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Marketo vs SugarCRM Platform comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Marketo
Ranking in Marketing Automation
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Marketing Management (5th)
SugarCRM Platform
Ranking in Marketing Automation
16th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (11th), CRM (27th), Sales Force Automation (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Marketo is 7.9%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SugarCRM Platform is 2.1%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Marketo7.9%
SugarCRM Platform2.1%
Other90.0%
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2391396 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer - Technology at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Useful features, produces excellent results, with an easy setup
Some modern Marketo features could be improved. I'm quite good with the filters, and in the admin section, I can build it with many more third parties. This allows me to integrate some additional printers. Issues could be fixed rather than relying on third-party sources. While Marketo lacks a particular feature for calculating formulas, it could be integrated to allow easy calculation on forms. Right now, it only supports a single range of numbers. This feature might already be a default filter in the future. Marketo's lead scoring impacts the sales process, so improvements are possible. In the marketplace, I track campaigns and certificates, however, filter additions are needed. Having some calculated formulas in a default format would enhance functionality. Marketo filters are not very efficient, and timely updates or features could improve this aspect.
reviewer1345677 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager / IT Planning & Architecture Services at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Easily customizable, automation enhances the marketing campaigns but support is the main hiccup for us
It has been effective in managing customer relationships. It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory. And there are centralized reports for the CEO and the general managers. We work with automation for these marketing and email campaigns. It sends out emails to prospective customers related to sales offers automatically. And it copies the sales team so that they can follow up. They are tracking the sales leads. So, the automation within SugarCRM enhances the marketing campaigns. For now, my work is done because I am the IT strategy and planning manager. I just try to deliver the solution according to the requirements of the business. From my side, it's implemented already, the requirement related to the sales funnel. But if they have any other requirement from the business side, they will submit it to me, and then I will look for a suitable solution.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Marketo makes it easy to stay in contact with our base of customers, prospective customers, and partners."
"This is the best marketing automation solution out there, for the ease of use, the amazing metrics, the integration to SFDC, and the price."
"The most valuable features of Marketo are its ease of use and flexibility."
"I have a good special setup and a huge NetFlow to the sales channel."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Smart Campaigns."
"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."
"Marketo is excellent in terms of hands-on usability and lead database management."
"This solution gives me a qualified lead, it will drive your sales even faster."
"The most valuable feature is relation capability, which allows us to relay customers with invoice orders."
"The most valuable features of Sugar Enterprise are the exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks."
"The most valuable aspect of this solution is its low cost, and it works well."
"Available source code, good documentation, training programs, and a relatively active community, provide the hallmarks for a successful open source effort."
"It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory."
"The performance and stability are fine."
"It works well with Jira. You can customize it to fit your needs."
"By default, it comes with a really good model where you can start working with it without having a lot of developers in your team."
 

Cons

"It could be more scalable."
"Takes time to setup and manage."
"Customer support could be more helpful."
"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."
"Our experience with the renewal process has been frustrating. Marketo bakes a substantial price increase into each contract which has required renegotiation every year."
"Customer Service: This is where Marketo falls short. Their customer service is awful."
"This solution also doesn't scale for the large enterprise - a huge downside for them."
"For the moment, we migrated some of our processes to Marketo and implemented them there. We had some difficulties related to this."
"It lacks customization, and this is the main reason that we are switching to a different solution."
"At the moment, there is a complicated flow in regards to the user's permissions and what they can see."
"Functionality and features are well suited for small business companies only."
"I would like to see more integration on a mobile platform in the next release."
"Sugar Enterprise could improve by removing bugs and glitches. For example, a comment was made but in the comment section, it was never displayed. However, the problems we faced might not be the fault of the solution."
"While it is already user-friendly, a slight enhancement in UI design, especially in terms of color combinations, could make the platform more visually appealing and comfortable to use."
"The UX was such that it limited the use of it."
"The interface could be more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It is expensive. We have a yearly license."
"The solution is expensive compared to others."
"Marketo is used a lot because it's cheaper and preferred by many firms."
"The initial pricing was excellent, but the pricing for renewals is not as good."
"I'm not sure about the cost because I don't get into this aspect. Clients normally take care of that. I only know that it is costly, and I don't think there are any additional costs to the licensing."
"Marketo is too expensive for a small-sized company but more affordable for a larger-sized company."
"The licensing cost usually depends on the users."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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 Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Marketo?
The solution is cheaper than Alacor. That said, I do not know the exact price.
Ask a question
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marketo has a customer base of thousands of companies, including Sony, Citrix, BrightTALK, Curves International, HootSuite, Hyundai, SanDisk, and Samsung Electronics.
Redglaze Group, TengoInternet, Hilco, Bancvue, Vet Adivsor
Find out what your peers are saying about Marketo vs. SugarCRM Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.