GetResponse and Marketo both call themselves marketing automation platforms, but they are built for very different companies. GetResponse started as an email tool for small businesses and grew into an all-in-one platform with automation, landing pages, webinars, and a website builder, starting at $19 a month. Marketo, now Adobe Marketo Engage, is an enterprise B2B platform sold on custom contracts that typically run well into five figures a year.
This comparison was updated in October 2026 with current plans, prices, and features, so you can decide which one fits a small business, a blog, or a growing team.
GetResponse vs Marketo at a Glance
| GetResponse | Adobe Marketo Engage | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Small businesses, creators, ecommerce | Enterprise B2B marketing teams |
| Starting price | $19/month (Starter, 1,000 contacts) | Custom quote (commonly $1,000+/month) |
| Email marketing | Yes, all plans | Yes |
| Automation workflows | Unlimited from Marketer ($59/month) | Yes, very advanced |
| Landing pages | All plans | Yes |
| Webinars | Built in (Creator plan) | Via integrations only |
| Website builder | Yes (Creator plan) | No |
| Ecommerce tools | Yes (Marketer and up) | Limited |
| CRM integration | Via integrations | Native Salesforce, Dynamics, Veeva |
| Account-based marketing | No | Yes (Prime and Ultimate) |
| Learning curve | Low | High, often needs a consultant |
| Free trial | 30 days | Demo only |
What Is Marketing Automation?
Online marketing is a long list of repetitive tasks: sending welcome emails, following up with people who downloaded a lead magnet, reminding shoppers about abandoned carts, scoring which leads are ready to buy. Marketing automation software runs those tasks for you from rules you set once. For a small business where the owner is also the marketer, it replaces the extra staff you cannot afford to hire.
At minimum, that covers email sequences, lead capture forms and landing pages, segmenting subscribers by behavior, and reporting on what works. Both tools do this. The differences are in price, depth, and who they are designed for.
What GetResponse Offers
GetResponse is an all-in-one platform. The plans in 2026 are Starter ($19/month), Marketer ($59/month), Creator ($69/month), and Enterprise (custom), all priced for 1,000 contacts and rising with list size. Annual billing takes about 18 percent off.
Email marketing and AI
Every plan includes a drag and drop email editor, templates, autoresponders, and AI generators for emails and subject lines (Starter limits AI to a few uses). Deliverability is consistently among the best in independent tests.
Automation workflows
The visual workflow builder uses conditions, actions, and filters to build sequences such as “if they clicked the pricing link, tag as hot and send the case study.” Starter gives you one custom workflow; Marketer and above are unlimited, with lead scoring, tagging, and abandoned cart automation.
Landing pages, forms, and a website builder
Landing pages and signup forms are on every plan. The Creator plan adds a full website builder with AI, so a new business can run its site, pages, and email from one login.
Webinars
GetResponse is the only mainstream email platform with webinars built in. The Creator plan includes live webinars for up to 300 attendees with registration pages, chat, polls, screen sharing, and recordings, which replaces a separate Zoom or WebinarJam subscription.
Ecommerce and analytics
Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and PrestaShop integrations sync products and orders, so you can send abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, and promo codes. Reporting covers opens, clicks, conversions, and revenue per email.
For setup help, see our GetResponse review and the guide to setting up GetResponse.
What Marketo Offers
Adobe bought Marketo in 2018 and sells it as Adobe Marketo Engage in four packages: Growth, Select, Prime, and Ultimate. Prices are not published; every deal is a custom quote based on database size and features, and it is sold to companies with a dedicated marketing team and usually a sales team using Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics.
Lead management and scoring
This is where Marketo is far ahead. It scores leads on behavior and fit, routes them to sales in the CRM, and tracks every touch from first visit to closed deal with multi-touch attribution. Prime and Ultimate add account-based marketing for selling to named companies, and AI-driven personalization.
Email and landing pages
Marketo has email programs, A/B testing, dynamic content, and a landing page builder with templates. They work well but are less polished than GetResponse’s editors, and most teams build their main website elsewhere.
Events and webinars
Marketo does not host webinars itself. It integrates with Zoom, ON24, GoToWebinar, and others to pull registration and attendance data into lead scoring, which means a separate webinar subscription.
Marketing calendar and team tools
The marketing calendar, program templates, and approval workflows are built for coordinating many campaigns across a team. The old SEO module shown in the original version of this post has been retired.
The Major Differences
- Price: GetResponse starts at $19 a month and a small business with 5,000 contacts pays well under $100 a month. Marketo contracts are quoted individually and generally start in the tens of thousands of dollars per year, plus implementation.
- Audience: GetResponse is for small businesses, bloggers, creators, and online stores. Marketo is for B2B companies with a sales team and a CRM.
- Ease of use: You can build a GetResponse workflow in an afternoon. Marketo usually involves training, a certified admin, or an agency.
- What is included: GetResponse bundles webinars, a website builder, and ecommerce tools. Marketo expects you to integrate separate tools for each.
- Depth: Marketo’s lead scoring, attribution, and CRM sync are in a different league for a company that needs them.
Which Should You Choose?
If you are a small business, a blogger, a coach, or an online store, choose GetResponse. It has every feature you will use for years, you can start on the free trial today, and the Marketer plan at $59 a month gives you unlimited automation.
Choose Marketo only if you have a B2B sales team, a CRM, a marketing budget that treats $20,000 a year as reasonable, and someone whose job is to run it. In that situation, HubSpot Marketing Hub is also worth a quote as the easier-to-use rival.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Marketo cost?
Adobe does not publish prices. Based on customer reports, Marketo Engage typically starts around $1,000 a month for the smallest package and scales with database size and features, with implementation costs on top.
Does GetResponse have a free plan?
There is a 30-day free trial of every plan but no permanent free plan. The Starter plan is $19 a month for 1,000 contacts.
Is GetResponse good for ecommerce?
Yes. The Marketer plan and above include store integrations, abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, and promo codes.
What are the alternatives to both?
For small businesses: ActiveCampaign (stronger automation than GetResponse, no webinars), MailerLite (cheaper, simpler), and Kit for creators. For enterprise: HubSpot Marketing Hub, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot), and Oracle Eloqua.
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