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Pardot vs SAP Marketing Cloud vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 October 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Pardot is 3.4%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 19.4%, down from 23.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Marketing Cloud is 4.0%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Marketing Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud19.4%
Pardot3.4%
SAP Marketing Cloud4.0%
Other73.2%
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.
Napitch K - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration challenges impact workflow efficiency
The features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud that I have found most valuable are the Journey Builder and Flow. These capabilities are valuable because they make managing automation easy. Automating customer journeys saves time when scheduling content through every channel, and we can set the automation in advance when planning marketing content. The AI-powered tools such as Salesforce Datorama and Einstein save time and have an impact on marketing strategy decisions for my customers. I have noticed a positive impact from Salesforce Marketing Cloud through customer feedback. For example, a customer mentioned after project completion that it had a significant impact on their marketing team by eliminating the need to hire additional staff for marketing content and planning.
Abhijit Misra - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well with master data but user experience and integration need improvement
Predictive Analytics in SAP Marketing Cloud is effective, but it requires two essential elements. The data should be correct and sufficient enough to run Predictive Analytics, and the right algorithms need to be included in the marketing decision-making process. In Predictive Analytics, certain algorithms can be used, but it has limited use because it does not cater to the complete business needs of the client. The solution is easy to customize, but it requires having the right data model attached to the dashboard. If the data model is correct, the data on the dashboard can be manipulated very easily. However, if the data model is incorrect and does not bring in the right elements of KPIs and dashboards, upgrading the data model becomes a challenging exercise. SAP's user interface from a user story point of view rates six to seven out of ten. The user experience could be improved, but in terms of flexibility, it functions adequately when data is available. Without available data, none of the dashboards can function.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Pardot directly integrates with CRM, specifically Salesforce, which has an excellent R&D team."
"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."
"It's easy to create email templates and landing pages."
"The product is stable."
"The most valuable feature is the customization of the solution."
"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."
"The tracking and automation of outbound messaging is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"Salesforce allows for the integration of different data sources."
"The Journey and CloudPages and automation are all great."
"The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the reporting engine. Reports are very good and easy to build."
"It is a great solution. I like its stability, scalability, and performance."
"You can schedule reports, there's a lot of supporting tools, and you have access to all that information."
"It's a software-as-a-service solution. Everything is managed centrally from the cloud. As far as I can tell, installation is relatively simple."
"It is easy to send emails and SMS's."
"The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the ability to sell the products we have made to customers. Overall the solution is very useful for business."
"Segmentation and campaigning are very important features."
"SAP Marketing Cloud integrates effectively with the SAP data, ensuring all the master data gets aligned effectively with marketing."
 

Cons

"Needs to improve list building."
"The solution is quite expensive, at least, for smaller teams."
"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."
"The user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly."
"The solution lacks integration with Instagram, which is our top problem with the product."
"​Technical support has been quick and helpful every time."
"Pardot must be synced with Salesforce."
"Clarity around new features could be improved when they are released."
"There is a lot of room for improvement in Salesforce Marketing Cloud's dashboards and the visualization of information in each journey."
"I found that the tool is more complex than expected. It requires a deeper understanding to utilize its capabilities thoroughly."
"I've noticed on one-to-one leads, the customer objection option is not available."
"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."
"In a future release, adding end-user personalization would be a benefit."
"The cost is always a concern for anyone using a SaaS product."
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud could improve by having more graphical options because a lot of tables are now only numbers and percentages and data. I prefer graphs, lines, and pie charts. I know there are ways to receive this from Salesforce Marketing Cloud. It doesn't play a huge role in my daily work to invest the time to figure it out. I feel that it would be time wasted. They could make the graphical options easier to find and use in the future."
"Email response could be improved."
"Integration with third-party solutions is challenging with SAP Marketing Cloud."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​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."
"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."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"The solution's pricing is very high and should be more flexible for smaller companies."
"The price is expensive."
"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."
"It's normal pricing."
"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."
"Salesforce is an expensive solution."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
No data available
 

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 Enterprise14
Large Enterprise28
No data available
 

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 s...
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?
Salesforce Marketing Cloud works effectively as a suite, best-of-suite solution. However, if you want to reuse specif...
What needs improvement with SAP Marketing Cloud?
There are three main areas for improvement in SAP Marketing Cloud. The user experience side needs enhancement to impr...
What is your primary use case for SAP Marketing Cloud?
My clients mainly use SAP Marketing Cloud for campaign management, sales force effectiveness, and marketing analytics...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ExactTarget
SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud
 

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
PT XL Axiata Tbk, Lenovo, Molson Coors Brewing Company, Sailing Team Germany, CHIO Aachen, Danone, Evoshield, Mohawk Industries, FC Bayern Munchen AG, D. SWAROVSKI KG, WeissBeerger, Groupe SAMSE, Cox Communications Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Salesforce, Adobe, HubSpot and others in Marketing Automation. Updated: October 2025.
869,095 professionals have used our research since 2012.