This article contains information on contact limits that apply to accounts created on or before November 2, 2025. For accounts created on or after November 3, 2025, learn more about contact list statuses.
While you can archive bounced and unsubscribed contacts, you should carefully weigh the decision.
You may choose to archive these contacts for the following reasons:
- You no longer need these contacts in your account
- You wish to keep your list clean and avoid any potential GDPR violations with contacts you no longer use
Or you may keep these contacts in your account for the following reasons:
- They might update their email address, phone number, or subscription preferences with you
- They may have a deal and are progressing through your pipeline
- You are communicating with them on different channels
Take note
Only Admin users can archive, restore, or delete contacts.
Before you archive
Before you archive these contacts, you must consider the following:
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Contacts with a bounced or unsubscribed status do not count toward your contact limit, and you are not charged for them
A contact may be unsubscribed from one list and subscribed to another. If so, the contact is considered "Active" in your account. Learn more about contact statuses. -
Archiving contacts is done at your own risk
We recommend exporting contacts to a CSV file before archiving them. Note that a contact may be unsubscribed from one list and subscribed to another. You'll need to check each contact's subscription status for each list before archiving them.
If you archive a contact, the contact’s data is retained for 1 year. You can restore the contact after it has been archived for 30 days. Learn more about archiving contacts.- Learn how to export a list
- Learn how to export all contacts in your account
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Campaign metrics
Archived contacts will not change the open or click rates of campaign metrics. Their actions will still count toward the overall percentage for each report. However, their names will be removed from the open and click metrics.
For more information on this topic, read the Archive contacts in ActiveCampaign help article.
To remove unengaged contacts from a list, we recommend using the Expedited List Cleanup automation.
Learn how to reduce your unsubscribe rate.