Top 10 Marketing Automation Tools to Try

The best marketing automation tools in 2026 are HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, GetResponse, Omnisend, EngageBay, Customer.io, and Marketo Engage. The right one depends on your size, budget, and channel — there's no single "best," only the best fit for how you actually market. This guide breaks down what each does, what it costs, and who it's for, so you can shortlist fast.

Marketing automation tools handle the repetitive, scalable parts of marketing for you — sending the right email or text at the right time, nurturing leads through a sequence, segmenting your audience, and triggering campaigns based on what people do. For a small team, that's the difference between marketing that runs while you sleep and marketing that only happens when you remember to hit send.

One thing to know before you pick: every automation tool is only as good as the content you put into it. The platform delivers the message; you still have to create the emails, landing pages, and campaigns worth delivering. Keep that in mind as you read — the tool is the engine, not the fuel.

A note on pricing: figures below are entry-level paid plans as of June 2026, and most of these tools bill by number of contacts (or email volume), so costs climb as your list grows. Prices marked "annual" are the discounted yearly rate; month-to-month is typically higher. Always check the current pricing page before you commit.

1. HubSpot Marketing Hub — best all-in-one for scaling teams

HubSpot is the category's 800-pound gorilla: a full inbound marketing suite with email automation, workflows, landing pages, forms, ads, blogging and SEO tools, and a genuinely good native CRM underneath it all.

• Key features: Visual workflow automation, landing pages and forms, native CRM, content/SEO tools, deep reporting.
• Pricing: A free plan (free CRM + limited marketing tools) makes it easy to start. Paid begins at $20/seat/month (Marketing Hub Starter, ~1,000 contacts). As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Scaling B2B teams that want marketing, sales, and CRM in one ecosystem.
• Watch out for: The jump from Starter to Professional is steep (roughly $20 to ~$890/month), and contacts are billed in blocks — costs escalate quickly as you grow.

2. ActiveCampaign — best automation depth for SMBs

ActiveCampaign is beloved for having one of the most powerful visual automation builders on the market without enterprise pricing. It pairs that with a built-in CRM and sales automation.

• Key features: Branching visual automations, email + SMS, light CRM and sales automation, predictive/AI sending, 900+ integrations.
• Pricing: From $15/month (Starter, 1,000 contacts, billed annually). No free plan — a 14-day trial only. As of 2026-06.
• Best for: SMBs and marketers who want serious automation logic without a HubSpot-sized bill.
• Watch out for: Pricing scales by contacts, and many advanced features are gated behind higher tiers; there's no free option to grow into.

3. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) — best for big lists on a budget

Brevo stands out for a rare pricing model: it bills by email volume, not contact count. If you have a large list but send moderately, that can be dramatically cheaper than the competition.

• Key features: Email + SMS + WhatsApp, marketing automation, transactional email/SMTP, a built-in CRM.
• Pricing: A genuine free-forever plan (300 emails/day, store up to ~100,000 contacts); paid from $9/month (Starter, from 5,000 emails/month). As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Budget-conscious SMBs with large contact lists and moderate send volume.
• Watch out for: Lower tiers carry Brevo branding and daily send caps, and some features (landing pages, advanced automation) require pricier plans.

4. Mailchimp — best for beginners

Mailchimp is the friendliest on-ramp to email marketing: a polished drag-and-drop builder, a huge template library, and an interface anyone can learn in an afternoon. It has grown into a fuller marketing platform over time.

• Key features: Easy email builder, landing pages, basic automations (on Standard+), AI content tools, strong analytics.
• Pricing: A free plan exists but was trimmed in early 2026 to 250 contacts / 500 sends per month; paid from $13/month (Essentials, 500 contacts). As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Beginners and small businesses that want a simple, polished email tool.
• Watch out for: Costs climb fast with list size, and on some plans your contact count includes unsubscribed contacts.

5. Klaviyo — best for ecommerce and Shopify

Klaviyo is the default for serious ecommerce brands. It plugs deep into your store's data to power revenue-driving flows — abandoned cart, post-purchase, win-back — across email and SMS, with strong attribution so you see exactly what each message earns.

• Key features: Deep ecommerce segmentation, prebuilt revenue flows, unified email + SMS, native Shopify integration, predictive analytics.
• Pricing: Free up to 250 contacts; paid plans start around $20–45/month depending on list size, with SMS billed separately (from a ~$15/month minimum). As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Ecommerce and DTC brands — especially on Shopify — that want email + SMS tied to revenue.
• Watch out for: It gets expensive fast as contacts grow, and SMS costs stack on top of your plan.

6. GetResponse — best all-in-one with webinars

GetResponse bundles email automation with landing pages, a website builder, conversion funnels, and — unusually — built-in webinars, which makes it a one-stop shop for creators and course sellers.

• Key features: Email + automation, landing pages and website builder, webinars, conversion funnels, AI email generator.
• Pricing: Free up to 500 contacts; paid from $19/month ($15.58 billed annually) for Email Marketing at 1,000 contacts. Automation and ecommerce features sit on higher tiers. As of 2026-06.
• Best for: SMBs and creators who want email, landing pages, and webinars in one place.
• Watch out for: The best automation and ecommerce features require mid/high tiers, and the feature-dense interface has a steeper learning curve than Mailchimp.

7. Omnisend — best affordable ecommerce alternative

Omnisend is the value pick for online stores: ecommerce-focused email, SMS, and web push in one tool, with prebuilt automation workflows and deep integrations for Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce — often at a lower price than Klaviyo.

• Key features: Email + SMS + web push, prebuilt ecommerce automations, popups and forms, strong Shopify/WooCommerce integration.
• Pricing: Free up to 250 contacts (500 emails/month); Standard from $16/month (500 contacts, ~6,000 emails). As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Small and mid-size ecommerce stores wanting affordable email + SMS.
• Watch out for: The Standard plan scales by contacts (around $132/month at 10,000), and unlimited sends plus advanced reporting need the pricier Pro tier.

8. EngageBay — best budget all-in-one

EngageBay is the affordable HubSpot alternative: CRM, marketing automation, sales, and a help desk in one platform at a fraction of the price, which makes it appealing for small businesses that want everything in one login.

• Key features: All-in-one CRM + marketing + sales + helpdesk, email automation, landing pages, live chat.
• Pricing: Free-forever plan (250 contacts, basic CRM + email); Basic from about $13–15/month (the lowest rate requires longer-term billing). As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Budget-conscious SMBs that want an all-in-one without HubSpot's cost.
• Watch out for: The cheapest rates require multi-year prepay, lower tiers cap contacts and carry branding, and it's less polished than premium rivals.

9. Customer.io — best for behavioral, product-led messaging

Customer.io is built for teams that want to message based on what users do, not just who they are. Its event-triggered automations and developer-friendly, data-first approach make it a favorite for SaaS and apps running lifecycle messaging.

• Key features: Event-triggered, behavior-based messaging; powerful visual journey builder; multi-channel (email, push, SMS, in-app, webhooks); API-first.
• Pricing: No general free plan (free trial); Essentials from $100/month (up to 5,000 profiles, email + push + SMS). As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Product-led SaaS and technical teams needing behavioral, data-driven lifecycle messaging.
• Watch out for: It's billed per profile (all contacts count), the $100/month entry and developer-oriented setup make it overkill for simple newsletters.

10. Marketo Engage (Adobe) — best for enterprise B2B

Marketo Engage is Adobe's enterprise marketing automation platform, built for large B2B organizations running sophisticated lead nurturing, account-based marketing, and revenue attribution at scale.

• Key features: Enterprise lead management and nurturing, account-based marketing (ABM), advanced lead scoring, predictive AI personalization, deep CRM integration, attribution analytics.
• Pricing: No public pricing — it's sales-led and quote-only, with four packages (Growth, Select, Prime, Ultimate). Real-world spend is typically $1,500–$6,000+/month, driven by database size. No free plan. As of 2026-06.
• Best for: Large enterprise B2B teams with dedicated marketing-ops resources.
• Watch out for: Opaque, expensive custom pricing, a steep learning curve, and high implementation overhead — you'll need a dedicated Marketo operator.

Quick comparison

Tool	Entry paid price (2026)	Free tier?	Best for
HubSpot Marketing Hub	$20/seat/mo	✅	All-in-one for scaling teams
ActiveCampaign	$15/mo (annual)	❌ (14-day trial)	Automation depth for SMBs
Brevo	$9/mo	✅	Big lists on a budget
Mailchimp	$13/mo	✅	Beginners
Klaviyo	~$20–45/mo (by list size) + SMS	✅	Ecommerce / Shopify
GetResponse	$19/mo ($15.58 annual)	✅	All-in-one with webinars
Omnisend	$16/mo	✅	Affordable ecommerce
EngageBay	~$13–15/mo	✅	Budget all-in-one
Customer.io	$100/mo	❌ (trial)	Behavioral / product-led
Marketo Engage	Custom (~$1,500–6,000+/mo)	❌	Enterprise B2B

How to choose the right one

Don't start with the tool — start with your situation:

• On a tight budget or just starting? Brevo, EngageBay, or the free tiers of Mailchimp and HubSpot let you begin at little to no cost.
• Running an ecommerce store? Klaviyo if revenue tracking matters most, Omnisend if budget does.
• Want deep automation without enterprise pricing? ActiveCampaign.
• Need an all-in-one (marketing + sales + CRM)? HubSpot at the top end, EngageBay at the budget end.
• Selling courses or running webinars? GetResponse.
• A SaaS or app doing behavioral lifecycle messaging? Customer.io.
• A large enterprise B2B team? Marketo Engage.

Whatever you pick, take the free trial or free tier first and test it against one real campaign before committing — the "best" tool is the one your team will actually use.

The part the tool can't do for you

Here's the catch every list like this glosses over: automation moves your content, it doesn't create it. The slickest workflow in HubSpot or Klaviyo still needs someone to write the emails, build the landing pages, and produce the campaigns that fill it — and that's the bottleneck for most small teams, not the software.

This is where pairing your automation tool with a content engine pays off. An AI content platform like QuickCreator runs the content side as one connected workflow — researching what your audience wants, drafting in your brand voice, and optimizing it for search and AI discovery (GEO) — so your automation always has something worth sending. The tools on this list deliver the message; QuickCreator helps you create it.

Put the two together and you have a complete system: a content engine that produces, and an automation tool that distributes — marketing that runs without you having to.

Try QuickCreator free and keep your marketing automation fed with content that actually converts.