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Pardot vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Pardot
Ranking in Marketing Automation
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Ranking in Marketing Automation
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (3rd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 2.7%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 11.6%, down from 22.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud11.6%
Pardot2.7%
Other85.7%
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Vikram Rawani - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tracking and automation of outbound messaging is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The implementation process is easy, it's easy to learn, the dashboards are very convenient when you go from one option to another option, the dashboard is very neat, and the UI is very easy to understand."
"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."
"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."
"Pardot's most valuable feature is its B2B marketing capabilities."
"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."
"Our ROI is huge, not just in cost avoidance, but also in increased sales."
"I think the product's best feature is its analytics, as that's where customers derive value. The second thing is its ease of implementation."
"It is very easy to use from a marketing standpoint."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates with multiple systems seamlessly, enabling effective lead management."
"Salesforce is user-friendly and the sales rep can easily handle data."
"I would definitely recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it."
"The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the seamless conversion of lead to opportunity, in relation to orders is good. That seamless connection is beneficial and simple."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its automation. We can integrate data with the Salesforce hub. Its Einstein feature tells us whether our campaigns are on the right track. It also helps with ideas."
"It makes it easy for a business to use any module based on their preference."
 

Cons

"The reporting features of the Pardot system could be improved to provide better and more data."
"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."
"The solution lacks integration with Instagram, which is our top problem with the product."
"When it comes to integration with third-party tools, Pardot's APIs are not that robust."
"When we compare it to other automation tools, in Pardot, I'm not able to see any drag-and-drop options. We have to work on an HTML template itself."
"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."
"Needs to improve list building."
"User management could be better."
"We need a development environment for Marketing Cloud. Currently, there is no development environment for this solution. Other Salesforce products, such as Sales and Service Cloud, have a development environment in which the developers can do some things and then post them in production. Currently, everything happens in the production for Marketing Cloud. There is only one environment, and the developers and the end-users have to work in the same environment, which seems to be challenging. If Salesforce can bring a developer environment for Marketing Cloud, it will be good."
"The data extension tools are not very user-friendly."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."
"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 should be linked to an email ID, so the features after 15 days can update on the opportunity. You should not have to update them manually to the next step."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should provide some debugging facilities for every user."
"The customization of Salesforce, a generic CRM software, has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​Make sure you do not pay for features that you may not need​."
"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."
"We pay about $4000 a month."
"The price of this solution is expensive. However, you are going to receive good value for money. They could improve by reducing the price."
"It is a competitively priced product, considering what it provides."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."
"The licensing cost for the solution is on a yearly basis."
"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."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"On a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise34
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pardot?
It has no limit for sending marketing emails.
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.
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?
Regarding areas for improvement, the realization of value from Salesforce Einstein's predictive AI features is a notable challenge. Although the implementation partner highlighted these capabilitie...
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
As a consultant, I partner with organizations to optimize their use of Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC). My engagement often begins pre-implementation, where I lead the requirements gathering proc...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ExactTarget
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Arketi Group
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 Pardot vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.