Marketing automation tool allows you to craft personalized, engaging campaigns across various channels. Whether you’re sending email newsletters, SMS, social media updates, or web push notifications, marketing automation lets you simplify and enhance your marketing efforts. Thanks to cutting-edge advancements like AI, these tools are constantly improving.
However, not all marketing automation tools are built the same. Some offer more robust features, better integrations, and stronger support. Others excel in user-friendliness, scalability, and affordability. And certain platforms target specific industries, goals, and needs. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the 14 Best Marketing Automation Tools that can help you save time, simplify tasks, and improve the way you do business.
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What is Marketing Automation
Marketing automation has become the secret tool for scaling operations and boosting ROI; it involves using software and technology to simplify, automate, and measure repetitive marketing activities. Instead of manually sending emails, posting on social media, or tracking customer data, marketing automation tools handle these tasks for you, to ensure your business runs smoothly 24/7.
Marketing automation tools simplifies operations, improves efficiency, and enhances customer experiences—all while freeing you up to focus on the strategy and growth of your business. With marketing automation tools, you can automate tasks like sending welcome emails, nurturing leads, or posting on social media. It can also help to send personalized messages based on customer behaviour to ensure the right message reaches the right person at the right time.
Marketing Automation tools lets you track potential customers and send targeted content that encourages them to buy from you; with enhanced analytics to measure what’s working and what isn’t and help you optimize your marketing strategy over time.
The Best Marketing Automation Tools
With so many tools on the market, choosing the right one can be overwhelming. Here are the best marketing automation tools to automate your business, schedule emails, track leads, and analyze campaign performance—all while you focus on the bigger picture.
Sender is a powerful, user-friendly email marketing and automation platform for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, making it easy for users to create professional-looking emails. I like Sender because you can customize email templates, set up automated workflows, and track campaign performance through in-depth real-time analytics and a heatmap.
Sender provides a simple yet effective marketing automation feature that allows you to set up automatic email sequences based on triggers like user actions or specific time delays. It also has a feature to take care of your abandoned cart great for e-commerce stores and helps you recover sales by automatically sending emails to customers who didn’t complete their purchase on your website.
You can segment and send targeted emails based on user activity, like product views or purchases; and create a series of emails to be sent over time, keeping your audience engaged without manually sending each one.
One of the Sender’s unique features is its affordability, especially for small businesses on a budget. You can get started on Sender with a free plan that supports up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails per month; it is a good marketing automation tool for growing businesses to get started.
Sender integrates with e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, making it a perfect automation tool for online store owners.
Sender also includes tools for SMS marketing, allowing you to combine email and text message campaigns in one place. This makes it ideal for those looking to manage multichannel marketing efforts easily.
Price: Sender pricing is affordable compared to many competitors, especially with its generous Free Forever plan that offers many premium features for up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails per month.
Sender’s paid plan starts at $15 per month with unlimited emails, priority support, and advanced features like segmentation, SMS campaigns, and more. If you have more than 50,000 subscribers, Sender provides custom pricing.
The paid plans offer flexibility with advanced features like behavioural targeting, integrations, and premium support.
Omnisend is a popular email and SMS marketing automation tool designed specifically for eCommerce businesses. It allows you to engage with your customers across multiple channels, including email, SMS, push notifications, and even integrations with social media platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
I love Omnisend because it comes with pre-built workflows for cart abandonment, welcome series, and order follow-ups, which can help you save time and simplify your communication with customers.
Unlike many tools that focus only on email, Omnisend enables you to create campaigns that span multiple platforms, including email, SMS, and social media. You can segment your audience based on purchasing behaviour, email engagement, and more for more personalized communication which can lead to higher conversion rates.
Ominsend has everything from an easy-to-use drag-and-drop email editor to the dynamic content blocks for dynamic product recommendations, discount codes, and scratch cards to engage your audience better; to in-depth analytics that help you track the success of your campaigns, measure engagement, and optimize strategies based on data.
Since Omnisend is an e-commerce-focused platform, it integrates smoothly with platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce with the ability to send automated SMS messages to reach customers in a more immediate and personal way.
Price: Omnisend offers a free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 emails per month with basic email marketing automation to get you started. While there’s a free plan, advanced features (like SMS and segmentation) require a paid subscription, which starts at $16 per month for 500 contact and 6,000 emails.
HubSpot is a robust marketing, sales, and customer service platform to help businesses grow with tools to attract, engage, and delight customers. HubSpot combines a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system with tools for marketing automation, sales pipeline management, customer service, and even website management. This makes it an all-in-one hub for businesses to generate and nurture leads, close deals, and manage relationships with customers.
HubSpot is an excellent marketing automation tool to automate email campaigns, lead nurturing, and social media scheduling, HubSpot workflow feature allows you to build automated processes based on customer actions. One of the features I love about HubSpot is that it lets you manage contact details, track interactions, and set up pipelines for your sales team.
HubSpot is a fantastic option if you are looking for a tool to simplify your marketing, sales, and customer service efforts, all in one place; HubSpot integrates with many third-party tools such as WordPress, Mailchimp, Salesforce, and more, making it easy to work with current tech in your stack.
Price: HubSpot has various pricing plans depending on which tools you want to use. Basic CRM, email marketing for up to 2,000 emails/month, ad management, contact forms, live chat, reporting dashboard, and access to HubSpot’s Academy are free to start. The paid plan starts at Starts at $20/month for up to 1,000 contacts.
Moosend is a popular email marketing automation tool that offers an affordable, feature-rich solution for businesses of all sizes. Moosend is a powerful automation tool that competes with bigger names like Mailchimp and MailerLite, but at a more budget-friendly price. It’s perfect for small businesses, e-commerce brands, and anyone who wants to improve their email marketing efforts without breaking the bank.
Moosend allows you to create beautiful, responsive email campaigns with a drag-and-drop editor. It also comes with pre-built templates, making it easier to launch campaigns quickly.
Moosend’s automation features are a major selling point, you can set up workflows based on customer behaviour, segment your audience, and personalize messages. The automation feature automates sending welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and upselling, which saves time and boosts engagement.
You can use the Moosend dynamic content feature to help improve open rates and conversions by sending personalized messages to individual subscribers. Moosend also provides detailed reports that let you track metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates to help you refine your email marketing strategy.
Price: Moosend offers a 30-day free trial to get started with unlimited emails, automation workflows, reporting and analytics and sign-up and subscription forms. The paid plan starts at $7 per month for up to 500 contacts.
MailerLite is another user-friendly marketing automation tool designed to help businesses and individuals manage email campaigns, automation, and audience engagement. It’s an ideal automation platform for small to medium-sized businesses and bloggers who want a simple but powerful tool to grow their audience.
I love how easy it is to design emails with customizable templates on MailerLite, and how to set up advanced workflows for automated responses, nurturing sequences, and onboarding emails.
MailerLite also lets you build landing pages and pop-ups to capture leads directly on your website and segment your list to target specific groups based on user behaviour, interests, or demographics.
Another thing I love about MailerLite is its simplicity, unlike some complex platforms, MailerLite strikes a balance between ease of use and robust features. Plus, it integrates well with WordPress, Shopify, and other platforms, making it easy to use for anyone.
Price: MailerLite has a free plan with premium features for 30 days for up to 1000 contacts and 12,000 emails per month. The paid plan starts at $9 per month if you opt for the annual plan and $10 per month if you opt in for monthly payments.
You can read our MailerLite complete Reviews to know how powerful MailerLite is as email marketing and automation tool.
GetResponse is an all-in-one online marketing automation tool to help businesses grow their audience, engage with customers, and boost sales. It’s widely known for its robust email marketing tools but offers additional features like landing page builder, webinars, and marketing automation. If you want a robust marketing solution that covers everything from email to sales funnels, GetResponse is a solid choice. It’s ideal for businesses that want to scale their marketing efforts without juggling multiple platforms.
GetResponse allows you to create and send professional email campaigns with a simple drag-and-drop editor, you can also choose from the various ready-to-use email templates, A/B testing, and advanced analytics to track the performance of your campaigns.
GetResponse has a powerful automation builder feature to create custom workflows based on subscriber behaviour. You can nurture leads, send abandoned cart emails, and manage the entire customer journey through triggers and conditions.
I love the GetResponse conversion funnel feature that makes it easy to build landing pages to help you capture leads, promote products, or launch campaigns; the feature simplifies the entire sales process. It’s an integrated system that combines landing pages, emails, and payment processing to drive conversions.
One unique feature of GetResponse is its built-in webinar tool that you can use to host webinars directly from the platform, which is perfect for product demos, training sessions, or lead generation.
Price: GetResponse offers a 30-day free trial plan for up to 1000 contacts and the paid plan starts at $15.6 per month for up to 1000 contacts with unlimited emails and automation.
Benchmark Email is another marketing automation tool that can your help businesses engage with your audience through email campaigns. It offers various features that make it easy for users to create, manage, and analyze email marketing efforts.
Benchmark Email has an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, which makes it easy to design visually appealing emails. It also offers various responsive email templates, which can be customized to fit your brand’s style.
With the Benchmark Email automation features, you can set up automated email sequences based on user behaviour, such as welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, or re-engagement campaigns that save you time and help nurture leads efficiently.
To optimize your campaigns, Benchmark allows you to A/B test subject lines, content, and send times so that you can understand what your audience likes and improves open and click-through rates. Its analytics feature provides detailed analytics on how your emails perform; you can track open, click-through, and bounce rates.
Price: Benchmark Email offers a free plan for up to 500 contacts and 3,500 monthly emails with limited features. The paid plan starts at $13 for up to 500 subscribers, and you can send 7,500 emails monthly.
ConvertKit is another popular marketing automation tool primarily for creators like bloggers, podcasters, and online entrepreneurs. It stands out because it focuses on simplicity without compromising on powerful features. ConvertKit is the ideal tool for creators who want to manage and nurture their email lists with automation and audience engagement.
You don’t need to be a tech expert to use ConvertKit. It is a great choice for creators who want to focus on content, not complicated setups. One of the features I enjoy about ConvertKit is its visual automation builder; you can map out how subscribers move through funnels and email sequences visually; the visual automation builder feature makes setting up workflows intuitive and manageable.
ConvertKit allows you to create simple landing pages and forms, which is great for capturing leads from your website. ConvertKit is one of the automation tools that understand creators’ needs; from selling digital products like courses and e-books to its “Commerce” feature, it tailors its tools to help creators make money directly from their audience.
Price: ConvertKit like most automation tools on this list, offers a free forever plan for up to 1000 contacts and unlimited email and landing pages. The paid plan starts at $25/month for up to 1000 contacts.
Drip is another powerful marketing automation tool that focuses on helping e-commerce owners build meaningful connections with their customers. Drip is an ideal marketing automation tool for e-commerce businesses to automate their email marketing, segment their audience, and personalize their outreach at scale.
Drip focuses on driving conversions and sales making it stand out from other general-purpose automation tools. If you’re running an online store and want to level up your email and automation effort, Drip is worth checking out!
I love Drip for its easy-to-use automation workflows that let you set up automated campaigns based on customer actions like visiting a product page, abandoning a cart, or making a purchase. With Drip, you can track how customers interact with your emails, website, and store.
As a marketing automation tool designed for e-commerce, Drip integrates with major e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, making it seamless to sync your store data and drive sales through emails.
Drip also allows you to create dynamic segments to send specific messages to groups of subscribers based on their behaviour on your store to boost open rates and conversions.
Price: Drip does not have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial, so you can test the features before committing to a paid plan. The paid plan starts at $39 per month for up to 2,500 contacts with all the features.
Drip pricing is scalable, which means as your email list grows, the cost adjusts based on the number of contacts. It’s ideal for e-commerce businesses that want a tool that focuses on conversion-driven email marketing automation.
ActiveCampaign is another powerful and popular integrated marketing automation tool known for its focus on email marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), and automation workflows.
With ActiveCampaign, you can build complex workflows that trigger actions based on customer behaviour, preferences, or even time-based events. For instance, if a customer opens an email but doesn’t make a purchase, you can set an automated follow-up sequence to re-engage such a customer.
It offers robust email marketing tools, allowing you to create engaging email campaigns using drag-and-drop builders. You can also segment your audience based on behaviours, interests, and demographics, ensuring your messages hit the right people at the right time.
Unlike many marketing automation tools, ActiveCampaign has a built-in CRM that helps you manage leads, track deals, and automate sales tasks to streamline marketing and sales processes.
ActiveCampaign integrates with over 850 apps, including Shopify, WordPress, and Zapier, making it easy to connect with the tools you’re already using.
Price: ActiveCampaign offers competitive pricing given the depth of features. ActiveCampaign starter price starts at $15 per month for 1000 contacts; the price changes based on the number of contacts.
SendPulse is another all-in-one marketing automation tool designed to help businesses and entrepreneurs simplify their marketing efforts. It offers various tools under one roof, including email marketing, SMS campaigns, push notifications, and chatbots.
SendPulse offers a drag-and-drop email builder, responsive templates, A/B testing, and automation features, and you can segment your list for targeted campaigns and track performance through detailed analytics.
SendPulse also allows you to send bulk SMS messages to your customers worldwide for immediate alerts or promotional messages, especially when email open rates might be lower. SendPulse also supports web push notifications, allowing you to send real-time updates to users, even when they aren’t on your website.
One of the features I find interesting about Sendpulse is their user-friendly chatbot builder for Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram. It allows you to set up automated responses and create custom flows to handle customer queries or automate sales funnels.
Price: SendPulse offers a free plan with all of the core features you need to get started with email marketing, it’s a good option for startups or small businesses. The paid plan starts at $8 per month for up to 500 contacts with unlimited emails.
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a popular all-in-one marketing automation tool with various tools to manage the marketing and communication needs of any business. Brevo started as an email marketing service but has since expanded into marketing automation, CRM, transactional emails, and even SMS marketing.
Brevo’s email marketing features are robust, allowing users to design, send, and track emails easily. It offers countless customizable email templates with drag-and-drop editors, and A/B testing for optimizing email campaigns.
Brevo provides advanced automation tools that let you create workflows that automatically send emails based on user behaviour, such as purchases or website visits to streamline engagement and lead nurturing processes.
For eCommerce businesses or any platform that sends order confirmations, password resets, etc., Brevo’s transactional email service ensures these critical messages reach the inbox with high deliverability rates. Alongside email, Brevo also offers SMS marketing to send promotional or time-sensitive transactional messages directly to users’ phones.
Brevo’s built-in CRM lets you manage contacts, track interactions, and nurture leads all in one place. It’s a simple but effective way to keep your sales and marketing efforts in sync.
Price: Brevo has a forever free plan to get you started with 300 emails daily. The paid plan starts at $9 per month with up to 5,000 emails per month.
SureTriggers is another great marketing automation tool that connects various apps and streamlines workflows, similar to tools like Zapier or Integromat (now Make). It allows you to automate repetitive tasks by setting up triggers and actions between different web applications, making it useful for marketers, entrepreneurs, and businesses looking to improve their efficiency.
SureTrigger is an ideal solution for businesses or individuals who want to reduce manual tasks and boost productivity through automation. SureTrigger supports various apps that allow you to connect services like email platforms, CRMs, eCommerce stores, and project management tools. You can build automated workflows with multiple steps, creating a customized experience tailored to your business needs.
SureTrigger drag-and-drop feature makes it easy for anyone to set up automation without stress; and the conditional logic feature allows for more complex workflows by adding conditions, meaning actions can vary based on specific triggers or data inputs.
Price: You get started with SureTriggers on a free plan to Connect 1 WordPress website, 5 workflows, and 750+ app integrations with various pre-built recipes and automation templates. The paid plan starts at $9 for up to 5000 tasks per month.
Marketing automation does not stop in email alone, we can automate the way we chat with customers on social media too, and that’s why ManyChat was designed. ManyChat is a popular tool for automating conversations on messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It helps businesses engage with their audience by building chatbot experiences.
ManyChat is excellent for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and marketers to build and nurture their customer base using conversational marketing. While it started with Facebook Messenger, it now supports Instagram and WhatsApp, giving you flexibility in reaching your audience.
ManyChat offers a drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for anyone to set up automated messaging flows. You can create customized messaging sequences for everything from lead generation to customer support.
ManyChat integrates with popular marketing tools like Shopify, HubSpot, and Mailchimp to automate follow-ups, send out promotions, and more. ManyChat AI lets you create bots that respond to common customer inquiries to free up time for your team. You can also send videos, images, and buttons to make interactions more engaging.
Price: You can get started on ManyChat for free with access to ManyChat basic features to engage up to 1,000 contacts. The free plan allows you to send Instagram Direct Messages, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. The paid plan starts at $15 per month with access to advanced features including SMS and email.
How to Choose the Best Marketing Automation Tool
Choosing the right marketing automation tool is like picking the perfect tool for a job—you need the one that fits your business needs, not just the fanciest one on the shelf. With so many options out there, it’s important to consider a few key factors before you choose one for your business.
Here are some key tips to consider before you choose a marketing automation tool for your business:
- Understand Your Business Needs
Understanding the purpose of automating your business is the first step to choosing the best tool; figure out what you’re trying to accomplish. Are you looking to automate email campaigns? Do you need help with lead management, or are you trying to integrate your CRM with social media channels?
Small businesses might focus on tools with strong email automation and CRM integration. While big companies should look for advanced features like multi-channel marketing and comprehensive analytics.
- Ease of Use
Not every marketing team has a tech wizard, if the tool is too complex, it will slow you down instead of speeding things up. Make sure the tool has an intuitive interface and an easy learning curve. You can try out the free versions or demos to get a feel for how user-friendly the tool is.
- Integration Capabilities
Does the tool integrate smoothly with your current systems like your CRM, social media platforms, and eCommerce platforms? A marketing automation tool that plays well with third-party platforms will save you time and avoid headaches in the long run.
- Scalability
As your business grows, your marketing needs will too. So you need to choose an automation tool you can grow with you. Choose a platform that offers free and additional features you can unlock as your needs expand.
- Analytics and Reporting
Good marketing automation tools should come with analytics that give insight into your campaigns’ performance; you need a tool that provides detailed reports on email opens, click rates, conversions, and customer behaviour.
- Pricing
There’s no point in going for the most expensive marketing automation tool thinking it’s the best. Instead, match your budget with the features you need. Also, keep an eye on hidden costs like additional integrations or premium features. The price of marketing automation tools varies significantly based on features, users, and business size.
Getting Started with Marketing Automation
Marketing automation tools have become indispensable for businesses to simplify their operations and deliver personalized customer experiences. No matter the size of your business managing complex campaigns is not something you should do manually.
From email marketing to social media scheduling, lead management to analytics, the right tool can make all the difference in your marketing strategy. Each of the Best Marketing Automation Tools covered in this article offers unique strengths to help you automate your business.
The key is to find a marketing automation tool that will fit perfectly with your current business needs, help you grow and help you work smarter—not harder. Take advantage of free trials and demos, and explore the features, before you choose the right one for your business. With the right automation platform, you can free up time for creativity, focus on strategy, and watch your business thrive.