Pardot vs. Act-On

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Act-On Stands Out Among Pardot Competitors

Marketing automation shouldn’t be an afterthought in your martech stack.

But tech giants like Salesforce have bought up specialized solutions like Pardot and rendered them no more than trivial add-ons to win larger deals.

The result: poor integrations, complex systems, and lackluster support. That’s where Act-On stands apart among Pardot competitors. We do one thing: empower marketers to build business value by segmenting, personalizing, and optimizing their campaigns. And we do it well.

We’re the only dedicated marketing automation platform, and we’re proud of it. In the areas that matter most to marketers — integrations, usability, and customer experience — we have earned the reviews and awards to prove focus, commitment, and expertise are what really matter.

Want to make your marketing and sales teams happy? Ditch Pardot for Act-On marketing automation. You don’t even need to change your CRM, since Act-On integrates fully with Salesforce.

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Considering Pardot Competitors? Choose the One Your Team Will Actually Enjoy Using

Since its acquisition by Salesforce in 2013, Pardot has been piggybacking on Salesforce’s position as a CRM market leader.* Consultants say the parent company hasn’t been prioritizing marketing automation. As a result, the software has become painful to use and doesn’t meet the basic needs of B2B marketers.

Here at Act-On, marketing automation is our sole focus, not just another box to check in a quest to own the tech landscape. We’re constantly investing in features, innovations, and resources that make your job easier, like our market-leading SMS capabilities.

Since Act-On has native integrations with five major CRMs (including Salesforce), you don’t have to sacrifice marketing automation functionality to use your other favorite platforms.

Act-On vs. Pardot

We know switching software is a big decision. Read on to learn how Act-On stands out in a crowded field of Pardot competitors.

The Act-On Software Team has become an extension of our business. We ranked their marketing automation solution above Pardot and competitors like Eloqua, Marketo, and HubSpot. Their service has exceeded expectations. We are very happy to work with them!

Jim Lovelady, Moss Inc.

Awards We've Won

Better CRM integrations than Pardot competitors

You might think that being acquired by Salesforce means the CRM and Pardot’s marketing automation run in perfect harmony. Turns out, that’s not always the case. Pardot’s “native integration” lacks support for basic functionality including custom object info and multi-touch attribution. Marketing teams find themselves building clunky workarounds to make Pardot work with its own parent company’s CRM.

Among Pardot competitors, Act-On’s native Salesforce CRM integration has more depth and flexibility in data flow. And while it may seem counterintuitive, our sales tool integrations run deeper. Act-On’s independence leads to more flexibility in CRM choices: we boast native integrations with top CRM providers, which means you and your sales team don’t have to be yoked to a lackluster all-in-one platform.

With more customizable views, data, and reporting for marketing and sales teams, Act-On can easily help you analyze your data and determine which sources and campaigns generated the most leads, deals, and revenue.

More user-friendly than Pardot competitors

The Pardot system is so complex you may struggle to move beyond basic email marketing. Using Pardot requires HTML expertise or even advanced specialists just to build simple email templates. Reviewers complain that compared to competitors, Pardot lacks flexibility for basic functions like standing up a landing page. Many users report spending too much valuable time battling the finicky email editor to add value.

These constant roadblocks can keep your team from digging deep enough to perform true marketing automation. By comparison, Act-On’s intuitive interface makes it downright delightful to automate nurture programs, accomplish multi-channel lead generation, perform marketing attribution and reporting, and so much more.

More reliable support than Pardot competitors

If questions come up as you’re developing your automation strategy or building campaigns, you want technical experts with unparalleled product expertise—and that’s where Act-On really beats Pardot and its competitors.

Watching videos. Sifting through knowledge bases. Sitting in long ticketing queues. Welcome to Pardot’s “success and support” plans. Those support tiers can add more than 30% to your total cost, on top of licensing fees for services like training and account management.

Act-On delivers an exceptional experience to every customer. Our support engineers and marketing experts are here to help you hash out any platform questions and fine-tune your automation strategies.

*All Pardot intelligence based on customer reviews and independent research conducted by a third party and commissioned by Act-On.

Prior to implementation, we conducted robust benchmarking of Pardot competitors Act-On, Hubspot, and Marketo. We had several demonstrations and discussions, specifically analyzing key criteria including CRM integration, reporting and analytics, administration (including segmentation and global use), and content creation. We were delighted to choose and continue to work with Act-On.

Kerry West, Communications, Hitachi

Act-On Marketing Automation: The Best of Pardot Competitors

Fed up with frustrating interfaces and unreliable support? If you’re finding that Salesforce simply doesn’t meet your expectations, it’s time to switch.

Act-On delivers better functionality, integrations, and support. Regardless of budget or experience, our customers succeed. We aren’t Salesforce, and we don’t want to be. We focus on marketing automation instead of looking to be everything to everyone.