SAS Marketing Automation vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

Salesforce and SAS are both solutions in the Marketing Automation category. Salesforce is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3, while SAS is ranked #21. Salesforce holds a 11.6% mindshare in MA, compared to SAS’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Salesforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SAS users who would recommend it.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Read 63 Salesforce Marketing Cloud reviews

9,730 Views
6,616 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

SAS Marketing Automation

Read 2 SAS Marketing Automation reviews

859 Views
730 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

SAS Marketing Automation

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

SAS Marketing Automation and Salesforce Marketing Cloud compete in the marketing solutions category. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has an advantage with its advanced features and perceived value despite SAS's favorable pricing.

Features: SAS Marketing Automation offers predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and campaign optimization tools. Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides superior integration capabilities, customization options, and adaptability to diverse marketing needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAS Marketing Automation is known for a straightforward deployment process and efficient support resources. Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers extensive support and training programs, which improve implementation efficiency despite a more involved setup process.

Pricing and ROI: SAS Marketing Automation is more cost-effective with lower initial setup costs and good ROI through targeted analytics. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has higher setup costs but offers significant returns due to comprehensive features and customization, justifying the investment for long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed SAS Marketing Automation vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SAS Marketing Automation vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

June 2026

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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

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Ranking in Marketing Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Social CRM (3rd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)

SAS Marketing Automation

Ranking in Marketing Automation

21st

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 11.6%, down from 22.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Marketing Automation is 1.3%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Marketing Automation Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud	11.6%
SAS Marketing Automation	1.3%
Other	87.1%

Marketing Automation

Featured Reviews

GauravSingh2

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.

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reviewer1549071

Senior Solution Architecht at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Highly customizable but should have more out-of-the-box features

The product is highly customizable, but the marketing and business teams want a lot of things to be built out of the box. A lot of features that could be out of the box aren't there. The main concern is to keep the system in such a way that it provides you with some out-of-the-box features and some customizable features as well. An example would be stratification or stratified sampling of customers. It's something that is not part of the product. It's something I have built using this product. If something like this is available out of the box as part of the product, you don't have to particularly manage that. For the outbound campaigns, there should be dynamic offer or treatment assignments.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is easy to send emails and SMS's."

"The Journey and CloudPages and automation are all great."

"I sincerely recommend the SFMC platform and advise you to hire a Solutions Architect to set it up."

"The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are the ease of use of the basic features."

"I like that Salesforce allows for the integration of different data sources."

"Salesforce is constantly evolving and have a good release cycle."

"The Journey Builder and the Email Studio features are most valuable."

"In Salesforce Marketing Cloud, the ability to send emails effectively is very valuable."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

"SAP Marketing Automation is user-friendly. The interface is nice and clear. You can see the different diagrams and define various filters and targets. You can also export the customer information you collect to make the campaign. It's easy to understand how this information is entered. There are also a lot of platforms that show the results of campaigns. You can customize your data and define different reports, but SAS also provides a standard report."

"You can enable it for business users or marketing users to use it in a self-service way. So, the technical team is needed to build the features or processes, and then those processes can be used in a self-service way by your non-technical users."

Cons

"There is a lot of room for improvement in Salesforce Marketing Cloud's dashboards and the visualization of information in each journey."

"The data extension tools are not very user-friendly."

"An additional feature needed for the next release of Marketing Cloud would be better capacity for personalization."

"This solution could be more user-friendly."

"The query building's a bit weak if you want to build something new. It's a bit complicated."

"We would like an improvement to the 'Einstein Engagement Frequency'; the optimal range of emails that our subscribers will engage with."

"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."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should provide some debugging facilities for every user."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

"You need to buy connectors to integrate Marketing Automation with various suppliers."

"The product is highly customizable, but the marketing and business teams want a lot of things to be built out of the box. A lot of features that could be out of the box aren't there. The main concern is to keep the system in such a way that it provides you with some out-of-the-box features and some customizable features as well."

"You need to buy connectors to integrate Marketing Automation with various suppliers. For example, if I want to see the data through Power BI, I need a connector to see the data directly. Otherwise, you need to do everything manually. You have to download information from SAS and then save a text file, and then I can import it into Power BI. I would like Marketing Automation to have this native functionality without the need to pay more for connectors."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The solution is paid for monthly."

"We did a yearly license. We negotiated and got a great deal. I don't think we would have gotten far with the regular price, but they negotiated, so it was worth that."

"The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a highly expensive solution, it needs to be less expensive. We are on an annual license to use the solution."

"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The price is expensive."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

"I'm not aware of the full cost. The financials are not with me. In terms of additional costs, there are always OpEx and CapEx. That's one way to look at it. You also need separate hardware to deploy the product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	34

No data available

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

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...

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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...

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

June 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Marketing Automation

June 2026

Download SAS Marketing Automation product report

Also Known As

ExactTarget

SAS Campaign Management

Overview

Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers robust tools for content management, customer engagement, and multi-channel campaigns, enhancing personalization and communication with insightful analytics.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates CRM functions, supporting automation and scalability while providing real-time notifications. It enables effective marketing campaigns through features like Content Builder and Journey Builder. Its AI-powered tools streamline data management and enhance productivity, though improvements in interfaces, third-party integrations, and development environments are needed. Companies benefit from email marketing capabilities and leverage the platform for lead generation and sales management.

What are the key features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Content Builder: Streamlines content management for effective campaigns.
Advertising Studio: Engages customers across multiple platforms.
Journey Builder: Manages multi-channel marketing campaigns with ease.
Automation and Integration: Supports CRM functions, enhancing personalization and analytics.

What benefits or ROI should be considered in evaluations?

Ease of Use: User-friendly interface improves marketing efficiency.
Scalability: Adapts to growing marketing needs of companies.
Real-Time Notifications: Keeps users informed for timely actions.
AI-Powered Tools: Enhances productivity and strategy optimization.

Industries implement Salesforce Marketing Cloud for diverse applications such as email marketing, campaign management, and customer engagement, leveraging CRM capabilities for enhanced sales strategies. Organizations use it for integrating advertising, direct communication, and automation, targeting improved customer interactions and increased outreach.

Salesforce

SAS Marketing Automation efficiently empowers organizations to streamline their marketing campaigns, ensuring refined strategy execution and optimized customer interactions.

SAS Marketing Automation stands out by providing marketers with advanced tools to tailor customer engagements efficiently. It utilizes data-driven insights to enhance marketing strategies, improve responsiveness, and increase campaign effectiveness. With intuitive analytics, marketers can segment audiences, identify key trends, and adapt to market demands in real-time. This results in more targeted campaigns and a higher return on marketing investments.

What are the most important features of SAS Marketing Automation?

Customer Segmentation: Allows precise audience targeting to enhance engagement.
Predictive Analytics: Utilizes data models to forecast marketing outcomes.
Omnichannel Campaign Management: Streamlines operations across various touchpoints.
Real-Time Decision Making: Enables quick adaptation to changing customer behaviors.
Comprehensive Reporting: Provides detailed insights into marketing performance.

What benefits or ROI can users expect from SAS Marketing Automation reviews?

Enhanced Efficiency: Saves time by automating marketing processes.
Increased ROI: Delivers higher returns through tailored customer interactions.
Improved Engagement: Boosts customer responsiveness with personalized campaigns.
Cost Reduction: Lowers expenses through strategic resource allocation.

SAS Marketing Automation finds its application in sectors like retail, finance, and healthcare where personalized marketing is crucial. In retail, it facilitates customer journey mapping, boosting sales. In finance, it enhances client acquisition through targeted offers, while in healthcare, it improves patient outreach and education.

SAS

Sample Customers

American Express, Financial Conduct Authority, KPN, Merck KGaA, Peterborough City Council, The Chapar, ADP, Financial Times, Stanley Black & Decker, SureFlap, Western Union, Philips

Staples

Buyer's Guide

SAS Marketing Automation vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

June 2026

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