Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs SugarCRM Platform comparison

Salesforce and SugarCRM are both solutions in the Marketing Automation category. Salesforce is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while SugarCRM is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.5. Salesforce holds a 19.4% mindshare in MA, compared to SugarCRM’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Salesforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of SugarCRM users who would recommend it.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Read 60 Salesforce Marketing Cloud reviews

3,420 Views
2,326 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

SugarCRM Platform

Read 12 SugarCRM Platform reviews

766 Views
100 Comparison Views

50% willing to recommend

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

SugarCRM Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

SugarCRM Platform and Salesforce Marketing Cloud compete in the CRM and marketing automation sectors. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has the upper hand in features, offering a comprehensive set of tools that justify its higher price.

Features: SugarCRM provides contact management, sales automation, and analytics capabilities, suited for small businesses needing cost-effective solutions. Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers advanced marketing automation, data-driven personalization, and AI insights.

Room for Improvement: SugarCRM could enhance its marketing automation and data insights to match larger competitors. It may also benefit from expanding third-party integrations. Salesforce Marketing Cloud can improve its simplicity and lower entry costs. It could provide more straightforward options for small businesses and develop user-friendly interfaces for easier navigation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SugarCRM offers an easy setup with responsive support, ideal for businesses with limited IT resources. Salesforce Marketing Cloud requires a more complex deployment but offers extensive documentation and training resources, catering to larger enterprises.

Pricing and ROI: SugarCRM is known for lower setup costs and solid ROI, especially for small to mid-sized companies. Salesforce Marketing Cloud demands a higher initial investment but offers significant long-term ROI through enhanced marketing features.

To learn more, read our detailed Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. SugarCRM Platform Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. SugarCRM Platform

September 2025

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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 Marketing Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Social CRM (2nd), Marketing Management (1st), Social Media Management Solutions (2nd)

SugarCRM Platform

Ranking in Marketing Automation

9th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (8th), CRM (24th), Sales Force Automation (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Marketing Automation category, the mindshare of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is 19.4%, down from 23.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SugarCRM Platform is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Marketing Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Salesforce Marketing Cloud	19.4%
SugarCRM Platform	0.9%
Other	79.7%

Marketing Automation

Featured Reviews

Napitch K

Chief Executive Officer & Founder at growth innovation

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.

Read full review

Styliana Araouzou

Senior Operations Analyst at Etoro

Customizable, easy to configure, and reliable

My company is considered a customer and an end-user. I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using right now. It's a company that offers lots of user manuals and you can find most of your stuff there before starting development. I'd advise potential new users to go through everything. I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. By default, it comes with a really good model where you can start working with it without having a lot of developers in your team. It's a system that includes everything related to the client and you can see everything under one screen without having a different product or system. It's been great, for the most part.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The notification system for customer alerts, including the integration of various communication channels such as email, SMS, and mobile push, is excellent."

"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."

"The most valuable feature of Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the reporting engine. Reports are very good and easy to build."

"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."

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

"Salesforce Marketing Cloud's journey builder is very easy to handle and quickly sets up a journey for clients who use a lot of communication."

"I like the user interface it has a nice look and feel."

"It makes it easy for a business to use any module based on their preference."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pros

"The most valuable feature is relation capability, which allows us to relay customers with invoice orders."

"The most valuable features of the SugarCRM platform include its flexibility in customizing fields, layouts, and dashboards."

"The most valuable aspect of this solution is its low cost."

"It works well with Jira. You can customize it to fit your needs."

"The most valuable features of Sugar Enterprise are the exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks."

"It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory."

Cons

"Clarity around new features could be improved when they are released."

"An additional feature needed would be better capacity for personalization."

"They can perhaps simplify the dashboards. In my opinion as an end-user, reports could also be simplified, but it also depends on how your company is set up. It depends on how the processes are set up within your company natively. It is linked to the way you do business. So, it varies."

"The encryption and decryption have room for improvement."

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

"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."

"This solution could be more user-friendly."

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

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud cons

"Sugar Enterprise could improve by removing bugs and glitches. For example, a comment was made but in the comment section, it was never displayed. However, the problems we faced might not be the fault of the solution."

"I would appreciate it if SugarCRM could support us in on-premise implementation."

"You cannot include all your entities under one instance at the moment."

"While it is already user-friendly, a slight enhancement in UI design, especially in terms of color combinations, could make the platform more visually appealing and comfortable to use."

"In the next release, I would like to see personalization of information about customers or specific businesses or opportunities."

"It lacks customization, and this is the main reason that we are switching to a different solution."

"I would like to see more integration on a mobile platform in the next release."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"We have two types of licensing. We have a yearly license for end users and we have a concurrent login for selling."

"The licensing cost for the solution is on a yearly basis."

"Salesforce has different versions of the solution and some are more suitable for smaller clients. However, Salesforce is expensive."

"It is a license per user."

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

"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."

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing and cost advice

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Engineering Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	28

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

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?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud works effectively as a suite, best-of-suite solution. However, if you want to reuse specific components, it doesn't have the same solution flexibility since it's not micr...

See all answers

What do you like most about Sugar Enterprise?

The most valuable features of the SugarCRM platform include its flexibility in customizing fields, layouts, and dashboards.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sugar Enterprise?

All are almost the same pricing. Maybe the cheapest is Salesforce, I believe.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sugar Enterprise?

The only challenge was that we implemented it in our on-premise data center instead of using it in the cloud. That was a little bit of a challenge. But it was overcome with the help of SugarCRM com...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Eloqua vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

BloomReach vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

More Salesforce Marketing Cloud Competitors

Oracle CRM vs SugarCRM Platform

Compared 50% of the time

Zoho CRM vs SugarCRM Platform

Compared 50% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

September 2025

Download Salesforce Marketing Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

SugarCRM Platform

September 2025

Download SugarCRM Platform product report

Also Known As

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Overview

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

SugarCRM is a versatile CRM solution that facilitates communication and organization within a company. Its primary use case includes call and comment logging, account relation, customer detail storage, verification handling, transaction tracking, marketing material management, and payment transaction handling. The most valuable functionalities include customizable exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks, as well as its scalability, stability, and low cost. It integrates well with Jira and can be easily configured. The platform improves efficiency, productivity, collaboration, communication, and coordination within organizations, while also providing valuable insights and data analytics for informed decision-making.

SugarCRM

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

Redglaze Group, TengoInternet, Hilco, Bancvue, Vet Adivsor

Buyer's Guide

Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. SugarCRM Platform

September 2025

Free Report: Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs. SugarCRM Platform

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