Planning to implement marketing automation and considering Pardot? We advice to look at resembling software to make a decision.

When customers choose marketing automation app, most often they are looking for functionality for email builder, marketing lead database, website builder, lead nurturing, A etc.

Comparing Pardot with competitors users pay attention to the automation builder, marketing lead database, help desk, conversations, survey builder, segmentation, number of triggers and actions and so on.

We’ve made a list of top 10 competitors that are very similar in cost and features to Pardot. The list is based on similarity, so if Pardot doesn’t suit you in any way, here you can easily choose the best variant for you.

E2 Shop System

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We help shops and manufacturers of all kinds and sizes work smarter for improved efficiencies, greater flexibility and bigger profits.

ZipRecruiter

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ZipRecruiter is a leading online employment marketplace. Powered by AI-driven smart matching technology, the company actively connects millions of all-sized businesses and job seekers through innovative mobile, web, and email services, as well as partnerships with the best job boards on the web.

inFlow Inventory

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The secret powering 940,000+ wholesalers, retailers & manufacturers worldwide. Easily track stock, manage orders, invoice, ship & more.

Sendinblue

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SendinBlue is an email marketing automation software that helps you with email marketing, SMS, list management and transactional emails. It also comes with a landing page builder and a gallery of responsive email templates.

iContact

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iContact is a very popular email marketing / marketing automation platform. iContact has a very intuitive design and layout, making it very easy for businesses to design and deploy their own email campaigns. iContact comes with two different products; their basic email marketing platform, and their Pro Automation version of the product. 

Klaviyo

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Klaviyo is marketing automation platform which features email marketing combined with campaigns through social media. Klaviyo features the capability to integrate with manifold platforms and to orchestrate automated customer communication in order to generate business growth.

Insightly CRM

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InsightlyCRM started as a google app. Now InsightlyCRM is a standalone App. Insightly CRM for Small business harnesses the power of Google and Gmail Apps and brings projects and people together in one easy-to-use dashboard. Keep your projects moving and your leads high with a single point of focus to track your clients, projects and pursue an opportunity.

ShippingEasy

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One solution, fully supported by experts. Manage your shipping, inventory, and customer marketing, all within the ShippingEasy platform. Save time and money so you can focus on growing your business.

Procare Desktop

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Child care solution that can be customized to meet every need for business management, tuition collection & parent communication.

Drip

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Drip is the world's first ECRM (an E-commerce CRM) designed for building personal and profitable relationships with your customers at scale. E-commerce marketers around the world are starting to see their customers in true color with Drip features like comprehensive tracking, hyper-segmentation, and robust email marketing automation. They're graduating from typical email platforms, bloated CRMs, or overhyped marketing automation tools, and making more money with Drip.

Loop Email

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Loop is a secure email app that upgrades your Gmail or Outlook inbox. It reorganizes your mail around the people, tasks and teams that matter to you - so you can work smart, drive productivity, and supercharge collaboration.

How to choose Pardot substitute

Many marketing automation tools are similar to each other. Platforms with identical features can differ in cost by 2 times. The first feature you should look at is the availability of funnel builder. This is a basic feature of marketing automation apps and if it doesn’t include this feature, most likely this app isn’t formed yet. All funnel builders look almost the same. It's important not to look at the UX, but pay attention to the functionality.

In a month, you'll get used to the UI, but the lack of features will always spite you. Changing marketing automation apps is very expensive. If you have the usual email set up, it's not that difficult to switch to another tool. But if you've already configured integrations, workflow, and have complex funnels, it can take months to change the tool. That's why you should be attentive to choosing an alternative.

What to look for when analyzing the automation builder? It has 4 important features categories.

1. Triggers. For instance, "Form submit" is a trigger that launches a business process. The most often used triggers are: opening an email, clicking a link in an email, reaching a goal, adding or removing a tag, closing a deal, visiting a page, etc. In each platform for marketing automation this set is different. The more, the better.
2. Action. For example, "Send email". This is the most simple action you can have. The most often used actions are: add or remove a tag, send a text message, send a messenger message, set a salesperson task, update a transaction, notify someone by email, move a transaction to another stage, etc.
3. Delay. For instance, "Wait 2 days. Customer fill in the form on the website and get in the marketing automation app (Trigger), the software sends a Welcome email (Action). Then the app waits 3 days (delay) and sends a second email. This is the most simple automation. But there are other options. For example, "Wait until something happens". Or wait until November 30th, or wait until 9 PM in the subscriber’s time zone.
4. If/else. For instance, "If a client, has the tag "Bought product #1", send the email, if the subscriber doesn't have the tag "Purchased product #1", wait 2 days and send the email. The most often used if/else parameters are: was on the site page, bought certain items, opened certain emails, user field the contact card matches some requirements. This is information according to which you can segment the contact base.

Analyzing the automation builder, you need to look carefully at all four categories of functions. The more, the better. Often it appears that good-working marketing automation software with the biggest number of features look uncomfortable. New systems look nice, but they have few functions. You need to the tool you plan to implement very deeply. Otherwise, it will be very painful to change it in the future.

Once you've analyzed the automation builder, you understand whether there are integrations with the apps you need. Fortunately, Apiway can help you. Usually, tools like Pardot are the center of business IT infrastructure. It's kind of digital hub for all your subscriber. This kind of software is like an octopus, which is putting its tentacles into other system. App like Pardot need to integrate with most other ones. Or you’ll have to waste a lot of money and time developing custom integrations.

Also those who are looking for alternatives to Pardot use tools from other categories like email marketing software, chat on website software, CRM system, lead management software