Drip

CRM integration

For B2B growth teams, a key consideration is how a marketing tool fits with your CRM. Drip does not include a built-in CRM, so it relies on integrations to sync with external sales systems. This means that if your sales team uses pipelines and deals (common in B2B), you’ll need to connect Drip to a CRM like Salesforce, HubSpot, or others via third-party tools (e.g. Zapier). In contrast, alternatives like HubSpot or ActiveCampaign come with native CRM capabilities, enabling seamless marketing-to-sales handoff. If having an integrated CRM is vital for lead management and tracking, consider whether using Drip alongside another CRM adds complexity. However, if you already have a CRM you love and just need email automation, Drip’s focused approach can work well just plan for the integration setup.

Email automation and workflows

Email automation depth is a defining strength of Drip. It offers a visual workflow builder that is both powerful and user-friendly. You can design complex campaigns with branching paths, triggers, and delays in an intuitive interface. This matters because sophisticated drip campaigns (e.g. multi-step welcome sequences or lead nurture tracks) are crucial for scaling B2B marketing. Drip’s workflows let you trigger emails based on link clicks, page views, tag changes, or even actions in other tools (like a purchase in Shopify). The “set it and forget it” capability means your team can automate repetitive touchpoints and focus on strategy. Competing platforms like ActiveCampaign and HubSpot also have strong automation; in fact, experts note that both Drip and ActiveCampaign excel in marketing automation, with Drip being a bit easier to master for typical campaigns. For a buyer, the takeaway is that Drip can handle advanced email workflows without steep learning ideal if you need robust automation without the complexity of enterprise tools.

Segmentation and personalisation

Effective B2B marketing hinges on precise segmentation sending the right message to the right contact. Drip uses a tag-based system for contact management, treating each subscriber individually with flexible tags and custom fields. This allows very granular targeting and even dynamic content insertion (e.g. product recommendations or weather-based content) based on tags and events. The upside is powerful personalisation: you can tailor emails based on behaviours like past purchases, pages viewed, or lead score. The trade-off is that Drip doesn’t automatically create “smart lists” for you; you define segments by combining tags and attributes. In comparison, a tool like Klaviyo (commonly used in e-commerce) offers more out-of-the-box segmentation, including predictive analytics for things like customer lifetime value or churn risk. HubSpot and ActiveCampaign take a list-based approach for instance, HubSpot’s active lists auto-update based on set criteria. Drip’s segmentation is very powerful for those willing to configure it, enabling dynamic segments that update in real time. This is great for personalising at scale, but B2B buyers should ensure their team is comfortable with a tagging model. If you need AI-driven or pre-built segments (like “high engagement leads”), note that Drip currently focuses more on manual segmentation, whereas some competitors provide more automated insights.

E-commerce focus

One consideration is Drip’s heritage as an “e-commerce CRM” tool. Many of its features were built with online retail in mind. For example, Drip integrates natively with Shopify, WooCommerce and other shopping platforms, pulling in order history and website events. It shines in scenarios like automated cart abandonment emails, product recommendation newsletters, and post-purchase drip campaigns. If your business is a direct-to-consumer brand or you run an online store alongside B2B operations, Drip’s e-commerce capabilities are a big plus. It can trigger emails from granular actions e.g. a customer viewing a specific product page or starting checkout without needing custom coding. B2B companies that don’t do online transactions might not utilise these specific triggers, but could still benefit from Drip’s ability to track web page visits or email engagement as triggers. The main point is that Drip is purpose-built for revenue-focused campaigns. A B2B marketer should ask: do we need e-commerce features? If yes (for example, SaaS companies with self-serve purchase flows or webinars treated like “products”), Drip offers an edge. If not, you might find some of Drip’s strengths are in areas you won’t fully use, and another tool geared more to pure lead nurturing might suit better.

Reporting and analytics

Data-driven growth requires solid reporting. Drip provides a range of analytics, including basic email stats (sends, opens, clicks, unsubscribes) and more unique event-based reports. You can see when contacts perform certain actions (e.g. clicked a specific link, visited a webpage, became a customer), and even tie revenue to campaigns if you have an e-commerce integration. For a B2B context, Drip can track conversions like demo requests or content downloads if set up as custom events. However, its reporting depth is somewhat limited compared to all-in-one platforms. For instance, Drip lacks features like click heatmaps or advanced attribution reporting. There’s no built-in funnel or campaign ROI dashboard beyond email revenue for stores. Competitors such as HubSpot or ActiveCampaign offer more comprehensive analytics HubSpot has deep multi-touch revenue attribution (on higher tiers), and ActiveCampaign provides detailed automation performance reports and even sales pipeline reports via its CRM. So, while Drip gives you the essentials plus e-commerce revenue metrics, a B2B buyer with complex reporting needs (like analyzing campaign influence on pipeline or segment-level engagement over time) might require external analytics or a different tool. If you value simplicity, Drip’s analytics will cover open/click trends and basic conversion tracking. Just be aware that you may outgrow its reporting if your marketing analytics become more sophisticated.

Integrations with other tools

No marketing stack exists in isolation, so check how well Drip plays with your other systems. Drip has 200+ integrations, but many are focused on e-commerce and via third-parties. It connects readily with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Facebook Custom Audiences, and more, which is excellent for pulling purchase data or syncing audiences for ads. For general B2B needs, Drip can integrate with webinar software, lead capture forms, payment platforms, etc., often through Zapier if not a direct native integration. By contrast, a platform like HubSpot has an extensive app ecosystem (from CRMs to event tools) and ActiveCampaign boasts 850+ integrations including many CRMs and CMS platforms. The difference is that Drip’s native integration library is narrower, concentrating on online retail marketing needs. If you require, say, direct integration with a specific CRM (Salesforce, Dynamics, etc.) or a niche B2B tool, verify if Drip supports it (or if you’ll need an API/Zapier workaround). The good news is Drip’s API is well-documented and user-friendly for developers, so custom integrations are feasible. In summary, Drip will cover most common integration needs for email marketing and online customer data, but a B2B buyer should map out any critical connectors. If your growth strategy relies on a broad variety of tools all feeding a central hub, a more ecosystem-rich platform might reduce manual effort.

Pricing and scalability

Budget and scaling costs are always top of mind in tool selection. Drip uses contact-based pricing with unlimited email sends. Plans start around $19/month for up to 500 contacts, scaling as your list grows (e.g. $154/month for ~10k contacts). There’s no free tier beyond a trial, so you’ll pay once your subscriber count exceeds the tiny trial limit (Drip’s legacy free plan for 100 contacts is no longer standard). For many small to mid-sized teams, Drip’s pricing is competitive it can be more cost-effective than HubSpot, which charges based on features and contacts (HubSpot’s Starter starts at $45/month but rises quickly with contacts and add-ons). ActiveCampaign’s pricing is similar to Drip’s contact-tier model, though ActiveCampaign also has feature-based tiers (you pay more to unlock CRM or advanced features). One thing to watch is scalability of cost: as your database grows, Drip’s monthly fee increases linearly, and enterprise-scale lists (100k+ contacts) can get pricey (around $1,200/month). That is still often cheaper than an all-in-one like HubSpot at enterprise scale, but pricier than some basic email tools. The question is value for money: Drip includes all features on all plans (you’re just paying for contacts), which is great for growing companies you won’t be forced into a higher tier to get a certain feature. For B2B heads of growth, consider your growth trajectory. If you plan to scale to very large databases or need a free entry-level option to test, Drip might not be the cheapest at scale (no forever-free plan, and discounts only via annual commitments). However, its mid-market pricing sweet spot often appeals to those who outgrew basic tools like Mailchimp but can’t justify the cost of enterprise suites.

Ease of use and onboarding

Adoption by your team is critical. Drip is frequently praised for a clean, simple interface that marketers can pick up quickly. Compared to some all-in-one platforms that have sprawling menus and sub-modules, Drip feels streamlined it does email and customer journeys, and does them well. Building workflows or segmenting lists in Drip tends to involve less clicking around or page loads than in heavier tools, which lowers the learning curve. In client conversations, I’ve heard that even non-technical team members felt comfortable creating campaigns in Drip after a short onboarding. One reason is that Drip has a strong library of pre-built templates for common workflows (like welcome series, lead nurture, cart recovery) to jump-start your setup. They also offer free migration support for larger accounts (if you have >17k contacts, Drip will help migrate your data and workflows for free). Support-wise, Drip provides live chat and email support, and they tout a 97% customer satisfaction with very fast response times. This is a good sign for growth teams that may need prompt help or guidance. On the flip side, because Drip focuses on ease, it may have fewer advanced settings visible power users might find some limitations in customisation compared to, say, a Salesforce Marketing Cloud or a Pardot. But for most B2B marketing teams, Drip strikes a nice balance: it’s easy to onboard and use, so you spend more time executing campaigns and less time wrestling with the software. If your team has limited marketing ops resources, this user-friendliness is a big plus.

As a B2B head of growth, I approach any marketing tool with a healthy dose of skepticism and a lot of research. I haven’t personally run Drip inside my team, but I’ve spent extensive time evaluating it and discussing it with clients and fellow marketers. My verdict: Drip is a strong specialist tool with clear strengths, yet it isn’t a one-size-fits-all.

First, the strengths. Drip excels at what it was built for email marketing automation, especially in contexts where revenue can be tied directly to customer behaviour. In my research, every client running an online storefront or subscription service highlighted Drip’s ability to send personalised, trigger-based emails that “just work” to drive conversions. One e-commerce founder told me that after switching from a basic newsletter tool to Drip, they saw a noticeable uptick in sales attributed to automated emails (e.g. welcome series and abandoned cart nudges). This aligns with case studies where Drip’s users have grown revenue through better segmentation and timing. The platform’s workflow builder is frequently praised I’ve seen it in action, and it’s intuitive enough that you don’t need to be an automation guru to build a sophisticated drip campaign. That ease of use matters for a growth leader, because it means less training and less error. Moreover, Drip’s focus on e-commerce means it natively speaks the language of purchase frequency, customer lifetime value, and re-engagement. Even for a B2B marketer like me, that emphasis on lifecycle marketing is refreshing; it pushes you to think about how to nurture leads or customers over time, not just one-off email blasts.

Now, the limitations. The most obvious is that Drip isn’t an all-in-one CRM+marketing suite. If you need a built-in CRM to track sales deals or a platform to manage blog content, Drip alone won’t suffice. I’ve advised B2B teams that if your marketing is tightly interwoven with sales (e.g. complex B2B funnels with sales development reps), a tool like HubSpot might offer more value by keeping everything under one roof. In fact, HubSpot’s integrated CRM and robust analytics can be overkill for a pure e-commerce brand, but incredibly useful for a B2B firm with multi-step sales cycles. Similarly, ActiveCampaign offers a lightweight CRM and might fit a small B2B team that needs both email and deal tracking in one. With Drip, you should be prepared to connect the dots which is perfectly fine if you have a solid CRM already or if your product sells itself online. Another limitation I’ve noted is reporting depth. Drip gives you the basics and some nice revenue tracking if you’re selling online, but it won’t automatically calculate, say, which webinar drove the most pipeline or give you fancy attribution models out-of-the-box. If you’re the kind of growth lead who loves deep diving into analytics, you might supplement Drip with external tools or find a more analytics-rich platform.

Who is Drip best for?

From my perspective, Drip is a fantastic fit for smaller marketing teams and founders who want advanced email automation without enterprise software bloat. If you are a B2B SaaS startup that primarily needs to nurture leads via email and maybe track some conversion events, Drip can do the job elegantly just pair it with a CRM for your sales team. It’s also brilliant for direct-to-consumer and e-commerce companies, where its features around segmentation, personalisation, and automated campaigns (like cart recovery) directly increase revenue. I’ve seen mid-market retail brands thrive with Drip because it gives them sophisticated capabilities similar to big players (like dynamic product emails) without requiring a dedicated technical team to manage. On the other hand, if you’re a larger B2B organisation or an agency running multi-channel campaigns (think content, ads, email, social, all integrated), you might lean towards a more comprehensive platform. For example, a mid-sized B2B company with an inside sales team might choose HubSpot for its all-in-one nature even if its email automation is a tad less agile than Drip, the trade-off is having CRM, marketing and analytics in one place. In sum, my honest take is that Drip is a high-impact tool within its scope. It brings agility and depth to email marketing, and it’s particularly powerful for lifecycle marketing (whether B2B or B2C). Just be clear on your requirements: if your growth strategy is largely email-centric and you value a nimble, focused platform, Drip is likely to delight you. If your needs extend to a full marketing stack with content management, extensive analytics, and sales workflows, you might use Drip as one piece of the puzzle or opt for an alternative that covers more bases.

Choosing a marketing automation tool is a pivotal decision for founders and B2B marketers. Drip is one contender that often comes up, especially for those considering sophisticated email campaigns. But how does Drip stack up against alternatives like HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Klaviyo? In this ultimate guide, we’ll compare these platforms across key criteria to help you determine which is the best fit. This guide is research-based and tailored for practical decision-making whether you’re switching tools or implementing marketing automation for the first time.

Drip vs other marketing tools: an overview

At a high level, each of these tools has a distinct identity. Drip positions itself as “the world’s first e-commerce CRM,” focusing heavily on email and customer data for online businesses. It’s essentially a specialist in email automation and segmentation, with an emphasis on driving online sales and personalised communication. HubSpot, by contrast, is an expansive all-in-one platform it offers email automation too, but its real strength is being a central hub with a built-in CRM, content management (blogs/landing pages), social media, ads, and more. HubSpot is often favoured by B2B companies that need a broad toolkit and robust CRM for longer sales cycles. ActiveCampaign sits somewhere in between: it started as an email automation tool and later added a sales CRM component. It’s known for powerful automation capabilities (comparable to Drip’s) and is popular among small-to-mid businesses that want best-of-breed email marketing plus basic CRM. Finally, Klaviyo is a platform that, like Drip, targets e-commerce it’s widely used by online stores for email and SMS marketing, boasting very advanced segmentation and deep integrations with e-commerce platforms. In fact, Klaviyo is often the go-to for Shopify merchants due to its data-driven approach and predictive analytics for customer behaviour.

In summary, Drip and Klaviyo occupy the specialist end (great for product-centric marketing and D2C brands), whereas HubSpot and ActiveCampaign cover broader use cases (with HubSpot leaning B2B all-in-one, and ActiveCampaign offering a mix of automation and light CRM). Keep this context in mind as we dive feature by feature.

Email automation and workflows

Email workflow capability is a cornerstone of any marketing automation platform. Drip and ActiveCampaign are often considered leaders in this area, especially for their price range. Drip’s email automation is highly regarded: it provides a visual builder where you can craft multi-step sequences with triggers, conditions, and actions in an intuitive flowchart style. Practically any user action can trigger a Drip workflow from clicking a link in an email to visiting a specific webpage or making a purchase (when integrated with your site/store). This means you can automate complex nurturing sequences or customer journeys without writing code. Drip also supports one-off rules for simple automations (e.g. “if contact visits pricing page, apply a tag and send follow-up email”) so you don’t always need a full workflow for basic triggers.

ActiveCampaign’s automation is equally powerful, offering its own visual workflow editor and a rich library of templates for common automations like abandoned cart, lead scoring, or welcome series. Where ActiveCampaign shines is the integration of its automation with a sales CRM: for example, you can automatically create a deal and assign it to sales when a lead triggers a certain event. This bridges marketing and sales automation nicely a big plus for B2B teams with active salespeople. Experts who compared the two noted that both Drip and ActiveCampaign “do a fabulous job” with marketing automation, with Drip being a bit easier to use and perfect for e-commerce flows, and ActiveCampaign being the better choice if complex sales process automation is needed. In short, if pure email marketing automation is your focus, both are top-tier; if automating sales handoffs or a mix of marketing-sales tasks is important, ActiveCampaign pulls ahead thanks to its CRM tie-in.

What about HubSpot? HubSpot offers automation workflows as part of its Marketing Hub (Professional tier and above). These allow you to automate emails, tasks, lead scoring, etc., and are quite powerful, but HubSpot’s workflow builder is a bit less visually slick compared to Drip’s. HubSpot’s advantage is that these workflows can span across its ecosystem for example, an automation could not only send emails but also add a lead to the CRM, create a task for a rep, update a contact property, and even branch based on if a deal is closed. It’s holistic but can be overwhelming for newcomers. One limitation: HubSpot’s best automation features (like branching logic or multi-step flows) require higher-tier plans, which can be costly.

Lastly, Klaviyo’s automation (they call them “Flows”) is very comparable to Drip’s for e-commerce scenarios. Klaviyo provides many pre-built flows (welcome series, win-back campaigns, etc.) specifically tuned for online stores. It’s extremely data-driven, so you can trigger flows on detailed events (e.g. “Customer viewed product X more than 3 times but hasn’t purchased”). Drip’s capabilities here are on par in fact, Drip’s tag-based system offers flexibility and some users find it more straightforward to set up certain personalised flows. Klaviyo does have a slight edge in leveraging data for automation because it gathers a lot of customer metrics automatically and even predicts future behavior (like expected next order date). But for practical purposes, both Drip and Klaviyo will cover any typical email automation need for an online business. For B2B use cases (like lead nurturing), all four platforms can handle timed email sequences; the differences come in when you need to involve other channels or sales tasks.

Key takeaway: If your priority is an easy yet powerful email workflow builder, Drip and ActiveCampaign lead the pack. Drip’s interface might be the friendliest for pure email marketing automation, whereas ActiveCampaign offers similar power plus the ability to integrate sales actions. HubSpot can automate across a wider range of activities but at a higher cost, and Klaviyo is excellent for e-commerce triggers and data-rich flows. All these tools will automate emails effectively; the choice hinges on whether you also need cross-functional automation (sales, CRM updates) and how much you value out-of-the-box templates versus custom flexibility.

CRM and contact management

When it comes to managing contacts and aligning with sales, the tools diverge significantly. HubSpot is the only one in this group with a fully-fledged CRM built-in. HubSpot’s CRM is free and it seamlessly ties into the marketing email side every contact, company, and deal lives in one database. For a B2B marketer, this is gold if you need to track how emails and content translate into pipeline. You can see, for instance, that Contact X clicked your email, filled a form, and became a Sales Qualified Lead, all in one timeline. If having a centralised CRM + marketing platform is a priority, HubSpot is a top choice. It’s ideal for organisations where marketing and sales must share data constantly, like B2B companies with account-based strategies or longer sales cycles.

ActiveCampaign also includes a CRM (on its Plus plan and above). It’s not as advanced as HubSpot’s CRM, but it covers basic deal tracking and pipeline management. The nice part is ActiveCampaign’s CRM is tightly integrated with its email automation. So a lead can enter an email funnel and automatically convert into a sales deal with a specific owner when they hit a score or perform a key action. This makes ActiveCampaign a viable all-in-one for small teams you can avoid paying for a separate CRM tool. However, for very large or complex sales teams, ActiveCampaign’s CRM might feel simplistic (no territory management, limited reporting, etc.), and something like Salesforce or HubSpot CRM would be more robust.

Now, Drip and Klaviyo take a different approach: neither provides a traditional sales CRM. Drip calls itself an “e-commerce CRM” but this is a bit of a misnomer it’s referring to storing customer data (like order history and website activity) for marketing purposes, not managing sales opportunities. Essentially, Drip’s contact management is built around marketing needs: you have subscribers with tags, custom fields, and event records. There’s no pipeline or deal object in Drip. For B2B usage, this means if your process involves handing leads to a sales team, you’ll need a separate CRM system. Drip integrates via API or Zapier to many CRM platforms (Salesforce, Pipedrive, etc.), but it’s an extra step. This is a key consideration: Drip is fantastic for managing and segmenting a marketing list, but it’s not where you manage one-to-one sales follow-ups or track revenue per deal (aside from e-commerce revenue tracking). Klaviyo is similar it’s focused on customer info for marketing (even more so on consumer metrics like last product viewed, last purchase). B2B teams using Klaviyo would still need a CRM for their salespeople.

In summary, if you need sales CRM functionality under the same roof as your marketing, HubSpot is the clear leader (with ActiveCampaign as a decent budget-friendly alternative). If your marketing can function separately from CRM for example, you’re fine using Drip for emails and perhaps syncing important events to an external CRM then Drip can work, but be mindful of the integration required. A research comparison summed it up well: “HubSpot’s native CRM integration is a significant advantage... Drip may fall short for businesses needing a built-in CRM system.”. Essentially, Drip assumes you either don’t need a sales CRM or you’re comfortable connecting one yourself. Many founders and small teams might be okay with that if they have simple sales cycles or primarily self-service sales.

Segmentation and personalisation

All four platforms emphasize the ability to segment your audience and personalise messaging, but they have different ways of doing it. Drip and ActiveCampaign both employ a tag-based and custom field system. In Drip, every contact can have any number of tags (e.g. “Lead”, “Customer”, “Attended Webinar”) and custom fields (e.g. job title, company size, last product viewed). Segments in Drip are essentially saved filters using these attributes and behaviors. This tag-centric approach is very flexible you’re not constrained by rigid list membership. For instance, Drip can create a segment of “all contacts who clicked last week’s email AND have the tag ‘Prospect’ AND haven’t purchased yet” fairly easily. It’s powerful for B2B lead nurturing because you can layer demographic info (from custom fields or synced CRM data) with engagement info (email interactions, site visits) to target communications. The downside is it requires careful planning of your tags and properties, since Drip won’t automatically group contacts unless you define the rule.

ActiveCampaign also uses lists and tags (it actually supports multiple subscription lists plus tagging). You might have a list for “Newsletter” and one for “Customers” in AC, but you’d still often use tags for finer segmentation. ActiveCampaign offers segmentation conditions similar to Drip anything from email actions to web visits to lead score can be used to slice your contacts.

Moving to Klaviyo, it uses a mix of lists and segments. Klaviyo’s segments are dynamic (auto-updating) and it excels in making use of detailed e-commerce data. For example, Klaviyo can build a segment like “High spenders who bought Product X in the last 90 days and are likely to buy again” it can do this because it tracks metrics like predicted CLV and days since last purchase out-of-the-box. It also has native integration of data like Facebook Custom Audiences, so you can create very rich omnichannel segments. Drip, comparatively, gives you the data it has (and it can have a lot, especially with event tracking), but it doesn’t have built-in predictive models. That said, one interesting note: Drip’s approach of treating each contact as a unique entity (instead of partitioning into separate lists) means you won’t accidentally duplicate contacts every person is in your database once and you just tag/segment them. Klaviyo tends to encourage multiple lists and segments which can overlap, though it does have mechanisms to prevent double-sending.

HubSpot uses a property-based segmentation (similar to custom fields) and active lists (dynamic segments). It’s very strong for B2B criteria because if you’re using the CRM, you can segment by almost anything deal stages, number of employees, last meeting date, etc. HubSpot also added predictive lead scoring for some tiers. The advantage with HubSpot is if all your data (marketing + sales) is in one place, your segments can mix marketing engagement with sales outcomes (e.g. “Contacts who visited our pricing page but haven’t been contacted by sales”). The platform handles these scenarios natively.

For pure personalisation, all platforms let you insert contact tokens (like name, company, etc.) into emails. But beyond that, Drip and Klaviyo allow more advanced dynamic content. Drip can use liquid-like templating and its tags to show different blocks of an email to different people (e.g. show Case Study A to tech industry leads and Case Study B to finance industry leads, all in one email template). Klaviyo similarly can swap content based on segment conditions and has a library of dynamic elements like product recommendations if you’re an e-commerce brand. ActiveCampaign has conditional content as well, though perhaps slightly less emphasized. HubSpot’s higher tiers support dynamic content on web pages and emails based on list membership or lifecycle stage.

In conclusion, Drip is excellent for fine-grained, behavior-based segmentation, particularly if you set up a good tagging system. It allows extremely targeted campaigns which B2B marketers can use for lead scoring or nurturing tracks. However, Klaviyo takes the crown for advanced segmentation in e-commerce thanks to its predictive analytics and easier access to rich data. For a B2B team, if you want something that automatically surfaces segments (like “at-risk leads” or “high engagement”), HubSpot or a dedicated lead scoring tool might be needed on top of Drip. If you prefer to define and control all segment rules yourself, Drip gives you that control. One expert comparison put it succinctly: “Klaviyo’s segmentation capabilities are far superior due to its connection to external data and automated segments… Drip sees each contact individually and requires you to set the criteria”. That means with Drip you’re doing the thinking (which can be a pro or con depending on your style), whereas Klaviyo/HubSpot might do a bit more of that heavy lifting for you.

E-commerce marketing features

While B2B marketers may not prioritize e-commerce features, it’s useful to understand them because they reflect how the platforms handle certain use cases. Drip’s DNA is in e-commerce it has features like built-in workflows for cart abandonment, price-drop notifications, and post-purchase check-ins. If your business sells online (products, SaaS self-service subscriptions, even event tickets), Drip is equipped to handle the customer journey around those transactions. Notably, Drip can automatically capture events like “Added to cart” or “Visited product page” when connected to platforms like Shopify, and you can use these as triggers without extra coding. It also can inject product data into emails easily for example, including items someone left in their cart, or recommending related products, using shortcodes and its email builder. These capabilities mean Drip is driving toward one goal: increasing customer lifetime value via personalised marketing.

Klaviyo is very similar in this regard, possibly even more developed. Klaviyo offers robust e-commerce dashboards, product recommendation engines, and integrates with reviews, loyalty programs (tools like Smile.io, Yotpo, etc.). In fact, Klaviyo often releases features like predictive CLV or optimal send time, which Drip has been catching up on (Drip has recently enhanced its predictive analytics for CLV and churn as well). For an e-commerce-centric marketer, both Drip and Klaviyo will feel like a tailored solution. They even integrate with Facebook and Instagram for audience sync Drip can auto-sync segments to Facebook Custom Audiences for ad retargeting, which is great for omnichannel campaigns.

Now, from a pure B2B standpoint, these e-commerce features might be “nice to have” but not core. For example, a B2B software company might not need abandoned cart emails, but could repurpose similar logic for free trial follow-ups. Drip’s ability to track events can be used in B2B: e.g., if a prospect visited your pricing page, that’s analogous to an “abandoned cart” scenario which could trigger an automated touchpoint. So, while Drip markets these features for online retailers, creative B2B marketers can leverage them. I’ve seen B2B SaaS firms use Drip’s event tracking to send behavioural emails (like “noticed you checked out our pricing want to schedule a call?”). The platform doesn’t limit you to physical products; “purchase” can be any conversion event you define.

HubSpot and ActiveCampaign, although not e-commerce specialists, do support e-commerce integration in their own ways. ActiveCampaign has what they call “Deep Data” integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, etc., bringing purchase data into AC and enabling revenue reporting on emails. HubSpot has an integration with Shopify too (and others via its app marketplace), which feeds e-commerce data into the CRM, so you can do things like trigger workflows when someone buys a certain product or create segments of customers vs. prospects. The difference is that HubSpot and ActiveCampaign treat e-commerce as one of many use cases, whereas Drip and Klaviyo are laser-focused on it. For instance, Drip slightly edges out ActiveCampaign in e-commerce features by offering more granular triggers by default (viewed product, started checkout, etc.) without extra setup, and by making it easy to include product content in emails. A review concluded that since Drip is purpose-built for e-commerce, it tends to go a bit further in this area (like automatic product recommendations in emails).

For a founder or marketer deciding on Drip, ask yourself if your marketing strategy involves direct revenue generation via email. If yes for example, you have an online store element, or you heavily cross-sell/upsell existing customers through email Drip’s features here will be very valuable. If your marketing is more about lead generation for a sales team (typical B2B), these features might be secondary. They won’t hurt to have, but you might prioritize other aspects like CRM or content features in a tool like HubSpot.

Reporting and analytics

Measuring results is crucial, and each platform offers a different level of reporting sophistication. Drip’s reporting covers the key email marketing metrics and some unique angles. In Drip, you’ll find overall dashboards for subscriber growth, email performance (open rates, click rates, etc.), and crucially, revenue attribution for e-commerce. If you connect Drip to your sales platform, you can see how much money each campaign or workflow generated a clear ROI indicator for marketing efforts. Drip also provides event-based reports, which show counts of specific events or tag applications over time. For example, you can report on how many people completed a certain workflow or how many had a “Requested Demo” tag applied this month. This event focus is handy for tracking conversions in B2B (you’d treat a demo request or whitepaper download as an event).

However, Drip’s reporting has limitations. It does not have very advanced visualization or a multitude of report types. For instance, you won’t get funnel reports (unless you manually create something using its workflows to simulate funnel stages), and it doesn’t offer things like geolocation reporting or click maps in emails. Social media or multi-channel attribution is beyond its scope. As noted earlier, Drip also lacks built-in spam or email client preview testing which is a niche reporting/QA feature, but worth mentioning for completeness (ActiveCampaign includes a spam check for emails, whereas Drip expects you to use external tools for that).

ActiveCampaign’s reporting is more extensive on the marketing side. It provides all the email stats plus things like geo opens, click trends, and automation-level reports (so you can see the aggregate performance of an entire automation workflow). If you use ActiveCampaign’s CRM, you also get pipeline reports (deals created, deals won, funnel conversion rates). AC can even tie email campaigns to deals if set up properly, giving a view of how campaigns contribute to revenue though it’s not as straightforward as Drip’s e-commerce revenue chart. One strong point: AC has goal tracking within automations, so you can define goals (like “contact became a customer”) and then measure how contacts are progressing toward those goals in reports.

HubSpot’s analytics are very robust, especially if you invest in the Professional or Enterprise tiers. You get detailed reports on almost every object: emails, landing pages, blog posts, campaigns (multi-asset campaigns), and even custom reports where you can slice data across marketing and sales objects. For example, you could report on how email engagement differs by industry, or how many marketing leads turned into sales opportunities each quarter. HubSpot also offers multi-touch attribution models if you have the higher-end Marketing Hub great for a holistic view of which efforts drive revenue in a complex B2B journey. The flip side is you pay for that power, and it can be overkill if you only need basic email stats.

Klaviyo’s reporting is oriented towards e-commerce health metrics. It has preset dashboards for things like total revenue (and how much was driven by Klaviyo emails), customer lifetime value distribution, average order value, etc. It’s very useful if you run an online business since you can quickly see how your marketing is affecting sales. For B2B usage, Klaviyo’s default reports might be less directly relevant (e.g. you might not care about AOV if you’re selling software licenses), but you can still get email metrics and segment-level engagement.

In comparing Drip to its alternatives, one reviewer pointed out: “While I really like Drip’s event-based reports, ActiveCampaign offers a greater variety of reports, with more comprehensive data.”. That sums it up: Drip gives you the basics and some cool e-commerce specifics, but tools like ActiveCampaign (and certainly HubSpot) give you a broader and deeper analytical toolkit. If you’re a data-driven B2B marketer who needs custom reports and dashboards, you might lean toward a platform known for that (or plan to export Drip data to a BI tool or warehouse for analysis). If you just need to check the pulse of your campaigns and see conversion counts, Drip’s in-app analytics will serve you well, with the added perk of seeing real revenue tied to your emails if applicable.

Integrations and ecosystem

Integration capability determines how easily you can connect the marketing platform to the rest of your tech stack. HubSpot likely wins here in breadth: as a popular platform, it has a huge app marketplace with hundreds of integrations (from Slack to Eventbrite to Salesforce). If something isn’t built in, HubSpot’s API is open and there are usually third-party connectors. Also, HubSpot itself can act as your website (via its CMS) and as your forms, so you sometimes need fewer integrations to begin with.

ActiveCampaign also has an impressive range, boasting 870+ integrations. This includes direct integrations with many CRM systems (if you didn’t want to use AC’s internal CRM), ecommerce platforms, analytic tools, etc. ActiveCampaign users often integrate with WordPress, webinar platforms, payment processors, and they provide native support or pre-built recipes for many of those.

Drip’s integrations are more focused. It lists around 100 native integrations, which cover the major needs of e-commerce and online marketing: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Facebook Ads, Google Analytics (basic integration), and so on. For anything outside that sphere (for example, integrating with a B2B sales tool or a niche event platform), you might need to rely on Zapier or custom API work. The good news is Drip’s API is considered user-friendly and well-documented, so developers can push and pull data as required. Drip can also do things like webhooks, which some advanced users appreciate for real-time integrations (like notifying an external system when a lead reaches a certain score).

One specific integration category important for B2B is webinar and event tools (like Zoom Webinars or GoToWebinar). ActiveCampaign and HubSpot have direct integrations for those, making it easy to capture webinar attendees into lists. Drip might require a Zapier link to do the same. Another category is advertising: HubSpot can integrate with LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads for lead syncing; Drip primarily focuses on Facebook/Instagram Custom Audiences sync. If LinkedIn lead gen forms integration is crucial, for instance, HubSpot offers that natively while Drip would need a workaround.

It’s also worth noting ecosystem and community: HubSpot has a vast user community, and so does ActiveCampaign (plus many consultants/agencies familiar with them). Drip, being smaller and specialized, has a more niche community. That doesn’t affect the software’s performance, but if you like having lots of third-party resources, templates, or experts available, that’s a factor. Klaviyo, due to its popularity in e-commerce, has a growing ecosystem too agencies specializing in Klaviyo for email marketing are common in the retail world.

To put it succinctly, HubSpot and ActiveCampaign offer broader integration options out-of-the-box, aligning with their goal to serve many types of businesses. Drip covers the essentials but might hit limits if your stack is more unusual or enterprise-grade (say, syncing with a data warehouse or an internally-built CRM it’s possible but not pre-packaged). Most SMBs will find Drip’s integration options sufficient, especially with Zapier as a safety net. But always double-check your must-have connections: for example, if you run a content site on WordPress and want subscribers to automatically flow into Drip, you’ll find plugins or Zapier can do it, whereas HubSpot might have a direct plugin that also captures more behavior data. In any case, Drip’s focus on e-commerce integrations means if you’re using those platforms, the experience will be smooth.

Pricing and plans

We touched on pricing in the considerations, but let’s compare these tools side by side, as cost can be a deciding factor. Drip’s pricing is straightforward: tiers based on number of contacts (subscribers in your database). All features are included in all paid plans, which is great because you don’t pay extra for premium capabilities you only pay more as your email list grows. As of recent data, $19/month covers up to 500 contacts, $39/month up to 2,500, and it scales up from there. There is no permanent free plan in Drip (just a free trial). One thing to note: as you climb into very high contact counts, Drip does get expensive, but so do all email tools when you have hundreds of thousands of contacts.

ActiveCampaign’s pricing also scales with contacts, but they have multiple editions (Lite, Plus, Professional, Enterprise). For instance, at 1,000 contacts, Lite might be ~$29/month, Plus ~$49, etc., each higher tier enabling additional features like the CRM, lead scoring, or advanced reporting. This means ActiveCampaign can start cheap if you only need basic email, but to use it as a full marketing automation with CRM, you’ll likely use the Plus or Professional plan at higher cost. Still, AC is generally considered good value for the feature set, especially compared to enterprise tools.

HubSpot’s pricing is the most complex. It has a free CRM and basic email (up to 2,000 emails a month on the free tier), which is nice to get started. But to unlock automation workflows, you need at least Marketing Hub Professional, which starts at $800/month (with 2,000 contacts included) a substantial jump. There is a Starter plan around $45-$50/month, but that doesn’t include the advanced automation or reporting. Also, HubSpot’s cost increases with both features and contacts: if you add more contacts or upgrade for features, the bills add up. Large enterprises can spend thousands per month on HubSpot. The flip side is you may not need other tools (since it can replace a CRM, email service, CMS, etc., consolidating costs).

Klaviyo’s pricing is contact-based like Drip’s. It’s actually quite similar in cost scaling for example, 5,000 contacts might be around $100–130/month (Klaviyo also charges extra if you add SMS messaging). Klaviyo doesn’t have a free plan beyond a very small free tier (up to 250 contacts, just to test). So cost-wise, Drip vs Klaviyo often comes down to specifics of your list size and channels (if you plan to do SMS marketing, Klaviyo might bundle that; Drip as of now focuses on email, though it can integrate with SMS tools).

When comparing, consider value for money. Drip can be more affordable for small-medium businesses because you’re not forced into higher packages to get features. A 10,000 contact list on Drip is around $154/month, and you’ll have full functionality. To get full functionality on HubSpot for that list size, you’d likely spend significantly more (though HubSpot would also cover CRM, etc.). ActiveCampaign for 10k contacts on a Plus plan might be roughly in the low hundreds per month, comparable to Drip or a bit higher. Klaviyo would be in a similar range or slightly more than Drip for 10k (Klaviyo might be ~$150-200 at 10k contacts for email).

One caution: with Drip, as your list grows into very large numbers, you might not get volume discounts beyond a point, whereas enterprise contracts with other providers sometimes can negotiate. Drip does have an enterprise offering but it’s basically just a bigger contact tier with maybe some added support. In many cases, companies that grow very large with email lists consider migrating to enterprise platforms or self-hosted solutions for cost reasons, but that’s when you’re in the hundreds of thousands or millions of contacts likely beyond the scope for most who are comparing these tools initially.

The bottom line on pricing: For startups and mid-sized firms, Drip and ActiveCampaign offer powerful automation at a reasonable price point, with Drip being a single-plan model and ActiveCampaign a tiered model. HubSpot is more expensive for equivalent marketing features, but you’re paying for the all-in-one convenience and scalability (and you can start free and small). Klaviyo’s pricing is on par with Drip; the choice between them will be about features rather than cost. A research note on this said, “Drip’s pricing model can be more attractive for smaller businesses… HubSpot’s higher-tier plans, while more expensive, include a wider range of features that might require multiple tools with Drip.”. This highlights that with Drip you might save money but might end up adding other tools (like a CRM, landing page builder, etc.), whereas HubSpot you pay more to have it all in one. As a B2B decision-maker, consider both the direct software cost and the total cost of ownership (including any additional tools or integrations needed).

Ease of use and support

Adopting new software involves a learning curve and reliance on support resources. Drip prides itself on being easy for marketers to use without needing constant developer help. Its interface is modern and uncluttered. Creating an email or building a workflow in Drip feels straightforward, and many users report that it’s easier to get up to speed with compared to some larger platforms. For example, one reviewer noted Drip was easier to master than ActiveCampaign for day-to-day automation building. Drip also provides in-app guidance, a help center with tutorials, and those pre-built templates which accelerate the learning process for common tasks (like setting up a welcome series). If you value a shallow learning curve, Drip is a strong candidate.

On the other hand, HubSpot while generally regarded as user-friendly given its breadth will naturally take more time to learn in full because it does so many things. HubSpot’s interface is well-designed, but as a new user you might need training to effectively use all its hubs (marketing, sales, etc.). HubSpot offers a wealth of documentation and the HubSpot Academy for free courses, which is a plus. The software itself is intuitive in parts (e.g. drag-and-drop email editor, visual workflow builder similar to Drip’s), but the sheer scope (managing a website, blog, SEO, social, ads, email, CRM all together) can overwhelm small teams. In terms of support, HubSpot’s support is generally good (especially if you’re a paying customer on higher tiers, you get faster responses). They also have a huge knowledge base and community forums.

ActiveCampaign strikes a middle ground. It’s more complex than Drip in some areas (particularly because it has so many features and a slightly less glossy UI), but it’s still geared towards SMB users, not enterprise IT departments. ActiveCampaign’s initial setup might be a tad more involved if you use the CRM part (setting up pipelines, etc.). For pure email, it’s comparable in difficulty to Drip. ActiveCampaign offers one-on-one onboarding sessions for new customers on certain plans and has a decent help resource center. Their customer support is known to be helpful, though sometimes response times vary.

Klaviyo is usually praised for its intuitive interface for e-commerce folks. If you know your way around Shopify or similar, Klaviyo’s design will feel familiar. It’s arguably as easy as Drip for creating emails and segmenting, perhaps even easier for certain tasks like building segments (Klaviyo’s UI for segment conditions is very user-friendly). But since Klaviyo is also data-rich, you might occasionally need some comfort with concepts like data properties or JSON (for advanced usage like custom catalogue feeds, etc.). Most marketers won’t touch that level though. Klaviyo’s support and community are solid, but not as extensive as HubSpot’s community.

All these tools are well-designed products targeted at marketers, so none require programming skills for the primary features. The key differentiator is focus vs. breadth: Drip and Klaviyo focus on doing a few things really well, so their UIs are correspondingly simpler. HubSpot does many things, so naturally it’s more to navigate (but you might appreciate having everything integrated once you learn it). ActiveCampaign is somewhere in between more features than Drip, but fewer than HubSpot, thus moderate complexity.

In terms of onboarding new team members or handing the tool off to an early marketing hire, Drip might allow them to hit the ground running fastest. As one user testimonial put it, “their automation is so easy and user-friendly… after building detailed welcome and cart emails [in Drip] (something I couldn’t do with other software) I saw a huge spike in email sales!”. Ease of use can directly translate to better results if it empowers you to set up campaigns you otherwise wouldn’t.

Support-wise, Drip offers chat and email support during business hours, and as mentioned their response stats are impressive. They don’t have phone support as far as I know (whereas HubSpot does for higher-tier customers). If having a dedicated account manager or phone support line is important, you typically find that with enterprise plans on HubSpot or with ActiveCampaign’s Enterprise tier.

Finally, consider the learning resources: HubSpot is unparalleled in this with their Academy. ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo have lots of blog content, how-to guides, and third-party courses. Drip has a resources section and some content (and their support team can guide you), but the community is smaller. So if you like a big ecosystem of tutorials and Q&As, that might factor in.

Best fit by company and use case

Bringing it all together, which types of companies are best suited for Drip, and when might HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, or Klaviyo be better options?

Drip is best suited for small to mid-sized businesses that are marketing-driven and especially those selling online. If you’re an e-commerce brand, a direct-to-consumer startup, or even a creator selling courses, Drip’s features align perfectly with your needs advanced email automation, personalisation, and revenue tracking without the heft of an enterprise system. It’s also a good fit for B2B SaaS or service companies in their earlier stages, where email is the primary marketing channel and you don’t require a full marketing suite yet. For instance, a SaaS startup nurturing trial users via email can use Drip to great effect. Drip shines when a company has a lean marketing team that needs to punch above its weight with automation and segmentation, but doesn’t have dedicated admins to manage complex software. Additionally, if you explicitly want to avoid the high costs of something like HubSpot while still getting sophisticated email capabilities, Drip is attractive.

When might Drip underperform? For a medium or large B2B enterprise, especially one with a complex sales process, Drip alone might not cover all bases. If your marketing strategy involves heavy content marketing (blogs, SEO, lots of landing pages), multi-channel campaigns, and a need to align tightly with sales, a platform like HubSpot could serve better as the central hub. HubSpot is often chosen by B2B companies that want an all-in-one system from first website visit to deal close. It’s worth the higher cost if you need that integration and breadth. Similarly, if you already have an enterprise CRM (Salesforce, etc.) and you need an enterprise-grade marketing tool to integrate, you might look at options like Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Marketo in addition to or instead of these SMB-focused tools.

ActiveCampaign is an excellent alternative if you liked many things about Drip (strong automation, reasonable price) but also want an integrated CRM and perhaps slightly more mature reporting. It’s popular among digital businesses and smaller B2B companies that require automation + CRM without going to HubSpot levels of investment. The tipping point might be if you foresee needing to automate sales outreach or have salespeople working in the same tool ActiveCampaign could then be more efficient than Drip plus a separate CRM.

Klaviyo vs Drip is often a question for e-commerce companies. If your business is purely e-commerce and you want the most advanced insights (like predictive analytics, deeper integration options for review apps, etc.), Klaviyo might edge out Drip. Many Shopify-based businesses gravitate to Klaviyo because of its track record and slight edge in analytics and segmentation for that domain. However, Klaviyo can be a bit pricier as you scale and some folks find Drip’s interface easier. It’s sometimes noted that Klaviyo’s email editor is more drag-and-drop friendly, whereas Drip’s is point-and-click and might feel limiting if you’re very design-oriented. These are small nuances both will do the job well. A practical consideration: if you plan on multi-channel like adding SMS, Klaviyo offers that in one platform (with additional cost per text). Drip would require integrating with a separate SMS tool.

For founders and marketers considering a switch or first-time implementation, my advice is: map your needs and match them to the tool’s core strengths. If you need ease of use, great email automation, and you’re primarily focused on email marketing and segmentation, Drip is a top contender. If you need broader marketing functionality (especially a CRM) and you have the budget, consider HubSpot (for a larger unified solution) or ActiveCampaign (for a middle-ground solution). If you are e-commerce heavy, weigh Drip vs Klaviyo based on which specific features matter more to you (Drip’s simplicity and slightly lower cost vs Klaviyo’s advanced data and templates).

It’s also worth noting that nothing stops a B2B company from using Drip as their email engine and another tool as their CRM. Many do that successfully. The integration might be a one-time effort and then you enjoy best-of-breed capabilities on both ends. For example, you could use Drip for all marketing emails and lead scoring, and push hot leads to Salesforce or HubSpot CRM for sales to work on effectively using Drip as the marketing brain and your CRM as the sales brain. This requires a bit of tech work but can yield a very tailored stack.

In conclusion, Drip competes well in the marketing automation arena by offering advanced email marketing power in an approachable package. Its sweet spot is companies that want to deeply engage and convert their audience via email, especially when those conversions can be directly measured (sales, signups, etc.). It underperforms only when you ask it to do things outside its scope like full CRM management, web content hosting, or complex multi-touch attribution. As a B2B head of growth evaluating options, you should consider the stage and model of your business. If you’re in a growth phase where agile email marketing will move the needle most, Drip is likely a great fit and will outshine heavier tools in agility. If you’re at a point where process integration and analytics at scale are your bottlenecks, you might lean toward an all-in-one like HubSpot or augment Drip with additional tools.

Ultimately, the “best” choice depends on your specific needs and resources. The good news is that all these platforms Drip, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo are mature and well-regarded. None is a wrong choice, they just serve different purposes. Drip stands out for its focus on lifecycle email marketing and ease of use, making it a compelling option for many modern marketing teams that want results without complexity. Keep your business objectives front and center, use this guide to weigh the factors, and you’ll be well on your way to picking the tool that will fuel your next stage of growth.

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