When choosing a Customer Success Platform, you're making a long-term commitment — so getting it right is crucial. If Planhat has caught your attention, this comparison will help you determine whether Skalin is a viable alternative.
Skalin is an alternative to Planhat, designed specifically for mid-market teams. In this article, we weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of each platform to help you make an informed decision based on your specific needs.
Presentation of Planhat
Planhat was founded in Sweden in 2015 by two co-founders with backgrounds in Customer Success. The original vision remains unchanged: to create a single tool that gathers all customer signals, engages customers at the right time, and measures the results of its actions.
Today, the company serves over 400 customers, primarily in Europe, and has accelerated its international expansion following a $50 million funding round in 2022. Planhat employs around 140 people, mainly based in Sweden and the US.
Presentation of Planhat interface. - Source G2.com
Skalin, thharnesses the latest AI technology e AI-powered alternative to Planhat
While Planhat aims for a more 'Enterprise' positioning and seeks to compete with Gainsight in this space, Skalin has chosen to focus on the Mid-Market, targeting B2B SaaS solutions for companies witenabling teams to get up and running in under a month h 25 to 250 employees. This calls for a distinct feature set and a different approach.
Skalin vs. Planhat: different positioning
Enterprise customers (SaaS companies with several hundred employees) require powerful, highly customizable tools, and Planhat is well suited to meet those needs. For instance, Planhat is ideal for managing multiple products with complex pricing structures, configuring tools based on user profiles, and generating ad hoc reports.
These major accounts also have the resources to support their ambitions. Most enterprise SaaS vendors have in-house data and operations teams to manage, configure, and maintain tools such as CRM or CS platforms. This setup is ideal for implementing a CSP like Planhat, which typically takes 3 to 6 months to deploy.
Presentation of the Skalin interface.
Skalin adopts a different approach, tailored for Mid-Market SaaS. The platform is quick to deploy and can be set up by the Customer Success team without the need for Ops/Data teams. Given that growing SaaS businesses are often pressed for time, our mission is to boost their efficiency quickly! The Skalin platform is also easier to learn, enabling teams to get up and running in under a month, including setup. However, the platform is more "packaged" and offers less customisation than its Swedish counterpart.
In summary, Planhat's strengths come with trade-offs: it is a powerful and comprehensive tool that requires a significant setup time and a buildup of team expertise. Skalin, on the other hand, offers a more "turnkey" solution, better suited to scaling SaaS businesses, with a setup time of just a few weeks and a very quick learning curve. Ultimately, the choice depends on your needs!
Skalin: Built with AI at its Core
Skalin and Planhat have two distinct approaches to health scoring:
- Planhat follows a traditional approach, allowing businesses to define all the rules by which customers gain or lose points. Users set the conditions under which a customer is considered in ‘good’ or ‘bad’ health. These rules might be something like: "if at least N users use feature X within Y days following [step A] AND [new condition], THEN...". This method works for companies that have statistically analysed their churn and are confident in their findings.
- At Skalin, we believe most SaaS may not fully understand what makes a customer good or bad. Businesses might have preconceived notions that are not always data-driven (for instance, studies show that a poor NPS score does not impact churn, yet it is often included in health scores). Therefore, Skalin employs an AI-based health score that analyzes user behaviour in real-time to automatically identify at-risk customers. Additionally, businesses can still add their own rules if desired.
What are the features of Planhat vs. Skalin ?
In terms of functionality, both platforms offer all the features expected from a Customer Success Platform: a 360° customer view, health scoring, alerts, playbooks, automated emailing, task management, and more.
- Planhat has the edge when it comes to customisation, with the ability to build fully bespoke reports where Skalin offers ready-to-use, turnkey reporting. Planhat also allows teams to create tailored workspaces based on user profiles — for instance, a dedicated interface for Professional Services and a separate one for Customer Success.
- Skalin stands out for its native AI functionalities, particularly in health scoring, sentiment analysis, and the integration of generative AI functions (for more on this, see "5 Use Cases for ChatGPT in Customer Success").
Main functions | Skalin | Planhat |
360° Customer View | ✅ | ✅ |
Health Score | AI-based (+ business rules) | Business Rules Only |
Sentiment analysis | ✅ | ❌ |
Task management | ✅ | ✅ |
Generative AI functions | ✅ | ❌ |
Alerts | ✅ | ✅ |
Playbooks | ✅ | ✅ |
Custom fields | ✅ | ✅ |
Customer Portal | ✅ | ✅ |
Analytics | Skalin | Planhat |
Renewals | ✅ | ✅ |
MRR | ✅ | ✅ |
Product Adoption | ✅ | ✅ |
Team Performance | ✅ | ✅ |
Customer profitability | ✅ | ❌ |
Reports 100% Custom | ❌ | ✅ |
In terms of integrations, both platforms connect with a wide range of tools (see Skalin and Planhat integrations). Notably, Planhat does not currently integrate with invoicing tools such as Stripe or Chargebee, unlike Skalin.
Integrations | Skalin | Planhat |
CRM (Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive…) | ✅ | ✅ |
Workspace (Gmail, MS365, Slack…) | ✅ | ✅ |
Usage Data (JS, SST, Segment, Pendo…) | ✅ | ✅ |
Ticketing (Zendesk, Intercom…) | ✅ | ✅ |
Billing (Stripe, Chargebee…) | ✅ | ❌ |
API | ✅ | ✅ |
Zapier | ✅ | ❌ |
Customer Reviews Planhat vs. Skalin
Customer feedback is generally positive for both platforms. Skalin, with an average score of 4.91 out of 5, ranks first on Capterra/G2, while Planhat, with a score of 4.6 out of 5, ranks sixth.
Here are the main criticisms of Planhat on G2:
- Lengthy setup: Several users mentioned being caught off guard by the setup process and had not allocated sufficient internal resources.
- Learning curve: Given the tool's depth of functionality, users need to invest time in developing the necessary skills before it becomes fully operational.
- Complexity of automation: Implementing automation can be complex and may require intervention from the support team.
How much does Planhat vs. Skalin cost ?
Planhat's pricing is not publicly disclosed, but from what we've seen in practice Planhat is typically 2 to 3 times more expensive than Skalin for comparable scopes. Skalin is strategically priced to provide Mid-Market SaaS with access to a Customer Success tool that is both simple and powerful.
Regarding its business model, Planhat offers unlimited licences but factors in the volume of customers and total MRR to determine its pricing. Make sure to account for this in your cost projections!
Why is Skalin a great alternative to Planhat ?
Skalin and Planhat offer a comprehensive range of features to enhance the effectiveness of your Customer Success teams.
Here are a few reasons to choose Skalin:
- Speed of integration and ease of use: Skalin can be set up in just a few hours, allowing you to be fully operational within a month.
- Artificial Intelligence functions: Skalin harnesses the latest AI technology to simplify the work of Customer Success teams.
- Price: With Skalin, most functionalities are accessible from the Scale plan, and neither your customer count nor your MRR affects the price you pay — today or as you grow.
📌 If you'd like to see Skalin in action and its benefits for your CS team, don't hesitate to book a personalised demo!
