Keap alternative: the all-in-one CRM without the per-contact tax

The best Keap alternative in 2026 is an all-in-one platform that drops the per-contact fees and the mandatory setup charge. Keap runs about $249–$299/mo for 1,500 contacts, then roughly $30 for every extra 1,000, plus a setup fee that starts around $500 before your first email. Stack Space covers the same CRM, email, and invoicing, adds phone, SMS, and AI that does the follow-up, and starts at $25/mo flat.

Most people looking to leave Keap are reacting to one of three things: the price, the uncertainty since Thryv bought it, or the discovery that getting out is harder than getting in. The all-in-one category Keap helped invent has grown up. You can now get the CRM, automations, email, and phone in one place for less than Keap’s entry price. Here’s what’s actually happening at Keap, what it still does well, and how to weigh the switch with the full math in front of you.

What’s happening with Keap after the Thryv acquisition?

Keap (the company formerly called Infusionsoft) was bought by Thryv Holdings in an $80M deal (Thryv announcement). Existing customers keep their product for now, and Keap’s own Thryv FAQ walks through the transition. But the reality since the deal is limbo: the partner program’s future is unclear, and the long-term roadmap has no public answers.

None of that means Keap shuts off tomorrow. It does mean betting the next five years of your client database on it is a bigger bet than it was a year ago. If you built your business on Infusionsoft-era campaigns, that’s an uncomfortable read. It’s also the moment to price out what a move actually buys you.

What does Keap really cost in 2026?

The sticker price is only the start. Here’s the documented math:

• ~$249–$299/mo for 1,500 contacts (G2 pricing).
• Roughly $30 per extra 1,000 contacts. Your bill grows every time your list does, which quietly punishes you for the one thing the software is supposed to help with.
• +$39 per extra seat.
• A mandatory setup fee starting around $500 (more for complex implementations) before you send your first email.
• A reported $299 early-termination fee. Getting out has its own price tag.

The reviews line up with the math: plenty of Capterra reviewers flag Keap as too expensive. The native-integration list is also thin for the money, so most stacks lean on Zapier, which is one more bill.

Run two years on a 5,000-contact list with two seats and Keap lands well north of $8,000 before setup. That’s the number to hold alternatives against, not the sticker.

What does Keap still do well?

A switch article that pretends the incumbent is worthless isn’t worth reading, so here’s the fair accounting:

• The campaign builder is a pioneer and still solid. Infusionsoft basically invented visual SMB marketing automation, and the if/then logic is capable and battle-tested.
• Sales and marketing under one login. Pipeline, email, invoicing, and payments in one place was Keap’s original promise, and it still delivers a version of it.
• Nearly two decades of SMB experience. The onboarding playbooks, templates, and certified-partner network exist because thousands of small businesses ran on this thing.

If your Keap instance is deeply built out, humming along, and the price doesn’t sting, staying is a defensible call. The rest of this guide is for everyone else.

What should you look for in a Keap alternative?

Five things, learned from watching people switch:

1. Flat pricing that doesn’t tax list growth. Per-contact pricing means your costs climb as your marketing works. Look for plans where 2,000 and 20,000 contacts cost the same.
2. No mandatory setup fee. If software needs $1,500 of services before it’s useful, that’s a confession. Modern platforms let AI build your automations from a plain-English description instead.
3. Everything genuinely in one place. Keap covers CRM, email, and payments, but not your phone, not two-way SMS at the center, not funnels and sites. If you’re still taping five tools around it, you didn’t buy all-in-one.
4. AI that does work, not just writes copy. Keap’s AI is content assist, not agents. The 2026 bar is AI that answers the phone, qualifies leads, sends the follow-up, and chases invoices.
5. An easy exit. Judge a vendor by how it treats leavers. Month-to-month terms and clean exports are the tell.

How does Stack Space compare to Keap?

Stack Space is the simpler all-in-one this guide promised: CRM, email, SMS, phone, booking, funnels, and invoicing on one flat bill. Neo, the AI brain, trains a roster of 17 AI employees that do the follow-up work, part of 25 AI agents in total. It was built for the business Keap serves, small services companies and the agencies that market them, but designed a decade later, so the phone, SMS, booking, funnels, and AI are native instead of add-ons.

Two honest caveats. First, Keap’s campaign builder has 20 years of edge cases baked in. If you’ve built genuinely exotic automation logic, test your weirdest flow on the $25/mo Launch plan before you commit to anything, ours or anyone’s. Second, Stack Space’s biggest fans are agencies and local service businesses. If you’re a pure info-marketer running complex affiliate launches, judge it against that use case specifically.

Comparing the broader field? The same real-math treatment of the category leader is in our GoHighLevel alternative guide, and if you run an agency, the best CRM for agencies roundup ranks every serious option.

How do you migrate off Keap without breaking anything?

A weekend-sized project, in order:

1. Export everything first. Contacts with tags and custom fields to CSV, plus your campaign structures documented. Screenshots of each campaign map are enough.
2. Map tags to your new structure. Migration is the best list-hygiene moment you’ll ever get, so kill the zombie tags now.
3. Rebuild the top 3 automations, not all 30. In Stack Space you describe each one in plain English (“when a website lead comes in, text them within a minute, email a booking link, then remind me if they don’t book”) and the AI builds the flow. Most Keap campaigns are variations of six patterns we ship as templates: new-lead nurture, speed-to-lead, missed-call text-back, review-after-win, overdue-invoice, re-engage cold.
4. Run both for one billing cycle. Point new leads at the new system and let in-flight Keap sequences finish.
5. Cancel by the book. Keap cancellation needs notice, so read your agreement, follow the stated process in writing, and calendar it. The Trustpilot complaints are mostly from people who didn’t.

One upgrade worth planning into the move: put your phone number in the system too. Answered calls are the highest-converting channel you have, and Keap never touched them. See what an AI receptionist actually does and the true cost of the answering service you might be paying alongside Keap right now.

FAQ

What is the best Keap alternative in 2026? For agencies and local-service businesses, Stack Space. It replaces Keap’s CRM, email automation, and invoicing, adds phone, SMS, funnels, and an AI receptionist on every plan, and starts at $25/mo flat (most land on Starter at $120) with no per-contact fees or setup charge. GoHighLevel is the other serious all-in-one option, with tradeoffs we cover in the comparison above.

Is Keap shutting down after the Thryv acquisition? No. Thryv bought Keap and keeps operating it, and Keap’s own FAQ says existing customers keep their product. The open questions are the roadmap and partner-program direction, which is why many customers are shopping now rather than under a deadline later.

Why is Keap so expensive? The pricing stacks. A base of roughly $249–$299/mo covers only 1,500 contacts, then it’s about $30 per extra 1,000 contacts, $39 per extra seat, and a mandatory setup fee starting around $500. That structure is why so many Capterra reviewers name cost as the problem.

How hard is it to cancel Keap? Harder than it should be. Cancellation difficulty is the top Trustpilot complaint, and a reported $299 early-termination fee can apply. Read your agreement, give notice in writing through the official process, and time your migration so the overlap is one billing cycle.

Can Stack Space import my Keap contacts? Yes. Export your contacts with tags and custom fields to CSV and import them, then map tags to fields. Rebuild automations from templates or by describing them in plain English.

Is there a free trial of Stack Space? No free trial. Plans start at $25/mo (Launch), most switchers land on Starter at $120/mo, and there are no contracts, so you can cancel anytime and leave with your data.