Act-On Software vs. Iterable

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Act-On
Score 8.0 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Act-On is an adaptive marketing platform designed to drive personal and purposeful multi-channel marketing. Its foci are inbound and outbound marketing, for enabling a tighter alignment with sales and turning data into actionable insights.
$900
per month
Iterable
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Iterable is an AI-powered customer communication platform that activates customers across channels in real-time. With intelligent personalization, dynamic content, and a cross-channel suite, Iterable helps brands create seamless, data-driven experiences across email, SMS, push, and in-app notifications.N/A
Pricing
Act-On SoftwareIterable
Editions & Modules
Professional
$900
per month
Enterprise
$2,000+
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Act-OnIterable
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsThe Professional package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 3 marketing users, 50 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. The Enterprise allows for much more customization, the package starts at 2,500 active contacts, 6 marketing users, 100 sales users and 30,000 API calls per day. Annual contract required for all packages.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Act-On SoftwareIterable
Considered Both Products
Act-On
Chose Act-On
Act-On pairs better with our internal CRM and provides exactly what we need. The price is better, and the working relationship with Act-On has traditionally been a good one.
Chose Act-On
We chose Act-On for its ability to support our customers within a single account. The Marketing Network is a huge benefit to our business and the offerings we provide to our customers. In previously working with Hubpsot and Salesforce, we found the support to be lacking - often …
Chose Act-On
Everything is better with Act-On Software. The landing pages, the email editing, the reporting, the campaigns, and the automated programs are just a few things I love more than Constant Contact. It's by far the best ESP out there and any sales company not using it is making a …
Chose Act-On
It's got way more bells and whistles, and we really just trust it more. Sure the Dynamics automated platform could help us, but we chose not to use it as Act-On Software sold us on their ease of use. We haven't regretted our decision and are now in the 6th (or maybe 7th) year …
Chose Act-On
Superior in every way at a competitive cost.
Chose Act-On
To improve the system, Act-On is developing custom reports and workflows. It is incredibly flexible as well as functionally sound and reliable. The other features that our team enjoys the most are the features such as all contacts. Creating landing pages and web forms is a snap …
Chose Act-On
Act-On has been committed to improving the system and performance through customized reports and workflows to motivate customers and track their progress and participation.
Chose Act-On
We investigated heavily into automation platforms prior to purchasing. Act-On was easily the stand out because:
  1. Interactive reporting. Getting behavioral data and other analytics is critical for us making the educated decisions we need for our business to continue to succeed.
  2. Enh…
Chose Act-On
Hootsuite allows me to add a month's worth of content to all of our social media platforms at one time. My problem with Act-On is it would not connect our accounts and when it did it would not use the company account. It would only use my personal account. Hootsuite also gives …
Chose Act-On
We have been evaluating HubSpot and Zoho CRM. These 2 are more expensive and more robust. These include more of the sales side interactions like pipelines, tasks, marketing emails, etc. Our team uses ACT as more of a Rolodex then a tool. Because we do have an outside ticket …
Chose Act-On
Acton does really well in ease of setup, quality of support, and also does a decent job in dashboard creation. These features are something that drove us to opt for Act-on.
Chose Act-On
I am a relatively new HubSpot user and have only used a few different things on there but so far, the UI/UX is much more pleasant, seems more organized, seems more capable in general. I had heard rave reviews about HubSpot from my former coworkers who were using Act-On with me, …
Chose Act-On
I think that if you're just starting out in email marketing, you'll probably navigate to a tool like MailChimp. When you've gotten a good base of what the industry is and you want to do a little bit more, then you'll upgrade to Hubspot and then to Act-On. I feel like Act-on is …
Chose Act-On
I would select Act-On over competitors in the marketing space. While it can be used for sales outreach, I would not select it as a sales tool.
Chose Act-On
Act-On is the scrappy little program that could. One of the biggest problems of the larger ESP and ABM services is that companies have to meet a high standard with their other software and IT in order to use them. I think this is a big failing on their part, considering that …
Chose Act-On
We used to use a combination of SugarCRM and Inbox25, but we moved to a Microsoft platform and had to go to a compatible platform. Act-On was the perfect fit since it was compatible with both Sugar CRM and Dynamics CRM, which made our change over and integration relatively …
Chose Act-On
Many more, too^^^

The best after any free one. Once a company has a budget it's time for Act-On.
Chose Act-On
Act-On has a much more hands-on customer support focus than any of the other companies that we have worked with that do similar things. They also have a really easy to use platform (however I know they all do). It's one of those products that you feel good when you are using it.
Chose Act-On
A colleague used iContact but it did not offer us the ability to build content as efficiently as ActOn. In addition, the survey, landing page and automated program functionality was not available or not as advanced.
Chose Act-On
Act-On is easier to use than Marketo, but not as visually appealing and user-friendly as HubSpot. It's much better than Pardot, as Pardot feel clunky every step of the way. SharpSpring is comparable because of its price point but surpasses Act-On in its tools and intuitive …
Chose Act-On
We like to know a variety here, and we know multiple marketing automation platforms to help provide the best direction to our clients. We need to provide the know-how in many different use cases. Sometimes, Act-On isn't always the best solution for a company's needs. Marketers …
Chose Act-On
Act-On was decided upon by the Marketing and Operations team. I am part of the Development team and was consulted on the aspects of reporting. However, our Marketing/Operations team were very pleased with the way you could personalize and create your own emails and campaigns …
Chose Act-On
I've used Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, Exact Target. I would say Act-On Software is most similar to Exact Target, but I feel you get a better bang for your buck with Act-On.
Iterable
Chose Iterable
Iterable's geolocation paired with catalog items was something Braze and other platforms just couldn't do. Many tried to offer a workaround, but there just wasn't a legitimate solution anywhere else.
Chose Iterable
Iterable was more competitive in pricing, the segmentation technology was extremely advanced and fast in comparison with the competitors we analysed, and deliverability and reliability of the system have been fantastic.
Chose Iterable
Iterable has plug-in capabilities with Movable Ink, in which Movable allows for dynamic content to plug into HTML, text, messages, and utilizes data within Iterable to send dynamic personalized content to customers, great tool in addition to Iterable!

Previously we've used …
Chose Iterable
If you're still using SFMC do yourself a favor and explore some of the newer options available. Iterable is a strong competitor unless you need the B2B and account based marketing/support teams all in a single platform.
Klaviyo is great and best for small-medium size companies …
Chose Iterable
I admittedly don't remember much of Klaviyo, as I have become so familiar with Iterable. I definitely prefer Iterable, however. There are so many more features in Iterable and it just feels like a more dynamic and comprehensive experience with more granular data than Klaviyo …
Chose Iterable
Intercom is not created for marketing purposes and it is quite transparent when you get around to building a campaign with it. It's clunky and often quite frustrating to work with. While Iterable is not perfect, it's a tremendous upgrade. Iterable allows you to have more …
Chose Iterable
Iterable is way more user-friendly, eazy to learn and use, overall much better.
Chose Iterable
We have been on Iterable for about 2 years and in that 2 years have evaluated other platforms, considering doing another migration.

The key reason we have stayed with Iterable is the ease of running (largely automated) omni channel comms with a complex data structure. We have …
Chose Iterable
Iterable has more nuance and allows us to leverage more data.
Chose Iterable
Iterable is leagues and bounds ahead of Mailchimp. While they definitely have room for improvement, I'm thoroughly pleased with the creative builder upgrade.
Chose Iterable
I can't provide a direct comparison as I have not executed marketing communications with other CRM tools before. Of course, having used Pipedrive as a CRM tool for sales and lifecycle management, I would definitely choose Iterable for complexity and ease of use. The only …
Chose Iterable
Iterable has an easier UI, with a great educational center to be up to date on the product. Iterable also helps manage different locales in one template and create different projects to manage different databases. Lately, with the integration with Snowflake, will allow an easy …
Chose Iterable
my company was already using Iterable when i got here. but i will say that the system isn't nearly as complicated as marketo. I found where i didn't like using marketo because of how complicated it is for the user.
Chose Iterable
Iterable has much more flexibility than other platforms I explored. Personalization in particular is something Iterable does better than the competition.
Chose Iterable
Moving from a company that used Mailchimp to one that leverages Iterable was a huge step up. Iterable provides a plethora of additional tools to customize and reach our users in a strategic way. We're also able to automate a lot more in Iterable which saves time and resources. …
Chose Iterable
Far and away, Iterable is easier to use and more cost-effective. While Iterable may not have the bells and whistles or integrations that some of their competitors offer, Iterable can still meet the large majority of business use cases and is easy to use for marketers. As I …
Chose Iterable
Iterable is the best in terms of user interface, innovation and customer service.
Chose Iterable
Very similar capabilities but more expensive
Chose Iterable
Iterable is far superior. The UI, AB testing tool, drag and drop template editor, journey building, reporting. Almost every aspect is better
Chose Iterable
The rich functions , flexibility, iOS and Android SDK integration, Cost and return of investment we find better with Iterable.
Chose Iterable
We thought Iterable provided the advanced features we needed but it did not.
Features
Act-On SoftwareIterable
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.6
Ratings
12% above category average
Iterable
7.1
Ratings
7% below category average
WYSIWYG email editor9.10 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Dynamic content9.10 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.20 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Landing pages8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing9.10 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.10 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.10 Ratings5.10 Ratings
List management9.10 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.20 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.6
Ratings
10% above category average
Iterable
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
7.1
Ratings
4% below category average
Iterable
-
Ratings
Calendaring6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
9.1
Ratings
19% above category average
Iterable
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.5
Ratings
15% above category average
Iterable
6.2
Ratings
16% below category average
Dashboards8.20 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Standard reports9.10 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Custom reports8.20 Ratings5.80 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Act-On Software
8.3
Ratings
11% above category average
Iterable
8.2
Ratings
9% above category average
API9.10 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals9.10 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Customizability7.30 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Act-On SoftwareIterable
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.9 out of 10
Vbout
Vbout
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Act-On SoftwareIterable
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.3
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.4
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Act-On SoftwareIterable
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have MS Dynamics CRM, this is the automation platform for you and your operations. Act-On Software easily syncs with dynamics, and we've never had a problem with this since we set ours up years ago. If you use a different CRM, I'd check to see if other options might make more sense. Having that ability for the systems to seamlessly talk is critical.
Read full review
Iterable is great for any marketing team looking to ramp up the capabilities on lifecycle marketing specifically if you're a company with a lot of data and/or SKU's the product makes handling a lot of complexities much simpler and enables my team to move much faster even as a small team
Read full review
Pros
  • The templates are easy to use and set up campaigns.
  • It's simple to use, and the email editor features a drag-and-drop interface.
  • It's easy to set up a drip campaign or a series of scheduled emails.
  • It has the flexibility of having a variety of scheduling options and the use of user experience automation.
Read full review
  • It is easy to onboard new users with building communications. The drag and drop editor is very intuitive to use.
  • Allows for complex data structures on user profiles and in events. This is a key reason we onboarded to Iterable and have stayed with it.
Read full review
Cons
  • Building email and landing page templates are difficult, the drag and drop builder is not straightforward, and requires coding knowledge
  • The workflow tool is cumbersome and not as intuitive as I'd expect a best in class marketing software's to be
  • Domain connections and domain management functionality made it difficult to manage multiple company domains and subdomains for pages
Read full review
  • Locale management: being able to copy and past a template section/row/content from a locale to another. Also, be able to duplicate any locale to any locale. So far we can just duplicate the default locale into the rest of the locales
  • Outages - I feel in the last 1 and half, more outages are happening, impacting their clients
  • Image library
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
It's my single biggest asset in my current role. With limited resources, its enabled Anachron to punch well above our weight marketing wise and although we're still at the beginning of our journey I know the system can scale with us
Read full review
Extremely easy to use, deeply integrated into our infrastructure
Read full review
Usability
It's good, but not quite brilliant. Some parts of the interface are still a bit outdated. The product has been evolving very fast, though, and I believe in a few months it will be up there with the best of them, interface wise as well.
Read full review
Iterable is super easy to use. I have experience with competing platforms, but Iterable is by far the most intuitive platform to use. I also really appreciate the way the product team is willing to accept product requests
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
I have always found them quick to respond to my query by web inquiry. In those instances when I call, I have always reached help quickly. They are conscientious and skilled in discussing my concern and finding a solution to my problem. Other tech organizations should use Act-On as a model for top-notch customer service.
Read full review
Iterable is there like 99.9% of the time. However, when it goes down, it grinds us to a halt. Most of the time, outages are an hour or less, but if that's at a peak time, it can be a nightmare. That said, when the worst does happen, there are frequent updates and an easy situation tracker that give you an estimate of how much longer you'll have to wait for the issue to be resolved.
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Performance
Sometimes the server loading speed is a little slow but most often runs fine and if it doesn't their tech support is quick to respond
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The API is super quick. The UI can be a little sluggish depending on what you're loading, but overall Iterable performs great. Iterable appears to do a good job of making processes async so that one action isn't blocking another.
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Support Rating
Since we start using Act-on for ourselves and our clients, we have been supported very well. Often we need to integrate with legacy systems and we find the support team on our side during the whole endeavor. Always asking if they can help us further, always willing to do a better job. The support of Act-On is one of the main differentiators
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I've never experienced any issues with Iterable. As I and my colleagues have learnt the system and it's features, response to questions and advice from our account manager is always quick. Kevin knows the product well, and with the few tricky questions has hasn't been able to answer he's been quick to get back to us.
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In-Person Training
Dan D. was great. He took the time to understand how I needed the program to run, and was very flexible to our special CRM setup.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Online Training
The system is very user friendly, I think we were up and running within a day or so of having the product. It took very few online training for me to learn a large chunk of the functionality of this system.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
What impressed me most is that Act-On showed full committment in making our implementation successful, even when it required additional support from their team. This gave me a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings. Most other software software vendors are not anywhere close to being this responsive and effective
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
We chose Act-On for its ability to support our customers within a single account. The Marketing Network is a huge benefit to our business and the offerings we provide to our customers. In previously working with Hubpsot and Salesforce, we found the support to be lacking - often being referred to a forum or landing page rather than getting hands-on guided help from a knowledgeable person on their team. We LOVE Act-On and the team that they have servicing our account!
Read full review
As mentioned previously, I was hired to do a migration from ActiveCampaign, and I stayed for 2 years as a power user of Itearble. Since leaving OneVision Resources, I have continued to volunteer my time in a regional user group, which I would not do if the platform, product, and company were not so strong and so marketer-forward.
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Scalability
Before I feel like I need more features, the Act-On customer service reps are contacting me telling about new features as part of my account.
Read full review
We've definitely tested scalability, and it's no line - it works. The process is pretty easy. Most of the times it goes off without a hitch. Any time we do encounter issues, our support team is quick to get on the job and very communicative as they work us through a successful launch.
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Return on Investment
  • Positive- quick setup for webinars between 3 different tools, made it easy to do in high volume
  • Negative- lots of processes with the designer tools that made email/landing page design take longer than it should have, costing man hours
  • Positive- email automation with different types of campaigns we could have flowing at once or could span across multiple audience segments made it so we could consistently create touch points and increase our engagement, thus our ROI over time
Read full review
  • I do not have hard numbers, as I am not in the department that deals with those kinds of quantifications of impact. However, I do believe the use of Iterable has been a positive thing for us in providing more comprehensive data that is useful when dealing with customer tickets.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Act-On Screenshots

Screenshot of the Automated Journey Builder. Here, users can personalize customer interactions from awareness to loyalty.Screenshot of the Analytics Dashboard. This is used to compare performance over time, filter by segment, and export report components.Screenshot of the Email Composer. Here is where users design emails optimized for desktop and mobile with a drag and drop builder.

Iterable Screenshots

Screenshot of how Iterable unifies customer, product, business, and martech ecosystem data to create integrated marketing.Screenshot of Iterable’s AI Suite, that helps to build personalized campaigns quickly, predicts what customers need next, and fine-tunes every message for maximum impact.Screenshot of some of the tools and support available through Iterable that support scale and tomorrow’s growth.Screenshot of how Iterable unifies all engagement channels into one platform for consistent, personalized communication, connecting with customers wherever they are: SMS, email, in-app, push, embedded messaging, and beyond.Screenshot of how to create highly-personalized communications that listen to, react to, and anticipate customer needs.Screenshot of an example of how AI can be used to influence the most important metrics and achieve key business goals.