Marketo vs Pardot comparison

Adobe and Salesforce are both solutions in the Marketing Automation category. Adobe is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Salesforce is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.4. Adobe holds a 14.7% mindshare in MA, compared to Salesforce’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Adobe users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

Marketo

Read 26 Marketo reviews

1,823 Views
1,458 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Pardot

Read 12 Pardot reviews

1,018 Views
381 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Marketo

Pardot

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

Pardot and Marketo are competing in the marketing automation platform category. Marketo stands out with more comprehensive features, making it a preferred choice despite Pardot's competitive pricing and support.

Features: Pardot offers effective lead nurturing, seamless integration with Salesforce, and intuitive design. Marketo provides extensive analytics, robust campaign management, and dynamic content personalization.

Room for Improvement: Pardot could improve its analytics depth and expand integration options beyond Salesforce. Marketo's complexity and requirement for configuration expertise could be barriers to ease of use and quick deployment.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Pardot ensures straightforward deployment with Salesforce, offering prompt support. Marketo requires complex deployment but supports larger enterprise environments, providing comprehensive assistance that may require additional expertise.

Pricing and ROI: Pardot's lower upfront cost benefits smaller businesses or Salesforce users, realizing ROI quickly. Marketo's higher cost corresponds to advanced features, offering long-term value through detailed analytics and insights.

To learn more, read our detailed Marketo vs. Pardot Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Marketo vs. Pardot

April 2025

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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

Marketo

Ranking in Marketing Automation

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Marketing Management (4th)

Pardot

Ranking in Marketing Automation

6th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Marketo is 14.7%, down from 16.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pardot is 3.6%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Marketing Automation

Featured Reviews

Anika Gaur

Senior Digital Solutions Analyst at Rich Products

Effective lead management and useability with room for reporting improvements

Customer support could be more helpful. The reporting could be better, with more engaging reports and the ability to collaborate more objects, like opportunities. Incorporating AI features similar to tools like HubSpot and Salesforce account engagement would be beneficial. Additionally, Marketo should work on automating tools and updating the product since it looks similar to how it did five years ago.

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Vikram Rawani

Pardot Consultant at Target

Offers an easy initial setup phase and good ROI

With Pardot, users can do the segmentation based on their requirements. You can segment your prospects based on their interests, locations, companies, or the sales cycle. You can also use the engagement studio to create a journey for the people you have segmented with the help of automation feature of the tool. The aforementioned area consists of the most useful features I found in the tool apart from its out-of-the-box features. The integration between Pardot and Salesforce is beneficial if you know how to share the leads that a company finds useful so that they don't have to invest in manual work or do anything blindly to reach out to leads. Users can segment the leads using the features that the tool provides. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. If a business is into B2B marketing and can afford to purchase Pardot, then they should buy it. If the product of a company is good, then Pardot can help multiply such an organization's ROI. Based on the product and how the sales and marketing team works, the tool can be useful. In short, the tool can be as good as the person who is using it. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's pretty good at handling customization and templates. We can put in different variables, so even someone without coding knowledge can create and develop emails that look good on different browsers."

"One feature I like is the user interface. Compared to other tools I've used, it's much more friendly and easy to navigate. Additionally, it offers a wide range of features, which makes tasks like segmenting data much simpler."

"I have a good special setup and a huge NetFlow to the sales channel."

"Marketo is excellent in terms of hands-on usability and lead database management."

"The most valuable features of Marketo are its ease of use and flexibility."

"It is a very user-friendly solution. I'm mainly working on Design Studio, which is useful for companies in tracking repeat users. The progressive proofing is also useful. It is not available in other solutions."

"The smart campaign looks quite interesting and useful."

"One of the most important things about Marketo is its focus on GDPR compliance. It helps you follow GDPR and CAN-SPAM rules. For example, with Marketo, I won't accidentally target audiences without their consent. Firstly, the Marketo Insights system will highlight new customer segments that I should engage with."

More Marketo pros

"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."

"The tracking and automation of outbound messaging is the solution's most valuable aspect."

"It's easy to create email templates and landing pages."

"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."

"Pardot's most valuable feature is its B2B marketing capabilities."

"The product is stable."

"I have not had any issues with the product's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"For me, the best thing is the Custom Redirect. That's one key thing I like because using that particular Custom Redirect, I can track a link wherever I'm sharing it. I can track how and when people are accessing it."

More Pardot pros

Cons

"The user experience needs improvement, particularly in terms of ease of use and navigation between projects."

"Marketo should give more power to the users for data manipulation."

"It could be more scalable."

"Segmentation in Marketo is limited to a maximum of 20 segments. Depending on the company's specific needs, these segments can be based on various attributes such as company, industry, or other values. Sometimes, there's a lag when sending data from Marketo to any CRM. It can take around five to fifteen minutes for the report to sync."

"Based on my clients ' comments, there is room for improvement in Marketo. For instance, Oracle's Eloqua had much larger databases than Marketo a few years ago, handling millions of records. Marketo has been catching up but doesn't hold the most extensive possible databases. This is less of an issue for B2B, but for B2C customers, who have millions of records, It also lacks features of HubSpot, which should be incorporated. Marketo could benefit from supporting more extensive databases and incorporating some of HubSpot's features. HubSpot is cheaper, and while Marketo is not the most expensive, it's not the least. They would be a better competitor to HubSpot if their pricing were lower. These products are typically priced per user per month."

"Marketo filters are not very efficient, and timely updates or features could improve this aspect."

"Marketo's reporting and dashboarding features could be better. Compared to other tools, the visualization options with charts and graphs seem somewhat limited."

"I had an issue while integrating JavaScript with forms. When you embed JavaScript, you can either embed it in a landing page or some other self-contained management system like WordPress. Currently, it provides you access to CSS, where you can customize your form design, but there is no option for JavaScript modification for a particular form. This area needs to be improved where you can integrate JavaScript, and it has the JavaScript functions for that particular form. There are a lot of other areas of improvement. In the design area, they can give us more testing options instead of relying on email testing alone. It would be great if they can provide responsive testing where email clients can be tested within Marketo. It would be also helpful if they can implement some in-built options for users or forms for blocking a generic email ID such as Yahoo or Gmail. Similarly, it would be helpful to have JavaScript features and forms as well as the option to add Google analytics and a header and footer for the landing pages."

More Marketo cons

"Lacks sufficient free custom fields."

"Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities."

"Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."

"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."

"For new people, the installation of the tool can be difficult."

"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."

"Needs to improve list building."

"When it comes to integration with third-party tools, Pardot's APIs are not that robust."

More Pardot cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Marketo is too expensive for a small-sized company but more affordable for a larger-sized company."

"The initial pricing was excellent, but the pricing for renewals is not as good."

"Marketo is used a lot because it's cheaper and preferred by many firms."

"The licensing cost usually depends on the users."

"It is expensive. We have a yearly license."

"The fee for Marketo includes the number of users and the database size. If we ask for a unique feature, it will cost extra."

"The solution is expensive compared to others."

"Marketo's pricing depends on the number of contacts and the level of features you need. Compared to other platforms like Oracle Eloqua and Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo is generally more affordable. Like other platforms, it offers different packages based on your needs."

More Marketo pricing and cost advice

"It is a competitively priced product, considering what it provides."

"The price of this solution is expensive. However, you are going to receive good value for money. They could improve by reducing the price."

"We pay about $4000 a month."

"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."

"Make sure you do not pay for features that you may not need."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Educational Organization

62%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Marketo?

One of the most important things about Marketo is its focus on GDPR compliance. It helps you follow GDPR and CAN-SPAM rules. For example, with Marketo, I won't accidentally target audiences without...

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What needs improvement with Marketo?

The user interface could be improved. I would like to see an updated UI for 2025.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Marketo?

As a seasoned Marketo Expert with a decade of experience and a deep understanding of Adobe's ecosystem, I can confidently say that the primary use case for Marketo lies in empowering businesses wit...

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What do you like most about Pardot?

It has no limit for sending marketing emails.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pardot?

Pardot was somewhat costly for our requirements, nonetheless, the capacities of the item were limited.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pardot?

Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities. It lacks a robust design studio, limiting our ability to perform various design activities efficiently. Yo...

See all answers

Comparisons

Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Marketo

Compared 34% of the time

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Marketo

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle Eloqua vs Marketo

Compared 18% of the time

SAP Marketing Cloud vs Marketo

Compared 10% of the time

Adobe Campaign vs Marketo

Compared 3% of the time

More Marketo Competitors

Oracle Eloqua vs Pardot

Compared 58% of the time

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Pardot

Compared 18% of the time

More Pardot Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Marketo

May 2025

Download Marketo product report

Buyer's Guide

Pardot

May 2025

Download Pardot product report

Overview

Marketo is an all-in-one marketing solution that was created by marketers for marketers. Founded in 2007, Marketo is branded as marketing software that is easy, powerful and complete.

Organizations have access to multiple marketing and sales tools when they use this solution, such as Marketing Automation, Consumer Engagement Marketing, Real-Time Personalization, and Marketing Management.

Adobe

Pardot, a salesforce.com Company, is an easy-to-use B2B Marketing Automation suite that helps sales and marketing teams maximize efficiency and increase revenue. Pardot's lead management software features CRM integration, email marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring, and ROI reporting to help marketing and sales teams work together to generate and qualify sales leads, shorten sales cycles, and demonstrate marketing accountability.

Salesforce

Sample Customers

Marketo has a customer base of thousands of companies, including Sony, Citrix, BrightTALK, Curves International, HootSuite, Hyundai, SanDisk, and Samsung Electronics.

Arketi Group

Buyer's Guide

Marketo vs. Pardot

April 2025

Free Report: Marketo vs. Pardot

Find out what your peers are saying about Marketo vs. Pardot and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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