Quick signals
Complexity
High
Enterprise platform requiring dedicated marketing ops; 2–4 month implementation with ongoing technical maintenance.
Common upgrade trigger
Need advanced ABM with account-level scoring and targeting—higher tiers required
When it gets expensive
Implementation consulting is essentially required—$10,000–$50,000 typical for initial setup
What this product actually is
Enterprise B2B marketing automation platform (Adobe) with advanced lead scoring, ABM, multi-touch attribution, and deep Salesforce integration. Custom pricing starts at ~$895/mo.
Pricing behavior (not a price list)
These points describe when users typically pay more, what actions trigger upgrades, and the mechanics of how costs escalate.
Actions that trigger upgrades
- Need advanced ABM with account-level scoring and targeting—higher tiers required
- Revenue Cycle Analytics and custom attribution models—Select tier ($3,195+/mo)
- Custom objects beyond standard limits—pushes from Growth to Select tier
- Advanced sandbox/testing environments for workflow staging—Enterprise tier
- Adobe Experience Platform integration for unified customer profiles—highest tier
When costs usually spike
- Implementation consulting is essentially required—$10,000–$50,000 typical for initial setup
- Database size pricing: contact overages can trigger automatic tier bumps mid-contract
- API calls are metered; high-volume integrations may require additional API capacity purchase
- Marketo Sky (new UI) was deprecated; legacy UI remains primary interface
- Adobe's platform consolidation roadmap may shift features to Experience Platform over time
- Exporting data from Marketo for migration is possible but complex—engagement history is hard to replicate
Plans and variants (structural only)
Grouped by type to show structure, not to rank or recommend specific SKUs.
Enterprise
- Growth - ~$895/mo for up to 10 custom objects - Core automation and scoring
- Select - ~$3,195/mo - Advanced ABM, Revenue Cycle Analytics, custom attribution
- Prime - Custom pricing - Full Adobe ecosystem integration, advanced sandbox
- Ultimate - Custom pricing - Adobe Experience Platform integration
Costs and limitations
Common limits
- Pricing starts at ~$895/mo (Growth tier, up to 10 custom objects) and scales to $3,195+/mo for Select with advanced features
- Requires dedicated marketing ops—interface is complex and workflow design demands technical expertise
- Email builder is dated compared to Mailchimp, HubSpot, or Klaviyo—templates require more manual work
- Implementation takes 2–4 months with typical consulting costs of $10,000–$50,000
- Landing page builder is functional but less polished than HubSpot's or dedicated tools like Unbounce
- Adobe acquisition shifted product roadmap; some features are being consolidated into Adobe Experience Platform
What breaks first
- Ops dependency: workflow complexity grows faster than team capacity to maintain it
- Cost at scale: database growth + feature needs push from Growth ($895/mo) to Select ($3,195+/mo) fast
- Email design bottleneck: marketing team needs dedicated email developer or workaround tools
- Adobe platform consolidation uncertainty: product roadmap changes affect long-term planning
- Integration complexity: Salesforce sync is deep but troubleshooting sync errors requires admin expertise
Decision checklist
Use these checks to validate fit for Marketo before you commit to an architecture or contract.
- Email Simplicity vs Automation Depth: Map your current automation needs: simple drip sequences vs multi-branch conditional flows
- Contact-Based vs Send-Based Pricing: Calculate total contacts vs average monthly sends to model cost on both pricing models
- E-commerce Native vs General Purpose: Determine if revenue-per-email and order-level attribution are must-have metrics
- Upgrade trigger: Need advanced ABM with account-level scoring and targeting—higher tiers required
- What breaks first: Ops dependency: workflow complexity grows faster than team capacity to maintain it
Implementation & evaluation notes
These are the practical "gotchas" and questions that usually decide whether Marketo fits your team and workflow.
Implementation timeline
2–4 months for full implementation with consulting; 6+ months to reach maturity with scoring models and attribution.
Switching cost
Very high — scoring models, engagement programs, and Salesforce sync configurations are deeply customized; migration typically requires 3–6 months of parallel operation.
Implementation gotchas
- API calls are metered; high-volume integrations may require additional API capacity purchase
- Exporting data from Marketo for migration is possible but complex—engagement history is hard to replicate
- Multi-touch revenue attribution → Complex setup and long time-to-value
- Adobe ecosystem integration → Ties you to Adobe's evolving platform strategy
- Requires dedicated marketing ops—interface is complex and workflow design demands technical expertise
Questions to ask before you buy
- Which actions or usage metrics trigger an upgrade (e.g., Need advanced ABM with account-level scoring and targeting—higher tiers required)?
- Under what usage shape do costs or limits show up first (e.g., Implementation consulting is essentially required—$10,000–$50,000 typical for initial setup)?
- What breaks first in production (e.g., Ops dependency: workflow complexity grows faster than team capacity to maintain it) — and what is the workaround?
- Validate: Email Simplicity vs Automation Depth: Map your current automation needs: simple drip sequences vs multi-branch conditional flows
- Validate: Contact-Based vs Send-Based Pricing: Calculate total contacts vs average monthly sends to model cost on both pricing models
Fit assessment
Good fit if…
- Enterprise B2B companies (500+ employees) with dedicated marketing operations teams
- Salesforce-heavy organizations needing deep bidirectional CRM sync and custom object mapping
- ABM-focused teams running named account programs with multi-channel orchestration
- Marketing leaders needing multi-touch attribution tied to pipeline and revenue metrics
- Companies already in the Adobe ecosystem (Creative Cloud, Analytics, Experience Platform)
- Organizations with complex lead lifecycle stages requiring custom scoring and routing logic
Poor fit if…
- Budget under $1,000/mo—Marketo's entry tier starts at ~$895 and typical costs are $2,000+/mo
- Team lacks dedicated marketing ops—the platform requires technical expertise to configure and maintain
- E-commerce/DTC business—Marketo has no native Shopify integration or revenue-per-email tracking
- Small team (<10 people) wanting quick self-serve setup—HubSpot or ActiveCampaign are faster to value
- Need beautiful email templates and easy visual builder—Marketo's email editor is dated
- Using HubSpot CRM—the integration is functional but not native like with Salesforce
Trade-offs
Every design choice has a cost. Here are the explicit trade-offs:
- Deepest lead scoring engine → Requires dedicated ops to configure and maintain
- Native Salesforce sync → Lock-in to Salesforce + Marketo stack
- Enterprise ABM features → Enterprise pricing ($2,000–$5,000+/mo)
- Multi-touch revenue attribution → Complex setup and long time-to-value
- Adobe ecosystem integration → Ties you to Adobe's evolving platform strategy
Common alternatives people evaluate next
These are common “next shortlists” — same tier, step-down, step-sideways, or step-up — with a quick reason why.
-
HubSpot Marketing Hub — step-downWhen you need marketing automation with CRM but don't have dedicated ops—faster time-to-value at lower cost.
-
ActiveCampaign — step-downMid-market automation with CRM and scoring at $49–$149/mo vs Marketo's $895+/mo; sufficient for most B2B needs.
-
HubSpot Marketing Hub — same tierThe primary enterprise alternative—HubSpot's all-in-one vs Marketo's specialization with Salesforce.
Sources & verification
Pricing and behavioral information comes from public documentation and structured research. When information is incomplete or volatile, we prefer to say so rather than guess.