Act!
Act! discount for founders: 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
A mature, value-focused CRM for SMBs offering a solid feature set and good flexibility, though its deal is only a standard trial and its interface shows its age.
- Deal Strength3.0/10
INPUTS: 'VERIFIED DEAL MECHANIC: discount (Free trial available)', 'SAVINGS CLAIM: Free trial available', 'DISCOUNT TYPE: none | COUPON: no'. Deal is a standard free trial, which is an access-only offer with no verified public discount, capping the score at 3 per the rubric.
- Value for Money8.0/10
INPUTS: 'Pricing snapshot: Act! Premium Cloud is in the ~$25–$30/user/month range; Act! Ultimate Cloud runs roughly ~$45–$50/user/month.', 'Our 2026 take: A solid "buy" for its niche... dependable workhorse for the right small business.', 'SaaSTweaks Verdict · 2026 Buy Value 8.5'. Editorial summary indicates clearly better value than category norm for SMBs, aligning with a score of 8.
- Capability7.0/10
INPUTS: 'grown into a full sales and marketing platform', 'built-in marketing automation suite (Act! Marketing) that few CRMs at this price include', 'SaaSTweaks Verdict ... Features 7.5'. Tool is described as broad with a standout feature, but 'UI feels dated' and 'AI features are limited' indicate some gaps, placing it between 'solid core' (5) and 'broad, few gaps' (8).
- Time to Value7.0/10
INPUTS: 'Free for 14 days. No credit card or download required.' (from live site), 'Quick answer: ... best for users who want a familiar, Outlook-friendly CRM'. A standard free trial with no download and familiar integration suggests setup within hours, but the editorial notes a dated UI which may slow onboarding slightly, scoring between 'usable within hours' (8) and 'days to value' (5).
- Trust & Reliability7.0/10
INPUTS: 'Act! is a 30-year-old CRM', 'SaaSTweaks Verdict · 2026 ... Support & community 7.5', 'dependable workhorse'. The tool has a long history and positive editorial sentiment, but no specific uptime/SLA or review count data is provided, requiring a conservative score. Evidence supports 'generally positive' (5) to 'strong reputation' (8).
- Flexibility & Exit6.0/10
INPUTS: 'Act! Pro / Act! Premium Desktop — the classic on-premise or self-hosted install, still sold as a perpetual license', 'pricing runs roughly $25–$50 per user per month on cloud tiers, with discounts on annual terms'. The presence of a perpetual license option adds flexibility, but annual discounts suggest a potential lock-in incentive. This aligns with 'standard terms+basic export' (5) to 'flexible+easy cancel+good export' (8).
About Act!
- Best for: Small and mid-sized sales teams that live in Outlook and want a mature, affordable CRM without Salesforce-tier pricing.
- Pricing snapshot: Act! Premium Cloud is in the ~$25–$30/user/month range; Act! Ultimate Cloud runs roughly ~$45–$50/user/month. On-prem Act! Pro is sold as a perpetual license.
- Standout feature: Deep Outlook/Gmail integration and a built-in marketing automation suite (Act! Marketing) that few CRMs at this price include.
- Watch out for: The UI feels dated compared to Pipedrive or HubSpot, AI features are limited, and ecosystem/app marketplace is smaller than the big three.
- Our 2026 take: A solid "buy" for its niche, not a category leader — but a dependable workhorse for the right small business.
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.
How to get started with Act! Cloud (5 steps)
- Pick your tier. Most small businesses should start with Act! Premium Cloud and only upgrade to Ultimate if they need the bundled Act! Marketing automation. You can trial both.
- Start the free trial. Sign up at act.com with a work email. You'll get access to the full Premium or Ultimate feature set for 14 days — no credit card required for the trial.
- Import your contacts. Use the built-in CSV importer, or connect directly to Outlook, Google Contacts, or QuickBooks. Map custom fields before importing to avoid cleanup later.
- Connect email & calendar. Authenticate your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace account so every email and meeting logs to the matching contact record automatically. This is the single biggest time-saver in Act!.
- Build your first pipeline. Define the stages that match how you actually sell (e.g., Lead → Qualified → Proposal → Closed-Won). Add a few sample opportunities and invite one teammate to test the workflow.
No credit card required for the trial. Annual billing is the cheapest path and unlocks the deepest discount on act.com. Existing Act! desktop customers can move databases to the cloud in a single import.
Get started with Act! →Final verdict
Act! in 2026 is the equivalent of a dependable Toyota Camry in a sea of Teslas: it isn't the flashiest, the AI features are limited, and the UI hasn't been redesigned from the ground up in years. But for the small and mid-sized business that needs real contact management, Outlook sync that actually works, and email marketing in one product at a price below HubSpot, it remains a genuinely good "buy." If you're a brand-new startup, you'll probably be happier on Pipedrive or HubSpot. If you're an established SMB upgrading from spreadsheets, or a long-time Act! customer evaluating your next move, Act! Cloud is absolutely still worth a serious look — and the 14-day trial is free.
Pricing and feature availability on act.com change frequently. We last verified the details in this review in early 2026; always confirm on the live product page before purchasing.
Capabilities
- • 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
How to claim
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