What the Braze acquisition means for the market
On 20 October 2026, Salesforce announced that it would acquire the customer engagement platform Braze for approximately US$5.66 billion. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and the approval of Braze’s shareholders, and is expected to be completed by Salesforce in the 2028 financial year.
In our market analysis of the top 1,000 online shops in 2026, Braze is one of the fastest-growing platforms. Our survey was completed shortly before the announcement, so the data does not yet reflect the market’s reaction.
Why Salesforce needs Braze
Our assessment is based on our day-to-day work with companies that use Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC), Engagement (formerly ExactTarget) and the new, Force.com-based Marketing Cloud Next Advanced Edition. While both Salesforce solutions support mobile channels, they do not support the scale or real-time capability required by large B2C brands with high volumes of interactions. Braze is designed to fill precisely this gap. For Salesforce customers, this could mean real-time mobile marketing from a single source in the future, integrated with CRM, Data 360 and Agentforce. However, Salesforce has not yet specified exactly what this integration will entail.
The acquisition does not resolve autonomy in data management
Neither SFMC Next Edition 'Advanced' (which is primarily aimed at B2C companies) nor Braze offers the operational autonomy to which current Marketing Cloud Engagement users have become accustomed. There, marketing teams link customer, contract and transaction data themselves via SQL in Data Extensions and manage complex customer journeys independently. With Advanced, this data management shifts to Data 360. This requires CDP expertise and makes marketing teams more dependent on IT and CRM resources.
Braze: strong in real-time, limited with historical data
Braze processes live events, particularly from mobile channels, very quickly. However, the platform is profile- and event-oriented, and not designed for freely combinable relational queries. This is evident in historical segmentation: standard segments only allow event properties to be analysed retrospectively for 30 days. Segment Extensions extend this period to up to two years. However, these are updated on a scheduled basis – at most hourly – and the number is limited per workspace by default.
Braze integrates additional data structures and external sources such as Snowflake, BigQuery or Databricks using Catalogs and Cloud Data Ingestion. Nevertheless, complex integrations necessitate careful data modelling and often require data preparation outside the platform.
Costs: Calculate usage-based models accurately
Braze bills based on monthly active users and action credits. The advanced plan is usage-based via credits for Agentforce, and Data 360 is billed via credits on a purely usage- or profile-based model. As volumes grow, operating costs become difficult to calculate. Anyone considering switching should calculate the costs for realistic volumes over several years.
Is there a need for action on your part?
Below is an overview of four strategic options. Consolidation primarily strengthens the provider, not the customer. As long as Salesforce has not definitively clarified the interaction between its core solutions – Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data 360 and Braze – any statement regarding integration remains merely a promise. Therefore, the acquisition is not a reason to switch, but rather a good opportunity to review your own target architecture. Based on our project experience, we identify four viable paths:
Path 1: Maintain and modernise SFMC Engagement pragmatically
For many teams, Marketing Cloud Engagement remains the right solution precisely because of the data autonomy provided by Data Extensions and SQL. Since 2026, Salesforce has offered an MCP server for this 'legacy' Marketing Cloud. This allows external AI assistants to be integrated in order to create and maintain Data Extensions, Journeys, and automations using natural language. In this way, Engagement can be modernised without migrating. Clear permissions are essential, as agents can delete and send messages. A data protection review is also required as soon as external AI services process personal data.
Path 2: Switch to SFMC Next Advanced Edition
The Advanced Edition is ideal for organisations where marketing needs to work closely with Sales and Service Cloud, for example in customer service, contract data or account-based processes. In order to do this, the organisation must accept that data management will shift to the Salesforce CDP Data 360, and that costs will be more usage-dependent. We currently regard the switch as the best option only if this is a strategic priority. Please also read our guide on this: Marketing Cloud Next: What engagement-focused customers should know now.
Path 3: Composable with Braze and Cloud Data Warehouse
Braze is an excellent choice for mobile-first brands with a strong app business if the data model resides in the company’s own data warehouse, such as Snowflake. The relational logic then remains in the warehouse whilst Braze handles real-time activation and delivery. It remains to be seen how Salesforce will prioritise this approach in future, given that the company’s strategic focus is on Data 360. One of the exciting open questions is how the warehouse integration will develop within Salesforce.
Path 4: Integrated all-in-one alternatives
Teams wishing to build segments and journeys themselves without introducing an additional CDP can use platforms outside the Salesforce ecosystem. Two examples from our practical experience:
- Bloomreach Engagement stores customer data in an in-memory database, enabling rapid segmentation via profiles, events, and product catalogues. In our 2026 market analysis, Bloomreach also demonstrated significant growth in the German market.
- Optimove is based on a single customer view with a lifecycle model and micro-segments. It is particularly well-suited to high-transaction business models with clear customer lifecycles.
Both platforms use a different data model to Data Extensions. Existing SQL logic cannot be transferred on a one-to-one basis, but must be rethought.
What does the future hold for Braze under Salesforce?
We are closely monitoring developments and asking ourselves:
- How closely will Braze, Data 360 and Marketing Cloud be integrated, and when will this happen?
- Will Braze remain a standalone product with its own roadmap, or will it gradually be absorbed into Marketing Cloud Next?
- What role will Marketing Cloud Engagement play, given that Salesforce now has two newer solutions in its portfolio: Advanced and Braze?
- Will Braze retain its strength as a composable platform with direct connections to Snowflake, BigQuery, etc., or will Data 360 take centre stage?
- Will the pricing models of both platforms remain separate, or will a shared usage-based model emerge?
Conclusion: Wait and see; standstill, no.
Braze fills a genuine functional gap for Salesforce. The implications for customers will only become clear in the coming years. For existing customers, nothing will change in the short term. Nevertheless, the time until then can be put to good use. Those familiar with their existing data extensions, journeys and data flows will be better placed to assess which of the four outlined paths best suits their data landscape when the time comes to decide on a switch.
Our service: the SFMC Architecture and Readiness Check.
We assess your Marketing Cloud environment impartially and independently of any vendor.
- Technical Audit: Data Extensions, queries, journeys, automations and data flows
- Evaluation: Which requirements can be migrated to Advanced, Braze or an alternative, and at what cost?
- The result is a clear assessment of which of the four paths best suits your organisation, including a cost estimate.
