ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic: The Ultimate Comparison

ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic: Which one is better for your business?

Are you considering ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic? These are two of the biggest players in the customer relationship management (CRM) and automation space. And there's a good reason for it. They are both great tools and offer a wide range of features from managing customer records to automated marketing. 

So which one should you choose: ActiveCampaign or Keap Max Classic? Like everything in business, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Every business has different needs and goals. Some of the features included in each of these tools will fit your unique situation better than the other. That’s why I wrote this guide, so you can make an informed decision.

If you are considering ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic, this comparison will help you decide which tool is right for your business.

About this ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic review

I’ve helped dozens of businesses implement both ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic; and not just high-level implementations. In many cases our clients need very complex set-ups that require full automation blueprints, funnel design and 3rd party integrations. In other words, I’ve pushed these tools more than the average user and know where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

I’ve also reviewed both the ActiveCampaign website and the Keap website for how they position themselves against the other. While both websites have some truth, there’s a lot of bias built-in and in some cases completely old or false information. 

My goal is to give you an honest and unbiased opinion about which will work better for you. By reading this comparison, I hope you’ll feel confident in choosing a tool that meets your business needs.

Keap and Infusionsoft

Before going any further in this comparison, it’s worth mentioning that Infusionsoft is now only a product name and is no longer the company name. In 2019, Infusionsoft the company rebranded itself as Keap and introduced additional products called Keap Pro and Keap Grow. Keap Max Classic as a product is still sold and supported and is one of the closest competitors to ActiveCampaign. 

This review will focus on the Keap Max Classic product, not Keap Max or Keap Pro, but I will refer to the company as Keap.

What is ActiveCampaign?

ActiveCampaign is an email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM software platform for small-to-mid-sized businesses. Here are some highlights about the company:

• Revenue: 60 million USD (2018)
• Headquarters location: Chicago, IL
• Founder: Jason VandeBoom
• Founded: 2003
• Number of employees: 400

What is Keap Max Classic?

Keap Max Classic is a product that offers e-mail marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, invoicing/payments/subscriptions and CRM for small businesses. Here are some highlights about the company:

• Company name is now Keap (as of 2019)
• Headquarters location: Chandler, AZ
• Revenue: 100 million USD (2017)
• CEO: Clate Mask (2001–)
• Founded: 2001
• Number of employees: 650

ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic: Feature Comparison 

These two products are generally seen as competitors because they offer similar features. For example, they both offer customer relationship management (CRM), email marketing, sales tracking and automation. But they do have their differences, which you can find in the next section.

In this section, I’ll just focus on the features that are included with both products and how each platform delivers that feature to the user. I’ll also include which product I think is the winner of that category.

ActiveCampaign CRM vs Keap Max Classic CRM

As previously mentioned, both tools offer CRM (customer relationship management) features. That simply means that you’ll be able to have unique records for each of your prospects and customers. Then, using those records, you’ll be able to track on-going information. For example, on each contact you’ll want to see any past interactions, tasks, email history and transactional information like purchase history.

Both systems have a pretty good CRM, but neither of them excel in this category. Yes, both will get the job done, but both have a heavy focus on automation, which is where you’ll really find the benefits of using either tool.

Within both ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic CRMs, you’ll be able to add customization, including custom fields and custom ‘tags’. This will let you record unique information for each contact in your database and segment those contacts into meaningful groups.

Conclusion: Keap Max Classic makes searching and editing contacts quick and simple using their quick-search and in-line editing feature. Keap Max Classic also has an “Internal Forms” feature which is really helpful and completely missing in ActiveCampaign.

Winner: Keap Max Classic

Sales Pipeline and Deals 

Both ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic let you create and manage a sales pipeline. Sales pipelines are built for sales teams to help them manage their current deals. It gives you the ability to track where the prospect is in the sales process, how much the deal is worth, when the deal will close, any future tasks associated with that deal, and other helpful information for sales teams. If you sell without ever getting on the phone or meeting with prospects (think drop-ship and e-commerce businesses), then this feature won’t really apply to you.

If you do have a sales team, then this feature will be a great addition to your business.

Conclusion: Active Campaign lets you create multiple pipelines (for different products or services), whereas Keap Max Classic does not. ActiveCampaign is also easier to use, which is essential for sales team adoption. One of the main reasons ActiveCampaign is a better option here is the drag-and-drop interface for managing leads. It gives the salesperson and sale team a much better experience for managing their pipeline.

Winner: ActiveCampaign

Automations and workflows

Both ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic give you the ability to automate certain workflows and repetitive tasks.This is by far my favorite feature for both platforms because when implemented correctly, this will help your business scale faster than anything else these tools offer. Here are a few examples of how you might use this feature:

• Send your new leads a series of emails that educate them about your business
• Create a consistent onboarding experience for new clients so they feel welcomed by the business
• Automatically email past clients and ask them for reviews and/or referrals
• Update a sales person when a lead takes a specific action (like visiting the pricing page on your website)
• Remind your salespeople to follow up with leads who haven’t heard from you in a while

The list is endless and only as short as your imagination. If you’re just getting started with automation, I recommend the following 3 workflows to get started:

1. New lead welcome and education
2. Old lead follow up and long-term nurture
3. New client/customer welcome

Conclusion: For newcomers to automation, ActiveCampaign will be a little easier to use at first. ActiveCampaign also has a few more options for automation so  you can automate more things in your business. Keap Max Classic on the other hand is less rigid in their structure, which means you can get more creative (and organized) with the way you structure your workflows. It also has much better reporting for their automations. ActiveCampaign just barely wins in this category.

Winner: ActiveCampaign edges out Keap Max Classic

Email Builder and Designs

At the center of marketing automation is email. Email is still king when it comes to reliable, consistent messaging for your prospects and customers. Both ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic have easy-to-use, drag-and-drop email builders that let you get creative with your designs.

I think it’s worth noting that we don’t recommend overly-designed emails that imply it’s a marketing message. Our approach is to keep them simple and focus on strong copy rather than design.

Conclusion: ActiveCampaign’s email designer is more mature and has more features for specific design requirements. For example, you can control line-spacing and other small details with ActiveCampaign, while this isn’t possible with Keap Max Classic.

Winner: ActiveCampaign

Reporting

Neither Keap Max Classic nor ActiveCampaign do a very good job of reporting. Neither offers custom visual reports and dashboards like you would find in a more robust system like Salesforce. I would really like to see more effort from both platforms here.

ActiveCampaign has added some new reports recently and it does look like they want to improve, but overall their reporting is generally confined to pre-built reports that sometimes aren’t that helpful. Keap Max Classic doesn’t really offer pre-built reports but I’ve found that I can usually get the information I need because of the sheer number of reports they offer. 

Conclusion: While ActiveCampaign has more visually appealing and sometimes more interesting (though not really helpful) reports, I’ve found that it’s easier to get the information I’m looking for from Keap Max Classic. Keap Max Classic has a way of giving more access to the data in the system so you can sift through and even export to Excel for more analysis. The reporting in the automation section for Keap Max Classic is also much more robust.

Winner: Keap Max Classic

Dashboards

Both platforms have a dashboard that gives you a high-level overview of the business. ActiveCampaign does a good job of giving you the information about what’s happening in the system. But it’s standard for everyone and there isn’t really an option for a lot of customization. 

Keap Max Classic’s dashboard offers much more flexibility so you can customize what numbers and reports you see everytime you login in. This is a two-edged sword though because setting it up takes some time and can be a little confusing.

Conclusion: Keap Max Classic, while more difficult to set up is more helpful at giving me information that’s important to me and my business.

Winner: Keap Max Classic

Ease of use

Setting up automation for the first time can be exhilarating. I love seeing how businesses embrace automation and some business owners even get giddy with excitement about automating tasks that used to take an employee several hours every month.

However, setting up automation to properly run in your business requires a new way of thinking that you might not be accustomed to. Because of this, setting up both systems might be a little daunting if this is your first rodeo with CRM and/or marketing automation. 

Don’t get discouraged though. Once you’re over the initial learning curve the benefits far outweigh any headaches you’ll experience during the set up and learning. Once you’re up and running, utilizing a system like ActiveCampaign or Keap Max Classic will be amazing and you’ll wonder how you ever did business without it.

Conclusion: ActiveCampaign does a pretty good job of keeping things as simple as possible given how robust the feature-set is. If you’re not a technical person, ActiveCampaign will be easier to use.

Winner: ActiveCampaign

Getting started with ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic

ActiveCampaign has a free trial available while Keap Max Classic does not. Both will offer a free demo to see how you might use their software specifically for your business and use-case. I’d encourage you to take advantage of the demo from both businesses. 

Or if you’d like to get an unbiased opinion, you can get in contact with our team and we’ll help you decide.

Keap Max Classic requires a set up fee to get started, whereas ActiveCampaign does not. The set-up can be helpful if you feel like you need someone to guide you as you get started, but it’s unfortunate that it is mandatory. I’ve found that Keap will often discount the Keap Max Classic start-up fee if you push back on them or buy toward the end of the month. 

Whichever route you go, I recommend working with an industry expert who will take time to understand your business and then offer recommendations for getting started.

Winner: ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign Pricing vs Keap Max Classic Pricing

If you have less than 50,000 contacts then ActiveCampaign will generally be less expensive for just the core software. 

There is a big caveat here though. Keap Max Classic includes e-commerce features whereas ActiveCampaign does not have these features. If you sell online, you will need to factor in the cost of additional software, integration and time for these other services (more on the features below). These additional costs can easily add up, so make sure you read the full review on this page for all your options.

Conclusion: In most cases, ActiveCampaign is less expensive than Keap Max Classic.

Winner: ActiveCampaign

Which features are unique to each platform?

In this section, I’ll list out which features ActiveCampaign has that Keap Max Classic does not and vice versa. What I’ve mentioned up to this point can be done with both tools, but if you’re looking for something on the following lists, then this just might be the section to help you make your final decision. Before you toss one or the other out, remember that all of these features have 3rd party tools to help bridge the gap.

How ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic handle e-commerce differently

There are a few differences, but as you can see the biggest difference is how each platform handles the process of online selling. Keap Max Classic has chosen to include these features natively, while ActiveCampaign has chosen to partner and integrate with other tools. There are pros and cons to each approach:

ActiveCampaign E-commerce Approach

I really like that ActiveCampaign has started to integrate with 3rd parties naively. That means you get the “best of breed” for both e-commerce and marketing automation. In other words, each software focuses on it’s core strengths and leverages partners to integrate where they are weak.

However, with added tools comes added set-up and support. Integrations don’t always work. In fact, you can almost always count on an integration breaking at some point - it’s a fact of life with SaaS businesses. They might go down for a minute or even a day, but it’s likely to happen and when it does it causes a lot of disruption.

Keap Max Classic E-commerce Approach

Keap Max Classic's approach of bringing everything under the same roof is very unique. There are very few products that have been able to pull this off. Having everything in the same tool is a huge time-saver and means you won’t have to learn new tools or worry when integrations break.

However, Keap Max Classic’s e-commerce module isn’t very robust. In fact, it could use a lot of work. It’s not a replacement for a full shopping cart like Shopify or WooCommerce. If you sell 3 or 4 digital products or services, then it works great. But once you get into the world of inventory, shipping or multiple currencies then Keap Max Classic will quickly breakdown. 

If you sell a handful of digital products or services, Keap Max Classic will work well for your needs (especially if you have affiliate partners). If your e-commerce needs are more robust and you’ll need to integrate with a 3rd party tool like Shopify or WooCommerce, then ActiveCampaign will be a better fit for you.

What type of business do you have?

As mentioned earlier, each product has different features that support different types of businesses. Below you’ll find my opinion on the types of businesses that will be a better fit for each product. There are certainly exceptions to this list, but I think this will give you a general idea of what might work for you. 

What types of businesses should use ActiveCampaign

• Bloggers
• Agencies (including insurance, real estate, travel, and marketing)
• Ecommerce (especially businesses that use Shopify)
• Software (SaaS) businesses that don’t want to build a CRM or marketing automation from scratch

What types of business should use Keap Max Classic

• Coaches and consultants (especially those selling productized services)
• Course creators and membership sites
• Professional services (including law firms and accountants)
• Boutique service businesses that want to send quotes and invoices within their CRM

ActiveCampaign Support vs Keap Max Classic Support

What happens when you run into an issue or just need a little help with setting something up? Both Keap Max Classic and ActiveCampaign have chat support readily available. I’ve had great experiences and terrible experiences with both. At the end of the day, these are usually entry-level jobs for people just starting at the company and some will take more initiative than others. I’ve found that if I feel like I’m not being understood, I’ll end my chat and start again and generally find someone better.

Keap Max Classic has a support phone number to call in addition to chat, which has been helpful for me in the past. I wish ActiveCampaign would add this option.

Both ActiveCampaign and Keap Max Classic are considered advanced marketing automation tools. That means you’ll need to think differently about how you use these strategies in your business. These tools have the power to transform a business in a very positive way. But if you don’t take the time to set it up correctly, you might end up doing more harm to your business than good. That’s why I always recommend working with a partner who understands the tools and who has helped others successfully implement them.

Click the button below to get in touch with our team. We’d be happy to give you our feedback about which tool you should use and how to properly set it up.

ActiveCampaign Reviews

In this ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic comparison, I’ve given my full and honest assessment, but I realize my thoughts and opinions could be biased. So below you’ll find direct links to other independent review sites with hundreds of reviews from actual users.

The following reviews come from 3rd party software review sites that allow users to vote on software that they use. Not all of the users are verified, but I think you’ll get a lot of helpful information reading more on these sites.

GetApp: 4.39

Check out the full review and comments here.

G2Crowd: 4.6

Check out the full review and comments here.

Capterra: 4.4

Check out the full review and comments here.

Keap Max Classic Reviews

Keap Max Classic has worked hard at increasing the rating on their reviews, but ActiveCampaign has the slight edge on overall positive reviews.

GetApp: 4.12

Check out the full review and comments here.

G2Crowd: 4

Check out the full review and comments here.

ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic: Who’s the winner?

Unfortunately I can’t answer this question for you. It really does depend on your business needs. But I hope by now you have enough information to confidently answer this question for yourself.

The quick answer is that in most cases I’ll recommend you check out ActiveCampaign first. It’s generally easier to use and can work with a wide variety of businesses. The only exception to this is if you are a coach/consultant, course creator, membership site or professional service provider. In those instances, I’d likely look at Keap Max Classic first.

ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic: Conclusion & Final Thoughts

If you've been looking for a solid CRM and marketing automation tool, you’ve likely found out by now that there’s no such thing as the perfect software that meets all of your needs. They’ll all fall short in some way. 

This is important to remember, because if you continue spending time searching for that perfect software, you'll lose time on implementing important strategies for your business. As they say, "version DONE is better than version NONE." 

I get asked a lot about the perfect software and tech stack for different business types. My response is always the same: The top professional athletes will still win games and competitions whether they are wearing Nike, Adidas or any other brand of shoe. They aren't the best because of the tools (or software) they use, but because they put in the time and energy to work on themselves.

All that means is that the software and tools you use are only as good as the person implementing them. Take time to build your own knowledge about your business and industry and the tools will fit better into place for you.

My goal in writing this ActiveCampaign vs Keap Max Classic review is to lay it all out for you; not just what's good, but also the ugly stuff. If you found it useful, please share with anyone you know who’s considering marketing automation by using the links below. Good luck on your decision and I wish you the best in your business.