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

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
7.3
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 3.8%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 22.8%, down from 25.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Vikram Rawani - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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

"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."
"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."
"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."
"I have not had any issues with the product's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The product is stable."
"It has made email marketing quicker and easier."
"Campaign tracking is a valuable feature."
"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."
"If you want to be able to communicate with your client using email, WhatsApp, and push notifications, know if the client opened the communication or not, and create and automate their journey, Marketing Cloud is very good."
"Datorama is part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which is quite a valuable feature that provides customer analytics."
"The Journey Builder and the Email Studio features are most valuable."
"Offers many great features and is intuitive."
"Marketing Cloud has improved our productivity and our team enjoy using it."
"The solution is user-friendly."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud's integrations are seamless since it is a native application. It helps us with B2B and B2C send-outs and can handle large columns."
"It is a great solution. I like its stability, scalability, and performance."
 

Cons

"When it comes to integration with third-party tools, Pardot's APIs are not that robust."
"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."
"The user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly."
"Needs to improve list building."
"Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities."
"Lacks sufficient free custom fields."
"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"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."
"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."
"I've noticed on one-to-one leads, the customer objection option is not available."
"Clarity around new features could be improved when they are released."
"The encryption and decryption have room for improvement."
"The cost is always a concern for anyone using a SaaS product."
"This solution could be more user-friendly."
"They can perhaps simplify the dashboards. In my opinion as an end-user, reports could also be simplified, but it also depends on how your company is set up. It depends on how the processes are set up within your company natively. It is linked to the way you do business. So, it varies."
"The solution can be difficult to set up for non-technical individuals."
 

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."
"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."
"We pay about $4000 a month."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"My company pays to use this solution."
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
"It is a license per user."
"The solution is a bit 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."
"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Marketing Automation solutions are best for your needs.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
65%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Insurance Company
2%
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 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 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

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 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.