Tool Introduction

Campaign Monitor was founded in Australia in 2004 and was headquartered in Sydney during its early years before opening a North American headquarters in San Francisco following a $250 million investment round reported in 2014 to 2015. Alex Bard, formerly of Salesforce, joined as CEO in 2014, and Adam Berger led from 2017, the year the company appeared at number 99 on the Cloud 100 list.

The platform now operates as Campaign Monitor by Marigold, owned by Marigold, the relationship-marketing company rebranded from CM Group in January 2023 and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Demo Available?

Yes. A 30-day free trial capped at 500 contacts and a 500-email send limit is available through a Start trial signup, with Contact Sales for larger accounts.

Tool's Accuracy

Campaign Monitor's official deliverability page states a 99% delivery rate, footnoted as based on internal data approved on February 5, 2026. The figure carries no disclosed methodology: no sample size, measurement window, sending-domain mix, or third-party audit. The page notes that delivery rate, meaning acceptance by receiving mail servers, is a narrower measurement than actual inbox placement, so a message counted as delivered may still land in spam.

Aggregate Rating

4.0/5 stars (based on 1421+ verified reviews across the internet)

Detailed Overview

What Campaign Monitor Does

Campaign Monitor lets a business design, send, and track marketing emails from one account. A drag-and-drop template builder assembles campaigns without code, a visual journey designer automates sequences triggered by subscriber behavior, and segmentation targets audiences by activity. The same account also handles transactional email, signup forms for list growth, and SMS, so several channels run without separate tools.

Who Campaign Monitor Is For

The platform fits marketing teams across retail, travel, publishing, entertainment, and nonprofit organizations, from a single small-business sender to larger in-house teams. Agencies are a specific audience: one login can run campaigns on behalf of many clients while the agency keeps billing and branding under its own control, and the Marketing Monitor dashboard gives multi-team administrators a cross-client performance view.

Top Differentiators

Email, transactional email, SMS, marketing automation, and a website builder sit in one account rather than as separate subscriptions. A dedicated agency mode combines the multi-client Marketing Monitor dashboard with per-client billing and branding. Two generative-AI features are built into the core builder: AI Email Booster suggests one-click copy and optimization edits, and Segment Mapper turns a plain-language audience description into a segment.

Founding Year

2004

Target Industry

B2B, SMB, Enterprise, agencies, retail, nonprofit, entertainment, publishing, technology, travel, hospitality

Available Integrations

Salesforce: Built by certified partner Beaufort12, syncs CRM contact and campaign data; support and updates sit with the third-party ISV, no plan-tier gating disclosed.
WordPress: First-party plugin built by Campaign Monitor that pulls website signups into lists; no version-compatibility or list-size limits stated.
Shopify: Native connector syncing store customer and purchase data (name, email, last purchase date, amount spent) to power ecommerce campaigns.
Unbounce: Feeds landing-page signups into lists; requires a separate Unbounce subscription.
Intercom: Captures subscribers from Messenger conversations into lists without a separate opt-in form.
OptinMonster: Converts visitors via on-site forms and popups, tied specifically to WordPress forms.
Rungopher: Adds automated SMS journeys onto email marketing; requires a separate Rungopher account.
Facebook Lead Ads: Delivered through Zapier rather than a native connector, forwarding ad leads into lists automatically.
AdRoll: Syncs subscriber lists into AdRoll to reuse them as retargeting audiences across web and social.
Raiser's Edge NXT: Built by partner Red Arc, extends Blackbaud donor management with sending; scoped to nonprofit use.
Qgiv: Connects online giving, event registration, and peer-to-peer fundraising data into Campaign Monitor; scoped to nonprofit use.
Zapier: First-party app documenting 8 triggers and 6 actions, connecting to Salesforce, HubSpot, Typeform, Webflow, and Airtable; requires a separate Zapier subscription.

Pricing is tiered by contact count through a selector with bands of 0-500, 501-2,500, 2,501-5,000, 5,001-10,000, 10,001-15,000, 15,001-25,000, 25,001-50,000, and 50,001+ contacts, with a Monthly or Annual billing toggle. The annual option carries a 10% discount versus monthly and does not apply to agency or multi-team plans.

Free trial: A 30-day trial capped at 500 contacts and a 500-email send limit.
Lite: Renamed from Basic in July 2023; a send limit of 5x the subscriber count per month, custom coded templates, unlimited signup forms, core email features, and basic email support.
Essentials: Renamed from Unlimited; unlimited campaign, journey, and RSS sends, transactional email up to 10x the subscriber limit, unlimited automated workflows, inbox preview and spam testing, timezone-based sending, countdown timers, multi-user access, and priority email support.
Premier: Everything in Essentials plus phone support (Monday to Friday business hours), advanced pre-built engagement segments, send-time optimization, email section locking, advanced link tracking, and template management for teams.
Enterprise: Custom pricing via Contact Sales, adding a custom annual contract with consolidated billing, a dedicated account manager, multi-brand and multi-team management, and proactive deliverability monitoring.
Website Builder add-on: $10 per month regardless of contact tier.

Exceeding send or subscriber limits triggers a notification with the option to upgrade or pay for additional emails, and plans can be changed at any time without penalty. Nonprofits receive a 15% discount via Contact Sales. Prices default to USD, with CAD, EUR, GBP, AUD, and NZD accommodated; payment is by major credit card, with invoicing available for high-volume senders.

Pricing last verified: 07/08/2026
Disclaimer: Pricing is subject to change. Please confirm current pricing on the vendor site.

Features & Specs

Plan tiers: Three subscriber-count-priced tiers (Basic/Lite, Unlimited/Essentials, Premier) plus a pay-per-campaign option for infrequent senders.
Send limits: Basic/Lite caps sends at the plan send limit; Essentials and Premier allow unlimited campaign, journey, and RSS sends, with transactional email up to 10x the subscriber limit.
Essentials/Premier features: Countdown timers, local-time-zone sending, subscriber activity journeys, send-time optimization, advanced link tracking, and email section locking.
Paid add-ons: Engagement segments and non-human click filtering, the latter available on Essentials and Premier.
Support: Basic email support on Basic/Lite and pay-per-campaign; priority email on Essentials and Premier; phone support (weekdays 9am-5pm local business hours) only on Premier.
API: Version 3.3 at api.createsend.com/api/v3.3/, authenticated by OAuth 2.0 or an API key with HTTP Basic Auth, JSON or XML payloads (transactional endpoints JSON-only).
Client libraries: Official wrappers for Ruby, Python, PHP, Java, .NET, Perl, and Objective-C.
Rate limiting: All /transactional endpoints return HTTP 429 with X-RateLimit-Limit, -Remaining, and -Reset headers when exceeded.
AI tools: AI Email Booster for in-builder copy and optimization suggestions, and Segment Mapper for natural-language-to-segment generation with unlimited use on Essentials/Premier.
Mobile app: No dedicated iOS or Android app.

Security & Compliance

Two-factor authentication: Available on accounts using a password plus a phone-generated code.
Security principles: Infrastructure built on OWASP-aligned security principles.
Data-center certifications: SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, and FISMA/NIST.
Cloud-provider certifications: SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, IRAP, ISO 27018, and ISO 9001.
GDPR: Published GDPR-specific FAQs and compliance messaging.
Form protection: reCAPTCHA-protected signup forms as a spam and compliance safeguard.
Trust Center: Official Trust Center powered by SecurityPal AI, with a Marigold trust hub referencing SafeBase.

Industry Use-Cases

Travel and hospitality marketing

Flight Centre uses Campaign Monitor to run hyper-personalized marketing campaigns across its subscriber base. Andrew Walker, the company's Email Marketing Manager, credits the platform on Campaign Monitor's customers page with driving engagement and revenue for the business.

Retail and consumer brand email

Jaybird, an audio brand, runs its email program on Campaign Monitor. Rene Oehlerking, the chief marketing officer, states on the same customers page that email marketing drives significant revenue for the business.

Agency managing multiple client campaigns

Green Apple Strategy, a marketing agency, handles email for its retail and hospitality clients using Campaign Monitor's A/B testing and drag-and-drop template builder. Per the company's published case study, refining subject lines and design lifted open rates by as much as roughly 108% on some client campaigns.

Tool's Alternatives

Mailchimp targets the same SMB-to-mid-market email marketer with a drag-and-drop builder, 300+ templates, automation, segmentation, and generative-AI content tools embedded across the campaign flow. Its limitation is that SMS marketing is only an add-on to paid plans rather than included. Its differentiator is the AI-first positioning built around measurable ROI claims and enterprise logos such as Spotify and Canva.

Constant Contact serves the same small-business and nonprofit segment with drag-and-drop email, AI writing assistance, SMS, social posting, and 300+ integrations. Its limitation is that the entry-level plan includes only one pre-built automation flow, with unlimited automation reserved for the top tier. Its differentiator is the Teams product that gives franchises and multi-location organizations locked templates, approval workflows, and centralized permissions.

ActiveCampaign aims at growing businesses wanting deeper automation, with AI agents that retain context across workflows, a Brand Kit enforcing voice and logo consistency, native SMS and WhatsApp automation, and 1,000+ integrations. Its limitation is that its marketing pages do not disclose which plan tiers include the SMS and WhatsApp channels. Its differentiator is autonomous-agent positioning where AI memory carries forward between campaigns.

Klaviyo unifies email, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, mobile push, and social natively in one platform, with AI agents that build automation flows and resolve support queries. Its limitation is that its positioning is narrowly built for consumer and direct-to-consumer ecommerce brands rather than general-purpose or B2B email. Its differentiator is CDP-grade customer-profile scale fused directly into the send layer.

HubSpot Marketing Hub bundles email marketing with a broader CRM, offering AI-powered campaigns, adaptive forms, cross-network ads management, and multi-touch revenue attribution on a connected customer platform. Its limitation is that full value depends on adopting adjacent Hubs such as Sales and Service rather than running standalone. Its differentiator is AI-search-visibility tracking and the Breeze Customer Agent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns Campaign Monitor and where is it based?

Campaign Monitor operates as Campaign Monitor by Marigold, owned by Marigold, a relationship-marketing company rebranded from CM Group in January 2023 and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Campaign Monitor itself was founded in Australia in 2004.

What subscription plans does Campaign Monitor offer buyers?

Campaign Monitor offers Lite, Essentials, and Premier subscription tiers priced by contact count, plus an Enterprise custom-pricing option and a 30-day free trial capped at 500 contacts and 500 emails.

Does Campaign Monitor include marketing automation and SMS?

Yes. The platform provides a visual journey designer for automated workflows and SMS marketing, alongside email campaigns, transactional email, signup forms, and a website builder, all in one account.

What AI features does Campaign Monitor provide?

Two AI tools sit in the builder: AI Email Booster returns one-click copy and optimization suggestions, and Segment Mapper turns a plain-language audience description into a segment, with unlimited use on Essentials or Premier.

Does Campaign Monitor offer a free trial?

Yes. A 30-day free trial provides access capped at 500 contacts and a 500-email send limit through a Start trial signup. Larger accounts are directed to a Contact Sales flow.

What does the Campaign Monitor API support?

The version 3.3 API at api.createsend.com/api/v3.3/ supports campaigns, subscribers, lists, segments, templates, automation, transactional email, and webhooks, authenticated by OAuth 2.0 or an API key with HTTP Basic Auth.

How is phone support offered across the plans?

Phone support during weekday business hours is available only on the Premier plan and is lost immediately on downgrade. Basic email support covers Lite, while priority email support covers Essentials and Premier.

How much does the Website Builder add-on cost?

The Website Builder is a flat-rate add-on priced at $10 per month regardless of contact tier. It uses AI to generate a custom site with pages, copy, and images connected to signup forms.

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Campaign Monitor

Where relationships take root.