SFMCE offers a hierarchical structure of business units by design, but with a twist: if there are only two business units in your org, they will always be in a parent-child relationship, while with three or more, the situation has a chance to become somewhat linear – one BU will always remain the parent, but the rest of the BUs can be siblings, or form yet another hierarchy if that is what your business requires. This architecture enables useful patterns but also imposes constraints around data separation, see below. Additionally, it is important to note that contact deletion scripts can only be run in parent BU, even when applicable to child business units. Contact deletion script cannot be initiated in child BU.

 

Braze Workspaces’ architecture is flat: each Workspace sits alongside the others, no parent/child hierarchy. This simplicity makes data separation straightforward as security requirements tighten, but it can require a creative approach and some trade-offs when you need to enable purposeful data sharing.

 

 

SFMCE allows you to create custom roles and assign them to users in some or all Business Units as needed. A user has to be explicitly assigned access to a Business Unit, and being granted an admin role at the parent Business Unit doesn’t automatically provide access to BUs located lower in the hierarchy.

 

Braze also allows assigning different roles and permission sets to a user per Workspace, including custom roles and permissions. Braze users in an org with an extensive number of Workspaces can mark certain Workspaces as favorites in their user profile.

 

 

SFMCE allows users to share Data Extensions, Content Blocks, email templates, emails, as well as SMS and push messages across Business Units through Shared Folders functionality. It is important to note that if the asset is not copied before sharing, the risk of accidental editing might increase as more users from other business lines access the original shared asset. Automations and journeys cannot be shared using Shared Folders, but they can be exported as a JSON file through the Package Manager and uploaded to another Business Unit.

This can be applied to almost all assets in SFMCE and, as in this case a copy of an asset is created in another Business Unit, the chances of accidental edits decrease significantly. It is important to be mindful of asset IDs when moving assets across Business Units. Each BU generates unique IDs, so if scripts or email reference an ID from another business unit, the asset may fail to render. It is recommended to double check and update IDs after sharing or copying to ensure the correct rendering.

 

Braze offers an option to copy journeys (Canvases), Content Blocks, templates, emails, and SMS messages across Workspaces. In this case the assets are not shared; a copy is created in another Workspace in a couple of clicks, which eliminates the accidental-edit risk for the original asset. Braze does not allow copying data across Workspaces, as the idea behind Workspaces is powered by complete data separation and a zero-risk approach to data protection.

 

 

SFMCE offers SFTP as a default data integration method, and eligible user accounts across all Business Units connect to the same SFTP server while seeing a BU-specific folder structure. Therefore, data landing for one BU is not available to another BU by default (although workarounds are possible). Additionally, data exchange with AWS or Microsoft Azure can be established, allowing you to connect a separate bucket (e.g., in AWS) to a separate Business Unit. API integrations in SFMCE are supported at the Business Unit level.

 

Braze, offering a strong set of integration options, gives users flexibility to configure data ingestion and exchange separately across Workspaces, guaranteeing complete data separation: App instances – it is important to note that either the same or distinct app instance can be connected to the same or different Workspaces. Currents, Braze’s real-time streaming data tool, can be set up with different Workspaces, but the purchase of additional Currents connectors might be needed. Integration with data platforms such as Snowflake and Databricks can also be established at the per-Workspace level, allowing full data siloing. API integration with the same source can be configured separately for every Workspace through a distinct API key.

 

 

Hierarchical architecture introduces challenges and limitations when you aim for full data separation in SFMCE, for the reasons below: All Subscribers by default represent email subscribers across the account. A filter can be defined, but it adds complexity to imports and does not suit all the use cases of the data architecture. Records accumulate and are visible at the parent BU, while each child BU only accesses its own records. For lines of business that must be fully siloed, a common pattern is to keep the parent BU as admin-only and business line-neutral, and place business lines as sibling BUs, reducing accidental cross-visibility via All Subscribers.

All Contacts also contains records across all Business Units and, unlike All Subscribers, those records are visible across parent and children. A mitigation is to disable the relevant All Contacts/Contact Builder permissions for BU-specific users (with some functional trade-offs). Data Views: Most system Data Views return data scoped to the current BU, but enterprise-scoped views (queried with the ENT. prefix) or running queries in the parent can expose cross-BU data. A partial mitigation is to run tracking queries within each BU and avoid ENT. unless required, and store results in BU-specific (non-shared) data extensions.

 

Braze provides complete data siloing across Workspaces as a core concept, enforcing separation and privacy across lines of business. Each Workspace maintains its own user base, campaigns, segments, and reporting, ensuring that data and assets are never visible across business lines. The trade off is that data or asset sharing across Workspaces isn’t supported natively, so organizations must plan for duplication or external synchronization if some assets or audiences need to be reused across lines of business.

 

 

Every additional Business Unit in SFMCE appears as a separate invoice line item. Extending the setup to more BUs adds cost, which can complicate the decision-making process (exact pricing depends on your contract). This also applies when using a separate BU as a UAT/sandbox.

 

Braze doesn’t impose a limit on the number of Workspaces, which removes a budgeting constraint during the blueprint/solution design phase. However, remember that parts of Braze pricing are tied to data consumption, which typically increases with each additional Workspace.

 

 

Braze and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement (SFMCE) are top omnichannel marketing platforms that enable personalized, automated, and data-driven campaigns and yet they differ notably in their structure and overall approach. Choosing the right platform depends on your business objectives, organizational setup, and strategic priorities.

 

For a closer look at how Braze and SFMCE compare in practice, check out our LinkedIn Live session.

 

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