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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
14th
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
6.9
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Act-On Software is 1.8%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 12.3%, down from 23.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud12.3%
Act-On Software1.8%
Other85.9%
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

"Our organization was operating blindfolded before implementing Act-On."
"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."
"Act-On has an outstanding customer support team and they escalate issues to their technical teams before the frustration level."
"It is now much easier for us to send and segment emails, analyze our results and make smarter decisions."
"Act-On is simple to use and it makes campaign development a breeze."
"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."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates with multiple systems seamlessly, enabling effective lead management."
"The Journey Builder and the Email Studio features are most valuable."
"I like that Salesforce allows for the integration of different data sources."
"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,"
"It's a software-as-a-service solution. Everything is managed centrally from the cloud. As far as I can tell, installation is relatively simple."
"The Journey and CloudPages and automation are all great."
"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."
"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."
"The processing speed, the way information displays, and scrolling options can be improved."
"The technicality of the solution can be streamlined."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."
"Marketing Cloud's forecasting could be improved."
"The product takes too long to manage a large volume of data, it lacks that capacity."
"The data extension tools are not very user-friendly."
"We would like an improvement to the 'Einstein Engagement Frequency'; the optimal range of emails that our subscribers will engage with."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should provide some debugging facilities for every user."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It is a license per user."
"The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies."
"We did a yearly license. We negotiated and got a great deal. I don't think we would have gotten far with the regular price, but they negotiated, so it was worth that."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."
"Salesforce is an expensive solution."
"The solution is paid for monthly."
"My company pays to use this solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

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 Business20
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise31
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 ...
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
The main use case for Salesforce Marketing Cloud is email marketing through Salesforce for the B2B segment on a day-to-day basis.For B2B email marketing using Salesforce Marketing Cloud, I can prov...
 

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: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.