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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
6.6
Users find positive ROI with Salesforce Marketing Cloud's enhanced marketing, despite challenges in direct measurement; automation and personalization aid satisfaction.
I have seen some return on investment with Salesforce Marketing Cloud through features such as reporting, automation, and Journey parts that save resources.
 

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
6.6
Salesforce Marketing Cloud's support varies by license, with responsive service but inconsistent performance and potential additional charges.
Salesforce customer service is excellent.
When facing technical issues such as coding, they provide valuable suggestions for my developer team.
Customer support could be improved, especially for new features.
 

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
7.7
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is scalable, ideal for large enterprises, integrating well but may be cost-prohibitive for smaller companies.
On a scale of one to ten, I rate its scalability at 9.5.
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.
Not everyone can use Salesforce Marketing Cloud unless they have some exposure to the platform and understand how it works, which informed my scalability rating.
 

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, managing large data well, with users rating it 8-9 out of 10.
Stability depends on the data center.
I have never experienced any issues with stability, outages, or downtime.
The maximum downtime I faced was about two to three hours.
 

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 improvements in error handling, UI, integrations, pricing, customization, documentation, performance, and feature accessibility.
Having some calculated formulas in a default format would enhance functionality.
The user interface could be improved.
It takes the default language and doesn't accept custom language specifications, which creates discomfort in certain scenarios.
We cannot debug the AM Script or SSJS code, which makes code debugging manual.
There are inaccuracies in how AgentForce retrieves information or interprets data.
 

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 expensive but valued by Fortune 500 companies for its comprehensive marketing capabilities despite cheaper alternatives.
The solution is cheaper than Alacor.
The pricing is around $10,000 per annum per user.
 

Valuable Features

Marketo excels in automation, Salesforce integration, user interface, analytics, support, integrations, and community training, enhancing marketing efficiency.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud enhances engagement and efficiency with automation, integration, content management, analytics, and personalization across platforms.
Marketo helps us segment leads into very specific buckets, allowing us to send the right email at the right time.
We are scoring based on behavior without pressure, and it keeps producing excellent results.
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.
The automation features, including AI Copilot actions, enhance functionality by providing information via chatbots as a substitute for physical representatives.
The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud include the timely alerts and notification systems, which greatly enhance communication not only with customers but also within dealerships.
 

Categories and Ranking

Marketo
Ranking in Marketing Automation
2nd
Ranking in Marketing Management
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
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
7.3
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Marketo is 12.9%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 21.4%, down from 23.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Anika Gaur - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Insurance Company
7%
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 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?
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

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: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.