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ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign API

Yes. ActiveCampaign publishes a public REST API with both auth. See developers.activecampaign.com/reference/overview for pricing details.

Auth: bothMCP also availableLLMs: ChatGPT, Claude
Open API docsTry ActiveCampaign
Public REST API documentedAgent-readiness 8/10
Data from Buddy's database, auto-rechecked weekly

What is the ActiveCampaign API?

ActiveCampaign runs a REST API at version 3, and it covers the parts of the platform you would actually want to automate: contacts, deals, automations, campaigns, lists, tags, custom fields, and ecommerce. This is not a read-only reporting API. You can create and update records, trigger automations, and sync ecommerce data, which is what makes it usable as the backbone of a real integration rather than a dashboard export.

Authentication is a single Api-Token sent as an HTTP header, which keeps onboarding short. The one wrinkle to know upfront: your base URL is account and region specific, shaped like https://{youraccount}.api-us1.com/api/3/, so you cannot hardcode a global endpoint the way some APIs let you. Beyond REST, ActiveCampaign supports webhooks for event-driven flows and ships native Zapier and Make connectors, so a lot of glue work never needs custom code at all.

For the broader picture: ActiveCampaign review, full pricing breakdown, .

HOOK IT TO YOUR STACK

Real ActiveCampaign API calls you'll write

activecampaign-apirest
#List campaigns from the last 30 days
GET/v3/campaigns?since=30d&fields=name,open_rate,clicks
200 OK · 12 campaigns
Black Friday Teaseropen 42.1%
Product launchopen 38.5%
Weekly digest #12open 27.0%
Welcome flow step 2open 61.3%
activecampaign-apirest
#Create a new automation programmatically
POST/v3/automations
201 Created · automation_id: aut_8x
Statusdraft
Steps configured0
Estimated audience2,847
Push steps via PUT /automations/{id}/steps.
activecampaign-apirest
#Add a contact and tag them in one call
POST/v3/contacts
201 Created · contact_id: c_4f12
Lifecycle stagesubscriber
Tags applied1
Triggers firedwelcome-series
TMB SCORE FOR ActiveCampaignAuth: bothAgent fit: 8/10
Read review →

Endpoints illustrative. Confirm exact paths against the live API docs before integrating.

What ActiveCampaign exposes

I run ActiveCampaign through an official MCP server, a REST API, and native ChatGPT and Claude integrations, which is most of what I need for agent-driven email workflows. My API covers contacts, lists, campaigns, automations, deals, and tracking, with auth via either API key or OAuth depending on the use case. The MCP server is built and maintained by ActiveCampaign directly, so I can wire Claude or ChatGPT into my account without a middleware layer. For no-code glue, Zapier and Make both have full connectors. Webhook availability isn't documented in the data I have, so I'd confirm event triggers against the developer docs before building anything that depends on push notifications.

Pricing, limits, and integration

Auth is a single Api-Token passed as an HTTP header, so there is no OAuth dance to set up. The catch worth flagging early: your base URL is account and region specific, of the form https://{youraccount}.api-us1.com/api/3/. Grab it from your account rather than hardcoding a shared host, or every call 404s.

The rate limit is 5 requests per second per account. Cross it and you get a 429 with a Retry-After header telling you how long to wait, so the API is honest about backoff rather than failing silently. Five per second is fine for event-driven and interactive work, but plan real throttling and retry logic before you fire a bulk contact sync or a full pipeline export. On top of REST you get webhooks for event-driven flows, which means you can react to a new contact or a stage change without polling, and native Zapier and Make connectors that cover a large share of integrations with no code at all.

How much does the ActiveCampaign API actually cost?

Verify on docs

ActiveCampaign publishes an API, but per-tier gating wasn't extracted automatically.

  • Most likely scenario: API access is either included in all paid plans, or it's gated to higher tiers and we need to verify on the live docs page.
  • Until verified, treat the question "which plan unlocks the API" as open. Don't budget on the assumption it's free with the cheapest paid plan.

ActiveCampaign subscription pricing

PlanMonthlyAnnual / mo
Starter—$15
Plus—$49
Pro—$79
Enterprise—$145

⚠ Per-tier API gating not yet structured for ActiveCampaign. Confirm which plans unlock API access on the live docs.

Source: activecampaign.com/pricing. Verified 2026-06-07.

API at a glance

Auth method
both
SDK languages
—
OpenAPI spec
—
Webhooks
available
Structured outputs
—
No-code automation
ZapierMakePipedream

Which AI clients can read ActiveCampaign data?

Not every AI assistant supports MCP natively. Here's the per-client picture for ActiveCampaign specifically.

ClientSupportNotes
Claude (Desktop/Web)Native MCPPaste the Remote MCP URL from ActiveCampaign Developer settings into Claude. ActiveCampaign was the first marketing platform in Claude's official connector directory.
ChatGPTNative MCPConnect via the Remote MCP URL; works with ChatGPT MCP-compatible connectors.
CursorNative MCPAdd the Remote MCP URL to Cursor's MCP config. Any MCP-compatible client works the same way.

ActiveCampaign also has an MCP server

If you're wiring ActiveCampaign into Claude / Cursor / Codex, the MCP server is usually less code than the REST API.

See ActiveCampaign MCP page

What you can build with the ActiveCampaign API

Three personas, three different shapes of build. Pick the row that matches how you actually ship.

SOLO DEV / FOUNDER

Glue ActiveCampaign into your daily workflow

  • Pull a digest of campaign performance into your morning Slack
  • Trigger a one-off backfill when something looks off
  • Pipe data into your own SQLite for ad-hoc queries
Effort: A weekend, one Node or Python script
AGENCY / CONSULTANT

Sell ActiveCampaign reporting at scale

  • White-label ActiveCampaign data into client-branded dashboards
  • Run scheduled multi-account reports without logging into the ActiveCampaign UI
  • Cross-reference with the rest of the client's stack (CRM, analytics, ad spend)
Effort: 1-2 weeks, hits multi-tenant auth quickly
IN-HOUSE ENGINEER

Production pipelines for ActiveCampaign

  • Real-time sync into your warehouse on a cron
  • Custom alerts the dashboard's built-in alerting can't express
  • Backfill + idempotency handling for ActiveCampaign data older than the dashboard exposes
Effort: Multi-week project, expect rate-limit tuning

Quickstart template

# Starter template — endpoint paths and SDK package names come from
# the ActiveCampaign API docs: https://developers.activecampaign.com/reference/overview

curl -X GET "https://developers.activecampaign.com/<your-endpoint>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" | jq .

Template only. Endpoint paths, exact base URL, and auth header format come from developers.activecampaign.com/reference/overview.

Limits and gotchas

  • No OpenAPI spec — you write typed clients by hand or use a third-party generator on the docs HTML.
  • No official SDK detected. Plan on hitting the API directly with your HTTP client of choice.
  • Rate limits: always read the docs page before scaling — the published limit is usually lower than the practical one and overages can be expensive.
  • No-code fallback: Zapier and Make.com cover the common triggers if you want to skip writing API code for simple flows.
8/10

Agent-readiness verdict

Score: 8/10 on API-readiness. The v3 REST API covers contacts, deals, automations, campaigns, lists, tags, custom fields, and ecommerce with simple Api-Token header auth, webhooks for event-driven flows, and native Zapier and Make connectors. That is a complete and practical surface. The two things keeping it at an 8: the account and region specific base URL means you have to read it out of the app rather than assume a global endpoint, and the 5 requests per second per account rate limit is workable but tight enough that bulk syncs need real backoff handling.

Solid agent-fit with official MCP support and documented API access. ActiveCampaign's official MCP server and native Claude integration create a direct path for agents to manage email campaigns and automation workflows. The lack of published OpenAPI specs and structured outputs will require more manual prompt engineering to ensure reliable data handling.

MCP server availableOfficial MCP (on tool's own domain)Public API with docsNative Claude integrationNative ChatGPT integration

ActiveCampaign API FAQ

Does ActiveCampaign have a public API?+
Yes — REST API at developers.activecampaign.com/reference/overview, auth via both.
What auth does the ActiveCampaign API use?+
Both API key (server-side) and OAuth (delegated/user-auth).
Should I use the API or the MCP server for Claude / Cursor / Codex?+
Prefer the MCP server for agent workflows — it's less code and pre-handles auth flows. Use the REST API for scheduled jobs, dashboards, and anything outside an LLM-driven flow.

Sources

Joonas Rotko
Joonas RotkoAuthor & Founder of That Marketing Buddy

10+ years in digital marketing. I review marketing software for AI-stack fit: real pricing, MCP and API support, and how cleanly each tool drops into an AI agent workflow, cross-checked against verified data and real user feedback.

About meHow I review

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