Why Marketers Are Leaving Pardot and What Platforms They Choose Instead

The majority of B2B platform Pardot users are migrating to HubSpot due to the lack of product development and concerns about the platform's discontinuation. Tom Ryan, a marketing automation consultant with eight years of Pardot experience, is blunt: the platform isn't receiving new features, and a migration path to other Salesforce solutions is already in place—it's not a question of whether the service will shut down, but when.

Pardot (renamed Marketing Cloud Account Engagement in 2022) is owned by Salesforce and was long considered the standard for B2B marketing. Yet stagnation in product development is pushing companies to seek alternatives. Beyond uncertainty about the platform's future, users face two critical challenges: revenue attribution complexity and inflexible reporting. The Pardot-Salesforce integration requires constant data synchronization tuning, and standard reports cannot be customized without consultant-level expertise.

Where companies migrate after Pardot

HubSpot has become the primary migration destination thanks to its architectural similarity to Pardot and built-in CRM. The platform solves users' main pain point—data silos between marketing automation and customer management systems. Companies can either fully replace Salesforce CRM with HubSpot CRM or leverage native two-way synchronization to maintain contacts, deals, and activity history in both systems.

Alternatives vary in CRM integration depth, automation complexity, and scaling costs. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Next runs directly on the Data Cloud platform, eliminating separate synchronization issues, but suits only large enterprises deeply embedded in the Salesforce ecosystem—the $1500 monthly starting price per organization excludes small and mid-market businesses. Marketo offers native Salesforce CRM synchronization for teams wanting to keep their CRM but adds further complexity and requires custom pricing.

«Salesforce directs customers toward Marketing Cloud Next, but that triggers a complete technology stack review. Companies don't go there blindly—most choose HubSpot»

ActiveCampaign works well for smaller teams seeking simplicity over Pardot's complexity—the platform includes lightweight CRM and multichannel automation starting at $15 per month, but sharp price jumps between tiers create scaling challenges. Zoho Marketing Automation offers the most budget-friendly option at $19 per month with native integration to its own CRM, but functionality notably lags competitors, and Salesforce synchronization performs worse than other platforms.

Three criteria for choosing B2B marketing automation software

When evaluating alternatives, companies must weigh CRM integration quality, automation capabilities, and pricing models. HubSpot and Zoho offer complete CRM systems, making them candidates for a full transition away from Salesforce. Marketing Cloud Next operates within the Salesforce platform without separate synchronization, eliminating the data isolation problem inherent to Pardot. Marketo maintains two-way native Salesforce CRM synchronization for teams not ready to change their CRM.

B2B functionality requires dedicated assessment. HubSpot offers multi-step nurture workflows with behavior-based, funnel-stage, or CRM-data triggers. The interface is built for marketers: drag-and-drop email and campaign builders enable testing and launches without waiting for developers. Users cite ease of use as a key advantage but point out a learning curve and some missing features.

Scaling costs are often underestimated when selecting a platform. Budget not just for current contact and user base size, but for anticipated growth—tier transitions typically bring sharp price increases. Also factor in mandatory implementation and training expenses, which some platforms list as a separate line item in year one.

Pardot migration safety checklist

Low-risk migration requires data mapping, workflow translation, testing, and phased rollout. Tom Ryan highlights underestimating the translation factor as the most common mistake. For example, a "campaign" object in Salesforce works fundamentally differently from a campaign in HubSpot—it requires logic translation, not direct transfer.

Companies should answer attribution modeling questions upfront: where it will live, how to work across systems, whether to preserve existing Salesforce campaign hierarchy. Some businesses have built complex campaign structures in Salesforce and want to keep those investments, which affects migration strategy.

Migration priorities across three categories:

• Business-critical: active workflows, segmented contact databases, CRM integrations, and key analytics tools
• Important but deferrable: historical campaign data, archived reports, inactive audience segments
• Requiring restructuring: lead scoring models, ABM strategies, complex automation chains

Lead scoring and grading cannot be ported directly because Pardot uses a proprietary scoring model incompatible with other systems. However, current scores and grades can be preserved in the new platform for segmentation purposes. Ryan recommends using migration as an opportunity to rebuild the model based on Pardot experience.

ABM models face the same issue: Engagement Studios and automations don't port easily. It's critical to track where leads are in their journey so they continue from the same point in the new system. Working with a migration partner makes this process safer and more reliable.

What this means for the Russian market

Russian companies using Pardot through partner schemes or international structures face the same platform obsolescence challenges. However, direct migration to HubSpot or other Western tools is complicated by sanctions and payment system restrictions. Businesses must either use workarounds through foreign legal entities or seek alternatives among Russian CRM and marketing automation platforms.

Domestic solutions like Bitrix24 or RetailCRM are developing marketing automation features but lag Western counterparts in integration depth and attribution capabilities. Companies operating in the Russian market with export operations need to consider hybrid models: a Russian CRM for core processes and a Western automation platform for international campaigns through foreign structures.

Frequently asked questions

How long does migration from Pardot to another platform take?

With proper planning, fast migration takes one month, but typical timeframes are 2–3 months including data mapping, automation rebuilding, and testing. The main time factor is existing workflow complexity and the volume of historical data to preserve.

Can we keep Salesforce CRM while leaving Pardot?

Yes, Pardot is billed as a separate line item on your Salesforce invoice, so companies can keep CRM, Sales Cloud, and other tools while switching only to a new marketing automation platform. Most alternatives offer native Salesforce CRM synchronization.

Do lead scoring models transfer during migration?

No, scoring models must be rebuilt because Pardot uses a proprietary system incompatible with other platforms. However, current lead scores can be preserved in the new system for segmentation, and migration presents an opportunity to improve the model based on accumulated experience.