How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- HubSpot ($9 a seat a month annual for Starter, free plan) is the default for growing B2B teams that want CRM and marketing in one.
- ActiveCampaign ($15 a month annual) is the best automation value for small teams; Marketo and Salesforce Account Engagement are the enterprise standards.
- Demandbase and 6sense lead account-based marketing; ZoomInfo leads B2B data and intent.
- Contact-based pricing punishes list growth; model your bill at 2x your current database before signing.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 HubSpot | the all-in-one CRM and marketing platform | $9 per seat per month, billed annually (Starter) | Yes |
 Marketo Engage (Adobe) | enterprise marketing automation | See website | No |
 Salesforce Account Engagement | B2B marketing inside Salesforce | See website | No |
 ActiveCampaign | automation value for small B2B teams | $15 per month, billed annually (Starter) | Free trial (14 days) |
 Mailchimp | simple email marketing for small B2B | $13 per month (Essentials) | Yes |
 Demandbase | account-based GTM orchestration | See website | No |
 6sense | predictive ABM and buyer intent | See website | No |
 ZoomInfo | B2B contact data and intent | See website | No |
 RollWorks (AdRoll ABM) | ABM for the mid-market | See website | No |
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Starting price$9 per seat per month, billed annually (Starter)
Free planYes
HubSpot is the default answer for growing B2B teams because it collapses CRM, marketing, sales and service into one database. Marketing Hub Starter runs $9 a seat a month on annual billing (regularly $20 a seat) with 1,000 marketing contacts, while the free plan covers basic email, forms and chat for up to two users. Professional jumps to $800 a month annual plus a $3,000 onboarding fee.
The marketing-contact model is the thing to understand: only contacts you market to count toward paid tiers, which keeps the bill honest. For the B2B team that wants one platform instead of five integrations, HubSpot is the best platform for B2B marketing on ease and breadth. Budget carefully for the Professional jump.
What we like- Genuinely useful free plan
- CRM and marketing in one database
- Contact model separates marketing from non-marketing contacts
Watch out for- Professional at $800+ a month is a huge jump
- Marketing contacts drive the bill up fast
- Onboarding fees on higher tiers
#2
Marketo Engage (Adobe)
Best for: enterprise marketing automation
Visit adobe.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Marketo Engage is the enterprise standard for B2B marketing automation: sophisticated lead scoring, nurturing, multi-touch programs and revenue attribution at a scale that smaller tools cannot handle. As an Adobe product it sits alongside analytics and content tools that enterprise marketing orgs already run.
Everything about it is enterprise: quote-based pricing, a dedicated administrator as a practical requirement, and implementations measured in months. Teams under 50 marketers rarely justify it. For the large B2B org running complex multi-touch demand programs, Marketo remains the reference implementation.
What we like- The deepest automation and lead management in the category
- Scales to enormous databases
- Adobe ecosystem integration
Watch out for- Quote-based pricing
- Needs a dedicated admin
- Implementation measured in months
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Account Engagement (formerly Pardot) is Salesforce's B2B marketing automation: email, nurturing, lead scoring and grading, and pipeline reporting that lives inside the Salesforce data model. For the org already standardized on Sales Cloud, the native alignment eliminates the integration tax that HubSpot-to-Salesforce or Marketo-to-Salesforce shops pay.
Pricing is quote-based and the product makes little sense without Salesforce CRM underneath. If your sales team lives in Salesforce and your marketing team wants one system of record, this is the natural choice. If not, the other platforms here offer more for less.
What we like- Native Salesforce CRM alignment
- Strong for B2B lead lifecycle
- Trusted by Salesforce-centric orgs
Watch out for- Quote-based pricing
- Weaker outside the Salesforce ecosystem
- UI lags newer competitors
Starting price$15 per month, billed annually (Starter)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
ActiveCampaign is an automation product that also sends email, rather than the reverse: branching conditions, goals, split tests and predictive sending arranged in a genuinely excellent visual builder. Starter is $15 a month billed annually at 1,000 contacts, Plus $49, Professional $79, Enterprise $145, with a 14-day free trial and no free plan.
The catches are real: Starter limits each automation to five actions (the Plus tier at $49 is the realistic entry point for serious automation), and since late 2025 new accounts are billed for all contacts including unsubscribed ones. For the small B2B team that lives in nurture sequences and lead scoring, ActiveCampaign is the best automation per dollar here.
What we like- Published pricing from $15 a month
- Best-in-class visual automation builder
- CRM included on higher tiers
Watch out for- No free plan
- Starter caps automations at 5 actions
- Bills on all contacts including unsubscribed
Starting price$13 per month (Essentials)
Free planYes
Mailchimp is the easy button: Essentials from $13 a month, Standard from $20, Premium from $350, with a free plan capped at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. For the small B2B company whose marketing is a newsletter and a few automated emails, it is fast and friendly.
It is not a B2B automation platform. Lead scoring, CRM depth and multi-touch attribution are thin or absent, and the free plan's shrinkage (from 2,000 contacts to 250) tells you where Intuit is taking it. Use Mailchimp when email is the whole job; graduate to ActiveCampaign or HubSpot when nurturing becomes the job.
What we like- Easy to start
- Free plan for tiny lists
- Decent templates and journey builder on Standard
Watch out for- Free plan now only 250 contacts
- Weak for complex B2B nurturing
- Bills on unsubscribed contacts too
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Demandbase is the fullest expression of account-based marketing: identify target accounts, detect intent, orchestrate advertising and sales plays against them, and measure pipeline at the account level. It brings marketing, sales and advertising workflows into one account-centric system.
Pricing is quote-based and enterprise-grade; this is a six-figure decision for most buyers. It is overkill for teams without a defined target account list and the sales capacity to work it. For the mid-market and enterprise B2B org committed to ABM, Demandbase is the category leader.
What we like- The most complete ABM platform
- Account identification and intent
- Advertising, sales and marketing in one
Watch out for- Quote-based enterprise pricing
- Overkill below mid-market
- Needs clean account data to shine
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
6sense built its name on predicting which accounts are in-market: intent data, predictive modeling and anonymous-buyer identification that tell sales which accounts to call this week. It integrates with the major CRMs and marketing automation platforms to push those insights into existing workflows.
Like Demandbase, it is quote-based and aimed at teams with real pipeline targets. The two compete directly; buyers should evaluate both on data quality in their specific segment, because intent data is only as good as its coverage of your buyers. For predictive ABM, 6sense is the reference alternative to Demandbase.
What we like- Strong predictive and intent data
- Identifies anonymous buying activity
- Good Salesforce and HubSpot integrations
Watch out for- Quote-based pricing
- Predictions need tuning
- Data quality varies by segment
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
ZoomInfo is the data layer under much of B2B marketing: contact and company data, org charts, technographics and intent signals that feed outbound, ABM and enrichment workflows. Many of the platforms on this list consume ZoomInfo data; buying it direct gives you the source.
Pricing is quote-based and the contracts are famously aggressive (multi-year, auto-renew). Data accuracy is good but not perfect; validate in your segment before committing. For the B2B team building outbound or fueling ABM with fresh accounts, ZoomInfo is the default data vendor.
What we like- The largest B2B contact database
- Intent data and technographics
- Powers outbound and ABM alike
Watch out for- Quote-based pricing
- Data accuracy varies
- Contracts can be aggressive
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
RollWorks brought ABM downmarket: account-based advertising, targeting and measurement sized for mid-market teams rather than enterprise budgets. It now operates within the AdRoll platform, which strengthens the advertising execution side.
No published pricing, so get a quote. For the growing B2B company that wants ABM plays without Demandbase-scale commitment, RollWorks is the pragmatic entry point. Compare it against running ABM natively in HubSpot before buying a separate platform.
What we like- ABM sized for mid-market budgets
- Advertising-led plays
- Now part of the AdRoll platform
Watch out for- No published pricing
- Less depth than Demandbase
- Advertising-centric by heritage
How we chose
We researched vendor documentation and pricing pages in October 2026, covering marketing automation and ABM/data platforms. We used only vendor-published prices and marked quote-based tools honestly. We did not run live campaigns.
Marketing automation versus ABM: the two halves
Marketing automation answers "how do we nurture the demand we have." ABM answers "how do we create demand at the accounts we want." They are different motions with different metrics: automation optimizes cost per lead and nurture conversion; ABM optimizes pipeline per target account.
Most B2B teams need both eventually, but the order matters. If your inbound is working and the problem is conversion, buy automation first (HubSpot, ActiveCampaign). If you know exactly which 500 companies should buy from you and the problem is reaching them, buy ABM first (Demandbase, 6sense, RollWorks) with ZoomInfo data underneath. Buying ABM software before you have a target account list is the classic expensive mistake.
Nearly every platform here bills on contacts, and nearly all of them count contacts you would rather not pay for. Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign bill on unsubscribed contacts unless you archive them. HubSpot's marketing-contact model is the fairest of the bunch, but the contact tiers still drive the bill.
Before signing, model your bill at twice your current database size and ask what happens when you import a purchased list or run a big webinar. The platform that looks cheapest at 1,000 contacts often looks different at 25,000. And negotiate the overage terms in writing; the renewal quote is where contact-based pricing does its real damage.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best platform for B2B marketing?
HubSpot is the best all-in-one for growing B2B teams. Marketo Engage and Salesforce Account Engagement lead for enterprise. ActiveCampaign is the best automation value for small teams. Demandbase and 6sense lead ABM.
How much does B2B marketing software cost?
HubSpot Starter is $9 a seat a month billed annually; ActiveCampaign Starter is $15 a month; Mailchimp Essentials is $13 a month. Marketo, Salesforce Account Engagement, Demandbase, 6sense and ZoomInfo are quote-based, typically five to six figures annually.
What is the difference between marketing automation and ABM?
Marketing automation nurtures individual leads through campaigns and scoring. ABM targets named accounts with coordinated marketing and sales plays. Automation optimizes cost per lead; ABM optimizes pipeline per account.
Do I need ZoomInfo for B2B marketing?
You need good data, and ZoomInfo is the largest B2B data vendor. Teams running outbound or ABM usually buy it or a competitor. If your marketing is purely inbound, your CRM data may be enough.
Is HubSpot or Marketo better for B2B?
HubSpot is better for growing teams that want CRM and marketing in one platform with manageable complexity. Marketo is better for large enterprises running complex multi-touch programs with dedicated admins.
What is account-based marketing (ABM)?
ABM is a strategy that treats individual high-value accounts as markets of one: marketing and sales coordinate personalized campaigns against a defined target account list, measured on pipeline and revenue per account rather than lead volume.
Sources we checked (10)
- https://www.hubspot.com
- https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hubspot-marketing-hub-pricing
- https://www.adobe.com
- https://www.salesforce.com/marketing/engagement/
- https://www.activecampaign.com
- https://mailchimp.com
- https://www.demandbase.com
- https://6sense.com
- https://www.zoominfo.com
- https://www.adroll.com/solutions/account-based-marketing
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.