What platforms and softwares should you include in your martech stack?
Research firm Frost & Sullivan predicts the marketing automation software market, which was $550 million in 2015, will jump to $1.9 billion this year.
At Lean Labs, we have a pretty strong relationship with HubSpot.
After years of trying a bunch of different platforms, and even cobbling together a frankensystem of our own, we landed on HubSpot as our platform of choice.
With HubSpot we are able to create great modular websites; drive traffic, leads, and customers for our clients; and utilize numerous essential digital marketing tools from one marketing platform.
In fact, HubSpot is one of the reasons we're able to regularly 10x traffic, leads, and opportunities for our clients.
Although we are big fans of HubSpot, we do recognize that it is not a one-size-fits all tool. For this reason, we've rounded up what we consider to be the top 14 marketing automation software solutions on the market.
We'll compare and discuss the standout advantages and disadvantages of some of HubSpot's competitors, along with price points to make your search for the best marketing automation tool easier.
As a HubSpot competitor, Pardot is a highly popular B2B marketing automation solution offered by Salesforce. Companies already using the Salesforce CRM might consider using Pardot. If you are familiar with the UI of Salesforce, adjusting to the UI of Pardot will feel intuitive.
As far as marketing automation goes, Pardot does it all—from form design to landing pages, drip campaigns to 3rd party integrations. But, the software is best known for the following features:
Simplicity: Not only is the interface visually appealing (i.e. clean and fairly intuitive), it also provides step-by-step instructions for creating new content.
B2B Friendliness: Pardot specifically markets itself as a B2B platform. It offers robust features for lead nurturing, qualification, and segmentation, including: identifying interest levels with personal scoring, notification of dormant leads for re-engagement, and using data to personalize the customer experience.
With that said, Pardot gets mixed reviews when it comes to customer service. In response to its basic member support level, feedback has ranged from "It's fantastic," to "It's a joke.”. However, for an extra grand a month, you can get VIP access to live customer support.
Three pricing tiers unlock different features, ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 per month.
As far as comparisons go, Marketo is probably the marketing automation software option most frequently compared to HubSpot. Both products boast similar features, strong reputations, and high customer satisfaction scores.
However, unlike HubSpot, Marketo was originally founded as a B2B enterprise solution. Although many B2C and mid-level companies use the software today, its B2B roots are still visible in the technical nature of the UX. Marketo requires more IT knowledge to unlock advanced features and capabilities than many of the other options here.
With that said, the software is on the cutting-edge of mobile marketing engagement, targeted social media advertising, and smart list subscriptions. It allows customers to mix and match applications by choosing one or several pre-packaged bundles including: Lead Management, Email Marketing, Consumer Marketing, Customer Marketing and Mobile Marketing. It's for these reasons that big brands like General Electric and Panasonic trust Marketo.
While no longer listed on their website, the last figures published include pricing ranging from $895-$3,195 per month.
InfusionSoft is a popular option for small businesses seeking marketing automation software, without the hefty price tags of Marketo and Pardot. Starting at only $199 a month, InfusionSoft is a well-known, affordable alternative.
Where the platform really excels—beyond the typical list segmentation features—is its CRM platform. InfusionSoft makes sales operations simple by enabling invoicing, billing, collection and other related communications all in one place. With that said, InfusionSoft's low entry price point will leave much to be desired for those running more complex campaigns.
Want real analytics? That costs extra.
Need a membership site? That costs extra too.
Another potential deterrent is InfusionSoft's mandatory "Kickstarter Program," which will set you back $1,999.
While reviews on emailed customer support are mixed, customers do appreciate the 24/7 live chat support.
Four tiers unlock different features, $199-$599 per month.
Eloqua is a marketing cloud solution provided by Oracle. With a trusted name like Oracle, businesses can feel confident they are getting a top-notch marketing automation solution. However, like many of the other names on our list, a bit of training is required to learn the system.
Eloqua does everything you need to execute first-class marketing activities, including feature-rich campaign building, real-time data collection, and multiple lead scoring models. Where Eloqua really excels is with its dynamic reporting capabilities. The program's integration with Oracle Business Intelligence has enhanced the effectiveness of Eloqua' dashboards and reports.
Users can quickly analyze campaign engagement, identifying the channels (and offers) generating the highest interest, engagement, and conversion levels. Another bonus: It integrates seamlessly with several other software programs. With more than 500 partners representing more than 700 integrations, Eloqua provides an unparalleled level of flexibility.
$2,000 to $4,000 per month, with scaling features.
IBM Marketing Cloud is another veteran in the world of digital marketing. Originally founded as Silverpop in 1999, the product began as a B2B email marketing solution. Later acquired by IBM, the software was expanded to compete with modern marketing automation options. In addition to providing typical marketing automation features, IBM Marketing Cloud exceptionally excels at helping users clearly visualize the buyer's journey. Thanks to the visual mapping capabilities of Journey Design, marketing, sales, and customer service can collaboratively visualize cross-channel journeys, set common marketing goals, and design tailored customer experiences for dozens of priority segments.
Another thing IBM Marketing Cloud does particularly well is provide cross-channel experiences for email, mobile, and the web. Users can drive personalized mobile experiences to contacts through email, SMS, simple/rich push notifications and connected devices like the Apple Watch. Moreover, it offers lead acquisition, lead scoring, email marketing, nurture marketing, and lead transfer.
Users report that once workflows have been established, the day-to-day maintenance of IBM Marketing Cloud is pretty straightforward.
IBM Marketing Cloud SMB and enterprise pricing information is available only upon request, but expect it to be in the $2,000+ range.
Adobe has long had the reputation of being "the go-to software solution" for creatives of all stripes. Web designers, illustrators, and photographers all rely on Adobe products for one simple reason: they are the best. With that in mind, it's no wonder Adobe eventually decided to get in the digital marketing game with its acquisition of Omniture in 2012.
True to form, Adobe has created a marketing automation solution that is simple, yet agile. The program is advertised as having "eight solutions that help you give customers exactly what they want — at exactly the right moment."
The solutions are: Analytics, Audience Manager, Campaign, Experience Manager, Media Optimizer, Primetime, Social, and Target.
The system successfully handles cross-channel marketing in a user-friendly format.
Calculated as a quote, dependent upon the size and needs of your company. Note, this software is geared toward enterprise clients and the pricing will reflect that.
Though SharpSpring can work for most business' needs, it is marketed more heavily toward agencies. Visit the company's partnership page, and you will see hundreds of creative agency endorsements.
Beyond the basics, SharpSpring comes with a unique Visitor ID feature that reportedly doubles or triples the number of leads that can be harvested from existing web traffic. The feature uses reverse IP lookup to identify who is visiting your site, detailing names, emails and phone numbers. Considering 98 percent of web visitors remain anonymous because they don’t fill out forms, Visitor ID offers a lot of value.
SharpSpring appears to constantly strive for improvement, as new features are released often. One thing that stands out? You get a surprising amount of tools for a low price range. Also, the company has a reputation for outstanding customer support.
Four tiers based on the number of contacts, ranging from $400- $800 per month for businesses, and "unbeatable pricing for agencies."
Unlike the other SaaS options on our list, Active Campaign is built exclusively for creating phenomenal email campaigns. The program comes with a variety of templates, list segmentation options, and reporting analytics that are delivered quite beautifully.
For businesses on a tight budget, Active Campaign paired with a website that enables forms and landing pages could be a good choice. For only $17, the lite plan delivers a pleasing level of functionality that beats significantly higher priced competitors like InfusionSoft, Marketo, and Eloqua.
Obviously, the program is not the best fit you're looking for a complete marketing automation software solution.
Four price tiers with scaling features, ranging from $17 to $149 per month.
Leadpages is the self-professed "#1 landing page builder" on the market. The program has made building beautiful, conversion friendly landing pages a piece of cake. Choose from hundreds of mobile-responsive templates for nearly every industry.
With its simple interface, built-in optimization tools, and a large variety of contact collection options (i.e. landing pages, pop-up forms, social media, text messaging, and email), building landing pages has never been easier. The program works particularly well when paired with an email automation program like Active Campaign.
Test a value proposition, webinar header, or whether your audience will resonate with a service without having to go through the overhead of creating an entire website. Noteworthy features include A/B split testing, the awesome marketplace, and the extras like leadlinks and leadboxes.
Three price tiers, with scaling features, ranging $25 to $199 per month.
Another recommendation for small to mid-sized businesses wanting a variety of marketing automation features without "big league pricing" is Act-On. The company promises you’ll spend less time managing the nuts and bolts of marketing and have more time to focus on customers and results.
But Act-On seems to actually deliver. For a value-priced solution, the company does a good job of providing real-time pictures of conversion funnels. Users can define their own conversion steps which will be generated into user-friendly data reports. Easily customize funnels with lead-to-revenue drivers, lead scoring, profiling, and behavioral data. Act-On's inbound tools include SEO audits, social media integration, landing pages, and website prospecting.
One thing you will be hard-pressed to find? A bad review. Current users describe the company's customer service and support as "second to none."
Professional Plan option for $600 per month. Enterprise Plan option for $2,000 per month.
Understandably, for many companies, the most important factor comes down to price. A few years ago, we came up with a DIY marketing automation solution dubbed "The Wordpress Franken-System." It involves integrating several Wordpress tools to essentially build your own HubSpot.
While Wordpress does offer the chance to customize via plugins for just about anything, you're going to have to find a plugin for almost every functionality! For instance, you'll need something like Yoast for SEO, MailChimp for email campaigns, Contact Form 7 to capture leads, an anti-bot solution, an analytics stack, the list goes on and on.
It's never just Wordpress. It's Wordpress + 100 other tools!
The lost efficiency in having to manage all of the tools to effectively create your Wordpress version of a marketing stack, significantly outweighs the cost of having an all-in-one marketing automation system.
In our opinion, the Wordpress Franken-System is almost like using a filing cabinet because you feel like a computer is too expensive.
Free to a couple hundred bucks. Plus, cost of time spent managing all the add-ons.
Since discovering Wishpond, we would be hesitant to recommend our Wordpress Franken-System to anyone who wasn't seriously broke! As a newer player in the game, Wishpond is seeking to establish itself as the most affordable comprehensive marketing automation software solution. What's interesting about Wishpond is that it's more than marketing automation.
While your website does not run on Wishpond, and you'll still need something like Wordpress to host your site, it does offer a nice alternative to a Franken-system for bootstrapping companies. The company describes itself as four marketing tools in one powerful platform: Landing Pages, Pop-ups and Forms, Contests and Promos, and Marketing Automation. It's relatively easy to use, and provides functionality for nurturing leads, marketing automation, and ad retargeting. Comparing it to the other options here, we would say it ranks high for UX. Bright colors, an organized navigation, and a responsive customer service team make it a solid choice for marketing teams without a lot of technical knowledge or budget.
Three price tiers, with scaling features, ranging $49 to $199 per month.
Hatchbuck is a newer platform offering an array of products, including CRM and Sales Automation, Marketing Automation, Email Marketing, and Services and Integrations. The company focuses on providing exceptional customer support, as evidenced by their Customer Promise.
The promise breaks down into a price-lock in promise (simple pricing that will never go up,) a service promise (guaranteeing they will earn your business with an exceptional product and hard work,) and a community promise, (a commitment to small businesses.)
If you’ve tried the other marketing automation solutions and haven’t found the support you need, Hatchbuck may be the best fit for you.
14. ONTRAPORT
Ontraport is designed for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and solopreneurs. The all-in-one, integrated software makes it possible to keep an in-depth contact record for every lead, which includes their purchase history, lead score, customized fields, etc. It’s a good choice for e-commerce and small businesses looking to conduct highly segmented sales and marketing campaigns.
Companies that have had success with Ontraport range in industry and include small to mid-size businesses such as LearningHerbs, Book More Brides, Basic Bananas, and Italian Fix. These Ontraport appreciate the platform’s time-saving functionality for manual tasks, ability to increase team productivity, and ability to create custom record types.
BEST FOR
It's no secret that we're big fans of HubSpot. And that's simply because the software has worked so well for us. So well, in fact, that we have turned down free newbie automation software providers who wanted our endorsement in exchange for free product.
For the sake of comprehensiveness, we've created a HubSpot breakdown too. Besides providing a robust range of marketing automation capabilities—lead scoring, smart forms, blog management, drip campaigns, social media campaigns—HubSpot excels in other areas as well:
1. You don't have to be a developer to customize your campaigns (the whole team can learn it fairly quickly).
2. The customer support is knowledgeable and super dependable.
Three price plans, with scaling features, from $200 to $2,400 per month.
While HubSpot initially seems expensive, the level of efficiency your company gains from having an all-in-one growth tool, far outweighs the cost of the platform.
HubSpot is more than marketing automation. It's a productivity tool.
At the end of the day, HubSpot is the only growth stack that can be used to run digital marketing, connect to sales, and host your website. It is the only tool on this list that you can build your brand experience while seamlessly integrating with your sales pipeline and opportunity management. The only tool that you can do all of these key growth activities and have the data and reporting on all of it in one system.
As you can see, when it comes to choosing marketing automation software, the options are plentiful. The key is choosing a solution that is both within your budget and contains the features you most value.
For example, if you know your team is lacking in tech-savviness, choosing a provider with a solid reputation for A+ customer support is probably a good idea. Additionally, make sure you have a clear understanding of your marketing goals and a strong strategy in place before putting down your credit card.
You don't want to pay for more features than you need any more than you want to cobble together solutions for missing capabilities. Remember, no matter which option you choose, marketing automation software is not a pangea—it's a tool that is only as effective as the plan behind it.
Learn how to save up to 60% off of your first year of HubSpot. Get our HubSpot Savings Guide.