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HootSuite vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 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

HootSuite
Ranking in Social CRM
4th
Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Social Media Analytics Software (1st)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Ranking in Social CRM
2nd
Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Marketing Automation (1st), Marketing Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of HootSuite is 13.2%, up from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 11.9%, up from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Social CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Anish Bajracharya - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient management of social media campaigns while noting pricing challenges
If you are into social media marketing or any other digital media, then you should have knowledge of HootSuite because it is the industry standard that has been helping industry professionals. It makes life easier and somehow lowers stress, which is why I would recommend HootSuite It saves me…
Napitch K - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration challenges impact workflow efficiency
The features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud that I have found most valuable are the Journey Builder and Flow. These capabilities are valuable because they make managing automation easy. Automating customer journeys saves time when scheduling content through every channel, and we can set the automation in advance when planning marketing content. The AI-powered tools such as Salesforce Datorama and Einstein save time and have an impact on marketing strategy decisions for my customers. I have noticed a positive impact from Salesforce Marketing Cloud through customer feedback. For example, a customer mentioned after project completion that it had a significant impact on their marketing team by eliminating the need to hire additional staff for marketing content and planning.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main improvement HootSuite offers is allowing my organization to run social media campaigns."
"HootSuite has an AI engine to suggest trending topics related to our business. The engine works really well and comes up with excellent suggestions for more posts."
"It has a social media presence outside of the hours people are able to devote to an organization."
"The automation is great. It saves us a lot of time and it makes us move faster."
"The feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud that has had the largest impact on improving my campaign outcomes is the recent WhatsApp integration, which allows Salesforce to connect with subscribers through different channels such as SMS, email, or WhatsApp."
"Salesforce is constantly evolving and have a good release cycle."
"Marketing Cloud has improved our productivity and our team enjoy using it."
"Overall, I would rate Salesforce Marketing Cloud a nine out of 10."
"Marketing Cloud offers a 360 customers experience as it integrates with Service Cloud and Sales Cloud, the CRM portion of Salesforce. The different platforms integrate easily which makes it easy to manage customer communication using a single point of truth."
"The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are that it performs well and gives me what I need. It's the most friendly interface system for CRM I've worked with. Additionally, it integrates fairly well with different kinds of AI and ML to allow you to receive more out of your application."
"It has excellent lead and opportunity tracking."
 

Cons

"Last I checked, you can't schedule Twitter threads where each tweet is a reply to a previous tweet."
"The company should reduce the pricing to make it easier for companies to deploy to larger social teams."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should be linked to an email ID, so the features after 15 days can update on the opportunity. You should not have to update them manually to the next step."
"The technicality of the solution can be streamlined."
"I found that the tool is more complex than expected. It requires a deeper understanding to utilize its capabilities thoroughly."
"If you want to use advanced features in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, they are extremely difficult to use."
"Salesforce could benefit by implementing further integration with more platforms."
"The customization of Salesforce, a generic CRM software, has room for improvement."
"In the SMS area, it is not up to the mark, compared to what has been developed for email."
"The dashboards should be more intuitive, as there are far too many items on them. You're not always sure what you're looking for."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​I have only used the free versions.​"
"The price is expensive."
"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."
"On a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
"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."
"I don't know if my company pays for Salesforce Marketing Cloud monthly or yearly. It's a SaaS, so it's a recurring cost, but I have no information on its price."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Retailer
12%
University
10%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HootSuite?
HootSuite has an AI engine to suggest trending topics related to our business. The engine works really well and comes up with excellent suggestions for more posts.
What needs improvement with HootSuite?
Would you say there are any areas that still could be improved? Can they make it better in some ways?
What is your primary use case for HootSuite?
If you are into social media marketing or any other digital media, then you should have knowledge of HootSuite because it is the industry standard that has been helping industry professionals. It m...
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?
An area of Salesforce Marketing Cloud that could be improved is the connectivity between Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud platforms. The issues with integration between different platforms arise bec...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ExactTarget
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Vega, TicketLeap, Radio Italia, The PureMatter Agency, Kiva, The Vancouver Canucks
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 HootSuite vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.