Best Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software in 2025

Contract lifecycle management tools (CLM) help you to manage the entire contract lifecycle from the initial proposal stage to later re-negotiations. However, how do you select the best contract lifecycle management tools for your needs from the scores of good quality platforms out there? This buyer’s guide helps you by detailing the list of features to look for and the factors to consider while doing informed comparisons to select a high-quality CLM software solution.

The best way to start your search is by registering for the free trials or demo offered by leading contract lifecycle management software providers. This will enable you to test drive each app’s features free of cost, do a comparison, and understand whether it is the best contract lifecycle management software solution for small business. You can begin by finding out whether the following popular CLM platforms offer a free trial: SpringCM, Octiv, Agiloft, Accelo, and Concord. These tools have received high rankings in our contract lifecycle management software reviews.

CLM software is typically used by the following professionals:

• Attorneys
• Paralegals
• Procurement professionals
• Sales operations professionals

• SpringCM: SpringCM’s contract management software transforms the contract review process. It automates the contract process to reduce the sales cycle, enhance productivity, and boost revenue.
• Octiv: Octiv’s logic-based workflows help streamline the creation and distribution of contracts, quotes, proposals, and presentations. Teams spend less time creating proposals, contracts, and presentations, and more time selling.
• Agiloft: Streamline your approval process, enhance revenue, and reduce risk with Agiloft. You can use the app to negotiate, generate, and manage contracts with ease.
• Accelo: Better billing and contract management. Get paid faster for your professional service and support. Accelo streamlines your support with automation and time-saving tools.
• Concord: It is used by more than 30,000 small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies. Features include compliance, contract management, online negotiation, centralized database, and unlimited e-signatures.

Contract lifecycle management tools  typically support a range of contract types including:

• Vendor contracts
• Employment agreements
• Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)
• Enterprise contracts
• Procurement contracts
• Sales contracts

• Compliance assurance – CLM software offers process automation for ensuring the compliance of contractual negotiations comply with existing laws. You can add additional industry-specific and company compliance protocols as needed.
• Contract generation & process automation – Users can readily use custom templates to create new contracts, which can be easily exported to MS Word and other document apps. Plus, new contracts can be automatically created using the user’s pre-defined process.
• Approval administration – The entire contract approval process involves numerous individuals. This software notifies the next person who must provide approval of the contract. This greatly hastens the whole approval workflow.
• Alerts and notifications – You can create notification criteria to automate alerts for contract expiration and renewal dates, and for other opportunities for renegotiations. You can get alerts within the solution or have them sent to your email account.
• Creating ad-hoc reports – You can use reporting features to find more opportunities to enhance contractual terms. Plus, you can generate reports based on specific contracts or general search queries.
• Integration with ERP and accounting systems – Good quality CLM apps integrate smoothly with ERP and accounting platforms to help ensure cash flow data accuracy and financial forecasting efficiency.
• e-signature – Working remotely is now becoming common. As such, e-signatures are necessary when clients and professionals are not able to meet in person due to geographic and other restrictions. These tools come with their own security layers to ensure authenticity.

Boosts efficiency

With CLM software, you don’t have to click through multiple screens to search for a vendor contract. Plus, you will not end up misplacing a contract saved on your computer. The CLM software stores all your contracts conveniently in one place, which makes it simple to locate and manage them. You can use easy search features and simple keywords to find contracts which can help you save time and use it for productive work.

Reduces risk

CLM software can help to minimize risk as they enable proactive compliance management and easy auditing. You can use reporting and automation features to evaluate the performance of contracts and to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. Cloud software vendors offer dedicated encryption, access, and permissions features you can use to ensure only authorized persons get to view your contracts.

Saves money and time

Time is money in any industry. CLM software helps you save time as you can find and manage contracts easily. Plus, you can also monitor milestone dates effectively. All this can boost your efficiency and productivity. Thus, the money you invest in the software is repaid many times over by the various benefits it offers.

Automate the contract lifecycle

The entire contract lifecycle involves a lot of repetitive processes. Automating many parts of the workflow opens up your schedule to accept more clients and accomplish important work. It also reduces the risks of human error and improves compliance.

Enhanced efficiency

Emerging technologies in CLM software are helping to create synergy between the different business units of a company as they can learn the contractual obligations of the firm. The new systems provide info that can be customized for specific companies and industries. They can offer even advanced fields of info such as the contracting parties, limited liability, indemnification, expenses, obligations, venue or jurisdiction and more. This information is useful particularly in the post-execution phase of contracts and these new technologies are helping to boost an organization’s efficiency.

Intuitive and user-friendly method

The new technologies are simplifying the contracting process by using an intuitive and user-friendly method to filter strategic info. These technologies are helping business analysts to better understand the relationship models and terms of the contracting process. This helps analysts to offer more simplified and accessible contracts. The new technologies also help to make contract drafting more efficient.  

Excluding stakeholders from the selection process

You should ensure to include all important stakeholders in your company in the software selection and usage process. Ask them all to attend a product demo and inform them about the benefits of the CLM system. Bring all the important parties on board to ensure there are no problems later on in the implementation and usage of the software.

Rushed implementation

Do not attempt a big bang implementation which may backfire. Rather, implement the CLM software in stages. Use a phased and gradual approach, and segment the process. Take feedback from users after a stage and use it to improve the implementation in the next stage.

Do not leave it to the vendor

Do not leave the entire implementation process to the vendor. You need to customize the CLM system for your company’s unique needs. While smaller businesses can do with a basic CLM solution, larger enterprises typically use different way to administer and monitor their contracts. So they need more customization to ensure the software fits their greater needs.

Modern contract lifecycle management platforms include various business tools to provide a centralized solution to your daily operation.

Creating contracts and related documents can be done right on the platform. Most solutions now include rich-text editing, formatting, and document management. Some apps may even include drag-and-drop interfaces, which make it easy to create branded content.

Processing such contracts is now much easier as contract lifecycle management applications allow collaboration. You can invite stakeholders to access a contract with varying permissions based on their roles. Some even allow you and your team to chat, comment, and annotate various parts of a contract.

At the end of a successful contract development process is the signing. Luckily, there is no need to mail hard copies in order for your clients to sign the contract. Esignature tools are integrated into the solution itself. Some even automatically email clients where they are notified when the contract is ready for signing.

While modern contract lifecycle management software includes security layers, they still need third-party services to protect sensitive information. Fortunately, smart contracts are now being developed to create a robust and secure system.

It leverages blockchain technology. Blockchain is a distributed system that provides an immutable foundation to create a more secure and stable system. Every action in the blockchain becomes a digital transaction that is stored across a worldwide network along with a unique cryptographic signature. These transactions cannot be deleted or modified, which effectively secures the entire system.

Smart contracts can be built on top of the blockchain, where protocols can be created, verified, and enforced without the need for a third-party. Contract clauses can be agreed upon and entered into the system. These can be self-executing and self-enforcing. Since the underlying system is secure, many parts of smart contracts can be automated with minimal security risks.