- Customer success software at a glance
- Nine customer success platforms to consider
- Health scores, playbooks or a whole customer platform?
- Explain the data you use
- Questions to ask customer success vendors
- Signals worth tracking
- When a spreadsheet stops being enough
- My plain advice on choosing customer success software
- Frequently asked questions
The best customer success software depends on your team: a lightweight tool suits a small CS team with simple playbooks, an AI-led platform suits teams wanting help prioritising accounts, and an enterprise platform suits large CS organisations. Nine options follow in no particular order.
Customer success software helps you keep the customers you've already won. It brings product usage, support tickets and conversations together, flags accounts that are drifting and reminds your team what to do next, before a renewal turns into a cancellation.
The nine platforms below are listed alphabetically and in no particular order, from lightweight tools for small teams to platforms used by large CS organisations. Every description comes from the vendor's own site, read this week. If you need words for a wobbling account today, my churn save email swipe file has templates you can use.
Customer success software at a glance
In the free plan column, Yes means the tool's own site names a free plan, a free tier, a free portal or an open source edition. 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.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akita | Customer success software | Small CS teams on a tight setup | Trial only |
| ChurnZero | Customer success software with AI agents | Fighting churn with AI help | Not stated |
| ClientSuccess | Customer success platform | Onboarding customers through a portal | Not stated |
| Custify | Customer success software | Feedback surveys and calculated metrics | Not stated |
| Gainsight | Customer success and retention platform | Large CS organisations | Not stated |
| Planhat | Customer platform and next generation CRM | Customer data across the whole lifecycle | Not stated |
| Totango | Customer success platform, now Odie | Post-sales teams wanting an AI knowledge engine | Not stated |
| Velaris | AI customer success platform | AI grounded in account data | Not stated |
| Vitally | AI-powered customer success | Productivity for busy CS managers | Not stated |
Nine customer success platforms to consider
Akita
Best for: Small customer success teams that want account lists, filters and task management without a heavy platform.
ChurnZero
Best for: SaaS customer success teams that want AI-powered tools to protect revenue and fight churn across their accounts.
ClientSuccess
Best for: Account managers who want automated communications plus a customer onboarding portal to stop churn early.
Custify
Best for: Growing SaaS teams that want customer portals, feedback surveys and calculated metrics built from product events.
Gainsight
Best for: Large customer success organisations that want a dedicated customer success and retention platform for their whole team.
Planhat
Best for: Teams that want customer success inside a wider customer platform that joins conversations, tickets, usage and revenue.
Totango
Best for: Post-sales teams looking at the Totango platform, which now sits alongside its new Odie customer knowledge engine.
Velaris
Best for: CS leaders who want AI that works from their real account data rather than guessing from scraps.
Vitally
Best for: CSMs who want productivity tools and purpose-built AI to save time across their book of accounts.
Health scores, playbooks or a whole customer platform?
Some tools focus on health scores and alerts, so you know which accounts need attention. Others focus on playbooks and tasks, so your team follows the same steps at onboarding, renewal and risk. The broadest platforms try to hold every customer interaction in one place.
A small team usually gets most value from a clear health score and a few automated playbooks. More data only helps if someone acts on it.
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Explain the data you use
The ICO says you must provide privacy information to individuals at the time you collect their personal data from them, and that it must be concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible.
Customer success tools often track what named people do inside your product. If you build health scores from that activity, make sure your privacy notice explains it in plain words. It's the right thing to do, and customers notice when you're open about it.
Questions to ask customer success vendors
- Which data sources feed the health score, and can we change the weighting?
- How are playbooks triggered, and can we edit them ourselves?
- Does it sync with our CRM and support desk?
- Can account managers see everything about an account in one view?
- How does the AI explain why an account looks at risk?
- What reports show renewals and expansion, not just activity?
Signals worth tracking
- Logins and usage. Falling activity is an early warning.
- Support tickets. A surge can signal frustration.
- Champion changes. A key contact leaving is a risk.
- Onboarding progress. Slow starts often end early.
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
If renewals surprise you, account managers keep their own notes in different places, or nobody can say which customers are at risk right now, it's time for a platform. The first benefit is usually a shared view everyone trusts. You'll also find it's easier to hand over accounts when someone's on holiday or leaves, because the history isn't stuck in one person's head or inbox.
Do you make customer success software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My plain advice on choosing customer success software
Define what a healthy customer looks like in your business before you buy a tool, using the signals you already trust, such as logins, support tickets and how often you speak. Then pick the platform that shows those signals clearly and nudges the right person to act.
Start with onboarding and renewals, the two moments that decide most churn. Don't automate every touchpoint at once, or customers will feel they're talking to a machine. For renewal meetings, my QBR deck template for retention gives you a ready structure.
Frequently asked questions
What is customer success software?
It's software that helps teams monitor customer health, run onboarding and renewal playbooks, and spot churn risk early.
What's the difference between customer success software and a CRM?
A CRM is built around winning deals. Customer success software is built around keeping and growing existing customers after the sale.
Is there free customer success software?
Some tools offer trials. Check the free plan column in the table, as most of the pages I read named no free plan.
What is a customer health score?
It's a score that combines signals such as product usage, support issues and engagement to show which accounts are doing well or at risk.
When should a company buy customer success software?
Usually once a CS team manages more accounts than it can track in a spreadsheet, or renewals are being missed.
How does customer success reduce churn?
By spotting warning signs early, helping customers get value quickly and stepping in before renewal, rather than after a cancellation.
