License & Deployment Mix: 23 tools – 2 OSS, 20 SaaS. (OSS and SaaS counts can overlap when an open-source tool also offers a vendor-hosted edition.)

What Is Marketing Automation?

Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPs) are software systems that automate repetitive marketing tasks across multiple channels – email, web, social media, SMS, and advertising – while tracking prospect and customer behavior to deliver personalized experiences at scale. MAPs go beyond simple email blasting by combining behavioral tracking, lead scoring, multi-step campaign orchestration, and analytics into a unified platform that aligns marketing and sales efforts.

At their core, marketing automation platforms capture visitor and prospect interactions (website visits, email opens, form submissions, content downloads), assign scores based on engagement and fit, and trigger automated workflows that nurture leads through the buying journey. When a lead reaches a scoring threshold or exhibits buying intent, the platform hands it off to sales via CRM integration.

Unlike standalone email marketing tools that focus on sending campaigns to lists, MAPs manage the entire demand generation lifecycle: attracting visitors, converting them to leads, nurturing leads with personalized content sequences, qualifying leads for sales, and measuring marketing’s contribution to revenue. This end-to-end approach makes MAPs essential for B2B organizations, SaaS companies, and any business with a considered purchase cycle where buyers research extensively before contacting sales.

The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it. Catalogue data version 2026.197.

Comparison

Marketing automation drives lead nurturing, drip campaigns, landing pages, and multi-channel engagement, integrating via API connectors, DNS management (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), monitoring, and webhook processing.

Key distinction: marketing automation platforms handle the full lifecycle from lead capture through nurturing and scoring to sales handoff. For bulk email delivery only, see Bulk Email & Marketing. For CRM and sales pipeline, see CRM / SFA.

SSO / OIDC (Authentik)

SSO applies to the admin panel (campaign management, lead management, analytics dashboards).

Ent = requires enterprise plan Plugin = available via community plugin Yes* = via parent platform (Salesforce SSO)

Best Authentik fit: Mautic (OIDC plugin enables direct Authentik integration), Marketo (native SAML), Customer.io (native SAML), Oracle Eloqua (SAML)

No SSO path: Listmonk, Mailchimp, Brevo, Drip, Keap, GetResponse, SharpSpring – reverse proxy authentication is the workaround where self-hosted.

Deployment Model

Yes* = on-premises (Classic) version available

Self-hosted options: Mautic, Listmonk, plus enterprise on-prem: HCL Unica and Adobe Campaign Classic. Mautic is the only open-source self-hosted platform with full marketing automation features. Listmonk is a lightweight campaign tool, not a full marketing automation platform.

Core Marketing Features

Advanced = AI-powered or multi-dimensional scoring AI-based = AI-driven scoring (Brand Affinity, etc.) Basic = limited or simplified implementation Einstein* = via Einstein Engagement Scoring Propensity = propensity models (B2C focused)

Best lead scoring: Marketo (multi-dimensional, AI-powered), Pardot (Salesforce Einstein integration), HubSpot (predictive scoring on enterprise)

Best drip campaigns: ActiveCampaign (visual builder, conditional branching), Marketo (enterprise engagement programs), HubSpot (workflow builder)

Best landing pages: HubSpot (drag-and-drop + smart content), Mautic (self-hosted, form builder), GetResponse (conversion funnels)

Email & Multi-Channel

Yes* = add-on or higher-tier plan Plugin = via community plugin or marketplace

Best multi-channel: Brevo (email + SMS + push + WhatsApp + social), Marketo (enterprise omnichannel), Customer.io (email + SMS + push + in-app)

Best email-only: Mailchimp (templates, analytics), ActiveCampaign (deliverability, automation)

Analytics & Attribution

Advanced = AI-powered or predictive analytics Multi-touch = multi-touch attribution modeling Basic = first/last-touch or simple analytics CDP-based = customer data platform analytics

Best attribution: HubSpot (revenue attribution, 7 models), Marketo (Bizible multi-touch), Pardot (B2B Marketing Analytics)

Best dashboards: HubSpot (custom reports + dashboards), Klaviyo (e-commerce analytics), Ortto (CDP-powered journey analytics)

API Capabilities

Best API ecosystem: HubSpot (most SDKs, best documentation, largest marketplace), Mailchimp (extensive ecosystem, 7+ language SDKs)

Best self-hosted API: Mautic (OAuth2, full CRUD, webhooks), Listmonk (simple REST, well-documented)

Best developer experience: Customer.io (clean REST, event-driven, high rate limits), HubSpot (comprehensive docs, sandbox environments)

Monitoring Integration

All tools can be monitored via the monitoring stack (Telegraf + InfluxDB + Grafana + AlertManager).

Exporter* = community Prometheus exporter available Currents* = Braze Currents real-time data streaming JMX exp = JMX exporter for Java metrics API poll = Telegraf HTTP plugin polls SaaS API API dash = Grafana dashboard via API data source N/A = not applicable for SaaS platforms

Best monitoring: Listmonk (built-in Prometheus metrics, lightweight), Mautic (Docker logs + PHP-FPM metrics via Telegraf)

SaaS monitoring: All SaaS tools require Telegraf HTTP input plugin to poll API endpoints for campaign metrics (open rates, click rates, bounce rates, deliverability stats).

Pricing

Self-Hosted

SaaS

Cheapest self-hosted: Mautic (free, full marketing automation) or Listmonk (free, campaigns only – not full automation)

Cheapest SaaS entry: Brevo ($9/mo), Mailchimp ($13/mo), ActiveCampaign ($15/mo)

Enterprise tier: SFMC ($1,250+/mo), Oracle Eloqua ($2,000+/mo), Marketo ($895+/mo), Pardot ($1,250+/mo), HubSpot Marketing Hub ($890+/mo professional), Oracle Responsys and Acoustic (custom enterprise pricing)

Tools

28 tools.

Acoustic

Acoustic is an enterprise marketing automation platform formerly known as IBM Watson Campaign Automation (and before that, Silverpop).

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform that combines email marketing, automation workflows, and a built-in CRM in a single SaaS offering.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

ActiveCampaign CRM

Cloud-native sales + marketing automation suite; evaluated here for CRM and sales pipeline; SaaS-only with Enterprise-gated SSO.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: SAML

Website

Evaluated under CRM / SFA.

Adobe Campaign

Adobe Campaign is an enterprise cross-channel marketing automation platform and part of the Adobe Experience Cloud.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: native · SSO: none

Website

Braze

Braze is a customer engagement platform focused on real-time, cross-channel messaging with a strong mobile-first orientation. Founded in 2011 as Appboy and rebranded to Braze in 2017, the company went public on NASDAQ in 2021 (NYSE: BRZE).

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, is a multi-channel marketing automation platform that combines email marketing, SMS campaigns, chat, CRM, and transactional messaging in a single SaaS offering.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Customer.io

Customer.io is a SaaS marketing automation platform built around event-driven, behavioral messaging across email, SMS, push, and in-app channels, with a visual workflow builder and Liquid templating.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Drip

Drip is a marketing automation platform purpose-built for e-commerce businesses. It focuses on helping online retailers create personalized customer experiences through email and SMS automation, behavioral segmentation, and deep e-commerce…

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Erxes

Experience Operating System (XOS) unifying marketing, sales, ops, and support; OSS alternative to HubSpot + Zendesk; Node.js + React + MongoDB.

License: AGPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker, native, saas · SSO: none

Website · Source

Evaluated under CRM / SFA.

GetResponse

GetResponse is a marketing automation platform that combines email marketing, automation workflows, webinars, landing pages, and conversion funnels in a single SaaS offering.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

GoHighLevel

All-in-one marketing, CRM, and agency management platform aimed at digital marketing agencies; white-label “SaaS Pro” tier.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Evaluated under CRM / SFA.

HCL Unica

HCL Unica is an enterprise marketing automation platform formerly known as IBM Unica, acquired by HCL Technologies from IBM in 2019 as part of a broader deal covering several IBM software products.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, saas · SSO: none

Website

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot is a cloud CRM and marketing/sales/service platform popular with SMBs and software companies, offering a free CRM tier plus paid marketing, sales, and service hubs.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML

Website

Evaluated under CRM / SFA.

HubSpot Marketing Hub

HubSpot Marketing Hub is a comprehensive marketing automation platform tightly integrated with the HubSpot CRM ecosystem.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Iterable

Iterable is a cross-channel marketing automation platform designed for mid-market and enterprise B2C companies.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Keap (formerly Infusionsoft)

Keap, formerly known as Infusionsoft, is a CRM and marketing automation platform designed for small businesses and solopreneurs.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform purpose-built for e-commerce businesses, with particularly deep integration into the Shopify ecosystem (Klaviyo is Shopify’s recommended email marketing partner).

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Listmonk

Listmonk is a high-performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager written in Go, with subscriber segmentation, campaign management, analytics, and multi-SMTP delivery from a single binary.

License: AGPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker · SSO: none

Website · Source

Mailchimp (Intuit)

Mailchimp, now part of Intuit, is a widely used email marketing platform that has grown into a broader marketing suite with automation workflows, landing pages, social posting, and basic CRM.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Marketo Engage (Adobe)

Marketo Engage, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, is an enterprise-grade marketing automation platform and a long-standing leader in the MAP space.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Mautic

Mautic is the leading open-source marketing automation platform, providing a full-featured MAP that rivals commercial offerings.

License: GPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker · SSO: none

Website · Source

Mautic (Lead Management)

Open-source marketing automation and lead management; PHP / Symfony with MariaDB or MySQL; SAML SSO built-in.

License: GPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker, native · SSO: SAML

Website · Source

Evaluated under CRM / SFA.

Oracle Eloqua

Oracle Eloqua is an enterprise B2B marketing automation platform known for its powerful Campaign Canvas, advanced segmentation, and deep CRM integration.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Oracle Responsys

Oracle Responsys is an enterprise B2C cross-channel marketing platform designed for large-scale consumer engagement across email, SMS, push notifications, and web.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Ortto (formerly Autopilot)

Ortto, formerly known as Autopilot, is a marketing automation platform centered around a visual customer journey builder and an integrated customer data platform (CDP).

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Pardot (Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account

Pardot, now branded as Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, is a B2B marketing automation platform built natively on the Salesforce platform.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC)

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) is the leading B2C marketing automation platform, built for large-scale consumer engagement across email, SMS, push notifications, social media, advertising, and web.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website

SharpSpring (Constant Contact)

SharpSpring, now part of Constant Contact, is a marketing automation platform with a strong focus on the agency market.

License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none

Website