Last updated on May 16, 2024
Are you a life coach overwhelmed by the abundance of online coaching platforms available? Does the wide array of features make it difficult for you to pinpoint which one is the best for your needs?
With so many options to choose from, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of software and spend hours and hours reviewing the available tools. To save you valuable time, we’ve reviewed the most popular coaching software. Say goodbye to the hassle of trial and error, and let us guide you toward the best online life coaching platforms that will truly elevate your coaching practice.
Keep reading to find out which platforms made the cut and what they are best for.
- Practice – Best for Time-Saving Automation
- Paperbell – Best All-Inclusive in a Pretty Package
- Delenta – Best Affordable All-in-One Software for Small Business
- CoachVantage – Best for Beginners
- Honeybook – Best for Client Engagement
- Simplero – Best for Business Growth and Upscaling Sales
- Bonsai – Best for Managing the Entire Business (including Finances)
- Profi – Best for Medium and Large Coaching Businesses
- Simply.Coach – Best for Solopreneurs and Coaching Businesses
- Guidely.com – Best for Instagram Management
Table of Contents
Automation Option: Practice
Practice is a newer software that has earned its spot among the top choices with its comprehensiveness and affordably priced plans. It is perfect for solopreneurs who are expanding their business and want intuitive all-in-one software to streamline their practice.
Features
- Automation
- Communication
- Group coaching
- Scheduling
- CRM
- Customization
- Client portal
- Creating packages
- Invoicing and payments
- Contracts
- 200+ Templates
- File storage
- Forms
- Mobile app
- Integrations (Google, Stripe, and Zoom)
Practice is perfect for growing businesses, thanks to its pricing plan that isn’t dependent on your number of clients. So, even when your list of clients expands, the cost will stay the same. It also supports all the features you need for automation and management, and the powerful Smart Actions feature can completely automate your workflow and minimize your responsibilities.
Your communication with clients will be consolidated since Practice has a built-in chat option that even supports voice messages. You won’t need to scatter yourself across multiple platforms for client engagement, as you’ll have it all under the same roof.
To see whether Practice is right for you, check out our detailed review.
Pricing
Not only does Practice provide you with a 7-day free trial, but you can also get more familiar with the software through a complementary onboarding session with their specialist. Once your subscription begins, the fee starts at $28 per month. Use our promo code LCM for 50% off your first two months!
You also opt for lifetime access for a single payment of $1,200—over 20% off the monthly price. Add our discount code LCM1 for an additional $5 off.
Elegant Design Option: Paperbell
Paperbell was founded by coaches. The software is designed to facilitate and automate all of the administrative requirements of a coaching business. It is a simple but powerful one-stop-shop online solution. What made Paperbell one of our top choices is the beautiful and intuitive interface, its ease of use and affordable price, and that there are just enough features to cover your needs without overwhelming you.
Features
- Scheduling
- CRM
- Client portal
- Group sessions
- Contracts
- Payments
- Custom landing pages
- Digital downloads
- Intake surveys
- Custom shop page
- Reminder emails
- Integrations (Google Calendar, Zoom, Skype, Zapier, PayPal, etc.)
With this tool, you can simplify all aspects of your coaching business. You can create attractive online packages for your clients, take payments up-front, offer discovery sessions, contract signing, client management, and custom landing pages.
The scheduling tool replaces Calendly or Acuity and includes handy, coach-specific options such as booking discovery sessions or adding buffers between sessions. Paperbell also offers group coaching, a feature that not all online coaching platforms have.
To get the complete intel, be sure to read our in-depth review.
Pricing
What we love about Paperbell is that the pricing isn’t influenced by the number of clients. Whether you have 3 or 333 clients, you’ll pay $47.50 per month (if you choose an annual subscription), and you get the first 2 months for free. The plan is all-inclusive.
If you want to make a one-time payment, the platform costs $570 per year, which saves you $114.
You can get started with a fully-featured free Paperbell account, which you can use for one client without any time restraints.
Affordable Option: Delenta
Delenta is our top selection for an inexpensive online platform because it is feature-rich software whose pricing starts at an affordable $19 per month. Despite the low cost, Delenta is a comprehensive program that supports both individual and group coaching.
Features
- Calendar and scheduling
- Landing page builder
- CRM
- Custom branding
- Creating and selling courses
- Contracts
- Payments
- Community
- Reports
- Integrations (Zoom, MailChimp, PayPal, Outlook, Stripe, Zapier, and Google Calendar)
For less than $20, you can manage your clients, create an enticing landing page, schedule sessions, collect payments, and brand yourself with customizable contracts. Integrated video conferencing for individual or group coaching is also one of the features that stands out. On top of that, you can create and sell courses and packages within the software.
Lastly, we think you’ll love that Delenta is constantly improving, and recently they’ve added an app for your clients to use, a multi-coach platform for coach collaboration, an improved package creator, and the ability to add rewards and recognition to your coach profile.
For all the details, read our Delenta review.
Pricing
Before you commit to Delenta, you can give it a trial run for 30 days with their free trial. The packages start at $19 per month per user, and you can manage up to 10 clients. The only limitations to this plan are the group coaching management and customizable landing pages (you do get Delenta-branded landing pages).
If you want all the features—or just want to snag a great deal before it’s gone—Delenta is offering 50% off your first purchase of their product, whether it be a monthly or yearly plan. Just use the code LCM50 to get the discount.
Beginners Option: CoachVantage
If you’re new to the coaching business and you’d like a super intuitive and user-friendly platform, we suggest CoachVantage. Users rave about its ease of use, and you’ll get pretty much all the features you need for managing your practice with this tool. Let’s see what features are included.
Features
- Coaching hours log
- Scheduling
- Client management
- Progress tracking
- Invoicing and payment
- Contracts
- Resource Library
- Forms
- Branding
- Integrations (Zoom, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Apple iCal, PayPal, and Stripe)
As you can see, CoachVantage is well-equipped to help you run your business from end to end. You can create and sell coaching programs, set up a resource library for your clients, collect valuable data with forms and questionnaires to improve your business, schedule sessions, manage client info, send invoices, and integrate apps for video calls and payments.
CoachVantage has a unique feature that differentiates it from other software, and that’s the hour log. If you want to earn an ICF certification or keep track of your work, CoachVantage will automatically log your hours and you can export the reports. You can even choose whether you want to log the hours as paid or pro bono.
They have also announced that they’ll introduce the group coaching functionality soon, so that’s something to look forward to.
To get all the details on CoachVantage, read our in-depth review.
Pricing
You can sign up for the free trial without a credit card if you’d like to test the waters first. The price is quite affordable at $26 per month. However, the basic plan does have some limitations, such as just 2 coaching program sign-up pages and 48 contract e-signature requests per month.
Client Engagement Option: Honeybook
With features such as automated follow-ups and responses, Honeybook is a great tool for keeping your clients engaged and saving you precious time. In addition to this useful engagement feature, Honeybook will also take care of all your day-to-day administrative tasks.
Features
- Automated responses
- Scheduling
- Invoices and proposals
- Contract signing
- Templates for pricing guides and brochures
- Mobile app
- Integrations (Google Calendar, Zoom, Gmail, etc.)
Honeybook will act as your personal assistant as it handles all the tedious follow-ups that are necessary for nurturing the client-coach relationship. You can automate personalized follow-ups with questionnaires, scheduling links, or marketing materials. Clients don’t love to wait for a response, and Honeybook can make sure that they get it within seconds without any effort on your part. You can also set up triggers based on client behavior to ensure that responses are suitable.
Don’t fear that Honeybook will take over completely, as you can choose whether you want to approve the response every time or send it automatically.
To learn more about Honeybook’s offerings, see our review.
Pricing
First of all, we should mention that you can try Honeybook for free for 7 days, and you don’t even need to give your credit card details.
If you like what you see, the pricing starts at $16 per month, and you get 2 months without charge. If you use our link, you will get 50% off as a new subscriber.
Business Growth and Upscaling Sales Option: Simplero
Simplero’s unique features for creating sales funnels and motivating purchases are what make it the ideal tool for those who’re looking to increase their sales and grow their business. Besides the sale-enticing features (which we’ll get into in a minute), they also let you build a high-converting landing page and set up email marketing campaigns, all with the purpose of skyrocketing your coaching practice.
Features
- Upsell, Downsell, and Order Bump features
- Email marketing and automation
- Landing pages builder with high-converting templates
- Affiliate management space
- Subscriptions
- Website builder
- Client insights
- Payments
- Course delivery
- Client community groups
There is no other online life coaching platform that is so dedicated to incentivizing purchases as Simplero. This starts with Order Bump, which offers clients to add an additional item to their order. Then, you have the Upsells and Downsells features that let you organize an upsell/downsell sequence that automatically displays after the purchase is complete.
You can start an affiliate program and run it from Simplero, create and sell subscriptions, and automate your email marketing. On top of it all, Simplero is designed for selling physical and digital products. All in all, Simplero is a sales wiz.
Read our comprehensive review of Simplero to learn more.
Pricing
Simplero offers a 14-day trial which gives you access to all features. The payment plans start at $59 per month, with a limit of 500 contracts. As your number of contracts grows, your payment plan will follow.
The basic plan doesn’t include automation, affiliate programs, upsells and downsells, and many useful features, so if you’d like to get more out of it, you’ll need to invest at least $149 per month.
Managing the Entire Business Option: Bonsai
Bonsai has something that none of the other platforms do, and that’s financial management tools. This makes it a great choice for complete business management. Besides the coaching essentials like client management, contracts, and payments, Bonsai lets you track every aspect of your finances, including taxes, accounting, and banking.
Features
- Financial management
- Scheduling
- Client management
- Contracts and e-signing
- Invoicing and payments
- Client portal
- Collaboration tools
- Client intake forms
- Session notes
- Prebuilt templates
- Integrations (Gmail, Google Calendar, Zapier, QuickBooks, etc.)
If you don’t want to juggle several tools to take care of your work and finances, Bonsai can be just the thing for you. The financial management tool will help you with invoices, payments, income reports, expense tracking, tax reminders, maximizing tax write-offs, automatic budgeting, expense management, and everything you can think of finance-wise.
We would also like to mention another nifty feature—hundreds of personalized, done-for-you templates. Many of the templates are specific to coaching needs, such as the personal coaching contract template, life coaching session template, executive coaching contract template, and more.
Want more info on Bonsai? Check out our review.
Pricing
You can try Bonsai free for 7 days. Once you move to a paid plan, the cost begins at $17 per month for unlimited clients and up to 5 project collaborators.
All the plans include invoicing, payments, and expense management, but if you’d like the complete financial solution, you’ll need to pay for the Tax Assistant add-on, which costs an additional $10 per month.
Medium and Large Coaching Businesses Option: Profi
Profi is yet another standout among the most popular online coaching software. Even though the software works well for solopreneur coaches, the collaboration feature, integrated video and chat feature, and the ability to co-host programs with fellow coaches make it ideal for teams and larger coaching organizations.
Features
- Co-hosting programs
- Secure video calls and chat
- Building programs and curricula
- Community and membership
- Scheduling
- Client portal
- Automated billing system
- Forms and journaling
- Messaging
With Profi, you can set up different coaching services, including webinars, online programs or coaching packages, 1:1 online sessions, and group coaching sessions. You can create and sell signature programs and co-author programs with other coaches. The video functionality is integrated, so you won’t need to use any other tool.
Even if you have a long list of clients, communication will be streamlined and confidential as Profi has an integrated secure chat service. You can keep track of your clients and their journey with ease, as the Clients tab provides a convenient way to monitor the status of your active or archived clients and contacts, including their personal and business information.
Want all the details on Profi? See our in-depth review.
Pricing
If you’re still on the fence about Profi, you can take advantage of the 30-day free trial. For those who decide that this is the tool for them, the price starts at $99 per month, which allows you to manage up to 100 clients.
Solopreneurs and Coaching Businesses Option: Simply.Coach
Simply.Coach is a robust digital platform that meets the needs of both solopreneur life coaches and businesses run by teams of coaches. It is distinguished by its wide range of features designed specifically for coaches, including embedded video conferencing, group coaching, a private journal, and goal and development planning.
Features
- Scheduling
- Group coaching
- Client workspace
- Goal and development planning
- Progress tracking
- Coaching programs (+ life coaching program templates)
- Embedded video conferencing
- Client coaching hours log
- Contact management
- Forms and questionnaires
- Contracts
- Invoices and payments
- Resource and content library
- Reports and insights
- Integrations (Google, Zapier, Office 365, Zoom, Teams, PayPal, and more)
Thanks to its diversified plans tailored to coaching experts at different levels, this software solution can be adjusted to your unique needs—whether you’re just starting out or you run a coaching business with a team of coaches. The platform is very coach-focused, which is why it delivers features that most coaches will find essential such as group coaching, embedded video conferencing, content library, and a coaching hours log.
The progress tracking feature, along with goals and development planning, will especially come in handy as your client base expands. If you run a partnership business, your collaboration with the team will be simplified with Simply.Coach’s business solution.
Pricing
You can take Simply.Coach for a test drive with a 14-day free trial. The Solopreneurs plans start at $9 per month, while Business plans begin at $50 per month plus $29 per month per added coach. These are their annual subscription prices, which allow you to enjoy a 52% discount.
Instagram Management Option: Guidely.com
If you want to boost your online presence, specifically on Instagram, Guidely.com is the platform to use. You can use it to write copy, design graphics, automate your content schedule, and more.
Features
- Automated content creation
- Automated scheduling
- Automated Instagram visuals
- Progress tracking
- Customized branding
- Proprietary content strategy using a 5-Pillar approach
- A personal news feed section in their community app that includes updates from workshops, events, and new content.
- A community thread section for interaction and engagement within the Guidely community.
- Regular live virtual events hosted by verified Guidely Guides
- A content library with resources on a variety of personal development topics
Check this review to learn more about Guidely.
Pricing
You have three options:
- Get started for FREE: Preview your personalized brand today and discover how Guidely can enhance your digital presence effortlessly. No credit card required, no commitment needed.
- $99/month billed monthly (30-day free trial): This allows you to access all of its features, and you can get a full refund within the first 30 days.
- $80/month billed yearly (30-day free trial): Similar to the second option, but with an annual savings of over $230/year.
Conclusion
Finding an online coaching platform that suits your coaching needs can be a life-changing discovery. You’ll be able to take all the repetitive, tedious tasks off your hands, and spend more time on rewarding work with clients. We hope that our review of the most useful platforms will lead you to the right platform for you.
As we wrap up, here’s another glance at our list of the best of the best, and which types of coaches they best fit:
- Paperbell – Best Overall
- Delenta – Best Affordable All-in-One Software for Small Business
- CoachVantage – Best for Beginners
- Practice – Best Affordable Solution for Scaling Solopreneurs
- Honeybook – Best for Client Engagement
- Simplero – Best for Business Growth and Upscaling Sales
- Bonsai – Best for Managing the Entire Business (including Finances)
- Profi – Best for Medium and Large Coaching Businesses
- Simply.Coach – Best for Solopreneurs and Coaching Businesses
- Guidely.com – Best for Instagram Management
The Life Coach Magazine staff is your team for high-quality content on topics from personal development, to coaching tips, to how to grow your coaching business.
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