SaaS tools are the industry’s biggest open secret. They help small businesses and enterprises alike perform sophisticated tasks in just a few clicks, making it easier to drive product growth.
Wondering what type of tools you should have in your stack? Then read on to discover the top 20 cloud-based apps that will help streamline different parts of your business.
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TL;DR
- SaaS tools are applications that users can access through an internet connection.
- There are different types of SaaS tools for different purposes.
Here are some great SaaS tools:
- Userpilot is the best product-led growth tool for web apps.
- Pendo is the best product adoption software for mobile apps.
- ProductPlan is the best tool for road mapping.
- ClickUp is the best project management tool.
- Trello is the best task management tool.
- Google Analytics is the best web analytics software.
- Hotjar is the best heatmap tool.
- HubSpot is the best customer relationship management software.
- Salesforce is the best sales automation tool.
- Semrush is the best tool for product-led SEO.
- ActiveCampaign is one of the best SaaS marketing tools.
- Sprout Social is the best social media management tool.
- Intercom is the best AI-powered chatbot software.
- Zendesk is the best omnichannel help center and ticketing tool.
- Dropbox is the best SaaS tool for file management.
- BambooHR is the best SaaS tool for people management.
- Time Doctor is the best tool for time tracking.
- Sign up for a Userpilot demo and learn how this all-in-one product growth platform can help scale your business processes.
Try Userpilot and Take Your Product Growth to the Next Level
What are SaaS tools?
SaaS tools are cloud-based software applications that users can access over an internet connection instead of installing apps on individual computers.
These tools help businesses automate processes and perform various tasks, making it easier to scale.
Best SaaS tools for user adoption
User adoption tools are software solutions designed to help users learn, engage with, and effectively use new apps.
These tools offer features like onboarding checklists, in-app messages, and product tours among others, for converting and retaining users.
1. Userpilot – best product-led growth tool for web apps
Userpilot is a product growth platform designed to help SaaS companies enhance user engagement, improve onboarding experiences, and drive product adoption.
Userpilot’s key features include:
- Chrome extension builder: Userpilot enables non-technical teams to create engaging on-app experiences using different UI patterns like tooltips, banners, and checklists.
- AI writing assistant: Once an in-app message is drafted, the built-in AI tool helps refine the copy by rephrasing words or shortening phrases for brevity and clarity.
- Event tracking: With Userpilot, you can track various in-app interactions such as clicks, hovers, and form infills. And the best part is you don’t even have to make any effort, Userpilot automatically records all events from the day it’s installed.
- Segmentation: Group users based on different attributes such as survey responses, NPS scores, or in-app behavior to trigger highly personalized in-app experiences.
- Funnel analysis: Monitor user journeys to identify user drop-offs and prioritize which stages the adoption funnel needs optimization.
- Path analysis: Choose a starting point and see the steps users take from start to finish. This tool is specifically useful for identifying the happy path most of your power users take and nudging users towards it.
- Cohort tables: The feature lets you track retention rates for your users by group and spot trends (e.g. find common characteristics shared among your returning customers).
- Analytics dashboards: Find essential adoption metrics, such as the number of active users, user sessions, average session duration, etc., in a singular hub. You can also create custom dashboards using metrics of your choice.
- Product experimentation: Run A/B and multivariate tests to improve conversion rates. You can even tie flows with goals for easier analysis.
- Resource Center: Embed different types of resources into an in-app help center for users to turn to when they come across an issue.
- In-app surveys: Customize different survey templates, localize them into different languages, and trigger surveys based on in-app events to collect contextual feedback.
Userpilot pricing
Here’s an overview of Userpilot’s pricing plans:
- Starter: The entry-level Starter plan starts at $249/month and includes features like segmentation, product analytics, user engagement, and NPS functionalities.
- Growth: The Growth plan starts at $749/month and includes resource centers, event-based triggers, AI-powered content localization, and a dedicated customer success manager.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan uses custom pricing and includes custom roles/permissions, access to premium integrations, priority support, and enterprise-grade security.
Try Userpilot and Take Your Product Growth to the Next Level
2. Pendo – best product adoption software for mobile apps
Pendo is a product experience platform especially suitable for mobile apps:
Its key features include:
- In-app guides: Create in-app experiences and onboarding flows for mobile users using light boxes, banners, and tooltips.
- Customizable dashboard: Add your preferred analytic widgets to your dashboard so you always have your most important metrics within reach.
- Pendo paths: Pendo’s path reports show you the exact actions that a user takes, in sequence, before or after interacting with a specific feature, event, or page within your product.
Pendo pricing
Pendo uses a quote-based pricing model for all four of its subscription tiers. Each plan is calculated based on monthly active users (MAUs).
Best product and project management tools
These SaaS tools help teams plan, execute, and monitor projects effectively.
Key functionalities include task allocation, resource management, automation, and Kanban boards.
3. ProductPlan – best tool for product planning
ProductPlan is a product management software for stakeholder and employee management.
Key features include:
- Drag-and-drop roadmap builder: Easily build and adjust roadmaps, tailor colors, labels, and layouts, and create different views for various audiences (e.g., timeline view, Kanban view).
- Prioritization: Use the built-in scoring systems or weighted prioritization frameworks, to ensure that the most critical tasks are focused on first.
- Reporting and analytics: Provides insights into the progress and status of initiatives through visual reporting features.
ProductPlan pricing
ProductPlan uses a quote-based pricing model for all three of its subscription tiers. You can book a consultation that comes with a 14-day free trial.
4. ClickUp – best project management tool for SaaS companies
ClickUp is an all-in-one project management and productivity platform that helps teams manage projects and workflows.
Main features include:
- Task management: Create tasks, set priority levels to accentuate urgency, and track progress.
- Project views: ClickUp offers three core project task views: Lists, Kanban boards, and calendar views or Gantt charts.
- Collaboration: Whiteboards and docs for remote teams to work on over the cloud. In addition, ClickUp includes chats for teams to communicate directly.
ClickUp pricing
ClickUp offers three pricing plans (starting at Unlimited’s $7/user/month billed annually up to Enterprise, available upon request).
5. Trello – best task management SaaS tool
Trello is a visual collaboration tool under Atlassian, perfect for agile teams.
It’s designed for simplicity and flexibility, making it easy to track progress and collaborate on work in a visually intuitive way.
Key features include:
- Boards: A board represents a project or workspace where you can manage everything related to that specific project. Each board contains lists and cards that help organize tasks.
- Lists: Lists are used to categorize tasks within a board. Common uses include columns like “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done,” but they can be customized to fit any workflow.
- Cards: Cards represent individual tasks or items within a list. Each card can contain details such as descriptions, checklists, due dates, attachments, and comments.
Trello pricing
Trello offers three pricing plans (starting at Standard’s $5/user/month billed annually up to Enterprise’s $17.50/user/month billed annually for a minimum of 50 users), as well as a free plan for up to 10 users.
Best SaaS tools for data and analytics
Product analytics tools are software solutions designed to help organizations analyze user interactions with their products, spot trends in user behavior, and improve product offerings based on data-driven insights.
These tools have features for tracking in-app events and then creating different data visualizations for easier analysis.
6. Google Analytics – best website analytics software
Google Analytics is the go-to tool for monitoring traffic and marketing campaigns. It helps you identify top-performing channels that drive website visitors.
Also, you can monitor conversions to determine campaign ROI.
Key features include:
- Predictive analytics – Leverage Google’s machine learning models to predict user actions and adapt your campaigns accordingly.
- Reporting – Use in-depth acquisition and engagement reports to understand what leads users to your app/website and prompts them to take specific actions.
- Advertising snapshot – Get deeper insights from Google Ads, Search Console, and other platforms to understand advertising needs and modify your marketing strategy.
Google Analytics pricing
Google Analytics operates a freemium pricing model. The base version is available to everyone for free, while its premium version, called Analytics 360, is available to enterprises upon request.
7. Mixpanel – best for visualizing customer data
Mixpanel is a SaaS analytics platform best known for its strong event tracking and data visualization functionalities.
Here are some of Mixpanel’s key features:
- Event context: A new feature for Mixpanel, event context provides added context on your events, like an image of the event, frequent users, reports that reference the event, etc.
- Interactive reports: Track and analyze different types of user behavior data on different analytics dashboards. Monitor conversions, user flows, engagement, retention, and more.
- Advanced funnel visualization: Get advanced visualization features like sales funnel trends over time, time to convert, event frequency, and top paths.
Mixpanel pricing
Mixpanel offers two pricing plans. The lower-tiered plan, Growth, starts at $28/month for a maximum of 10k events and scales up as tracked events increase.
The Enterprise plan tracks up to 1 trillion events per month and is available upon request. Mixpanel also offers a free plan for up to 20 million events per month.
8. Hotjar – best heatmap tool
Hotjar is a behavior analytics tool for websites, focusing on qualitative data analytics.
Here’s a brief overview of Hotjar’s main features:
- Heatmaps: Visualise user interactions with color-coded heatmaps to quickly analyze engagement levels.
- Session recordings: Add an extra layer to the heatmaps tool, providing a replay of actions users take over the course of their session.
- User feedback: Display customizable widgets on your website or deploy in-app surveys to collect user insights and refine your product.
Hotjar pricing
Hotjar offers three pricing plans (Starting at Plus’ $32/month billed annually for up to 100 daily tracked sessions, up to Scale’s $171/month billed annually for 500 daily tracked sessions at a minimum).
Hotjar also offers a free plan, Basic, that tracks up to 35 sessions daily.
Best sales and marketing automation tools
Sales and marketing automation platforms help businesses streamline their processes, increase efficiency, and measure the outcomes of marketing/sales campaigns with ease.
They have functionalities that make it easy to nurture leads, engage customers, and drive conversions more efficiently.
9. HubSpot – best marketing automation software
HubSpot is an all-in-one customer relationship management software that provides tools for marketing and sales.
Key features include:
- Lead generation: Create landing pages, forms, and calls to action to capture leads. Automate outreach tasks like email follow-ups and task creation.
- Email marketing: Personalize and automate email campaigns to nurture leads. Track email opens, clicks, and replies.
- Social media management: Schedule, monitor, and analyze social media posts across various platforms.
- Analytics: Measure the performance of campaigns, traffic, and leads with detailed analytics.
HubSpot pricing
HubSpot offers four pricing plans containing all the layers (starting at Starter’s $15/seat/month billed annually, up to Enterprise’s $4300/month billed annually for up to 7 seats).
You can also purchase HubSpot products individually, with each product possessing different subscription plans.
10. Salesforce – best tool for sales teams
Salesforce is Hubspot’s competitor with more focus on sales-related activities.
Its key features include:
- Lead management: Capture, track, and prioritize leads through the sales funnel. Automatically assign leads to the right sales reps based on predefined rules.
- Sales forecasting: Predict sales revenue with accurate forecasting tools that analyze historical data and trends.
- AI-Powered sales insights: Leverage artificial intelligence to gain actionable insights, such as predicting sales outcomes and recommending next steps.
Salesforce pricing
Salesforce sells each of its modules individually. The Sales Cloud offers five pricing plans (starting at Starter Suite’s $25/user/month billed annually, up to Einstein 1 Sales’ $500/user/month billed annually).
The Marketing Cloud offers seven different subscriptions, beginning with Marketing Cloud Engagement’s $1,250/month billed annually for up to 10,000 contacts.
11. Semrush – best tool for product-led SEO
Semrush is a marketing research and optimization platform known for robust SEO tools.
Key functionalities include:
- Site audit: Identify anomalous issues that hamper your Google ranking and categorize issues in order of severity: errors, warnings, and notices. The site audit tool also automates SEO audit reports for you to review regularly.
- SEO writing assistant: The content checker performs SEO content analysis, offers suggestions for brevity, and also checks for originality.
- Content template: Semrush can recommend topics for content and provide brief templates focused on your target keywords.
Semrush pricing
Semrush offers three pricing plans (starting at Pro’s $118/month billed annually, up to Business’ $417/month billed annually).
12. ActiveCampaign – best email marketing tool
ActiveCampaign is an AI-powered automation platform best equipped for email marketing.
Key features include:
- Personalized campaigns: Create and send targeted email campaigns based on customer behavior, preferences, and engagement.
- Drip campaigns: Set up automated email sequences to keep prospects engaged over time and move them through the sales process.
- A/B Testing: Test different versions of emails to see which performs better, optimizing your campaigns for higher engagement.
ActiveCampaign pricing
ActiveCampaign offers three pricing plans (starting at Starter’s $15/month up to Enterprise’s $145/month) for up to 1000 contacts. ActiveCampaign’s prices are scaled by the number of contacts.
13. Sprout Social – best social media management tool
Sprout Social is a handy tool that simplifies managing social media for businesses. It allows you to schedule posts, interact with your audience, and monitor your brand’s online presence.
Key features include:
- Social media listening: Sprout Social’s AI scours through millions of social media to spot trends, garner insights, gauge brand health, study campaign performance, and monitor competitors.
- Optimal send times: This tool examines up to 16 weeks’ worth of audience data to calculate the optimal times to post content that guarantees engagement and automatically publishes the content.
- Message prioritization: The AI reads through social media posts regarding your brand and DMs to your social media account and automatically assigns a sentiment category for each.
Sprout Social pricing
Sprout Social offers three pricing plans (Starting at Standard’s $199/user/month billed annually, up to Advanced’s $399/user/month billed annually) as well as an Enterprise plan that is available upon request.
Best SaaS tools for customer service
Customer service tools are software solutions designed to help businesses efficiently manage interactions with customers, such as handling inquiries and providing support across various channels.
They typically include features like ticketing systems, live chat, and automation to streamline support processes and enhance customer satisfaction.
14. Intercom – best AI-powered chatbot software
Intercom is a leading customer communication platform best known for its chatbot software.
Key features include:
- Chatbots: Intercom’s Fin AI agent uses articles from your knowledge base, public URLs, and other rich media to answer customer queries as thoroughly as possible.
- Real-time chat: Engage with customers directly on your website or app through live chat.
- Ticketing system: Manage and track customer inquiries with a unified inbox, turning conversations into support tickets for easy follow-up.
Intercom pricing
Intercom offers three pricing plans (starting at Essential’s $39/user/month up to Expert’s $139/user/month).
15. Zendesk – best omnichannel help center and ticketing tool
Zendesk is a customer service platform that provides tools to help businesses manage and improve their customer support operations.
Key features include:
- Omnichannel communication: Zendesk integrates all communication channels — in-app messages, mobile apps, social media accounts, etc. in a single hub, making it easier to stay on top of customer queries.
- Zendesk AI: Zendesk’s AI is first in line to handle customer concerns. When it hands off tickets to human agents, Zendesk AI can offer complex generated response suggestions and detailed contextual information.
- Marketplace: Zendesk’s marketplace houses Zendesk’s integrations with other powerful third-party applications like CRM, digital analytics, project management, and mor
e.
Zendesk pricing
The Basic plans house three different pricing tiers, starting at Support Team’s $19/agent/month billed annually up to Support Enterprise’s $115/agent/month billed annually.
Meanwhile, the Suite plans house five different pricing tiers, starting at Suite Team’s $55/agent/month billed annually up to Suite Enterprise Plus’ custom pricing model.
Best SaaS tools for file and document management
File and document management SaaS tools are cloud-based platforms that enable businesses to securely store, organize, share, and collaborate on documents and files, making them accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
These tools often include features like version control, access permissions, and real-time collaboration.
16. Dropbox – best SaaS tool for storage management
Dropbox is a leading cloud storage service that enables users to store files and easily access them anytime.
Key features include:
- Large storage capacity: Options to scale storage as needed, from personal use to large business requirements.
- Shared links: Easily share files or folders with others via secure links, even with users who don’t have a Dropbox account. Set access levels for shared files, allowing others to view, edit, or comment.
- Comments and mentions: Add comments and @mention team members directly on files for streamlined communication.
- File recovery: Access and restore previous versions of files or recover deleted files within a set period.
Dropbox pricing
Dropbox offers four pricing plans, two for individuals and two for teams of three or more.
The two individual plans start at Plus’ $10/month billed annually up to Essential’s $16/month billed annually. The team plans start at Business’ $15/user/month billed annually, up to Business Plus’ $24/user/month billed annually.
17. Filestage – best SaaS tool for file management
Filestage is a review and approval platform designed to streamline the feedback process for teams working on digital content, such as documents, videos, and designs.
Key features include:
- Annotations: Users can leave specific feedback on any part of a document by highlighting areas or adding notes directly on the content. You can then use comments as checklists for revisions.
- Approval history: Maintain a clear record of who approved what and when, providing transparency and accountability throughout the project.
- Automated reminders: Set deadlines for each stage of the review process and automatically send reminders to reviewers who haven’t completed their tasks.
Filestage pricing
Filestage offers two pricing plans (starting at Basic’s $49/month billed annually up to Professional’s $249/month billed annually) and a separate Enterprise plan available upon request.
Best SaaS tools for human resource management
HR tools are software solutions designed to help organizations manage various human resource functions and streamline processes.
18. BambooHR – best SaaS tool for people management
BambooHR is an all-in-one human resource management software for small and mid-size businesses.
BambooHR simplifies processes, enabling HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives while providing employees with self-service access to their information.
Key features include:
- Employee database: Find data entries of employee information, and important documents repository to eliminate double entry errors.
- Employee onboarding: Provide new hire packets and onboarding tasks for clear progression that they can complete at their own pace.
- eNPS: Measure employee satisfaction along with AI-generated summaries from open-ended, anonymous feedback.
BambooHR pricing
BambooHR employs a quote-based pricing model for all its subscription tiers. You can, however, avail of BambooHR’s seven-day free trial.
20. Time Doctor – best tool for time tracking
Time Doctor is a workforce management tool that helps businesses optimize employee productivity.
Key features include:
- Work schedule: Ensure everyone gets the work they’re capable of performing. Prevent overloads by offloading other tasks from fully loaded employees to workers with lighter loads.
- Employee health tracking: Receive alerts that communicate employee happiness and productivity, and manage accordingly to prevent employee churn.
- Employee monitoring: Monitor employee productivity with screenshots, screen-sharing recordings, and inactivity alerts. Time Doctor’s AI can also identify anomalous user behavior like unusual mouse clicks and keystrokes to maintain accurate time tracking.
Time Doctor pricing
Time Doctor offers three pricing plans (starting at Basic’s $6/user/month billed annually, up to Premium’s $17/user/month billed annually) and a separate Enterprise plan that is available upon request.
Conclusion
By leveraging the power of the best SaaS tools available, you can focus more on strategic growth and less on managing the complexities of day-to-day operations, setting your business up for long-term success.
Ready to enjoy the benefits that product growth platforms offer? Book a Userpilot demo and we will show you how!
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