You attract visitors to your site, you collect email addresses… but following up with every lead by hand takes forever. And the ones you forget often end up with a competitor.
That’s where marketing automation tools come in: they send the right message at the right time, based on what each contact does (signing up, downloading a resource, visiting a page, buying). You build your workflows once, then they run on their own to nurture your leads and turn them into customers.
There are plenty of options: all-in-one platforms connected to a CRM, tools specialized in B2B or ecommerce, email marketing services with automation… and prices range from free plans to several hundred dollars per month.
On this page, we’ve selected the best marketing automation tools for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners to help you find the one that fits your needs and your budget.
Our top 5 marketing automation tools
No time to read it all? Here’s our list of the best marketing automation tools:
- GetResponse: marketing automation with great value for money
- ActiveCampaign: the marketing automation workflow specialist
- Zoho Marketing Automation: multichannel automation on a budget
- Klaviyo: the leading marketing automation platform for ecommerce
- HubSpot Marketing Hub: the go-to all-in-one marketing platform
The list below isn’t a ranking. It’s randomly generated every week.
1/ GetResponse: marketing automation with great value for money
GetResponse is an email marketing and automation platform. On top of newsletters and automated workflows, it offers landing pages, sales funnels and, depending on the plan, webinars and an online course builder.
- Type of tool: email marketing, automation, and sales funnels
- Price: free trial available, paid plans from $19 per month
Who is it for? Ideal for entrepreneurs, course creators, and small businesses that want a complete tool without breaking the bank.
2/ ActiveCampaign: the marketing automation workflow specialist
ActiveCampaign is one of the most complete marketing automation tools. Its visual builder lets you create multi-step workflows (conditions, delays, goals) to send the right message at the right time, by email and, with the higher-tier plans, on other channels.
- Type of tool: marketing automation and email marketing
- Price: free trial available, paid plans from $15 per month (billed annually, 1,000 contacts)
Who is it for? Ideal for freelancers, creators, and small businesses that want to take customer journey personalization further.
3/ Zoho Marketing Automation: multichannel automation on a budget
Zoho Marketing Automation is the marketing automation software in the Zoho suite. It lets you build customer journeys across several channels (email, SMS, social media, WhatsApp) and track your visitors’ behavior on your site. It integrates seamlessly with Zoho CRM.
- Type of tool: multichannel marketing automation
- Price: 14-day free trial, paid plans from $19 per month
Who is it for? Ideal for small and medium-sized businesses looking for a complete, affordable tool, especially if they already use Zoho CRM.
4/ Klaviyo: the leading marketing automation platform for ecommerce
Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform built for online stores. It connects to your store (WooCommerce, Shopify…) to trigger automated flows based on your customers’ purchases and behavior: abandoned cart, post-purchase follow-up, product recommendations.
- Type of tool: ecommerce marketing automation (email and SMS)
- Price: free plan available (up to 250 profiles), paid plans from $20 per month
Who is it for? Ideal for online store owners who want to boost sales with emails and text messages triggered by customer behavior.
5/ HubSpot Marketing Hub: the go-to all-in-one marketing platform
Marketing Hub is HubSpot’s marketing software. It brings together emails, forms, landing pages, social media, and automated workflows, all connected to HubSpot’s free CRM so you can follow each contact from their first visit to the sale.
- Type of tool: all-in-one marketing platform connected to a CRM
- Price: free plan available, paid plans from $7 per month per seat (advanced automation from $90 per month per seat)
Who is it for? Ideal for small businesses and marketing teams that want to manage their campaigns and contacts in a single tool, with a built-in CRM.
Conclusion
A marketing automation tool doesn’t replace a strategy. It saves you time on repetitive tasks (follow-ups, welcome messages, lead tracking) so you can focus on what drives sales: your offers and your content.
If you’re just starting out, begin with a simple workflow, like a welcome email series for your new subscribers. You can then add more advanced workflows as your contact list grows. Most of the tools on this page offer a free plan or a free trial so you can try them out.
Keep in mind that an automated workflow needs monitoring: regularly review your messages and your stats to improve it.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
What is marketing automation?
Marketing automation means automating marketing actions based on your contacts’ behavior. For example, someone who downloads a guide from your site automatically receives a series of emails to learn more about your services, then your team gets notified when they seem ready to buy.
The goal is to nurture your relationship with your leads (this is called lead nurturing) without spending your days on it.
What’s the difference between an email marketing tool and a marketing automation tool?
An email marketing tool is mainly used to send newsletters and campaigns to your contact list. Many now offer simple automations, like a welcome email.
A marketing automation tool goes further: it builds multi-step journeys, scores your leads based on their interest, tracks their behavior on your site, and can act across several channels (email, SMS, social media). For more traditional sends, check out our selection of the best email marketing and newsletter tools.
Are there any free marketing automation tools?
Yes, but with limits. Several tools offer a free plan or a free trial:
- Klaviyo, free for up to 250 profiles and 500 emails per month
- HubSpot, whose free tools cover the CRM, with automation starting on the paid plans (14-day free trial)
- Zoho Marketing Automation, with a 14-day free trial
- ActiveCampaign and GetResponse, with a free trial
These versions are enough to test your first workflows, but you’ll need a budget as soon as your contact list grows.
How does marketing automation relate to a CRM?
The CRM centralizes your contacts and tracks your sales, and the marketing automation tool uses that data to send the right messages. Some tools, like HubSpot, combine both. Others connect to your existing CRM. To choose yours, check out our selection of the best CRM software.
How do you choose a marketing automation tool?
Several criteria matter when choosing a tool that fits your business:
- your business model (B2B, ecommerce, selling courses or services)
- the channels you need (email, SMS, social media)
- the size of your contact list, which affects the price
- integrations with your tools (WordPress site, online store, CRM)
- how easy the workflow builder is to use
- the language of the interface and support
