Quick answer
The best customer success software for 2027 helps you spot churn risk early, automate playbooks and grow renewals. Top picks: Statwide for health scores built on real product behaviour, Gainsight for enterprise CS, ChurnZero for subscription churn, Vitally and Planhat for modern B2B SaaS, and HubSpot or Intercom when support and success share one stack.
Key takeaways
- Pick by CS model: enterprise suites (Gainsight, Planhat), SaaS-first platforms (Vitally, ChurnZero, Custify) or help desks with CS features (HubSpot, Zendesk).
- Most dedicated CS platforms quote custom prices; Akita (from $49/month) and Intercom publish theirs.
- Totango has rebranded as Odie, now positioned as a customer knowledge engine for post-sales teams.
- Health scores are only as good as the product data behind them, so check how each tool collects usage.
Is your CS team stretched thin managing growing customer relationships, driving growth and protecting retention across multiple platforms? In a PwC report, up to 54% of consumers report that CX at most companies still needs improvement.
Without the right customer success platform, teams struggle to track customer health, detect early risks and proactively engage at-risk accounts. But with so many customer success tools available, choosing the right one is another challenge.
So we updated this list for 2027: 15 of the best customer success software solutions, with what each one is best for, current pricing and the features that matter. Start with the quick comparison below, then jump to any tool.
All 15 customer success tools at a glance
| # | Software | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Statwide | B2B SaaS teams that want CS signals from real product behaviour | Contact sales |
| 2 |  Gainsight | Mid-market and enterprise CS teams | Custom quote |
| 3 |  ChurnZero | Subscription businesses focused on cutting churn | Custom pricing (not listed publicly) |
| 4 |  Odie (formerly Totango) | Post-sales teams building AI agents on customer knowledge | Customer Knowledge Engine from $500/month |
| 5 |  Planhat | Teams that want one customer platform across CS, sales and services | On enquiry |
| 6 |  Vitally | B2B SaaS teams running tech-touch to high-touch CS | Request pricing (Tech-Touch, Hybrid-Touch, High-Touch plans) |
| 7 |  Custify | B2B SaaS companies improving retention | Custom quote |
| 8 |  ClientSuccess | SMB to mid-market teams that want fast setup | Startup, Growth and Enterprise packages, on quote |
| 9 |  SmartKarrot | B2B teams that want playbooks across functions | Basic from $15,000/year (5 users) |
| 10 |  Velaris | CS teams that want AI agents built in | One license (5 users, unlimited viewers), custom estimate |
| 11 |  Akita | Small SaaS teams and first CS hires | From $49/month (2 users, 2 integrations) |
| 12 |  HubSpot Service Hub | Teams already running on HubSpot CRM | Free tools; Starter from $20/seat/month (annual) |
| 13 |  Intercom | Support-led SaaS teams that want an AI agent and help desk in one | From $29/seat/month (annual) + $0.99 per Fin outcome |
| 14 |  Zendesk | Support teams scaling omnichannel service | From $19/agent/month (Support Team, annual) |
| 15 |  Freshdesk | Software and services teams that want an affordable AI help desk | From about $19/agent/month (Growth, annual) |
Prices were checked on each vendor’s website in November 2026 and can change. Tools without a listed price sell on custom quotes.
What is customer success software?
Customer success software is the tool companies use to monitor and manage customer retention journeys. The goal of customer success is to make sure customers get the outcomes they bought a product or service for.
It results in higher satisfaction, lower churn and more revenue. According to one survey, companies that invest in scalable customer success platforms are 21% more likely to retain their customers year over year. With customer expectations rising, businesses can no longer rely on reactive support alone.
An effective customer success platform pulls product usage, support tickets, survey scores and CRM data into one view, so you can engage each customer proactively, understand their sentiment and act right away.
Why customer success software matters
Growing businesses use customer success software to remove friction, improve the customer journey, raise retention and drive long-term growth.
Proactive engagement
CS software helps teams move from reactive to proactive. You track customer health, usage patterns and satisfaction to spot at-risk customers and predict churn before it shows up in revenue.
Efficient resource management
Automation takes care of repetitive tasks like health scoring, reporting and routine customer emails. Your CS team can focus on high-value conversations and strategic work.
Optimized onboarding
Customer success software also improves customer onboarding. New customers understand the product faster and see its value sooner, which lifts adoption.
Cross-department collaboration
The platform keeps customer success, sales and marketing aligned on one customer record, so every team sees the same customer journey and works toward the same goals.
15 best customer success software solutions
Here is our pick of customer success software that builds stronger customer relationships, improves satisfaction and supports long-term growth.
1. Statwide
| Quick facts | Statwide |
|---|---|
| Best for | B2B SaaS teams that want CS signals from real product behaviour |
| Starting price | Contact sales |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | Health scores and risk flags built on native web and product analytics |
Statwide is an AI customer intelligence platform for B2B SaaS. It connects web analytics, product analytics and an AI layer called AI Sense, so your CS team sees which accounts are drifting from real usage instead of finding out at the renewal call.
Health scores and churn risk flags run on the behavioral data Statwide already collects, so there is no separate data pipe to maintain. AI Sense spots the pattern behind a risk and suggests the next best action, and cohorts can sync to HubSpot or Slack so the right person acts on it. See the full module list on the Statwide products page.
Key features:
- Account health scores and risk flags at the first sign of disengagement
- AI Sense recommendations for the next best action
- Funnels, Path Analysis, Session Recordings and Heatmaps to see why accounts stall
- PQL scoring and expansion signals for upsell timing
- Accounts and Cohorts for B2B account level views
2. Gainsight
| Quick facts | Gainsight |
|---|---|
| Best for | Mid-market and enterprise CS teams |
| Starting price | Custom quote |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | Depth across health scoring, journeys, education and community |
Gainsight is one of the most established customer success platforms, built around a 360° view of every account. It now positions itself as a customer retention platform that gives both your people and AI agents the context to act at the right moment.
Journey orchestration, customer education and community tools help large teams run personalized programs at scale, and it connects with your CRM and the rest of your stack to keep account data in one place.
Key features:
- 360° account view with customer health scores
- Journey orchestration and digital CS programs
- Customer education and community platforms
- AI agents that support retention work
- Customizable dashboards
3. ChurnZero
| Quick facts | ChurnZero |
|---|---|
| Best for | Subscription businesses focused on cutting churn |
| Starting price | Custom pricing (not listed publicly) |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | Real-time usage alerts and in-app communication |
ChurnZero is a customer success platform for subscription businesses, built to reduce churn and grow renewals. It now pitches itself as AI-powered customer success software, with AI agents that protect revenue and help CSMs cover more accounts without adding headcount.
You get playbooks to automate engagement, real-time dashboards and renewal forecasting, so it is easier to see churn risk early and adjust your plan for each account.
Key features:
- Flags at-risk customers early
- Automated engagement workflows and playbooks
- In-app communication
- Renewal and churn risk forecasting
- AI agents for CS teams
4. Odie (formerly Totango)
| Quick facts | Odie (formerly Totango) |
|---|---|
| Best for | Post-sales teams building AI agents on customer knowledge |
| Starting price | Customer Knowledge Engine from $500/month |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | Living customer knowledge graph that powers agents and workflows |
Totango, one of the original customer success platforms, has rebranded as Odie. Odie is a customer knowledge engine for B2B post-sales teams: it pulls together customer data, your team’s know-how and company history into one living knowledge base.
You can buy the Customer Knowledge Engine on its own to power your internal AI agents, or the Customer Operating System, which adds ready-made post-sales agents and workflow tools on top.
Key features:
- Living Narrative Index that joins company, customer and employee knowledge
- Knowledge curation agents that keep account context current
- Customer Operating System with post-sales agents
- Built for teams creating their own CS agents
5. Planhat
| Quick facts | Planhat |
|---|---|
| Best for | Teams that want one customer platform across CS, sales and services |
| Starting price | On enquiry |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | CRM, customer success and PSA on one data model |
Planhat started as a customer success platform and now calls itself a new generation of CRM. It offers CRM, a customer success platform (CSP) and professional services automation (PSA) on shared customer data, so renewals, expansion and delivery live in one place.
Dashboards, task management, templated and advanced automations and an open API come with every plan, and Planhat AIP adds AI to your workflows.
Key features:
- Customer success platform with health and usage data
- CRM for pipeline, forecasting and account management
- PSA for professional services teams
- Planhat AIP for AI automation
- Native integrations and open API
6. Vitally
| Quick facts | Vitally |
|---|---|
| Best for | B2B SaaS teams running tech-touch to high-touch CS |
| Starting price | Request pricing (Tech-Touch, Hybrid-Touch, High-Touch plans) |
| Free plan or trial | Self-guided product tour |
| Standout feature | Same features on every plan, with unlimited automations |
Vitally is a B2B customer success platform built for SaaS teams of any CS model, from one-to-many to one-to-one. Its AI assistant, Quin, pulls together the context already inside Vitally so CSMs can ask questions about accounts, understand what changed and draft follow ups.
Every plan includes all core features, unlimited automations, unlimited observer seats, single sign-on, the full integration library and unlimited Docs.
Key features:
- Account health scores and segmentation
- Unlimited automations and playbooks
- Docs and success plans shared with your team
- Quin AI assistant
- Full integration library on every plan
7. Custify
| Quick facts | Custify |
|---|---|
| Best for | B2B SaaS companies improving retention |
| Starting price | Custom quote |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | Customer 360 plus AI agents for repetitive CS work |
Custify is a customer success platform for B2B SaaS businesses that want to surface churn risk, secure renewals and scale with AI agents. Real-time health scoring helps you spot at-risk accounts and step in early.
Automated workflows, segmentation and lifecycle tracking let your team personalize outreach, and its integrations pull data in from the tools you already use.
Key features:
- Customer 360 view in one customizable screen
- Segmentation by any metric
- Lifecycle automation and playbooks
- AI agents for routine CS tasks
- Custom reporting on key performance metrics
8. ClientSuccess
| Quick facts | ClientSuccess |
|---|---|
| Best for | SMB to mid-market teams that want fast setup |
| Starting price | Startup, Growth and Enterprise packages, on quote |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | Quick to implement, now with Product Signals feedback insights |
ClientSuccess pitches itself as the easiest customer success software to use and the fastest to implement. It covers the CS basics well: a Client 360 dashboard, automated health scoring, playbooks and renewal tracking.
It recently acquired Product Signals, which turns product feedback into insights your CS and product teams can act on.
Key features:
- Client 360 dashboard for every customer
- Automated, customizable health scoring
- Playbooks for what needs to happen and when
- Renewal and revenue tracking
- Native integration library
9. SmartKarrot
| Quick facts | SmartKarrot |
|---|---|
| Best for | B2B teams that want playbooks across functions |
| Starting price | Basic from $15,000/year (5 users) |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | Playbooks that digitize standard procedures, with user or outcome-based pricing |
SmartKarrot is an intelligent customer success platform for B2B businesses. Its newest product uses playbooks across functions to digitize standard procedures, so teams stay consistent and accountable.
Real-time health scoring, early warnings and product adoption insights help your team manage relationships before small issues turn into churn. Plans come with user-based or outcome-based pricing and add-ons.
Key features:
- Early warning systems
- Dynamic segmentation
- Product adoption insights
- Playbooks and task management
- Add-ons for extra products and integrations
10. Velaris
| Quick facts | Velaris |
|---|---|
| Best for | CS teams that want AI agents built in |
| Starting price | One license (5 users, unlimited viewers), custom estimate |
| Free plan or trial | Demo on request |
| Standout feature | AI agents running on a live model of every account |
Velaris builds AI agents for customer success on top of a customer context engine. The agents work in the background to monitor risk, handle customer requests and automate admin, so your team can manage more accounts without growing headcount.
One license covers the core platform, with add-ons like a Customer Portal for onboarding and Velaris Support for tickets.
Key features:
- Customer 360 with AI account summaries
- Health scores, surveys and AI sentiment scores
- Automations and email campaigns
- Playbooks, success plans and task manager
- AI conversation analysis
11. Akita
| Quick facts | Akita |
|---|---|
| Best for | Small SaaS teams and first CS hires |
| Starting price | From $49/month (2 users, 2 integrations) |
| Free plan or trial | Guided onboarding |
| Standout feature | Low, public pricing with full data sync |
Akita is a lightweight customer success hub for SaaS that brings customer data, activity and metrics into one place. It is one of the few tools on this list with public, low entry pricing.
The Growing Teams plan ($99/month) adds full API access, and extra users or integrations cost $29/month each, so it scales in small steps.
Key features:
- Customer health scores
- Tasks and onboarding tracking
- Full data sync with your integrations
- Free read-only users on every plan
- Full API access from the Growing Teams plan
12. HubSpot Service Hub
| Quick facts | HubSpot Service Hub |
|---|---|
| Best for | Teams already running on HubSpot CRM |
| Starting price | Free tools; Starter from $20/seat/month (annual) |
| Free plan or trial | 14-day free trial |
| Standout feature | Customer Success workspace inside the CRM |
HubSpot Service Hub is customer service software powered by AI, built on HubSpot’s CRM. Its Customer Success workspace shows health score alerts, tasks and renewals next to every contact, deal and ticket.
AI tools like the Customer Agent answer routine questions, and omnichannel messaging with unified ticketing keeps every conversation in one place.
Key features:
- Customer Success workspace with health scores
- Help desk with unified ticketing
- Customer Agent for AI answers
- Real-time performance reporting
- Native link to HubSpot marketing and sales data
13. Intercom
| Quick facts | Intercom |
|---|---|
| Best for | Support-led SaaS teams that want an AI agent and help desk in one |
| Starting price | From $29/seat/month (annual) + $0.99 per Fin outcome |
| Free plan or trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card |
| Standout feature | Fin AI Agent built into the help desk |
Intercom is a customer service platform for AI and human support, with its Fin AI Agent built into the help desk. Every customer conversation trains the next one, so answers get better over time.
Live chat, email, in-app messages and a help center sit in one inbox, which makes Intercom a good fit when support and success share the same team.
Key features:
- Fin AI Agent for service, sales and ecommerce
- Messenger and shared inbox
- Ticketing and workflow automation
- Help center and knowledge base
- Multilingual support
14. Zendesk
| Quick facts | Zendesk |
|---|---|
| Best for | Support teams scaling omnichannel service |
| Starting price | From $19/agent/month (Support Team, annual) |
| Free plan or trial | 14-day free trial |
| Standout feature | AI agents across channels |
Zendesk is an AI-powered customer service platform. It is a help desk first, but CS teams use it to see ticket history next to account data, while its AI agents take routine requests off the team’s plate.
Suite plans (from $55/agent/month) add more channels and AI agents, and Suite Professional adds advanced automation and AI insights.
Key features:
- AI agents for routine interactions
- Omnichannel ticketing
- Help center and self-service
- Reporting and AI insights
- Large app marketplace
15. Freshdesk
| Quick facts | Freshdesk |
|---|---|
| Best for | Software and services teams that want an affordable AI help desk |
| Starting price | From about $19/agent/month (Growth, annual) |
| Free plan or trial | Free trial available |
| Standout feature | Freddy AI Agent with 500 sessions included |
Freshdesk, from Freshworks, brings AI, people and workflows into one help desk, with a guided path to AI adoption. It helps software and services teams resolve issues faster and keep customer relationships strong from day one.
Paid plans include the Freddy AI Agent with the first 500 sessions, and Pro and Enterprise add Freddy AI Copilot as an option.
Key features:
- Freddy AI Agent and Copilot
- Ticketing with automations
- Customer and account dashboards
- Knowledge base and self-service
- Freshworks app integrations
Key features to look for in customer success software
- Health scoring: Monitor satisfaction and engagement in real time so CS teams can spot at-risk customers and act before they churn. The best scores combine product usage, support history and customer success KPIs.
- Automated workflows: Automate actions based on predefined triggers: send follow-up emails, create tasks or alert the CSM when a health score drops.
- 360-degree customer view: See interaction history, product usage, purchase behaviour and support tickets on one dashboard, so you understand each customer’s needs.
- Integration capabilities: Connect your CRM, help desk, billing and product analytics. Good integrations cut manual data entry and keep data accurate.
- Collaboration tools: Shared notes, tasks and success plans keep the whole team on the same page about customer insights and next steps.
- Real-time feedback and surveys: Capture customer sentiment as it happens with NPS and CSAT surveys (see CSAT vs NPS), then use the feedback to guide improvements and reduce churn.
How to choose the right customer success software
To choose the best customer success software, prioritize integrations, real-time analytics, automation, flexibility and strong vendor support. If you are still deciding when to invest, read when a SaaS company should buy a customer success platform.
- Start with your data. Health scores are only as good as the usage data behind them, so check whether the tool tracks product behaviour natively or needs it piped in. Statwide, for example, builds scores on its own product analytics.
- Prefer modular tools that adapt as your team grows, and look for customization in both workflows and reporting.
- Check the AI features against real tasks: risk detection, account summaries and next best action recommendations.
- Assess the vendor’s onboarding, training and support, and how fast teams typically go live.
- Make sure it fits your CS model: high-touch, tech-touch or a mix, plus multi-channel communication.
Conclusion
Customer success software is essential for teams that want to improve engagement and protect revenue. As customer expectations keep rising, the right tool is no longer optional. Start with the comparison table, shortlist two or three tools that fit your CS model and budget, and test them on real accounts. If you want health scores and churn signals that come straight from customer behavior analytics, book a Statwide demo.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best customer success software in 2027?
It depends on your CS model. Gainsight and Planhat suit large enterprise teams, Vitally, ChurnZero and Custify suit B2B SaaS, and HubSpot Service Hub or Intercom work well when support and success share one stack. Statwide fits teams that want health scores built on real product usage.
How much does customer success software cost?
Most dedicated platforms, including Gainsight, ChurnZero, Vitally and Planhat, sell on custom quotes. Published prices start at $49/month for Akita, while SmartKarrot’s Basic plan starts at $15,000/year. Help desks like Zendesk and Freshdesk start around $19 per agent per month.
What is the difference between customer success software and a help desk?
A help desk manages incoming support tickets and reacts to problems. Customer success software is proactive: it tracks health, usage and renewals across each account so your team can step in before a customer churns.
Which customer success software is best for startups?
Startups often begin with Akita (from $49/month) or HubSpot’s free tools, then move to Vitally or Custify as the CS team grows. If churn comes from low product adoption, a behaviour-based tool like Statwide shows where users get stuck.
Can customer success software predict churn?
Yes. Most platforms combine usage, support and survey data into health scores and risk alerts. The prediction is only as good as the data, so tools that track product behaviour natively tend to flag risk earlier.
Is Totango still available?
Totango has rebranded as Odie, a customer knowledge engine for post-sales teams. Odie’s Customer Knowledge Engine starts at $500/month, and a Customer Operating System adds ready-made post-sales agents.
