Skip to content

Best Customer Success Tools in 2026

Customer success and retention platforms

40 tools evaluated · 10 top picks · Updated September 2026

Key Takeaways
  • ChurnZero is our overall pick for customer success in 2026. SmartKarrot is our free pick.
  • We analyzed 40 customer success tools to create this ranking.

Customer success platforms (Gainsight, ChurnZero, Totango, Vitally, Catalyst) help CS teams track health scores, manage playbooks, and prevent churn. The category bifurcated into enterprise (Gainsight) and mid-market/modern (Vitally, Catalyst). Pick by team size and CRM stack.

7 Top Customer Success Tools Compared

Starting price, average user rating, and our pick for each category.

ToolOur takeStarting priceRating
ChurnZero logo
ChurnZero
Best overallContact sales4.7
AskNicely logo
AskNicely
Solid pickContact sales4.7
Gainsight logo
Gainsight
Solid pickContact sales4.5
Skilljar logo
Skilljar
Most affordable$10/mo4.5
Userpilot logo
Userpilot
Solid pick$299/mo4.6
Custify logo
Custify
Highest ratedContact sales4.8
Totango logo
Totango
Solid pick$199/mo4.3

How the Top Customer Success Tools Compare

The customer success category is highly competitive in 2026, with ChurnZero and AskNicely both ranking among the top choices on Toolradar's assessment, followed closely by Gainsight. The tight competition reflects how mature this market has become.

The leading customer success tools are all paid, reflecting the enterprise-grade capabilities in this space. When evaluating ROI, both ChurnZero and AskNicely indicate strong value for the investment based on features and user satisfaction.

Computed from live tool ratings, review counts, and editorial scores.Editorial policy

Top Customer Success tools

01
ChurnZero logo

Proactively fight churn with real-time customer success

Paid4.7/51,747 ratings · Sep 2026

ChurnZero is a real-time customer success platform for subscription businesses. Track customer health with product usage and engagement data. Automate communications and outreach based on customer behavior. In-app walkthroughs and announcements improve adoption. Playbooks guide CSMs through best practices. Features include reporting, integrations, and renewals management. Fight churn proactively with data-driven customer success.

+Real-time engagement
+Easy to use
+Good automation
Less established than Gainsight
Limited integrations
Fair value

ChurnZero's pricing, starting at $38,939 annually for Professional and $64,289 for Enterprise, is on the higher end of the market for customer success platforms.

02
AskNicely logo

Unlock customer retention, revenue, and online reviews through real-time feedback and team empowerment.

Paid4.7/51,152 ratings · Sep 2026

AskNicely is a customer experience software designed to help businesses collect, analyze, and act on customer feedback in real-time. It provides tools for creating engaging, conversational surveys across multiple channels (email, SMS, in-app, in-store) to gather qualitative insights efficiently. The platform aims to streamline feedback management, making CX data accessible and actionable for all team members, from executives to frontline staff. The software focuses on driving 'earned growth' by improving customer retention and generating referrals. It offers robust analytics, including AI-powered text analysis for sentiment and theme identification, and performance leaderboards to motivate teams. AskNicely integrates with existing CRMs and other tools, enabling automated follow-ups and workflow automation to close the loop with customers faster and ensure consistent service quality across multiple locations.

+Engaging, conversational surveys lead to higher response rates and richer insights.
+Real-time feedback and analytics enable quick action and continuous improvement.
+Empowers frontline teams with actionable data and motivation.
No explicit mention of a free tier or transparent pricing on the website.
Requires integration with existing systems for full benefit, which might have setup overhead.
Fair value

AskNicely's pricing model, which requires contacting sales for all tiers, makes it difficult to assess fairness directly.

Watch out

Optional add-ons for reputation management, SSO

03
Gainsight logo

Unify customer data, predict churn, and automate success

Paid4.5/51,810 ratings · Sep 2026

Gainsight is the leading customer success platform for enterprise companies. Unify customer data from every touchpoint into comprehensive health scores. Automate success plans and customer journeys. Features include product experience management, community, and education platforms. Advanced analytics and AI predict churn before it happens. The platform that pioneered customer success, trusted by the world's largest companies.

+Industry leader
+Comprehensive features
+Strong analytics
Complex implementation
Enterprise pricing
Fair value

Gainsight's pricing, particularly for the Enterprise tier starting around $2,500/month, is on the expensive side compared to many market alternatives.

Watch out

Potential high minimum user counts

04
Skilljar logo

Customer education LMS to boost adoption and cut support costs

Paid4.5/51,517 ratings · Sep 2026

Skilljar is an external learning management system (LMS) purpose-built for customer and partner education. Companies use it to create branded training academies that accelerate onboarding, drive product adoption, and reduce support costs. It supports self-paced courses, instructor-led training, certifications with proctored exams, and monetization through subscriptions or per-course purchases, all with deep Salesforce and CRM integration to tie training outcomes to business metrics.

Skilljar screenshot
+Purpose-built for external/customer education, not internal training
+Strong Salesforce integration ties training to retention and NPS
+Supports multiple monetization models out of the box
No published pricing, requires sales contact
Premium integrations cost extra as add-ons
Fair value

Skilljar does not publish Essentials / Professional / Enterprise dollars.

Watch out

Two meters: annual plan + active users who take a lesson in the year (official header). We do not invent the per-user rate. The FAQ asks 'How much is each active user?' and answers on a sales call.

05
Userpilot logo

Onboard, engage, and grow users with no-code in-app experiences

Paid4.6/51,070 ratings · Sep 2026

Userpilot is a product growth platform for onboarding, adoption, and engagement. Build in-app experiences without code. Segment users and trigger contextual guidance. Collect feedback with NPS and surveys. Analytics track feature adoption and user journeys. Grow product usage with the right message at the right time.

+No code required
+Good analytics
+Feature adoption tracking
Can be expensive
Learning curve
Good value

Userpilot's pricing starts at a relatively high $299/month for the Starter tier, which is on the more expensive side compared to some market alternatives for basic product adoption features.

06
Custify logo

Proactively manage customers, ensure success in real-time, and reduce churn with a unified platform.

Paid4.8/5664 ratings · Sep 2026

Custify is a customer success software designed to help SaaS businesses ensure product adoption, reduce churn, and identify upsell opportunities. It centralizes all customer data from various systems, providing a 360-degree view of each client's health, engagement, and interactions. The platform automates low-touch customer success workflows, generates actionable tasks, and offers predictive insights through custom dashboards and health scores. The tool is built for customer success teams to streamline their operations, allowing them to focus more on client engagement rather than data gathering. It integrates with existing tech stacks like CRMs, revenue apps (Chargebee, Stripe, Recurly), and support tools (Intercom, Helpscout, Zendesk) without requiring engineering support. Custify aims to improve customer satisfaction throughout the lifecycle, from onboarding to renewals, and helps turn successful customers into advocates.

Custify screenshot
+Provides a comprehensive 360-degree view of customer data
+Automates routine tasks, increasing team efficiency
+Helps identify churn risks and upsell opportunities proactively
No explicit mention of a free trial or freemium model
Pricing details are not publicly available on the provided pages

Watch out

Potential minimum user count requirements

07
Totango logo

Drive customer outcomes and growth with automated success programs

Paid4.3/51,150 ratings · Sep 2026

Totango is an enterprise customer success platform for driving customer outcomes at scale. SuccessBLOCs provide pre-built programs for common CS workflows. Health scores based on product usage, engagement, and business outcomes. Orchestrate proactive outreach and digital engagement. Integrates with CRM, support, and product analytics. Customer success for companies serious about reducing churn and driving growth.

+Modular approach
+Good for scaling
+Free tier available
Can be complex
Steeper learning curve
Fair value

Totango's pricing is quite expensive, especially for SMBs.

Watch out

Overage fees for accounts/users

08
Planhat CS logo

The unified customer platform for sales, service, and customer success to drive lifelong revenue growth.

Paid4.6/5711 ratings · Mar 2026

Planhat is a unified customer platform designed to streamline and integrate sales, service, and customer success operations. It helps businesses acquire new customers, deliver engaging client experiences, and drive sustainable revenue growth by providing a holistic view of the customer journey. The platform aims to break down silos between departments, allowing teams to collaborate effectively and make data-driven decisions. Planhat offers specific functionalities for sales, professional services, and customer success. For sales, it helps streamline processes and close more deals. For professional services, it enables world-class service delivery, converting clients into promoters. For customer success, it focuses on driving successful customer outcomes and growing revenue. The platform leverages AI and automation to enhance efficiency, personalize customer interactions, and provide deep insights into customer health and product usage, ultimately leading to reduced churn and increased customer lifetime value. It is particularly beneficial for companies looking to scale their customer management operations, automate repetitive tasks like email communications, and gain a better understanding of their customer base through real-time data and analytics. By unifying various customer touchpoints and data, Planhat empowers teams to be more proactive, targeted, and efficient in their customer engagement strategies.

Planhat CS screenshot
+Unifies multiple customer-facing departments on a single platform
+Significant time savings through automation of communication and administrative tasks
+Improved customer understanding and reduced churn due to data-driven insights
No explicit mention of a free trial or free tier
Specific pricing details are not publicly available
Good value

Planhat CS offers a single, comprehensive tier with an 'Enquire' pricing model, making it difficult to assess fairness without direct quotes.

Watch out

Pricing is custom, likely high minimums

09
TeamSupport logo

Customer support for B2B companies

Paid4.3/5943 ratings · Sep 2026

TeamSupport is a B2B customer support software built for companies with complex products and relationships. Features ticket management, customer database, and collaboration tools.

+Provides account-level insights and a 360° customer view, connecting conversations to overall customer history rather than isolated tickets.
+Features a proprietary Customer Distress Index to proactively identify at-risk accounts by monitoring engagement patterns and sentiment.
+Includes AI Agents for 24/7 chat support, handling routine questions, gathering information, and providing localized, multi-language support.
Many advanced features like Kevin AI Productivity Tools, Customer Portal, Playbooks, Insights, Custom Fields, Automation, and Broadcast are not included in the Starter plan.
Pricing for additional users for Messaging & live chat is per agent per month, which can increase costs for larger teams.
Good value

TeamSupport's pricing, starting at $49/user/month for Essential Support, is competitive for B2B customer support solutions.

10
Appcues logo

No-code builder for user onboarding and feature adoption

Paid4.7/5459 ratings · Sep 2026

Appcues is a product-led growth platform for user onboarding and feature adoption. Create in-app experiences with a no-code builder. Target users based on behavior and attributes. Measure impact with built-in analytics. Integrates with analytics and data tools. Turn new signups into engaged users with personalized onboarding.

+Easy to use
+No coding needed
+Great templates
Expensive
Limited customization
Fair value

Appcues' pricing is on the expensive side, especially for smaller businesses.

Why these customer success tools didn't make our top 10.

We evaluated 40 customer success tools and these 20 ranked 11 through 30. They're solid options that fell short on one or two axes (review depth, pricing transparency, feature parity), but worth a look if the leaders don't fit your stack or budget.

Certinia logo
Certinia
AI-powered cloud platform for professional services automation, financial management, and customer success.
Vitally logo
Vitally
Retain and grow accounts with unified customer health
Northpass logo
Northpass
Digitize customer onboarding and training with on-demand education to improve productivity and customer experience.
Hopscotch logo
Hopscotch
Convert more trials and reduce churn with interactive product tours for SaaS.
Product Fruits logo
Product Fruits
The AI-powered platform for creating personalized and effective product adoption experiences.
ClientSuccess logo
ClientSuccess
Simple, powerful software to reduce churn and increase customer revenue.
ZapScale logo
ZapScale
The easiest customer success platform for B2B SaaS companies, providing deep customer insights and automation.
Userflow logo
Userflow
The AI-powered platform for product adoption, onboarding, and in-app support.
EverAfter logo
EverAfter
AI-powered platform for designing and automating post-sale customer journeys to drive engagement and expansion.
SmartKarrot logo
SmartKarrot
Drive customer growth and retention through proactive engagement and insights.
OnRamp Onboarding logo
OnRamp Onboarding
The intelligent co-pilot for customer onboarding and engagement, driving action and accelerating time to value.
UpdateAI logo
UpdateAI
AI superpower for account teams to maximize impact of every customer interaction.
Staircase AI logo
Staircase AI
Leverage Artificial Revenue Intelligence to predict churn, identify growth, and automate customer insights.
InMoment (formerly Wootric) logo
InMoment (formerly Wootric)
Enterprise experience improvement platform for NPS, CSAT, and customer feedback
Cast.app logo
Cast.app
AI agents for customer success, driving revenue growth and retention without scaling teams.
Skalin logo
Skalin
Boost Customer Success operations with AI-powered insights and automation.
Startdeliver logo
Startdeliver
The platform for top Customer Success teams to proactively manage customers and drive NRR.
Kapta logo
Kapta
The system of action for large account teams to drive customer retention and revenue growth.
ProsperStack logo
ProsperStack
Boost retention, slash churn, and accelerate growth for subscription businesses.
RevSetter logo
RevSetter
AI-powered platform for customer success and relationship management.

Popular customer success comparisons

See how the leading customer success tools stack up head-to-head.

Customer Success pricing, compared

Real plans and the hidden costs for each tool.

How to choose customer success software

  1. Match to CS team size

    Enterprise CS teams with dedicated CS ops: Gainsight. Mid-market with PLG motion: Vitally, Catalyst, Totango. SMB CS with HubSpot/Salesforce: ChurnZero, native CRM features. The right size matters more than the longest feature list.

  2. Audit product usage data integration

    CS scores need product usage data (logins, feature adoption, account health). Verify the platform integrates with your product analytics (Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog) or accepts custom events.

  3. Plan for playbook automation

    CS without automation is reactive. Tools with strong playbook automation (trigger-based emails, tasks, alerts) reduce CS Manager toil. Test the automation depth against your real workflows.

Honorable mentions

Tools that didn't crack the headline list but deserve a look depending on what you optimize for.

  • HubSpot Service logo
    HubSpot ServiceBest for HubSpot-stack mid-market

    HubSpot Service Hub covers basic CS for HubSpot customers without a dedicated CS tool. Less feature-rich than Vitally/Gainsight; sufficient at SMB and early mid-market.

Best Customer Success for

How we ranked these customer success tools

We rank by real-world signal: verified user ratings aggregated from G2, Capterra, and our own community, the volume and recency of media coverage, and hands-on editorial review for the tools we cover in depth. Pricing is re-checked and the ranking refreshed monthly. We do not sell placement in this list.

Tools reviewed
40
With free tier
15%
Last updated
September 2026

Toolradar Research

The data behind customer success

First-party analyses built from our full catalog, methodology published.

All Toolradar research

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best customer success tool in 2026?

Based on our analysis of 40 customer success tools, ChurnZero is our overall pick. The next tools on the list are AskNicely, Gainsight, Skilljar. Rankings use G2/Capterra review strength, media mentions, and editor-featured picks — the same verdict as /best/free/customer-success and our comparison pages.

What are the top 3 customer success tools?

The top 3 customer success tools in 2026, ranked by Toolradar, are: 1) ChurnZero, Proactively fight churn with real-time customer success. 2) AskNicely, Unlock customer retention, revenue, and online reviews through real-time feedback and team empowerment.. 3) Gainsight, Unify customer data, predict churn, and automate success. Our named overall pick is ChurnZero.

Are there free customer success tools?

SmartKarrot is our free-tier pick — freemium, not 100% free. 0 of the tools on this page offer a free or freemium plan.

How do I choose the right customer success tool?

Start by defining your team size, budget, and must-have features. ChurnZero is our overall pick. SmartKarrot is our free pick. Compare all 40 options side-by-side on Toolradar.
Customer Success statisticscatalog size, ratings and pricing data, updated monthly

For customer success vendors

Selling a customer success product? Reach 720K+ buyers through Toolradar & Dupple.

Newsletter ads and directory listings: the same surfaces buyers use to shortlist. Max 2 sponsors per issue, done-for-you creative.