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Marketo vs Pardot 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

Marketo
Ranking in Marketing Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Marketing Management (4th)
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
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Marketo is 13.6%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pardot is 3.4%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Anika Gaur - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective lead management and useability with room for reporting improvements
Customer support could be more helpful. The reporting could be better, with more engaging reports and the ability to collaborate more objects, like opportunities. Incorporating AI features similar to tools like HubSpot and Salesforce account engagement would be beneficial. Additionally, Marketo should work on automating tools and updating the product since it looks similar to how it did five years ago.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Marketo is excellent in terms of hands-on usability and lead database management."
"The smart campaign looks quite interesting and useful."
"I like that Marketo is user-friendly and has an easy view. It's like a one-stop solution for everyone. It is very good, and you can categorize leads in different ways. You can also create your custom objects and enjoy good connectivity."
"The product has been stable."
"The most valuable feature is the scoring."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Smart Campaigns."
"It's pretty good at handling customization and templates. We can put in different variables, so even someone without coding knowledge can create and develop emails that look good on different browsers."
"The valuable features are list uploads, email campaigns, generating reports,source tracking, and lead attribution."
"Pardot's most valuable feature is its B2B marketing capabilities."
"The tracking and automation of outbound messaging is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."
"The product is stable."
"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."
"For me, the best thing is the Custom Redirect. That's one key thing I like because using that particular Custom Redirect, I can track a link wherever I'm sharing it. I can track how and when people are accessing it."
"Campaign tracking is a valuable feature."
"It has made email marketing quicker and easier."
 

Cons

"The user experience needs improvement, particularly in terms of ease of use and navigation between projects."
"It could be more scalable."
"Marketo should give more power to the users for data manipulation."
"Segmentation in Marketo is limited to a maximum of 20 segments. Depending on the company's specific needs, these segments can be based on various attributes such as company, industry, or other values. Sometimes, there's a lag when sending data from Marketo to any CRM. It can take around five to fifteen minutes for the report to sync."
"Its APIs need to be more flexible because there are some things that are not available in the API."
"Revenue management, attribution, and ABM can all be improved."
"I have encountered issues when I had to use filters repeatedly. It would have been helpful if I could duplicate them directly, instead of dragging them. Also, having an option to save filters for future use would have saved a lot of time, especially when dealing with multiple filters."
"Customer support could be more helpful."
"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."
"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."
"Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities."
"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."
"Needs to improve list building."
"Lacks sufficient free custom fields."
"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The initial pricing was excellent, but the pricing for renewals is not as good."
"It is expensive. We have a yearly license."
"The solution is expensive compared to others."
"The fee for Marketo includes the number of users and the database size. If we ask for a unique feature, it will cost extra."
"Marketo is used a lot because it's cheaper and preferred by many firms."
"The pricing is not cheap, but it's not that expensive either."
"Marketo is too expensive for a small-sized company but more affordable for a larger-sized company."
"The licensing cost usually depends on the users."
"The price of this solution is expensive. However, you are going to receive good value for money. They could improve by reducing the price."
"We pay about $4000 a month."
"​Make sure you do not pay for features that you may not need​."
"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."
"It is a competitively priced product, considering what it provides."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Marketo?
One of the most important things about Marketo is its focus on GDPR compliance. It helps you follow GDPR and CAN-SPAM rules. For example, with Marketo, I won't accidentally target audiences without...
What needs improvement with Marketo?
The user interface could be improved. I would like to see an updated UI for 2025.
What is your primary use case for Marketo?
As a seasoned Marketo Expert with a decade of experience and a deep understanding of Adobe's ecosystem, I can confidently say that the primary use case for Marketo lies in empowering businesses wit...
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marketo has a customer base of thousands of companies, including Sony, Citrix, BrightTALK, Curves International, HootSuite, Hyundai, SanDisk, and Samsung Electronics.
Arketi Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Marketo vs. Pardot and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
863,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.