Top 10 Customer Success Platforms in 2025

Updated on July 7, 2025

In 2022, Nick Mehta, the CEO of Gainsight, told McKinsey, “Every software company has a customer success program now. And it’s not just lip service anymore, where they put three or four people into the program. Many companies have hundreds of customer success managers trying to scale the business and drive net retention.”

Customer success has changed a lot in the past ten years. Why? Subscription businesses are everywhere now. These companies don’t get all their money up front, and they need to keep customers happy for months or years to make their full revenue.

This change has made customer success managers do more than ever before. They still handle training and onboarding. But now they also provide support, help companies prove their ROI, and find ways to sell more services.

Here’s the thing: big enterprise customers used to get all the attention. They paid the most, so they got dedicated account managers. But now every customer expects that same level of care.

The problem? You can’t give personal attention to hundreds or thousands of customers without the right tools. That’s where customer success platforms come in. They help you simultaneously send messages to many customers, run surveys, and handle other tasks at scale.

This article looks at different customer success platforms and guides you in picking the right one. We’re going to cover:

1. What is a Customer Success Platform?

2. How Can You Evaluate Customer Success Platforms?

3. The Top 10 Customer Success Platforms

4. Evaluating the Top 10 Customer Success Platforms

5. Buyer’s Guide: The Best CSP for Your Business

What is a Customer Success Platform?

In his interview, Nick Mehta of Gainsight identified three metrics of a successful customer success function:

1. The team should be oriented towards one “north star” metric. For most companies, this is the net retention rate (NRR).

2. The team should have a process tied to the customer journey to achieve the metric. 

3. The team should be able to track the lagging and leading indicators – tickets raised, usage, etc. 

So, fundamentally, customer success platforms need to be able to measure metrics, connect your team to the consumer, and also keep track of the customer’s product usage patterns. 

Unlike a traditional CRM, which is primarily designed for pre‑sale pipeline management, or a help‑desk tool focusing on ticket resolution, a CSP is engineered for post‑sale outcomes—reducing churn, driving product adoption, and expanding customer revenue. 

According to Forrester: “Customer success platforms support success at scale by marrying breadth of functionality with data depth.”

What are the Core Features of a Customer Success Platform?

In our research through 30+ CSPs across multiple businesses, we found some standard core features that define this category:

1. Customer Data Layer – API & native connectors built to ingest CRM, product analytics, billing, and support data to produce real‑time health scores.

2. Health Scoring & Alerts – Configurable models that blend usage, sentiment (NPS/CSAT), contract details, and support metrics to surface churn or expansion signals.

3. Playbooks & Automation – Rule‑based or AI‑assisted workflows that trigger tasks, emails, or in‑app nudges at key lifecycle milestones.

4. Revenue Forecasting – Renewal and expansion probability models that help your team track revenue and other metrics.

5. AI Copilots & Insights – AI assistants that draft emails, summarise accounts, and suggest next‑best actions.

Modern customer success teams live and rely on the customer success platform because “If your customers are extracting value from your product or services, then you’ll extract value from them.” 

In our research, we also built an evaluation framework that will help us guide you through the best CSPs. We’ll cover this framework in the next section. 

How Can You Evaluate Customer Success Platforms?

With a customer success platform, your choice depends on the complexity of your customer data and your tech stack. You can get away with a relatively simple solution if your data only lives on in Metabase and on a CRM. However, as your stack becomes more convoluted, you’ll need enterprise-level solutions or custom CSPs that work for you. 

Our CSP buying guide framework borrows from Gartner, TSIA, and Forrester Wave 2025. We recommend the following criteria:

Evaluation Pillar	What to Examine	Why It Matters
Customer‑360 Depth	Native connectors (CRM, data warehouse, billing, product analytics), API limits, sync latency	A unified view helps you in health scoring and upsell plays.
Health‑Score Flexibility	Weighted models by segment, custom metrics, multi‑layer (account/user) scoring	Flexible models that score customer health are better at predicting churn
Automation & AI	Rule builder, ML churn prediction, generative copilots for email/QBRs	AI reduces CSM workload and surfaces proactive tasks
Playbook Library & Governance	Pre‑built templates, version control, audience targeting, and approval flows	Templates reduce time‑to‑value
On‑boarding Time & TCO	Typical go‑live in weeks, admin hours/month, service fees	Faster launch = quicker ROI
Security / Compliance	SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, SSO/MFA	Security is essential for any business operation
Pricing Model & Scalability	Seat vs. account‑based, data overage fees, AI usage costs	Misaligned pricing erodes ROI

In our experience, most enterprise buyers find the best CSPs by demoing the products with a small pilot implementation. When you find a CSP vendor that matches these criteria, run a small pilot, score them on the above criteria, and put down an RFP. 

Which vendors should you look at? We’ve prepared a top 10 list in the next section. 

The Top 10 Customer Success Platforms

1. Gainsight

Gainsight is one of the most popular CSPs available today. Built for mid-market and enterprise software vendors who need advanced health scoring, digital CS playbooks, and revenue operations. According to Catherine D, a Gainsight user and a Customer Success Manager, “The various metrics help me get a better handle on where I need to focus to drive success, not only at the account level but at the territory level. Additionally, based on some of my questions to our administrator, customizations help you tailor to meet your goals.”

The platform is AI-forward and provides a high level of automation. However, it might be challenging to learn the platform because of the UI changes between its core modules.

Pros

• Deep data model with extensive integrations
• AI Copilot accelerates insights and task automation
• Rich playbook and admin tooling ecosystem

Cons

• UI inconsistencies across modules
• Steep admin/setup overhead
• High total cost for small CS teams

2. Totango

Another major software vendor in the customer success platform (CSP) space, Totango, lets you build specific customizations and track customer intelligence. The platform offers extensive integrations and options in terms of data analysis. 

However, as Lena J, a Totango user and a Customer Onboarding Manager at a Mid-Market platform, points out, “Totango’s interface isn’t always the most intuitive—especially when it comes to building out custom reports or dashboards. The logic can feel clunky, and it often takes quite a bit of trial and error to get things just right. If you’re looking to go beyond the basics, you really need to dedicate time to learning the platform.”

The platform is flexible and template-rich; however, teams will need expert help to ramp up their platform usage. 

Pros 

• Modular pricing supports phased adoption
• Large library of 200+ SuccessBLOC templates
• Predictive churn insights via Unison AI

Cons 

• Steep learning curve for custom reporting
• The interface can feel clunky for advanced tasks
• Additional admin training is often required

3. Kommunicate

A support-forward customer success platform, Kommunicate allows you to manage connections with customers at scale. It also offers intuitive conversational intelligence features that help you track customer sentiment to decide on their health score.

According to Felipe Xavier L, a Chatbot Analyst and a Kommunicate customer from a Mid-Market firm, “The flexibility in widget customization and the ability to manage multiple audiences with a single bot stand out as major advantages. Additionally, the technical support is efficient and always willing to help, ensuring that implementation and adjustments are smooth.” 

However, because the product is built for support teams, it does not have an internal health scoring function or marketing automations.

We’re a bit biased, but Kommunicate is the only platform that adds at-scale conversational intelligence, which lets success managers track customer behavior at a granular level. 

Pros

• Unified chat, voice, and CS analytics stack
• Low‑code bot builder launches in minutes
• Competitive usage‑based pricing

Cons

• Some advanced integrations take longer to deploy
• Support analytics less granular than dedicated CSPs
• Smaller third‑party app ecosystem

4. Planhat

Planhat was created as an advanced CRM analytics platform for better customer experiences. It has a flexible API implementation with a unified revenue operations platform that helps customer success managers score customer health and predict churn. 

However, the workflow implementation for Planhat is quite complex. 

Bentley B., a Customer Success manager and a Planhat customer at a mid-market firm, points out, “My biggest pain point is that when I go to my ‘workflows’. I don’t have a way to add custom columns for simple things like ‘Notes.’ All information has to be a preset field in the company accounts.”

While Planhat is one of the best platforms for data-based intelligence, you will need significant training to adopt it. 

Pros 

• Powerful open API for custom integrations
• Revenue Hub ties CS metrics to financial outcomes
• AI Assist accelerates account reviews and emails

Cons

• The workflow designer has a steep learning curve
• Limited inline custom columns in workflows
• Mid‑tier pricing can rise with usage volume

5. ChurnZero

ChurnZero is the go-to CSP platform for teams that want granular insights with good automations. The platform is also very AI-forward, making it easy to run predictive analytics on your customer data. 

According to Alejandra C, a Client Relationship Owner and a ChurnZero user, “The pre-built dashboards are very useful and oriented to main needs, but the flexibility to build your own really allows you  to customize every single detail based on your own definitions and objectives.”

The AI CoPilot from Planhat and their customizable analytics and workflows make it an attractive choice for global customer success teams. 

Pros 

• Real‑time health scores and alerting
• Highly flexible segmentation and dashboards
• White‑glove onboarding and admin services

Cons

• Manual cleanup needed for stale ingested data
• Dense UI can overwhelm newcomers
• Some AI/advanced modules cost extra

6. Vitally

If your customer success team just wants to get going as quickly as possible, Vitally should be your pick. The software is versatile and covers all the bases with a consumer-grade UI. 

Customers praise the intuitive nature of the software and say that it requires little to no training. The model is self-service, and most teams can scale up to their entire customer base within 2 weeks or less. 

However, some customers complain that the AI automations are basic. According to a user from the computer and network security industry in the mid-market, “Vitally’s Playbook automation is useful but basic. I would like to see more advanced functionality and customization. For example, the ability to add custom functions, data transformations, loops, and perform generic HTTP Requests, akin to other workflow automation solutions in the market today.”

Overall, the tool is a fast way to get started for small customer success teams, and the self-serve system is great for startups. 

Pros 

• Intuitive consumer‑grade UI
• Self‑serve implementation in ~2 weeks
• Customizable widget dashboards

Cons 

• Playbook automation lacks advanced logic
• No custom functions or HTTP calls yet
• Limited built‑in survey/field customization

7. SmartKarrot

Smartkarrot CS platform is built around surveys and success plays. With automated workflows and other processes, SmartKarrot does an excellent job of getting a person started with business intelligence. 

However, the platform has some bugs related to data accuracy. As Rohan S. a SmartKarrot user from a Small business, says, “Data accuracy was not up to the mark. Some bugs. Health Score does not update sometimes.”

However, if you can periodically check and update data ingestion pipelines, Smartkarrot can be a good option to integrate into your business. 

Pros

• Integrated surveys and feedback loops
• Built‑in BI layer eliminates a separate tool
• Call AI provides sentiment and coaching insights

Cons 

• Occasional data‑sync bugs affect accuracy
• Health score refresh delays reported
• Feature breadth may overwhelm small teams

8. Custify

Custify is a feature-complete platform for customer success. It’s built to structure data properly, and several startups recommend it because it’s easy and intuitive to set up.

According to Zainab N, a senior customer success manager who uses the software, “We can now set automated alerts, create customer lifecycles, manage dashboards, view client activity and platform usage, and basically see a 360 view of each client.”

Custify is a great option for startups that are starting to build out their customer success function, and features all the things that these organizations might need. However, Custify has fewer AI and automation features than the other standouts in this list.

Pros

• Fast onboarding from spreadsheets
• Rule‑based alerts are easy to configure
• Affordable pricing for SMB budgets

Cons 

• Recurring task management is manual
• Limited AI or predictive features
• Smaller template library than peers

9. ClientSuccess

ClientSuccess features a great customer health score and NPS module. It also features data-forward dashboards that track the customer lifecycle closely. 

While the platform features some automations and has success plays that your team can employ, it also misses out on some customization features. According to a user from the computer software sector, “I wish the tool had more customization options. For example, the NPS survey is limited to a score and a comment, but we ask additional questions in our NPS survey program. It would be great to house all of that data within ClientSuccess instead of relying on other survey tools. Another example would be engagements – not a lot of options for adding fields to call notes, meetings, etc, which can be limiting in how we use them.”

ClientSuccess is a great tool for smaller customer success teams where customizations are not a priority. However, for larger organizations, the lack of customizability can affect success processes.

Pros

• Clean and executive‑friendly account views
• Rapid go‑live with minimal admin
• Flat‑rate predictable pricing

Cons 

• Limited survey question customization
• Basic automation compared with peers
• Flat pricing can become a constraint as your team scales

10. Velaris

Velaris is a very popular CSP. It features a lot of native integrations with other platforms that make it valuable for bigger product teams with complicated tech stacks. 

According to Roland B., a client success manager who works with the platform, “The seamless integration with various platforms and the intuitive user interface make it easy to track and manage customer interactions, ensuring that each customer receives tailored support and attention.”

AI insights and other features on the platform give you deep analytics into your customers, and the platform offers several automations and helps your team succeed. 

Pros 

• Multi‑layer AI health scoring precision
• The unified timeline aggregates all interactions
• Predictive next‑best‑action suggestions

Cons 

• Manual onboarding takes ~3 weeks
• Smaller ecosystem of out‑of‑box integrations
• Mid‑market pricing can rise with volume

We took this shortlist and evaluated each of them against our framework. In the next section, we’ll look at the results.

Evaluating the Top 10 Customer Success Platforms

According to our evaluation framework, this is how the platforms score:

Platform	CustomerData Depth	ScoringFlexibility	Automation & AI	Onboarding Time & TCO	Security	Pricing & Scalability
Gainsight	🏆 Excellent	🏆 Excellent	🏆 Excellent	Medium / High	🏆 Excellent	High
Totango	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Good	🏆 Excellent
Kommunicate	Moderate	Good	Strong	Strong	Good	Competitive
Planhat	Strong	Strong	🏆 Excellent	Medium	Good	Mid‑tier
ChurnZero	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Good	Mid‑tier
Vitally	Good	Strong	Good	🏆 Excellent	Good	Mid‑market
SmartKarrot	Strong	Strong	Good	Medium	Good	Mid‑market
Custify	Good	Good	Basic	🏆 Excellent	Good	Budget
ClientSuccess	Good	Good	Basic	🏆 Excellent	Good	Flat‑rate
Velaris	Strong	🏆 Excellent	Strong	Medium	Good	Mid‑market

With this evaluation, we can start selecting the best customer success platform for your business in the next section. 

Buyer’s Guide: Which CSP is the best for Your Business?

Once you have checked out the vendor list above and planned out the ones you want to check out, you should be ready to choose your customer success platform. Here’s a process we followed at Kommunicate:

1. Choose the Correct Vendor

Depending on the stage of your business, the customer success platform you will use will vary:

Early‑Stage / Seed‑Series A

• <50 paying customers; 1–2 CSMs
• Must‑have: replace spreadsheets, basic health scoring, fast low‑code setup
• Outcome goal: visibility & structure in ≤ 2 weeks
• Best‑fit platforms: Custify, ClientSuccess

Growth / Series B–C

• 50–500 customers; 2–15 CSMs
• Must-Haves: playbooks & automation, usage‑driven health scores, AI alerts to stay proactive
• Outcome goal: automate repetitive tasks; catch churn early
• Best‑fit platforms: ChurnZero, Vitally, SmartKarrot, Kommunicate (support‑plus‑CS)

Enterprise / Late‑Stage & IPO

• >500 customers; global CSM org
• Must‑have: composable data layer (CRM, product, billing), advanced segmentation & forecasting, cross‑BU governance & audits
• Outcome goal: enterprise‑grade AI, security, and extensibility
• Best‑fit platforms: Gainsight, Totango, Planhat, Velaris

2. Check Your Existing Support Stack

Your customer success technology will interact heavily with your support tech stack. So, it’s better to find solutions that play well with your existing tech stack proactively.

If You’re Already Using…	Why It Matters	Smart Shortcut
Freshdesk / Freshworks suite	Freshdesk Customer Success shares the same data model and UI.	Add the CS module—skip a net‑new vendor.
Intercom inbox	You can deflect up to 50 % tickets with Fin AI first, then layer a separate CSP later.	Pilot Fin → measure deflection → decide on deeper CS tooling.
Voice / Chatbots but no CS platform	Kommunicate unifies bot & ticket analytics with CS health—no data stitching required.	Run a proof‑of‑concept in < 7 days.

3. Prioritise the Capability Gaps

If you know what your team’s gaps are, your choices will become clearer

• Execution speed → Lean ops? Choose UI‑first tools (Vitally, Custify).
• Data complexity → Multiple products/billing sources? Go for deep schema tools (Gainsight, Planhat).
• Budget control → Need à‑la‑carte modules? Totango’s composable pricing wins.
• Support‑CS convergence → Omnichannel analytics matter? Kommunicate or Freshdesk CS.
• AI ambition → Looking for generative email drafts & predictive churn? Gainsight Copilot, Kommunicate AI, Planhat AI Assist, ChurnZero CoPilot, Velaris AI.
  

4. Run a Two‑Vendor Bake‑Off (30 Days)

Once you’ve zeroed down on your final selections, it’s best to run a month-long pilot with each to find the best fit. 

Week	Actions	Success Metric
1	Connect CRM + product usage feeds; import 10 accounts.	Data latency < 24 h
2	Configure one health score & two alert playbooks.	Alert precision > 80 %
3	Push alerts to Slack/Teams; generate one exec report.	C‑Suite “time‑to‑insight” ≤ 10 min
4	Hold stakeholder demo; capture admin hours spent.	Admin time ≤ 8 h / week

Score both vendors on Health Accuracy, Admin Effort, and Time‑to‑Value. Pick the one with the best composite score.

5. Phase Your Roll‑Out

Use a strategic rollout plan to ship your success tools, ensuring no discontinuity in communications or in service.

1. Foundational (0‑3 mo): Customer‑360 + basic health + churn alerts.
2. Operational (3‑6 mo): Onboarding & renewal playbooks, CSAT/NPS loops.
3. Strategic (6‑12 mo): Revenue forecasting, expansion playbooks, AI copilot for QBR prep.
4. Unified CX (12 mo +): Feed support tickets, chatbot logs, and voice transcripts to create a single predictive model (Kommunicate, Gainsight PX, or Planhat Usage Hub).
   

Key Takeaways

• Match tooling to maturity. Over‑buying slows you down; under‑buying leaves blind spots.
• Leverage your existing stack. Native add‑ons (Freshdesk CS, Fin, Kommunicate) shorten ROI.
• Pilot ruthlessly. Real data + real CSMs in 30 days beats any vendor slide deck.
  

Use this guide to narrow the field, then verify the claims with paid pilots or free POCs before committing. 

Conclusion

The customer success landscape has evolved dramatically over the past decade, driven by the subscription economy’s demand for sustained customer relationships and measurable retention metrics. Today’s CSPs are no longer nice-to-have tools—they’re essential infrastructure for any business serious about scaling customer success operations beyond manual spreadsheet management.

The key to selecting the right platform lies in honest self-assessment: understanding your current customer data complexity, team maturity, and growth trajectory. 

Remember that the most feature-rich platform isn’t always the best choice—it’s about finding the right fit for your specific needs, existing tech stack, and implementation timeline. The most successful CSP deployments we’ve observed follow a phased approach: start with foundational health scoring and alerts, layer in automation and playbooks, then gradually add strategic forecasting and AI capabilities as your team matures.

Want a support-first CSP? Choose Kommunicate (kommunicate.io)