Pardot

HubSpot Competitors: 8 Alternatives to the Popular Marketing Automation System Originally Published by The Capterra Sales & Marketing Tech Blog As one of the most well-known marketing automation solutions on the market, HubSpot has become a defacto choice for many businesses looking to implement marketing automation into their marketing toolbox. Best known as an inbound marketing platform, HubSpot focuses on helping businesses use software to implement and manage inbound strategies for lead gen, including email marketing, SEO, and blogging. With 15,000 customers and 75,000 users, HubSpot is considered one of the best and most popular marketing automation systems in the industry. But that doesn’t mean they’re the right choice for your business. There are over 200 different marketing automation software products currently on the market. So how do you sift through the options to find the one that’s right for you? To help during your research process, I’ve put together a list of some alternatives to consider over HubSpot that more than 30,000 businesses are currently using for their marketing automation needs. Price: $1,000-$3,000 per month Since being acquired by Salesforce, Pardot has become a marketing automation favorite for Salesforce users because the company continues to develop a more seamless integration between the two systems. Users praise its ease of use, with WYSIWYG email design and step-by-step instructions when creating a new piece of content, such as landing pages, forms, drip programs, and automation rules. Pardot Differentiators Native integration with Salesforce. WYSIWYG email building. Integrates with both GoToWebinar and WebEx. Where HubSpot Wins Over Pardot Built-in CMS and blogging platform. Optimize email sending times and days based on past performance. Marketo Price: $895-$3,195 per month Marketo is another very popular alternative to HubSpot, with 3,000 businesses using the system. Users rate it high for ease of use, though they do say there’s a learning curve for new users, since it’s an advanced system. Marketo Differentiators Offers more 3rd party integrations, including SugarCRM, Oracle, SAP, and WebEx. 10,000 contacts database, no matter the price tier. Where HubSpot Wins Over Marketo Most basic price package is 1/4th the cost of Marketo’s lowest price. Infusionsoft Price: $199-$599 per month Infusionsoft provides a marketing automation solution specifically for small businesses. While HubSpot recently unveiled a built-in CRM late last year, Infusionsoft has always had a combined CRM and Marketing Automation system. Like all complex software systems, Infusionsoft does take some time to implement,according to users, but they all agree that after the hassle of setting up the system and organizing all of their campaigns, the results are well worth the initial effort. Infusionsoft Differentiators Includes eCommerce tools, such as a customizable storefront, a shopping cart function, and order history linked to the shopper’s CRM profile. Where HubSpot Wins Over Infusionsoft Includes A/B testing functionality. Integrates with more CRM systems other than its own. Act-On Price: $600-$2,000 per month As a marketing automation system built for small marketing teams, Act-On promises you’ll spend less time managing the nuts and bolts of marketing and have more time to focus on your business, customers, and results. Apart from those great features and capabilities, current users rave about Act-On’s customer service, saying that “…most of all, their customer service & support is second to none.” Act-On Differentiators Pricing is based on active contacts (those who were sent an email) per month, not the size of your entire database. API functionality is offered across all price tiers. Where HubSpot Wins Over Act-On Create, preview, and optimize email campaigns for mobile. Net-Results Price: $800+ per month “The first choice of people buying marketing automation for the second time.” That’s a pretty bold statement! But Net-Results is a favorite among second generation marketing automation users, based on the product’s ease of use and powerful tools. Their users love the drag and drop function for landing page and email building, as well as all their other easy-to-use features, like lead nurturing and scoring, tracking and analytics, email creation, and social integration. Net-Results Differentiators Two options for pricing: unlimited email send or unlimited database of contacts. All features are included no matter which option is chosen. Where HubSpot Wins Over Net-Results System has more standard features, such as A/B testing and dynamic content. Salesfusion Price: $950+ per month Salesfusion differentiates itself from other marketing automation solutions as “the only marketing automation software solution that is built on a CRM database” and “can integrate at a deeper level to customers’ installed CRM systems.” So if you’re concerned about how your CRM and marketing automation system will work together, Salesfusion is definitely a worthy option to consider. Salesfusion users feel very satisfied with the platform, stating that the software is easy to use and there hasn’t been a “I wish it did this” moment as far as functionality goes. Though users agree that the system takes some time to get used to, especially if it’s your first time using marketing automation, most Salesfusion users feel it’s worth the time and effort in the long term. Salesfusion Differentiators It has a QR code generator feature if you want to connect your print campaigns to your digital ones. Where HubSpot Wins Over Salesfusion Even though it promotes its CRM-based system, Salesfusion doesn’t actually offer its own CRM product, unlike HubSpot. Marketing Optimizer Price: $149-$1,999 per month Marketing Optimizer bills itself as an extra employee for your marketing team, giving you the power to automate more marketing tasks and save you time. Users love Marketing Optimizer’s ability to connect the sales and marketing teams, and they praise the software’s ease of use and its excellent customer service. Marketing Optimizer Differentiators Unlimited features at every price level, only limiting number of contacts and number of email sends. Where HubSpot Wins Over Marketing Optimizer Integrates with a variety of 3rd party platforms in addition to including API functionality. Includes more advanced features, such as dynamic content, email deliverability testing, and mobile optimization. Experiture Price: $895-$1,995 per month A big selling point for Experiture: it has two separate systems specifically for B2B or B2C companies. While marketing automation software is more popular for B2B brands, it’s still a valuable tool for B2C companies to consider. Experiture allows consumer-facing brands to “create, deploy and optimize individualized marketing…build automated, ongoing programs that foster continued, personal customer relationships throughout the customer lifecycle.” Who wouldn’t want to build relationships with both current and potential customers? Declared a perfect fit by one user, Experiture provides excellent customer service on top of its easy to use platform and extensive features, including “custom email dissemination, seamless, personalized landing pages, creation of GURLS and QR Codes for print along with a powerful reporting system.” Experiture Differentiators Offers eCommerce functionality to combine customer data across all systems, including POS and ERP solutions. Where HubSpot Wins Over Experiture Built-in CMS and blogging platform. Optimize email sending times and days based on past performance. More? If you don’t have several hundred dollars a month to invest in one of these Hubspot competitors, there are also plenty of free marketing automation systems to get you started. What other marketing automation systems would you recommend?