Buyers look past Account Engagement, still widely called Pardot, when the flat org price starts at $1,250 a month, when contacts above the included block cost extra, or when they no longer run Salesforce CRM. Most go to HubSpot Marketing Hub or ActiveCampaign for published tiers, or to Act-On and Oracle Eloqua for a B2B platform of similar depth.
Visibility in our rankings can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within
the shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review or of this page. The first three alternatives
go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the
established names follow in their ranked order. How it works:
placement disclosure · editorial process.
What each alternative does differently
1. HubSpot Marketing Hub
Inbound marketing suite tied to HubSpot's CRM · United States
The closest move for a team that wants one visible price list and a shared CRM. HubSpot lists Professional at $800 or $890 a month with 3 seats, 2,000 marketing contacts and a required $3,000 onboarding fee. Enterprise is $3,600 with 5 seats. A free tier covers two users.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if you want published tiers and one platform for marketing and CRM, not a Salesforce add-on.
Pricing: Free tools, then Starter, Professional and Enterprise editions priced by seats plus marketing contact tiers; workflows begin at Professional. (free plan)
Full review: #5 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit HubSpot Marketing Hub →
2. ActiveCampaign
Flexible journey builder for small marketing teams · United States
Four self-serve plans, Starter to Enterprise, with 1 to 5 seats and email sends scaled to the contact count. Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics sit under premium CRM integrations on Enterprise only, and lead scoring needs the Pipelines add-on. It suits small teams more than governed multi-unit programs.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if your team is small, you can sync CRM data through Enterprise and want contact-based self-serve plans.
Pricing: Published plans priced by contact count; attribution and split testing inside automations start at Pro, while lead scoring and the deals pipeline come with a paid CRM add-on. (free trial)
Full review: #2 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit ActiveCampaign →
3. Act-On
Mid-market B2B marketing automation · United States
A B2B platform priced on active contacts, meaning only those you email. Its page lists Professional at $900 a month for 2,500 contacts. CRM integration with Salesforce and others, Data Studio and account-based marketing are add-ons on Professional and come with the quoted Enterprise plan.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if your database is large, only part of it gets email each month, and you still sync to Salesforce.
Pricing: Professional starts at $900 a month for 2,500 active contacts on an annual contract; Enterprise is quoted, and CRM sync and account-based marketing are add-ons on Professional. (none)
Full review: #8 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Act-On →
4. Ortto
Customer data platform with journeys and analytics · Australia
Pairs journeys with a customer data platform and offers a Salesforce integration that syncs Salesforce objects both ways, builds lead scores from behavioral and firmographic data and round-robins lead assignment. A 14-day trial is offered. We could not load a price list, so cost is unconfirmed.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if you keep Salesforce CRM but want journeys and scoring run from a separate data platform.
Pricing: Published plans priced by contact count, with higher tiers for advanced data and analytics features. (free trial)
Full review: #3 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Ortto →
5. Zoho Marketing Automation
Low-cost journeys and scoring inside the Zoho family · India
Three tiers with 10, 15 and 25 users, unlimited emails and a 14-day trial with no card. Contact scoring starts in the middle plan, A/B testing of emails and landing pages as well. Prices follow contact count, not an org fee, so a small list costs far less to hold.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if cost is the main complaint and your nurture tracks are straightforward.
Pricing: Published plans priced by contact count at a low entry point, with lead scoring from the Professional plan; also included in Zoho One. (free trial)
Full review: #1 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Zoho Marketing Automation →
6. Oracle Eloqua
Enterprise B2B marketing automation from Oracle · United States
The enterprise peer. Oracle's page describes a Program Canvas for multistep campaigns across email, native SMS, web and social, plus multiple lead and account scoring models running at once. It connects to CRMs through cloud apps. Pricing is not on the product page.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if you run large multi-region programs and need scoring models beyond Account Engagement's.
Pricing: Quote-only enterprise contracts, typically multi-year. (none)
Full review: #12 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Oracle Eloqua →
7. Adobe Marketo Engage
Enterprise B2B marketing automation from Adobe · United States
Adobe's enterprise B2B platform and the other usual finalist beside Eloqua. The category table lists it as quote only. It is built for operations teams that already run a heavy stack, so it replaces the price problem with a larger implementation and a larger contract.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if you need enterprise-grade B2B depth and a marketing operations team that can run it.
Pricing: Quote-only Select, Prime and Ultimate packages priced per thousand contacts; Marketo Measure attribution is included only in Ultimate, and account management is an add-on. (none)
Full review: #6 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Adobe Marketo Engage →
8. Customer.io
Product-event messaging for software companies · United States
Built around profiles and events with a visual workflow builder. Essentials starts at $100 a month billed monthly for 5,000 profiles and 1 million emails; Premium starts at $1,000 a month billed yearly. It targets product-triggered messaging, so lead grading and sales hand-off are not what the page describes.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if your messages follow product events and your data team owns the pipeline.
Pricing: Published plans from $100 a month for Essentials, priced by profiles with an email allowance; reverse ETL on every plan, warehouse destinations and data replay from Premium. (free trial)
Full review: #4 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Customer.io →
9. Brevo
Email, SMS and WhatsApp automation from Paris · France
A free forever plan, then paid tiers sold from a monthly email volume rather than by stored contacts, with SMS credit bought separately. It is a messaging platform with a sales module, not a Salesforce-native B2B suite, and it gives up the tight CRM object sync.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if you send mostly volume email and SMS and need little sales alignment.
Pricing: A free plan with a daily sending cap, then paid tiers priced mainly by monthly email volume rather than stored contacts; SMS and WhatsApp messages are bought as credits. (free plan)
Full review: #13 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Brevo →
10. Keap
Small-business CRM with built-in campaign automation · United States
A small-business CRM with automation, from $299 a month billed at $2,988 a year, with a required implementation package. Keap has been acquired by Thryv. It replaces Salesforce CRM and marketing together, so it fits only if you plan to drop both.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if you are a small service business that wants CRM and automation done for you.
Pricing: One published plan priced by contact count, from $299 a month billed annually with two users included, extra users at $39 each and a required paid implementation package; limited free trial. (free trial)
Full review: #14 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Keap →
11. Braze
Customer engagement platform for consumer apps · United States
Cross-channel messaging sold in Go and Select style platform editions, with spend drawn from a pool of Action Credits across email, SMS and in-product messages. A free trial exists. Its pages address consumer engagement, so B2B lead scoring and Salesforce campaign reporting are not the focus.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if your audience is consumers and your use of Account Engagement was mostly lifecycle messaging.
Pricing: Quote-only contracts built from a platform edition, monthly active users and a pool of Action Credits spent on messages; trials and startup programs are offered. (free trial)
Full review: #11 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Braze →
12. Klaviyo
Ecommerce email and SMS automation on purchase data · United States
A B2C CRM with a free plan of up to 250 profiles and 500 email sends a month, then tiers by profiles. Mobile messages are billed apart. It is built for online retail, so prospect grading, account views and a Salesforce campaign model are outside its scope.
Switch from Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement if you sell online to consumers and the B2B features of Account Engagement went unused.
Pricing: A free plan for up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, then tiers priced by active profiles, with SMS and other mobile messages billed separately. (free plan)
Full review: #15 of 15 in our ranking ·
Visit Klaviyo →
Questions and answers
Is Account Engagement the same product as Pardot?
Yes. Salesforce's product page says Pardot is the legacy name for Account Engagement and that they are the same product, with Pardot having come from ExactTarget, which Salesforce acquired in 2013.
What does Account Engagement cost?
Salesforce lists Growth+ at $1,250, Plus+ at $2,750, Advanced+ at $4,400 and Premium+ at $15,000 per org per month, billed annually. Additional contacts are $100 per 10,000 per month, and the page says to contact sales for detailed pricing.
Do I need Salesforce CRM to use it?
Salesforce describes it as built on its CRM, with native CRM integration listed as a feature. The page does not describe a standalone mode, so plan on running Salesforce CRM if you stay.
Which alternatives still sync with Salesforce?
Act-On lists Salesforce among its CRM integrations, ActiveCampaign includes it on Enterprise, and Ortto documents a two-way Salesforce integration. Oracle Eloqua says it connects to CRMs through cloud apps.
Which alternatives publish their prices?
HubSpot lists Professional at $800 or $890 a month, Act-On lists Professional at $900 for 2,500 active contacts, Customer.io lists Essentials at $100 a month, and Keap lists $299 a month billed annually.
Is there a free option if I leave?
Yes, several. HubSpot has a free tier for up to two users, Brevo has a free forever plan, Klaviyo has a free plan for 250 profiles, and Zoho, Ortto and Braze offer trials.
