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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
60
Ranking in other categories
Marketing Automation (1st), Marketing Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of HootSuite is 7.5%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 7.0%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Social CRM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud7.0%
HootSuite7.5%
Other85.5%
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."
"It has a social media presence outside of the hours people are able to devote to an organization."
"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."
"The automation is great. It saves us a lot of time and it makes us move faster."
"It is very easy to use from a marketing standpoint."
"The Journey and CloudPages and automation are all great."
"We have found the solution to be scalable."
"The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the reporting engine. Reports are very good and easy to build."
"Email automation is most valuable."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"Its ability to integrate data and provide a comprehensive view of customer engagement sets it apart."
 

Cons

"The company should reduce the pricing to make it easier for companies to deploy to larger social teams."
"Last I checked, you can't schedule Twitter threads where each tweet is a reply to a previous tweet."
"I've noticed on one-to-one leads, the customer objection option is not available."
"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."
"Clarity around new features could be improved when they are released."
"The product could use a little bit of BI in the sense of rule-based building."
"Marketing Cloud's forecasting could be improved."
"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 general setup and understanding of how to use it can be improved. There should be easier self-service for setting up dashboards. Currently, we have someone setting them up for us. I wish it was easier."
"In a future release it would be great to have the ability to connect the data from social media and email marketing and have it in one dashboard."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​I have only used the free versions.​"
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
"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."
"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."
"My company pays to use this solution."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is affordable, considering the significant improvements it brings to our campaign results."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Retailer
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
10%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

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 advice do you have for others considering HootSuite?
HootSuite offers content calendars and analytics tools. It has been used by at least ten users per license or account. On a scale of 1-10, I rate HootSuite a 7.
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?
Salesforce Marketing Cloud works effectively as a suite, best-of-suite solution. However, if you want to reuse specific components, it doesn't have the same solution flexibility since it's not micr...
 

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: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.