6 products tested & ranked

We Tested 6 Best B2B Marketing Automation Tools — Here's What's Actually Worth It

Enterprise-grade platforms for lead nurturing, scoring, and sales alignment

Featuring:

HubSpot Marketing Hub·

ActiveCampaign·

Marketo Engage·

Pardot (Salesforce)·

Customer.io+1 more

Helping 12,000+ professionals choose the right tools

Quick Answer

Our Top 3 Picks at a Glance

See all reviews

Best Overall

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Free tools available. Marketing Hub from $800/mo (Professional)

All-in-one marketing automation platform with best-in-class CRM integration and an intuitive visual workflow builder.

Try HubSpot Marketing Hub

Best for Small Teams

ActiveCampaign

From $15/mo (Lite). No free plan.

Advanced automation builder with the deepest workflow logic and excellent email deliverability.

Try ActiveCampaign

Best Value

Marketo Engage

Custom pricing from ~$895/mo. No free plan.

Enterprise-grade marketing automation from Adobe with advanced lead management and account-based marketing.

Try Marketo Engage

B2B marketing automation requires a fundamentally different approach than B2C. Longer sales cycles, multiple stakeholders, and complex buying journeys demand platforms with sophisticated lead scoring, deep CRM integration, account-based marketing capabilities, and tight sales-marketing alignment. We evaluated each platform against the specific needs of B2B marketing teams — from startup-friendly tools with built-in CRM to enterprise platforms that handle multi-touch attribution across thousands of accounts.

0Products Tested

0+Hours of Testing

0+Years Experience

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Our Top Picks

#1 Top Pick

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Best Overall

Try HubSpot Marketing Hub

#1 Our Top Pick

Editor's Choice

Free tools available. Marketing Hub from $800/mo (Professional)

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Best overall marketing automation platform for growing businesses that want CRM and marketing in one place

Visual Workflow Builder

Email Marketing

Lead Scoring (AI + Rules)

CRM Integration

Read Full Review →

Head-to-Head Comparison

Feature	HubSpot Marketing Hub	ActiveCampaign	Marketo Engage	Pardot (Salesforce)	Customer.io	GetResponse
Starting Price	Free tools available. Marketing Hub from $800/mo (Professional)	From $15/mo (Lite). No free plan.	Custom pricing from ~$895/mo. No free plan.	From $1,250/mo (Growth). No free plan.	From $100/mo (Essentials). Free trial available.	Free plan available. Paid from $19/mo.
Lead Scoring	Advanced (AI)	Standard rules	Advanced (AI)	Advanced	Event-based	Basic rules
CRM Depth	Full built-in CRM	Built-in CRM	Salesforce native	Salesforce native	No native CRM	Basic built-in
Account-Based Marketing	Yes	Basic	Enterprise	Enterprise	No	No
Sales Alignment	Excellent	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Basic	Basic
Multi-Touch Attribution	Advanced	Basic	Advanced	Advanced	Standard	Basic
	Try HubSpot Marketing Hub	Try ActiveCampaign	Try Marketo Engage	Try Pardot (Salesforce)	Try Customer.io	Try GetResponse

Detailed Reviews

ActiveCampaign

Best Value$15/moBest for teams that need the most powerful and flexible automation workflows at a reasonable price

Pros

Most advanced automation builder available
Best-in-class email deliverability (96.2%)
Excellent value — comparable power to HubSpot at 1/3 the price
Built-in CRM and sales automation
Predictive sending with machine learning

Cons

Steeper learning curve than HubSpot
UI design feels less polished
CRM lacks depth for complex sales processes

Pricing: From $15/mo (Lite). No free plan.

Advanced automation builder with the deepest workflow logic and excellent email deliverability.

Verified this week

Read Full Review →

Marketo Engage

Best Enterprise~$895/moBest for large enterprises with complex B2B marketing operations and big budgets

Pros

Most sophisticated lead scoring and management
Handles millions of contacts at scale
Best account-based marketing capabilities
Revenue cycle analytics ties marketing to pipeline
Deep Adobe Experience Cloud integration

Cons

Steepest learning curve of any platform
Very expensive (five-figure annual minimum)
Implementation takes 2-3 months

Pricing: Custom pricing from ~$895/mo. No free plan.

Enterprise-grade marketing automation from Adobe with advanced lead management and account-based marketing.

Verified this week

Read Full Review →

Pardot (Salesforce)

Best for Salesforce$1,250/moBest marketing automation for organizations deeply invested in the Salesforce ecosystem

Pros

Best-in-class Salesforce CRM integration
Einstein AI-powered lead scoring
Strong B2B lead nurturing workflows
Detailed ROI and pipeline reporting

Cons

Very expensive starting at $1,250/mo
Limited value outside Salesforce ecosystem
UI feels dated compared to modern tools

Pricing: From $1,250/mo (Growth). No free plan.

Salesforce-native marketing automation with seamless CRM sync and powerful B2B lead nurturing.

Verified this week

Read Full Review →

Customer.io

Best for SaaS$100/moBest for developer-centric teams that need flexible, event-driven marketing automation

Pros

Most flexible event-driven automation engine
Excellent API and developer documentation
Native data warehouse integrations (Segment, Snowflake)
True multi-channel: email, SMS, push, in-app, webhooks

Cons

Steep learning curve for non-technical users
Requires engineering resources for setup
Email template editor less polished than competitors

Pricing: From $100/mo (Essentials). Free trial available.

Developer-friendly marketing automation with event-driven workflows, flexible API, and powerful data infrastructure.

Verified this week

Read Full Review →

GetResponse

Best Budget Option$19/moBest all-in-one marketing platform for small businesses that want to consolidate their tool stack

Pros

Most feature-rich all-in-one platform
Built-in webinar hosting (unique)
Conversion funnels for end-to-end journeys
AI-powered email content generation
Competitive pricing for the feature set

Cons

Individual features lack depth vs. specialists
Automation builder not as advanced as ActiveCampaign
Webinar quality doesn't match dedicated tools

Pricing: Free plan available. Paid from $19/mo.

All-in-one marketing platform with email, automation, webinars, landing pages, and a website builder bundled together.

Verified this week

Read Full Review →

Our Testing Methodology

We assessed each platform on B2B-specific capabilities including lead scoring model sophistication, CRM integration depth (both native and third-party), account-based marketing features, sales team alignment tools, multi-touch revenue attribution, and the ability to manage complex nurture campaigns across extended buying cycles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Lead scoring, CRM integration, and multi-touch attribution are the three most critical features for B2B. Lead scoring helps prioritize sales-ready prospects. CRM integration ensures marketing and sales share the same data. Multi-touch attribution reveals which touchpoints actually drive pipeline and revenue across long B2B buying cycles.

No. While Pardot and Marketo work best with Salesforce CRM, platforms like HubSpot and ActiveCampaign include their own built-in CRM. HubSpot's CRM is particularly strong and eliminates the need for a separate Salesforce license, which can save thousands per month. Choose based on your existing tech stack and team size.

ABM is a strategy that targets specific high-value accounts rather than individual leads. In marketing automation, ABM features include account-level scoring, personalized content for target accounts, coordinated multi-channel outreach to multiple stakeholders within an account, and account engagement dashboards. HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot offer the most mature ABM capabilities.

Most B2B companies see initial results within 3-6 months of implementation. The first 1-2 months are spent on setup, data migration, and building initial workflows. Months 3-4 typically show improvements in lead quality and sales team efficiency. Full ROI, including pipeline attribution and revenue impact, usually becomes clear within 6-12 months.

Written by

Alex ThompsonSenior Technology Analyst

Alex Thompson has spent over 8 years evaluating B2B SaaS platforms, from CRM systems to marketing automation tools. He specializes in hands-on product testing and translating complex features into clear, actionable recommendations for growing businesses.

SaaS ReviewsProduct AnalysisB2B SoftwareTech Strategy

Our Top 3 Picks at a Glance

Our Top Picks

HubSpot Marketing Hub

Head-to-Head Comparison

Detailed Reviews

ActiveCampaign

Pros

Cons

Marketo Engage

Pros

Cons

Pardot (Salesforce)

Pros

Cons

Customer.io

Pros

Cons

GetResponse

Pros

Cons

Our Testing Methodology

Frequently Asked Questions

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