10 Best Cheaper Keap Alternatives in 2026

Keap brings customer relationship management (CRM), sales, email, and automation into one platform. That can be useful when you want everything connected, but it can also mean paying for more functionality than you need or adopting a system that feels more complex than necessary.

With Keap’s plans starting at $299 per month, several cheaper Keap alternatives are worth considering, especially if you’re looking for simpler tools to manage customers and automate everyday follow-up.

In this guide, we’ll compare the top alternatives with their pros and cons, so you can choose what fits your needs best, whether you’re switching from Keap or picking a platform to start with.

Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of September 2026.

Why look for a Keap alternative?

Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) offers a comprehensive feature set, but it also has its drawbacks. Here are some of the main reasons why businesses look for an alternative:

• Expensive pricing: Keap has a single, contact-based plan starting at 299/month for 1,500 contacts. This makes the service prohibitive for businesses with tight budgets.
• Required $500 implementation package: This mandatory fee is a one-time investment that includes strategy sessions, data migration, automation setup, and ongoing guidance. That support can make onboarding easier, but it also adds to your upfront cost.
• Steeper learning curve: Keap offers extensive CRM and automation capabilities, but that can also mean more time learning the platform. Some G2 reviewers say the initial setup can be challenging and that advanced automations take time to understand and fine-tune.
• You may not need the full platform: Keap has moved away from feature-based plans and now gives customers access to its full software platform under one plan. If you only need email campaigns, contact management, and a few automated follow-ups, a simpler platform may give you the functionality you use most without the cost of a broader system.

Keap alternatives at a glance

Here’s a quick comparison of the best Keap competitors.

Now let’s examine each solution in more detail.

1. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a great Keap alternative if you want advanced automation without Keap’s higher starting price. The platform combines email marketing, contact management, and automated follow-ups, with optional sales tools for tracking deals. It’s particularly appealing if you already use separate booking and accounting software and don’t need Keap to handle those jobs.

The depth of ActiveCampaign’s automation was what stood out during testing. The automation builder lets you tailor messages to email clicks, website visits, or purchases. For example, someone who clicks a service link could receive a relevant case study before your next sales follow-up. On Pro and higher plans, you can also test different automation paths and personalize sections of an email. That gives you useful ways to improve campaigns beyond changing a subject line.

Unlike Keap, deal pipelines and sales automation require a paid CRM add-on, available on Plus and higher plans. Appointment scheduling and invoicing also depend on connected tools, whereas Keap includes both. Businesses that want a different balance of automation, CRM, and pricing may also want to explore other ActiveCampaign alternatives.

Pros

• Strong automation with behavioral triggers, branching, and sales-based workflows
• Lower starting cost with separate plans for different needs

Cons

• No built-in appointment scheduling or native invoicing
• Sales CRM features cost extra 

Pricing

ActiveCampaign’s Starter plan begins at $19/month for 1,000 contacts, billed monthly, but limits each automation to five actions. Plus starts at $49/month and offers unlimited automation actions. Enhanced CRM add-ons start at $49/month. Finally, ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial.

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is worth considering if you mainly want to manage sales opportunities and keep customer conversations moving. The platform centers on a visual sales pipeline, where you can see each deal’s stage and the activities needed to move it forward. That focus on deal flow works well for companies managing proposals, client consultations, and ongoing negotiations.

You can customize stages to match your sales process, drag deals between them, and keep notes and scheduled activities alongside each opportunity. For example, an agency could quickly check which proposals are awaiting a decision and which prospects need another call. 

Growth and higher plans add email sync, meeting scheduling, and automation. You could automatically create a follow-up task when a deal reaches the proposal stage, or build a sequence combining emails and calls. Essentially, you get similar sales functionality as Keap, but with a lower starting investment.

Keap includes email marketing in its subscription. With Pipedrive, newsletters and promotional campaigns require the separate Campaigns add-on, which provides templates, a drag-and-drop editor, segmentation, and engagement reports. Still, teams can save a lot compared to Keap.

Pros

• Lower starting cost for individuals and small sales teams
• Focused workspace for managing deals, activities, and sales follow-ups

Cons

• The entry-level plan lacks automation and full email sync
• Email marketing requires a paid add-on

Pricing

Pipedrive’s pricing starts at $24/month and includes essential tools but no automation. For automation, revenue forecast reports, and meeting scheduling, plans start at $49/month. Email campaigns cost extra, with prices starting at $16/month when billed monthly.

While there’s no free plan, Pipedrive has a free 14-day trial (no credit card required).

3. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a strong all-around Keap alternative for small businesses that want simple tools for staying in touch with customers. It brings email, social media, SMS marketing, and events into one platform, focusing on making everyday marketing easier.

The drag-and-drop editor and extensive library of 600+ mobile-responsive templates make it easy to put together newsletters, promotions, and event invitations. In our testing, the AI writing assistance was helpful for getting a first draft down quickly and refining copy when we already knew what we wanted to say. It’s a simple time-saver when email is just one of many things on your to-do list.

Constant Contact’s AI campaign builder is another benefit for solopreneurs and small teams. With a single prompt, you can instantly generate a campaign across multiple channels instead of spending hours creating separate assets for email, SMS, and social media.

Automation is beginner-friendly, and you also get common automation recipes for abandoned carts, re-engagement campaigns, and thank-you messages. Still, if you need sales automation or want to manage deals through multiple stages, Keap remains a more complete option.

Pros

• You can schedule posts, repurpose email content with AI, and track engagement from one dashboard
• 300+ integrations with tools such as Shopify, Salesforce, and Canva to bring customer data and creative assets into your marketing workflow

Cons

• Has a marketing CRM rather than sales CRM functionality 
• Custom automation paths require a Premium plan

Pricing

Paid plans start at $12/month and include email, social media, automation, forms, and live phone support. For more advanced functionality, Standard starts at $35/month and Premium at $80/month.

Constant Contact also offers a 30-day free trial that lets you test all of the platform’s features.

4. HubSpot

If your main priority is organizing contacts and tracking sales without a large monthly commitment, HubSpot can be a practical alternative to Keap. Its free CRM includes contact management, deal pipelines, tasks, and communication history, giving small teams a good starting point for managing customer relationships. You can also review previous conversations and outstanding tasks before reaching out to a prospect.

Breeze Assistant adds AI help within that workspace. You can ask questions about your customers and deals using information already in your CRM, making it easier to prepare for a call or catch up on an opportunity. Paid plans add data enrichment to fill in business details.

That customer data can also guide automated follow-ups. For example, you could send different email sequences based on a prospect’s industry or engagement, then assign a task when they’re ready for a sales conversation. These advanced workflows, however, require Marketing Hub Professional or above.

Like Keap, HubSpot supports payment collection through invoices and payment links, including recurring payments. You can connect Stripe, even on the free CRM, or use HubSpot payments with a paid subscription in supported countries. Processing fees apply, but connecting payments to your CRM keeps sales and billing information together. 

Pros

• Free CRM includes contact management, deal pipelines, and activity tracking
• Built-in AI assistant uses CRM data to help you prepare for customer conversations

Cons

• Advanced marketing workflows require Professional or Enterprise plans
• Stripe payments incur a HubSpot platform fee on top of Stripe’s processing fees

Pricing

HubSpot’s entry-level plans start at $20/month for 1,000 marketing contacts and core features. The Professional plan unlocks advanced functionality, but prices start at $890/month.

This Keap alternative has a free plan, covers up to 2 users, and includes email marketing, forms, CRM tools, and limited automation.

5. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a popular Keap alternative for businesses that want to focus more on email marketing than sales management. Thanks to its user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop email builder, users can effortlessly create stunning campaigns without prior design experience.

Automation is among Mailchimp’s strongest areas. You can build multi-step flows with triggers, delays, conditional splits, tags, and SMS actions, making the platform ideal for both simple and more advanced use cases. The platform also includes several pre-built journeys, including ecommerce follow-ups, cart abandonment, and lead nurturing.

Mailchimp’s marketing CRM does a great job of bringing together contact information such as tags, email engagement, purchase history, and behavioral data collected over time. These details can help you better segment your audience and make your messages more relevant.

The main difference with Keap is that Mailchimp’s tools focus on organizing contacts, tracking engagement, and using audience data to improve campaigns. To manage sales pipelines, however, you’ll still need a separate CRM solution.

 Pros

• Mobile app to use the CRM on the go
• Advanced segmentation and branching automation at a significantly lower cost than Keap

Cons

• Lacks Keap’s native quotes, invoices, appointments, and payment tools
• Mailchimp charges you for duplicate contacts across audiences (lists)

Pricing

Mailchimp has a free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends, which is ideal for testing the software. 

Paid plans start at $13/month with core email marketing functionality and automation flows with up to 4 steps. For predictive segmentation and send-time optimization, prices start at $20/month, while Mailchimp’s most advanced functionality starts at $350/month.

6. Zoho CRM

If you have a small sales team and require detailed contact and deal management, Zoho CRM can be a great fit. It gives you tools to manage leads, deals, pipelines, tasks, forecasting, and customer data, with plenty of room to customize your sales process.

Its biggest advantage over Keap is its CRM flexibility. You can automate repetitive sales tasks, assign leads, update records, trigger follow-ups, and build workflows around different stages of the customer journey. That makes it a strong fit for teams that want more control over how leads move through their pipeline.

Lead scoring helps your team prioritize prospects based on their details and interactions with your business. For example, someone who responds to an email can earn additional points. Workflow automation handles routine follow-ups, while Blueprint lets you define steps salespeople must complete as deals progress.

Unlike Keap, Zoho CRM requires more setup if you want email marketing or accounting capabilities. Specifically, you’ll need to connect with Zoho Campaigns or Zoho Marketing Automation. These connections give you flexibility, but they can also mean more setup work and additional subscriptions to manage.

Pros

• Customizable pipelines, lead scoring, and guided sales processes
• Modern UI

Cons

• Broader functionality may require several connected Zoho applications
• Per-user pricing and extra subscriptions can increase total costs

Pricing

Zoho CRM offers a free plan for up to three users. Paid plans start at $20/user/month when billed monthly, with Professional ($35/month) and Enterprise ($50/month) available for more advanced features and customization.

7. Salesforce Sales Cloud

While reviewing Salesforce Sales Cloud, we found that it can work well for businesses that need more control over a growing sales operation. It brings leads, contacts, accounts, and opportunities into one CRM, giving sales teams a clear view of each deal and the activity surrounding it. Lead routing, task management, customizable sales processes, and pipeline tools help teams keep opportunities moving without relying on separate spreadsheets.

Teams can build customizable reports and dashboards, forecast revenue, manage sales territories, and inspect pipeline activity in more detail. Its Flow tools also let businesses automate repetitive processes, while AppExchange and integrations make the CRM easier to adapt around an existing tech stack over time.

The trade-off is the work required to tailor the system. Fields, permissions, and workflows need thoughtful setup, and complex configurations may require specialist help. More extensive marketing automation can also involve additional Salesforce products.

Pros

• Flexible customization supports complex sales processes and growing teams
• Detailed pipeline reporting and forecasting help guide sales decisions

Cons

• Complex configurations can require specialist help and ongoing administration
• Less unified than Keap for marketing, appointments, and payments

Pricing

Salesforce Starter Suite starts at $25 per user per month. Pro Suite costs $100/user/month (billed annually) and adds forecasting and greater customization, including Flow Builder with five flows per organization. For built-in AI and advanced reporting, Sales Cloud Core starts at $195/user/month.

The platform also offers a 30-day free trial.

8. Ontraport

Ontraport is a Keap alternative we’d consider for businesses selling courses, memberships, or coaching programs. It connects customer records, email and SMS campaigns, payments, and website tools. This helps you manage the initial sale and stay in touch as customers move through your program.

The built-in membership tools are also a big plus. A coach, for example, could collect payment, automatically give a buyer access to training materials, and start a welcome email sequence. You can also release content gradually and revoke access when someone misses a payment. Automated follow-ups can change based on a customer’s actions, too.

The CRM can store more than contact details. With the Dynamic CMS add-on, you can create separate records for projects or events and link them to customers. This can prove valuable for businesses managing several projects per client, although the add-on increases your subscription cost.

Finally, Ontraport’s AI Assistant is a handy tool. It can draft email and page copy and use customer records and previous conversations to personalize responses, segment contacts, route messages, and handle other workflow tasks.

Pros

• Lower entry cost for similar automation depth
• Built-in membership sites and content delivery

Cons

• Lead scoring is available on more expensive plans
• AI Assistant requires additional usage credits

Pricing

Ontraport’s pricing starts at $99/month, giving you access to the CRM, marketing automation, email marketing, SMS, and built-in AI.

You can also use a 14-day free trial without providing a credit card.

9. Freshsales

Freshsales is an AI-powered sales CRM built around managing leads, contacts, deals, and sales activity. Its visual pipelines make it easy to see where opportunities stand, while built-in email, phone, chat, tasks, and appointments help sales teams manage conversations without constantly switching tools.

Regarding automation, Freshsales can automatically assign leads, trigger workflows, and run sales sequences that combine emails, calls, SMS, and tasks. 

Freddy AI adds useful sales intelligence by scoring contacts, highlighting promising or at-risk deals, suggesting next actions, and helping draft personalized prospecting emails. Some AI and advanced sales features depend on your plan and account eligibility.

Freshsales also gives teams a detailed view of each customer relationship, bringing contact information, conversations, activities, and deal history into one record. You can customize sales pipelines and fields around your process, track performance through reports and dashboards, and connect Freshsales with other business tools through integrations. That combination makes it ideal for small sales teams that want more structure without investing in a heavyweight CRM.

Pros

• Advanced AI scoring and deal insights
• Affordable CRM with strong pipeline tools

Cons

• Fewer marketing automation options compared to Keap
• Lacks native invoicing and payments

Pricing

Freshsales offers a free plan for up to three users. Paid plans start at $11/user/ month for Growth, followed by $47 for Pro and $71 for Enterprise.

A 21-day free trial is also available, giving you access to all CRM features.

10. EngageBay

EngageBay is a free Keap competitor that provides several customer-facing tools in one place. Unlike Keap’s bundled approach, EngageBay offers its products (CRM and Sales, Marketing, Customer Support) both separately and in an all-in-one package. This approach works well for small teams that need flexibility.

Forms and landing pages help you generate new leads, while email sequences and visual workflows handle follow-up. You can build workflows around customer actions and sales activity, while features such as lead scoring, A/B testing, site messages, and proposals expand what you can automate.

The built-in helpdesk is another useful addition. You can assign requests to teammates, track unresolved issues, and save replies to common questions. We see particular value in keeping support work alongside customer records when several people might speak to the same customer.

EngageBay has also introduced AI across sales, support, email, forms, landing pages, and social content, including tools that analyze pipeline activity and suggest next steps. And while the platform’s low entry price is appealing, note that advanced marketing automation requires the Growth plan or higher.

Pros

• Free plan with CRM and email marketing
• Built-in helpdesk and live chat tools

Cons

• Marketing automation requires Growth or higher
• Payments depend on third-party integrations (Stripe, Xero)

Pricing

Paid All-in-One plans start with Basic at $14.99/month, Growth at $64.99 (unlocks marketing automation, A/B testing, and predictive lead scoring), and Pro at $119.99/month.

The free plan supports up to 250 contacts and includes core tools across marketing, sales, and support.

Selecting the right Keap alternative

You may not need another all-in-one platform to replace Keap successfully. Some options focus on sales pipelines and CRM, while others emphasize email, automation, or bringing several customer-facing tools together.

Start with the features you use most, then compare pricing, setup, and how well each tool fits your existing workflow. The goal isn’t to replace every Keap feature. It’s to find a platform that gives you the right ones without unnecessary cost or complexity.

If you’re looking for a scalable platform to grow your audience and automate follow-ups, start your 30-day free trial with Constant Contact and see whether its functionality fits your business needs.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about Keap

1. Is Keap the same as Infusionsoft?

Yes, Keap is the company formerly known as Infusionsoft. The business rebranded as Keap in 2019 and still offers CRM, sales, and marketing automation tools for small businesses. If you’re comparing Infusionsoft alternatives today, you’re generally looking at Keap competitors.

2. Who is Keap best for?

Keap is best for growing businesses with hands-on sales processes that want CRM, sales, and marketing automation in one platform. It’s particularly suited to service businesses managing repeated follow-ups, appointments, quotes, invoices, and payments as leads move toward becoming customers.

3. What is the cheapest alternative to Keap?

Several Keap alternatives in this guide offer free plans, including HubSpot, Mailchimp, Zoho CRM, Freshsales, and EngageBay. Among the paid options, Freshsales has the lowest starting price at $11 per user per month, followed by Constant Contact at $12 per month.