Tekmatix vs ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign Alternative: How Switching From ActiveCampaign to Tekmatix Could Save You Thousands of Dollars a Year

Quick answer: if your email marketing bill goes up every time your list grows, you are paying a tax on your own success. I call it the growth tax. Tekmatix gives you unlimited contacts on one flat plan, and if you switch before Christmas and choose an annual plan, we will migrate your ActiveCampaign contact lists, previous email campaigns, tags and fixed templates for free.

You don't have to be punished for your growth. It's time to switch to Tekmatix.

I taught 22,000 people ActiveCampaign. Here's why I left.

I taught over 22,000 people how to use ActiveCampaign as one of their top educators and affiliates. But I left because of the growth tax, and switched to Tekmatix.

I want to start with a confession. For years, I taught ActiveCampaign. I recommended it to my students. I built entire courses and businesses on top of it.

This is my ActiveCampaign Email Automation Masterclass on Udemy. I published it around 2019, and for a few years it was the number one ActiveCampaign course on Udemy in the world. I taught over 22,000 people how to use ActiveCampaign, and I set up thousands of people on their platform. That's how much of a power user and advocate I was.

The software was great. The increasing costs were not.

And to be completely fair, their automation builder is still really good. This is not a post about ActiveCampaign being a bad product. It's a post about what happens to your bills when your business grows. And no matter how much you love something, when the game stops feeling fair, you have to make a decision.

Every time I grew, my bill grew too

Every time my contact list grew, so did my monthly subscription. Every time I employed new staff, my monthly subscription went up. Every time I created a new course, every new student and every new buyer, up, up, up.

I felt like I was being punished for my growth. The very things I was working so hard to achieve, a bigger list, more students, more courses and a bigger team, were the exact things making my software more expensive.

Then COVID hit, and I was OUT

Then, in the COVID era, when everything was crazy for everyone, the prices went up AGAIN. Three of the biggest tools I relied on every single day all put their prices up: ActiveCampaign, Thinkific (my course platform) and my calendar booking tool. With the size of my list, my courses and my students, I was paying close to US$6,000 a month for those tools.

And I was OUT. Despite how much I had publicly supported the brand, I knew it was time for me to move.

What I did instead: I built Tekmatix

I wanted a system that I had more control over, and that wouldn't keep punishing me for my growth. So I stitched together a bunch of white-labelled software to create Tekmatix.

My software costs went from close to US$6,000 a month down to a few hundred dollars a month. Same business. Same list. Same students. Just a completely different way of paying for it.

Today I run my whole business on Tekmatix, and here are just SOME of the tools it instantly replaced for me:

Back then, getting there took me a lot of technical work. Now the everyday business owner can replace all of that themselves with Tekmatix, from $150 AUD a month, plus pay as you go usage.

And with software prices rising across the board again, it might be time for you to move too.

How ActiveCampaign pricing works today

Let me be clear about one thing first: ActiveCampaign has not announced a new price rise for 2026. I'm not here to scare you. What I want you to understand is the pricing model, because that is what decides how much you'll pay as you grow.

Note: these prices are from public information on 5 November 2026. Please check the official sites yourself. Any errors are honest mistakes and are not meant to mislead.

1. ActiveCampaign charges more as your contact list grows

ActiveCampaign plans are priced by how many contacts you have. As your list moves up into the next band, your bill moves up with it. According to the GoodPostal email price index (1 November 2026), at 1,000 contacts the monthly prices are around US$19 for Starter, US$59 for Plus, US$99 for Pro and US$179 for Enterprise. SaaSBinder (verified 2 November 2026) lists US$15, US$49, US$79 and US$145 a month when billed annually. Tekmatix gives you unlimited contacts.

2. The big 2024 plan change

In 2024, ActiveCampaign introduced new Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise plans and moved existing accounts across. ActiveCampaign said increases would be capped at 30%, but many users reported their bills going up 30 to 40% once add-ons were counted (Audienceful, July 2026).

3. Since November 2025, unsubscribed and bounced contacts count too

For new accounts since November 2025, billing is based on your total contacts, including people who have unsubscribed and emails that have bounced (Audienceful, July 2026). So you can end up paying for people who will never receive another email from you. In Tekmatix, you can have UNLIMITED contacts.

4. Pipelines, SMS and WhatsApp are add-ons

CRM pipelines, SMS and WhatsApp are paid add-ons on ActiveCampaign. Their official pricing page now shows "Request pricing" rather than listing a price for every band, so it's worth getting an exact quote for your own list size.

The growth tax adds up fast

Here's a side by side of published monthly prices. ActiveCampaign figures are from the GoodPostal price index (1 November 2026), billed monthly in US dollars. Tekmatix figures are from tekmatix.com/pricing.

Notice what happens on the right hand side. Nothing. Tekmatix plan prices don't change with your contacts. You pay as you go for the emails, texts, calls and AI you actually use, so you're not paying for everyone else's server use. You only pay for what YOU use, which is much more fair if you ask me. That's how we can keep the monthly fee fixed at such a low price, whatever your list size. Everyone wins. Everything is fair.

At 10,000 contacts, ActiveCampaign Pro is around US$469 a month. That's before pipelines, SMS or WhatsApp, and before you add your course platform, your booking tool, your funnel builder and your checkout. And it's for far fewer features than Tekmatix has.

What ActiveCampaign does well (to be fair)

I always want to give you the honest picture. ActiveCampaign's automation builder is widely rated as excellent, and plenty of businesses are very happy there. If you only need email, your list is small and you don't need anything else to grow your business, then ActiveCampaign is OK. Most businesses also need social scheduling, AI employees, appointment booking, project and task management, websites, funnels, forms, courses, communities and a mobile app. That's where Tekmatix comes in.

The question to ask yourself is this: how many other tools am I paying for on top of my email platform, and what happens to all of those bills when I double my list? How many other things do I need to pay for, and connect together, to make my whole business work? For me, the answer was ugly. That's what made me move.

ActiveCampaign vs Tekmatix side by side

The other big difference for me is how I work now. I run my business by chatting to AI. I tell it what I need, and it builds the email, the automation or the page. I check it and approve it before anything goes out.

How to switch from ActiveCampaign to Tekmatix in 5 steps

The number one reason people stay on a platform they've outgrown is the fear of moving. I get it. Nobody wants to lose years of contacts, tags and emails. So here's how to do it without the pain.

1. Export your contacts, tags and lists from ActiveCampaign. Keep a copy somewhere safe before you change anything.
2. Start your Tekmatix account at tekmatix.com and choose an annual plan, so your migration is free (free migration limits apply).
3. We move your data over for you, free of charge. Your contact lists, all of your previous email campaigns, your tags and your fixed templates come with you when you join an annual plan.
4. We can rebuild your automations, forms and pipelines for you if you'd like it all done for you. We'll give you a personal quote, case by case, based on how much you have.
5. We set up your sending domain and configure it so your email sending is set up correctly. We'll run a list clean for you, re-verify your email addresses and run an email warm-up service. Small pay as you go charges apply for email verification and warm-up, as listed on tekmatix.com/pricing.

A few tips from someone who has moved a big list

• Don't stress about cleaning your list before you move it. When we import your contacts, we'll do a full list clean, email verification and warm-up for you. And because you're not charged for the number of contacts you have in Tekmatix, it doesn't matter if they all come over, even old or unverified ones.
• Write down every automation you have running, what triggers it and what it does. That list becomes your rebuild checklist. If you use ChatGPT, Claude or GrokBot, you could even get your AI to go into your ActiveCampaign account and produce a full audit report for you, so you've captured everything before you move. That also helps us quote a custom migration if you'd like us to do the work for you.
• Don't cancel your old account the same day. Run both for a short overlap so you can check everything has come across. We'll help you.
• Use the move as a chance to refresh your sequences, or let us do it for you with our done for you services.

Stop paying the growth tax

Your list growing should be the best news in your business. More people who want to hear from you. More people who might buy from you. It should never feel like a penalty.

If you're building courses, a membership or a community, the savings add up even faster, because you're not paying for a separate course platform as your student numbers grow.

That's the whole reason I built Tekmatix, and it's why I'm sharing it with you now.

Frequently asked questions

Has ActiveCampaign increased its prices in 2026?

ActiveCampaign has not announced a new price rise for 2026. The well documented changes are the 2024 plan switch, when many users reported bills going up 30 to 40% once add-ons were counted, and the change from November 2025 where new accounts are billed on total contacts, including unsubscribed and bounced contacts. Their pricing page now shows "Request pricing", so get a quote for your own list size.

What is the growth tax?

It's what I call software pricing that charges you more as your business grows: more contacts, more staff users or more students means a bigger monthly bill, even when you're doing the same work.

How much does ActiveCampaign cost at 10,000 contacts?

According to the GoodPostal email price index (1 November 2026), ActiveCampaign Pro is around US$469 a month at 10,000 contacts when billed monthly, and Plus is around US$239. Pipelines, SMS and WhatsApp are extra.

Does Tekmatix charge more as my list grows?

No. Tekmatix plans include unlimited contacts. You pay as you go for the emails, texts, calls and AI you actually use.

What is included in the free migration?

If you switch before Christmas on a Tekmatix annual plan, we migrate your ActiveCampaign contact lists, all of your previous email campaigns, your tags and your fixed templates for free. Pipelines, forms and automations can be moved for an additional cost, quoted individually.

Is there a free trial?

Yes. Tekmatix has a 7 day free trial, so you can look around before you commit.

Is ActiveCampaign a bad platform?

No. Its automation builder is well liked. The difference is the pricing model and how many other tools you need to pay for on top of it to run your business.

Sources: activecampaign.com/pricing; GoodPostal email price index (goodpostal.com, 1 November 2026); SaaSBinder ActiveCampaign pricing (verified 2 November 2026); Audienceful, ActiveCampaign price increase (July 2026); tekmatix.com/pricing. Prices are in US dollars unless marked AUD and may change, so always check the current pricing pages.

This article is general education, not financial advice. Every business is different, so check what fits your situation. It is intended to be informational and educational, and any errors are genuine mistakes. It is not meant to bring disrepute to any platform or organisation. Please check the pricing pages and terms of the software mentioned directly, so you have correct and accurate information from the original sources.