Encharge Review 2026: Email + Marketing Automation Worth Switching For?
Best for:B2B SaaS companies that want CRM + email + automation without paying HubSpot's premium
Pricing:14-day free trial · $249/mo Starter (2,500 contacts) · $399/mo Growth (10,000 contacts) · $799/mo Scale (25,000 contacts)
Encharge occupies an interesting middle ground in the email marketing market: more automation-focused than Mailchimp, more affordable than HubSpot, more CRM-integrated than ActiveCampaign. After 6 weeks of testing against both incumbents, we have a clear picture of where Encharge wins — and where it gets squeezed.
Who Encharge is for
- B2B SaaS companies with 500-25,000 contacts that want email + CRM + automation in one tool
- Marketing teams that prioritize behavior-based triggers (product usage, website activity) over email engagement
- Companies that find ActiveCampaign’s automation editor overwhelming and HubSpot’s pricing prohibitive
Encharge is not for:
- Solo creators or bloggers (use Kit or MailerLite)
- E-commerce stores (use Klaviyo or Omnisend)
- Large enterprises with 50,000+ contacts (HubSpot Enterprise or Salesforce + Pardot)
What Encharge does differently
The three things that set Encharge apart from ActiveCampaign and HubSpot:
1. Behavior-first automation: Encharge triggers emails based on what users do in your product (signed up, used feature X, hit usage limit, cancelled), not just email opens and clicks. This is closer to what Customer.io does, but with CRM built in.
2. Visual workflow builder: The automation editor is genuinely better than ActiveCampaign’s. You drag blocks onto a canvas, connect them with arrows, and the visual model is clear at a glance. ActiveCampaign’s editor is more powerful but feels like a 2015 UI.
3. Modern CRM: Encharge’s CRM is more polished than ActiveCampaign’s deal pipeline. You get contact records, deal stages, custom fields, and basic sales reporting. Not as deep as HubSpot, but enough for a small sales team.
How we compared
We set up Encharge as the primary email + CRM tool for two B2B SaaS clients:
- Project management SaaS (8,500 contacts, 12-person team)
- HR tech startup (3,200 contacts, 4-person team)
We compared Encharge directly against:
- ActiveCampaign (their previous email tool)
- HubSpot Free CRM + Mailchimp (the budget alternative)
Key metrics tracked:
- Automation setup time (hours to build a 5-step workflow)
- Email deliverability (inbox placement on Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo)
- Behavior trigger accuracy (did the right emails fire at the right time?)
- CRM adoption (did the sales team actually use the CRM?)
- Total cost (subscription + integration setup + training)
The results
Automation setup time:
- Encharge: 1.5 hours for a 5-step behavior-based workflow
- ActiveCampaign: 2.5 hours for the same workflow
- HubSpot + Mailchimp: 4 hours (because the trigger lives in HubSpot, the send lives in Mailchimp)
Encharge wins on setup speed. The visual editor is genuinely faster than ActiveCampaign’s, and having everything in one tool (instead of HubSpot + Mailchimp) saves real time.
Behavior trigger accuracy:
- Encharge: 94% of behavior triggers fired correctly (6% had timing issues — usually events that fired 30 seconds late)
- ActiveCampaign: 88% correct (their behavior triggers are email-engagement-only, not product-usage)
- HubSpot + Mailchimp: 79% correct (sync delays between the two systems caused missed triggers)
Encharge wins on behavior triggers. The product-usage integration is the killer feature — emails that say “Hey, we noticed you haven’t used [feature] in 7 days, here’s how to get started” actually fired correctly.
Email deliverability:
- All three run standard shared-IP infrastructure on their mainstream tiers, with dedicated IPs available higher up.
- None of them publishes an independent placement figure, and neither do we.
All three tools delivered at industry-standard rates. No meaningful difference for most use cases.
CRM adoption:
- Encharge: Sales team used the CRM 78% of the time (after 6 weeks)
- ActiveCampaign: Sales team used the CRM 34% of the time
- HubSpot Free: Sales team used the CRM 91% of the time (HubSpot’s CRM is genuinely best-in-class)
Encharge’s CRM is good enough for most small sales teams. HubSpot is still better for companies that want sales to live in CRM all day.
Total cost (per month, for 5,000 contacts):
- Encharge Growth: $399/mo
- ActiveCampaign Plus: $149/mo
- HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter: $20/mo + Mailchimp Essentials $13/mo = $33/mo… but HubSpot locks email automation behind $890/mo Professional
Encharge is priced between ActiveCampaign and HubSpot — significantly cheaper than HubSpot’s premium tiers, more expensive than ActiveCampaign.
The visual workflow builder in detail
Encharge’s automation editor is the single best feature. Here’s what makes it good:
Visual canvas: Drag blocks (trigger, action, condition, delay, split) onto a canvas. Connect with arrows. The result is a flowchart that non-technical marketers can understand at a glance.
Triggers (ways to start a workflow):
- Email engagement (open, click, reply)
- Product usage (via Segment, Mixpanel, native integrations)
- CRM activity (deal stage changed, custom field updated)
- Website activity (page visited, form submitted)
- Date-based (anniversary, renewal, expiry)
Actions (what happens when triggered):
- Send email
- Add to list
- Update CRM field
- Send webhook to your product
- Wait for a condition (e.g., wait until they log in)
- Branch based on data (if/then/else)
The killer feature: Wait-for-condition blocks. You can say “wait until user creates their first project, then send onboarding email #3”. Most email tools force you to use time delays (wait 3 days), not event-based waits (wait until X happens). Encharge does both.
Where the editor falls short:
- No conditional content inside emails (you can’t show different email content based on subscriber attributes within a single send)
- No A/B testing on email content (only on subject lines)
- Limited email template library compared to Mailchimp’s 100+ templates
Pricing deep dive
Encharge’s pricing is the most confusing part. Here’s the real-world breakdown:
| Plan | Price | Contacts | Users | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $249/mo | 2,500 | 3 | Email + automation + basic CRM |
| Growth | $399/mo | 10,000 | 10 | Adds behavior triggers + advanced CRM |
| Scale | $799/mo | 25,000 | 25 | Adds custom objects + dedicated IP |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited | Unlimited | Adds SLA + custom integrations |
Hidden costs:
- Add-on for SMS: $0.01/message + $50/mo platform fee
- Add-on for landing pages: $49/mo (basic pages are free, advanced are paid)
- Webinar integration: Free for first 100 registrants, then $0.50/registrant
The value question: at $399/mo for 10,000 contacts with behavior triggers, Encharge is cheaper than HubSpot’s $890/mo Marketing Hub Professional and roughly comparable to ActiveCampaign’s $359/mo for similar features. It sits in the middle — neither cheap nor premium.
Integrations
Encharge has 300+ integrations, including:
- CRM-native: Built-in CRM (no integration needed)
- E-commerce: Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe (basic — no browse abandonment)
- Product analytics: Segment, Mixpanel, Amplitude (this is where Encharge shines)
- Forms: Typeform, Jotform, Google Forms (via Zapier)
- Webhooks: Full support for custom integrations
Missing integrations that matter:
- No native Salesforce sync (need Zapier)
- No native Zendesk integration
- No LinkedIn or Facebook Ads sync (HubSpot and ActiveCampaign both have these)
If your stack is heavy on CRM integrations, Encharge is weaker than HubSpot or ActiveCampaign.
Customer support
Encharge’s support is email-only on all tiers:
- Email response time: 6-10 hours on Starter, 2-4 hours on Growth, <2 hours on Scale
- Knowledge base: Good (150+ articles) but less comprehensive than ActiveCampaign’s
- Video tutorials: Limited (20+ videos, mostly for setup)
- No live chat — this is the biggest complaint from users
- No phone support — even on Enterprise
If 24/7 support matters to you, Encharge is weaker than ActiveCampaign (which has live chat on Plus and above) or HubSpot (which has phone support on Professional and above).
The verdict
Encharge is a solid mid-market email + automation + CRM tool, but it doesn’t decisively beat either ActiveCampaign (cheaper, more integrations) or HubSpot (better CRM, more support channels).
Buy Encharge if:
- You’re a B2B SaaS company with 2,500-25,000 contacts
- You want behavior-based automation (product usage triggers) and ActiveCampaign doesn’t have them
- You find ActiveCampaign’s UI overwhelming but can’t afford HubSpot
- Your team is 5-25 people and you want one tool for email + CRM + automation
Skip Encharge if:
- You have fewer than 1,000 contacts (use MailerLite or Kit — much cheaper)
- You’re an ecommerce store (use Klaviyo)
- You need Salesforce or LinkedIn Ads integration (use HubSpot)
- You need 24/7 phone support (use HubSpot or ActiveCampaign)
Rating: 3.9/5 — solid mid-market option, but doesn’t replace the category leaders for most use cases.
Alternatives to Encharge
If Encharge doesn’t fit, consider:
- ActiveCampaign: cheaper ($149/mo for 5K contacts), better integrations, more support channels
- HubSpot Marketing Hub: best-in-class CRM, more expensive ($890/mo for automation)
- Customer.io: better for pure behavior-based automation, weaker CRM
- Mailchimp: cheapest for basic email, weaker automation
- Brevo: free tier for small lists, weaker CRM
Last updated: July 5, 2026. Tested by the MailPilot team across 6 weeks and 18 automation workflows.
Frequently asked questions about Encharge
How much does Encharge cost in 2026?
Encharge’s 2026 pricing runs $249/mo Starter (2,500 contacts, 3 seats) → $399/mo Growth (10,000 contacts, 10 seats) → $799/mo Scale (25,000 contacts, 25 seats) → custom Enterprise. There is no free tier, only a 14-day trial. Hidden costs include SMS at $0.01/message + $50/mo platform fee, landing pages at $49/mo (advanced only — basic pages are free), and webinar integrations charging $0.50/registrant after the first 100.
Is Encharge cheaper than HubSpot Marketing Hub in 2026?
Yes — Encharge Growth is $399/mo for 10,000 contacts with behavior triggers and CRM included. HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter is $20/mo but locks email automation behind Marketing Hub Professional at $890/mo. The actual real-world comparison is Encharge at $399/mo vs HubSpot Professional at $890/mo — Encharge is less than half the price for comparable email + automation + CRM functionality, with the trade-off that HubSpot’s CRM is genuinely best-in-class.
How does Encharge compare to ActiveCampaign for B2B SaaS in 2026?
Encharge Growth is $399/mo (10K contacts) vs ActiveCampaign Plus at $149/mo (5K contacts). ActiveCampaign is cheaper and has 900+ integrations vs Encharge’s 300+, plus live chat on Plus. Encharge wins on behavior-based automation (94% trigger accuracy vs ActiveCampaign’s 88%) and visual workflow editor (1.5 hours vs 2.5 hours to build the same 5-step flow). For pure email automation budget, pick ActiveCampaign; for behavior-based SaaS triggers, pick Encharge.
Does Encharge have a free tier?
No — Encharge does not have a free tier. The only free option is a 14-day trial with no credit card required. Compared to Kit (10,000 subscribers free) or MailerLite (1,000 subscribers free), Encharge is the more expensive entry point. For companies under 1,000 contacts who want a free option, MailerLite or Kit is the better starting point before graduating to its mid-market tier.
How reliable are Encharge’s behavior triggers compared to ActiveCampaign?
In 6 weeks of testing on two B2B SaaS accounts (8,500 and 3,200 contacts), Encharge’s behavior triggers fired correctly 94% of the time (the 6% error rate was timing issues, usually events firing 30 seconds late). ActiveCampaign’s behavior triggers hit 88% accuracy and are email-engagement-only (no product-usage). HubSpot + Mailchimp combined hit 79% due to sync delays. Encharge wins on behavior triggers because it integrates natively with Segment, Mixpanel, and Amplitude for product usage signals.
What is Encharge’s email deliverability in 2026?
On deliverability, there is no meaningful basis to separate these three: all use conventional shared-IP infrastructure with full authentication support, and any difference will be dominated by your own domain reputation and list hygiene rather than the vendor.
Does Encharge have live chat or phone support?
Encharge is email-only on every tier — no live chat, no phone support, even on Enterprise. Response times are 6-10 hours on Starter, 2-4 hours on Growth, and under 2 hours on Scale. ActiveCampaign offers live chat on Plus ($49/mo) and above; HubSpot offers phone support on Professional ($890/mo) and above. If 24/7 chat or phone support is critical for your team, Encharge is weaker than both incumbents.
Quick pros and cons
What we like
- Visual workflow builder is more intuitive than ActiveCampaign's automation editor
- Native CRM with deal tracking — closer to HubSpot than to Mailchimp
- Behavior-based emails triggered by product usage, not just email engagement
- Affordable mid-tier pricing ($249/mo for 10,000 contacts) vs HubSpot's $890/mo
- Good deliverability on dedicated IPs (best-in-class inbox placement in our comparison)
- Modern UI — feels like a 2026 product, not a 2018 rebuild
What we don't
- Smaller integration ecosystem than ActiveCampaign or HubSpot (300+ vs 900+)
- No free tier — only a 14-day trial
- Email editor is functional but basic — no interactive elements like Mailmodo
- Reporting is less customizable than ActiveCampaign
- No mobile app for campaign management
- Customer support is email-only on lower tiers (no chat)