Why look beyond Demandbase
Demandbase is an established platform for account-based experience (ABX), offering tools for account identification, advertising, sales intelligence, and website personalization. Organizations often consider alternatives when their specific requirements diverge from Demandbase's core offerings or when evaluating cost-effectiveness in relation to feature sets. Factors driving this exploration include the need for more specialized capabilities in areas like programmatic advertising, broader CRM integration, or analytics platforms with different user experience tracking mechanisms. Some businesses might find Demandbase's custom enterprise pricing model less flexible for their budget constraints, seeking solutions that offer tiered pricing or more transparent cost structures. Additionally, companies with existing extensive tech stacks may prioritize platforms with deeper native integrations or SDKs that streamline data flow and workflow automation, reducing the overhead of custom development or middleware solutions.
Top alternatives ranked
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1. Terminus — An integrated ABM platform for B2B growth
Terminus positions itself as an integrated ABM platform, providing tools for account identification, engagement, and measurement. Its offerings include account-based advertising, email marketing, chat, and sales insights, aiming to support B2B sales and marketing teams across the entire customer journey. Terminus emphasizes its ability to unify various ABM tactics into a single platform, which can streamline campaign execution and reporting. The platform integrates with major CRMs and marketing automation systems, facilitating data synchronization and workflow automation. Terminus focuses on providing actionable insights to optimize account engagement and drive pipeline growth. Their platform overview details capabilities for targeting, engaging, and measuring ABM success.
- Best for: B2B companies seeking a comprehensive ABM platform with integrated advertising and sales tools.
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2. RollWorks — ABM for mid-market and enterprise businesses
RollWorks, an an AdRoll company, offers an account-based platform designed to help B2B organizations attract, engage, and convert target accounts. Its features include account identification and scoring, multi-channel engagement (digital advertising, email, website personalization), and detailed analytics. RollWorks leverages intent data and machine learning to help businesses prioritize accounts and deliver personalized experiences. The platform aims to align sales and marketing teams by providing shared account-level insights and enabling coordinated outreach. Integration capabilities with popular CRMs and marketing automation platforms are a core component, supporting a unified view of account activity. RollWorks provides a platform overview detailing its account-based marketing capabilities.
- Best for: Mid-market and enterprise B2B companies focused on scalable ABM strategies and sales-marketing alignment.
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3. 6sense — AI-driven account engagement and sales intelligence
6sense offers an Account Engagement Platform that utilizes artificial intelligence and proprietary intent data to identify anonymous buyer journeys and predict which accounts are most likely to buy. The platform provides capabilities for account identification, predictive analytics, multi-channel engagement (display advertising, email, web personalization), and sales intelligence. 6sense aims to give sales and marketing teams a unified view of account activity and buying stage, enabling personalized outreach and more efficient resource allocation. Its focus on uncovering hidden buyer intent is a distinguishing feature, designed to help businesses engage accounts proactively. Further details on their AI-driven approach are available on the 6sense platform page.
- Best for: B2B organizations requiring advanced AI and intent data for predictive analytics and proactive account engagement.
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4. Salesforce — Comprehensive CRM with extensive marketing and sales clouds
Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform offering a broad suite of applications for sales, service, marketing, analytics, and app development. While not an ABM platform in itself, Salesforce's Marketing Cloud and Sales Cloud provide foundational capabilities that can be configured for ABM strategies. Marketing Cloud offers tools for email marketing, journey builder, advertising studio, and analytics, while Sales Cloud manages leads, opportunities, and customer accounts. Its extensive ecosystem of third-party integrations via the AppExchange, along with its powerful API, allows businesses to build custom ABM solutions. Salesforce's strength lies in its comprehensive customer data management and its ability to serve as a central hub for all customer interactions. Developers can explore its capabilities through the Salesforce Developer Documentation.
- Best for: Large enterprises needing a robust, customizable CRM foundation for integrated sales, marketing, and service operations, adaptable for ABM.
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5. Google Marketing Platform — Unified advertising and analytics for large enterprises
Google Marketing Platform (GMP) is an integrated suite of advertising and analytics products designed for enterprise marketers. It brings together tools like Display & Video 360 (DV360), Search Ads 360, Analytics 360, and Tag Manager 360. GMP provides capabilities for programmatic media buying, search advertising, advanced analytics, and tag management across various channels. While not explicitly an ABM platform, its components, particularly DV360, can be used to execute highly targeted advertising campaigns to specific accounts. Analytics 360 provides in-depth insights into website and app performance, which can inform ABM strategies. GMP's strength lies in its comprehensive data integration and measurement capabilities across Google's advertising ecosystem. More information can be found on the Google Marketing Platform support portal.
- Best for: Large enterprises seeking integrated advertising, analytics, and measurement solutions for cross-channel campaigns, including targeted B2B advertising.
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6. DV360 — Advanced programmatic advertising for display, video, and audio
Display & Video 360 (DV360) is Google's demand-side platform (DSP) for programmatic advertising, part of the Google Marketing Platform. It enables advertisers to plan, execute, and measure display, video, audio, and other inventory in one place. DV360 offers advanced audience targeting capabilities, including custom audiences, first-party data integration, and third-party data segments, which can be leveraged for account-based advertising. Its features include extensive inventory access, brand safety controls, and optimization tools powered by machine learning. While primarily an advertising platform, its precise targeting and measurement capabilities make it suitable for executing the advertising component of an ABM strategy. DV360 provides comprehensive tools for managing campaign creatives, bids, and budgets. Information on its functionalities is available on the DV360 Help Center.
- Best for: Businesses focused on executing large-scale, highly targeted programmatic advertising campaigns to specific accounts as part of an ABM strategy.
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7. Google Ads — Search and display advertising with precise targeting
Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. It places ads in the results of search engines like Google Search (Search Network) and on non-search websites, mobile apps, and video content (Display Network and YouTube). While commonly associated with broader consumer advertising, Google Ads provides robust targeting options, including geographic, demographic, and audience-based (e.g., in-market audiences, custom intent audiences), which can be adapted for B2B account targeting. For ABM, Google Ads can be used to target individuals at specific companies or within industries with relevant search terms and display ads. Its extensive reach and detailed reporting features make it a viable option for driving targeted traffic and brand awareness. The Google Ads Help Center provides resources for platform usage and optimization.
- Best for: Companies looking for targeted search and display advertising capabilities to reach specific B2B audiences and drive account engagement.
Side-by-side
| Feature | Demandbase | Terminus | RollWorks | 6sense | Salesforce | Google Marketing Platform | DV360 | Google Ads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Focus | ABX Platform | Integrated ABM | ABM Platform | AI-driven ABM | CRM & Business Apps | Integrated Ad & Analytics | Programmatic DSP | Search & Display Ads |
| Account ID & Targeting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (AI/Intent) | Via Sales/Marketing Cloud | Via Audience Tools | Advanced Audience Targeting | Keyword/Audience Targeting |
| Advertising (Native) | Display, Native | Display, Native, Email | Display, Native | Display, Native | Via Marketing Cloud | Integrated DSP (DV360) | Primary Function | Search, Display, Video |
| Sales Intelligence | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Primary CRM Function | No | No | No |
| Website Personalization | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Via Marketing Cloud | No | No | No |
| CRM Integration | Standard | Standard | Standard | Standard | Native | Via Connectors | Via Connectors | Via Connectors |
| AI & Predictive Analytics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Primary Feature | Einstein AI | Via Analytics 360 | Optimization Algorithms | Automated Bidding |
| Compliance | SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA | GDPR, CCPA (typical) | GDPR, CCPA (typical) | GDPR, CCPA (typical) | SOC 2, ISO, GDPR, CCPA | GDPR, CCPA | GDPR, CCPA | GDPR, CCPA |
| Pricing Model | Custom Enterprise | Custom Enterprise | Custom Enterprise | Custom Enterprise | Tiered/Custom | Custom Enterprise | Custom Enterprise | Bid-based (Pay-per-click) |
How to pick
Selecting an alternative to Demandbase involves assessing your organization's specific B2B marketing and sales objectives, budget, and existing technology stack. Consider these decision paths:
For dedicated, comprehensive ABM platforms:
- If your primary need is an integrated platform that unifies ABM advertising, sales intelligence, and engagement, evaluate Terminus, RollWorks, or 6sense. These platforms offer specific features designed for account-based strategies.
- Prioritize 6sense if advanced AI, predictive analytics, and intent data are critical for identifying in-market accounts and informing proactive engagement.
- Choose Terminus or RollWorks if you need robust multi-channel engagement capabilities and a focus on aligning sales and marketing teams within a dedicated ABM framework.
For enhancing existing CRM and marketing infrastructure:
- If you already have a strong CRM foundation and need to build out ABM capabilities using an extensible platform, Salesforce is a strong contender. Its Marketing Cloud can be configured for ABM, and its extensive ecosystem supports custom integrations. This path is suitable for organizations that prefer to centralize all customer data and interactions within a single, highly customizable system.
For advanced programmatic advertising and integrated analytics:
- If your strategy heavily relies on large-scale, targeted digital advertising and comprehensive cross-channel measurement, consider Google Marketing Platform or its component, DV360. These are ideal for organizations with significant ad spend that require granular control over programmatic campaigns and integrated analytics across Google's ecosystem. DV360 is particularly suited for executing the advertising component of an ABM strategy with high precision.
- For more general search and display advertising to B2B audiences, Google Ads offers broad reach and strong targeting capabilities, serving as a cost-effective way to drive traffic and awareness to specific accounts.
Considerations for all choices:
- Integration needs: Evaluate how well each alternative integrates with your current CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot), marketing automation (e.g., Marketo, Pardot), and other essential sales and marketing tools. Look for native connectors or robust APIs that minimize integration complexity.
- Reporting and analytics: Assess the depth of reporting and analytics offered. Can you track account-level engagement, measure campaign ROI, and gain actionable insights to optimize your ABM strategy?
- Pricing model: Most dedicated ABM platforms and enterprise-level solutions operate on custom enterprise pricing. Be prepared for a detailed discovery process to obtain a quote. For advertising platforms like Google Ads, costs are typically bid-based.
- Scalability: Consider your future growth. Can the platform scale with your increasing number of target accounts, campaigns, and data volume?
- Developer experience: For custom integrations or extended functionalities, review the availability and quality of APIs, SDKs, and developer documentation.