These Serve Different Purposes

Let's be honest upfront: Pardot and Sequenzy solve different problems for different companies.

• Salesforce Pardot (now Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) is B2B marketing automation. Lead scoring, nurturing, Salesforce integration, sales alignment, account-based marketing.

• Sequenzy is focused email marketing for SaaS. Stripe integration, AI-generated sequences, transactional + marketing combined. Simple and affordable.

Pardot assumes you're running Salesforce CRM with a sales team. Sequenzy assumes you're a SaaS founder who wants email that works.

When should you choose Sequenzy?

1. You're Not a Salesforce Shop

Pardot is designed for Salesforce. If you don't use Salesforce CRM (and don't plan to), Pardot's main value proposition doesn't apply. Sequenzy works independently without CRM dependencies.

2. You're a SaaS Startup or SMB

At $1,250+/month for Pardot plus Salesforce licenses, you need significant marketing budget and sales volume. Sequenzy at $49/mo lets you focus on product-market fit first.

3. You Want to Start Today

Pardot requires Salesforce setup, integration configuration, and training. Weeks before you send an email. Sequenzy is self-serve - sign up, connect Stripe, start sending in an hour.

4. You Want AI-Generated Content

Describe what you want ("a 5-email onboarding sequence for a project management SaaS") and our AI generates the emails. Pardot has Einstein AI for scoring but doesn't write your emails.

5. Stripe Is Your Source of Truth

If your SaaS runs on Stripe, Sequenzy's native integration syncs customer data, MRR, subscription status, and churn signals automatically. Pardot focuses on Salesforce, not billing data.

6. You Need Transactional + Marketing

Sequenzy handles both marketing campaigns and transactional emails in one platform. Pardot is marketing-focused; you'd need a separate solution for transactional.

When should you stick with Pardot?

1. Salesforce Is Your CRM

If you've invested in Salesforce CRM and want marketing automation that syncs bidirectionally with your sales pipeline, Pardot is designed exactly for this. The integration is native and deep.

2. You Have a Sales Team

Pardot shines when marketing generates leads and sales closes them. Lead scoring, sales alerts, engagement history in Salesforce, hand-off workflows. If you have sales reps, Pardot supports that workflow.

3. You Need B2B Lead Management

Complex lead scoring with behavioral and demographic factors. Lead nurturing with branching logic. Account-based targeting. Pardot has sophisticated B2B lead management that Sequenzy doesn't.

4. You Run Long Sales Cycles

Pardot tracks engagement across months of nurturing. Multi-touch attribution in Salesforce. If your sales cycle is 3+ months with multiple stakeholders, Pardot helps manage that complexity.

5. You Need Sales/Marketing Alignment

Pardot shows marketing engagement directly in Salesforce. Sales reps see which emails prospects opened, which pages they visited, their engagement score. Marketing and sales share one view of the customer.

6. You're in the Salesforce Ecosystem

If you use Service Cloud, Commerce Cloud, or other Salesforce products, staying in the ecosystem has value. Data flows naturally between products.

Honest Limitations of Sequenzy

• No Salesforce integration: Built for Stripe, not Salesforce CRM.
• Simpler lead scoring: Segment-based, not behavioral scoring.
• No account-based marketing: Contact-focused, not account-focused.
• Email only: No multi-channel or sales hand-off workflows.
• Simpler automation: Email sequences, not complex visual journeys.
• Newer platform: Less history than Pardot's years in market.

Honest Limitations of Pardot

• Expensive: $1,250+/month minimum, plus Salesforce CRM licenses.
• Salesforce dependency: Nearly useless without Salesforce CRM.
• Annual contracts: No monthly option, commitment required.
• Sales-led: No self-serve, must work with Salesforce sales.
• Implementation time: Weeks of setup and configuration.
• Overkill for small teams: Most startups won't use half the features.

The Real Cost Comparison

Sequenzy year one:

• Subscription: $588 (12 months x $49)
• CRM: $0 (uses Stripe as data source)
• Implementation: $0 (self-serve)
• Total: $588

Pardot year one:

• Subscription: $15,000 (12 months x $1,250)
• Salesforce CRM: ~$3,000-36,000 (depending on licenses)
• Implementation: $2,000-10,000 typical
• Total: $20,000-60,000+

You could run Sequenzy for 34-100 years for Pardot's first year cost.

Who Actually Needs Pardot?

Pardot makes sense when:

• You've already invested in Salesforce CRM
• You have a sales team that needs lead intelligence
• Sales cycles are long enough for nurturing (3+ months)
• Account-based marketing is part of strategy
• You have budget for Salesforce ecosystem

If that's not you, simpler alternatives serve you better at a fraction of the cost.

Migration Reality

Companies typically move away from Pardot when:

• They drop Salesforce CRM for something simpler
• The cost exceeds the value for their sales volume
• Marketing team shrinks and can't maintain complex automation
• They realize email marketing doesn't need full B2B automation

Contact exports are straightforward. Salesforce integration and lead scores don't transfer. Plan for workflow recreation in your new platform.

Use our email warmup calculator when transitioning, and check our SPF checker and DKIM checker to ensure your authentication is configured correctly.