as add-ons. GoHighLevel is an all-in-one platform on flat monthly plans with unlimited users and contacts, where texts, calls, booking and the CRM are built in and messaging is billed as you use it.
If your customers read newsletters and buy after a run of emails, ActiveCampaign is built for that. If they ring, text and book, GoHighLevel is built for that. A disclosure: CentriWeb builds many client systems on GoHighLevel, so weigh our view with that in mind. Facts below come from each vendor’s own pages as at November 2026; check their pages for current prices.
GoHighLevel vs ActiveCampaign at a glance
| GoHighLevel | ActiveCampaign | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | All-in-one CRM, inbox, calendars, texts, calls, email, forms and websites, built for agencies | Email marketing and marketing automation, with CRM pipelines as an add-on |
| How it charges | Flat monthly plan, plus usage for texts, calls, email and AI | Plan priced by number of contacts, billed yearly |
| Users included | Unlimited on every plan | 1 on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro, 5 on Enterprise |
| SMS | Built in, two-way | Add-on on Plus, Pro and Enterprise; not on Starter |
| Who maintains it | Usually an agency, or an owner willing to learn it | Usually the owner or a marketing person |
| Who it suits | Businesses that win work by phone, text and booking | Businesses that win work by email and content |
How each one charges
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign’s pricing page lists four plans: Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise. When we opened it in November 2026 the price boxes showed placeholders rather than amounts, with the note “Billed yearly for 1,000 contacts”, so we cannot quote a figure. Open the page yourself and check the price at your contact count. The page offers prices in several currencies, including Australian dollars.
The page says Enterprise’s monthly price scales with contact list size, and each plan is set at 1,000 contacts by default. It lists 10,000 email sends a month on Starter and Plus, 12,000 on Pro and 15,000 on Enterprise. There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
GoHighLevel
GoHighLevel’s pricing page showed Starter at $97 a month, Unlimited at $297 a month and a higher plan at $497 a month, with unlimited users and contacts on all of them. The page uses a dollar sign without naming the currency, so confirm it before you sign up. Usage comes out of a wallet: its pricing guide lists email at $0.675 per 1,000 emails and says phone pricing varies by region.
A worked example
Say your list grows from 1,000 to 5,000 contacts and you email everyone four times a month. On ActiveCampaign the plan price moves up with your contact count, so check the price at 5,000 contacts on their page. On GoHighLevel the plan stays the same, and 20,000 emails at $0.675 per 1,000 adds about $13.50 of usage. Texts and calls are extra on both, and that is where the difference in how each charges shows up for phone-heavy businesses.
Email depth: where ActiveCampaign is strong
Email is ActiveCampaign’s home ground. Its email marketing page describes a drag-and-drop designer, AI help building campaigns and testing variations, segmentation, AI-chosen send times for each subscriber, and deliverability tools including dedicated IP management, verified authentication and monitoring.
Its automation is the other strength. The pricing page lists unlimited actions per automation on Plus and above, with cross-channel automation, while Starter is limited to five actions per automation and email only. Landing pages are included from Plus up.
It also connects to a long list of other software. Its apps page claims more than 1,000 integrations, which helps if you already run an online shop, a booking tool or a webinar platform you want to keep.
ActiveCampaign suits a business with a marketing person, a list worth nurturing and a sales cycle that runs over weeks of emails.
Calls, texts and bookings: where GoHighLevel is strong
GoHighLevel is built around the conversation. Two-way SMS and two-way email are on its entry plan, calling is built in and billed by usage, and calendars share the same contact record as the inbox and pipeline. In our working view that lets a small team answer a missed call with a text, book the job and send reminders without leaving one screen.
In Australia, local numbers need paperwork. GoHighLevel’s help article says every Australian local number must be linked to an approved regulatory bundle using the business’s registered details. Your set-up partner should handle it, but have the details ready.
ActiveCampaign lists SMS as an add-on on Plus, Pro and Enterprise. We could not open its SMS documentation to confirm which countries it sends to, so ask ActiveCampaign directly whether it sends from numbers in your country before you rely on it. Whichever you use, marketing texts in Australia fall under the Spam Act, and other countries have their own regulators to check; our guide to SMS marketing rules in Australia covers consent and unsubscribes.
CRM and pipelines
GoHighLevel includes the CRM and pipelines on every plan. ActiveCampaign’s pricing page lists pipelines as an add-on on Plus, Pro and Enterprise, and not available on Starter. If you need to track quotes or deals through stages, add that add-on to the ActiveCampaign sum.
User numbers matter too. ActiveCampaign’s plans include one to five users. GoHighLevel’s include unlimited users. A business with a receptionist, two estimators and an owner all working leads will feel that difference.
Who each one suits
ActiveCampaign tends to suit
- Online shops, course sellers and service firms whose customers buy after reading emails
- A business with a marketing person who will build segments, test campaigns and watch deliverability
- A small team, where one to five users is enough
- A business that already runs other software it wants to keep and connect
GoHighLevel tends to suit
- Trades, builders, clinics and local services where most enquiries are calls, texts, forms or bookings
- Teams where several people answer enquiries and per-user limits would get in the way
- Owners who want enquiries, reminders, reviews and follow-up in one inbox, set up and looked after by someone else
If texting is the deciding factor, our guide to two-way SMS for business explains what to look for in any platform.
ActiveCampaign alternatives, and when to use both
Some businesses keep ActiveCampaign for newsletters and run phone, text and booking somewhere else. That works when the two are connected and one system holds the customer record. It doubles the logins and the places things can break.
If you are weighing ActiveCampaign against other email tools, our comparison of Mailchimp vs Klaviyo vs ActiveCampaign covers those. If you are weighing GoHighLevel against a sales-team CRM, see GoHighLevel vs HubSpot.
Where a system built and looked after for you fits better
For a builder or trade business, an enquiry is usually a phone call or a form, followed by a site visit, a quote and weeks of follow-up. That needs texts, calls, booking and email working together, set up around how your team actually sells. A system built for that job, and looked after when something changes, often does more than either tool on its default set-up. That applies to construction businesses in particular.
It does not suit every business. If your enquiry volume is low, if you have the time and interest to run the tool yourself, or if the standard plan does what you need, start there. Our CRM set-up work is for businesses where missed or slow follow-up is costing real jobs.
How to decide
- List where your last 20 jobs came from: email, phone, text, form or referral.
- Count who needs a login.
- Check ActiveCampaign’s price at your real contact count, and GoHighLevel’s plan plus a month of likely usage.
- Ask each vendor how texting works from a number in your country.
- Trial the one that matches your main channel with real enquiries for two weeks.