Your Ultimate Guide To Buying Coaching Software
We’ve been comparing coaching software platforms since 2018 and here is our verdict for 2022. Don’t buy until you read this.
Table of Contents
· TL;DR
· The Basics You Should Know About Coaching Tools
· Life Coaching Software VS Platforms
· 11 Things You Need to Know in 2022 Before Buying Coaching Software
· Comparison of Life Coaching Software
· What’s new for 2022
· BONUS: Best Tools for Online Coaches
· Coaching Software Conclusion
TL;DR
Click here to jump directly to the side-by-side comparison table below for coaching-related software.
We have run these comparisons for three years in a row now. This article covers the latest developments and has been significantly updated by removing and adding providers, updating the comparison table, and more.
The Basics You Should Know About Coaching Tools
Being a life coach requires you to have a lot of knowledge in many different areas. You will be asked to help your clients with their jobs and careers, their relationships, and major life decisions.
Your clients will be facing any number of obstacles that you will be required to help them identify and then move past. You also need to be able to identify their unique skills and abilities and get them to embrace them.
But, as life moves on, we are constantly facing new challenges. The recent Covid pandemic is a perfect example. People all over the world had to readjust their lives to cope.
Many people had to change their jobs and even abandon their dreams. That’s where a life coach comes in. More people started turning to life coaches to find out their options about making it all work in an entirely new way.
That’s why life coaching software is the best way for you to stay current with all the new tools and information. You can have all the information you need right away and always have the latest updates.
Not all software is the same, so you may have to try a few. Most of them offer a free trial so you can test it out and see if it will work with your style and methods of coaching.
These do vary in price, so keep in mind what you are getting for the price. Have a list ready for the must-haves you want and then the tools you can live without.
Life Coaching Software VS Platforms
Coaching software and coaching platforms are different. Software is a system that shows your computer what to do and what not to do and is used to operate and perform some particular tasks.
A platform is a type of digital platform in an environment that is used to execute an application or software and is referred to as a computer’s operating system. The biggest difference between software and platforms is the fact that software is a stand-alone product that may integrate with other software or platforms; platforms, on the other hand, host applications and provide resources that enable developers to create applications on top of it.
Software tools target specific repetitive tasks and help you to simplify the steps in a process. Take scheduling. Instead of communicating back and forth with a client or lead, you can send them a link, and they can schedule a time on your calendar for the times you provide.
Platforms encompass more. You get a place where your information resides and the software tools on top of that. For example, you get a place where you share your coaching content (training videos, worksheets) with clients as well as tools for invoicing.
However, the best platforms don’t need to provide everything but integrate with other providers you use, which means they are compatible with the tools you are already using. It’s similar to adding apps on your phone. Most of them interact with others.
A Word About Multi-Sided Coaching Platforms
Some of these platforms allow you to showcase your services to find clients or help clients to find you. There are multi-sided platforms (“multi” because they bring multiple parties together: coach and client) that do just that. They help two parties find each other. Those types of multi-sided platforms do not provide additional features to run your coaching operations, such as, invoicing or hosting and sharing of courses or worksheets and session notes.
A select few multi-sided platforms provide both: a way to generate leads through their “directory” and a way to manage your clients. Examples are in this article on “Where To Get Coaching Leads Without A Lot Of Marketing” and if you check out our deals page, you may find a promotion code or special offer from one of these companies.
11 Things You Need to Know in 2022 Before Buying Coaching Software
Many of the products have the same basics, and some provide a bit more or a bit less. You will find some of the features very helpful, some not so much. Here are some of the features you will need.
1. Share and Store Documents
When you are in communication with your clients, you often have to share contractual documents, worksheets, and any other content you have created for your clients.
Trying to communicate all of that via email and store the files manually, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to save time. It is very helpful to have everything concerning a client in one place.
If you have items they need to sign or need to share documents with several people, you want that to go as smoothly as possible. They may want to share content with you or the group, as well.
2. Content Delivery Platform
This is only relevant for you if you plan to share worksheets, documents, or video content frequently with your clients. It helps to have a platform that allows you to store such things in one place and enables access for clients individually.
3. and 4. Invoicing and Payment Processing
Payment processing allows you to collect payments, whereas invoicing solutions merely send out the invoice for your services or products. It makes your life much easier if you can do both at once.
Most of you have used a separate tool for invoicing in the past. Payment processors like Square have come a long way to help with invoicing and even scheduling appointments, but then all my client records still live in separate places.
A note on compliance:
PCI compliance is a mandatory standard required for the safety of credit card processing merchants (you). It protects your client’s payment information and is standard with integrated providers such as Stripe, Square, or Paypal.
If you are using a coaching tool provider that integrates with these payment processors, you’re all set. If your coaching tool provider offers its payment processing solution, you want to look for PCI compliance as you must ensure it through your chosen partners.
5. In-app Session Notes
You probably write a lot of notes during a coaching session. It helps you to see patterns, keeps you focused and listening, and uses the same verbiage the client uses. You can also use them to mark important comments or ideas.
Keeping all your notes in one place and connected to each specific client helps keep you better organized and speeds things up considerably. You want to be able to access past notes right away while you are in session without being distracted.
6. Progress Tracking
You may not even know you need this, but you do. CoachAccountable. Tracking your progress with your clients can be done so much easier and neater. This is ideal for the life coach and the client.
You both can see all the work you both have put in and how they progressed through the different targets that you both have focused on. It gives you the whole progress at a glance, which is very helpful for you and your client.
7. Scheduling
This booking tool helps with eliminating the back-and-forth to coordinate a time to meet and always needing to recheck your schedules. This way, you connect your calendar(s) and can even create standard meeting types with templates and then share the link with others.
They click on it and see your availability (you can block time) and schedule themselves at their convenience. Calendly even allows for payment collection, if you want to charge per single event.
8. Contact Management
All contacts should be in one place and include the most essential information about your client and your relationship. These tools help keep it all together with easy access and all the information you need.
If you need to find someone right away, need to find something quickly, or update a contact, you want to do it where everything is. Jotting down a note on paper or in your notebook rarely makes it to where it needs to go.
9. Information Security
The coaching industry is not tied to standards at the level of, i.e., healthcare with its HIPAA regulations. However, you still need to be aware of the safety of your customer information and your customer database being hosted well.
You want to make sure the information is encrypted at least with standard SSL encryption. Also, consider where the tool is hosted. Different countries have different regulations for data privacy and security, and you need to be compliant.
10. ICF Reporting
Of course, you can track all your coaching hours required for ICF certification in a spreadsheet. But why not generate this automatically with the coaching hours from your clients and go hiking with your friends instead?
Depending on your situation, these tools will prove to be more or less useful, but just because you don’t need them now doesn’t mean you never will. If you are using a free trial, try out all the features so you are better informed moving forward.
But now to the apples-to-apples comparison and individual review of coaching software platforms.
Comparison of Life Coaching Software
All providers listed below are randomly placed, this is not a ranking.
Make a list of items you value the most and use the review to help you down-select a provider that suits your unique needs.
Some providers on this list are affiliates, however, none of the vendors listed anywhere in this article could influence their reviews through any incentives. Opinions are my own and a contribution as a volunteer for Coachilly.com.
If you’d like to buy us a coffee for this effort, we’ll get warm and fuzzy feelings of gratefulness and share a free assessment tool with you. If you’ll leave a comment how this helped you, that’ll be just as rewarding.
CoachAccountable
While the website may look a little dated, the platform covers all of your coaching needs. The few features it does not yet cover, it most certainly will include soon, because CoachAccountable is quick to listen to customers and fast to respond and implement new features!
CoachAccountable has been around for many years and provides robust service and quality that organizations like Amazon, L’Oréal, Pepsi, Yale and Standford University work with them (Enterprise account level). Looks like a safe bet to us!
Since we first began using this platform in Q4/2018, it has added a ton of new features and made steady improvements. One remarkable example is our request for ICF report generation, a feature which John Larson, the founder, added within a matter of hours.
Highlights
- Starts at: $20/mo.
- Great features, intuitive interface
- Best client interaction and progress tracking
- Visually appealing user interface
- Customizable in very little time with white-labeling (make it look like your brand)
- Outstanding customer service
Coaching Loft
Coaching Loft has increased their features since our last review. This platform is highly rated on Capterra and has won awards. If I didn’t already use a great platform, this would be my next pick. If you’re looking for a great all-rounder that is decently priced, consider Coaching Loft.
Coaching Loft impresses as a great all-in-one platform for coaches. You can take session notes, send invoices, track client progress, schedule appointments, and more all from one single place. The interface is neatly organized and pleasant to the eye.
Highlights
- Starts at: Free, limited version
- Great user interface
- Reasonable pricing
- An impressive list of features that keeps growing
- A list of 500+ coaching questions
Paperbell
Paperbell strikes with a beautiful user interface, artfully designed. The platform offers an easy setup of packages for clients and fair pricing. They are designed solely for the unique work done by coaches and consultants. We’ve also noticed that Paperbell has partnered with ICF (the International Coach Federation). So, if you are an ICF member, look out for special benefits.
Highlights
- Starts at: $40/mo.
- Easy setup of landing pages, especially attractive to new coaches who may not need to set up a full website and can simply use Paperbell to create a web presence where clients can book their services
- Integrates well with other companies like Stripe, Paypal, Zoom, etc.
- Available in different currencies
- Secure via SSL
Delenta
Delenta impresses with a great user interface and the simplicity it provides. Over the past year, they this coaching platform has added a lot of new features like courses and a mobile app. Delenta wants to be your one-stop-shop for coaching: you get to market yourself and run your coaching operations at the same time.
Delenta’s software allows you to schedule appointments, invoice clients, exchange documents, and so forth. Also useful are the analytics Delenta provides to help you make decisions that help you grow your coaching practice.
Delenta became an official ICF partner — so if you are an ICF member, you get access to added benefits. Get more in-depth information and a replay of the Delenta live demo here.
Highlights
- Starts at: $29/mo.
- Attractive user interface
- An impressive set of features that leave no want
- Business analytics not seen anywhere else
- Courses
- Mobile App
LifeCoachHub
This is more than a tool for coaches. LifeCoachHub also works as a marketplace where coaches find clients and can market their expertise. For beginning coaches, this should be a great single place to start as it allows you to work with clients, and promote your services in one place.
If you don’t have a website yet and need a simple solution to get you started, this place is for you. Find simple solutions to finding clients and connecting with peers.
Highlights
- Starts at: $17/mo.
- Integrated with a coach directory
- Easy website creation, a one-stop-shop solution
- Excellent online assessment forms in addition to the content library
- Progress tracking and client information is somewhat cluttered
Simply.Coach
Simply.Coach helps coaches to automate repeatable tasks so they can focus more on coaching and less on administration. A good example of this is their “nudge” feature, which stood out during their live demo.
Nudges help coaches to predefine how often, and through which channel a coaching client should get reminded. In addition, they provide an attractive library of commonly used worksheets and journeys, called “pathways,” which coaches can also create on their own.
Highlights
- Starts at: $10/mo.
- Intuitive, simple user interface
- Attractive pricing model
- A unique approach to a coaching library (own + partner content to share with your clients)
Quenza
Quenza made an impression with its interface and made-for-you approach: Quenza put a lot of effort into helping coaches to engage clients by helping to automate repetitive processes. In addition, they provide an attractive library of commonly used worksheets and journeys, called “pathways,” which coaches can also create on their own.
Highlights
- Starts at: $49/mo.
- Attractive user interface
- An impressive set of features that leave no want
- Worksheets and pre-built customer journeys not seen anywhere else
- Higher starting price, but fair to say that it’s also providing a ready-to-go coaching toolbox for newbies
Coaches Console
Coaches Console’s platform is one of the solutions that has been around for a long time and has a lot to offer. All of the criteria we’ve compared against are covered one way or another.
You can check it out for free to see what has improved or if you like the platform. Some people may like it more than other platforms. Use the free trial to see what you think.
Highlights
- Starts at: $147/mo.
- Comprehensive solution
- Great features
- Outdated design
- Highest price point
Coaching Lobby
Designed for coaches, clients can share documents, add and comment on notes or documents, and most tasks are made easy with Coaching Lobby. The same features are all available for one set fee, which makes it nice as you are not pressured into buying a higher-priced subscription that you may not need.
The price is right, you have no limit on clients, and you can try it out for free for an entire month. If you are just starting out or trying to adhere to a tight budget, it might be the best choice for you.
Highlights
- Starts at: $25/mo.
- Easy customization to look like your brand
- A lot of features
- The content did not include video at the time of testing
- Not entirely intuitive
- One flat rate
My Coach Office (MCO)
My Coach Office (MCO) helps you manage your coaching business from one platform. It is your all-in-one solution to enable you to deliver an amazing customer experience for every client without being a slave to administration.
You can use this platform on all your devices so you can run your business from anywhere. It offers one-on-one coaching or group coaching, so you can easily switch back and forth when needed.
Highlights
- Starts at: $24/mo.
- Sleek interface
- Highly visual progress-tracking
- Website updates are from 2016/2017 — which prompts the question of whether the software is actively maintained
- Only one-way document upload by the coach is mentioned in the feature description
- No information on information security is available
- Beyond Coaching Software
Coach Simple
Coach Simple’s coaching modules are customizable to match your process and coaching style. They say they are enterprise-ready for scalability while simple to use for your team, clients, admins, and coaches. You can customize your programs to suit all your clients.
Highlights
- Starts at: $99/mo.
- Sleek interface
- Highly visual progress-tracking
- Website updates are from 2016/2017 — which prompts the question of whether the software is actively maintained
- Only one-way document upload by the coach is mentioned in the feature description
- No information on information security is available
Satori
Satori has a lot of great features, including group coaching, personalized proposals, and signature coaching packages, where you can offer multi-session packages with agreements, intake forms, check-ins, and progress tracking.
Customize the theme of your booking pages and client login area to match your brand; and enjoy a beautiful, branded booking experience on any device.
One of the bonuses was the automatic follow-up. Satori follows up with your clients to remind them to schedule sessions, check in on progress, and provide reviews of their experience when closing out their program.
Highlights
- Starts at: $23/mo.
- One-touch client enrollment
- Clean and simple interface
- Custom branding made easy
- Optimized for use on any device
- Calendar integrations and timezone conversion
- Integrates with Apple Calendar
What’s new for 2022
As technology advances the software improves greatly from year to year. Many companies are providing apps or a mobile-responsive website so you can access the program from anywhere (any device), which is a bonus for coaches and clients on the go.
In many cases, prices have improved, as the software is becoming more simplified and popular. Competition is great for coaches working with a tight budget.
Single-touch for completing tasks is also a newer feature with many companies, so people can register, sign in, access files and so much more with a single tap or two. Saves time and frustration.
We have also cleaned up the comparison chart. You may recall seeing a different set of providers. We have removed inactive platforms and added new ones, namely Satori.
Lastly, we have realized that most coaching platforms begin to pay close attention to the rising competition and most of them offer some form of trial version. We’ve added the conditions for free trials to the list. You also see an update on how many clients are included pe month in the side-by-side view.
BONUS: Best Tools for Online Coaches
There is plenty to do with your life coaching website, and you can manage these by yourself with the right tools. Chances are you are doing all your promotions, marketing, and coping with all your social media.
There are other things you can do to make your business run smoother and free up more time to spend with your clients and running the business and staying organized.
Many of these are far less expensive than paying someone to do them for you. Often, these are self-serve and you can save an absolute bundle of money by using these services.
Creating A Website or Landing Page
A website is the best place to let people know where you are and include all the information your clients and potential clients need to know. You can connect it to all your other social media and newsletters.
The landing page acts as a guide for people when they come to your website. It should be easy to read and everything should be easy to find. People won’t hang around very long if it’s too complicated.
A great place to start is Carrd. You can get whatever you need for a great price. Keep it informative and simple. Make sure people know how to contact you as soon as they get to your page and they can easily see where all the information will be.
Register Your Company
Registering your company has many benefits. It makes you look more legit than just calling your business by your name. There are also issues around filing income taxes, as you will see much better outcomes as a business rather than filing it as a personal file.
In case you do want to incorporate your business and separate your personal assets from your business, you could try Northwest Registered Agent. They are a legal firm supporting small businesses. Small, affordable fees provide you with business registration services and you will get reminders come tax time to file accurate documents with one or two clicks. Your clients will also see you as more professional and trustworthy.
Create a Logo
A logo is more than just a pretty design to put on your stationery. It helps you create your brand and your business. Looka is a great site that requires no design skills at all.
Looka combines your design preferences with AI to make beautiful logos you’ll love. Once you have your logo, use the Brand Kit to access 300+ branded templates, create custom marketing assets, build a website, and launch your business.
You want your logo to become recognizable and you want people to think of you when they see it. Find something that will be clean, professional, and fit your style of coaching.
Send Newsletters
Sending a newsletter is a great way to keep your clients informed and relay any information you want them to know. Try using Sendfox. There is a one-time fee and you have access to all the tools you need.
This site has everything you need except the high price that many other similar sites charge. You have access to unlimited automation, scheduled emails, and plenty of smart features.
Banners and Social Media
Setting up social media posts and banners for your Facebook and website background don’t need to be complicated. You can use Canva to find all the tools you need.
It’s either free or a low monthly fee at the price of you’re a coffee. In turn, you get an ever-growing design tool to create websites, flyers, schedule social media posts (and design them all in one place), logo design, profile banners, and so much more. Unlimited designs, patterns, colors, and a large photo library are included — the selection differs for free versus paid accounts (worth the money in our view).
Create a Professional Email Signature
If you aren’t using a signature on all your email correspondence, why not? Even people without a business use them as they are very easy to do. You can make one using your own features on your email or use one that looks much more professional.
You can use Email Badge and get the polished professional look you want. Style your email without the help of a designer and follow simple steps to add the signature to your Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and other accounts.
Host Webinars
One thing everyone has embraced over the past few years is teleconferencing, online meetings, and video chats. Even grandma has learned how to use her video chat.
Hosting a one-on-one session or a group session is easy. However, not all conferencing sites are the same. If your client is in a different country, they may be charged or have difficulty connecting.
But if you want to capture a larger audience for a conference, coaching session, or an information or teaching session, then try Active Webinar. It is available at a one-time cost.
Sure there are free sites, but some of them don’t work as well as they could. Zoom just had a lot of really bad press because of its encryption. They are surely working hard on fixing that.
In any case, Zoom charges a monthly fee and you’ll pay extra for extra functionality. Active Webinar includes all that in your upfront price. Make sure you check with each provider if they integrate with your coaching software provider. Zoom integrates with a lot of cloud software vendors, so it’s worth looking into it.
Scheduling and Booking
Scheduling meetings or coaching sessions can be a hassle. If you have clients in different time zones or who work various shifts, it can be a lot of back and forth to try and book something.
You likely have heard of Calendly or MeetFox. These tools allow you to let clients book themselves on your calendar during times you have set aside as available for them. This is extremely convenient as it avoids the constant back-and-forth email exchange to find a suitable time on your calendars.
One better option is Book Like a Boss (BLAB) is a hybrid of ultra-simple landing page design paired with a booking tool. You can even collect payments directly through the page by connecting to your payment account. You can try it for two weeks for free to see if you like it.
Manage Sales Leads
Sales leads are what keep you and your business afloat. How do you manage an ever-growing list of potential clients? You had all these conversations and your post-it note collection will soon become unmanageable. What do you do once you have 500 people in your sticky-note list to follow up with?
You do the same thing you are doing now: you keep them organized with a sales funnel and reminders to follow up. Start this practice early to let it become a good habit. To manage your leads, try Hubspot. It’s a huge time saver, includes a ton of features with the free version that you don’t want to miss. And Hubspot integrates with a lot of other tools.
Hubspot has a mobile app, too. Think of it as your coaching phone book for current and future customers. Hubspot also allows you to connect to your email (so you can track interactions you’ve had) and other services.
Check if Hubspot has an agreement with your preferred coaching software provider. If they don’t you can use tools like Zapier to link your data from your coaching platform to Hubspot.
You can establish a link with Zapier where your Hubspot CRM customer database is updated as soon as you create a new customer contact, e.g. in CoachAccountable and vice versa. It saves a ton of time and works beautifully.
Accounting
You likely have all your payment records right on the website where they were made, but you still need to have them file your income taxes. One of the most popular and easiest accounting sites is Quickbooks Online.
Chances are you have heard of Quickbooks, as it is one of the most popular accounting sites there is. It’s ideal for small businesses and can help you save a lot of money throughout the year and help you with deductions.
It is a low-cost account for the self-employed. It even lets you add your accountant if you want one to look over your records in the future or need help with your tax return. QBO also has a mobile app to keep track of your bills on the go. The app can help you to track mileage driven to your clients and deduct it from your tax bill, which is extremely helpful.
Social Media Marketing
Not a coaching tool but still a very useful one. Planning to post all your social media content is a lot of work. Many of these platforms offer a lot but don’t always deliver.
Missinglettr does make promises and keeps them. If you have your content ready you can pre-set them to be posted on most sites. Missinglettr allows you to pre-set content to be posted for up to a year ahead.
Assuming you have the content, of course. Many things will change throughout the year but there will be items you can plan to post and they will just be there for your clients.
You need to get the attention of your future clients and Missinglettr does an outstanding job helping you to do that. Missinglettr will save you a ton of time and money and improve your content engagement rate and lead more people to visit your website.
Coaching Software Conclusion
When you are looking through these sites, have your list of things you need help with. There are going to be things in your everyday work that take up too much time or irritate you. Look for a platform that can ease your working life and make you the happiest.
Make up your mind about these platforms. Most offer a free trial so take advantage of that so you have a better understanding of how they work and how they will work for you.
Try these platforms with your clients and see what they think. With a few clicks you can test and get client feedback and see how it works for you. Some platforms give you a 30-day trial period. Make good use of it by planning your test cases. Simply put together a list of things you need to try, e.g. customers creating an appointment. A list like that will help you test in a matter of a few hours on most platforms.
You can use this information to find the platform that will work best for your coaching business. You likely won’t need every feature, and some may never be used, but that’s quite common with life coaching software (or any software for that matter).
Ultimately, these platforms are all about making your job easier. If they don’t seem to do that, then choose something else. Try a few out and see what you think. These will vary in levels of your technical abilities, as well. These companies offer free trials so you can try their products without commitment, so take advantage of that offer.
Let us know what tools you use and connect with us on LinkedIn!