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Pardot 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Pardot
Ranking in Marketing Automation
6th
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
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 3.3%, down from 3.9% 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%
Pardot3.3%
Other84.1%
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

"I have not had any issues with the product's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"It's easy to create email templates and landing pages."
"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."
"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."
"The product is stable."
"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."
"Campaign tracking is a valuable feature."
"Pardot's most valuable feature is its B2B marketing capabilities."
"It is straightforward to set up."
"It has excellent lead and opportunity tracking."
"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."
"You can schedule reports, there's a lot of supporting tools, and you have access to all that information."
"It is a great solution. I like its stability, scalability, and performance."
"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."
"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."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"For new people, the installation of the tool can be difficult."
"The user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly."
"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."
"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."
"Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities."
"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."
"I found that the tool is more complex than expected. It requires a deeper understanding to utilize its capabilities thoroughly."
"The cost is always a concern for anyone using a SaaS product."
"The customization of Salesforce, a generic CRM software, has room for improvement."
"Technical support is good but could be faster, maybe more knowledgeable, and more customer friendly."
"This solution could be more user-friendly."
"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."
"Clarity around new features could be improved when they are released."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."
"It is a competitively priced product, considering what it provides."
"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."
"​Make sure you do not pay for features that you may not need​."
"The solution is paid for monthly."
"It's normal pricing."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is affordable, considering the significant improvements it brings to our campaign results."
"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 is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"The price is expensive."
"Salesforce is an expensive solution."
"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Retailer
11%
Wholesaler/Distributor
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
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 Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise31
 

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 needs improvement with Pardot?
Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities. It lacks a robust design studio, limiting our ability to perform various design activities efficiently. Yo...
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

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: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.