# Strategy for migrating from Active Campaign

**URL:** https://forum.mautic.org/t/strategy-for-migrating-from-active-campaign/30575
**Category:** Mautic 5 Install/Upgrade Support
**Tags:** discussion
**Created:** [January 19, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/strategy-for-migrating-from-active-campaign/30575 "2024-01-19T20:27:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![jayme.edwards](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/jayme.edwards/32/11272_2.png) [@jayme.edwards](https://forum.mautic.org/u/jayme.edwards)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/strategy-for-migrating-from-active-campaign/30575/1 "2024-01-19T20:27:24Z")

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I’ve been using ActiveCampaign for about 5 years and really unhappy with them. Both pricing and support. Since I’m a developer, I stumbled upon mautic and it looks like it may do what I want.

I’ve read all the user and developer documentation, and got mautic 5 running in a droplet on digital ocean to kick the tires.

My current dilemma is trying to figure out the best approach for moving over.

In Active Campaign, when I export my contacts as CSV there is a column for each custom field which looks like it can be mapped easily enough to fields in mautic. But there is also a “tags” column with a list of the Active Campaign tags, separated by commas themselves in that one column.

I’m trying to figure out how I can map those tags during import, to tags in mautic. I can write python, javascript, whatever so I was looking at writing a short python script that would fix up the CSV file in whatever way is necessary to make the import work right.

In ActiveCampaign, most “automations” (similar to the campaign builder here in mautic) are triggered off of tags. So it’s important I maintain these, or figure out some other way to make sure when I pull people in, I can start off with the same context that was there before.

Any advice appreciated. I did do some google searches to read about this topic. Namely [this one](https://forum.mautic.org/t/importing-a-segment-from-csv-on-existing-contacts/16446/3) but it wasn’t completely clear to me how I should format the CSV file for the best chance of making this work. I was also somewhat confused when I uploaded the file just to see what options are available in the UI, it looks like you have to select one tag during import. Which won’t really work in my case, as users are assigned to many different tags.

Thanks for reading!

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### Author: ![joeyk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/joeyk/32/11164_2.png) [@joeyk](https://forum.mautic.org/u/joeyk)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/strategy-for-migrating-from-active-campaign/30575/2 "2024-01-20T21:56:06Z")

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Hi,  
This feature exists in M5, maybe you can backport it to more stable M4.

> <https://github.com/mautic/mautic/pull/12547>
>
> \<!-- ## Which branch should I use for my PR?
> 
> Assuming that:
> 
> a = current ma…jor release
> b = current minor release
> c = future major release
> 
> \* a.x for any features and enhancements (e.g. 5.x)
> \* a.b for any bug fixes (e.g. 4.4, 5.1)
> \* c.x for any features, enhancements or bug fixes with backward compatibility breaking changes (e.g. 5.x) --\>
> 
> | Q | A
> | -------------------------------------- | ---
> | Bug fix? (use the a.b branch) | \[\]
> | New feature/enhancement? (use the a.x branch) | \[\]
> | Deprecations? | \[\]
> | BC breaks? (use the c.x branch) | \[\]
> | Automated tests included? | \[\] 
> | Related user documentation PR URL | https://github.com/mautic/user-documentation/pull/98/files#r1280294088
> | Related developer documentation PR URL | mautic/developer-documentation#... 
> | Issue(s) addressed | Fixes #... 
> 
> \<!--
> Additionally (see https://contribute.mautic.org/contributing-to-mautic/developer/code/pull-requests#work-on-your-pull-request):
> - Always add tests and ensure they pass.
> - Bug fixes must be submitted against the lowest maintained branch where they apply
> (lowest branches are regularly merged to upper ones so they get the fixes too.)
> - Features and deprecations must be submitted against the "4.x" branch.
> \--\>
> 
> \#### Description:
> This PR adds possibility to import contacts with tags from a CSV
> \<!--
> Please write a short README for your feature/bugfix. This will help people understand your PR and what it aims to do. If you are fixing a bug and if there is no linked issue already, please provide steps to reproduce the issue here.
> \--\>
> 
> \#### Steps to test this PR:
> 
> \<!--
> This part is really important. If you want your PR to be merged, take the time to write very clear, annotated and step by step test instructions. Do not assume any previous knowledge - testers may not be developers.
> \--\>
> 1. Open this PR on Gitpod or pull down for testing locally (see docs on testing PRs \[here\](https://contribute.mautic.org/contributing-to-mautic/tester))
> 2. Import contacts with tags. The mock file can be used: \[MOCK\_DATA\_3\_CONTACT.csv\](https://github.com/mautic/mautic/files/11983946/MOCK\_DATA\_3\_CONTACT.csv)
> !\[image\](https://github.com/mautic/mautic/assets/96085911/f3e2fde5-22e9-4476-a435-2903930d491c)
> 
> 3. Checking that tags are added to contacts
> 
> \<!--
> If you have any deprecations, list them here along with the new alternative.
> If you have any backwards compatibility breaks, list them here.
> \--\>

Regarding other differences in AC and Mautic:

- Active Campaigns Campaigns are called Segment emails in Mautic
- Active Campaigns Automations are called Campaigns in Mautic

In AC you can set tags for clicks and opens from a Campaign (which is not an automation, but a one off send). In Mautic we don’t do that. You can do it from Mautic Campaigns, (which are Automations in AC).

GL HF  
Joey

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![jayme.edwards](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/jayme.edwards/32/11272_2.png) [@jayme.edwards](https://forum.mautic.org/u/jayme.edwards)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/strategy-for-migrating-from-active-campaign/30575/3 "2024-02-02T16:20:52Z")

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Looks good. I was able to write a python script that converts the exported ActiveCampaign contacts to a format expected by mautic 5. I really don’t want to use 4 so I’ll probably have to wait a bit until it’s stable if it’s not yet, as you say.

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### Author: ![joeyk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mautic.org/joeyk/32/11164_2.png) [@joeyk](https://forum.mautic.org/u/joeyk)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/strategy-for-migrating-from-active-campaign/30575/4 "2024-02-02T16:29:20Z")

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Sounds great! I’ll post something on my blog when M5 is stable enough!