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

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 3.9%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 22.1%, down from 25.5% 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 product is stable."
"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."
"Pardot's most valuable feature is its B2B marketing capabilities."
"Campaign tracking is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."
"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."
"It's easy to create email templates and landing pages."
"The most valuable of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is seeing the customer's journey."
"The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are the ease of use of the basic features."
"Offers many great features and is intuitive."
"The tool is flexible and helps us with insights and reports. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has improved our organizational functions by creating an environment where clients and internal staff can access information about various solutions. For instance, clients can apply for different projects, and internal staff can approve them based on donor requirements. This simplifies communication between clients, donors, and our company,"
"The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are that it performs well and gives me what I need. It's the most friendly interface system for CRM I've worked with. Additionally, it integrates fairly well with different kinds of AI and ML to allow you to receive more out of your application."
"It is straightforward to set up."
"Its ability to integrate data and provide a comprehensive view of customer engagement sets it apart."
"We use Marketing Cloud for marketing campaigns and engaging customers. It is a business-focused application for a specific area of business, which is acquiring customers."
 

Cons

"Lacks sufficient free custom fields."
"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."
"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"When it comes to integration with third-party tools, Pardot's APIs are not that robust."
"The solution lacks integration with Instagram, which is our top problem with the product."
"For new people, the installation of the tool can be difficult."
"Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities."
"The user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly."
"I found that the tool is more complex than expected. It requires a deeper understanding to utilize its capabilities thoroughly."
"The processing speed, the way information displays, and scrolling options can be improved."
"The main action I want to do in Salesforce Marketing Cloud is to export data into Excel and use it. My company may have that feature locked down, or if the Excel data exporting function still isn't available in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, that's the feature I want."
"The solution can have a better UI. Salesforce Marketing Cloud should consider making its solution more robust for error handling."
"The data extension tools are not very user-friendly."
"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."
"The quality of support for this solution has been decreasing over time and the support team are sometimes more focused on closing tickets that resolving issues. Often the support team is not well trained or aware of the new features or products released by Salesforce."
"The customization of Salesforce, a generic CRM software, has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay about $4000 a month."
"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."
"​Make sure you do not pay for features that you may not need​."
"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."
"The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is affordable, considering the significant improvements it brings to our campaign results."
"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."
"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."
"My company pays to use this solution."
"The licensing cost for the solution is on a yearly basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
68%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing 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: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.