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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
7th
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 March 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 3.2%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 11.9%, down from 23.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud11.9%
Pardot3.2%
Other84.9%
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

"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."
"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."
"Our ROI is huge, not just in cost avoidance, but also in increased sales."
"I have not had any issues with the product's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"It has made email marketing quicker and easier."
"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."
"The tracking and automation of outbound messaging is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"It's easy to create email templates and landing pages."
"Email Studio is one of the core parts of Salesforce Marketing Cloud."
"Marketing Cloud has improved our productivity and our team enjoy using it."
"It makes it easy for a business to use any module based on their preference."
"The Journey Builder and the Email Studio features are most valuable."
"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."
"The solution is very, very scalable."
"The automation is great. It saves us a lot of time and it makes us move faster."
"It is straightforward to set up."
 

Cons

"The user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly."
"When it comes to integration with third-party tools, Pardot's APIs are not that robust."
"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."
"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."
"The reporting features of the Pardot system could be improved to provide better and more data."
"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"The solution lacks integration with Instagram, which is our top problem with the product."
"Needs to improve list building."
"The customization of Salesforce, a generic CRM software, has room for improvement."
"If someone wants to implement a best-of-breed solution, I'm uncertain whether Salesforce Marketing Cloud will be able to work, fit, or integrate smoothly."
"The solution can be difficult to set up for non-technical individuals."
"The cost is always a concern for anyone using a SaaS product."
"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."
"There is a lot of room for improvement in Salesforce Marketing Cloud's dashboards and the visualization of information in each journey."
"Query Studio in Salesforce Marketing Cloud needs to be improved because not all queries are supported and we cannot debug the AM Script or SSJS code, which makes code debugging manual."
"Marketing Cloud should change the script language that it uses because it's not good. It's tricky and difficult to develop."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of this solution is expensive. However, you are going to receive good value for money. They could improve by reducing the price."
"We pay about $4000 a month."
"It is a competitively priced product, considering what it provides."
"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."
"​Make sure you do not pay for features that you may not need​."
"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a highly expensive solution, it needs to be less expensive. We are on an annual license to use the solution."
"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"The price is expensive."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."
"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
Computer Software Company
15%
Retailer
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
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 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 ...
 

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: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.