Digital Marketing Tools: 20 Best Tools Compared by Category (2026)

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Key takeaways:
  • Digital marketing tools fall into seven categories: B2B data, email and automation, SEO, analytics and conversion, social media, content and AI, and paid advertising.

  • Several strong tools start free, including HubSpot, Mailchimp, Buffer, Canva, Typeform, Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console.

  • Tools that connect to your CRM keep campaign data and contact data in one place, which makes reporting and attribution possible.

  • B2B teams add a data layer for targeting, so every channel reaches the right accounts at the moment they show buying intent.

  • Start with one tool per category and add more only when a channel proves it drives pipeline.

Digital marketing tools are the software teams use to plan, run and measure campaigns across search, email, social, advertising and the web. The best digital marketing tools for 2026, by category, are:

  • B2B data and ABM: ZoomInfo

  • Email marketing and automation: HubSpot, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and Zapier

  • SEO: Semrush, Ahrefs and Google Search Console

  • Analytics and conversion: Google Analytics 4, Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar), Unbounce and Typeform

  • Social media: Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Buffer

  • Content and AI: Canva, ChatGPT and Jasper

  • Paid advertising: Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads

Each tool below covers what it does, who it suits and whether it has a free plan or trial, checked on the vendor's own site in October 2026. If you're building a stack specifically for B2B demand generation, our list of B2B marketing tools goes deeper on account-based and pipeline tools.

What Are Digital Marketing Tools?

Digital marketing tools are software platforms that help you plan, execute and measure marketing campaigns across online channels. They cover everything from finding the right audience to publishing content, sending email, running ads and tracking which activities turn into pipeline.

Core capabilities include:

  • Audience targeting: Identifying ideal customers using company data, intent signals and behavior

  • Content creation: Building landing pages, visuals and copy without technical skills

  • Campaign automation: Running email sequences, social posts and nurture flows without manual work

  • Analytics and tracking: Monitoring traffic, behavior and conversion paths

  • Performance measurement: Tracking ROI, attribution and pipeline contribution across channels

How We Chose These Digital Marketing Tools

We picked each tool against five criteria:

  • Category coverage: At least one strong option for each channel a marketing team runs

  • Free access: Whether the tool has a free plan or free trial, checked on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026

  • Integrations: Native connections to CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot, so data moves between tools

  • B2B fit: Features for lead capture, account targeting and pipeline reporting

  • AI features: Built-in AI that saves time on writing, analysis or targeting

Digital Marketing Tools Comparison Table

Here's how the 20 tools compare:

Tool

Category

Best for

Free option

ZoomInfo

B2B data and ABM

Account targeting, intent and ABM

Free to start on GTM.AI

HubSpot

CRM and marketing automation

CRM and marketing in one platform

Free CRM and marketing tools

Mailchimp

Email marketing

Email and SMS for small businesses

Free plan

ActiveCampaign

Marketing automation

Multi-step nurture sequences

14-day free trial

Zapier

Workflow automation

Connecting tools without code

Free plan

Semrush

SEO and AI search

SEO and AI search visibility

Free plan with daily limits

Ahrefs

SEO

Competitive research and AI visibility

Ahrefs Free for your own sites

Google Search Console

SEO

Monitoring your search performance

Free

Google Analytics 4

Web analytics

Traffic and conversion measurement

Free

Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar)

Behavior analytics

Finding friction on key pages

Free plan

Unbounce

Landing pages

Testing campaign landing pages

14-day free trial

Typeform

Forms and surveys

Lead capture forms and quizzes

Free plan

Hootsuite

Social media management

Many accounts with approval steps

14-day free trial

Sprout Social

Social media management

Social reporting and customer care

30-day free trial

Buffer

Social scheduling

Small teams posting consistently

Free plan

Canva

Design

On-brand visuals without a designer

Free plan

ChatGPT

AI assistant

Research, drafts and analysis

Free plan

Jasper

AI content

On-brand content at scale

7-day free trial

Google Ads

Paid search and display

Capturing active search demand

No subscription, pay for ad spend

LinkedIn Ads

Paid social

Targeting B2B roles and accounts

No subscription, pay for ad spend

B2B Data and ABM Tools

B2B data tools tell the rest of your stack who to target and when. Without them, email, ads and social campaigns reach whoever happens to be on a list.

1. ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is the all-in-one AI GTM Platform. For marketers, it supplies the accounts, contacts and buying signals the rest of your stack can run on. Its data covers 500M contacts and 100M companies. The GTM Context Graph processes 1.5B+ data points daily to show which accounts are researching your category right now. Teams reach that intelligence through GTM Workspace for sellers and GTM Studio for marketers and RevOps. GTM.AI brings it into any AI tool or agent through API and MCP.

ZoomInfo Marketing is ZoomInfo's ABM platform, built on the same data foundation as ZoomInfo Sales. It stacks real-time buyer signals, such as competitor research, pricing page visits and hiring activity, to spot when an account is ready to engage. When a signal fires, GTM Studio routes the account, launches campaigns and triggers rep actions across channels. Programmatic ads go live across the open web at the same moment. From there, Agent Teams can run the full play, with specialist agents handling research, qualification and outreach. They work natively in Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Salesloft, Slack and Gmail.

product-graphic-zoominfo-marketing-plays

Best for: B2B marketing teams running ABM, demand generation and paid targeting that need accurate account and contact data.

Key features include:

  • Advanced audience targeting with firmographic, technographic, intent and engagement data

  • Cross-channel display and social advertising using 300+ company attributes

  • Site visitor identification for anonymous website traffic

  • Web form enrichment (FormComplete) and website chat

  • Signal-triggered plays in GTM Studio and complete plays run by Agent Teams

Pricing: ZoomInfo offers flexible packages built around your needs. GTM.AI is free to start, with consumption-based credits.

Free option: GTM.AI is free to start.

smartsheet-logo-clean

"ZoomInfo is our one source of truth for account data, and even more so for contact data. There's no other provider in the market that provides you with that level of detail."

Thor Sanderson, Senior Manager of Sales Technology Enablement, Smartsheet

Increased40%+increase in form fills on every multi-field form using ZoomInfo FormComplete
Read case study

Email Marketing and Automation Tools

These tools send campaigns, nurture leads and move data between your apps. For a deeper comparison, see our guide to B2B marketing automation platforms.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot Marketing Hub calls itself the platform where your CRM, content and campaigns work together. Email, landing pages, forms, social, ads, WhatsApp and SMS all run on HubSpot's CRM. Every open, form fill and page view lands on the contact record. Audience Segments find anonymous website visitors by fit and intent, and Form Shortening skips the fields the CRM already knows for returning visitors.

The Professional plan adds AI agents across the funnel. The Content Agent creates blog posts, social content and landing pages in your brand voice. The Nurture Agent rewrites each nurture email for the contact receiving it, and the Campaign Agent plans a full campaign from a goal. Marketing Studio pulls planning, content and nurture into one conversation, and HubSpot AEO shows how your brand appears in AI answer engines. See how the two platforms compare in HubSpot vs ZoomInfo.

product-graphic-hubspot-nurture-agent-email

Best for: Small and mid-market teams that want CRM and marketing in one system.

Key features include:

  • Content, Nurture, Customer and Campaign Agents (Professional and up)

  • Marketing Studio for planning and running campaigns (Professional and up)

  • HubSpot AEO for visibility in AI answer engines (Professional and up)

  • Audience Segments for anonymous visitors by fit and intent

  • Multi-touch attribution and customer journey analytics (Professional and up)

Pricing: Starter is priced per seat, while Professional and Enterprise include a set number of seats. Each paid plan includes a monthly allowance of HubSpot Credits for AI agents.

Free option: Free CRM with email campaigns, lead capture forms and live chat, no card needed. Paid marketing tools have a 14-day free trial.

3. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email and SMS marketing platform built for small businesses and ecommerce brands. Its Marketing Automation Flows (formerly Customer Journey Builder) turn welcome series, abandoned cart reminders and win-back emails into automated journeys. You can start from 60+ flow templates. A one-click site tracking pixel for Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce and custom sites feeds visitor behavior into those flows.

Mailchimp with Intuit Intelligence adds Analytics AI, which explains in plain language which campaigns drive revenue and recommends the next move. On Standard and Premium plans, connectors let you build email and SMS campaigns from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google Workspace. Our roundup of email marketing platforms compares more B2B-focused options. For a head-to-head, see ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp.

product-graphic-mailchimp-automation-flows

Best for: Small businesses and ecommerce teams running email and SMS from one platform.

Key features include:

  • Marketing Automation Flows with 60+ templates

  • Advanced and predictive segmentation

  • Generative AI for email copy and subject lines (Standard and Premium)

  • Analytics AI that explains what drives revenue (Standard and Premium)

  • Connectors for ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity (Standard and Premium)

Pricing: Essentials, Standard and Premium plans are priced by contact count, with monthly send limits tied to each tier. A Pay As You Go plan suits infrequent senders.

Free option: Free plan for up to 250 contacts.

4. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign positions its platform as marketing automation that handles strategy as well as tasks. Active Intelligence, its AI layer, monitors customer behavior, engagement and campaign performance. It then adjusts journeys in real time. Describe your goal, and the AI Campaign Builder creates the layout, copy, subject lines and images for a full campaign.

The visual builder uses split and conditional actions to route contacts down different paths based on what they do. A Business Goals agent tracks progress against your objectives and recommends next steps. Campaigns run across email, SMS, WhatsApp, social and web, and the platform connects to 950+ apps through its integrations. Our ActiveCampaign review covers it in more depth.

product-graphic-activecampaign-automation-builder

Best for: Teams building multi-step, behavior-based nurture sequences.

Key features include:

  • Active Intelligence AI agents that build and optimize campaigns

  • AI Campaign Builder from a plain-language prompt

  • Split and conditional automation paths

  • Business Goals tracking with next-step recommendations

  • Predictive sending and conditional content (Pro plan and up)

Pricing: Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise plans are priced by contact count, and every plan includes AI credits. Cross-channel marketing starts on Plus, and predictive sending starts on Pro.

Free option: 14-day free trial, no card needed.

5. Zapier

Zapier connects 9,000+ apps so your CRM, email, ads and analytics tools share data without manual exports. Marketing teams use it to capture leads from any form and score them on behavior. Zaps then route each lead to the right rep and trigger personalized follow-up emails.

You can describe the automation you want in plain language, and Zapier's AI builds the workflow. Paths and Filters add if/then logic, while Formatter and code steps use AI to transform data or write custom code. Webhooks connect services with no native integration, and Zapier MCP lets assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude act in your apps. See the full list of Zapier features. Our roundup of Zapier integrations covers the best picks for GTM teams.

product-graphic-zapier-lead-routing-paths

Best for: Teams connecting tools that don't integrate natively.

Key features include:

  • 9,000+ app integrations

  • AI that builds workflows from a description

  • Paths and Filters for if/then logic

  • Formatter and code steps with AI

  • Webhooks and Zapier MCP

Pricing: Paid plans unlock multi-step workflows and higher task volumes.

Free option: Free plan.

SEO Tools

SEO tools show which keywords to target, how your pages rank and which technical issues hold them back. They're also where teams now track visibility in AI-generated answers.

6. Semrush

Semrush helps teams build and measure brand visibility wherever search happens, across Google and AI assistants. The platform covers keyword and prompt research, competitor analysis and market analysis. It also handles content creation, technical site health, digital PR, backlink analysis and rank tracking.

AI visibility now sits at the center of its plans. Semrush tracks how your brand performs across Google Search, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. It also monitors AI brand sentiment and tracks custom prompts daily. Semrush MCP brings its traffic and visibility data into your AI assistants.

product-graphic-semrush-ai-seo-improvements

Best for: Teams managing SEO and AI search visibility from one platform.

Key features include:

  • Keyword and prompt research

  • AI visibility tracking across Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini

  • AI brand sentiment monitoring

  • Site Audit and Position Tracking

  • Semrush MCP for AI assistants (Starter plan and up)

Pricing: SEO, Starter, Pro+ and Advanced plans are priced by the number of websites, tracked keywords and AI prompts. Enterprise is custom, and add-ons cover extra users and reporting.

Free option: Free plan with 10 reports a day, no card needed. Paid plans have a 7-day free trial.

7. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an AI marketing platform built on its own web index and 10+ years of web-scale data. Site Explorer studies any competitor's website, and Keywords Explorer shows what your customers search for. Rank Tracker and GSC Insights monitor rankings, while Site Audit checks your site for technical and on-page issues.

Brand Radar tracks your brand's visibility in LLMs, and custom prompt tracking monitors the AI prompts that matter to you. Web Analytics and Bot Analytics show who and what visits your site. Lite and higher plans include API and MCP access. For more options across SEO and site performance, see our list of website marketing tools.

product-graphic-ahrefs-brand-radar-ai-visibility

Best for: Competitive research and AI visibility tracking.

Key features include:

  • Site Explorer and Keywords Explorer

  • Brand Radar for visibility in LLMs

  • Custom AI prompt tracking

  • Site Audit with always-on auditing

  • Web Analytics and Bot Analytics

Pricing: Starter, Lite, Standard, Advanced and Enterprise plans scale by projects, tracked keywords, AI prompt checks and users. Brand Radar AI and custom prompt packages are sold separately.

Free option: Ahrefs Free for your own verified sites.

8. Google Search Console

Google Search Console helps you measure your site's search traffic, fix issues and improve how your pages appear in Google. Search Analytics shows which queries bring people to your site, with impressions, clicks and position for each query and page.

You can submit sitemaps and individual URLs and review index coverage. The URL Inspection tool shows crawl, index and serving details straight from Google's index. Email alerts flag issues as Google finds them, and reports cover Core Web Vitals and rich results.

product-graphic-google-search-console-performance

Best for: Monitoring your own search performance and indexing.

Key features include:

  • Search Analytics for queries, impressions, clicks and position

  • Sitemap and URL submission

  • Index coverage reports

  • URL Inspection tool

  • Core Web Vitals and rich results reports

Pricing: There are no paid tiers.

Free option: Free to use with a Google account.

Analytics and Conversion Tools

Analytics tools show what visitors do on your site, and conversion tools help turn that traffic into leads. To connect these numbers to revenue, see our guide to tracking B2B marketing metrics.

9. Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 helps you understand the customer journey across your sites and apps, free of charge. Real-time, acquisition, engagement and monetization reports show where visitors come from and what they do.

Built-in automation adds predictive capabilities, proactive insights and privacy-safe modeling, and you can ask questions about your data in plain language. Explorations support funnel, path and cohort analysis, and the Advertising workspace compares attribution models. Raw data exports to BigQuery, and GA4 integrates with Google Ads, Search Console and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. GA4 tracks users and sessions, so B2B teams add website visitor tracking tools to see which companies visit.

Best for: Website traffic and conversion measurement.

Key features include:

  • Cross-platform measurement across web and app

  • Predictive capabilities and proactive insights

  • Explorations for funnel, path and cohort analysis

  • Attribution in the Advertising workspace

  • BigQuery export and Google Ads integration

Pricing: Analytics 360 is the paid enterprise version, with higher limits and extra reporting features.

Free option: The standard version of GA4 is free.

10. Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar)

Hotjar is now Contentsquare, and new users sign up on Contentsquare's free plan. It keeps everything Hotjar was known for, including heatmaps, session replay and surveys. It adds Attention Maps that show real engagement and funnels that pinpoint drop-off. Error and performance monitoring ties bugs and slow pages to lost conversions.

Sense AI summarizes heatmaps and recordings and answers questions about your data in plain language. For marketers, Contentsquare maps customer journeys by acquisition channel and shows which content drives conversions. It also imports campaign segments from Google or Adobe, and an MCP connection lets you query the data from ChatGPT or Claude. Compare your results against landing page conversion rate benchmarks.

product-graphic-contentsquare-heatmap

Best for: Finding friction on landing pages and key site flows.

Key features include:

  • Heatmaps and Attention Maps

  • Session replay

  • Funnels for drop-off analysis

  • Surveys and user interviews

  • Sense AI summaries and questions

Pricing: The paid Growth plan adds impact quantification. Pro and Enterprise add journey analysis and Contentsquare AI.

Free option: Free plan covering up to 200,000 sessions a month, no card needed.

11. Unbounce

Unbounce is an AI-powered landing page builder for marketers and agencies. You can prompt with AI, customize one of 100+ templates or build from scratch with the drag-and-drop builder. Popups and sticky bars can go on any page of your site.

A/B testing compares page variants, and Smart Traffic uses AI to send each visitor to the page most likely to convert. An AI copywriting assistant refines copy inside the builder. The Unbounce MCP server lets you run tests, deploy winners and pull reports from Claude or ChatGPT. Our guide to landing page marketing covers how to build pages that convert.

product-graphic-unbounce-mcp-landing-page

Best for: Paid campaign landing pages that need fast testing.

Key features include:

  • AI and drag-and-drop builder with 100+ templates

  • A/B testing and dynamic text replacement (Experiment plan and up)

  • Smart Traffic AI routing (Optimize plan)

  • MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT

  • Popups, sticky bars and AI copywriting

Pricing: Starter, Build, Experiment and Optimize plans are priced by traffic volume, pages and AI credits. Concierge and Agency plans are custom.

Free option: 14-day free trial, no card needed.

12. Typeform

Typeform describes itself as a platform for AI forms and workflows. You build a form from a prompt or a template and collect responses with conditional logic and hidden fields. New and existing leads are organized in a Contacts Hub.

After the form, AI compares response data and identifies customer segments. Automatic workflows score and route leads and send follow-up emails, and higher plans add built-in data enrichment. Typeform connects to 150+ apps, including HubSpot, Salesforce and Google Sheets. For more options, see our list of lead capture software.

product-graphic-typeform-lead-enrichment

Best for: Lead capture forms, quizzes and customer research.

Key features include:

  • AI form creation from a prompt

  • Conditional logic, hidden fields and scoring

  • Automated lead scoring and routing

  • Built-in data enrichment (Growth Flow plan)

  • 150+ integrations, including HubSpot and Salesforce

Pricing: Basic, Plus, Business and Growth Flow plans are priced by monthly responses and seats, and Enterprise is custom. A Contacts and Automations add-on is available on Plus and up.

Free option: Free plan.

Social Media Tools

Social media tools schedule posts, manage conversations and report on performance across networks. If you need to make the business case, see whether social media really generates revenue.

13. Hootsuite

Hootsuite's Social OS brings five products together. Perch handles content creation, planning and publishing, and Nest runs the social inbox and customer care. Lumen covers insights and listening, Wisdom is the social-first AI and Parliament powers employee advocacy.

Teams track trends, conversations and competitors, then ask Wisdom questions in plain language. Answers come from their own social data, accounts and customer conversations. Professional plans and up forecast social trends up to 90 days ahead and automate inbox replies. MCP connectors let you run Hootsuite from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini, and 100+ integrations connect the rest of your stack.

product-graphic-hootsuite-social-os

Best for: Teams managing many accounts that need listening and approval steps.

Key features include:

  • Perch for planning, scheduling and publishing

  • Nest inbox for messages and customer care

  • Lumen for social listening and competitive insights

  • Wisdom AI teammate and MCP connectors

  • Parliament for employee advocacy

Pricing: Standard, Professional and Advanced plans are priced per user and billed annually, and Enterprise is custom. Standard covers 10 social accounts, and higher plans are unlimited.

Free option: 14-day free trial, no card needed.

14. Sprout Social

Sprout Social combines publishing, engagement and analytics in one platform. The Smart Inbox brings messages and reviews into one view, and publishing tools recommend optimal send times. Trellis, Sprout's AI agent, turns social data into clear answers.

Add-ons extend it for larger teams. Listening uses AI to surface topics, sentiment and spikes across millions of conversations, and Premium Analytics builds custom reports that prove ROI. Employee Advocacy gives staff on-brand content to share, which supports social selling. Integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot connect social conversations to customer records.

product-graphic-sprout-social-trellis-chat

Best for: Teams that need social reporting and customer care in one place.

Key features include:

  • Smart Inbox with review management

  • Publishing with optimal send times

  • Trellis AI agent

  • Listening and Premium Analytics add-ons

  • Employee Advocacy add-on

Pricing: Essentials, Standard, Professional and Advanced plans are priced per seat, and Enterprise is custom. Listening, Premium Analytics and Employee Advocacy are add-ons on Standard and up.

Free option: 30-day free trial, no card needed.

15. Buffer

Buffer is a social media workspace that publishes to 12 platforms. They include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, YouTube Shorts, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Mastodon, X and Substack. You collect ideas, draft and repurpose posts with the AI Assistant, and schedule them from a queue or calendar.

The community inbox lets you reply to comments across channels, with AI replies that learn your voice. Insights cover growth, engagement and post performance, with AI Takeaways on what to post next. You can also connect Buffer to Claude or ChatGPT to pull performance data and send posts straight to your queue. For ideas on what to publish, see our guide to high-performing social content.

product-graphic-buffer-ai-ideas

Best for: Small teams posting consistently across several channels.

Key features include:

  • Publishing to 12 platforms

  • AI Assistant and Ideas board

  • Community inbox with AI replies

  • Insights with AI Takeaways

  • MCP connection to Claude and ChatGPT

Pricing: Essentials and Team plans are priced per channel. Team adds unlimited users and approval workflows.

Free option: Free plan for up to three channels, no card needed.

Content and AI Tools

Content and AI tools speed up design, writing and research. For a wider list, see our roundup of AI marketing tools.

16. Canva

Canva is a design platform with a drag-and-drop editor, 1,000+ design types and millions of templates, photos, videos and graphics. Marketing teams use it to produce social posts, ads, presentations and video without waiting on design.

Canva AI turns a prompt into a design, and on paid plans its AI tools resize and translate designs and remove backgrounds. Brand Kits keep logos, colors and fonts consistent, and the Business plan adds brand approvals. Every plan includes ad insights and AI ad creation, and paid plans add social content scheduling.

product-graphic-canva-magic-design-brand

Best for: Non-designers creating on-brand visuals quickly.

Key features include:

  • 1.6M+ templates on the free plan

  • Canva AI and Magic Studio design tools

  • Brand Kits, with approvals on the Business plan

  • Ad insights and AI ad creation

  • Social content scheduling (Pro and up)

Pricing: Pro and Business are priced per person, and Enterprise is custom. An AI Pass add-on gives Pro and Business users more AI usage.

Free option: Free plan with a limited number of AI uses.

17. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is OpenAI's AI assistant for chatting, working and coding in one place. Marketers use it to turn rough notes into polished copy, search the web, brainstorm campaign ideas and create images from a prompt.

Deep research gathers and summarizes information on a topic, and data analysis works through spreadsheets and exports. ChatGPT Work creates and edits documents, decks and spreadsheets. Paid plans add projects, scheduled tasks, custom GPTs and extensions for Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets. Our guide to generative AI marketing shows where it fits in a campaign.

Best for: Research, first drafts and fast analysis.

Key features include:

  • Writing and editing with web search

  • Image generation

  • Deep research

  • Data analysis and file uploads

  • ChatGPT Work for documents, decks and spreadsheets

Pricing: Go, Plus and Pro plans are priced per user per month. Business and Enterprise plans cover teams.

Free option: Free plan with limits on uploads, images and deep research.

18. Jasper

Jasper is an AI platform built for marketing teams. Jasper IQ holds your brand voice, audiences, company knowledge, style guide and visual guidelines, so every output stays on brand.

More than 100 purpose-built marketing agents handle core workflows, and Canvas is where teams create and edit content with them. The Business plan adds agents for GEO, translation and deep research, plus Studio for building custom no-code agents. Grid handles systematic content at scale, and the AI Image Suite creates and edits on-brand campaign imagery. For the bigger picture, see our guide to AI marketing automation.

product-graphic-jasper-iq-studio

Best for: Teams producing on-brand content at scale.

Key features include:

  • 100+ purpose-built marketing agents

  • Jasper IQ for brand voice, audiences and knowledge

  • Canvas for creating content with agents

  • Studio for custom no-code agents (Business plan)

  • AI Image Suite for on-brand visuals

Pricing: Pro is priced per seat, and Business is custom. Some usage-based features, such as GEO reports and agents, run on credits.

Free option: 7-day free trial, card required.

Paid Advertising Tools

Paid advertising tools put your message in front of people who are searching or who match your target profile. B2B teams running programmatic campaigns can also compare demand-side platforms.

19. Google Ads

Google Ads reaches customers on Google Search and YouTube, from discovery to decision. For lead generation, it finds people searching for a product or service like yours. It then turns that interest into calls, site visits and form fills.

Search, Performance Max, YouTube, Display and Demand Gen campaigns cover different goals, and AI-powered bidding focuses budget on the users likely to convert. Google recommends connecting Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager during setup, so its AI learns from your conversion data. Before you launch, define your digital advertising target audience.

Best for: Capturing demand from people searching for what you sell.

Key features include:

  • Search campaigns on high-intent keywords

  • Performance Max across Google channels

  • YouTube, Display and Demand Gen campaigns

  • AI-powered bidding

  • Google Analytics and Tag Manager connections

Pricing: You set your own budget, and costs come from Google's ad auction.

Free option: No subscription. New advertisers can earn ad credit after meeting a minimum spend.

20. LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn Ads reaches decision-makers on LinkedIn's professional network of 1.2 billion+ members. You can target by job title, function, industry and more, choosing from over 20 audience attribute categories.

Formats include Sponsored Content in the feed, Sponsored Messaging, Dynamic Ads personalized with profile data and Lead Gen Forms pre-filled from member profiles. A forecasting tool estimates performance in real time as you choose audience, format and budget. Our list of B2B advertising platforms compares LinkedIn with other B2B channels.

Best for: B2B campaigns targeting specific roles and accounts.

Key features include:

  • Targeting across 20+ audience attribute categories

  • Sponsored Content and Sponsored Messaging

  • Lead Gen Forms pre-filled from profiles

  • Dynamic Ads personalized with profile data

  • Real-time campaign forecasting

Pricing: You set your own bid, budget and schedule, and costs come from LinkedIn's ad auction. You can start with any budget and stop at any time.

Free option: No subscription or free plan.

How to Choose Digital Marketing Tools

The right stack depends on team size, budget, the channels you run and the systems you already use. Judge each tool on four things.

Integration with your existing systems

Marketing tools need to share data with your CRM and marketing automation platform, or reporting breaks and teams fall back on spreadsheets. Start by listing the revenue operations tools you already run. Then check for these integration capabilities:

  • Native integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot or your primary CRM

  • Real-time sync or scheduled batch updates

  • Two-way data flow between systems

  • API access for custom connections

Data quality and accuracy

For tools that supply contact data, intent signals or analytics, accuracy decides whether campaigns reach the right people. Ask vendors about these data quality factors:

  • How they verify data and how often they refresh it

  • Coverage for your target markets and industries

  • Compliance with GDPR, CCPA and other privacy rules

  • How they handle data enrichment for existing CRM records

Pricing structure and scale

Pricing usually scales with contacts, seats, features or usage. Before you commit, check these pricing details:

  • Whether you pay per contact, per seat or per use

  • How costs change as your database grows

  • Onboarding or implementation fees

  • What the free plan or trial leaves out

Reporting and attribution

You can only scale what you can measure, so start from the marketing KPIs that tie to pipeline. Check for these reporting features:

  • Custom reports without technical help

  • Multi-touch attribution across channels

  • Dashboards for real-time performance

  • Data export for analysis in other tools

Where ZoomInfo Fits in Your Marketing Stack

Email, ads and social campaigns perform better when they start with the right accounts and contacts. ZoomInfo is the data and intelligence layer underneath them. It decides who your email, ads and social campaigns reach, and when.

Marketing teams use ZoomInfo in three ways:

  • Targeting: Build audiences from firmographic, technographic and intent data, then sync them to your CRM, ABM platforms and ad channels.

  • Orchestration: GTM Studio handles marketing orchestration, launching signal-triggered plays and keeping CRM records enriched. Agent Teams then run complete plays from the first signal to outreach.

  • Measurement: The same account data ties campaign activity to pipeline, so you can see which programs create opportunities.

You can start with GTM.AI, which is free to start, with consumption-based credits as your usage grows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are digital marketing tools?

Digital marketing tools are software platforms for planning, running and measuring online marketing. They cover channels such as email, SEO, social media, paid ads and websites, plus the data and analytics that connect them.

What tools are used in digital marketing?

Teams typically use a CRM or marketing automation platform, an email tool, SEO tools, web analytics, a social media manager, design and AI writing tools, and ad platforms. B2B teams add a data platform such as ZoomInfo for account targeting and intent.

What are the best free digital marketing tools?

Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console are free. HubSpot, Mailchimp, Semrush, Contentsquare, Buffer, Canva, Typeform, Zapier and ChatGPT all have free plans, and Ahrefs Free covers your own sites. ZoomInfo's GTM.AI is free to start.

How many digital marketing tools does a team need?

Start with one tool per channel you actively run, usually five to eight. The number matters less than how well the tools share data. Add a new tool only when a channel proves it drives pipeline.

Should small teams choose an all-in-one platform or specialized tools?

All-in-one platforms such as HubSpot reduce setup and integration work, which suits small teams. Larger teams often pick specialized tools for each channel and connect them through native integrations or a tool like Zapier. See our guide to AI marketing automation software for platforms that do both.

How do digital marketing tools help generate B2B leads?

They identify target accounts using company data and intent signals, capture interest through forms and landing pages, score leads on engagement and trigger personalized follow-up. Our list of B2B demand generation tools covers the tools built for that job.


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