The ideal customer experience is a total contradiction.
Customers are more self-sufficient than ever, but they still expect high-touch, fully personalized content and interactions.
Building customer relationships in today’s self-service economy requires striking the right balance between on-demand support and hands-on interaction.
Enter the client portal.
A client portal lets you share personalized support materials, sales assets, and project resources with customers in an organized, on-demand way. Sales and Success reps can deliver personalized content and more efficient communication streams, and customers get self-serve resources they can easily access and share with decision makers.
This guide will walk you through what client portals are, how they can be used, and what top tools can help you build the right portal for your customers.
TL;DR: Here are our top picks for client portal software:
- Dock: A client-facing workspace for managing the entire customer lifecycle.
- Arrows: A client portal designed for HubSpot users.
- GetAccept: An end-to-end sales platform with purpose-built features.
- OnRamp: A dynamic client portal for customer onboarding at scale.
- Rocketlane: A client onboarding portal and project manager for post-sale workflows.
- Softr: A no-code DIY tool for building a wide range of apps and interfaces.
- Monday: A project management tool with flexible client portal widgets, apps, and add-ons.
- Copilot: A versatile client portal with a unique app store.
- Suitedash: An all-in-one business management platform with unlimited personalized dashboards.
- Zendesk: A leader in customer support and CX client portals.
- LiveAgent: A customer support portal tool for small businesses and startups.
What is a client portal?
A client portal is a unique customer-facing microsite, workspace, or web app that makes shared information, content, and communications accessible via a secure entry point (like a login page).
Client portals can be used to:
- Share and track project details, tasks, and files.
- Deliver customer support resources.
- Securely send bills and invoices and collect digital payments.
- Onboard and educate customers.
- Shorten and improve the buyer journey.
Why use a client portal?
A client portal replaces back-and-forth email threads, shared folders, busy dashboards, and confusing project management tools, creating a single destination for all things client-related.
Client portals can make it easier to build, manage, and improve client relationships by:
- Streamlining communication and collaboration. Put all your messages, meeting notes, and project details in one place.
- Organizing resources. Make it easy to find and share assets and content with customers and decision-makers.
- Delivering continuous customer support. Give customers on-demand access to self-help resources and personalized project files.
- Managing tasks and to-dos. Share plans, assign tasks, create checklists, and manage next steps.
- Securely sharing files and documents. Control when, where, and how files are viewed, shared, and downloaded.
How to choose client portal software
There’s a perfect client portal tool out there for everyone — but finding the right tool in such a broad category means you need to know exactly what features you need (and what you don’t).
Most portal tools are typically designed for one or two of the following use cases:
- Sales enablement (e.g., sales deal rooms): Simplify, improve, and recreate successful sales deals to enable buyers.
- Customer experience (e.g., onboarding portals): Build better connections with customers through superior support and onboarding.
- Project management: Implement, streamline, and track project plans and tasks.
- Account management: Centralize and manage account info, billing information, and order details.
Knowing what problem you need to solve will help you narrow in on what portal features are most important to you.
Key client portal features
Here are the high-level features critical for any client portal tool:
- Integrations: Tech stack integrations keep data organized and up to date without adding extra work for your team.
- Secure file sharing: Keep sensitive customer and company data safe.
- Reporting and analytics: See how users engage with your portal and shared content.
- Customization, personalization, and flexibility: Have more control over how your portal looks, functions, and feels.
- Content management: Store, share, and manage content and assets with greater control and accessibility.
Looking for category-specific key features? Find them under their respective portal type.
DIY vs. purpose-built client portal tools
A build-it-yourself platform like Softr or Notion can give you all the customization you need, and usually with a lower price tag. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a DIY tool is your best option.
Purpose-built tools are an out-of-the-box solution for industry-specific use cases and niche needs. But they’re typically less customizable, harder to brand, and weren’t made for two-way communication with clients.
We recommended purpose-built tools to teams in highly regulated industries or those with uber-specific portal needs. Otherwise, a DIY tool should do the trick.
Types of client portal tools (+our top tool recommendations)
Here’s a quick rundown of the client portal tool categories we’re going to cover:
- Digital sales rooms (or sales portals): Sales-focused spaces for improving, standardizing, and speeding up deals.
- Customer onboarding portals: Platforms for creating, sharing, and tracking educational content through modules and task lists.
- Project management and client collaboration tools: Tools made with two-way communication and task management in mind.
- Business service hubs: Portals for managing appointments, payments, client information, and other business-critical logistics.
- Customer service portals: Systems for managing customer support tickets and help resources.
1. Digital sales rooms
Built for: Supporting and collaborating with buyers, standardizing sales processes, enabling sales reps, and speeding up sales cycles.
Best for: B2B sales and revenue teams with long, complex sales cycles that want to provide a better buyer experience.
Key features to look for:
- Mutual action plans
- Quotes and order forms
- Secure file sharing
- Document signing and e-signatures
- Integrations with popular sales tools like CRMs and CMSs.
Dock
Rating: 4.9/5 stars
What it is: Dock is a branded client-facing workspace designed for the entire customer lifecycle.
Why you’ll love it: Dock’s flexible workspaces can seamlessly transition from digital sales room to onboarding platform to customer portal, helping you manage the entire customer lifecycle from one spot.
Templates make it easy for reps to get new sales rooms up and running in just a few clicks. Personalize each sales room to fit that customer’s unique needs, and even hide and unveil different sections as the deal cycle progresses.
Dock’s sales content management system also ensures all your sales assets are up to date and accessible to reps. Synced sections mean you can push updates to multiple customer workspaces at once, so you never have to stress that your prospects are working with old information. And content shared within Dock is fully trackable, so you know who engaged with your assets and when.
Other feature favorites include:
- Mutual action plans to keep deals moving forward.
- Sales price quote tools
- Auto-populated personalization features
- Content search for an easier way to find marketing resources
- Buyer engagement analytics
- Salesforce and Hubspot integrations
Who should use it: Teams that want one client portal tool to manage multiple use cases.
Arrows
Rating: 4.8/5 stars
What it is: A digital sales room designed specifically for HubSpot users.
Why you’ll love it: Arrows' close connection with HubSpot gives teams extra functionality and features without disrupting your workflow. Create, manage, and automate your sales rooms while tracking all customer interactions in one place.
Key features to note include:
- Branded rooms
- Personalized messaging and content
- Milestone tracking and real-time engagement insights
Who should use it: HubSpot loyalists who want to shorten deal cycles and improve selling.
GetAccept
Rating: 4.6/5 stars
What it is: A sales proposal generator and tracker that supports the sales cycle end-to-end.
Why you’ll love it: GetAccept is a comprehensive tool that combines deal rooms, content management, and CPQ software. It manages proposals, contracts, signatures, and more.
Other key features include:
- Proposal engagement analytics
- Ready-made templates for proposals
- Automatic CRM sync
Who should use it: Teams that are willing to sacrifice flexibility for more purpose-built features.
Other sales room tools to try: DealHub, Allego
2. Customer onboarding portals
Built for: Sharing customer education materials, tracking onboarding progress and engagement, and helping customers implement products.
Best for: Agencies, client services, or SaaS tools that require hands-on customer training at scale.
Key features to look for:
- Content management and knowledge base integration
- Secure file and resource sharing
- Tracking, analytics, and reporting
- Checklists, to-dos, or task tracking
- Flexible process templates
Dock
Why you'll love it: Dock’s all-in-one flexibility makes the transition from prospect to customer as smooth as possible. The seamless transition from salesroom to onboarding platform to project management tool can lower customer resistance, make educating new clients easier, and create opportunities for continuous learning.
Templated workspaces make setting up new onboarding processes simple and can be personalized in just a few clicks. You can even pre-build success plans, complete with phase-based modules, tasks, and due dates.
Dock’s content management system brings self-service resources directly into your shared workspaces, so customers can find the support they need exactly when they need it.
Other favorite features include:
- Task-specific checklists, action buttons, and embedded content
- Customer due date notifications
- Progress trackers and project roadmaps
- No login or account requirement for customers
- Customer behavior analytics and tracking to see which stakeholders are engaging with content and when
Who should use it: Teams that want onboarding and enablement to be a seamless experience throughout the entire customer journey.
OnRamp
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
What it is: OnRamp is a customer onboarding platform and dynamic client portal.
Why you'll love it: OnRamp makes delivering personalized onboarding experiences at scale easy. It takes a customer-first approach to onboarding portals, creating a dynamic experience rather than a boring to-do list.
Features we like include:
- Timeline tracking and next-step reminders
- Inline communication
- On-demand training resources, self-guided training, and automated next steps
Who should use it: Teams looking for an onboarding-only solution that delivers flexibility at scale.
Rocketlane
Rating: 4.8/5 stars
What it is: A post-sale workflow platform for onboarding, implementation, and personal services.
Why you'll love it: Rocketlane is both a client portal and a project and resource manager for internal teams, creating a friction-free client experience. It allows customers to work through onboarding tasks on their own time and get updates on projects and resource allocation, all in one place.
Other features to note include:
- Drag-and-drop template builder
- Fully customizable colors, logos, and fonts
- Task lists, forms, project hours, and timelines
Who should use it: Teams that want a purpose-built onboarding and implementation tool.
Other tools to try: Check out our Customer Onboarding Software Guide.
3. Project management and client collaboration tools
Built for: Centralizing and managing project details, correspondence, tasks, deadlines, content, and updates.
Best for: Agencies, consultants, and teams with complex client-facing project cycles that require lots of back-and-forth and close collaboration.
Key features to look for:
- Secure file sharing
- Cloud storage
- Document synchronization and collaboration
- Secure messaging and in-portal commenting
- Workflow automation
- Project and task tracking
Dock
Why you'll love it: Dock offers an easy-to-use project management solution that doesn’t disrupt your existing workflow.
Assign tasks, share links and files, and manage project phases from a workspace designed with client collaboration in mind. Clients can view materials, upload files, check off tasks, and leave comments — all without requiring a user seat or Dock account.
You can also embed views from leading project management tools like Airtable and Asana right into your shared Dock workspace to give clients a real-time view of project progress and statuses without adding extra work for your team.
Our favorite Dock features for project management client collaboration include:
- Templated action plans to get started in seconds
- Easy handoff and implementation between departments, including sales and customer support
- Slack Connect integration
- Relative due dates to help automate workflows
- Task reminders and notifications for clients
- User or domain email gates for a secure client portal
Who should use it: Teams that want a simple solution that doesn’t cut corners.
Softr
Rating: 4.7/5 stars
What it is: A no-code software, interface, and app builder that connects with your tech stack.
Why you'll love it: Softr pulls data from the apps you’re already using and presents it in real time in an easy-to-follow, intuitive format. Share project progress, task lists, and account information with customers that are always in sync.
Other notable features include:
- Secure document management where clients can upload files and contracts
- Client-facing reporting and dashboards
- Advanced permissions and granular-level customizations
Who should use it: Teams that want a DIY client portal solution to match specific client or industry needs.
Monday
Rating: 4.7/5 stars
What it is: A work management platform that aligns tasks, projects, and processes around shared goals and objectives.
Why you’ll love it: Monday is a leading project management and collaboration tool with tons of features and capabilities. It’s flexible and offers widgets, marketplace apps, and integrations so you can add whatever features you need.
Other notable features include:
- Unlimited customization options
- Client project tracking and team capacity tracking in one place
- Real-time dashboards with over 30 display widgets
Who should use it: Teams already using Monday for internal projects and/or teams that need feature flexibility over an out-of-the-box solution.
Other tools to try: FuseBase (formerly Nimbus), Nifty, Huddle, Clinked
4. Business service hubs
Built for: Managing billing, payment processing, appointment scheduling, business reviews, and customer requests.
Best for: Service-based businesses (like accountants, consultants, and law firms) that want to streamline and automate admin tasks.
Key features to look for:
- Secure payment processing and billing data storage
- Payment customization, including recurring or one-time payments
- Integration with payment tools like Stripe and PayPal
Copilot (formerly Portal)
Rating: 4.8/5 stars
What it is: A customizable client portal with an app store for tailored functionality.
Why you'll love it: Copilot is versatile, so it fits a variety of needs. Choose your own add-ons from their app store or embed views from some of your favorite tools to give a totally unique experience to customers and clients.
Other features include:
- Branded invoicing and subscription management
- Trigger-based automation and workflows
- Contract management and e-signatures
Who should use it: Niche teams that want a flexible, easy-to-use solution.
Suitedash
Rating: 4.8/5 stars
What it is: An all-in-one business management platform with 100% white-labeling capabilities.
Why you'll love it: Suitedash really means it when they say “all-in-one.” They offer tons of features and functionality, including flexible and powerful client portals and data dashboards.
Features we like include:
- Unlimited personalized dashboards
- Recurring and one-time payment abilities
- Magic link logins
Who should use it: Teams willing to invest time and effort to build a true all-in-one platform.
Other business service hubs to try: Onehub, ServiceProviderPro, Zendo
5. Customer support portals
Built for: Managing service requests, tracking support tickets, and delivering superior guidance and help to customers.
Best for: Teams that want to take an automated, proactive approach to improving customer support and experience.
Key features to look for:
- Knowledge base management
- Ticketing system
- Reporting and analytics
- Automated and live messaging capabilities
Zendesk
Rating: 4.3/5 stars
What it is: A customer experience personalization solution that helps deliver support at scale.
Why you'll love it: Zendesk is a go-to tool for all things ticketing and support. In addition to self-service client portals, it covers personalized messaging, ticket routing, and even AI Agents.
Other features we like:
- Analytics and reporting
- Built-in support workforce management
- Knowledge base software
Who should use it: Teams looking for help desk ticketing software in addition to client portals.
LiveAgent
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
What it is: A customer support tool with client portal software for sharing resources and monitoring tickets.
Why you'll love it: LiveAgent’s client portal connects your knowledge base, user forum, and customer feedback. It helps customers search for answers to find the right solution, or easily reach out if they need additional help.
Features we like include:
- Built-in forum for customers to help other customers
- Customer-specific insights into how content is used and shared
- Search widgets to easily find the right content
Who should use it: LiveAgent is best for small to medium businesses and startups.
Other tools to try: Zoho Desk
Use Dock’s free client portal template
Your client portals can only be as flexible and dynamic as the software you build them on. We created Dock workspaces to change and evolve as your relationship with customers progresses, giving you one client portal that can support sales, onboarding, and relationship management.
Need to see it to believe it? Check out our client portal template.
This portal includes sections for:
- Intros, quick links, and customer team info: Give a high-level overview of your partnership, goals, and key team members.
- Success plan and goals: Outline milestones, deadlines, expectations, and more.
- Agreement details and contracts: Make it easy to find invoices, agreements, and quotes.
- Business reviews: Share review overviews, recaps, and key takeaways.
- Meeting recaps: Add your notes, video recordings, transcripts, and action items.
- Product spotlights: Link relevant product demos, walkthroughs, tutorials, and guides.
- Resource center: Offer fast access to popular blogs, relevant videos, and self-help materials.
- Product university: Include guides, best practices, training materials, and ongoing learning resources.
You can use this shared workspace template to:
- Host contact information, project summaries, timelines, and deliverables.
- Track project progress in real time.
- Continuously support clients with file sharing, use cases, product videos, and more.
- Develop a shared knowledge base.
- See how customers are interacting with your workspace.
- Collect customer feedback and satisfaction surveys.
Put this template to the test and see how Dock can help you build stronger client portals by starting a free trial today.
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