Skip to main content
BusinessData Management

HubSpot vs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot): Which Marketing Automation Tool is Right for Your Business?

By January 16, 2025No Comments
HubSpot vs. Salesforce Marketing Automation (Pardot)

There are two wildly popular marketing automation tools out there: HubSpot and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly known as Pardot).  These marketing automation tools are both robust and feature-rich to help businesses efficiently manage marketing and gain conversions. However, they target slightly different audiences, with each having certain strengths. In this article, we’ll compare HubSpot and Account Engagement usability, features, integrations, pricing, and ideal use cases.


1. Usability 

Usability is certainly important in picking marketing automation tools. While both tools offer powerful features, they differ significantly in terms of usability, making the choice between them largely dependent on the technical expertise of the team and the specific needs of the organization.

HubSpot

HubSpot is known for its user-friendly interface. Designed with marketers in mind, it offers an intuitive dashboard that makes it easy for users—even those with minimal technical expertise—to create campaigns, manage leads, and analyze performance. The all-in-one approach of the tool makes the workflow simple and doesn’t require a lot of training.

Account Engagement

Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s marketing automation tool has a steeper learning curve. Typically aimed at B2B marketers and sales teams, it assumes some knowledge of Salesforce’s wider ecosystem. Account Engagement’s interface is powerful, but it is best suited for teams that have some technical expertise or prior experience in CRM platforms.

Which Should You Choose? 

If usability and simplicity are your top priorities, you should choose HubSpot. If you don’t have a ton of technical know-how, and are part of a small to mid-sized team or just starting out in marketing automation, HubSpot’s intuitive, user-friendly interface makes it perfect. HubSpot is an all-in-one solution which enables a user to create a campaign, manage leads and analyse performance without much ttraining.  However, if you can hire technically savvy developers with experience in the Salesforce ecosystem, Account Engagement can be the right choice. It’s a powerful B2B or sales-focused offering with advanced capabilities, and if that’s what your team needs, you will be able to navigate more complex interfaces without issue. While we had a somewhat steeper learning curve, Account Engagement Account Engagement gives you the depth to support larger, more demanding marketing operations.


2. Features

Features in marketing automation tools are crucial as they streamline and optimize various marketing processes, enabling businesses to save time and improve efficiency. The right features mean businesses can automate repetitive tasks, personalize campaigns and gain deeper insights into customer behavior, leading to more efficient, powerful and effective marketing strategies.

HubSpot

HubSpot offers many marketing automation tools like email marketing, social media management, lead tracking, landing page creation, and much more. It also includes:

  • Content Management System (CMS): Marketers can use blogs, websites, and landing pages that integrate seamlessly with HubSpot’s CMS.
  • Marketing Hub: Includes tools for marketing campaigns, SEO optimization and A/B testing.
  • Sales and Service Hubs: HubSpot’s integrated CRM ensures smooth alignment between marketing and sales teams.

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement’s focus is B2B marketing automation and isstronger  lead management, scoring and nurturing. Its standout features include:

  • Lead Scoring and Grading: Scores leads on how they have interacted and their fit, helping to prioritize high value leads.
  • Advanced Reporting: Offers powerful insights into campaign ROI, pipeline performance and customer engagement.
  • Salesforce Integration: As part of the Salesforce ecosystem, Account Engagement offers native integrations with Salesforce CRM, making it a natural choice for Salesforce users

Which Should You Choose?

Select HubSpot if you have a lot of marketing activities you need a full suite of tools to carry out. Their all-in-one platform that covers email marketing, social media management, landing page creation, as well as advanced analytics built seamlessly into HubSpot CMS and CRM. This makes HubSpot ideal for marketers seeking an integrated solution for campaigns, website management, SEO, and A/B testing, as well as alignment between marketing and sales teams. However, if you are a B2B marketer, and lead management and advanced sales alignment is what you want to focus on, then Pardot would be a better bet. Thanks to its powerful lead scoring and grading and advanced reporting and deep insights into the performance of your campaign, Salesforce is particularly valuable for teams that use Salesforce CRM. If you’re already an integrated Salesforce business, Account Engagement’s native Salesforce integration makes it THE choice for your advanced marketing automation needs.


3. Integrations 

Marketing automation tools make a number of marketing processes easier and more effective, save time, and optimize overall work. These features enable personalized engagement with the customer, data-driven decision making, and automation of repetitive tasks, heightening customer experience and enhancing business expansion.

HubSpot

There are many third-party tools that HubSpot integrates with including Salesforce, Zapier, Slack, and Google Workspace. Its open API is perfect for additional third-party integrations.

Account Engagement

Account Engagement is tightly integrated into the Salesforce ecosystem. It does support third-party integrations, but is really strong in its seamless connection to Salesforce CRM, Einstein Analytics, and other Salesforce tools. This makes it especially effective businesses already using Salesforce products.

marketing automation pardot vs hubspot

Which Should You Choose?

For flexibility and a large number of compatible third-party tools, users should chooseHubSpot. HubSpot offers an expansive variety of integrations—from major platforms like Salesforce, Zapier, Slack, and Google Workspace—to its open API, allowing almost any platform to connect; so it’s flexible too. On the other hand, if a business has already got a strong footprint with the Salesforce ecosystem, Account Engagement is a better choice since it primarily relies on its integrations with Salesforce CRM, Einstein Analytics, and other Salesforce products.


4. Pricing

HubSpot is flexible in its pricing with a free offering and paid tiers starting at about $50 per month. The price continues to scale based on the tools and features you need. On the other hand, the Account Engagement business is directed mostly at mid-market and above clients due to pricing starting at about $1,250 per month depending on number of users, advanced marketing automation, etc.

HubSpot

HubSpot’s tiered pricing model starts at free and then offers Starter, Professional and Enterprise plans. The free plan is good for small businesses, although it can become expensive if you add features. Pricing is straight-forward but the advanced plans are a bit expensive for larger teams.

Account Engagment

According to their pricing page, Account Engagement starts higher because it’s geared toward enterprise customers. They have a classic plan structure with tiers named Growth, Plus, Advanced, and Premium. Pricing is dependent on the number of contacts and features required. Businesses must also account for the additional cost of Salesforce CRM. 

Which Should You Choose?

If you’re in the market for a flexible pricing structure and your business is small to mid-sized, HubSpot is the choice for you. A free plan is available, which is a great way to get started, while the tiered pricing enables buyingu new features as you need them. The higher tier plans can be somewhat pricey for businesses with large teams or thoss needing more features. On the flip side, Account Engagement works best for bigger budgets and large enterprise businesses. Its pricing, starting at a higher baseline, reflects its focus on enterprise clients and includes costs based on number of contacts and features. Additionally, businesses not already using Salesforce CRM will need to factor in the cost of that system, making Account Engagement more suitable for organizations heavily invested in Salesforce.


5. Use Cases 

Marketing automation software is used to streamline and optimize marketing efforts across various channels, saving time and improving efficiency. However, when it comes to HubSpot and Account Engagement, there are each is good for a particular use case:  

HubSpot is an excellent choice for:

  • Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) seeking an all-in-one solution.
  • Companies with limited technical resources looking for an intuitive platform.
  • Organizations focused on inbound marketing strategies.

Account Engagement is best suited for:

  • B2B companies prioritizing lead scoring and nurturing.
  • Enterprises are already using Salesforce CRM.
  • Marketing teams with technical expertise or dedicated Salesforce admins.

For a SMB or a marketing agency HubSpot is a wonderful complete marketing solution. In fact, this is a very good idea for lightweight companies that don’t have large amounts of technical resources, because with its simple interface and platform, it doesn’t require any technical knowledge to use. It is also suitable for organizations that are interested in inbound marketing strategies because it helps organizations in creating content, search engine optimization and nurturing of leads and all are integrated within one system. However, if you’re a B2B looking for advanced lead scoring and nurturing abilities, then Account Engagement is the one for you. When lead management is a priority, it excels, and benefits in particular, are in place when an enterprise already uses Salesforce CRM. But marketers with technical knowledge or Salesforce admins who work with marketing also find Account Engagement a good choice as you can take advantage of higher level, more complex features when needed.


Choosing Between HubSpot and Account Engagement: Which is Right for Your Business?

Regarding the marketing automation capability, both HubSpot and Account Engagement are great but the right choice hinges on business needs, level of technical expertise available and budget. For smaller businesses or teams that want an easy-to-use, all-in-one platform with a large shelf of integrations and a flexible pricing model, HubSpot is perfect. Its user-friendly interface and robust features make it a good fit for marketers wanting simplicity and ease of use. However, if you are already commited to Salesforce, you’re in the right place with Account Engagement. Its advanced lead management, reporting, and seamless Salesforce integrations make it a top choice for those seeking deep, data-driven marketing automation and enhanced alignment with sales teams Once you know your business size, budget and technical requirements, you can pick a tool that best helps you achieve your marketing goals.

Il'ya Dudkin

Il’ya Dudkin is the content manager and Salesforce enthusiast at datagroomr.com. He has more than 5 years of experience writing about Salesforce adoption, duplicate detection issues and system integrations with MuleSoft. He also works with IT outsourcing companies to facilitate the adoption of new Salesforce apps and increase user acquisition and loyalty.