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Act-On Software vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Act-On Software
Ranking in Marketing Automation
15th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Ranking in Marketing Automation
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Act-On Software is 2.1%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 11.9%, down from 23.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud11.9%
Act-On Software2.1%
Other86.0%
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

it_user82449 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Systems Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
The adaptive nurturing, segmentation, multiple lead scoring rules, and simple CRM integration stood out the most.
The CRM integration with Act-On is better with Salesforce and had more value for sales representatives than it did with Microsoft Dynamics CRM; that was MS CRM's downfall. Act-On Anywhere is a nice feature for general users, but the tracking in CRM is lost, and Marketing team subject lines do not carry over on the email templates.
GauravSingh2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Targeted email journeys have boosted campaign insight and now need better data access and support
I feel that Salesforce Marketing Cloud can be improved in how the data views are accessed; it would be better to have something more physical. With data extensions, you can view them directly, but for data views, it is very difficult as you can only send it out or load it into data extensions. Improvements can also be made in the connections to different external tools such as Azure or AWS.Customer support can be improved in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, as sometimes it is not clear what the issue is or how to approach solving it, and it also takes time to resolve issues.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is now much easier for us to send and segment emails, analyze our results and make smarter decisions."
"Before I joined, my company used a larger, more expensive but more popular software, and after switching to this, my team can still do everything it needs to for cheaper."
"Our organization was operating blindfolded before implementing Act-On."
"The tool is flexible and helps us with insights and reports. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has improved our organizational functions by creating an environment where clients and internal staff can access information about various solutions. For instance, clients can apply for different projects, and internal staff can approve them based on donor requirements. This simplifies communication between clients, donors, and our company,"
"The most valuable feature is the 'Accelerators', which are expert-taught subject matter webinars on items such as personalization of emails and SMS to contacts and prospects."
"I like the user interface it has a nice look and feel."
"You can schedule reports, there's a lot of supporting tools, and you have access to all that information."
"It is a great solution. I like its stability, scalability, and performance."
"I like that I can constantly add leads to Salesforce Marketing Cloud and look at accounts there. I also like that the solution lets me set up meetings."
"It has excellent lead and opportunity tracking."
"The AI-powered tools such as Salesforce Datorama and Einstein save time and have an impact on marketing strategy decisions for my customers."
 

Cons

"One area of improvement would be ability to use dynamic content fields. It is available, but not to the fullest extent where it would help me."
"In terms of improvements, it would be beneficial to enhance the Copilot actions. The issue lies with the internal language setup."
"The data extension tools are not very user-friendly."
"Marketing Cloud's forecasting could be improved."
"Customer support could be improved, especially for new features where I do not always receive proper solutions from the platform provider."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should include more point-and-click functionality."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."
"Managing large volumes of data takes too long."
"Salesforce could benefit by implementing further integration with more platforms."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
"It's not cheap, which is why I recommend that you use Marketing Cloud to create automated journeys. If you plan to use Marketing Cloud just to send emails, use another tool."
"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."
"My company pays to use this solution."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"Salesforce is an expensive solution."
"The price is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise31
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What do you like most about Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
Datorama is part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which is quite a valuable feature that provides customer analytics.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
I did not work on any pricing or implementation aspects but learned on my own when dealing with Revenue Cloud products.
What needs improvement with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
I feel that Salesforce Marketing Cloud can be improved in how the data views are accessed; it would be better to have something more physical. With data extensions, you can view them directly, but ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ExactTarget
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NYU, Tableau, Xerox, ASPCA, Lego Education, Hoopla, Avery Dennison and SolarWorld.
American Express, Financial Conduct Authority, KPN, Merck KGaA, Peterborough City Council, The Chapar, ADP, Financial Times, Stanley Black & Decker, SureFlap, Western Union, Philips
Find out what your peers are saying about Act-On Software vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.