Best Contract Lifecycle Management Software 2025: CLM software, comparisons and reviews

Automating and centralising your contract management processes is crucial to success in 2025 and beyond - but how can you choose the right solution for your business?

We’ve created this guide to help you assess available contract lifecycle management (CLM) software on the market, the pros and cons of different providers, features to prioritise and how to choose the best solution for your business.

What are the benefits of contract lifecycle management software?

According to World Commerce & Contracting, 26% of a typical organisation’s workforce is involved in the contracting process.

By digitalising your processes with the best contract management software, your business can unlock significant advantages, especially when at least a quarter of your workforce engages in storing, retrieving, tracking, and reviewing contracts:

• Enhanced Accuracy and Efficiency: Automating contract management reduces the risk of errors, ensuring key clauses, accurate data entry, and timely renewals for improved compliance and operational performance.
• Optimised Renewals: With automated workflows and centralised tracking, your business can maximise opportunities, maintain seamless service, and secure better terms during renegotiations.
• Improved Collaboration Across Teams: A centralised system fosters alignment between Legal, Procurement and Finance teams, reducing silos and enabling strategic, efficient teamwork that drives value.
• Stronger Compliance Management: Centralised storage and version control ensure contracts are always up-to-date and compliant, reducing the risk of regulatory issues and safeguarding your reputation.
• Accelerated Time-to-Contract: Digitalised processes streamline contracting timelines, removing bottlenecks and enabling faster business operations.
• Controlled Contract Spend: Clear visibility into contract terms and obligations allows you to enforce discounts, avoid overpayments, and minimise financial risks.

Investing in CLM software empowers your business to work smarter, reduces administrative burden, and creates opportunities for sustained growth and success.

Rather than your contract management approach looking like this:

Using the best contract management software allows it to look like this:

How to assess the best contract management software

When assessing the best contract management software, platforms like G2 and Capterra provide invaluable insights by offering user reviews and ratings. We’ve focused on key criteria such as ease of use, ease of setup, and quality of support.

• Ease of use ensures that the software is intuitive for all team members, reducing training time and enabling faster adoption across Legal, Procurement, and other stakeholders.
• Ease of setup minimises disruption during implementation, allowing businesses to quickly realise the benefits of the software without delays or additional costs.
• Quality of support ensures that any issues or questions are resolved efficiently, reducing downtime and maintaining business continuity.

From your business’s perspective, these factors are critical when choosing contract management software because they directly impact productivity, time-to-value, and overall return on investment.

Correct 13/01/2025

Contract lifecycle management software reviews

1. Gatekeeper
Gatekeeper is the best contract management because it goes beyond traditional contract lifecycle management (CLM). It offers vendor, contract and third-party risk management in a single solution.

This holistic approach, called vendor and contract lifecycle management (VCLM), combines contract management with robust vendor management capabilities, providing complete visibility across vendor relationships, compliance, and performance.

With advanced AI features that work for you, best practice workflows, and automated renewals, Gatekeeper streamlines the management of complex vendor and contract portfolios. Integration capabilities, such as being the only Built for NetSuite SuiteApp, also ensure Gatekeeper works seamlessly with your existing systems.

Independent customer reviews of Gatekeeper highlight:

• "Gatekeeper is a very user-friendly system, with implementation thoroughly supported by the Gatekeeper team"
• "Standout feature for Gatekeeper is definitely its scalability... as the organisation matures, Gatekeeper also has the necessary tools to adapt to its growing needs and maturity"
• "We can now easily track expiry dates (and be alerted to them), find key information on contracts at the touch of a button and collaborate as a team as they are drafted."

One of Gatekeeper’s customers, Funding Circle, saved over £1 million by improving their visibility and control of contract spend, allowing them to easily identify and terminate contracts that no longer served them.

2. Agiloft

Agiloft positions its contract management software provider offering a Data-first Agreement Platform that enables businesses to reach agreements quickly and collaboratively.

Its centralised repository ensures secure, organised storage and quick access to contracts, while AI-powered tools, such as ConvoAI and the AI Platform, streamline contract analysis, onboarding, and review.

Although Agiloft claims to help businesses of all sizes with its flexible and quick-to-customise solution, independent customer reviews on G2 and Capterra show the opposite:

• “Licensing makes it really difficult for larger organisations to reap the full benefits of the tool.”
• “Due to our unique procurement and legal regulations, we needed customisation which could not be done by our staff.”
• “It would be great if it was more simplified so that we can implement new features faster into our workflows, rather than waiting for consultants.”

3. Docusign CLM

Docusign’s contract lifecycle management software is a comprehensive solution designed to streamline and automate the entire contract process. It offers a centralised repository for secure contract storage and advanced automation for approvals and compliance checks.

It offers AI-assisted negotiation and summary capabilities for accelerated review cycles, a drag-and-drop editor to design contract processes and is well known for its esignature capabilities.

However, Docusign CLM customer reviews reveal that:

• “The product is slow, unresponsive and difficult to use”
• “Implementation was difficult for us. The system needs to have a technical product expert / coding expert in place to develop. Or reliance upon Docusign's team based out of Ireland, who are good but not cheap”
• “The system can be slow when loading or searching for contracts, particularly when dealing with large volumes of data”

4. Conga

Conga's contract management software is designed to automate and streamline the entire contract process.

Key features include a centralised repository for secure contract storage, a clause library for managing standardised legal language, and automated workflows to expedite approvals and negotiations. Conga incorporates AI to analyse vast amounts of contract data to uncover trends, risks, and opportunities.

However, customer reviews of Conga CLM show high levels of dissatisfaction with feature usability, interface design and a lack of guidance:

• “The UX needs improvement, simple functionality is hard to find. The customisation is limited”
• “The flexibility and granular configuration capability of the platform can also make it difficult for new users”
• “It took a while to learn how to use it properly and it can at times be somewhat clunky and cumbersome.”

5. Ironclad

Ironclad’s contract lifecycle management platform is a comprehensive solution designed to streamline contract management.

Its AI-powered features, such as AI Assist™, automate the analysis of agreements and offers negotiation suggestions aligned with pre-approved legal guidelines. Ironclad Insights provides reporting capabilities and actionable insights, while other features include a workflow designer and centralised repository.

Despite advanced AI features, Ironclad customer reviews highlight a lack of support, system intuitiveness and:

• “We have been requesting a call with their support team for over 2 weeks and they still don't have a resource for us.”
• “The repository is a bit clunky and there are some features that are not intuitive to utilise”
• “Frequently has bugs that really limit functionality.”

What Contract Management Software Features Should You Prioritise?

1. Centralised Contract Repository

A secure, centralised contract repository ensures that documents are easy to locate and manage. By consolidating storage into one contract management system, organisations can:

• Quickly retrieve contracts without relying on scattered emails or shared drives.
• Easily search and filter using metadata such as vendor name, contract type, or expiry date.
• Maintain version control, ensuring teams always work with the latest versions.

This reduces administrative effort, minimises the risk of lost documents, and fosters seamless collaboration between Legal, Finance and Procurement teams.

Gatekeeper Dashboard - see everything in one place.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Advanced AI technology, including OpenAI’s GPT-4o, empowers your organisation to streamline contract management through intelligent automation and insights.

Features from Gatekeeper AI such as Contract Summaries, eSign, Intake, and Extract enable faster, more accurate contract processing by automating critical tasks.

Benefits include:

• Increased efficiency by automating repetitive administrative tasks, reducing manual workloads, and enabling legal and procurement teams to focus on strategic activities.
• Accurate data extraction from both legacy and new contracts, ensuring 100% visibility into key terms, obligations, and risks while facilitating faster decision-making.
• Enhanced collaboration through plain-language summaries and integrations with tools like Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, promoting seamless workflows across teams.
• Improved compliance by proactively monitoring obligations and flagging regulatory risks to meet audit and reporting requirements effortlessly.

Legal and Procurement teams benefit from reduced admin burden, improved productivity, and scalable, user-friendly AI tools tailored to their existing workflows.Use our interactive demo below to see AI Extract in action. 

3. Automated Renewals

Automated renewals and best practice workflows ensure critical dates are never missed. Contract management software eliminates low-level work of data extraction, capture and checks so Legal, Finance and Procurement can prioritise more impactful activities.

Advantages include:

• Avoiding costly oversights, such as unintended auto-renewals or service interruptions.
• Enhanced compliance, with automated workflows for audits or contractual reviews.
• Reduced reliance on manual tracking, freeing up team resources.

Discover how NYCM Insurance saved the equivalent of half a full-time employee's time with automated reminders from Gatekeeper >>

4. Native and Integrated eSignatures

Electronic signature capabilities streamline the execution of contracts, with options to use native eSign solutions or integrate seamlessly with tools like DocuSign.

Key benefits:

• Faster execution, allowing signatories to approve contracts remotely and securely.
• Improved audit trails, tracking who signed and when to ensure compliance.
• A seamless experience, embedding the signing process directly into contract workflows.

Legal teams save time on administrative tasks, while Procurement teams can expedite vendor agreements faster.

5. Redlining Options

Redlining tools facilitate collaborative contract review and editing, making it easier for stakeholders to manage negotiations.

Advantages include:

• Streamlined negotiations, with clear tracking of suggested changes and edits.
• Fewer bottlenecks, as teams can collaborate in real-time.
• Centralised change history, ensuring all edits are securely stored.

The best contract management software will allow you to redline your way, whether it’s through complete Microsoft Office capabilities, Office for the Web or Google Docs integration.

Gatekeeper's Google Docs redlining integration

6. Best Practice Workflows and Templates

Configurable workflows and templates standardise contract processes, enabling faster approvals and more consistent outcomes.

Key benefits:

• Greater consistency, with pre-approved templates that include standard terms and conditions.
• Faster approval processes, reducing delays by automatically routing contracts to the right stakeholders.
• Reduced manual errors, as workflows guide users through predefined steps.

This feature supports Legal teams by embedding compliance into the process and helps Procurement teams accelerate onboarding and negotiations.

See how Agora Cyber Charter School saved 40 hours a month with automated workflows from Gatekeeper >>

7. Touchless Contracts

Touchless contracting enables routine agreements to be created, routed, and executed with minimal human input, driven by preconfigured rules.

Benefits include:

• Unparalleled efficiency, particularly for high-volume contracts like NDAs or standard supplier agreements.
• Elimination of bottlenecks, with processes running automatically from start to finish.
• Improved scalability, ensuring contracting processes can grow alongside the business.

This automation allows Legal teams to focus on high-value negotiations while enabling Procurement teams to onboard vendors faster and more efficiently.

See how Exscientia saved nearly four hours a week by automating NDAs with Touchless Contracts from Gatekeeper >>

Touchless Contracts

wrap Up

With a quarter of your workforce engaged in contract processes, inefficiencies can no longer be ignored. The best contract management software offers a transformative solution to the challenges of manual processes, bringing visibility, control, and compliance to your organisation.

Take the first step towards streamlined contract management. Book a demo today and discover how Gatekeeper can transform your operations.