Pardot handles B2B marketing with long sales cycles and multiple decision-makers.
Meanwhile, Marketing Cloud handles B2C marketing with transactional purchases across multiple channels. Both are Salesforce products, but they serve fundamentally different purposes.
Over 37,000 companies have integrated Pardot with Salesforce, while 22,000+ use Marketing Cloud. The overlap is surprisingly small because the platforms target different business models — and choosing the wrong one means paying for capabilities you’ll never use (or lacking features you desperately need).
Pardot and Marketing Cloud are different in many aspects, including:
- Channel support beyond email
- Target market and sales cycle fit
- Salesforce CRM integration depth
- Email deliverability considerations
- Pricing across editions and add-ons
In this Pardot vs Marketing Cloud comparison article, we’ll dive deeper into these differences and help you decide when to use which, and when to use both.
What’s the core difference between Pardot and Marketing Cloud?
Pardot (now called Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) focuses on considered purchases — deals that take weeks or months to close and involve multiple stakeholders. Marketing Cloud focuses on transactional purchases — high-volume, quick-decision sales across email, SMS, and advertising.
| Attribute | Pardot | Marketing Cloud |
| Primary market | B2B | B2C |
| Sales cycle | Long (weeks to months) | Short (immediate to days) |
| Decision-makers | Multiple stakeholders | Individual consumers |
| Core strength | Lead scoring and nurturing | Cross-channel campaigns |
| Database size | Smaller, higher value | Larger, higher volume |
The “B2B vs B2C” shorthand is helpful but incomplete. A B2B company selling low-cost subscriptions with quick purchase decisions might be a better fit for Marketing Cloud.
A B2C company selling high-ticket items (luxury goods, financial services) with long consideration periods might be a better fit for Pardot.
B2B vs B2C
Pardot excels at tracking individual prospects through complex buying journeys. Lead scoring identifies who’s ready for a sales contact. Lead grading evaluates fit against your ideal customer profile. Engagement Studio builds nurture sequences that respond to prospect behavior over time.
Marketing Cloud excels at reaching large audiences with personalized messages across channels. Journey Builder orchestrates customer experiences from first touch through purchase and retention. The platform handles millions of contacts with segmentation that would overwhelm Pardot’s architecture.
Sales cycles
If your average deal takes 3-12 months and involves demos, proposals, and committee decisions, Pardot’s sales alignment features matter.
Reps can see prospect engagement, receive alerts when leads hit score thresholds, and send tracked emails directly from Salesforce.
If your customers browse, click, and buy in a single session (or a few days), Marketing Cloud’s real-time capabilities matter more.
Abandoned cart emails, shipping confirmations, and personalized recommendations require speed that B2B nurturing doesn’t.
How do pricing and features compare?
Both platforms start at $1,250/month, but that number is deceptive. Pardot’s entry tier includes most core features. Marketing Cloud’s entry tier covers email only — SMS, advertising, and advanced personalization cost extra.
Pardot editions
Pardot pricing scales with contacts and features, billed annually.
| Edition | Monthly price | Key additions |
| Growth | $1,250 | Lead scoring, email marketing, landing pages, 50 automation rules |
| Plus | $2,750 | B2B analytics, A/B testing, advanced dynamic content |
| Advanced | $4,400 | Einstein AI scoring, custom object integration, dedicated IP |
| Premium | $15,000 | Business units, sandbox, Premier Success |
Growth covers most B2B use cases. Plus adds analytics that justify the price for data-driven teams. Advanced matters when AI-driven insights become critical.
Marketing Cloud editions
Marketing Cloud Engagement pricing works differently.
| Edition | Monthly price | Key additions |
| Professional | $1,250 | Email, content builder, basic analytics, subscriber management |
| Corporate | $4,200 | Journey Builder, mobile messaging, Einstein engagement scoring |
| Enterprise | Custom | Multi-business unit, real-time segmentation, advanced orchestration |
Professional handles email-only use cases. Corporate unlocks Journey Builder (the platform’s signature capability) and mobile messaging. Enterprise scales for global organizations with complex requirements.
Additional Marketing Cloud products (Personalization, Data Cloud, Advertising) carry separate pricing — often $50,000-100,000+ annually. Total Marketing Cloud investment frequently exceeds Pardot by 3-5x.
Which marketing channels does each platform support?
Pardot focuses on email with limited social capabilities. Marketing Cloud spans email, SMS, push notifications, advertising, and social — though each channel may require additional licensing.
| Channel | Pardot | Marketing Cloud |
| Email marketing | ✓ Full | ✓ Full |
| Landing pages | ✓ Full | ✓ Full |
| Lead scoring | ✓ Native | Requires CRM integration |
| SMS/MMS | Limited (third-party) | ✓ Native |
| Push notifications | ✗ | ✓ Mobile Studio |
| Digital advertising | ✗ | ✓ Advertising Studio |
| Social posting | ✓ Basic | Social Studio (retiring) |
Email capabilities
Both platforms handle email marketing well, but with different strengths. Pardot’s email builder emphasizes simplicity — WYSIWYG editing that marketers can manage without developer support. Marketing Cloud’s Content Builder offers more sophisticated personalization and dynamic content options.
Pardot connects email engagement directly to lead scores and sales alerts. A prospect opening five emails this week triggers automatic notifications to their assigned rep. Marketing Cloud connects email to broader journey orchestration — email opens might trigger SMS follow-ups or advertising retargeting.
For a pure email marketing vs marketing automation comparison, Pardot leans toward automation while Marketing Cloud leans toward orchestration.
Non-email strategy
If your strategy requires SMS campaigns, mobile push notifications, or coordinated advertising, Marketing Cloud is the only option. Pardot’s channel limitations reflect its B2B focus — most B2B buyers prefer email and don’t respond well to SMS marketing.
Marketing Cloud’s advertising integration (Advertising Studio) syncs audiences with Facebook, Google, and other ad platforms. Journey Builder can trigger ad suppression when someone converts, or retargeting when they abandon.
How does each platform integrate with Salesforce?
Integration depth differs significantly. Pardot lives partly on the Salesforce platform with native object connections. Marketing Cloud lives on its own platform with connector-based synchronization.
Pardot integration
Pardot syncs bidirectionally with Salesforce Leads, Contacts, Accounts, and Opportunities. Prospect activity appears directly on Salesforce records. Campaigns align between both systems. Some Pardot objects (emails, landing pages) now exist on the core Salesforce platform.
Sales teams see marketing engagement without leaving Salesforce. Marketing teams see sales activity without leaving Pardot. The alignment supports account-based marketing and sales-marketing coordination that B2B organizations prioritize.
Marketing Cloud integration
Marketing Cloud connects to Salesforce through Marketing Cloud Connect — a managed package that syncs data between systems. The integration works well but requires configuration and ongoing maintenance.
Data flows are more complex because Marketing Cloud handles higher volumes with different data structures. Contact records, data extensions, and audience segments don’t map 1:1 to Salesforce objects. Organizations often need dedicated administrators for both systems.
What about email deliverability on either platform?
Neither platform guarantees inbox placement. Both rely on your sender reputation, domain reputation, and authentication setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to reach the inbox. Platform choice affects deliverability infrastructure, but execution determines results.
Common challenges
High-volume Salesforce users frequently encounter deliverability problems — especially during platform migrations or sending volume increases. Moving from one ESP to Pardot or Marketing Cloud means starting with a limited reputation on the new sending infrastructure.
Common issues include:
- Volume spikes triggering ISP throttling
- Authentication misconfiguration during setup
- New sending domains lacking a reputation history
- Shared IP pools affected by other senders’ behavior
- Salesforce emails going to spam due to content or reputation issues
Pardot Advanced edition includes a dedicated IP address (helpful for reputation isolation).
Marketing Cloud offers dedicated IPs at higher tiers or as add-ons. Shared IPs work for lower volumes but create risk when neighbors misbehave.
Testing and warmup
Before launching campaigns on either platform, check email deliverability across major providers. A free email deliverability test reveals where your emails land across Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and 50+ other providers — exposing problems before they affect real campaigns.
New sending domains and IPs require email warmup to build a reputation gradually. Jumping straight to high volume on fresh infrastructure triggers spam filtering regardless of platform quality.
EmailWarmup.com’s personalized warmup mimics your actual campaign patterns (rather than generic warmup emails that ESPs detect and flag), helping Salesforce users reach inbox rates up to 98%.
If you’re migrating to either platform and facing deliverability issues, EmailWarmup.com offers free deliverability consultations with human specialists (24/7, not chatbots) who can audit your setup and recommend fixes.
Can you use both platforms together?
Yes — organizations with both B2B and B2C business models sometimes run Pardot for sales-driven accounts and Marketing Cloud for consumer marketing. The platforms don’t integrate directly with each other, but both connect to Salesforce CRM as a shared data backbone.
Common dual-platform scenarios:
- Manufacturing companies selling to distributors (Pardot) and consumers (Marketing Cloud)
- Software companies with enterprise sales (Pardot) and self-service signups (Marketing Cloud)
- Financial services with wealth management (Pardot) and retail banking (Marketing Cloud)
Budget is the primary barrier. Running both platforms means separate licensing, separate administration, and separate skill sets. Most organizations choose one and adapt it to edge cases rather than maintaining two systems.
Which platform should you choose?
The decision comes down to your business model, sales process, and channel requirements.
| Choose Pardot if… | Choose Marketing Cloud if… |
| You sell B2B with long sales cycles | You sell B2C with quick transactions |
| Lead scoring and sales alignment matter | Cross-channel orchestration matters |
| Email is your primary channel | You need SMS, push, and advertising |
| You want simpler administration | You have dedicated marketing ops |
| Budget is constrained | You need enterprise scale |
| Sales reps need prospect visibility | You prioritize customer journeys |
If you’re comparing other platforms alongside Salesforce options, see our Marketo vs Pardot and HubSpot vs Marketo comparisons for broader context.
Frequently asked questions
Here are some commonly asked questions about Marketing Cloud vs Pardot:
Pardot was rebranded to “Marketing Cloud Account Engagement” in 2022, placing it under the Marketing Cloud brand umbrella. However, Pardot and Marketing Cloud are not built on the same platform, don’t share architecture, and require separate licenses. The rebrand was marketing consolidation, not product integration. They remain distinct tools for distinct purposes.
Entry pricing is identical ($1,250/month), but total cost differs significantly. Pardot’s Growth edition includes most core features. Marketing Cloud’s Professional edition covers email only — adding Journey Builder, SMS, advertising, or personalization requires the Corporate edition ($4,200/month) or separate product licenses. Full Marketing Cloud implementations typically cost 3-5x more than comparable Pardot setups.
Marketing Cloud can technically handle B2B use cases, but it lacks native lead scoring, sales rep alignment, and Salesforce opportunity integration that Pardot provides. B2B organizations using Marketing Cloud typically integrate with Salesforce CRM for lead management, adding complexity and cost. Unless you need cross-channel capabilities that Pardot can’t provide, Pardot is the better B2B choice.
Salesforce rebranded Pardot to “Marketing Cloud Account Engagement” in 2022 to unify its marketing products under the Marketing Cloud brand. The platform functionality remained unchanged — only the name shifted. Most practitioners still call it Pardot, and Salesforce documentation often references both names interchangeably.
Pardot has significantly better native lead scoring. Scoring and grading are core features available in all editions, with Einstein AI-powered predictive scoring in Advanced and Premium editions. Marketing Cloud doesn’t include native lead scoring — you’d need to integrate with Salesforce CRM or a third-party tool to replicate Pardot’s capabilities. For B2B organizations where lead qualification drives sales efficiency, Pardot is the clear winner.
