SharpSpring Alternative
SharpSpring Pricing and Features vs ActiveDEMAND
Like ActiveDEMAND, SharpSpring is a marketing automation platform for agencies and SMB. Both platforms offer great integration with Salesforce and are competitively priced. As a SharpSpring alternative, ActiveDEMAND has better email deliverability and integrates natively with more CRMs. Some differences that we’ve found our customers have told us about are below.
SharpSpring Pricing vs ActiveDEMAND
ActiveDEMAND and SharpSpring both offer similar pricing, though ActiveDEMAND is somewhat more inexpensive. Comparing the ActiveDEMAND corporate marketer pricing at 1,000 contacts vs SharpSpring’s 1,500 contact pricing shows similar monthly pricing, but no onboarding fee with ActiveDEMAND.
ActiveDEMAND and SharpSpring have similar review ratings on 3rd party review sites like G2.
Sharpspring has a required $2000 onboarding fee for their SharpSpring 10K plan.
Sharpspring’s per contact rate is also quite high.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| First Year Price | ActiveDEMAND Corporate Marketer | SharpSpring (5K plan) |
| Contract Terms | $6,588 (5000 contacts) | $10,387 (5,000 contacts, including $1999 onboarding fee) |
| Reviews | G2: 4.5/5 Getapp: 4.2/5 | G2: 4.5/5 Getapp: 4.5/5 |
Compare Marketing Automation Platforms
The value of a marketing automation platform is typically much more than the cost, but when a company is adopting new technology, affordable pricing helps make the choice easier.
Agency Features
SharpSpring and ActiveDEMAND both focus on digital marketing agencies and compare well on agency support. Onboarding new clients is much faster in ActiveDEMAND because agencies can clone accounts or create new accounts from a template.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Client Management |  | |
| White Labeling | | |
| Referral Program | | |
| Free Agency Portal | | |
| Free Marketing Resources | | |
| Priority Software Enhancements | | |
| Clone Assets, Workflows and Campaigns Across Sub-Accounts | |  |
| Clone Templated Accounts | | |
| Special Agency and Client Pricing | | |
| Content Moderation | | |
Email Marketing
SharpSpring and ActiveDEMAND both have excellent email capabilities. You can send mass emails or drip emails with both platforms, they both offer dynamic email content, and previews that show emails on desktop and mobile.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Drag-and-Drop Email Designer | | |
| Dynamic Email Content | | |
| A/B Testing | | |
| Responsive Templates | | |
| Preview as Desktop and Mobile | | |
| Clone Email Campaigns | | |
Automation
ActiveDEMAND and SharpSpring both offer excellent automation. Because you can clone workflows in ActiveDEMAND, it is faster to replicate and expand automation. ActiveDEMAND also has “webinar in a box” functionality that makes it easy to duplicate the many activities around running a webinar or event.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Workflow Builder | | |
| Unlimited Workflows | | |
| Lead Scoring | | |
| Dynamic Lists | | |
| Static Lists | | |
| Dynamic Landing Pages | | |
| Custom Event Triggers And Reporting | | |
| Event-Based Segmentation | | |
| Clone Assets | | |
| Clone Campaigns and Workflows | | |
| ‘Webinar-in-a-Box’ | | |
Forms
Web forms are an important way to get contact information into the marketing automation platform. Both SharpSpring and ActiveDEMAND offer dynamic web forms that are easy to use. With ActiveDEMAND, it can be easier to add forms to WordPress websites using the ActiveDEMAND WordPress plugin.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Drag-and-Drop Form Builder | | |
| Dynamic Forms | | |
| CSS to Match Website | | |
| Custom Fields | | |
| Virtual Form Submit | | |
| Auto-Complete | | |
| Progressive Forms | | |
| Add Form to Website With HTML | | |
| Add Form Via WordPress Plugin | | |
Contacts and Tracking
ActiveDEMAND and SharpSpring both offer extensive contact tracking to get the best insights into user behavior and marketing attribution. ActiveDEMAND is a bit quicker at installing tracking code on WordPress websites using the WordPress plugin, and it includes a built-in URL shortener that can be handy for tracking social posts.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Track Timeline of User Interactions | | |
| Anonymous Visitor Tracking | | |
| HTML Website Tracking Code | | |
| WordPress Plugin to Install Tracking Code | | |
| Use Google Tag Manager to Install Tracking Code | | |
| Easily Add Facebook Pixel | | * |
| Built-in Link Shortener | | ** |
**SharpSpring recommends you use bit.ly or other 3rd party link shortening services
Appointment Scheduling
SharpSpring’s meeting scheduling system doesn’t offer as much flexibility or customization as ActiveDEMAND’s. As a SharpSpring alternative, ActiveDEMAND supports better meeting assignment, which works great for companies that would like to have 1 booking form and distribute the meetings. SaaS companies love using this feature for demo booking pages.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Built-In Appointment Scheduling | | |
| Single or Teams Meetings | | |
| Sync With Google Calendar | | |
| Sync With Office 365 Calendar | | |
| GoToMeeting Integration | | |
| Zoom Integration | | |
| Sync With Your CRM | | (Sales OptimizerOnly) |
| Book Meeting Based On Priority | | |
| Book Meeting Based on Round Robin | | |
| Fully Customize Booking Page | | |
| Flexible Meeting Reminders | | * |
Landing Pages
Both ActiveDEMAND and SharpSpring compare well in Landing Pages. Both platforms have easy-to-use, “what you see is what you get” style interfaces.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Landing Page Templates | | |
| Drag-and-Drop Landing Page Designer | | |
| Dynamic Landing Page Content | | |
| Optimize For Mobile | | |
| Implement Google Analytics Tracking on Landing Pages | | |
Social Media
SharpSpring and ActiveDEMAND both support solid social media integration.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn | | |
| Schedule Social Posts | | |
| Unlimited Ad Retargeting Lists | | * |
| Content Calendar | | |
Integrations
ActiveDEMAND offers far more integration options than SharpSpring. If you already have a 3rd party CRM, ActiveDEMAND probably has a native integration available. Many of SharpSpring’s integrations listed on their website are not native and rely on Zapier to connect.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Native Connection to Popular CRMs | | Salesforce Only (added cost) |
| Website HTML Tracking Code | | |
| Use Google Tag Manager | | |
| Zapier | | |
| Popular eCommerce Engines | | * |
| AdRoll | | ** |
| Slack Integration | | *** |
| Hello Bar | | |
| Crisp & Olark Live Chat | | |
| GoToWebinar/ GoToMeeting | | |
**Requires Zapier and additional cost
***SharpSpring integrates Slack with their livechat, but there is no native support in workflow or campaigns
Reporting
ActiveDEMAND and SharpSpring both have excellent reporting capabilities. ActiveDEMAND can send scheduled reports as PDFs or in-line in the email, while SharpSpring can only send emails with reports attached as PDFs. We’ve found that end clients get lazy and don’t open PDFs, so we like to send scheduled reports with the goods easily visible in the email.
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Create Custom Dashboards | | |
| Scheduled Email Reports | | * |
| Unlimited Custom Reports | | |
| Unlimited Campaign Reporting | | |
| Unlimited Calculated Metrics | | |
Support
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat | | |
| Training Webinars | | |
| Support Articles | | |
| Training Videos | | |
Are you looking for the Best SharpSpring Alternative?
ActiveDEMAND and SharpSpring are both excellent marketing automation platforms that are focused on marketing agencies. ActiveDEMAND is also much more affordably priced and offers signups without a large setup fee, making the decision to try it out a lot easier. Our customers who have used and compared SharpSpring vs ActiveDEMAND say that our support and email deliverability are much better and our integration with CRMs like Pipedrive is tighter and offers more automation options.
Note: this comparison was made with publicly available information online. Pricing, features, and capabilities may vary over time.