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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
7.4
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 3.4%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 21.2%, down from 24.0% 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.
ADAIR WATHIER - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides efficient data integration features and good technical support services
Our primary use cases for the product include website personalization and email campaign evaluation The platform has significantly expedited our campaign implementation process and provided centralized control over operations. The platform's most valuable features include ease of implementation…

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."
"The product is stable."
"It has made email marketing quicker and easier."
"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."
"It's easy to create email templates and landing pages."
"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."
"Campaign tracking is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."
"I think the product's best feature is its analytics, as that's where customers derive value. The second thing is its ease of implementation."
"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."
"We have found the solution to be scalable."
"The solution is user-friendly."
"It is a great solution. I like its stability, scalability, and performance."
"It is straightforward to set up."
"Offers many great features and is intuitive."
"I like the user interface it has a nice look and feel."
 

Cons

"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."
"The user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly."
"Needs to improve list building."
"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."
"When it comes to integration with third-party tools, Pardot's APIs are not that robust."
"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."
"For new people, the installation of the tool can be difficult."
"The pricing is a bit high."
"An additional feature needed would be better capacity for personalization."
"The general setup and understanding of how to use it can be improved. There should be easier self-service for setting up dashboards. Currently, we have someone setting them up for us. I wish it was easier."
"The dashboards should be more intuitive, as there are far too many items on them. You're not always sure what you're looking for."
"I would like to see more ways to accomplish specific tasks."
"There is a lot of room for improvement in Salesforce Marketing Cloud's dashboards and the visualization of information in each journey."
"They could improve the product's data integration functionality for larger companies."
"Technical support is good but could be faster, maybe more knowledgeable, and more customer friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."
"It is a competitively priced product, considering what it provides."
"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​."
"We pay about $4000 a month."
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."
"Salesforce is an expensive solution."
"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."
"It is a license per user."
"The price is expensive."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
29%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
18%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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 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?
In terms of improvements, it would be beneficial to enhance the Copilot actions. The issue lies with the internal language setup. It takes the default language and doesn't accept custom language sp...
 

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: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.