ACT! Plans: Free vs Paid and Qualifying Tiers

Map must-haves to ACT! plan names before you compare starting tiles.

1. Write your day-one must-haves as a list, in outcome language.
2. Beside each one, write the lowest ACT! plan that research shows carries it. Our research does not flag plan-gated capabilities for ACT!, but confirm your must-haves against the plan you actually intend to buy.
3. Highlight anything unclear and check it on /pricing/act/ or in the trial.
4. Note add-ons separately.
5. Ask which plan any demo runs on before you use it as evidence.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team needs contact management and lead management, email sync, and weekly reporting from ACT!. Two of those sit on the entry tier in research; the highest-gated one sets the plan, so they stop comparing anything cheaper.

Read these as capability tiers — not good / better / best marketing.

1. ACT! (contact sales) — Quote-led tier — no public price in our snapshot. Research places contact management, lead management, and pipeline management here. Get gates, seats, and term in writing before you design around it.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team drops ACT! (contact sales) once must-haves sit higher, and compares only the ACT! plans that clear every gate.

1. No free ACT! plan in our snapshot — the question is trial vs ACT! (contact sales). Our snapshot records no trial length for ACT! — ask for an evaluation window in writing before you commit seats.
2. Do must-haves sit on ACT! (contact sales)? If no, entry price is irrelevant.
3. Can you prove the loop in the trial window with real deals? If no, ask for an extension in writing.
4. Prefer monthly while fit is unproven over a long annual term.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team runs a scoped trial with two sellers, then buys the qualifying plan — not ACT! (contact sales) — for 12 seats.

Hand this five-line algorithm to anyone on the buying team.

1. List must-haves (M1…Mn).
2. For each Mi, find the lowest ACT! plan that carries it.
3. Take the highest of those — that is the qualifying plan.
4. Check capacity. Confirm ACT! seat/record caps on the pricing page. If you do not fit, move up one tier.
5. Count seats honestly (sellers, managers, ops, paid viewers).

Then estimate that plan in the Cost Calculator; add admin / migration / training as categories, not invented totals.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team lands on a ACT! qualifying plan set by their highest-gated must-have, counts 12 seats plus ops, and prices only that combination.

1. Stay on the cheapest qualifying plan when must-haves and seats fit.
2. Step up when one must-have sits higher — buy the tier, skip the forever workaround.
3. Walk when the qualifying ACT! plan breaks a written constraint. Research: stronger for Established SMBs already familiar with ACT! and Contact- and activity-centric small sales teams; weaker for Modern AI/marketing automation buyers and Enterprise platform CRM.
4. Write plan name, must-have that set it, and re-check date.
5. Use the worth-it guide for fit — not invented payback maths.

Worked example: when the cheap ACT! tier missed a must-have, a 12-person B2B advisory team bought the qualifying plan or shortlisted HubSpot and Pipedrive — they did not pretend the workaround was free.