Act!
CRM Verified May 2026
Act! deal: Free trial available
The veteran CRM that small businesses keep coming back to — familiar, affordable, and quietly capable in 2026.
- 35 years of proven stability
- Bundled marketing automation
- Flexible deployment options
- No learning curve bloat
How Act! scored 61/100
6 weighted criteria, each scored out of 10 and published with its reasoning. Featured placements never move a score.
Deal Strength
3.0 /10There's no exclusive coupon; the value is a free trial to test the CRM before subscribing. It's a straightforward try-then-buy offer rather than a discount, letting a small business load real contacts and run the pipeline before committing.
Value for Money
8.0 /10Act! is priced reasonably for an all-in-one SMB CRM: per-user subscriptions that bundle contact and opportunity management with marketing automation, typically well below enterprise CRM suites. Bundling email marketing into the CRM adds value versus buying them separately; the trade-off is that the platform feels less modern than similarly priced newer tools.
Capability
7.0 /10Act! covers core CRM well — contact and customer management, sales pipeline and opportunity tracking, activity and calendar management, Outlook and email integration, and built-in marketing automation for campaigns and nurture. It's a capable, well-rounded SMB CRM; it lacks the deep AI, extensibility and app ecosystems that newer platforms like HubSpot or Zoho now offer.
Time to Value
7.0 /10Getting productive is reasonably quick for existing CRM users: import contacts, set up the pipeline and connect email, and you're managing relationships within a day, with both cloud and desktop options to fit how a team works. The learning curve and dated interface can slow first-time users slightly, keeping time-to-value good rather than instant.
Trust & Reliability
7.0 /10Act! is one of the longest-running CRMs on the market, with decades of history and a large, loyal small-business installed base — a genuine track-record and stability signal. That longevity underpins solid trust; the score is good rather than top because the brand's momentum and mindshare trail today's fast-moving CRM leaders.
Flexibility & Exit
6.0 /10Act! offers real flexibility of deployment — cloud or self-managed desktop — and contact and pipeline data can be exported, which eases a move. The practical friction is that customizations, marketing campaigns and years of accumulated CRM data live in the platform, so migrating a mature Act! database to a modern CRM takes planning.
- 35 years of proven stability
- Bundled marketing automation
- Flexible deployment options
- No learning curve bloat
About Act!
Quick answer
Act! is a 30-year-old CRM originally built for contact management that has grown into a full sales and marketing platform, now offered as Act! Cloud (subscription) and Act! Pro/on-prem. It targets small and mid-sized businesses and is best for users who want a familiar, Outlook-friendly CRM with a real pipeline, email marketing, and a one-time purchase option. Pricing runs roughly $25–$50 per user per month on cloud tiers, with discounts on annual terms — verify current pricing on act.com before committing.
What is Act! CRM?
Act! is one of the original contact management tools, first shipped in the late 1980s as Conductor by Conductor Software, then rebranded as Act! after the company's acquisition of the Conductor name from Symantec. Over three decades it has been passed between owners — from Symantec to SalesLogix/Interact, briefly to Sage, then to Swiftpage, and most recently to Act! LLC, owned by Marlin Equity Partners — a journey that explains both its longevity and its slightly conservative pace of innovation.
Today Act! is sold in two broad flavors:
- Act! Cloud (Premium and Ultimate tiers) — a hosted subscription CRM with web, desktop, and mobile access.
- Act! Pro / Act! Premium Desktop — the classic on-premise or self-hosted install, still sold as a perpetual license, which is unusual for the category in 2026.
- Act! Marketing — an add-on (or bundled with Ultimate) for email campaigns, landing pages, and lead capture forms.
Act! is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with development in North America and Europe. It is positioned squarely at small and mid-sized businesses, with a long tail in professional services, real estate, financial advisory, and light-manufacturing verticals.
Key features in 2026
Contact & company management
The original Act! promise. Hierarchical companies, multi-address, custom fields, history timeline, and "contact portal" sharing with external collaborators.
Sales pipeline & opportunities
Multi-pipeline support, drag-and-drop deal stages, forecasting, and activity quotas. Lighter than Salesforce, deeper than the cheapest CRMs.
Native Outlook & Gmail sync
Two-way email sync with Microsoft Outlook (including the new Outlook for Windows) and Google Workspace. Long-time differentiator vs. Pipedrive and Zoho.
Act! Marketing automation
Drip campaigns, email templates, landing pages, signup forms, and lead scoring — bundled into Ultimate or sold as an add-on for Premium.
Mobile apps (iOS & Android)
Offline-capable mobile CRM, route planning, and check-in tools. Useful for outside sales teams, though reviews on the App Store are mixed in 2026.
Reporting & dashboards
Custom dashboards, classic Act! reports, and Excel/CSV export. No modern BI layer — you'll want Power BI or Looker for serious analytics.
Act! pricing in 2026 (honest breakdown)
Act! does not publish a single, fully transparent public price list — the quote you see in the cart is the right number. Based on the order pages at act.com and the most common reseller pricing in 2025–2026, here's what to budget for:
Compared to HubSpot Sales Hub Professional (~$90/seat/month) and Salesforce Sales Cloud Pro Suite (~$165/user/month), Act! is materially cheaper. Compared to Pipedrive (~$14–$29/user/month) and Zoho CRM Standard (~$14/user/month), Act! is not the cheapest — you're paying for the marketing automation and Outlook depth.
Tip: Always check the live cart on act.com before quoting internally, as the company runs seasonal promotions (often around back-to-school and Q4) that can drop Ultimate to the ~$39–$45 range.
Act! vs HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Zoho
| Feature | Act! Premium Cloud | HubSpot Sales Pro | Pipedrive | Zoho CRM Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (per user/mo, billed annually) | ~$25–$30 | ~$90 | ~$14 | ~$14 |
| Outlook + Gmail two-way sync | Yes (deep) | Yes | Add-on / limited | Yes |
| Built-in email marketing | Yes (Ultimate / add-on) | Yes (in Marketing Hub) | Add-on (Campaigns) | Add-on (Zoho Campaigns) |
| Sales pipeline | Multi-pipeline | Multi-pipeline | Multi-pipeline (best-in-class UI) | Multi-pipeline |
| AI features in 2026 | Limited / experimental | ChatSpot & Breeze (strong) | Pipedrive AI (improving) | Zia (mature) |
| Perpetual license option | Yes (Pro / Premium Desktop) | No | No | No |
| App marketplace size | Small (~50 integrations) | Very large (1,000+) | Medium (~400) | Large (800+) |
| Best for | Established SMBs on Outlook | Marketing-led growth teams | Visual pipeline-focused sales | Multi-product Zoho stacks |
Who Act! is (and isn't) for in 2026
✓ Use Act! if you:
- Run a 5–50 person business that has outgrown spreadsheets and shared inboxes.
- Are a heavy Outlook or Gmail user and want CRM data to flow both ways without Zapier.
- Want email marketing, landing pages, and CRM in one bill without paying HubSpot Marketing Hub prices.
- Prefer a one-time on-prem purchase (Act! Pro / Premium Desktop) for compliance or data-residency reasons.
- Have an existing 10+ year Act! database and want a stable migration path to the cloud.
✗ Skip Act! if you:
- Are a startup or modern SaaS that lives in Slack, Notion, and Linear — the UX will feel slow.
- Need cutting-edge AI for call summaries, deal coaching, or prospecting — HubSpot and Salesforce are better here.
- Want a huge app marketplace and Zapier-tier native integrations (although Act! does support Zapier).
- Need a truly modern mobile-first CRM; Pipedrive and HubSpot lead on mobile polish in 2026.
- Plan to scale past 200 users — Salesforce or HubSpot Enterprise are easier to govern at that size.
What's included
- Contact management and segmentation
- Sales pipeline tracking
- Email campaign automation
- Cloud and desktop deployment
- Lead scoring
- Activity tracking and history
- Task and calendar management
- Reporting and analytics
- Mobile access
- Document management
- Basic API access
- Multi-user collaboration
Act! pricing
Verified May 2026. Vendor's published rates at the time we checked — always confirm at checkout.
| Plan | Price | Term | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Free trial | Contact sales for paid plans | Contact management · Email campaigns · Sales pipeline tracking · Basic reporting |
| Pro | Contact sales | Monthly or annual | All Starter features · Advanced automation · Custom fields and workflows · Priority support |
| Custom | Contact sales | Enterprise pricing | All Pro features · Dedicated account management · Custom integrations · On-premise deployment options |
How to claim it
4 steps. The last one is the part most people skip.
- 1
Open Act! through the link on this page
It carries our referral tag. The price you pay is identical either way, and it never changes the score on this page.
- 2
Pick the plan that matches your usage
This offer applies automatically through the link — there is no code to enter.
- 3
Confirm the discount before you pay
The order summary should show the reduced amount. If it does not, stop and tell us — we re-test listings that stop working.
- 4
Check what happens at renewal
Note the renewal date and the rate it reverts to, so the second invoice is not a surprise. Annual plans are usually cheaper per month but harder to exit.
Where Act! wins and loses
What works
- 35 years of proven stability Long track record means the platform won't disappear overnight, and core CRM functionality is battle-tested across decades of small business use.
- Bundled marketing automation Email campaigns, contact management, and sales pipeline tracking are integrated into one platform, eliminating the need to pay for and manage separate tools.
- Flexible deployment options Choose between cloud or desktop deployment based on your infrastructure requirements and security preferences.
- No learning curve bloat Straightforward interface focused on core CRM tasks means your team can get productive quickly without navigating enterprise-grade complexity.
- Free trial available Test the platform risk-free before committing to a paid plan, allowing you to validate fit for your specific workflow.
- Designed for small business workflows Purpose-built for operators managing contacts and sales pipelines directly, not overengineered for enterprise requirements.
What doesn't
- Dated user interface The UI lacks the polish and modern design of newer competitors, which may feel clunky for teams accustomed to contemporary SaaS tools.
- Limited integration ecosystem Narrower third-party integration options compared to enterprise-grade CRM platforms, which may require custom workarounds for your tech stack.
- Not suitable for complex enterprise workflows Act! prioritizes simplicity over advanced customization, so teams with highly specialized or multi-department processes may outgrow it quickly.
The bottom line
Act! is the veteran small-business CRM that keeps earning loyalty: familiar contact and pipeline management plus built-in marketing automation, available as cloud or desktop. It's affordable and dependable for its base; a dated interface and ecosystem versus modern rivals are the trade-offs, but for SMBs that value continuity it's a buy.
Act! is sold as per-user subscriptions, typically starting around the low tens of dollars per user per month, bundling contact and pipeline management with marketing automation; higher Growth Suite tiers add more marketing and automation capacity. Pricing varies by deployment (cloud or desktop) and term, and a free trial lets you evaluate it before subscribing.
Both. Act! is available as a cloud-hosted CRM (Act! Premium Cloud) and as a self-managed desktop/on-premises option, which is unusual among modern CRMs and a key reason long-time users stay — teams that prefer to control their own database or work offline can, while others get the convenience of the hosted version.
Act! bundles core CRM — contact and customer records, sales pipeline and opportunity tracking, activity and calendar management, and Outlook and email integration — with built-in marketing automation for email campaigns and lead nurture. That combination of CRM plus marketing in one affordable SMB package is its long-standing appeal.
HubSpot and Zoho CRM are more modern, with deeper AI, larger app ecosystems and slicker interfaces, while Act! offers a familiar, stable, affordable CRM plus marketing automation and the option of desktop deployment. Businesses that value continuity, offline/desktop use and simplicity often stick with Act!; those wanting cutting-edge features and integrations lean to the newer platforms.
Act! suits small businesses and long-time users who want a dependable, affordable CRM with built-in marketing automation and the flexibility of cloud or desktop deployment, without the complexity of a large modern platform. Fast-scaling teams that need heavy AI, extensive integrations and a big app marketplace may find newer CRMs a better long-term fit.
Its age shows: the interface and overall experience feel dated next to modern CRMs, and it lacks the deep AI, extensibility and large app ecosystems of platforms like HubSpot or Zoho. It remains capable and affordable for core CRM plus marketing, but teams wanting the newest capabilities may find it behind the curve.
