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

HootSuite vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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

HootSuite
Ranking in Social CRM
3rd
Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Social Media Analytics Software (1st)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Ranking in Social CRM
2nd
Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Marketing Automation (1st), Marketing Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of HootSuite is 8.4%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 5.9%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Social CRM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud5.9%
HootSuite8.4%
Other85.7%
Social CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Gabriel  Waweru - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Unilever Inc.
Centralized social media workflows have improved collaboration, insights, and customer response
HootSuite offers several valuable features that include an intuitive user interface, which makes it very easy for new users. It also provides a better understanding of what customers want with analytics and gathers those insights into actionable reports, which helps make data-driven decisions easy. Additionally, HootSuite manages and maintains our social presence from anywhere at any time with the HootSuite mobile app. I rely on all of these features, as they are very strategic and helpful in my organization. HootSuite turns real-time data into strategic insights by monitoring mentions of a brand, key industry topics, and competitors. HootSuite supports team collaboration by assigning tasks, managing approvals, and monitoring team performance. HootSuite has positively impacted my organization by streamlining how we manage multiple content on various social platforms, saving considerable time. It has helped us achieve 40% to 50% time savings in content operations, a 25% increase in engagement due to consistent posting, and improved lead response due to improved response time. I measure the time savings through content operation metrics. The 25% increase in engagement resulted from consistent posting on social platforms. HootSuite has also helped us with centralized reporting across different social media channels, enabling us to make data-driven decisions easily.
GauravSingh2 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If you are into social media marketing or any other digital media, then you should have knowledge of HootSuite because it is the industry standard that has been helping industry professionals."
"The main improvement HootSuite offers is allowing my organization to run social media campaigns."
"HootSuite has an AI engine to suggest trending topics related to our business. The engine works really well and comes up with excellent suggestions for more posts."
"Customer Service: Great. Technical Support: Good."
"The main improvement HootSuite offers is allowing my organization to run social media campaigns."
"It has a social media presence outside of the hours people are able to devote to an organization."
"Hootsuite feels like an all-in-one tool; I can publish content on Hootsuite and then answer comments, which is what I do for my customers."
"You can schedule reports, there's a lot of supporting tools, and you have access to all that information."
"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."
"Email Studio is one of the core parts of Salesforce Marketing Cloud."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its automation. We can integrate data with the Salesforce hub. Its Einstein feature tells us whether our campaigns are on the right track. It also helps with ideas."
"The user interface is easy to use, especially for my staff who use assistive technology."
"This is a very powerful and scalable solution."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides an edge for my organization by tracking the budget, how it is spent, where we stand, and how many cold calls or nurtured calls have been converted into sales."
"The automation is great. It saves us a lot of time and it makes us move faster."
 

Cons

"Last I checked, you can't schedule Twitter threads where each tweet is a reply to a previous tweet."
"Bulk scheduling."
"The company should reduce the pricing to make it easier for companies to deploy to larger social teams."
"Last I checked, you can't schedule Twitter threads where each tweet is a reply to a previous tweet."
"We would like an improvement to the 'Einstein Engagement Frequency'; the optimal range of emails that our subscribers will engage with."
"We'd like to see more integrations with third-party products."
"They could improve the product's data integration functionality for larger companies."
"The pricing is a bit high."
"Marketing Cloud's forecasting could be improved."
"The encryption and decryption have room for improvement."
"There could be easier tools to configure the product and to create landing pages to better handle large data sets."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud should include more point-and-click functionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​I have only used the free versions.​"
"It is a license per user."
"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."
"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."
"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."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is affordable, considering the significant improvements it brings to our campaign results."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"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 Social CRM solutions are best for your needs.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
University
9%
Media Company
8%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise31
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HootSuite?
HootSuite is very seamless. I'm sure there might be more functionality that HootSuite offers, but I've only used it for basic social media posting. I can't really think of anything to improve on.
What is your primary use case for HootSuite?
My main use case for HootSuite is scheduling social media posts across various social media platforms. In the past we've had campaigns for various things, but I use HootSuite because it's really ni...
What advice do you have for others considering HootSuite?
I don't use it for reporting; it's mainly for analytics. You're able to get a dashboard of analytics from posts. If you post on LinkedIn, Facebook, or X, you're able to see everything all in one sp...
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?
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 ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ExactTarget
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Vega, TicketLeap, Radio Italia, The PureMatter Agency, Kiva, The Vancouver Canucks
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 HootSuite vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.