Looking for the best customer success tools? Start with a platform that centralizes feedback—Koala Feedback—and then layer on analytics, automation, and in-app guidance from heavy hitters such as Gainsight, ChurnZero, and Totango. The right stack turns silent account risks into expansion opportunities, but the marketplace is crowded and choosing wisely can feel overwhelming.
At its core, a customer success management (CSM) tool is software built to drive the four pillars of adoption, retention, expansion, and advocacy. Hitting those goals usually takes more than one app, so this guide groups 20 standout products into six categories: feedback management, full-fledged CSM platforms, onboarding & enablement, product analytics, voice-of-customer/NPS, and workflow automation. We start with an all-in-one feedback portal (Koala Feedback) because every data-driven roadmap begins with listening, then move through enterprise suites, no-code onboarding layers, and purpose-built analytics. Let’s dive into the 20 customer success tools worth evaluating for 2025 and beyond.
Every renewal conversation is easier when customers can see their ideas shaping the product. Koala Feedback gives SaaS teams a branded home for user suggestions, votes, and roadmap updates so that “we hear you” becomes more than lip service. By replacing scattered spreadsheets and support tickets with a single source of truth, the platform turns qualitative feedback into quantitative guidance for product and customer success teams alike.
Koala Feedback is a lightweight yet powerful SaaS portal where users submit ideas, up-vote requests, and discuss improvements. Behind the scenes, automatic deduplication and tagging group similar inputs so PMs and CSMs can spot trends without the manual slog. The result is a live, data-driven backlog that aligns engineering effort with customer value.
Tiered SaaS pricing—Starter, Growth, and Enterprise—with a generous free trial. All plans include unlimited feedback submissions; higher tiers unlock custom domains, SSO, and advanced analytics.
Automate status-change emails (“Good news—your request is now live!”) to surprise customers with progress updates and quietly turn passive users into vocal advocates.
If you ask enterprise CS leaders which customer success tools sit at the center of their tech stack, Gainsight CS is the name that lands on most shortlists. The platform combines a 360° data warehouse with AI-driven insights, letting global teams pinpoint renewal risk long before a QBR turns awkward.
Gainsight CS ingests product usage, billing, support, and CRM data to build a living profile for every account and contact. CSMs work from a single cockpit that surfaces tasks, expansion plays, and health changes the moment they matter.
Fortune 500 and other data-rich organizations that require deep customization, role-based governance, and rock-solid Salesforce, Snowflake, or Hadoop integrations.
Gainsight operates on enterprise contracts—think six-figure annual deals. Expect a multi-month implementation that typically involves a dedicated admin and professional services package for data mapping and playbook design.
Predictive health scoring blends quantitative usage with qualitative sentiment, flagging “yellow” accounts up to 90 days before renewal so CSMs can deploy save-plays while there’s still time to course-correct.
Mid-market CS teams often feel caught between startup spreadsheets and six-figure enterprise suites. ChurnZero hits the Goldilocks zone by pairing robust automation with an interface that doesn’t require its own admin army. It’s one of the few customer success tools purpose-built to give lean teams the same firepower as their larger rivals—without the sticker shock.
ChurnZero plugs directly into your CRM and product database, analyzes live usage signals, and then spins up journeys, alerts, and playbooks that keep CSMs two steps ahead of account health.
Best for B2B SaaS companies with complex onboarding and moderate ACVs where each CSM covers 20–75 accounts and needs automation to scale personalized touches.
Pricing is tiered by number of users and contacts, and packages are displayed publicly—expect mid-four-figure annual contracts plus a one-time onboarding fee that bundles training and success coaching.
Because usage and health are tracked to the minute, ChurnZero can fire a Slack or email alert the instant logins dip, giving CSMs a save-play window before the customer even notices value erosion.
Totango takes a Lego-like approach to customer success. Instead of forcing you to map every lifecycle stage before seeing value, its prebuilt SuccessBLOCs let you launch targeted onboarding, renewal, or advocacy programs in hours, not quarters—perfect for resource-strapped CS teams that need quick wins.
Each SuccessBLOC is a self-contained workspace with goals, KPIs, segments, tasks, and email campaigns tuned to a specific outcome. Stack multiple blocks—think “Adoption,” “Renewal Center,” “Voice of Customer”—to mirror your customer journey while a canvas keeps metrics and playbooks in one view.
Standout capabilities include:
High-growth companies that want enterprise features without an enterprise rollout; services orgs reinventing their CS practice on a tight timeline.
Start with a free “Community Edition” covering up to 100 accounts, then layer on paid SuccessBLOCs or enterprise licenses as your customer base expands.
Because each block ships with out-of-the-box KPIs, CS leaders get instant visibility into adoption or renewal risk, shortening the data-to-action cycle from months to days.
When customer conversations, usage data, and revenue numbers live in different time zones—never mind different tools—visibility shrinks and churn risks hide in the gaps. Planhat stitches those inputs together in a single, multilingual workspace, giving distributed customer success teams the clarity they need to act with one voice.
Built in Stockholm, Planhat is equal parts data lake and collaboration hub. It ingests product events, CRM attributes, and billing records, then maps them onto customizable objects so every team—from CS to Finance—speaks the same metric language. A flexible permission model lets regional teams localize views without breaking global reporting.
International SaaS companies juggling multi-currency contracts, layered product SKUs, and region-specific CS squads that need granular yet roll-up reporting.
Planhat runs a seat-plus-usage model; small teams can start with a handful of licenses, while enterprise agreements unlock unlimited data volume and premium support. All plans include a sandbox for integration testing.
Because renewal forecasts and health scores share the same data spine, CS leaders can correlate engagement dips with contract value in real time—arming reps with save-plays before the CFO even pulls the churn report.
Fast-growing SaaS companies often outpace their home-grown spreadsheets long before they’re ready for heavyweight enterprise suites. Vitally hits that middle ground: a crisp, modern cockpit that blends product analytics, collaboration, and workflow automation in one place. The tool was designed for scale-ups living a product-led reality where usage data trumps gut feel and every teammate—Sales, Product, Support, CS—needs the same real-time view of an account.
Vitally pipes in events from Segment, Snowflake, or direct SDKs and instantly rolls them into intuitive “Timelines” that read like a social feed for each customer. CSMs can drop notes, tag colleagues, or spin up tasks without hopping between tabs, keeping all context anchored to the underlying data.
High-growth SaaS firms (Series B–D) that need a data-visible CS platform but can’t spare full-time admins.
Simple per-seat pricing plus a 14-day fully-featured trial—no credit card required. Unlimited integrations on every paid tier.
Because health scores, tasks, and collaborative docs share a single “Timeline,” warning signs surface alongside next steps, letting CS, Product, and Sales co-own account saves before risks snowball.
Young SaaS companies rarely have spare cycles (or headcount) for months-long rollouts. ClientSuccess keeps things simple: connect your CRM, invite the team, and start tracking renewals the same afternoon. The interface looks like a modern sales dashboard, so reps and founders alike pick it up in minutes—not weeks.
ClientSuccess packages health scoring, renewal workflows, and customer communication into a single “Success Hub.” A clean account screen surfaces pulse, usage snapshots, and upcoming renewals so CSMs know exactly where to focus.
Seed-to-Series-B startups moving off spreadsheets or general-purpose CRMs and looking for purpose-built CS visibility without enterprise bloat.
Flat per-user pricing keeps budgeting straightforward, and every plan includes hands-on onboarding plus a named Customer Success Manager to guide setup.
By turning daily CS tasks—check-ins, renewal prep, follow-ups—into a prioritized to-do list, ClientSuccess flips teams from reactive firefighting to proactive account growth, cutting “oops, we missed the renewal warning signs” churn.
When each CSM juggles hundreds of customers, you can’t afford manual check-ins. Custify automates the grunt work for low-touch models, piping usage, billing, and support data into crystal-clear health scores and firing playbooks the moment an account veers off course.
Built for volume, Custify delivers a 360° customer profile without the enterprise overhead. A visual cockpit shows real-time product adoption, license consumption, and support load so one CSM can oversee an entire long-tail portfolio.
SMB and mid-market SaaS where each CSM manages 50–200 accounts and needs scale without sacrificing personalization.
Starts with a 100-accounts bundle priced per seat; all plans include free onboarding support and quarterly success reviews.
Usage-based triggers launch “save” playbooks instantly—think automated nudges after seven days of inactivity—so risks are addressed long before cancellation tickets appear.
If your tech stack already looks like a game of Tetris—one app for onboarding, another for surveys, a third for references—SmartKarrot lets you hit reset. The platform folds multiple customer success motions into a single workspace so CS teams can orchestrate adoption, retention, and advocacy without bouncing between tabs.
SmartKarrot positions itself as a unified hub that marries product usage data with customer journey automation and reference management. The result is a panoramic view of each account, from first login to case-study hero.
Best for CS leaders who want to consolidate three or more point solutions—and give Marketing an on-ramp to turn power users into brand evangelists.
Module-based pricing scales on number of customers and selected feature packs; expect transparent mid-market rates plus a 14-day trial.
Because adoption metrics, survey sentiment, and advocacy signals live in one timeline, SmartKarrot surfaces expansion opportunities and churn red flags in the same dashboard, letting teams pivot from firefighting to growth mode instantly.
If Salesforce already sits at the heart of your revenue engine, Catalyst is the customer success tool that feels like a native extension rather than another disconnected app. Born inside DigitalOcean, the platform mirrors Salesforce objects and fields in real time, letting CSMs live in a familiar data model while layering on the workflows and health metrics Salesforce alone can’t provide.
Catalyst ingests CRM, product-usage, support, and billing data, then surfaces it in a no-code workspace that looks and behaves like a modern spreadsheet. Filters, views, and automations are drag-and-drop, so CS ops can iterate without waiting on admins or engineers.
Data-heavy SaaS companies that already depend on Salesforce dashboards and need CS insights to flow seamlessly into RevOps reports.
Mid-market pricing with transparent tiers; most teams go live in 30 days thanks to prebuilt Salesforce mappings and white-glove onboarding services.
Because every health spike or dip is instantly reflected in Salesforce, sales reps, execs, and CSMs share a single source of truth—so save-plays launch before renewal risks hit the forecast.
When customers get answers without leaving your app, adoption soars and churn shrinks. Intercom takes its trademark business messenger and layers on customer success tooling—tours, targeted nudges, and automated journeys—so teams can guide users from first login to power-user status inside one interface. For product-led companies hunting for customer success tools that blend support, marketing, and CS, Intercom’s all-in-one approach keeps context intact and silos at bay.
Intercom drops a persistent messenger widget into your web or mobile product. That widget is the launchpad for live chat, self-serve help center articles, outbound campaigns, and no-code product tours. Behind the scenes, a behavioral data platform tracks every click and conversation, giving CSMs one timeline for support tickets, usage milestones, and lifecycle messages.
Product-led orgs that want to weave just-in-time guidance and human support directly into the app experience—without requiring dev sprints for every tweak.
Core chat and inbox start on a usage-based plan; Product Tours and advanced automation are add-ons. Startups under two seats and $1 M ARR qualify for a free “Early Stage” program.
Contextual in-app messages slash time-to-value, while Series automations keep new users engaged through the critical first-week adoption window—often the make-or-break moment for renewal odds.
Not every team has engineers on standby to code a new tooltip or walkthrough. Userpilot lets customer success and product marketers build these experiences with drag-and-drop ease, turning first-day confusion into “aha!” moments that drive sticky adoption. Used alongside deeper customer success tools like Koala Feedback or Gainsight, it fills the in-product guidance gap without adding technical debt.
Userpilot is a browser extension and SaaS dashboard that sits on top of your web app. Point-and-click to tag UI elements, then chain them into tours, checklists, or modal announcements targeted to specific user segments.
Teams that need to iterate on onboarding fast—startups, PLG scale-ups, or any CS org lacking dev bandwidth.
Plans tier by monthly active users (MAU) with Starter, Growth, and Enterprise options; all include a 14-day full-feature trial.
Adaptive flows guide users to value on the very first session, cutting early-life churn and giving CSMs a healthier, more engaged user base to nurture toward renewal.
Pendo sits at the intersection of product analytics and in-app enablement, giving customer success, product, and marketing teams one place to see how users behave and immediately act on those insights. Rather than exporting funnels to another tool, you can layer a tooltip, guide, or survey directly on top of the very screen where friction shows up.
The platform passively captures every click, page view, and feature interaction—no event mapping required—then visualizes the data in funnels, retention curves, and path reports. Because that behavioral spine also powers Pendo’s no-code Guide Builder, CSMs can target walkthroughs to the exact cohort that needs help, closing the gap between “we spotted a drop-off” and “we fixed it.”
Best for mid-market and enterprise SaaS teams that need to correlate feature adoption with expansion revenue and roll out guided experiences without developer cycles.
Pendo sells by custom quote, factoring in MAUs and modules. Startups under 500 MAUs can kick off with the free “Pendo Feedback” tier to collect and prioritize user requests.
By marrying usage analytics with contextual guidance, Pendo flags friction hot spots in real time and serves up step-by-step help, turning potential churn moments into value-delivering experiences.
When your renewal strategy hinges on “why” rather than “how many,” raw usage numbers aren’t enough. Mixpanel digs beneath vanity metrics to reveal which actions correlate with retention, expansion, and eventual churn. By feeding those insights into your broader stack of customer success tools—think Koala Feedback for requests, Gainsight for playbooks—you give CSMs the data confidence usually reserved for product managers.
Mixpanel is a self-serve analytics platform that captures every in-app event and stitches them into funnels, cohorts, and impact reports—no SQL required. Interactive charts update in seconds, so CS teams can test hypotheses on the fly and share links instead of static slide decks.
CS and Product teams that want to co-own data exploration and need answers faster than a BI queue can deliver.
Generous free plan covers up to 20 M monthly events; paid Growth and Enterprise tiers scale by monthly tracked users (MTUs) and add advanced modeling plus priority support.
Retention cohort alerts pinpoint the exact week engagement drops, allowing CSMs to deploy save-plays before customers ever consider canceling.
If your go-to market teams already live in HubSpot, adding Service Hub is the path of least resistance to formalize customer success without fragmenting data. The module layers tickets, knowledge base, and automation on top of the contact records your Sales and Marketing squads update every day, so everyone shares one customer timeline—no tedious sync jobs required.
Service Hub turns HubSpot CRM into a lightweight CSM workspace. Support reps, CSMs, and even account executives see conversations, health surveys, and renewal notes in the same record, eliminating “blind-hand” handoffs that frustrate customers.
Companies already on HubSpot Marketing or Sales that want to add CS functionality quickly, or startups needing an all-in-one CRM plus support layer before graduating to enterprise suites.
Starts with a free tier that includes tickets and limited automation. Starter, Professional, and Enterprise bundles scale seats, workflows, custom objects, and advanced reporting.
Because every email open, chat, and survey score updates the same timeline, CSMs catch dissatisfaction early and can trigger automated save-plays the moment sentiment dips.
Zendesk started life as a ticketing desk but now functions as an omnichannel CX platform that captures every chat, email, call, and help-center view. Pair it with the Explore analytics add-on and you turn mountains of support interactions into actionable customer success signals—without exporting CSVs or begging the BI team.
Support-heavy SaaS companies where ticket trends are an early indicator of renewal risk and upsell potential.
Zendesk Suite scales from a Team plan (starter ticketing + chat) to Enterprise tiers with roles, custom objects, and sandbox environments. Explore is an à-la-carte add-on; all tiers offer a 14-day trial.
Lagging first-contact resolution and rising ticket volume often precede churn. Explore surfaces those patterns in daily dashboards, enabling CSMs to launch playbooks the moment support KPIs slip—turning reactive fixes into proactive revenue protection.
Most churn happens between “closed-won” and “first value.” Rocketlane plugs that gap with a collaborative workspace where implementation teams, CSMs, and customers track every onboarding task in one place.
Rocketlane combines project management, document sharing, and real-time status reporting in a single portal. Internal and external stakeholders share the same Gantt-style timeline, so handoffs are transparent and expectations stay aligned.
Complex B2B SaaS deployments—think multi-team rollouts, data migrations, or integrations—where missed deadlines jeopardize first-year renewal probability.
Tiered plans based on active projects; all include unlimited customer guests and a 14-day free trial. Enterprise tier adds SSO and custom roles.
By giving customers radical visibility into progress—and surfacing delays instantly—Rocketlane transforms onboarding from a black box into a trust-building experience that sets the stage for long-term retention.
Customer conversations hold the earliest clues to churn: shifting priorities, stalled adoption, budget red flags. Gong records every call, demo, and QBR, then uses AI to mine those recordings for the signals your forecasting spreadsheet can’t see. The result is a renewal-readiness dashboard that tells CSMs exactly which accounts need love—and what to say when they reach out.
Gong captures audio, video, and screen shares from Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet and transcribes them in near real time. Machine-learning models tag speakers, topics, and competitive mentions so CS leaders can search, filter, and coach without replaying hour-long meetings.
CS teams running frequent QBRs, upsell pitches, or renewal negotiations and wanting objective insight into account health.
Annual, per-seat licenses with bundled onboarding; pricing is quote-based but typically mid-four figures per user.
Early detection of objection patterns lets CSMs craft save-plays weeks before formal notice periods, turning tense renewal calls into confident “signed and extended” moments.
Email threads bury context, but a shared Slack channel keeps customers one @mention away from help, updates, and high-fives. Slack Connect turns the workspace your team already lives in into a real-time, invite-only community with your most valuable accounts.
Spin up a dedicated channel per customer, loop in product or billing on demand, and keep every file, decision, and emoji-reaction searchable forever.
Enterprise or strategic accounts that expect white-glove access to CSMs, engineers, and leadership without scheduling calls.
Included with all paid Slack plans; no per-channel fees—just invite external domains and go.
Instant visibility and fast fixes build emotional loyalty, while minor issues surface early instead of festering into renewal-killing frustrations.
SurveyMonkey CX is the enterprise arm of the familiar survey giant, purpose-built for always-on NPS and VoC programs. Drag-and-drop builders plus real-time dashboards give CS leaders sentiment data they can slice by segment, persona, or lifecycle stage—no manual exports or pivot tables.
Teams that already track usage but need statistically solid VoC signals to complete the health picture.
Per-seat pricing with response-based tiers; Enterprise adds SSO, data API, and white-label domains. Sales can spin up a short pilot.
Detractor alerts hit the owning CSM’s inbox within seconds, enabling same-day follow-ups that turn unhappy users into renewal-ready promoters.
No single app fixes churn. The magic happens when each category—feedback management, CSM platforms, onboarding layers, product analytics, VoC/NPS, and workflow automation—passes clean data to the next. Start with feedback (Koala Feedback) so your roadmap aligns with what customers actually ask for. Layer a health-scoring platform on top to operationalize those insights. Then plug the gaps with in-app guidance, behavioral analytics, and sentiment surveys so every stage of the journey is measured and improved.
Before you buy, map your current touchpoints and flag where handoffs break. Prioritize tools that deliver a quick win in the riskiest stage—often onboarding or adoption—and pilot one or two solutions before scaling.
Ready to kick things off? Spin up a free trial of Koala Feedback and give your customers a front-row seat to your roadmap—your future self (and renewal numbers) will thank you.
Start today and have your feedback portal up and running in minutes.
