Partnerships help your business achieve goals that your business can’t accomplish on its own. But nurturing a partnership’s success takes a lot of work. Thankfully, PRM software is available to help make partner management much easier.
PRM software (also called partner relationship management software, partner management software, partner marketing software, or partnership management software) encompasses a broad range of features and tools wrapped into one solution, all tailored to optimize your partnerships.
To help you pick the best partner management software for your business needs, we provide a comprehensive review of the 22 best PRM solutions, explain how to determine whether or not partnership management software is right for you, and outline how to select the best PRM software for your company based on key benefits.
What is PRM?
PRM is partner relationship management. Any strategy, process, and software that you use to manage your partners falls under the PRM umbrella. PRM strategies and tools make partner management easier and streamline the process, so you can get the most out of your partnerships.
What is PRM software?
PRM software, or partner management software, helps businesses organize, manage, and scale all aspects of partnerships, whether these partnerships are with individuals or other companies.
It assists your company in finding, recruiting, training, and managing relationships with your business partners. Most importantly, it streamlines the tracking of all partnership sales and marketing activities, so it’s easy for you and your partners to measure the success of your partnerships.
The types of relationships that PRM tools help you manage include (but are not limited to):
- Channel partners
- Distributors
- Affiliates
- Resellers
- Recruited advocates (i.e., brand ambassadors, influencers, referral partners)
Our partnership management software evaluation criteria
To help you manage your partnerships successfully and choose the best partner management software, our team has done in-depth research on the leading PRM software tools. We used the following criteria to evaluate our best PRM software list:
| Evaluation Criteria | Description |
| Pricing | How much does the PRM software cost? What different plans are available? |
| Free demo or trial | Does the software provider let you try out the software for free, before you purchase? |
| Best for | What size company is the software best for? What types of partners does the software best help you manage? |
| Customer support | How does the company help assist you when using the software? What are the ways you can contact them for questions or issues? |
| Review score | How do existing users of the PRM software rate the program? Based on an aggregate score from top review sites, our rating is out of 5 stars and indicates how many people reviewed the software. |
| Key features | What makes this PRM software stand out? We’ve broken down the top features of each, such as partner discovery, tracking across channels, partner communication, partner portal creation, compensation, and anti-fraud protection. |
Compare 22 best PRM software solutions
What is the best PRM software?
Based on the above criteria, we evaluated 22 of the best PRM software tools.
Please note: The software is not in any particular order of rating or recommendation. Our aim is to put together a complete source of partner relationship management software tools, and give you a clear picture of all the available options.
Now, on to our list of the 22 best PRM software programs:
| Software | Pricing | Demo or free trial | Customer support | Review score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Referral Rock | $200-$800+/month | Free trial and demo | Onboarding specialist, customer success managers, chat support, product and resource guides, support center, webinars | 4.5 stars (55 reviews) |
| Affise | $500-$1500+/ month | Free trial and demo | Live chat, knowledge base, webinars, dedicated success manager, email, video support, phone | 4.55 stars (119 reviews) |
| Allbound PRM | N/A | Demo | Customer success manager, resource library, email, phone | 4.53 stars (224 reviews) |
| Channeltivity | $1,599-$1,899/month (+additional fees) | Demo | Support portal, knowledge base, phone, email | 4.44 stars (26 reviews) |
| Crossbeam | N/A | Free plan, free trial, demo | Email, video support, phone, dedicated success manager, live chat, knowledge base, webinars | 4.8 stars (42 reviews) |
| Everflow | $750+/month | Free trial | Email, phone, dedicated success manager, live chat, knowledge base, webinars | 4.82 stars (168 reviews) |
| Gorilla Corporation | N/A | Unknown | Concierge support, resource library, email, phone | 5 stars (1 review) |
| Impact Partnership Cloud | N/A | Demo | Live chat, phone, email | 4.59 stars (511 reviews) |
| Impartner PRM | N/A | Demo | Live chat, email, phone | 4.59 stars (212 reviews) |
| LeadMethod PRM | N/A | Demo | Email, phone, video tutorials, webinars | 4.88 stars (64 reviews) |
| Magentrix | N/A | Free trial and demo | Email, instructional videos, phone, resource library, knowledge base, webinars, dedicated success manager | 4.62 stars (102 reviews) |
| Mindmatrix | N/A | Demo | Chat, email, phone, resource library | 4.55 stars (104 reviews) |
| Oracle Partner Relationship Management | N/A | Free trial and demo | Email, phone, live chat, knowledge base | 3.7 stars (7 reviews) |
| Partnerize | N/A | Demo | Email, video support, phone, dedicated success manager, knowledge base, webinars | 4.55 stars (71 reviews) |
| PartnerPortal.io | $333-$999+/month | Free plan, free trial, and demo | Email, phone | n/a |
| PartnerStack | N/A | Demo | Email, dedicated success manager, knowledge base, instructional videos, webinars | 4.82 stars (398 reviews) |
| PartnerTap | N/A | Demo, free account for sales reps, free channel insights plan | Support portal, live chat, email, phone | 4.7 stars (110 reviews) |
| Salesforce PRM | $150-$300/user/month for Sales Cloud, +additional costs for the PRM | Free trial and demo | Email, phone, live chat, customer support portal, webinars, “guided journeys,” premium support for additional fees | 4.32 stars (28930 reviews*) |
| TUNE | $599-$1500+/month | Free trial | Live chat, knowledge base, support ticket submission, email, phone, training courses | 4.28 stars (139 reviews) |
| ZiftSolutions PRM | N/A | Demo | Live chat, phone, resource library | 4.53 stars (260 reviews) |
| Zinfi | N/A | Free trial | Phone, guides, webinars | 4.8 stars (191 reviews) |
Referral Rock
Referral Rock’s PRM software platform has the flexibility to manage all types of referral and partner programs, including channel partner programs, affiliate programs, brand ambassador programs, influencer programs, customer referrals, and employee referrals.
Both online and offline businesses can design an incentive-based program to capture new leads and sales, and issue rewards automatically.
Referral Rock is a robust PRM platform that automates every step of the process, allowing businesses to scale and measure the success of partnership programs. And if you need any help making it work for you, our customer service team is known for its excellent support at every step of the process.
Best for: Businesses of all sizes, both B2B and B2C; all types of channel partnership management
PRM features: Partner recruitment, compensation, lead tracking, partner tracking, automation, integration with other programs
What makes Referral Rock stand out?
- Identify and enroll individual partners: Once you determine the partners you want to enroll (i.e., customers, affiliates, channel partners, employees, advocates), you can easily create and personalize the program.
- Track and manage leads and partners: Track and capture referrals from e-commerce purchases, form completions, demos, trials, or subscriptions. You can also opt to build your own lead capture form. Both you and your partners can monitor campaigns and all key performance indicators right on the platform’s dashboard.
- Mobile app and API integration: Referral Rock seamlessly integrates with Hubspot, Salesforce, Zapier, and plenty of other marketing and sales tools you’re already using. Referral Rock also offers a mobile app and API integration.
- Exceptional support: Expert services to help onboard and tailor the program to your unique business needs.
Our take: Referral Rock is versatile enough to run and track any type of partner program, is user-friendly, and is highly customizable. Having a dedicated onboarding specialist and expert support is extremely beneficial, and you can automate many aspects of your program (including partner engagement). But don’t just take our word for it – review sites publish positive ratings relating to customer service, product, and fair pricing.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| $200-$800/month; enterprise plan also available | Free plan and demo | Onboarding specialists, live chat, support center, product guide, resource guides, webinars | 4.5 stars (55 reviews) |
Affise
Affise is a partner marketing platform for full-cycle ad campaign management. Not only does Affise deliver technology to track ad campaigns, it also provides the platform to connect and communicate with affiliates and build new partnerships. On Affise, marketers can optimize the whole partner program management with 50+ data breakdown statistics, AI-driven features, and BI analytics.
Best for: B2B businesses of any size, affiliate management
PRM features: Internal chat system, lead scoring, reporting capabilities, onboarding, integration with other programs, partner tracking, document sharing options, calendars/reminders, user access management
What makes Affise stand out?
- Performance-based pricing plan: With Affise, you only pay for clicks that result in conversions. With space to test different advertising hypotheses and find out what works better without spending money in vain, you are taking on less risk.
- Flexibility in customization: Even though Affise is a SaaS platform, you can customize it to feel like an in-house platform. You can apply your brand design, customize the platform layouts, implement additional modules in statistics, or conduct new integrations.
- Advanced targeting: You can improve the effectiveness of traffic management within your network by applying different targeting settings across general and personal levels.
- Strong fraud prevention with both in-house tools and integrated services
Our take: Reviewers say Affise is easy to use, but several have also reported errors and bugs that affect the experience. And if you’re looking to build partnerships outside the affiliate model, Affise may not work for you.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| $500-$1500/month; custom plan also available | Free trial and demo | Live chat, knowledge base, webinars, dedicated success manager, email, video support, phone | 4.55 stars (119 reviews) |
Allbound PRM
Allbound’s results-driven PRM platform helps businesses accomplish their partnership goals year after year, with help from automation tools, a dedicated success manager, and plenty of integrations. Build a partner-centric portal, share assets, streamline onboarding, formalize deal registration, create an MDF (market development funds), and set yourself up for co-branding success.
Best for: Businesses of all sizes
PRM features: Partner portal, onboarding and training, partner tracking, document sharing options, deal registration, reporting, integrations
What makes Allbound stand out?
- Customized views: You have control of what each partner can see in their portal. Show them the relevant information they need to make training easy and have a unique experience.
- Content management: Partners can easily search for the content and materials they need. You can also use existing data to create learning tracks that work across multiple partners.
- Automate to scale: You can optimize all aspects of your partner program for scalable growth. Collect and apply plenty of data to take advantage of what works, and streamline repetitive tasks.
Our take: Allbound offers a wealth of customization features, and lots of flexibility in partner portal setup. But the lack of transparency on pricing likely means that these features come at a high cost.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Allbound for pricing | Demo | Customer success manager, resource library, email, phone | 4.53 stars (224 reviews) |
Channeltivity
Channeltivity has an easy-to-use partner management software solution to help you find, train, and engage new and existing partners, manage their leads, register deals, and more. Specialized options integrate closely with Hubspot or Salesforce. You can also add training modules, co-branding, lead distribution, and MDF management features as you need them, each for an additional fee.
Best for: Large to enterprise-level businesses, channel partner programs
PRM features: Onboarding, integrations, co-branding, deal registration, MDF, partner portal management, document sharing, partner tracking, reminders (some features are for additional fees)
What makes Channeltivity stand out?
- Close integrations with HubSpot and Salesforce help to automate partner data flow between CRM and PRM
- With channel lead management, you can assign leads to partners, track their progress, and offer support to help leads move down the sales funnel
- MDF tracking and support lets you track partner funding in real time, so you can focus on partners that need the most support.
- Use real-time email reminders to engage partners. These can be triggered by certain events, so your partnership priorities won’t be forgotten.
Our take: Reviewers say Channeltivity makes partner portals very easy to set up and manage. But the monthly cost is steep, especially since you need to pay extra for HubSpot and Salesforce integrations.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| $1,599/month for the standard software; $1,899/month for Hubspot Edition or Salesforce Edition; additional fees for certain features | Demo | Support portal, knowledge base, phone, email | 4.44 stars (26 reviews) |
Crossbeam
Crossbeam is a partner ecosystem platform. It acts as a data escrow service that finds overlapping customers and prospects shared by your partners, while keeping the rest of your data private and secure.
Best for: Medium-sized to enterprise B2Bs, startups, channel partner programs
PRM features: Internal chat system, reporting capabilities, calendars/reminders, onboarding, integration with other programs
What makes Crossbeam stand out?
- Find data overlaps while keeping the rest of your data secure — all in a SOC 2 Type 2 environment.
- This helps you do account mapping 20x faster, easily vet possible partnerships, and generate leads and pipeline from your partner ecosystem.
- It’s easy to find partners at no cost to you or them
Our take: The “LinkedIn for partners” model of finding partners is interesting, but the lack of transparency on pricing means it’s hard to know whether Crossbeam is worth it. It also doesn’t seem compatible with affiliate partnerships.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Crossbeam for pricing | Free trial and demo | Email, video support, phone, dedicated success manager, live chat, knowledge base, webinars | 4.8 stars (42 reviews) |
Everflow
Everflow allows you to manage all of your performance marketing relationships, including affiliates, influencers, in-app publishers, and media buying channels.
Best for: B2C businesses of all sizes
PRM features: Internal chat system, onboarding, partner tracking, integration with other programs, reporting capabilities
What makes Everflow stand out?
- Clickless tracking solutions
- Automated optimization
- Completely flexible APIs
- Dedication to customer success through the onboarding training, ongoing support, and in-platform chat
Our take: Although Everflow lets you manage several types of partners, current clients report that it’s hard to navigate and use.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| $750+/month; custom plan also available | Free trial | Email, phone, dedicated success manager, live chat, knowledge base, webinars | 4.82 stars (158 reviews) |
Gorilla Corporation
Gorilla specializes in providing detailed partner recruitment, management, and tracking to tech companies interested in maximizing partnership revenue and success. Gorilla brings plenty of powerful, global experience to align partner management with best practices, and personalize the partner experience to your unique goals.
Best for: Large to enterprise-level tech companies (Gorilla is fully focused on the technology sector.)
PRM features: Partner recruitment, partner scoring, partner tracking, reporting, lead generation, channel concierge, integrations
What makes Gorilla stand out?
- Careful recruitment: Analyze potential partners to find best-fit, profitable partners
- Dedicated concierge: Your concierge provides specialized support to your partners, and is “100% focused on generating more sales and profits for your company and resellers.” This builds trust between you and your partners, and makes partner support much more efficient.
- Partner research: Analyze the health of your partnerships as they evolve with accurate insights. Are your partners earning enough through your partnership to stay loyal? How much support do they need? Do their objectives still align with yours? Find out through rich supplies of data, and make your partnerships more efficient
Our take: If you aren’t an enterprise tech business, Gorilla won’t work for you, as the software is extremely niche. And even if you are a large tech business, Gorilla is not transparent about pricing.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Gorilla for pricing | Unknown | Concierge support, resource library, email, phone | 5 stars (1 review) |
Impact Partnership Cloud
Impact Partnership Cloud proactively engages partners, gives them the information they need, tracks their performance, and makes sure their actions are on-brand. The tool focuses on using automation to maximize your partnership success and give partners the personalized tools they need.
Best for: Enterprises, all types of partnerships
PRM features: Reminders, internal chat, partner tracking, reporting, partner recruitment, contracts and payment, partnership security
What makes Impact Partnership Cloud stand out?
- Supply partners with current promotional offers, including personalized catalogs, to help them promote your brand. Host a single catalog in one place, but set rules on which partners can see which products.
- Hyper-target the right partners at the right times to grow your revenue
- 40+ report options to collect performance data. Analyze detailed data beyond just partner sales revenue (sort by location, SKU, time, and more) to better optimize future partnership strategies.
- Automatically send reminders for partners to perform certain actions at certain times, and help move them forward in the process
Our take: Impact isn’t transparent about pricing, as it’s a robust but expensive option for enterprises. It may be suitable if your business is very large, but it definitely won’t work for small to medium-sized companies. Impact also has a steep learning curve.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Impact for pricing | Demo | Live chat, phone, email | 4.59 stars (511 reviews) |
Impartner PRM
Impartner PRM is committed to swiftly attracting and training partners, and reducing the time it takes them to generate revenue. You can recruit partners and deliver a personalized training experience with automated onboarding, and then close leads quickly with deal registration, intelligent lead assignment, and tracking features.
Best for: Businesses of all sizes
PRM features: Reporting, onboarding, reminders, calendars, deal registration, MDF, partner tracking, lead tracking, integrations, document management
What makes Impartner PRM stand out?
- Journey builder: Automate the entire journey of a partner, remove the need for help tickets, and reward key behaviors that contribute to partnership success.
- No more guesswork: Optimize every partnership process for consistent results. Assign customized Journey modules to partners, with deadlines for completing the activities. Both you and your partner can easily track the progress, trigger notifications if they complete, fall behind, or are assigned other Journey tasks.
- Lead matching and management: Allow leads to search for their best-fit partners based on a variety of factors. Then, you can simply assign them to the right partners (just as you’d assign them to sales reps).
Our take: The journey-wide automation and optimization features are a plus. Impartner is on the expensive side, though (although the company does not reveal its pricing, we’ve heard the cost starts around $1500/month). It can also be hard to customize, according to reviewers.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Impartner for pricing | Demo | Live chat, email, phone | 4.59 stars (212 reviews) |
LeadMethod PRM
LeadMethod is committed to increasing engagement among business channel partners and distributors. It improves the lead assignment and tracking process that sends leads to these partners and encourages partner loyalty. Nurture your business partners and help them increase their revenue, and then collect detailed data on the progress of each assigned lead. Plus, LeadMethod integrates with over 65 systems in real time, allowing it to fit seamlessly into your existing processes.
Best for: Businesses with a significant number of channel partners/distributors
PRM features: Lead tracking, lead scoring, reporting, partner tracking, integrations, reminders, partner communication
What makes LeadMethod stand out?
- Real-time partnership lead tracking capabilities: You can check the status of distributors’ leads to find the highest-value opportunities, capture leads and assign them to partners, and add a priority score to each lead.
- Data management: Track the status of your leads, sort them by partner, and see your best performing reps at a glance
- Increased partner engagement gives you even more insights on which parts of the sales process need improving, so you can play to your strengths and patch up weaknesses.
Our take: LeadMethod has a wealth of tracking and engagement features, and integrates with many other software programs. But if you’re exporting data, you can’t custom select certain points or columns (you must export everything at once). And it might not be worth using if you don’t plan to have lots of distributors.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact LeadMethod for pricing | Demo | Email, phone, video tutorials, webinars | 4.88 stars (64 reviews) |
Magentrix PRM
Magentrix specializes in PRM portals and customer portals. Their PRM software seamlessly integrates with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics to maintain a single corporate data source. Deliver content, share information, and engage your partners with a completely customizable and branded portal that matches the look and feel of your organization.
Best for: B2B and B2C businesses of all sizes that need to share lots of data with partners
PRM features: Reporting capabilities, calendars/reminders, onboarding, integration with other programs, partner tracking, document sharing and management, deal registration, gamification, social collaboration, training, content management, playbooks, deal management, analytics
What makes Magentrix stand out?
- PRM and customer success portals (as opposed to just PRM)
- Deep level of integration with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics
- Lots of built-in self-service modules: Training, knowledge articles, playbooks, document library and more
- Easy to customize, with exceptional customer support.
Our take: Magentrix puts a strong focus on customization, has great customer support, and works well for many different business types. The lack of transparent pricing gives us pause, though.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Magentrix for pricing | Demo and free trial | Email, instructional videos, phone, knowledge base, webinars, dedicated success manager | 4.62 stars (102 reviews) |
Mindmatrix
Mindmatrix offers “full-suite channel enablement” with its PRM software solution, which also includes partner marketing enablement, partner sales enablement, and concierge services. Boost partner engagement with a suite of co-branding tools, MDF, and concierge assistance features, making partners better equipped to market and sell your brand.
Best for: Large to enterprise businesses
PRM features: Onboarding, partner portal, partner tracking, lead tracking, reporting, integrations, reminders, document sharing
What makes Mindmatrix stand out?
- Detailed lead reporting gives both you and your partner 100% visibility of lead status and behavior. Your partners understand where each lead is in the funnel, and you understand how your partners perform (including how engaged they are with leads and your brand).
- Partner portal creation helps you coach partners on what to say to their leads based on journey stage, and what content to use with their prospects. Partners can even access assets on mobile.
- Local marketing automation helps partners customize co-branded materials for their audiences. You create templates and grant permissions to protect your assets, and partners can easily customize emails, brochures, presentations, and even webpages.
Our take: Users report that designing campaigns and co-branded materials can be difficult, but they enjoy the detailed tracking and reporting features. Also, keep in mind that Mindmatrix was only designed for larger businesses. It won’t work for you if you’re smaller.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Mindmatrix for pricing | Demo | Chat, email, phone, resource library | 4.55 stars (104 reviews) |
Oracle Partner Relationship Management
As part of the Oracle cloud of solutions. Oracle’s partner relationship management software lets you and your partners seamlessly work together on marketing and sales processes, “from campaign to close.” You can incentivize partners, measure their progress, and engage for high-velocity sales programs.
Best for: Businesses already familiar with Oracle
PRM features: Partner recruitment, onboarding, partner tracking, reporting, partner portal creation, MDF, deal registration
What makes Oracle’s solution stand out?
- Find the best partners for your business with recruiting and assessment tools
- Collaborative tools let you and your partners plan and analyze sales processes together, as well as register deals
- Segment partners and easily pair customers with the right partners using a customer-facing search tool
- Identify and reward your top-performing partners by analyzing MDF spend versus return, business plan compliance, sales execution speed, customer satisfaction, and more
- Out-of-box partner portal includes support training, so partners can give customers the assistance they need
Our take: Oracle’s PRM solution will only work well if you’re already dedicated to other Oracle products.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Oracle for pricing | Demo and free trial | Email, phone, live chat, knowledge base | 3.7 stars (7 reviews) |
Partnerize
Partnerize is a SaaS PRM platform that eliminates the guesswork in partner marketing platforms. It empowers leading brands to make every affiliate and brand partnership program “customer-first.” Brands can now target their ideal customers with messages, placements, and offers for maximum growth.
Best for: Medium-sized to enterprise businesses, both B2B and B2C, all types of partnerships
PRM features: Reporting capabilities, calendars/reminders, integration with other programs, onboarding, partner tracking, document sharing options, AI
What makes Partnerize stand out?
- Efficient and simplified workflows: Create clear workflows for every aspect of partner management, including discovery, conversion tracking, reporting and insights, anti-fraud protection, and payments.
- Flexibility using robust API-first reporting: Partnerize eliminates historical constraints on partner recruitment, and gives brands the ability to give commission based on any KPI (revenue, profit, LTV, AOV, acquisition, retention, split commissioning across multiple partners)
- Intelligent AI automation: Partnerize uses proprietary AI to automate manual work, such as simplifying the discovery of new partners, increasing scalability, and providing comprehensive insights based on real-time data review.
Our take: Partnerize lets you manage several types of partners, but reviewers say the platform can be hard to use. Partnerize also operates using a network model. Although the Partnerize network makes finding partners easier, all potential partners can compare your program side-by-side with competing programs. So, it will be hard to recruit and build relationships with partners, and you won’t truly own the partners you recruit.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Partnerize for pricing | Demo | Email, video support, phone, dedicated success manager, knowledge base, webinars | 4.55 stars (71 reviews) |
PartnerPortal.io
PartnerPortal.io helps provide your partners with all the information they need to track leads, deals, and promotions. Users can connect with top CRMs, issue payments, keep partners satisfied and motivated, and make sure your channel sales pipeline runs smoothly. Its partner portal interface includes both training-related and tracking-related resources.
Best for: B2B businesses of all sizes
PRM features: Partner tracking, lead tracking, partner portal creation, deal registration, commissions, document sharing, partner communications, integrations, reporting
What makes PartnerPortal.io stand out?
- Fully customizable: Personalize your portal with your logo, colors, and even a custom domain
- Partners can track leads and access resources all in one place. Add any resource your partners may need, and adjust all of your settings to suit your and your partner’s needs.
- Smooth integrations and REST API: Sync your sales pipeline to efficiently track leads and pay partner commissions. Fully customize PartnerPortal to bring in data from other applications, including your CRM.
Our take: It sound like partners must register themselves (you can’t proactively register the partners you recruit with PartnerPortal.io), and some features are still in development. The customization and API options are a plus, though.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| $333-$999+/month | Free trial, free plan, and demo | Email, phone | No reviews available |
PartnerStack
PartnerStack offers a PRM platform built to handle every part of managing and growing your partnerships channel, with automated partner onboarding, link-tracking, goal-setting, and more. And since partners get paid through their Stripe or PayPal accounts, you’ll never have to worry about managing payouts again.
Best for: B2B businesses of all sizes, agencies
PRM features: Internal chat system, calendars/reminders, partner tracking, onboarding, reporting capabilities, integration with other programs, compliant payouts
What makes PartnerStack stand out?
- Ability to manage all your reseller, affiliate and ambassador programs from a single platform
- Connect PartnerStack to your CRM and other tools with a wealth of stable and functional integrations
- Connect with thousands of qualified agencies and partners, and grow your program with the PartnerStack Marketplace
- Partners get paid directly through PartnerStack, so your team never has to worry about compliance and manual payouts
Our take: PartnerStack mainly focuses on serving B2B and SaaS customers; if you’re B2C, it may not work well for you. Also, the platform is run as a partner network, meaning that PartnerStack owns your partners. Also, partners can compare your program with competing programs at a glance. So, it will be more difficult to recruit and build relationships with partners.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact PartnerStack for pricing | Demo | Email, dedicated success manager, knowledge base, instructional videos, webinars | 4.82 stars (398 reviews) |
PartnerTap
Built by and for sales reps, PartnerTap’s PRM platform is fully focused on assisting salespeople on both sides of the partnership. Powerful security features, integrations with many popular CRMs, and full scalability help businesses and their partners sell more, faster.
Best for: Sales teams at businesses of all sizes
PRM features: Account mapping, partner tracking, lead tracking, reporting, compensation
What makes PartnerTap stand out?
- Account mapping: Account sharing across your partner’s CRMs is made easy. Sales reps from both partners can see the full view of shared accounts, find market overlaps, automate account mapping, assess lead values and opportunities together, and carefully analyze revenue sources in detail.
- Quickly compensate reps with commissions for closing deals. No more manual searches for info across spreadsheets.
- Cross-partner security: Keep your data secure, while still empowering partners with the information they need, with multiple levels of protection
Our take: Lots of reviewers say PartnerTap is very easy to use, and a limited free plan lets you try before you buy. It’s hard to know how much it costs to scale, though, due to the lack of pricing transparency.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact PartnerTap for pricing | Demo and free plan available | Support portal, live chat, email, phone | 4.7 stars (110 reviews) |
Salesforce PRM
Personalize your channel sales, build supportive relationships with partners, provide the training they need to succeed, and collect real-time data on performance with Salesforce’s PRM solution. Salesforce PRM helps you manage several types of partnerships, such as distributors, resellers, and affiliates, all from one interface. The platform can automatically source leads, register deals, and more.
Best for: Businesses already using (or planning to use) products in the Salesforce ecosystem. Salesforce PRM is an add-on to the Sales Cloud, and PRM features are only available on Enterprise and Unlimited plans.
PRM features: Lead tracking, partner tracking, reporting, deal registration, MDFs, training and onboarding, reminders, portal creation, document sharing
What makes Salesforce PRM stand out?
- Engaging onboarding and training: Create, assign, and track your partner’s progress through training modules that carry the fun touch you’ve come to expect from Salesforce. Customize each partner and role, and recommend next training steps with their lightning component.
- Partner support: Empower partners to make decisions in real-time with insights about each deal and recommendations about how to take action. Answer any partner questions and get them unstuck in real-time with a priority ticket system.
- Fully customizable: Launch a personalized program with Salesforce’s quick start template. Add branding to your portals, and easily set up lead distribution, deal registration, MDFs, and AppExchange components.
Our take: If you’re already using one of the higher-priced Salesforce Sales Cloud plans, you may consider adding the PRM features. But since Salesforce isn’t a purpose-built PRM, features may be limited, and configuration may take some work. You’ll likely find more success using a dedicated PRM that integrates well with Salesforce.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| $150-$300/user/month for Sales Cloud, plus additional costs to access certain PRM features | Demo and free trial | Email, phone, live chat, customer support portal, webinars, “guided journeys,” premium support for additional fees | 4.32 stars (28,930 reviews*) *For Salesforce platform as a whole |
TUNE
TUNE offers a robust and customizable PRM platform on desktop and mobile for all types of partners (i.e., affiliates, influencers, agencies, channel partners), allowing you to “partner the way you want to.” From onboarding to payout, TUNE’s flexibility helps you maximize the ROI of your partner relationships. TUNE offers two main PRM software solutions: one for advertisers, and one for networks.
Best for: Advertisers, partner network builders at all sizes of businesses
PRM features: Reporting, partner tracking, compensation, onboarding, partner portal creation
What makes TUNE stand out?
- Flexible customization: Fully personalize your portals to reflect your branding, and use an API-based foundation with over 650 endpoints for even more detailed personalization. Onboard, manage, and compensate partners in an environment that feels truly unique to your brand.
- Reporting from anywhere: Track and manage partner performance and lead data across web and mobile interfaces to make better partner decisions, and use task automation to save time.
- High security standards: SOC and GDPR compliance, Privacy Shield certification, and more proactive prevention against fraud
Our take: TUNE offers lots of flexibility, as it lets you manage several types of partners. It also has a wealth of customization and tracking options available. However, we’ve heard that there’s a steep learning curve for new users. And their plans are on the expensive side, given the features.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
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Plans for networks start at $899/month; plans for advertisers range from $599-$1,500/month; custom plans also available |
Free trial | Live chat, knowledge base, support ticket submission, email, phone, training courses | 4.33 stars (166 reviews) |
ZiftONE by ZiftSolutions
Deliver a robust experience to partners when it counts with ZiftONE, the ZiftSolutions PRM for enterprises. Recruit and keep more partners who deliver breakthrough ROI, thanks to a tight focus on industry best practices. Integrate with the ZiftSolutions CMM (channel marketing management) software, or choose to use the PRM on its own.
Best for: Large to enterprise-level B2Bs
PRM features: Partner portal creation, document sharing, reporting, profile management, calendars/reminders, partner scoring, training and onboarding, partner communication, lead management, deal registration
What makes ZiftONE stand out?
- Streamlined partner recruitment and onboarding, so you can swiftly get the right partners up and running
- Easy-to-use, personalized partner portal: Deliver custom content and group partners together so they can easily access the assets and resources they need. You can also personalize your brand portal, and optimize it for on-the-go mobile viewing
- Score each partner’s performance with custom rules, allowing you to quickly identify your top performers
Our take: If you aren’t a large B2B, ZiftONE won’t suit your needs. But if your business fits their target market, ZiftONE provides great customer support and a wealth of customization features.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Zift Solutions for pricing | Demo | Live chat, phone, resource library | 4.53 stars (260 reviews) |
Zinfi
Zinfi’s PRM is part of a detailed suite of partner marketing solutions that include partner marketing, partner sales, and partner portal management options. Within just the PRM itself, Zinfi’s approach lets you choose the partner relationship management solutions you need and scale based on your business needs.
Best for: Businesses of all sizes, since you can choose from a variety of solutions
PRM features: MDF, deal registration, lead management, onboarding, training, contracts, partner tracking, lead tracking
What makes Zinfi stand out?
- Choose from Zinfi’s eight stand-alone PRM modules: business planning, contracts management, learning management, onboarding, partner lead management, MDF, deals management, partner rebate management
- Pick what you need in a given moment and grow into additional PRM features as you need them, at no additional cost.
Our take: Zinfi accommodates businesses of all sizes, and the flexibility means you can build and scale your program as needed. The stand-alone modules are an interesting structure. Without transparent pricing, though, it’s hard to know how much you’ll need to invest.
| Pricing | Free demo or trial | Customer support | Review score |
| Contact Zinfi for pricing | Free trial | Phone, guides, webinars | 4.8 stars (191 reviews) |
How to choose the best PRM software?
We’ve gone over the best PRM software choices, and now it’s time for you to decide whether a PRM tool is right for you, and if so, which option is best for your partnership needs.
PRM software is invaluable for any company that has made (or intends to make) agreements with multiple partners, as it automates many aspects of partner management. If you plan to work with distributors, run an affiliate program, channel programs, recruit resellers, or form a network of ambassadors, PRM software will meet your needs.
However, it’s important to choose the right type of PRM software for your specific business and partnership. Look back at our list carefully, and make sure the partnership software is built for aligns with the programs you plan to run, as well as the type and size of your own business. And make sure your business can afford the software – transparent pricing is best, as you’ll know what you need to invest upfront.
What is the difference between CRM and PRM software?
Before you decide on a PRM system, you might also be wondering about the difference between CRM and PRM software. Why do you need a dedicated PRM SaaS if you want to manage partners, when you already have a CRM (customer relationship management tool)?
While CRM and PRM software are both focused on managing relationships, a CRM helps you manage relationships with customers, while PRM software helps you manage relationships with partners.
CRMs organize customer data and track customer interactions, so you can optimize customer relationships.
Meanwhile, PRM software tools are designed for partner-specialized tasks. They help you communicate with partners, track partnership sales, manage the leads that your partners are responsible for bringing you, and more.
Benefits and features of PRM software: Why do you need a PRM?
PRM software can help your brand perform and automate a wide variety of tasks related to partnership programs. When deciding on the right PRM platform for your business, screen how well it accomplishes these key features:
- Partner discovery: Search, discover, and form partnerships with other companies, including affiliates and resellers
- Partner portal creation: Onboard partners and equip them with all the information they need to drive revenue and maintain your brand’s integrity
- Partner tracking: Track and measure the success of each partnership in real time across all channels. Analyze the strength of each partnership with actionable insights.
- Lead management and tracking: Assign relevant leads to partners and track how they move leads through the funnel
- Partner and channel management: Manage and communicate with partners using a partner portal or partner CRM
- Resource sharing: Share documents and other co-branded sales assets with partners
- Partner compensation: Track and schedule any payments owed to your partners, such as finder’s fees or referral fees for any leads they bring in
- Fraud prevention: Protect your brand from fraud and safeguard your brand’s integrity
Wrapping things up
When choosing the best PRM software tool to help you track and manage your partners, be sure it’s suited for all the types of partnerships you plan to create and manage.
It’s also important to consider all aspects of how you will manage the partnership: Do you need assistance finding and filtering partners? Will you need to share documents? Do you want to personalize your partner portal experience? Be sure to pick a PRM SaaS that will make all of your processes easier.
