Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Ranking in Marketing Management
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (1st), CRM (2nd), Local Government CRM (1st), Sales Force Automation (2nd)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Ranking in Marketing Management
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Automation (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Marketing Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is 22.5%, down from 23.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 15.8%, down from 18.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Management
 

Featured Reviews

Rishabh Chhajer - PeerSpot reviewer
Intuitive APIs, customizable design, but dashboards could improve
The most advantageous aspect of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is its periodic updates. Every quarter, Microsoft releases upgrades that address bugs and vulnerabilities. As a company governed by the Reserve Bank of India and SAP security regulations for our stock operations, we conduct periodic reviews of our applications, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Whenever we submit an audit report and identify bugs, we reach out to the Microsoft team for assistance. They assure us that the issues will be fixed in the next quarterly release. As a result, we have not experienced any outstanding bugs that have not been recorded or addressed.
SantoshKrishna - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy, stable, and scalable
The encryption and decryption have room for improvement. We need to be confident that the customer's data is secure when shared outside of the organization. I would like to request additional mobile app features that go beyond push notifications. As the mobile development industry continues to advance with new technologies, such as AI components, it is important to consider these advancements when setting up campaigns. Currently, campaigns are scheduled to be sent to customers at a prescribed time, but they may not be relevant to the customer unless they see them as valuable. For example, if I want to run a campaign offering loans, I would need to consider the customer's needs and balance. In the future, I hope Salesforce can incorporate an AI component that utilizes the shared data, rather than just scheduling campaigns.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a stable solution."
"The feature I like best in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is being able to market to segments instead of choosing individual people to market to."
"It ensures that there's continuity, and you don't have to start asking the customer about what happened. From CRM, you can easily see all the interactions and events in the record and take it from there."
"I like the fact that I can keep track of everything I do in relation to my own job."
"The most valuable feature is the reporting tab."
"The most valuable feature in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is funneling."
"The integration of all data within Microsoft Dynamics CRM, including customer and lead management, is very beneficial."
"The most useful feature that this solution provides is the ability to make dashboards for the business easily as our company is managed using KPIs and metrics."
"Marketing Cloud has improved our productivity and our team enjoy using it."
"You can schedule reports, there's a lot of supporting tools, and you have access to all that information."
"The most valuable part of the solution are the selling features."
"The user interface is easy to use, especially for my staff who use assistive technology."
"The most valuable features of Salesforce are the automation and the ability to create dashboards which provide a wider picture of what is going on."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud's journey builder is very easy to handle and quickly sets up a journey for clients who use a lot of communication."
"In Salesforce Marketing Cloud, the ability to send emails effectively is very valuable."
"Salesforce allows for the integration of different data sources."
 

Cons

"During a period of time, restoring data and maintaining it could be better in Microsoft Dynamics CRM."
"Out of the box, the solution doesn't really have a desirable user experience. We have to set it up and customize it to meet our needs."
"The product is very old."
"Microsoft Dynamics could have better note-taking capabilities. It should have more preset options where you enter notes by clicking a box instead of writing them out."
"I would suggest enhancements in customization and better integration for testing codes to improve the functionality of Dynamics CRM."
"The manufacturing module could be improved. I would like to see customization in the next release."
"They should work on improving the solution's scalability."
"The approvals component of Dynamics is complex. It isn't very easy to generate approvals between different departments."
"The performance is sometimes sluggish, but I think that's to be expected with a heavy CRM tool because they're running reports in real-time on the data that you have entered."
"User management could be better."
"If you want to use advanced features in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, they are extremely difficult to use."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."
"The processing speed, the way information displays, and scrolling options can be improved."
"When you use your iPhone or Android phone, Salesforce is not as user-friendly as it could be. That UX needs to be improved."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud could improve by having more graphical options because a lot of tables are now only numbers and percentages and data. I prefer graphs, lines, and pie charts. I know there are ways to receive this from Salesforce Marketing Cloud. It doesn't play a huge role in my daily work to invest the time to figure it out. I feel that it would be time wasted. They could make the graphical options easier to find and use in the future."
"In a future release, adding end-user personalization would be a benefit."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft often encourages customers to commit to multi-year enterprise-level agreements, such as three or five-year deals with a minimum commitment of, for example, $200,000 dollars. However, in order to acquire more customers, I believe Microsoft should offer this same rate for one-year commitments for customers who want to experience it."
"The solution is expensive."
"The annual license for Microsoft Dynamics CRM could be reduced, it is expensive."
"On a scale from one to ten with one being expensive and ten being of great value, I would rate Microsoft Dynamics CRM at six on pricing."
"The solution is open source and is free. However, it does require a Dynamics 365 subscription."
"My organization pays for the license, and I do not know how much it costs."
"Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis."
"We have a three-year ELA with all our Microsoft solutions and often we had to do a true-up which was approximately $1,000,000. Additionally, we pay approximately $2,500 a month for support."
"Salesforce is an expensive solution."
"The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies."
"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."
"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
"My company pays to use this solution."
"I don't know if my company pays for Salesforce Marketing Cloud monthly or yearly. It's a SaaS, so it's a recurring cost, but I have no information on its price."
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Marketing Management solutions are best for your needs.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
60%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
The most valuable features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM are all the filters and possible reports.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
Costing might be a reason for concern. It could be an issue for the organization, or maybe not. It's uncertain.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
I use the solution to manage the lead sales pipeline and enable the marketing department to maintain customer data.
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 needs improvement with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
In the SMS area, it is not up to the mark, compared to what has been developed for email.
 

Also Known As

Dynamics CRM, MS Dynamics CRM
ExactTarget
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Metro Bank, Nissan, Pandora, Delta, Haynes International, City of London, Trek and many more market leaders.
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 Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.