- Customer onboarding tools side by side
- Eleven customer onboarding tools to consider
- The privacy step that belongs inside onboarding
- In-app guidance versus implementation projects
- Questions to ask an onboarding vendor
- Signs your onboarding needs a rethink
- My plain advice on choosing customer onboarding software
- Frequently asked questions
The best customer onboarding software gets new customers from signed contract to real results quickly, with a shared plan, clear owners on both sides and visibility for everyone involved. Software companies often want in-app guidance for new users, while service and implementation teams want shared project plans and client portals. Eleven tools follow in no particular order.
The weeks after a customer signs are when they'll decide whether they made the right choice. If onboarding drags, with forms lost in email and nobody sure what happens next, that doubt sets in fast and renewals get harder.
Customer onboarding software keeps that early experience on track. The eleven tools below are listed alphabetically and in no particular order, from in-app guidance tools to implementation platforms and client portals, and every description comes from the vendor's own site, read this week. If you'd like a ready-made starting point, my client onboarding template is free to use.
Customer onboarding tools side by side
In the free plan column, Yes means the tool's own site names a free plan, a free edition, a free account or an open source version. Trial only means a time-limited trial. Not stated means the pages I read named neither, even where there's a button inviting you to try it or book a demo.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appcues | In-app customer engagement platform | Guiding new users inside your product | Not stated |
| Baton | Software implementation project management | SaaS implementation teams | Not stated |
| ChurnZero | Customer success and growth platform | Customer success teams tracking health scores | Not stated |
| Dock | Customer onboarding and sales rooms | Shared client workspaces from sale to launch | Not stated |
| GUIDEcx | Customer onboarding software | Visible onboarding plans for customers | Not stated |
| Moxo | Client portals and workflow automation | Service firms onboarding clients through portals | Trial only |
| Onboard | Customer onboarding software for success teams | Mutual action plans for customer launches | Trial only |
| OnRamp | Customer onboarding and engagement platform | Cutting time to go-live | Not stated |
| Rocketlane | Professional services platform for onboarding | Services teams running implementations | Trial only |
| TaskRay | Project management for Salesforce | Client onboarding inside the CRM | Trial only |
| Userpilot | Product growth platform | Product-led onboarding and analytics | Trial only |
Eleven customer onboarding tools to consider
Appcues
Best for: Software companies that want in-app tours, checklists and messages to help new users find value in the product.
Baton
Best for: SaaS companies with formal implementation projects that want timelines, tasks and customer visibility in one place.
ChurnZero
Best for: Customer success teams that want onboarding progress, health scores, adoption and renewals tracked together in one place.
Dock
Best for: Revenue teams that want one shared client space carried from the sales deal room into onboarding.
GUIDEcx
Best for: B2B companies that want onboarding projects visible to customers, with tasks and reminders that keep both sides moving.
Moxo
Best for: Banks, advisers and service firms that want clients onboarded through branded portals with approvals and documents.
Onboard
Best for: Customer success teams that want shared onboarding plans with clear owners on both the vendor and customer side.
OnRamp
Best for: B2B companies that want to cut go-live times by tracking every onboarding milestone across many projects.
Rocketlane
Best for: Professional services and implementation teams that want onboarding projects, resourcing and customer portals together.
TaskRay
Best for: Companies running on Salesforce that want customer onboarding plans managed inside the CRM their teams already use.
Userpilot
Best for: Product teams that want in-app onboarding flows combined with analytics on what new users do next.
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The privacy step that belongs inside onboarding
The ICO's guidance on the right to be informed says you must provide privacy information to people at the time you collect their personal data from them. If you get their data from other sources, you must provide it within a reasonable period and no later than one month.
Onboarding is often when you collect the most personal data from a new customer: contacts, user lists, sometimes their own customers' details. Build the privacy wording into the onboarding forms and portal itself, rather than relying on a link that's buried in your contract.
In-app guidance versus implementation projects
Some onboarding tools work inside your product, showing tours, checklists and tips that help new users find value. Others manage the human side of onboarding: shared project plans, tasks for the customer, document collection and progress updates.
Self-serve software companies tend to lean on the first kind, and that's fine. Businesses with longer setups, such as B2B software with integrations or professional services, need the second. Some customers need both, which is why you'll often see teams using one of each.
Questions to ask an onboarding vendor
- Can customers see the plan and complete tasks without a login headache?
- Does it connect to our CRM so sales hands over cleanly?
- Can we reuse templates for different customer types?
- How do we see which onboardings are at risk?
- Can customers upload documents securely?
- Does it measure time to go-live or first value?
Signs your onboarding needs a rethink
- Go-live dates keep slipping. Nobody owns the delays.
- Customers ask what's next. The plan lives in someone's head.
- Documents arrive by email. Things go missing.
- Early churn creeps up. Customers never reach value.
Do you make customer onboarding software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My plain advice on choosing customer onboarding software
Map your current onboarding from signed contract to first real result, and mark every point where customers wait on you or you wait on them. Choose the tool that removes the most waiting; that's where the time goes. Fancy portals don't help if the hold-up is a missing login nobody chased.
Make sure the customer can see the plan too. When both sides know what's next and who owns it, onboarding speeds up on its own. For more on joining up the steps, my guide on how smarter systems streamline client onboarding goes deeper.
Frequently asked questions
What is customer onboarding software?
Customer onboarding software helps businesses guide new customers from purchase to first results, using shared plans, tasks, portals, in-app guidance and progress tracking.
What's the difference between customer onboarding and employee onboarding software?
Customer onboarding software focuses on new clients and users. Employee onboarding software handles new staff, such as paperwork, training and equipment.
Are there free customer onboarding tools?
Most offer trials rather than free plans. Check the free plan column in the table above and each vendor's site.
What is time to value?
Time to value is how long it takes a new customer to get their first meaningful result from your product or service after signing up.
Do I need to give privacy information during onboarding?
The ICO says you must provide privacy information when you collect personal data from people, so onboarding forms and portals are the natural place for it.
Can onboarding software reduce churn?
Faster, clearer onboarding helps customers see value sooner, which makes them more likely to stay, though it works best alongside ongoing customer success.
