Keep the automation depth. Lose the per-contact tax.
ActiveCampaign accounts tend to have the most complex automations of any platform, which makes the rebuild the real work here. It also means a migration is a genuine chance to delete the half that stopped earning years ago.
10,000 contacts, 40,000 emails/month · Typical migration: 4–7 days of work, over 2–3 weeks
ActiveCampaign migrations take longer than most because the automations are usually deeper — a mature account can have dozens, many of them inactive or overlapping. Contacts, custom fields, tags and the unsubscribe list export cleanly; automations are rebuilt. The practical advice is to sort your automations by contacts entered and revenue attributed before you rebuild anything, and only move the ones that earn. At 10,000 contacts sending 40,000 emails a month, ActiveCampaign Plus is around $189 against $30 on Bluey Grow.
What transfers, and what you rebuild
Stated up front, because finding out mid-migration is how a two-day job becomes a two-week one.
| What | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts & custom fields | Transfers | Full CSV export including custom fields; maps directly to Bluey custom fields. |
| Tags | Transfers | ActiveCampaign is tag-heavy. Tags export and import, and much of your segment logic rebuilds from them. |
| Lists | Transfers | List membership exports and becomes segments. |
| Unsubscribes & bounces | Transfers | Export separately and import first. |
| Automations | Rebuild | The main body of work. Rebuild only the flows that are actually earning. |
| Deals & pipelines | Partial | Bluey's built-in CRM has contacts and a deal pipeline. Complex multi-pipeline setups need simplifying. |
| Site tracking | Rebuild | Swap the tracking script for Bluey's; historical page-view data does not transfer. |
| Forms | Rebuild | Rebuild in Bluey and swap the embed code. |
| Email templates | Partial | Export HTML and import; re-check rendering. |
The migration plan, in order
- 1Day 1 — before any sendAuthenticate your sending domainPublish SPF, DKIM and, if you use one, DMARC records for the domain you will send from. Gmail and Yahoo have required authentication and one-click unsubscribe from bulk senders since February 2024, and an unauthenticated first send from a new platform is the fastest route to the spam folder. This is a DNS change and takes about fifteen minutes; allow up to a few hours for propagation.
- 2Day 1 — do this before anythingAudit your automations before you rebuild any of themOpen the automations list and sort by contacts entered in the last 90 days. Most mature ActiveCampaign accounts find that a small number are doing all the work and the rest are dormant, duplicated or superseded. Rebuilding all of them is the single biggest waste of effort in this migration.
- 3Day 1Export contacts, custom fields, tags and unsubscribesActiveCampaign's export includes custom fields and tags, which is most of what your segmentation depends on. Export the unsubscribe list separately and import it into Bluey before contacts.
- 4Day 2–4Rebuild the automations that earnedWork from your audit. Bluey's automation builder handles branching, conditions, waits and behavioural triggers, so the logic translates — but it is transcription by hand, and that is where the days go. Start with the highest-volume flow so you can test the mechanics on something you know well.
- 5Day 4Move site tracking and formsSwap the ActiveCampaign tracking script for Bluey's and rebuild forms. Historical page-view data does not transfer, so behavioural segments that depend on a lookback window need time to repopulate — another reason to do this early.
- 6Week 1–2Run Bluey and ActiveCampaign in parallelSplit the audience rather than duplicating it: send to one segment from Bluey and leave the rest on ActiveCampaign. You get a like-for-like comparison of delivery, engagement and cost on your own data, and nobody receives the same campaign twice. Do not run both against the same contacts — that is the one way to make a careful migration look sloppy to your readers.
- 7Week 2 — graduallyRamp volume rather than switching itStart with your most engaged segment — people who opened or clicked in the last 30 days — and increase volume over several days. Receiving servers judge a new sending pattern partly on engagement, so leading with your best contacts builds reputation, while leading with your whole list including two-year-dormant addresses damages it. If you were on a dedicated IP, treat the new one as cold and warm it deliberately.
Mistakes people make leaving ActiveCampaign
Each of these is recoverable, and each is much cheaper to avoid than to fix.
Migration FAQ
How long does an ActiveCampaign migration take?
Four to seven days of real work over two to three weeks — longer than most, because the automations are usually deeper. The export and import is still an afternoon; the automation rebuild is the rest. Auditing first, and rebuilding only what earns, is what keeps it at the lower end.
Can Bluey handle ActiveCampaign-level automation?
For the great majority of accounts, yes — branching, conditions, waits, behavioural triggers and goal-based exits. ActiveCampaign's ceiling is higher on very intricate multi-branch logic, so if you genuinely run automations that complex, test the specific ones you depend on during the trial rather than taking a general answer on faith.
What happens to my deals and pipelines?
Bluey's built-in CRM covers contacts, a deal pipeline and lifetime value. A single pipeline maps across without much trouble. Several pipelines with custom stages and automation hanging off stage changes will need either simplifying or a dedicated CRM alongside, synced through the API.
How much will I save?
At 10,000 contacts sending 40,000 emails a month, around $189 on ActiveCampaign Plus against $30 on Bluey Grow. ActiveCampaign also charges per contact and sells several capabilities as add-ons, so the real gap depends on how many of those you are carrying.
Will my site tracking data come across?
No. Swap the tracking script and Bluey starts collecting from that point. Behavioural segments with a lookback window need time to repopulate, which is why installing the script on day one — well before cutover — is worth doing.
Keep exploring
Run both in parallel. Then decide.
Seven days of full access, no credit card. Import a segment, send from Bluey while ActiveCampaign handles the rest, and compare delivery and cost on your own data before you move the domain.