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Pardot vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

Pardot
Ranking in Marketing Automation
12th
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
6.9
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Social CRM (4th), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 2.7%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 11.1%, down from 22.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud11.1%
Pardot2.7%
Other86.2%
Marketing Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Vikram Rawani - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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

"The solution can be easily integrated with Salesforce."
"Pardot's most valuable feature is its B2B marketing capabilities."
"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."
"The solution is very fast, it's easy to create email templates and landing pages, and it is very good at score lists and sending signals to a salesperson for outreach purposes."
"It has made email marketing quicker and easier."
"I have not had any issues with the product's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Campaign tracking is a valuable feature."
"Our ROI is huge, not just in cost avoidance, but also in increased sales."
"The Journey and CloudPages and automation are all great."
"I think Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a sustainable and reliable system."
"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,"
"Salesforce is user-friendly and the sales rep can easily handle data."
"I recommend Salesforce Marketing Cloud; it is easier to implement and cost-effective."
"I like this solution because of its versatility."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a fantastic solution, but be aware of its technicalities when installation."
"It is very easy to use from a marketing standpoint."
 

Cons

"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"Needs to improve list building."
"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."
"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."
"The solution lacks integration with Instagram, which is our top problem with the product."
"When it comes to integration with third-party tools, Pardot's APIs are not that robust."
"The price of this solution is expensive. However, you are going to receive good value for money."
"The technicality of the solution can be streamlined."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."
"I think it's not easy and it's expensive."
"I would like to see more ways to accomplish specific tasks."
"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."
"Marketing Cloud should change the script language that it uses because it's not good. It's tricky and difficult to develop."
"We need a development environment for Marketing Cloud. Currently, there is no development environment for this solution."
"The query building's a bit weak if you want to build something new. It's a bit complicated."
 

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​."
"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."
"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a highly expensive solution, it needs to be less expensive. We are on an annual license to use the solution."
"The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies."
"Its licensing is on an annual basis. Customers are okay with its licensing cost, and they don't find it expensive."
"The price is 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."
"My company pays to use this solution."
"Salesforce is an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise34
 

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 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?
Regarding areas for improvement, the realization of value from Salesforce Einstein's predictive AI features is a notable challenge. Although the implementation partner highlighted these capabilitie...
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
As a consultant, I partner with organizations to optimize their use of Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC). My engagement often begins pre-implementation, where I lead the requirements gathering proc...
 

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: August 2026.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.