Best Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software
Contract lifecycle management (CLM) software is used to streamline the entire contract lifecycle process, from pre-signature to post-signature. CLM software can simplify the process of managing contracts across key lifecycle stages such as contract creation, negotiation, execution, approval, and renewal.
CLM software tracks milestones, deadlines, and obligations outlined in the contract, sending automated reminders and notifications to relevant parties. While traditionally utilized by legal teams, CLM software is widely used by other teams within an organization, such as sales, procurement, and finance. By automating contract workflows, these tools help manage high volumes of routine agreements more efficiently.
Unlike contract management software, CLM software helps users manage actions post-signature (or post-execution), including obligation tracking, performance and compliance management, and dispute resolutions. These tools provide a centralized platform for storing all obligation terms and communications. This assists businesses in mitigating risks, ensuring all internal and external parties understand and deliver on their contractual obligations. Having a centralized repository and access for collaboration, shared automated workflows, and visibility to contract performance analytics helps improve compliance and overall efficiency for managing contracts.
CLM software commonly integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) software, proposal software, accounting software, and e-signature software.
To qualify for inclusion in the Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) category, a product must:
Featured Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software At A Glance
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While eSignature has changed the way that many organizations execute a contract, the lifecycle before and after signature is often managed through manual processes, spreadsheets, and emails—slowing th
Docusign CLM is a contract management tool that automates the documentation workflow and manages multiple contracts. Reviewers like Docusign CLM for its ability to centralize and automate the entire contract process, reducing manual storage and approvals, and providing a detailed audit trail for recordkeeping and compliance. Users reported that Docusign CLM's platform feels outdated in terms of UI and UX, and the pricing can become too high for higher contract values and greater numbers of envelopes.
144,230 Twitter followers
Conga CLM turns contracts into dynamic, data-rich assets that accelerate execution, reduce risk, and improve compliance. It unifies every contract and team in one system, centralizing data and embeddi
Conga CLM is a SaaS platform that integrates with any CRM, ERP, or procurement system to manage agreement versioning and documentation. Reviewers like the platform's ability to handle complex features such as review, redlining, cycle time tracking, and versioning, and its excellent customer service. Reviewers mentioned that the license cost is relatively high and the initial setup and configuration can be quite complex, especially for new users.
11,107 Twitter followers
LinkSquares is a leading contract lifecycle management (CLM) software helping organizations take control of every stage of the contract process, from creation to execution, renewal, and beyond. Purpos
LinkSquares is a contract management tool that simplifies the process of sending documents to customers and prospects, integrates with Salesforce, and allows for the creation of new documents within the platform. Users like the efficiency and organization of LinkSquares, its user-friendly interface, the ability to search through contract language, and the integration with Salesforce that automates the cataloging of documents. Users reported issues with the self-service flexibility for sales, difficulty in spotting crucial clauses for closing, the lack of natural language search, and the occasional glitches in the platform.
592 Twitter followers
From making to managing to storing contracts, Ironclad streamlines every part of your company's contract process — so you can focus on legal work, not paperwork. Legal teams at Asana, Dropbox, and
Ironclad is a contract management tool that provides functionalities for contract creation, review, approval, and storage. Reviewers frequently mention Ironclad's ability to streamline contract management processes, its seamless integration with other tools, and its robust reporting and analytics capabilities. Reviewers noted challenges with the initial setup, limitations in search and reporting features, and difficulties in modifying workflows once they are running.
2,859 Twitter followers
SAP Ariba automates management of the purchasing lifecycle for indirect goods and services, to streamline workflows, expedite approvals, and eradicate errors and exceptions. By increasing procurement
SAP Ariba is a procurement and supplier management platform that streamlines processes such as sourcing, contract management, and supplier collaboration. Reviewers appreciate SAP Ariba's ability to centralize and automate procurement processes, improve visibility and control over spend, and enhance supplier collaboration. Reviewers mentioned that SAP Ariba's user interface can be complex and unintuitive, with a steep learning curve for new users and occasional slow performance.
297,192 Twitter followers
Legistify, one of India's leading and fastest-growing legal technology companies, provides a comprehensive software solution designed to simplify legal operations for enterprises. Here's how our platf
Legistify is a tool that helps store, manage, and sign contracts in a structured manner, with features for audits, workflow planning, and team coordination. Reviewers like the tool's user-friendly interface, its ability to streamline contract management and signing processes, and the supportive customer service. Reviewers noted that some advanced settings and AI features can be complex to understand initially, requiring assistance from the support team.
331 Twitter followers
Salesforce CPQ is designed to help sales teams configure products, set accurate pricing, and generate quotes quickly and efficiently. Salesforce CPQ automates complex sales processes by guiding reps t
Salesforce Revenue Cloud is a tool that manages revenue, from Parts & Quote Management to Billing & Invoicing, and integrates with other Salesforce products. Reviewers appreciate the platform's automation, ease of creating and updating quotes, and its ability to handle complex business models and provide clear revenue visibility. Users reported that the setup and customization can be complex and time-consuming, the user interface could be improved, and the product can be expensive to implement.
580,771 Twitter followers
Sirion is the world’s leading AI-native CLM platform, pioneering the application of Agentic AI to help enterprises transform the way they store, create, and manage contracts. The platform’s extraction
DealHub is the Agentic Quote-to-Revenue (Q2R) platform designed for the AI era. We empower high-growth SaaS and forward-thinking enterprises to fully consolidate, automate, and accelerate their entire
DealHub.io is a platform that offers features such as form field creation, auto-generation of order forms, and integration with CRM systems to streamline the quoting process and standardize quotes. Users frequently mention the efficiency and accuracy of the quoting process, the ability to keep all information in one place, and the seamless integration with CRM systems as major benefits of using DealHub.io. Reviewers mentioned challenges in finding documentation, setting up complex workflows and advanced functions, and navigating large proposals or managing multiple integrations as some of the difficulties encountered while using DealHub.io.
3,900 Twitter followers
As a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution, Summize is the AI contracting layer that powers the business with embedded knowledge in the tools where work happens. At its core is the contract
Summize is an AI solution that supports contract summarization and analysis, integrates with software like Microsoft Office and DocuSign, and centralizes contract repositories. Reviewers frequently mention the ease of use, intuitive interface, seamless integration with Microsoft Office, and excellent customer support as standout features of Summize. Users mentioned some limitations with search functionality, the need for manual editing and adjusting of contract formatting, and occasional issues with the Clause Manager tool failing to extract correct information.
Juro embeds AI contract automation in the tools business teams use every day, so they can agree and manage contracts end-to-end - while legal stays in control. Collaborative, flexible and data-rich
Juro is a contract management platform that organizes the contract process from drafting to signature, and includes features such as Microsoft Word add-in, AI integration, and separate workspaces for different departments. Reviewers like the intuitive platform, the ability to create and customize templates, the AI features that extract necessary information, and the fact that it allows for quick decision making in busy business environments. Reviewers mentioned issues with formatting transfer from Word into Juro, limited table customization options, difficulty in sharing templates across different workspaces, and a lack of advanced contract layout features and conditional formatting capabilities.
1,857 Twitter followers
Workday Strategic Sourcing helps transform procurement into a strategic business partner by automating the entire source-to-contract process. It streamlines everything from project intake and sourcing
Workday Strategic Sourcing is a cloud platform that centralizes and standardizes the sourcing process, from RFx creations to supply evaluation and contract tracking. Users like the user-friendly interface, easy navigation, and the ability to save time by centralizing sourcing and contracts, improving cost control through competitive bidding, increasing supplier transparency, and streamlining approvals. Users experienced limitations in reporting and analytics, rigid and non-intuitive workflows, a steep learning curve, implementation complexity, and issues with integration and flexibility for urgent needs.
52,242 Twitter followers
SpotDraft is a comprehensive Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform designed to assist businesses in maximizing the value of their contracts. This solution serves as a unified operational layer
SpotDraft is a contract management system that simplifies contract creation, approvals, and tracking. Reviewers appreciate SpotDraft's user-friendly interface, AI-powered drafting, automated workflows, and real-time collaboration features, which save significant time and ensure consistency across documents. Users mentioned that SpotDraft has limited integrations, fewer advanced features compared to other tools, and some workflows still require manual effort, also, setting up more advanced workflow automation or configuring custom fields can sometimes feel a bit technical.
846 Twitter followers
Lexion is a powerfully simple contract management platform that helps every team do more business, faster, by streamlining and centralizing the contracting process in a system that works the way you d
144,230 Twitter followers
Agiloft is the trusted global leader in Data-First Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software, connecting contractual commitments to real business outcomes using its flexible Data-first Agreement Pl
Agiloft is a contract management tool that manages the entire contract lifecycle process and can be customized to match specific workflows. Users like the flexibility of Agiloft, its ability to centralize and monitor agreements, and its feature of recognizing and populating complex agreements based on selected terms and conditions. Reviewers mentioned difficulties with the implementation process, the need for specialized support for customization, issues with customer service, and challenges with managing contracts once entered due to lack of user-friendliness.
540 Twitter followers
Learn More About Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software
What is Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software?
Contract lifecycle management (CLM) software assists businesses in every stage of the contract lifecycle by streamlining the process from creation to post-signature activities, including obligation tracking, contract resolution, and contract compliance management. These tools assist organizations in ensuring that internal and external stakeholders are knowledgeable and uphold their contractual obligations by storing all contract data in a centralized repository, providing a medium to collaborate and communicate.
CLM tools differ from traditional contract management software. CLM solutions allow users to manage activities after contract execution, including performance and contract compliance, obligation tracking, and dispute resolutions. CLM products provide features to notify parties of upcoming contract milestones to help streamline the contract renewal process and inform appropriate parties of contract performance.
Various departments in an organization are users of CLM solutions, as contracts are inherent to many business operations. CLM tools typically integrate with various software, including CRM software, e-signature software, accounting software, proposal software, and CPQ software.
What are the Common Features of Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software?
The following are some core features of CLM software:
Contract creation and templates: Contracts are naturally nuanced and require standardized language and specific clauses. CLM tools allow organizations to create contracts and templates to streamline the creation process and ensure uniformity throughout the documents. This feature enables non-legal professionals to create basic contracts with confidence, ensuring that the required language is provided and correct.
Contract editing: A key feature of CLM solutions is contract redlining, or the ability to edit contracts and compare multiple versions. Contract editing can be done internally and externally and is vital in contract management as it provides an audit trail that highlights the changes between contract iterations.
Contract database: This feature helps store contracts in a central repository with native search capabilities. Organizations can increase efficiency by digitally searching through contracts rather than manually.
Notifications and reminders: CLM tools offer features to schedule reminders for users and notify them of upcoming contract milestones, such as contract renewal or expiry. This assists users in meeting contractual deadlines and ensures contracts are completed on time. Additionally, this feature ensures that businesses know and take the necessary action to renew contracts or communicate proposed changes or amendments to future contract iterations.
Integrations or APIs: Another core feature of CLM solutions is its ability to integrate with key business systems, such as CRM software to associate contracts with customer accounts and CPQ software to pull calculated quote information into the contract.
Advance contract analytics: CLM tools leverage analytics to optimize contract management with this feature. This provides businesses insight into the contract creation and delivery process and assists in identifying bottlenecks and ways to improve the efficiency of the process.
Report and dashboards: CLM solutions leverage contract data to provide standard and ad hoc reports of contract statuses and timelines, with the ability to monitor live overviews of contract activities.
Contract approvals: Streamline processes for contract approvals to integrate workflows across departments logically with this software solution. This increases the efficiency of each stage of the CLM process, easily coordinating with appropriate stakeholders and ensuring standards are met.
What are the Benefits of Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software?
CLM software offers various benefits to organizations, including:
Increased collaboration: CLM solutions provide a digital medium for users to collaborate, revise, and review contracts with internal and external stakeholders. This expedites the entire contract process, particularly the internal review and contract negotiation stage.
Enhanced automation: A key benefit of CLM tools is the ability to streamline workflows for each stage of the contract management process to minimize manual tasks and ensure appropriate procedures are followed. Automation can be used to notify users and track key contract data, such as expiration or renewal dates and streamline contract workflows to minimize contract cycle time.
Audit trail: Due to the sensitive nature of contracts and the financial and legal risk associated with contracts, organizations need to have an audit trail of all contract activities to ensure contract compliance. CLM tools provide an audit trail to easily track all edits or revisions made to a contract and keep accurate accounting compliance records.
Performance tracking: An essential benefit of CLM software solutions is easily assessing contract performance regarding obligations and compliance. These tools provide stakeholders with a centralized dashboard to efficiently track how a contract performs to ensure maximum value is received and avoid potential revenue leakage.
Increased self service: The ability to provide contract templates is a significant benefit to non-legal professionals. It allows them to create agreements or contracts with confidence and avoid the bottleneck of legal professionals drafting the initial contract. This lets legal teams focus on higher priority items and allows other non-legal groups to perform the necessary work to begin the contract process.
Who Uses Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software?
Contracts are an essential aspect of business operations, and as such, the stakeholders who utilize CLM tools are broad and can vary based on unique business needs and processes. Below are a few examples of business groups that likely regularly use CLM solutions.
Legal teams: CLM software enables legal professionals to streamline the contract management process by creating templates for non-legal colleagues, providing a contract repository, tracking obligations, and ensuring compliance. These tools also provide legal teams reminders and notifications of contract renewals and expirations, which is vital as most legal teams are responsible for managing a plethora of contracts simultaneously.
Sales teams: CLM tools enable sales teams to share contracts securely, collaborate with internal and external parties, and get contracts signed. CLM tools assist sales teams in streamlining the process of signing contracts and mitigating risks associated with inaccurate information as information is typically integrated from CRM, CPQ, or e-signature solutions. In addition to mitigating risk, this can expedite the contract signing process and help establish good relationships with customers.
HR teams: HR professionals can leverage CLM solutions to quickly replicate contracts or agreements using the pre-created contract templates, streamlining hiring processes.
Finance teams: CLM software helps finance teams to track contract obligations and performance, identify lost revenue, and find cost-saving opportunities. CLM solutions also notify finance teams of upcoming contract expirations and renewals to ensure that teams do not miss renewals or potential revenue opportunities.
Which Contract Lifecycle Management Software is the Best for Tech Companies?
- Ironclad: A cloud-based CLM platform offering customizable workflows, AI-assisted contract analysis, and seamless integrations with tools like Salesforce and Google Drive.
- LinkSquares: Provides AI-powered contract analysis and lifecycle management, enabling tech companies to gain insights into contract terms, obligations, and risks.
- DocuSign CLM: Extends beyond e-signatures to offer end-to-end contract management, including automated workflows and compliance tracking, integrating with over 900 services.
- Juro: An all-in-one contract automation platform designed for in-house legal teams. Combines contract creation, negotiation, and e-signing in a browser-native, collaborative interface — perfect for startups and SaaS companies.
- Ironclad: Built for legal teams at fast-growing tech companies, Ironclad offers modern, customizable workflows, seamless integrations (like Salesforce and Slack), and strong AI contract analytics.
What's the Leading CLM Solution for Remote Teams?
- ContractPodAi: A cloud-native platform designed for legal and procurement teams, offering contract authoring, approval routing, and document automation—ideal for remote collaboration at scale.
- Gatekeeper: A vendor and contract lifecycle management platform that offers automation, AI data extraction, and a secure solution for managing contracts and vendors, making it suitable for remote collaboration.
- Evisort: Provides AI-powered contract analytics, real-time collaboration, and cloud accessibility, enabling legal and procurement teams to manage contracts efficiently from anywhere.
Challenges with Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software
CLM products can come with its own set of challenges. A few of them are listed below.
Security: Contracts are extremely sensitive as they may contain financial information, personally identifiable information (PII), or other contract data that are a key target during data breaches. Ensuring security is of utmost importance when leveraging a CLM tool, and businesses should be aware of industry standards in terms of security, implementation, and operations. As most CLM tools are cloud based, companies may not be able to control and secure the cloud environment independently. Additionally, as contracts are frequently collaborated on throughout multiple business units, ensuring that they are worked on in a secure environment is essential.
Compliance requirements: As CLM solutions manage each stage of the contract process, it is pivotal that businesses understand the various standards and regulations that they must adhere to, which may be dependent on industry and location.
Complex integrations: CLM tools often integrate with various systems, leading to cumbersome integrations. Businesses selecting CLM tools should ensure that the chosen tool can integrate into their existing IT infrastructure and understand the detailed processes for ensuring its compatibility and workflows. Companies should also be aware of the required workflows for their CLM software as it may conflict with existing business processes and require internal adjustments.
Accessibility and adoption: A challenge that some organizations face when leveraging a CLM tool is adequate accessibility. CLMs manage the entire contract process, from presignature to post-contract execution. Thus, it is crucial to ensure that all relevant business units access the system and have appropriate controls. For CLM products to be most effective, they need to be widely adopted across the organization, as without user adoption, the system cannot perform to its full capabilities.
How to Buy Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software
Requirements gathering for CLM tools is critical to ensure that the business is leveraging a product that meets its needs. To do so, companies must evaluate the software based on their critical needs, as provided below.
Compare Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Products
Create a long list
Long lists are created by eliminating software solutions that do not provide critical functionality. To make a long list for a CLM product, a buyer should assess the essential functions and analyze which products provide the necessary functionality. CLM software provides functions throughout the entire contract lifecycle ranging from contract creation and templatization to reporting and analytics. A typical long list should not contain more than 10 products unless there are many similar options. In this case, buyers should consider a product’s ability to integrate with existing software, scalability, customization, mobile accessibility, and any relevant industry regulations or standards to eliminate products.
Create a short list
From the long list of CLM vendors, it is helpful to narrow down the list and develop a shorter list of contenders, preferably no more than three to five. With this in hand, businesses can produce a matrix to compare the various offerings' features, compatibility, and pricing.
Conduct demos
To ensure the comparison is thoroughgoing, the user should try a demo or free trial for each software solution on the shortlist with the same use cases and criteria. This will allow the business to evaluate like for like and see how each product stacks up against the competition.
Selection of Contract Lifecycle Management Software
Choose a selection team
CLM software impacts a variety of business units within an organization, highlighting the importance of selecting a critical selection team. It is vital to consider input and qualification criteria from each business unit member that will leverage the software, as needs and use cases can vary. The selection committee for a CLM tool may consist of a member from each department intended to leverage the software, such as a legal representative, HR employee, sales leader, and IT professional to ensure software compatibility. The selection committee will be responsible for assessing each use case of the software and ensuring compliance with organizational and industry standards.
Negotiation
When negotiating a software contract, it is critical first to ensure that the software will meet industry regulations and standards and provide a secure medium to manage the entire contract lifecycle. This is imperative as the cost of CLM tools can vary tremendously. The price depends on the size of the business, the amount of storage needed, and the number of licenses, among other factors. Additionally, since CLM products extend across multiple business units, buyers should also determine if they need assistance implementing or integrating with other business support systems. Lastly, businesses should consider the contract duration that is most appropriate for their needs to negotiate longer-term contracts better.
Final decision
Buyers should make the final decision based on all the information gathered previously. Businesses should rank their needs in order of importance and select the tool that meets their most critical needs first, then assess which software best fits their business needs.
