Pardot vs HubSpot vs Marketo - What’s the Difference?

Last updated in October 2025.

There are approximately 8,000 marketing technology companies in existence, and that number continues to grow.  When it comes to choosing the right marketing automation software for your business, you have more choices than Pardot vs Hubspot vs Marketo.

However, these three names consistently dominate conversations and rankings. They are regularly listed in the top marketing automation tools by G2, Gartner, and other reputable industry analysts. They’re premium, full-scale solutions, designed to manage far more than just email and landing pages. 

For this comparison, we’ll look at how each platform stacks up, factoring in new AI-powered features, HubSpot’s growing dominance, and Salesforce’s continued evolution of Pardot (now called Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, or ‘MCAE’).

When MarCloud was founded, we did extensive research to identify the platform with the greatest long-term potential. We chose Pardot (MCAE) because of its seamless Salesforce integration and scalability.

That said, we work with clients using HubSpot and other platforms too. This article is not about bashing competitors; it’s about helping you make the best decision for your business.

Your automation platform should deliver ROI, simplify processes, and enhance collaboration between sales and marketing. So we’ve been as objective as possible in this Pardot vs HubSpot vs Marketo comparison.

A great marketing automation platform should help you:;

• Capture and manage customer data 

• Deliver personalised, AI-powered nurture campaigns

• Clearly identify potential customers

• Align sales and marketing teams

• Attribute marketing activity directly to revenue

• Create multi-channel campaigns from a single platform

To see how Pardot, Hubspot, and Marketo meet these requirements, we’ve compared them across 10 core criteria, including:

• CRM integration

• Lead nurturing & AI personalisation

• Email marketing

• Landing pages

• Events & webinars

• Social integrations

• Reporting & analytics

• Marketing & sales alignment

• Ease of use

• Training & support resources

Use the table below for a snapshot comparison of Pardot vs HubSpot vs Marketo, or read on for a more detailed explanation.

Seamless CRM integration is non-negotiable for modern marketing teams. Without it, sales reps don’t get real-time insight into lead behaviour or marketing engagement.

Marketo

• Native integrations with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics

• Good flexibility, but sales teams have limited visibility into marketing-side activities

• Lists and automation features are not fully accessible to sales users

HubSpot

• Built-in HubSpot CRM — perfect for businesses starting without an existing CRM

• Native Salesforce integration is available, but data mapping can get messy, especially for custom fields

• HubSpot’s AI now assists with data cleaning and duplicate management, improving sync reliability

Pardot (MCAE)

• Deep, native integration with Salesforce

• Sales can view Pardot engagement data directly inside Salesforce

• Create and connect custom fields without technical support

• Lightning app provides a unified experience across both platforms

Winner: Pardot for Salesforce-first businesses, HubSpot for all-in-one simplicity.

Modern nurturing is no longer just about timed emails – AI and predictive analytics play a massive role.

Marketo

• Strong lead scoring, but no grading feature

• Requires manual effort to separate ideal buyer profiles from low-fit leads

HubSpot

• Good lead scoring plus predictive scoring, powered by HubSpot AI

• Still lacks grading, so teams must manually define audience fit

• AI also helps suggest next-best actions for leads, improving conversion rates

Pardot (MCAE)

• Scoring and grading built in:

• Scoring = how interested the prospect is in you

• Grading = how closely they match your ideal customer profile

• Einstein AI Behaviour Scoring predicts purchase intent based on cross-channel data

• Engagement Studio enables highly personalised nurture journeys within Salesforce

Winner: Pardot for precision scoring + grading, HubSpot for ease of AI-driven predictions.

One of the most basic but essential features of automation software is the email builder and testing functionality. All three platforms have enhanced email marketing capabilities, but the focus areas differ.

Marketo

• It can be challenging for non-coders.

• Advanced branching logic and dynamic content personalisation for complex nurture programs.

• Best for enterprise teams managing highly segmented audiences and multi-step campaigns.

HubSpot

• Drag-and-drop editor makes creating nicely designed emails straightforward.

• Built-in AI writing assistant helps with subject lines, copy optimisation, and send-time recommendations.

• Ideal for teams needing to create and launch campaigns quickly without technical expertise.

Pardot (MCAE)

• Drag-and-drop email builder makes it simple to create basic emails.

• The ability to build and update HTML emails quickly depends on the strength of your templates.

• Deep Salesforce integration gives sales teams instant visibility into email engagement.

• Perfect for organisations needing seamless data flow between marketing and sales.

Winner: HubSpot wins for speed and simplicity, while Marketo takes the edge for enterprise complexity.

Most good automation software includes the ability to create landing pages. The question is, how easy to use and powerful is the landing page builder? And does it allow for personalisation and conversion optimisation?

Marketo

• Ability to build hosted landing pages from scratch or using ‘Guided’ templates.

• Offers advanced personalisation through tokenisation and dynamic content.

• Flexible but often requires design or developer resources to fully customise.

HubSpot

• Drag-and-drop editor with AI layout suggestions and adaptive content blocks.

• Quickly produces professional, mobile-friendly pages without developer support.

• Includes A/B testing with some limitations.

Pardot (MCAE)

• Drag-and-drop editor and library of stock templates that make it fast to launch new pages.

• Includes multi-variate testing, allowing you to test versions of your page with slightly different variants.

• Seamlessly syncs landing page form submissions into Salesforce for clean attribution.

• Simplifies lead capture and follow-up processes for Salesforce-driven teams.

Winner: HubSpot leads for usability, while Marketo is best for advanced personalisation.

Marketing automation plays a critical role in event strategy, so it only makes sense to consider how these three platforms can support online and offline events.

Marketo

• Event-based triggers and programs.

• Allows for advanced integration with ‘Certain’, including data capture, check-in management, and speaker and session oversight.

• Offers advanced personalisation through tokenisation and dynamic content.

• Flexible but often requires design or developer resources to fully customise.

HubSpot

• In the HubSpot Marketplace, you’ll find event apps for the most popular event registration systems.

• Drag-and-drop email editor with AI layout suggestions and adaptive content blocks.

• Quickly produces professional, mobile-friendly registration pages without developer support.

Pardot (MCAE)

• Native integrations with Eventbrite and other event management platforms.

• Seamlessly syncs landing page form submissions into Salesforce for clean attribution.

• Simplifies lead capture and follow-up processes for Salesforce-driven teams.

Winner: HubSpot leads for usability, while Marketo is best for advanced personalisation.

What use is a marketing automation tool that doesn’t integrate well with the social media channels we use every day for our marketing? It’s crucial to consider how social interactions are pulled into prospect profiles.

Marketo

• Provides flexible, trigger-based workflows for reacting to social engagement.

• Often requires custom integrations for niche social platforms.

HubSpot

• Built-in publishing, monitoring, and analytics for managing social campaigns.

• Reduces the need for separate social media management tools.

Pardot (MCAE)

• Enriches CRM records with social data for deeper audience insights.

• Tracks social activity to inform marketing and sales strategies.

Winner: HubSpot is the leader for integrated social management and reporting.

When it comes to getting fast, transparent attribution for leads that convert to closed customers, we need excellent visibility of this in our automation analytics 

Reporting isn’t about tracking opens and clicks. It’s about multi-touch attribution and predictive revenue forecasting.

Marketo

• Functional but not visually intuitive

• Custom reports require extra time and advanced setup

• Harder for non-technical marketers to extract actionable insights

HubSpot

• Beautiful, user-friendly dashboards

• Limitations by pricing tier:

• Pro plan: basic attribution only

• Enterprise plan: advanced models and AI revenue forecasting

• Great for quick insights, but scaling teams may hit reporting ceilings

Pardot (MCAE)

• B2B Marketing Analytics inside Salesforce = real-time data visualisation

• AI-driven pipeline predictions

• Multi-touch attribution is built in, linking marketing efforts directly to revenue

• Fully customisable reports without leaving Salesforce

Winner: Pardot for complex reporting, HubSpot for ease of use.

Ah, the holy grail. Getting marketing and sales completely aligned is a goal many of us dream of but rarely achieve. The good news is that your automation software should make alignment much easier.

Marketo

• Customisable alerts and triggers for lead management and follow-ups.

• Requires careful setup to avoid overwhelming sales teams with irrelevant notifications.

HubSpot

• Single platform for marketing, sales, and service, reducing silos.

• Shared contact records provide visibility across all customer touchpoints.

Pardot (MCAE)

• Tight Salesforce integration for instant visibility into lead engagement.

• Advanced scoring and grading capabilities for lead qualification.

• Supports collaboration through shared data and CRM-driven workflows.

Winner: Pardot is the best for Salesforce-centric organisations, while HubSpot excels for end-to-end collaboration.

Not every business has a digitally native team using its automation software. Sometimes the users are green to marketing and learning the ropes, while others specialise in offline marketing or areas outside of digital. 

This is why it’s so important that your software be as intuitive and user accessible as possible. The more you can do without the aid of a platform consultant or tech team, the better.

Marketo

• Deep feature set but complex navigation with a steep learning curve.

• Best for organisations with dedicated marketing operations teams.

HubSpot

• Intuitive, modern interface with guided workflows and AI recommendations.

• Minimal training is needed for teams to get up and running quickly.

Pardot (MCAE)

• Improved usability since becoming fully embedded in Salesforce.

• Best suited for teams already familiar with the Salesforce ecosystem.

Winner: HubSpot dominates for ease of use and faster adoption.

Training and support can make or break your success with a marketing automation platform. 

Marketo

• Marketo University provides deep, advanced training for power users.

• Often requires external consultants for specialised support.

HubSpot

• HubSpot Academy offers free certifications and courses for all skill levels.

• A large, active community provides additional resources and peer support.

Pardot (MCAE)

• Backed by Salesforce Trailhead and global support communities.

• Extensive documentation and knowledge base for CRM users.

Winner: HubSpot provides the most accessible and comprehensive free training.

AI is transforming how marketing automation works across all three platforms:

• HubSpot has leaned heavily into AI-powered content generation, predictive lead scoring, and automated workflows. Its AI tools help SMBs create campaigns faster and scale without needing large teams.

• Pardot’s Einstein AI focuses on predictive analytics, revenue forecasting, and smart nurturing, making it powerful for B2B sales cycles.

• Marketo is improving its AI capabilities, but adoption lags behind HubSpot and Salesforce.

The right choice depends on your business goals, team expertise, marketing plans, and tech stack. The right automation software for a business with a strong focus on social media marketing and events may be different to one that is laser-focused on marketing and sales alignment and with a preference for seamless CRM integration. 

• Choose HubSpot if…
  You want an all-in-one platform with built-in CRM and AI features, particularly if your team is lean and prioritises usability.

• Choose Pardot (MCAE) if…
  Your business already uses Salesforce, you need deep reporting, and your focus is on B2B lead generation and revenue attribution.

• Choose Marketo if…
  You’re an enterprise with complex workflows and don’t mind a steeper learning curve.

If you’re still unsure which platform fits your business, we can help. At MarCloud, we’re certified Salesforce and HubSpot experts with hands-on experience across all three platforms. We’ll review your current setup, team structure, and growth goals to recommend the right automation strategy, whether that’s Pardot, HubSpot, or Marketo. Simply send us a message.