Client portal software

Support portals are a great way to encourage your customers or clients to self-serve, giving your support team valuable time back. But this is only possible if you choose the right software.

With so much riding on your client portal, you want to choose software that contributes to a positive buyer journey. To help make your decision easier, we put together a guide to client and customer portals so you can find the best solution for your business.

More in this guide:

• What is client portal software?
• Client portal software comparison chart
• The 15 best client portal software
• Features of customer portal software
• Benefits of client portal software
• How to build a customer portal
• How to choose the right client portal for your business
• Take client portal software for a spin

Client portal software – also called a customer portal – is a secure, personalised hub for clients or customers to submit and manage their support requests, contribute to your community forum and access up-to-date knowledge base articles.

This portal houses your company’s self-service functions in a single, organised place that can live on your website and/or mobile app. When integrated with other systems, a client portal also allows clients to view and change their account information. For example, they can update their shipping address or cancel an appointment.

Start your search by evaluating the key criteria of these client portal providers.

Your client portal software should help you build the exact client experience you want to provide. We’ve rounded up some client portal examples that can help you do just that.

1. Zendesk

Zendesk offers self-service portal software for companies of all sizes, from small businesses to enterprises. Our intuitive portal gives clients everything they need in one place, allowing them to find important documents, converse in the community forum and make support requests. Businesses can appeal to clients in different areas or market segments by customising the language and branding of the portal.

AI is available to enable client self-service and assist agents with their responsibilities. AI can generate new content and flag outdated articles so your knowledge base information is always fresh. When a client submits a request, AI can share relevant articles to help reduce tickets for your team and provide clients with immediate support.

With customisable reports and real-time dashboards, you can easily track key performance metrics, monitor trends and improve operations to better serve your clients and agents. For example, you’ll gain insights into the most-requested articles and the upvotes and downvotes on articles, so you’ll know which content to prioritise.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Customer analytics and reporting
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base and community forum software
• Ticketing system
• AI
• Omnichannel support
• Unified Agent Workspace
• Agent collaboration tools
• Security
• Chatbots

Pricing:

• Free trial: 14 days
• Suite Team: $55 per agent/month
• Suite Growth: $89 per agent/month
• Suite Professional: $115 per agent/month
• Suite Enterprise: Talk to sales
  *Plans are billed annually.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

Take 30 seconds to start a free Zendesk trial or request a Zendesk demo.

2. Ideagen Huddle

With Ideagen Huddle’s client portal, businesses can collaborate with clients in shared documents. The platform’s cloud-based portal offers a secure environment to house and share sensitive information.

With Huddle, businesses can organise people, files, documents, tasks and conversations associated with a project in a single space. Plus, Huddle updates document changes and conversation threads in real time and stores document history and versions.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Ticketing system
• Article version control
• Government-grade security

Pricing:

• Free trial: 30 days
• Contact Ideagen

3. Zoho Creator

​​Zoho Creator provides a collaboration platform that businesses can use to build a variety of portals. The software can create portals for client help desks, client support, project management, HR and order fulfilment. Additionally, businesses can customise the portal to fit their brand with personalised logos, colours and visuals.

Zoho Creator uses drag-and-drop design functionality, so users don’t need to know how to code. It also comes with prebuilt AI models that can handle routine tasks for the organisation.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base and community forum
• Ticketing system
• AI
• Workflow rules

Pricing:

• Free trial: 15 days
• Standard: $8 per user/month
• Professional: $20 per user/month
• Enterprise: $25 per user/month
• Flex: Contact Zoho
  *Plans are billed annually.

4. Copilot

Copilot’s client portal software provides various features, including messaging, billing, file sharing, contract management, forms and knowledge bases. Copilot also offers integrations, so businesses can connect additional support tools to their portal.

Copilot’s customisable design options for online portals enable businesses to provide a branded experience – from appearance to messaging. Additionally, businesses can set up automations for basic tasks like welcome messages, intake forms and meeting links.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base
• Automations
• Messaging app

Pricing:

• Free trial: 14 days
• Starter: $29 per internal user/month
• Professional: $69 per internal user/month
• Advanced: $119 per internal user/month
• Supersonic: Contact Copilot
  *Plans are billed annually.

5. HappyFox

HappyFox’s client portal software offers self-service options for clients, including support for ticket tracking, community forums and knowledge bases. The community forum offers a place for clients to help each other while support agents can observe and contribute solutions to the conversations.

HappyFox allows customisation options using HTML, CSS and JavaScript so businesses can create a uniform, branded experience. In addition, users can add a support centre widget on the side of a webpage.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base and community forum
• Ticketing system
• Service level agreement (SLA) management
• Pre-written responses

Pricing:

• Free trial: Available
• Mighty: $29 per agent/month
• Fantastic: $49 per agent/month
• Enterprise: $69 per agent/month
• Enterprise Plus: $89 per agent/month
• Unlimited agents: Starts at $1,499 per month
  *Plans are billed annually.

6. MyDocSafe

MyDocSafe provides secure customer service portals that include document management, billing, e-forms, ID verification and automation. Using MyDocSafe, businesses can share files and documents and collect customer data with forms.

With the platform’s customisable workflows, businesses can automate the onboarding process. Users can also create processes within the customer web portal that guide clients through the onboarding journey. To control access to sensitive information, users can set up permissions for specific documents (or the entire portal).

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Automated workflows
• Web forms and questionnaires
• Encrypted email

Pricing:

• Free trial: 30 days
• Starter: $20 per month (2 users)
• Small: $75 per month (8 users)
• Medium: $180 per month (20 users)
• Business: $533 per month (60 users)
• Large: $2,499 per month (unlimited users)
• Enterprise: Contact MyDocSafe
  *Plans are billed annually.

7. SupportBee

SupportBee’s customer portal allows clients to submit new support requests and check in on past ones. Because customers have a view of their conversation history, they can reference previous problems, enquiries and resolutions.

Rather than requiring customers to remember usernames and passwords, agents can send private links that customers can use to access the portal. This login method eliminates the need for customers to remember another set of credentials.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Knowledge base
• Ticketing system
• Shareable private portal links

Pricing:

• Free trial: 14 days
• Startup: $13 per user/month
• Enterprise: $17 per user/month
  *Plans are billed annually.

8. Clinked

Clinked offers businesses the option to brand a client portal template or create an original portal tailored to their specifications. Either way, the portal can consolidate communication between customers and internal teams, and portal administrators can control who views, edits and downloads content.

It lets businesses disseminate communication to company pages through group chats, one-on-one messages and public posts. Businesses can also use a mobile app to keep everyone informed while away from their desktops.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base and community forum
• Mobile app
• Version history

Pricing:

• Free trial: 10 days
• Lite: $95 per month (100 members)
• Standard: $239 per month (100 members)
• Premium: $479 per month (250 members)
• Enterprise: Contact Clinked (1,000+ members)
  *Plans are billed annually.

9. AzureDesk

AzureDesk is a help desk software solution that includes self-service customer portals, ticket routing, knowledge management and email-to-ticket conversion. A business can add FAQs, knowledge base articles and more from the admin portal to the customer support portal.

Using AzureDesk, customers can search the knowledge base, look up past tickets and make new requests. It’s customisable, too, so businesses can give their online client portal the look and feel of their brand.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Knowledge base and community forum
• Ticketing system
• Batch update
• Private notes

Pricing:

• Free trial: 14 days
• Plus: $33 per user/month
  *Plan is billed annually.

10. Kahootz

The online client portal from Kahootz is a centralised, secure communication hub that allows customers to manage their accounts and collaborate with businesses. The software provides security for sensitive data and is transparent with customers about their account activity.

Kahootz’s software includes forums, document management, surveys, content creation and more. Businesses can upload rich media content, like videos and blog articles, to answer common customer questions, while the discussion forum allows for peer-to-peer support and agent insight.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base and community forum
• Surveys
• Task management

Pricing:

• Free trial: 30 days
• Starter: £5.50 per user/month
• Professional: £11.55 per user/month
• Enterprise: £10.97 per user/month
  *Plans are billed annually.

11. Onehub

Onehub is a cloud storage system that lets businesses interact with clients and facilitates collaboration between coworkers. With secure online data sharing, teams can exchange sensitive information and set access permissions by labelling users with different roles (such as administrator, creator and viewer).

Businesses can customise the client portal to match their branding. The software also has security features, including encryption, role-based permissions and two-factor authentication.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Drag-and-drop file uploads
• Password-protected links

Pricing:

• Free trial: 14 days
• Standard: $12.50 per user/month
• Advanced: $20 per user/month
• Data Room Edition: $300 per month
• Unlimited Edition: $500 per month
  *Plans are billed annually.

12. FuseBase

FuseBase – formerly Nimbus – enables customers and agents to organise information and collaborate in one place. It allows businesses to create a branded experience with customisable, built-in chats. The platform also collects data and processes feedback for operational insights.

Using FuseBase, businesses can invite customers into the portal, send videos or screenshots, create guest accounts and set workplace access. Users can also manage internal and external knowledge for different workspaces.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base
• AI
• Task board

Pricing:

• Free consultation available
• Contact FuseBase

13. Accelo

Accelo is a cloud-based client work management platform with tools to create and manage a client portal. Businesses can grant clients access to relevant data, including account information, requests, quotes, invoices, retainers and more.

With access to key information, clients and other stakeholders can track projects, submit requests and review documents. Clients can also view and manage their documents and support services at their convenience.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Ticketing system
• Quote templates
• Project templates

Pricing:

• Free trial: 7 days
• Professional: $50 per user/month
• Business: $70 per user/month
• Advanced: $90 per user/month
• Elite: Contact Accelo

14. MangoApps

MangoApps is a digital hub for communication and collaboration. The customer service portal helps employees access the information they need to see projects through to completion and support customers.

Customise the widget-based dashboard of your client web portal to match your brand’s look and feel. Its interface is modelled after the most-used social media platforms, letting users interact through emojis, comments and groups. Plus, its unified reporting and analytics allow businesses to track and monitor activity to get visibility into how people use the platform.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base
• AI

Pricing:

• Free trial: Unavailable
• Contact MangoApps

15. Moxo

Moxo is a client portal solution that helps businesses communicate and share information, including purchase orders and opening accounts, with clients. Businesses can embed the portal into their website and configure a private mobile app.

The platform’s features include secure messaging, virtual data rooms, video meetings and digital signatures. Moxo can also integrate the portal with the business’s existing tech stack.

Features:

• Theme customisation
• Reporting and analytics
• Single sign-on options and article view permissions
• Knowledge base
• Live chat
• Video meetings

Pricing:

• Free trial: Unavailable
• Contact Moxo

There are several high-level features you’ll find in most modern customer portals. Here are six common features to look for and evaluate.

Theme customisation

Your client portal software should let you map the portal to your domain and customise its design to align with the look and feel of your company’s branding. Customisable portal software enables you to offer self-service support without sacrificing your brand aesthetic. Theme customisation allows you to use your business brand colours and your logo, which can create a more cohesive customer experience.

Reporting and analytics

Reporting and analytics provide valuable portal insights to help you understand your customers better. With client portal software like Zendesk, for example, you can integrate data from across all channels, including your customer portal. This allows you to:

• Learn how customers interact with your brand
• Understand customer pain points surrounding your products and services
• Identify areas of improvement
• Determine what customers like about your brand
• Monitor team performance

Additionally, built-in reporting can provide a customer feedback loop that identifies gaps in your content based on what customers are searching for. This enables you to continuously update your content to better serve your customers.

Single sign-on options and article view permissions

Single sign-on options allow you to seamlessly – and securely – authenticate users with one set of credentials across multiple resources on your site. This authentication process gives users access to their client portal website and permission to view restricted articles or internal documents that may contain personal data.

Many client portals offer view permission options like:

• Visible to everyone: Anyone can view content, and it doesn’t require sign-in verification to your client portal website
• Signed-in users: internal and external users who have an account and sign in to your help centre can view content
• Agents and admins: only internal staff members can view content
• Custom user segment: Custom user segments determine the viewing access based on tags, organisations, or groups.

Not all solutions or plans will offer these options, so pay close attention to the settings each allows.

Knowledge base and community forum

Client portals like Zendesk use knowledge bases and community forums as a form of client self-service. You can update your knowledge base with help centre articles so other self-service tools like chatbots can supply clients with accurate responses.

Forum software creates a collaborative space for clients and agents to connect through conversations, pose questions, suggest hacks and more. Plus, because they promote independent problem-solving, these self-service options reduce support ticket volume and give agents more time to handle more complex requests.

Ticketing system

When customers can’t solve their issues with self-help options, they may need to create a support ticket. A ticketing system that’s connected to your portal allows customers to:

• Track an existing ticket.
• Update the status of an existing ticket.
• Submit a new ticket request.

AI

Integrating conversational AI and chatbots with your customer portal ticket form, email or other communication channels enables you to:

• Provide answers to FAQs.
• Surface help centre articles.
• Suggest relevant community forums.

This can help deflect customers with common questions and reduce the number of support tickets.

Now that you know what to look for, let’s break down some key benefits of client portal solutions.

Provide 24/7, on-demand support

Clients expect high-quality customer service the moment they request it – especially if they’re experiencing issues. A well-implemented client portal avoids them having to wait for one of your agents to respond. Instead, portals offer on-demand information so clients can find what they need when they need it, including during off-hours.

Example: A client lost their password after working hours and doesn’t know how to recover it. When they submit a ticket via the ticket form in the portal, a chatbot suggests a relevant help centre article. The client follows the steps to recover their password and doesn’t need to wait until the next day for a response.

Increase efficiency and lower support costs

The best customer portals empower customers to complete simple tasks on their own, like viewing ticket statuses, updating personal information or finding help articles. This eliminates the need for the customer to reach out to an agent for help, deflecting tickets from the queue.

Ticket deflection frees up agents to tackle more complex issues rather than focusing on repetitive, time-consuming tasks that decrease efficiency.

This helps lower costs in 3 ways:

1. It prevents staffing extra agents to manage a bloated ticket queue.
2. It reduces the risk of costly employee turnover from agent burnout.
3. It provides off-hours support so businesses don’t have to pay for around-the-clock support agents.

Example: a customer wants to know when they can expect their package to arrive after accidentally deleting a shipping confirmation email. When they log in to their customer portal, they can quickly find their purchase history and tracking numbers – no need to contact customer support.

Enhance collaboration options with file-sharing

With a client portal, you can collaborate using rich media content that goes beyond email and messaging. These solutions often offer secure upload functionalities that encrypt files, ensuring only authorised users can access them. This allows for safe and confidential sharing of critical documents, proposals, images and other project-related materials.

Example: a marketing agency uploads the final draft of a social media campaign to the client portal, allowing the client to review the images and provide feedback directly within the platform. This streamlined communication ensures everyone is on the same page and edits can be made efficiently.

Create a more personalised self-service experience

A client portal allows businesses to deliver more personalised self-service experiences because it’s customised to the client. Within their portal, a client can:

• Like, follow and comment on help centre posts.
• Manage their contributions to your community forum.
• View their support request history and ticket statuses.
• See help centre articles that are relevant to the specific brand they purchased from and the region they are located in.

Example: a client submitted a help request to their IT provider the day before but hasn’t heard back. Rather than call or make another request, the client checks the portal and sees the ticket status has changed to “in progress” and that there’s an estimated resolution time.

Building customer service portals requires having the right software. Many customer service software platforms include features for building a customer portal, and each will have its own process for creating one that fits your brand.

Your first step will be to customise the portal with your company’s logo and brand style. Remember to keep it simple – overloading your customer portal with images and branding materials will overwhelm your customers. Your client portal should be easy to search and navigate.

Once you’ve customised your client portal and enabled ticket submission and live chat options, the final step will be to integrate the portal with your website with a link or widget. Just make sure your portal is easy to find.

Support portals vary widely, and it’s important to choose the right one for your particular needs. For example, the client portal for a business-to-business (B2B) tech provider will differ greatly from the portal for an e-commerce company. When evaluating any client portal software, make sure it meets the following criteria.

Ensure it’s easy to maintain

It’s important to choose client portal software that doesn’t require a dedicated developer team to manage it. Instead, look for software that works out of the box and features a user-friendly interface that allows for easy content updates, user management and customisation.

Drag-and-drop features, prebuilt templates and clear instructions empower your team to maintain the portal without extensive coding knowledge. This minimises reliance on external developers, reduces costs and ensures you can keep the portal content fresh and relevant for your clients.

Prioritise integrations with your tech stack

To maximise efficiency, it’s imperative to select a client portal system that integrates with your existing ticketing system, customer database software or other business apps. Integrating your portal with your existing tech stack allows you to route client tickets to the appropriate agents or departments and upload, share and store data across platforms. This creates a cohesive ecosystem that can improve the client experience.

For example, the Zendesk Marketplace offers prebuilt apps and integrations that you can use to enhance your self-service portal. You can integrate your client portal with Wistia to add videos to help tickets.

Consider time to value

By choosing a client portal that offers rapid deployment, intuitive usability and seamless integration with existing workflows, you can expedite the onboarding process and start reaping the benefits of improved communication, collaboration and efficiency sooner. Additionally, a shorter time to value minimises disruptions to daily operations and maximises the ROI potential of the investment.

By choosing a client portal that offers rapid deployment, intuitive usability and seamless integration with existing workflows, you can expedite the onboarding process and start reaping the benefits of improved communication, collaboration and efficiency sooner. Additionally, a shorter time to value minimises disruptions to your daily operations and maximises the potential return on investment.

Verify it supports a variety of languages

The best way to offer support to all your clients is to have a portal that offers multiple language options. Examine your client base to determine which languages you should prioritise before selecting your software.

Software review sites often feature comprehensive lists of supported languages, making it easy to weed out the providers that don’t include the languages you need.

Your customer portal is the launchpad for your customer journey. So, your client portal software plays a key role in delivering memorable customer experiences throughout that journey. A scalable, easy-to-use customer service software solution can help you build and manage your portal, so you consistently provide stellar support.