Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Sprout Social comparison

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Read 13 Sprout Social reviews

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

Sprout Social and Salesforce Marketing Cloud compete in social media management and digital marketing sectors. Data indicates Salesforce Marketing Cloud holds an edge due to its robust feature set, preferred by users seeking comprehensive marketing capabilities.

Features: Sprout Social focuses on social media management tools, analytics, and engagement tracking, offering an intuitive approach to enhancing brand presence. Salesforce Marketing Cloud features marketing automation tools including email marketing, journey builder, and advanced targeting options, presenting a versatile solution for detailed campaigns.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sprout Social offers quick deployment and accessible support, ideal for businesses aiming for fast implementation. Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides comprehensive support but involves a more complex deployment process due to its extensive features.

Pricing and ROI: Sprout Social offers a lower initial investment and faster ROI, appealing to budget-conscious businesses. Salesforce Marketing Cloud requires a higher setup cost but delivers substantial returns through its comprehensive feature set, benefiting companies focused on long-term growth.

To learn more, read our detailed Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. Sprout Social Report (Updated: June 2026).

Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. Sprout Social

June 2026

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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

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Ranking in Social CRM

3rd

Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Marketing Automation (1st), Marketing Management (1st)

Sprout Social

Ranking in Social CRM

4th

Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Social Media Analytics Software (2nd), AI Customer Experience Personalization (31st), AI Content Creation (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 6.0%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sprout Social is 8.3%, down from 11.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Social CRM Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud	6.0%
Sprout Social	8.3%
Other	85.7%

Social CRM

Featured Reviews

GauravSingh2

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.

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Mirella Karpiesiuk

Social Engagement Manager at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Centralized social channels have transformed daily engagement and reporting workflows

Regarding how Sprout Social can be improved, these are very minor areas. Sometimes we have this metric called action rate, which reflects how fast a message has been touched in Sprout Social, whether that is the message being tagged, responded to, or closed out. Apparently, we cannot get a 100% action rate because some responses come in that are auto-replied to, and that action rate misses that. I think this is one thing that can be improved: figuring out how to count those auto-responded messages. This is a niche area. Outside of that, I do not have much advice for improvements in Sprout Social; I truly think it is a hub of value and provides a lot for us. The user interface is great; it is super friendly. For someone who has never touched it before, I knew where everything was and maneuvered through it within a week of using it. The integrations are seamless with all of our social media accounts: Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and all of that. We can also export data and PDF files, which helps us with other projects. I see very minimal improvements needed on my end; I think it is a very valuable program that we use.

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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 AI-powered tools such as Salesforce Datorama and Einstein save time and have an impact on marketing strategy decisions for my customers."

"We are satisfied with the Salesforce Marketing Cloud products, which is why we have extended and acquired the Data Cloud as integration."

"The solution is very, very scalable."

"It is straightforward to set up."

"Email automation is most valuable."

"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,"

"The most valuable features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are that it performs well and gives me what I need. It's the most friendly interface system for CRM I've worked with. Additionally, it integrates fairly well with different kinds of AI and ML to allow you to receive more out of your application."

"Marketing Cloud offers a 360 customers experience as it integrates with Service Cloud and Sales Cloud, the CRM portion of Salesforce. The different platforms integrate easily which makes it easy to manage customer communication using a single point of truth."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

"Sprout Social has positively impacted my organization by providing me with reporting capabilities and allowing me to assess how my posts are performing."

"Sprout Social has saved us a lot of time, provided the convenience of a single login to multiple socials, and requires less time for training, making it very easy to use and start using it."

"Sprout Social has centralized all of our social media communications, saved us a lot of time, and allowed the team to be more organized and on top of what is going on in social."

"The only outcome I have seen in my workflow because of Sprout Social is the time, as the same thing if I do manually will cost me around maybe one day or two days, and using Sprout Social this time has shortened to maybe one hour or one and a half hour maximum."

"We would not be able to do it without Sprout Social, and it is very easy to use; the user interface is very friendly and intuitive."

"Sprout Social has positively impacted the organizations that I have worked with by helping us to be more efficient and it was much easier to use rather than manually going into these social channels."

"In my experience, the best features Sprout Social offers are the ability to manage multiple campaigns."

"One of the biggest advantages of Sprout Social is its user-friendly dashboard and clear visual reports, which make it easy to interpret data and present insights to clients."

More Sprout Social pros

Cons

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive; it can be more affordable, but it doesn't matter where we implement or use it for our organization since we are able to manage well so far."

"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."

"The general setup and understanding of how to use it can be improved. There should be easier self-service for setting up dashboards. Currently, we have someone setting them up for us. I wish it was easier."

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

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive. The email functionality should be more modern and user-friendly."

"Technical support is good but could be faster, maybe more knowledgeable, and more customer friendly."

"User management could be better."

"The query building's a bit weak if you want to build something new. It's a bit complicated."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

"Sometimes, when it comes to user experience, it's really hard to tag businesses in the copy because the way they appear in the dropdown is really slow, and it doesn't always find them, even when I use the at symbol to tag them."

"Sprout Social can be improved because the user experience of having hundreds of channels to navigate can be quite fiddly, especially when trying to bulk post."

"If you do not already have existing solutions and you are using the platform to help schedule out marketing campaigns, it will not be that helpful."

"My advice to others considering Sprout Social is that I believe it is a good platform to use temporarily for some clients, but it does not scale well for growth."

"As of now, I have been using Sprout Social for almost two years, but there are some glitches in the back-end; sometimes the posts are not integrated or do not come with the proper details, proper dates, or proper content."

"Maybe trying to figure out the reason why sometimes the engagement could be less when posted through Sprout Social rather than manually."

"I know Sprout Social is expensive; it is on the higher side."

"Realistically, I find the pricing quite high."

More Sprout Social cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"It's normal pricing."

"It is a license per user."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud is affordable, considering the significant improvements it brings to our campaign results."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

19%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	34

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	17

Questions from the Community

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...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sprout Social?

Our client is the one managing the pricing, setup cost, and licensing.

What needs improvement with Sprout Social?

Sprout Social could improve by keeping up with social media trends and enhancing their analytics capabilities. As we also use several different analytics tools as marketers, it would be beneficial ...

What is your primary use case for Sprout Social?

My main use case for Sprout Social is social media management for a client.

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Product Reports

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

May 2026

Download Salesforce Marketing Cloud product report

Download Sprout Social product report

May 2026

Also Known As

ExactTarget

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Overview

Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers robust tools for content management, customer engagement, and multi-channel campaigns, enhancing personalization and communication with insightful analytics.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates CRM functions, supporting automation and scalability while providing real-time notifications. It enables effective marketing campaigns through features like Content Builder and Journey Builder. Its AI-powered tools streamline data management and enhance productivity, though improvements in interfaces, third-party integrations, and development environments are needed. Companies benefit from email marketing capabilities and leverage the platform for lead generation and sales management.

What are the key features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Content Builder: Streamlines content management for effective campaigns.
Advertising Studio: Engages customers across multiple platforms.
Journey Builder: Manages multi-channel marketing campaigns with ease.
Automation and Integration: Supports CRM functions, enhancing personalization and analytics.

What benefits or ROI should be considered in evaluations?

Ease of Use: User-friendly interface improves marketing efficiency.
Scalability: Adapts to growing marketing needs of companies.
Real-Time Notifications: Keeps users informed for timely actions.
AI-Powered Tools: Enhances productivity and strategy optimization.

Industries implement Salesforce Marketing Cloud for diverse applications such as email marketing, campaign management, and customer engagement, leveraging CRM capabilities for enhanced sales strategies. Organizations use it for integrating advertising, direct communication, and automation, targeting improved customer interactions and increased outreach.

Salesforce

Sprout Social provides social media management solutions with strengths in scheduling, analytics, and audience insights, assisting businesses in refining strategies.

Known for its intuitive interface and unified platform, Sprout Social supports efficient management across networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. It facilitates campaign coordination, communication centralization, and derives insightful reports on audience interactions. The platform’s social listening aids in tracking mentions and engaging with followers. Despite acclaim for its features, challenges include high pricing and a learning curve due to feature complexity. Feedback calls for improved data customization, image support, and third-party integrations.

What are the key features of Sprout Social?

Post Scheduling: Efficiently plan and automate posts across multiple accounts.
Smart Inbox: Centralizes messages from all social networks for streamlined communication.
Advanced Analytics: Offers comprehensive insights into audience engagement and performance metrics.
Social Listening: Monitors brand mentions for improved interaction and responsiveness.
Content Planning: Supports structured scheduling and publication to maintain brand consistency.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Time-Saving: Features like bulk scheduling enhance productivity and efficiency.
Audience Engagement: Detailed analytics help improve strategies and increase interaction rates.
Campaign Coordination: Centralized communication simplifies cross-platform management.
Brand Consistency: Ensures uniform messaging and adherence to brand guidelines.

In healthcare, there is a need for more tailored tools and templates. The industry seeks enhancements in analytics, scheduling, and integration capabilities. Non-marketing teams require simplified access to analytics and smoother integration with a broad range of social networks, including TikTok.

Sample Customers

American Express, Financial Conduct Authority, KPN, Merck KGaA, Peterborough City Council, The Chapar, ADP, Financial Times, Stanley Black & Decker, SureFlap, Western Union, Philips

Hyatt, Stanford University, Coldwell Banker, Razorfish, UPS, Box, Zipcar, PepsiCo, YogurtLand, Dove, TechSmith