Marketo vs Pardot vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

Adobe and Salesforce are both solutions in the Marketing Automation category. Adobe is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Salesforce is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.4. Adobe holds a 14.7% mindshare in MA, compared to Salesforce’s 3.3% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Adobe users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

Marketo

Read 26 Marketo reviews

1,705 Views
757 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Pardot

Read 12 Pardot reviews

920 Views
271 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Read 58 Salesforce Marketing Cloud reviews

3,043 Views
1,633 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Marketo

Pardot

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Marketo, Pardot, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Salesforce, Adobe, HubSpot and others in Marketing Automation.

To learn more, read our detailed Marketing Automation Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Marketing Automation

June 2025

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Helped 858,649 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Marketo is 14.7%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pardot is 3.3%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 22.0%, down from 24.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Marketing Automation

Featured Reviews

Anika Gaur

Senior Digital Solutions Analyst at Rich Products

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.

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Vikram Rawani

Pardot Consultant at Target

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.

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ADAIR WATHIER

Team Manager at Banco do Brasil S.A.

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…

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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

"The main highlights of Marketo are its support structure, the documentation available, and the features mainly related to forms, landing pages, and leads. Although other platforms like Oracle Eloqua have similar features, Marketo's support structure, lead generation, and segmentation features are easier than those of different platforms."

"The valuable features are list uploads, email campaigns, generating reports,source tracking, and lead attribution."

"We are scoring based on behavior without pressure, and it keeps producing excellent results."

"The product has been stable."

"One feature I like is the user interface. Compared to other tools I've used, it's much more friendly and easy to navigate. Additionally, it offers a wide range of features, which makes tasks like segmenting data much simpler."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is Smart Campaigns."

"Marketo is excellent in terms of hands-on usability and lead database management."

"The main feature of Marketo is sending out emails, so that would be the most valuable feature."

More Marketo pros

"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."

"The product is stable."

"Campaign tracking is a valuable feature."

"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."

"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."

"Pardot's most valuable feature is its B2B marketing capabilities."

"It's easy to create email templates and landing pages."

"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."

More Pardot pros

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

"Offers many great features and is intuitive."

"It is easy to send emails and SMS's."

"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."

"It is very easy to use from a marketing standpoint."

"The ability to automate processes is one of the most valuable features of Salesforce. This sets it part from other systems. We use the journey builder to design a fully automated journey."

"This is a very powerful and scalable solution."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates with multiple systems seamlessly, enabling effective lead management."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

Cons

"Marketo's reporting and dashboarding features could be better. Compared to other tools, the visualization options with charts and graphs seem somewhat limited."

"Customer support could be more helpful."

"I had an issue while integrating JavaScript with forms. When you embed JavaScript, you can either embed it in a landing page or some other self-contained management system like WordPress. Currently, it provides you access to CSS, where you can customize your form design, but there is no option for JavaScript modification for a particular form. This area needs to be improved where you can integrate JavaScript, and it has the JavaScript functions for that particular form. There are a lot of other areas of improvement. In the design area, they can give us more testing options instead of relying on email testing alone. It would be great if they can provide responsive testing where email clients can be tested within Marketo. It would be also helpful if they can implement some in-built options for users or forms for blocking a generic email ID such as Yahoo or Gmail. Similarly, it would be helpful to have JavaScript features and forms as well as the option to add Google analytics and a header and footer for the landing pages."

"For the moment, we migrated some of our processes to Marketo and implemented them there. We had some difficulties related to this."

"Marketo filters are not very efficient, and timely updates or features could improve this aspect."

"Some modern Marketo features could be improved."

"The user experience needs improvement, particularly in terms of ease of use and navigation between projects."

"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."

More Marketo cons

"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."

"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."

"Lacks sufficient free custom fields."

"The user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly."

"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."

"Needs to improve list building."

More Pardot cons

"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 found that the tool is more complex than expected. It requires a deeper understanding to utilize its capabilities thoroughly."

"The solution can have a better UI. Salesforce Marketing Cloud should consider making its solution more robust for error handling."

"In a future release it would be great to have the ability to connect the data from social media and email marketing and have it in one dashboard."

"The cost is always a concern for anyone using a SaaS product."

"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."

"When you use your iPhone or Android phone, Salesforce is not as user-friendly as it could be. That UX needs to be improved."

"Customer support could be improved, especially for new features where I do not always receive proper solutions from the platform provider."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost usually depends on the users."

"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."

"The pricing is not cheap, but it's not that expensive either."

"It is expensive. We have a yearly license."

"I'm not sure about the cost because I don't get into this aspect. Clients normally take care of that. I only know that it is costly, and I don't think there are any additional costs to the licensing."

"Marketo is too expensive for a small-sized company but more affordable for a larger-sized company."

"Marketo is used a lot because it's cheaper and preferred by many firms."

More Marketo pricing and cost advice

"In terms of pricing, Pardot is cheaper than Marketing Cloud."

"Make sure you do not pay for features that you may not need."

"We pay about $4000 a month."

"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."

"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."

"This is a low cost solution suited to larger organizations."

"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."

"This solution is priced in the medium to high price range."

"The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies."

"My company pays to use this solution."

"The solution is paid for monthly."

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

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Educational Organization

48%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

32%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

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...

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What needs improvement with Marketo?

The user interface could be improved. I would like to see an updated UI for 2025.

See all answers

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 confide...

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What do you like most about Pardot?

It has no limit for sending marketing emails.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pardot?

Pardot needs many improvements in terms of email design and design studio functionalities. It lacks a robust design s...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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 lan...

See all answers

Comparisons

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Marketo

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle Eloqua vs Marketo

Compared 17% of the time

SAP Marketing Cloud vs Marketo

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Marketo

Compared 5% of the time

Adobe Campaign vs Marketo

Compared 3% of the time

More Marketo Competitors

Oracle Eloqua vs Pardot

Compared 53% of the time

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Pardot

Compared 24% of the time

More Pardot Competitors

SAP Marketing Cloud vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 12% of the time

Oracle Eloqua vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Zeta Marketing Platform vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

BloomReach vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Marketo

June 2025

Download Marketo product report

Buyer's Guide

Pardot

June 2025

Download Pardot product report

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

May 2025

Download Salesforce Marketing Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

ExactTarget

Overview

Marketo is an all-in-one marketing solution that was created by marketers for marketers. Founded in 2007, Marketo is branded as marketing software that is easy, powerful and complete.

Organizations have access to multiple marketing and sales tools when they use this solution, such as Marketing Automation, Consumer Engagement Marketing, Real-Time Personalization, and Marketing Management.

Adobe

Pardot, a salesforce.com Company, is an easy-to-use B2B Marketing Automation suite that helps sales and marketing teams maximize efficiency and increase revenue. Pardot's lead management software features CRM integration, email marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring, and ROI reporting to help marketing and sales teams work together to generate and qualify sales leads, shorten sales cycles, and demonstrate marketing accountability.

Salesforce

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that enables businesses to create personalized and targeted marketing campaigns across multiple channels.

With its robust set of tools and features, marketers can easily manage and automate their email marketing, social media advertising, mobile messaging, and customer journey mapping.

The platform offers advanced segmentation capabilities, allowing marketers to segment their audience based on various criteria and deliver tailored messages to each segment.

Additionally, Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides powerful analytics and reporting features, enabling marketers to track the performance of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

With its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other Salesforce products, Marketing Cloud offers a seamless and efficient marketing automation solution for businesses of all sizes.

Salesforce

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

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 Salesforce, Adobe, HubSpot and others in Marketing Automation. Updated: June 2025.

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