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Marketo 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.7
Marketo's ROI varies; its value depends on business needs, setup quality, and may not suit email-focused strategies.
Sentiment score
6.2
Salesforce Marketing Cloud improves ROI and satisfaction for many, with benefits in marketing, data centralization, and campaign optimization.
I have seen some return on investment with Salesforce Marketing Cloud through features such as reporting, automation, and Journey parts that save resources.
Consultant at SNDT
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.9
Marketo's customer service receives mixed reviews, with areas for improvement in technical support, response time, and communication.
Sentiment score
6.4
Salesforce Marketing Cloud support receives mixed reviews; premium support is praised, but standard support experiences vary in responsiveness and expertise.
Salesforce customer service is excellent.
Lead BSA at cloudperitus
Customer support could be improved, especially for new features.
Practice Manager at Katzion
I have communicated with the technical support of Salesforce Marketing Cloud and would give them a rating of 9.5 since they have resolved my issues most of the time and are quite responsive.
Consultant at SNDT
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Marketo is highly scalable, handling large databases efficiently post-Adobe acquisition, despite longer Salesforce sync times and higher costs.
Sentiment score
7.8
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is highly scalable, supporting diverse business sizes, though costs may affect smaller businesses.
I find Salesforce Marketing Cloud to be scalable, as we can easily send out campaigns.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
When more branches are opened for a dealer, or when the vehicle manufacturing company implements the software nationwide, the application needs to handle many changes and business rules smoothly.
Practice Manager at Katzion
On a scale of one to ten, I rate its scalability at 9.5.
Lead BSA at cloudperitus
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Marketo is reliable with minor disruptions, efficient syncing, and generally rated highly for stability despite occasional Salesforce delays.
Sentiment score
8.1
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is highly stable and reliable, outperforming competitors despite occasional data integration issues.
Stability depends on the data center.
Engineer - Technology at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is highly stable.
Practice Manager at Katzion
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is stable, with issues occurring sometimes, but it is stable approximately 90% of the time.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The maximum downtime I faced was about two to three hours.
Consultant at SNDT
 

Room For Improvement

Marketo users request improvements in UI, pricing, integration, analytics, support, scalability, and features for better efficiency and functionality.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud needs enhanced security, integration, user experience, data management, AI features, customization, and support for better usability.
Marketo filters are not very efficient, and timely updates or features could improve this aspect.
Engineer - Technology at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The user interface could be improved.
CEO at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
It takes the default language and doesn't accept custom language specifications, which creates discomfort in certain scenarios.
Lead BSA at cloudperitus
We cannot debug the AM Script or SSJS code, which makes code debugging manual.
Consultant at SNDT
Improvements can also be made in the connections to different external tools such as Azure or AWS.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Marketo's pricing varies by size and features, proving costly for small businesses but relatively affordable compared to some competitors.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is costly but valued by enterprises for large-scale marketing, with pricing varying by features and needs.
The solution is cheaper than Alacor.
Engineer - Technology at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The pricing is around $10,000 per annum per user.
Practice Manager at Katzion
 

Valuable Features

Marketo excels in automation, Salesforce integration, user interface, analytics, support, integrations, and community training, enhancing marketing efficiency.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers user-friendly CRM integration, automation, AI insights, and multi-channel engagement for enhanced marketing efficiency.
Marketo helps us segment leads into very specific buckets, allowing us to send the right email at the right time.
CEO at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
We are scoring based on behavior without pressure, and it keeps producing excellent results.
Engineer - Technology at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Salesforce Marketing Cloud has positively impacted my organization by reducing costs while significantly increasing the return on investment.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
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.
Consultant at SNDT
Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates with multiple systems seamlessly, enabling effective lead management.
Lead BSA at cloudperitus
 

Categories and Ranking

Marketo
Ranking in Marketing Automation
3rd
Ranking in Marketing Management
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Ranking in Marketing Automation
1st
Ranking in Marketing Management
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Marketo is 8.8%, down from 14.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 12.6%, down from 22.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud12.6%
Marketo8.8%
Other78.6%
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

PradeepKumar25 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager at Tech Mahindra Limited
Useful for lead capture and engagement across social media platforms
Before Marketo, I worked on the Oracle Eloqua platform, both B2B-based. Currently, I'm working on Salesforce Marketing Cloud. So, these are the three platforms on which I have good hands-on expertise. One key reason platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud are gaining traction is that they invest in marketing campaigns. They conduct many virtual and live events, aggressively marketing their products. This strategy convinces C-suite executives to buy into and implement the Salesforce platform, something that other bigger platforms lack. Most companies are migrating to Salesforce. I've migrated one of my projects from Marketo to Salesforce and encountered many opportunities where companies want to migrate from Marketo, HubSpot, or Oracle Eloqua to Salesforce. I've worked on Oracle Eloqua, which is also a B2B platform, and I've also worked on Marketo. The lead scoring, table structure, and rules we apply are quite straightforward compared to Marketo. In Marketo, it's a bit clumsy. Regarding lead scoring or moving leads through the sales funnel, Oracle Eloqua is better, but it's a bit pricey. So, Marketo ranks second in lead scoring or managing leads, and it highly depends on the respective CRM. The tool tracks significant events, such as form fills on websites or social media handles. All this data is captured and stored in Marketo for analysis. Marketo Analytics is connected with Adobe Analytics. This integration offers detailed reports on total clicks, views, form fills, subscriptions, lead conversions, and more. It's straightforward compared to Oracle Eloqua, which has its own Oracle Business Intelligence suite.Marketo's reporting tools are easy to use, making it a plug-and-play solution for anyone.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise31
 

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...
What needs improvement with Marketo?
The user interface could be improved. I would like to see an updated UI for 2025.
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...
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 would recommend that Salesforce Marketing Cloud improve on three-dimensional or 360-degree reporting, as I feel that is something missing. Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive; it can be more ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ExactTarget
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marketo has a customer base of thousands of companies, including Sony, Citrix, BrightTALK, Curves International, HootSuite, Hyundai, SanDisk, and Samsung Electronics.
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 Marketo vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.