10 Marketing Automation Platforms to Power Smarter Campaigns

Marketing managers have a great deal on their plates. 

You’re supposed to strategize campaigns across channels, oversee execution, and ensure that all of it somehow reports toward a positive ROI, especially when it’s pivotal to acquiring budgets for upcoming campaigns. With so much going on, staying on top of everything becomes overwhelming. 

Marketing automation tools support such marketers in offloading their repetitive tasks. The software leverages data to scale personalization and make more informed decisions. They let you focus on building campaigns that convert instead of chasing functions that don’t.

When you’re out on the market, looking for the perfect marketing automation platform for your purpose, some considerations are in order. For example, use case, affordability, scalability, and overall experience of existing users. 

Let’s check out some of the most popular marketing automation software on the market, and see what checks off all the points you care about. 

Top 10 Marketing Automation Tools 

This is a list of tools for marketers who take execution seriously and are accountable for their team and the output they deliver collaboratively. 

1. CleverTap

Best Marketing Automation Tool For Marketers Focused on Mobile User Engagement and Retention

If you run a consumer app or any digital product and need to keep users active and retained, CleverTap shines. It’s built for mobile-first businesses and subscription services that want to understand in-app behaviors deeply and respond instantly. 

CleverTap is an all-in-one customer engagement and marketing automation platform that automates push notifications, email, in-app messages, SMS, WhatsApp, and more, all under one roof.

It doesn’t just automate, but ensures you sound on-brand and authentic with hyper-personalized lifecycle journeys. The platform leverages real-time triggers and rich customer segmentation based on in-app behaviors. It combines analytics and automation in a unified view, so you get insights into user behavior as well as the ability to act on those insights. 

Below are some of the key features of CleverTap.

Omnichannel Campaign Orchestration

Imagine an e-commerce brand launching a flash sale.  A user browses shoes in the mobile app but doesn’t buy. 

• Within minutes, they receive a push notification: “Still thinking about those sneakers? They’re 20% off today only.” 
• Later in the day, they get a personalized email showing the exact pair they viewed, with a discount code. 
• In the evening, a WhatsApp message reminds them that the offer expires at midnight, with a direct “Buy Now” button. 
• The next time they open the app, a banner highlights “Sale ends in 2 hours” to create urgency. 

This is precisely what CleverTap’s omnichannel campaign orchestration tool delivers. At every step, the platform ensures that users are not bombarded with duplicates, keeping messaging coordinated across channels. The journey feels seamless, moving with the customer wherever they go. It increases the chances of engagement and conversion. 

Advanced Segmentation and Personalization 

CleverTap analyzes user behavior in real-time, allowing you to segment audiences based on past actions, demographics, or lifecycle stage. You can then send personalized content to each segment for higher relevance. 

Here’s what it delivers: 

Suppose an online grocery app uses CleverTap to segment users:

• Past actions: Users who browsed “organic fruits” in the last 7 days but didn’t purchase.
• Demographics: Families with kids (inferred from purchase history of baby food/snacks).
• Lifecycle stage: Lapsed customers who haven’t ordered in the past 30 days.

Now, the brand can send a personalized push notification to the “organic fruits” segment: “Fresh organic mangoes just arrived—order now before they’re gone!” Then, they can also tailor an email with the best deals on healthy school snacks. On text, a special discount of 20% with a “we miss you” message will encourage them to engage with the app again. 

This makes messaging more relevant and increases the likelihood of conversion. 

Explore CleverTap’s data-driven segmentation tool and dynamic personalization tool. 

Real-Time Analytics and Behavioral Insights

CleverTap Analytics tool gives you granular insights into a user’s journey through an app and how they respond to marketing campaigns. It shows a whole funnel progression in real-time. 

This enables you to stay on top of current trends and drop-offs, providing you with cleaner data to make informed decisions.  

Lifecycle Marketing and Journey Builder

You get a visual journey designer to create onboarding flows, re-engagement, or win-back campaigns. An event generally triggers these flows. Once triggered, they utilize activity-based or time-based triggers to automatically nurture users. 

When the journeys are set, IntelliNODE optimizes for conversions and channels to refine the engagement strategies. It does that consistently to ensure you get the maximum output at any given time. 

Agentic AI Engine: CleverAI™ 

CleverTap’s standout feature in 2025 is its Agentic AI ecosystem, powered by the CleverAI Decisioning Engine. This isn’t just basic trigger automation; it’s a network of intelligent AI “agents” working together to maximize your results. 

For example, Decision Agents predict user intent and select the best next message or offer for each person, while Creative Agents generate personalized copy optimized for engagement. Strategy Agents continuously refine your segmentation and campaign timing, and Action Agents autonomously orchestrate 1-to-1 interactions across channels, learning and improving with each goal achieved.

This AI-driven approach enables marketers to set and forget certain aspects of their strategy, as the system adapts campaigns in real-time to meet KPIs.

Beyond AI decisioning, CleverTap’s delivery infrastructure is powered by RenderMax™, its proprietary real-time rendering technology that ensures push notifications are not just sent, but seen. RenderMax™ maximizes the likelihood of notifications being rendered on every device, even when apps are inactive or under battery optimization. By improving delivery reliability and visibility, you can enhance engagement rates and ensure your campaigns reach their full impact.

Why CleverTap Tops the List

CleverTap is built for marketers who measure success by outcomes, not output. It brings automation, analytics, and intelligence together in one place, so teams can design smarter journeys, move faster, and retain more customers. For anyone serious about driving growth through personalization and data, it’s the marketing automation tool that delivers both precision and scale.

2. HubSpot Marketing Hub

Suited for small to mid-sized businesses that want an easy-to-use, all-in-one marketing solution

HubSpot Marketing Hub offers an all-in-one toolkit for attracting, engaging, and delighting customers. It combines email marketing, marketing automation workflows, a CMS for blogging/landing pages, social media management, SEO tools, and a built-in CRM. 

Below are some of the key features of  HubSpot Marketing Hub. 

• Email Marketing and Automation: Let you design professional emails with a drag-and-drop editor and set up automated sequences for drip campaigns, lead nurture series, and more. It’s triggered by user behavior or lifecycle stages.
• Landing Pages and Forms: Create landing pages for your campaigns and embed forms that sync leads into the HubSpot CRM. Personalization tokens enable the tailoring of landing page content to each visitor.
• Analytics and Reporting: HubSpot provides out-of-the-box dashboards for email performance, website traffic, email campaign ROI, and more. There are ways to build custom reports that compare conversion rates by channel or attribution reports that show which marketing touchpoints influenced revenue.

3. Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Suited for large enterprises or rapidly growing companies that have complex marketing requirements

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) is an enterprise-grade marketing automation platform that manages sophisticated campaigns across email, mobile (SMS, push), social media, and web. It includes specialized studios or modules like Email Studio, Mobile Studio, Social Studio, Advertising Studio, and a Journey Builder for cross-channel orchestration. 

Below are some of the key features of SFCM. 

• Multi-Channel Campaign Management: Allows marketers to design and deliver campaigns on virtually any channel. 
• Personalization: A significant strength of Marketing Cloud is its data capabilities. It pulls in data from Salesforce CRM and any external databases, enabling highly granular audience segmentation. 
• Analytics and Attribution: SFMC offers robust reporting through the Marketing Cloud Analytics Builder and various integrations. 
• Salesforce Ecosystem Integration: If your sales or service teams use Salesforce CRM, Marketing Cloud becomes a natural fit. 

4. ActiveCampaign

Suited for small and mid-sized businesses, and even lean enterprise teams, who need robust automation

ActiveCampaign offers powerful automation capabilities at a reasonable price point. It’s easier to use compared to complex enterprise systems. 

The platform combines email marketing, marketing automation, built-in CRM, and sales automation, plus integrations for SMS messaging in one platform. They have added several features over the years, making it a well-rounded hub for customer engagement.

Below are some of the key features of ActiveCampaign. 

• Visual Automation Builder: It’s a visual, drag-and-drop builder with decent flexibility. 
• Advanced Segmentation and Personalization: ActiveCampaign enables fine-grained segmentation using behavioral data, tags, custom fields, and more.
• CRM and Sales Automation: Unlike many marketing tools, ActiveCampaign includes a lightweight CRM. This is ideal for small businesses that want to manage contacts and deals without the need for a separate CRM system.
• Deliverability and Testing: ActiveCampaign provides tools to test your emails, perform spam checks, and segment out unengaged contacts to maintain a healthy sender reputation. 

You might like to read: Top 10 CRM automation platforms to streamline your marketing.

5. Marketo Engage (Adobe)

Suited for mid-to-large B2B companies and sophisticated marketing teams.

Marketo Engage is a long-standing leader in marketing automation, particularly for B2B marketing and lead management. When you hear marketing automation in a corporate context, Marketo is often one of the first names that comes up. It’s highly customizable and thus favored by companies that need their automation tailored to complex business processes.

Below are some of the key features of Marketo. 

• Multi-Channel Campaigns: Email is Marketo’s core channel, but it also supports other channels. 
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Marketo provides detailed reports on campaign performance, lead lifecycle, email deliverability, and revenue attribution.
• Flexibility: On the usability spectrum, Marketo requires skill. It offers a lot of flexibility, allowing you to create programs, custom fields, and complex workflows with multiple steps, as well as use “tokens” that function like variables to templatize campaigns.

6. Mailchimp

Suited for teams that want to get started with email marketing and simple automation quickly and cheaply

Mailchimp started as a simple newsletter tool and has evolved into an all-in-one marketing platform targeted at small businesses. It now offers not just email but also landing pages, basic automation, and e-commerce features. 

Despite new features, Mailchimp’s core strength remains its user-friendly interface for designing emails and managing contact lists, and a free tier that lowers the barrier for businesses to start email marketing.

Below are some key features of Mailchimp. 

• Email Campaign Builder: Mailchimp provides a drag-and-drop email designer with a rich gallery of templates. 
• Basic Automation: Mailchimp supports single-step automations on the free and Essentials plans. 
• Analytics and Optimization: Mailchimp offers standard reports with open rates, click rates, unsubscribe, and bounce tracking for emails,  in easy-to-read charts. 

Explore more: Top 10 email marketing platforms to boost your campaigns.

7. Zoho Marketing Automation (Zoho Marketing Plus)

Suited for small and medium businesses that already use Zoho products or are very budget-conscious

Zoho Marketing Automation is a part of the Zoho Marketing Plus suite. The marketing solution aims to cover email marketing, social media, SMS, lead management, and analytics in one package. It’s positioned as a cost-effective alternative for small to mid-sized businesses that want multi-channel marketing capabilities without the enterprise price tag. 

While not as high-end as some others on this list, it offers surprisingly broad functionality for the price.

Below are some of its key features. 

• Email Marketing and Automation: Zoho allows users to design email campaigns with a drag-and-drop editor and a library of templates.
• Social Media Management: Unlike many automation tools, Zoho includes social media posting and monitoring. You can schedule posts across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., and track engagement.
• Analytics and Reporting: Zoho provides unified campaign analytics, combining data from email campaigns, social media, and website behavior. 

8. Freshmarketer (from Freshworks)

Suited for businesses already in the Freshworks ecosystem who want to add marketing automation.

Freshmarketer, previously known as Zarget (before Freshworks acquired and rebranded it), has evolved into a solution for email marketing, customer journeys, and conversion rate optimization. It’s part of the Freshworks CRM suite now, often marketed as Freshworks CRM Marketing Cloud or similar. 

It provides an omnichannel marketing hub tightly integrated with sales and support on the Freshworks platform.

Below are some key features of Freshmarketer. 

• Omnichannel Journeys: Freshmarketer offers a visual journey builder that allows you to craft automated campaigns that respond to customer actions in real-time across channels. 
• Email Marketing and Personalization: Create responsive emails with a drag-and-drop editor. Freshmarketer includes Freddy AI, Freshworks’ AI engine, which can assist in generating email content. 
• Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Tools: Delivers features like heatmaps, session replays, A/B testing for web pages, and form analytics. 
• Conversational Marketing and Chatbots: Freshmarketer integrates with Freshworks’ chat (Freshchat) to enable conversational marketing. 

9. Ortto

Suited for mid-sized businesses, SaaS companies, and digital product companies that want to engage users deeply.

Ortto, formerly known as Autopilot, is a marketing automation and customer journey platform that emphasizes a visual approach to building campaigns. In 2021, Autopilot rebranded to Ortto, expanding its focus to include more analytics and a lightweight CRM. 

Currently, the product positions itself as an all-in-one customer journey, messaging, and analytics solution for marketing teams, particularly those seeking powerful capabilities while still requiring an easy-to-use, visual builder.

Below are some key features of Ortto.

• Visual Journey Builder: Lets you create flowcharts of your customer communications using triggers, actions, conditions, and goals.
• Multi-Channel Messaging: With Ortto, you can orchestrate messaging across email, SMS, in-app, webhooks, and more. 
• Customer Data Platform (CDP) and Analytics: Ortto incorporates a CDP-like data layer called the Ortto Data Platform. It ingests data from your product, website, or other sources and uses it for segmentation and personalization. 
• AI and Personalization: While not as expansive as some, they include things like AI-powered content suggestions and send time optimization.

10. Keap

Suited for businesses that want to automate their customer communications without juggling multiple tools.

Keap, formerly known as Infusionsoft, is a CRM and marketing automation platform specifically designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Infusionsoft was a pioneer in combining robust marketing automation with a built-in CRM and e-commerce capabilities, though it gained a reputation for complexity. 

In 2019, the company rebranded to Keap and launched new, easier-to-use editions. Keap’s core idea is to be an all-in-one tool that helps small businesses capture leads, follow up automatically, manage customers, and even process orders and payments.

Below are some key features of Keap. 

• Visual Campaign Builder: A visual drag-and-drop tool to create automated workflows. 
• Email Marketing and Broadcasts: Keap provides email templates and a drag-and-drop editor for both one-time broadcasts and automated emails.
• Appointment Scheduling and Other Tools: Keap includes a Calendly-like appointment scheduler in some plans. 

Next up: Best CRM automation platforms to streamline your marketing.

How to Choose the Right Marketing Automation Platform

Your use case + businesses vary and don’t fit into the generalization of marketing automation software, regardless of how inclusive the products are. When you’re considering your options, here are a few things you should think, ask, and discuss: 

• Business Size and Complexity. The scale of your operations should heavily influence your choice. If you’re small or mid-market, platforms like CleverTap can help you grow to the next stage while keeping budgets in check. For large-scale enterprises, CleverTap offers advanced segmentation, AI-driven personalization, and scalable infrastructure to manage millions of users efficiently without compromising performance or data accuracy.
• Channels and Audience. Identify which communication channels are vital for your marketing. Do you primarily need email automation, or are omnichannel journeys (email, SMS, push, WhatsApp, social) important? For example, if you run a mobile app or global B2C service, a platform that supports push notifications and WhatsApp could be key. 
• Integration with Your Stack: Your marketing automation tool should play nicely with your existing CRM, website/CMS, e-commerce platform, and any other key software. 
• Budget and ROI Considerations: Marketing automation is an investment, so you must consider both the cost and the expected return. Don’t just look at license cost. Factor in the time to implement and possibly the cost of additional help or consultants.
• Personalization and Intelligence: Check if they offer behavioral segmentation and dynamic content easily. Do they have AI features that could benefit you? These can save time and improve results, especially if you have a small team. 
• User Experience and Support: If you don’t have dedicated technical staff, a simpler UI might let your marketing managers execute campaigns without frustration. Some vendors provide great onboarding resources, tutorials, and even one-on-one training. Consider negotiating for those if you need them.
• Customer Support: Enterprise-focused platforms offer dedicated support, but often at additional cost or slower turnaround unless you have premium support. It’s best to review specifically about support experiences.

Train The Tech Thoughtfully

Regardless of which platform you prefer, success with marketing automation stems not only from the tool itself but also from how you utilize it. Automation doesn’t mean set it and forget it forever; it means you can constantly iterate and improve outcomes. 

CleverTap provides marketers with a competitive advantage through its real-time, AI-driven approach to engagement. It empowers you to create omnichannel campaigns that respond instantly to user behavior, and the system’s intelligence helps optimize when to reach out, on which channel, with what message. 

However, the best platform for you is the one that aligns with your goals. Evaluate your options and choose the product intelligently. Remember, it’s just a start toward making your marketing smarter and better. 

Start with CleverTap. Schedule a demo today!