Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Sprout Social comparison

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Read 5 Sprout Social reviews

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

Sprout Social and Salesforce Marketing Cloud compete in social media management and digital marketing sectors. Data indicates Salesforce Marketing Cloud holds an edge due to its robust feature set, preferred by users seeking comprehensive marketing capabilities.

Features: Sprout Social focuses on social media management tools, analytics, and engagement tracking, offering an intuitive approach to enhancing brand presence. Salesforce Marketing Cloud features marketing automation tools including email marketing, journey builder, and advanced targeting options, presenting a versatile solution for detailed campaigns.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sprout Social offers quick deployment and accessible support, ideal for businesses aiming for fast implementation. Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides comprehensive support but involves a more complex deployment process due to its extensive features.

Pricing and ROI: Sprout Social offers a lower initial investment and faster ROI, appealing to budget-conscious businesses. Salesforce Marketing Cloud requires a higher setup cost but delivers substantial returns through its comprehensive feature set, benefiting companies focused on long-term growth.

To learn more, read our detailed Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. Sprout Social Report (Updated: April 2026).

Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. Sprout Social

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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 Social CRM

2nd

Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Marketing Automation (1st), Marketing Management (1st)

Sprout Social

Ranking in Social CRM

4th

Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions

4th

Average Rating

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Social Media Analytics Software (2nd), AI Customer Experience Personalization (25th), AI Content Creation (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 6.1%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sprout Social is 8.5%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Social CRM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud	6.1%
Sprout Social	8.5%
Other	85.4%

Social CRM

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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Andriana Sophos

Financial Analyst at Honeywell

Centralized social monitoring has unified our branding and drives data-driven engagement decisions

The best features Sprout Social offers include the compose tool for social posts, reporting and analytics, and content management.What I appreciate most about the compose tool and the reporting and analytics features is that it helps to track engagements and other analytics and track social campaigns so that we are able to make data-driven decisions easily. I would add that social listening and explaining the spikes and the drops, a friendly user interface and easy to understand, great customer care integration, and statistics for organic social are also important features. Sprout Social has positively impacted my organization by saving time and increasing engagement. We have definitely streamlined our output and allowed us to access metrics, content performance, and engagement all within a few clicks, which improved our productivity in my organization by 20%.

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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

"We haven't had any issues with integration."

"The user interface is easy to use, especially for my staff who use assistive technology."

"You can schedule reports, there's a lot of supporting tools, and you have access to all that information."

"It's a software-as-a-service solution. Everything is managed centrally from the cloud. As far as I can tell, installation is relatively simple."

"The most valuable features of Salesforce are the automation and the ability to create dashboards that provide a wider picture of what is going on."

"We use it to communicate with our customers, look at the reports to see the communication engagement, and then do sequencing to make sure that there are continuous touchpoints with the client."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to get quotes out in a timely manner."

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

"In my experience, the best features Sprout Social offers are the ability to manage multiple campaigns."

"Sprout Social has saved us a lot of time, provided the convenience of a single login to multiple socials, and requires less time for training, making it very easy to use and start using it."

"Sprout Social is the best; it is very good, actually, because I have used Intercom and Zendesk, but when I look at the different software I have used as a customer service agent, I would go for Sprout Social as it is more complete and easy to navigate."

"Sprout Social is a really good, reliable tool for increasing our online presence and handling patient queries, messages, and comments all in one place without navigating through different social media accounts."

"One of the biggest advantages of Sprout Social is its user-friendly dashboard and clear visual reports, which make it easy to interpret data and present insights to clients."

Cons

"The UA could be better designed for a mobile connection."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should include more point-and-click functionality."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive; it can be more affordable, but it doesn't matter where we implement or use it for our organization since we are able to manage well so far."

"Marketing Cloud should change the script language that it uses because it's not good. It's tricky and difficult to develop."

"In the SMS area, it is not up to the mark, compared to what has been developed for email."

"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."

"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."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

"Sprout Social can be improved by lowering the pricing."

"Sprout Social can be improved because the user experience of having hundreds of channels to navigate can be quite fiddly, especially when trying to bulk post."

"As of now, I have been using Sprout Social for almost two years, but there are some glitches in the back-end; sometimes the posts are not integrated or do not come with the proper details, proper dates, or proper content."

"If you do not already have existing solutions and you are using the platform to help schedule out marketing campaigns, it will not be that helpful."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"My company pays to use this solution."

"Salesforce is an expensive solution."

"It's normal pricing."

"On a scale where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."

"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."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

23%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	31

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	11

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.

What needs improvement with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

What is your primary use case for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

The main use case for Salesforce Marketing Cloud is email marketing through Salesforce for the B2B segment on a day-to-day basis.For B2B email marketing using Salesforce Marketing Cloud, I can prov...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sprout Social?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that Sprout Social delivers good value for the price, making it very cost-effective.

What needs improvement with Sprout Social?

The scheduling feature became less handy for me due to the enhancement of the social media platforms themselves. One limitation I have experienced with the features is that I cannot make custom mes...

What is your primary use case for Sprout Social?

My main use case for Sprout Social is scheduling out the calendar, social media campaigns, and then I use it for tagging those campaigns and reporting those metrics to funders. I use the tagging an...

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Product Reports

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

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Download Sprout Social product report

Also Known As

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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

Sprout Social provides social media management solutions with strengths in scheduling, analytics, and audience insights, assisting businesses in refining strategies.

Known for its intuitive interface and unified platform, Sprout Social supports efficient management across networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. It facilitates campaign coordination, communication centralization, and derives insightful reports on audience interactions. The platform’s social listening aids in tracking mentions and engaging with followers. Despite acclaim for its features, challenges include high pricing and a learning curve due to feature complexity. Feedback calls for improved data customization, image support, and third-party integrations.

What are the key features of Sprout Social?

Post Scheduling: Efficiently plan and automate posts across multiple accounts.
Smart Inbox: Centralizes messages from all social networks for streamlined communication.
Advanced Analytics: Offers comprehensive insights into audience engagement and performance metrics.
Social Listening: Monitors brand mentions for improved interaction and responsiveness.
Content Planning: Supports structured scheduling and publication to maintain brand consistency.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Time-Saving: Features like bulk scheduling enhance productivity and efficiency.
Audience Engagement: Detailed analytics help improve strategies and increase interaction rates.
Campaign Coordination: Centralized communication simplifies cross-platform management.
Brand Consistency: Ensures uniform messaging and adherence to brand guidelines.

In healthcare, there is a need for more tailored tools and templates. The industry seeks enhancements in analytics, scheduling, and integration capabilities. Non-marketing teams require simplified access to analytics and smoother integration with a broad range of social networks, including TikTok.

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

Hyatt, Stanford University, Coldwell Banker, Razorfish, UPS, Box, Zipcar, PepsiCo, YogurtLand, Dove, TechSmith

Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. Sprout Social