- Customer journey mapping tools at a glance
- Journey mapping and journey analytics tools
- How to build a journey map people use
- Map journeys the way customers see them
- Whiteboard, journey tool or analytics?
- Journey map mistakes to avoid
- Keeping journey maps alive
- My advice on choosing customer journey mapping software
- Frequently asked questions
The best customer journey mapping software depends on whether you're running a workshop or managing journeys long term. Teams mapping a journey once can use a whiteboard with a template; CX teams that keep journeys up to date and link them to evidence need dedicated journey management software.
A customer journey map shows what it's like to be your customer, step by step: how they find you, decide, buy, get started, ask for help and come back, or leave. Done well, it shows the moments that annoy people most, and that's usually where the quickest wins are.
This list covers whiteboards with journey templates, dedicated journey mapping and management tools, website flow planners and analytics that show the journeys people really take. If you need personas first, use my persona builder template, and if keeping customers is the goal, here's what AI can do for customer retention.
Customer journey mapping tools at a glance
Here's what each tool is, what it's good for and whether its own site names a free plan, a trial or neither. The list is alphabetical and in no particular order.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custellence | Journey mapping | Collaborative journey maps | Yes |
| FigJam | Whiteboard | Quick mapping workshops | Trial only |
| FlowMapp | UX planning | Website user flows | Trial only |
| Miro | Whiteboard with templates | Starting from a template | Yes |
| Mural | Visual workspace | Facilitated workshops | Trial only |
| Smaply | Journey management | Evidence-backed journey work | Trial only |
| TheyDo | Journey management | Enterprise journey programmes | Trial only |
| UXPressia | Journey maps and personas | Maps and personas in one tool | Trial only |
| Woopra | Journey analytics | Seeing real journeys in data | Trial only |
Journey mapping and journey analytics tools
Custellence
Best for: CX and service design teams who want structured journey maps they can build together and keep updated as services change.
FigJam
Best for: Product and design teams already in Figma who want a quick whiteboard for mapping journeys together in workshops.
FlowMapp
Best for: Web designers and agencies mapping how visitors move through a site with user flows and sitemaps before design starts.
Miro
Best for: Marketing and product teams who want to start from a ready-made customer journey map template and fill it in together.
Mural
Best for: Facilitators and larger teams who run journey mapping workshops and want a visual workspace that connects ideas to follow-up actions.
Smaply
Best for: CX teams who want journeys, personas and evidence managed in one system so they can prioritise what to fix next.
TheyDo
Best for: Enterprise CX and service teams who want journeys turned into shared customer context that every team can rely on.
UXPressia
Best for: Marketers and UX researchers who want journey maps and personas in one tool, with options for education and nonprofits.
Woopra
Best for: Product and marketing teams who want to see the journeys customers take in their analytics data, not just the ones drawn on a map.
How to build a journey map people use
- Pick one persona and one goal, such as a first-time buyer getting set up.
- List the stages from their point of view, not your department structure.
- Add what they do, think and feel at each stage, using real research and quotes.
- Mark the touchpoints, channels and teams involved at each step.
- Highlight the worst moments, agree owners and track fixes on the map.
Map journeys the way customers see them
The GOV.UK Service Manual tells teams to understand where their transaction fits in the user's wider journey, to scope things how users see them, not how government sees them, and to do one task per transaction.
The same advice works for any business. Customers don't care which team owns billing or onboarding; they experience one journey. Map it across departments and channels as they live it, and the handovers between teams, where most problems hide, become obvious.
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Whiteboard, journey tool or analytics?
Whiteboards with templates are quick and flexible. They're ideal for a workshop, but maps made on them tend to be forgotten once the session ends.
Dedicated journey tools keep maps, personas and evidence structured and up to date, so they can be shared and improved over time. Journey analytics tools show the paths people take in your product or website data, which is the best check on whether your drawn map matches reality.
Journey map mistakes to avoid
- Mapping the process your organisation wishes customers followed.
- Leaving out the stages before purchase and after cancellation.
- Using assumptions instead of research, reviews and support data.
- Making one huge map that tries to cover every customer type.
- Finishing the map with no owner and no list of fixes.
The last mistake is the most common. A map without owners and next steps is a poster; with them, it becomes a plan.
Keeping journey maps alive
Give every map an owner and a review date. Journeys change when you launch a product, change a policy or switch a supplier, and a map that's a year out of date is worse than none, because people trust it.
Link each painful moment on the map to a fix with a name next to it. Reviewing those fixes in a regular meeting is what turns mapping from a one-off exercise into steady improvement.
Do you make customer journey mapping software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My advice on choosing customer journey mapping software
Start with one journey and one workshop on a whiteboard before you buy anything. If the map changes decisions and people ask for the next one, you'll know you need a dedicated tool to manage several journeys; if it's never looked at again, more software won't fix that.
Base every map on evidence. Interviews, support tickets, reviews and analytics turn a map from a team's opinion into something leaders will act on, and the tools that store evidence next to each step make that much easier.
Frequently asked questions
What is customer journey mapping software?
It's software for creating visual maps of the steps, feelings and touchpoints customers go through, from first contact to buying, using and leaving.
Can I make a customer journey map for free?
Yes. Several whiteboards and journey tools have free plans or trials, and a simple template is enough for a first map.
What's the difference between journey mapping and journey analytics?
Journey mapping shows the experience as your team understands it. Journey analytics shows the paths customers take in your data.
How many customer journey maps do I need?
Start with one for your most important customer and goal. Add more once the first one is used to make decisions.
How should I scope a customer journey?
The GOV.UK Service Manual advises scoping things how users see them, not how the organisation sees them, and understanding the wider journey.
