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.

Funnelbake

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FunnelBake is a fully automated and personalized Email Outreaching tool that can help you generate thousands of potential customers every month for your business.

Freshchat

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Freshchat is a modern messaging app for sales, support and customer engagement. A leap from legacy live-chat systems, it brings the continuity and experience of consumer messaging apps to businesses to help them convert visitors and delight customers.

Booqable

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Booqable is the rental software of choice for many of the world's leading rental businesses, providing a modern solution to streamline operations and deliver seamless customer experiences, online and in-store. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Booqable serves customers around the world ranging from one-person rental businesses to large organizations.

SALESmango

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SALESmanago is a cloud-based marketing automation solution for small, midsize and large businesses. It caters to various industries including e-commerce, retail, hotels, guest houses, finance, banking, manufacturing, law firms, bookshop, travel agencies and more.

SharpSpring

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SharpSpring is one of the most flexible platforms on the market, offering behavior-based email marketing, native or 3rd party CRM integration, dynamic forms, landing page and blog builders, universal CMS compatibility, and integration with hundreds of applications.

OntraPort

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Ontraport is a powerful suite that enables SMEs to automate their internet marketing efforts. This service includes many useful features such as a CRM service, WordPress hosting, automated email delivery, payment processing, lead generation, and task management. Marketers can gather lead and client information from web pages, using custom-built web forms and light boxes, just using a pop-up form that shows up on a visitor's click.

BambooHR

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BambooHR's cloud-based system is an intuitive, affordable way for growing companies to manage essential employee information in a personalized Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Workday HCM

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A single, cloud based solution for workforce planning, analysis and execution.

MailChimp

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Mailchimp is a software which gives you the ability to create and manage mailing lists, newsletters, automated campaigns and more. It puts you in the driver's seat and lets you have full control over your email marketing efforts from beginning to end. Mailchimp is simple and easy to use and its software gives you access to an array of email marketing tools all conveniently located in one place. There are several advantages that Mailchimp provides over other competitors in the industry which make it a top choice for businesses looking to get their foot in the door with email marketing.

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.

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