5 Contract Automation Tools to Fix Your Workflow

Key takeaways

• Manual contract work — chasing approvals, hunting clauses, tracking renewals — adds friction across legal, sales, RevOps, and finance.
• The strongest contract automation tools cover the full lifecycle, not just one stage (drafting, signing, or storage).
• Aline, Juro, Agiloft, ContractWorks, and Zoho Contracts each fit different team profiles — match the tool to your contract volume and complexity.

A standard NDA arrives in legal’s inbox on Tuesday morning. The agreement itself is low risk, but approval still requires email follow-ups, manual reviews, and coordination across multiple stakeholders. Three days later, the contract is still awaiting sign-off, while the sales team requests status updates.

For an in-house GC, legal operations leader, or RevOps manager, these delays are core workflow issues.

Also, when contracts rely on manual reviews, inbox approvals, and disconnected spreadsheets, the effects are felt across the business:

• Procurement teams miss 30-, 60-, or 90-day renewal notice periods as contract obligations are tracked manually. This leads to automatic renewals, unfavorable pricing, or delayed vendor transitions.
• RevOps teams lack real-time access to contract data, making forecasting, pipeline analysis, and revenue reporting more difficult.
• Finance teams manually pull payment terms, renewal dates, and commercial commitments from contracts to support revenue planning.

A contract automation tool helps solve this issue. These platforms can automate document generation, route approvals, track obligations, enforce playbooks, and extract contract data for reporting. As standard agreements such as NDAs, MSAs, and vendor contracts move through predefined workflows, legal teams can focus on transactions that require deeper legal expertise instead of chasing approval status, manually coordinating reviews, or responding to routine contract inquiries.

In fact, 78% of organizations with automated legal workflows can respond to legal requests within 72 hours compared with just 33% of organizations relying on manual processes.

That said, many solutions only address part of the process. Say it works as a repository or an e-signature point solution. Whereas traditional Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) often requires lengthy implementations for up to 12 months and ongoing administration.

Aline consolidates the work that typically happens across multiple contract tools. Drafting, negotiation, approvals, signatures, and contract intelligence all operate within the same workflow, improving contract cycles by 30-50%.

“Within 20 minutes, I had a license I would have paid my outside firm $10,000 for.”

Ric Tilley, GC at FBM

In this guide, we’ll explain where contract automation tools deliver operational gains, and review the 5 best contract management software available in 2026.

Best Contract Automation Tools Worth Using in 2026

Once you’ve seen how much time and effort this can save, the next step is choosing the right tool. Not every team needs the same setup, so it helps to know what’s out there.

Below are some of the top contract automation tools, each with a slightly different focus, depending on how your team works and what you need.

TL;DR: A Quick View of the 5 Best Contract Automation Tools

1. Aline

If contract requests keep piling up, adding more people isn’t always the answer. Aline helps legal teams keep up with growing contract volumes by reducing manual work in reviews, approvals, and day-to-day contract administration. It’s a strong choice for companies with 50-500+ employees.

Most contract automation platforms operate as single-point solutions. But Aline covers all the features included in your contract lifecycle management, covering drafting, review, e-signature, approval, redlining, storage, and post-approval tracking.

It means you don’t need to rely on Word, email, Slack, or other fragmented systems to get a contract from drafting to final execution.

Aline’s another major differentiator is its multi-model AI approach. It uses multiple leading AI models, including GPT, Claude, and Gemini, rather than relying on a single provider. This gives the platform access to a broader range of AI capabilities as models continue to evolve.

Getting started with Aline is also quick. While traditional CLM implementations can take several months and often require dedicated administrators, Aline is typically deployed within a week, depending on your workflow complexity.

Aline has helped Lift with Workflows, AlineSign, and a dynamic repository, saving the sales team 25-30 hours per month on contract management across its 590+ global affiliate network.

“Aline’s reporting has been a game-changer for us. It gives our legal team an immediate, dependable source of truth across every contract, letting us surface critical obligations and risk details in minutes instead of weeks.”

Jamie Emmerich, Senior Corporate Paralegal at DailyPay

“I can confidently say Aline has saved me hundreds of hours analyzing over thousands of documents during the last year. Getting familiar with the tool has been very simple.”

Larissa Grabarski, Sr. Legal Advisor at Sophos

Best Features

• Aline AI: Reviewing vendor agreements, NDAs, and commercial contracts no longer becomes a queue waiting for legal attention. Teams can clear routine contract reviews in minutes, rather than spending 2-3 hours manually comparing clauses, tracking edits, and rewriting fallback language.
• AI Playbooks: Every reviewer automatically follows the same approved positions. That means fewer inconsistent redlines, internal escalations, and fewer clause-by-clause checks during negotiations.
• AlineSign: Unlimited e-signatures are included with no per-envelope fees, eliminating the need for a separate signing platform. Comparable e-signature tools typically cost $15-$25 per user per month. Aline helps teams avoid paying for another software subscription as they grow.
• AI contract repository: Sync contract from Local Drive, Box, Google Drive, SharePoint, and Dropbox. This helps find contracts, clauses, and obligations in under a minute, rather than spending 15-30 minutes searching manually.
• Automated workflows: Automated routing keeps contracts moving, reducing the turnaround times from weeks to days. This helps eliminate approval delays, manual follow-ups, and ensures agreements reach the right stakeholders.
• Data security first: Provides enterprise-grade safeguards, including SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance. This allows legal teams to use AI across confidential contracts while maintaining internal security standards and reducing compliance risk.

Pricing

It has 2 pricing plans:

• Team plan: Starts at $200 for 10 users/month. $50 per support user/month.
• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing.

Implementation time: Typically within a week, with many getting started in 3-4 days. No dedicated IT project or full-time system administrator is required for implementation and ongoing management.

Best Fit For

• Companies that want AI embedded throughout the contracting process, rather than limited to document storage or search.
• In-house legal teams handling a growing volume of vendor agreements and needs a quick deployment.
• Businesses replacing multiple contract tools, shared drives, and spreadsheets with a more centralized process.

Not Ideal For

• Transaction-focused law firms handling large-scale due diligence projects rather than recurring contract creation, negotiation, and management workflows.
• Organizations with 10-20 contract volume and a straightforward approval process, where spreadsheets or basic document management tools may be sufficient.

Pros

• Turns multi-hour contract reviews into a task that can often be completed in under 15 minutes.
• Handles complex commercial agreements without forcing legal teams to manually compare every revision and clause change.
• Designed for fast implementation, allowing organizations to onboard users often in 3-4 days.
• Allows sales, procurement, finance, and business teams to answer contract questions independently, without relying on legal for every request.
• Eliminates the need to switch between 5-7 disconnected tools separately for drafting, review, repository, workflow, and e-signature throughout the contract lifecycle.
• Free legal teams to focus on strategic initiatives such as M&A, regulatory matters, commercial negotiations, and litigation instead of reviewing routine NDAs and vendor agreements.

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2. Juro

Juro is a contract automation solution suitable for teams that want to manage contracts without jumping between apps. It covers the full process, including contract drafting, reviewing, approving, signing, and storing, right in your browser.

It’s built to make managing contracts easier for everyone. Legal teams stay in control of contract terms and templates, while business teams can move deals forward without bottlenecks.

Plus, everything happens in one contract management system, so it’s easy to track what’s going on and who needs to take action.

Best Features

• In-browser contract editor: Draft and update agreements without downloading or switching tools. The editor is built for speed and clarity.
• Real-time contract collaboration: Add comments, suggest edits, and loop in stakeholders right inside the contract. Everyone works on the same version.
• Automated contract templates: Create reusable templates that legal approves once. Teams can then launch new contracts in minutes.
• Built-in e-signatures: Send contracts for signing without needing third-party tools.
• Structured contract data: Store every signed agreement with searchable fields, filters, and tags. Pull reports or find specific contract terms quickly.
• CRM integration: Syncs with Salesforce and HubSpot so contracts stay tied to your pipeline.

Pricing

Juro provides custom pricing based on your contract volume, type, AI feature requirement, and integrations. Third-party estimates its pricing to be $15,000-$25,000/year for a small legal team of 5-15 users.

Implementation time: Typically takes 2 months with an expected ROI of 9 months.

Best Fit For

• Teams handling a high volume of repeatable agreements such as NDAs, sales contracts, employment contracts, and vendor contracts.
• Legal teams that want business users to self-serve routine contract requests without involving legal in every step.
• Organizations trying to reduce legal challenges around contract visibility across departments.

Not Ideal For

• Organizations whose contracting process depends heavily on Microsoft Word and offline document reviews.
• Smaller companies with limited contract volume and tight software budgets.

Pros

• Handles the full contract workflow
• Minimizes back-and-forth between legal and business teams
• Keeps contract data organized and easy to search
• Helps teams move faster while maintaining control over contract terms.

What are Customers Saying About Juro on G2?

Juro has a 4.6/5 rating in G2. Here’s what its users have to say:

“As a CSM, I appreciate having direct access to important client documents without needing assistance from the legal or account management teams. The process is straightforward and intuitive.” Source

“Setting up the workflows / smart fields within the templates can be time consuming, but this can be avoided if you have internal capacity to dedicate time specifically to this. It would also be helpful if it could search for specific clauses within existing contracts which would speed up drafting if you just needed a clause as a template when drafting another contract.” Source

3. Agiloft

Agiloft is a contract lifecycle management platform that works well for companies with complex processes, multiple departments, or specific rules around approvals.

If you’ve got more than just a few sales agreements or NDAs to manage, Agiloft gives you room to build exactly what you need.

This platform isn’t just for legal. Procurement, sales, HR — any team dealing with contracts can use it. You can automate contract management tasks, keep tabs on contract status, and even generate contracts based on specific triggers or forms.

Best Features

• Custom workflows: Build detailed approval and contract review flows without writing code.
• Clause library: Store approved clauses and insert them into contracts as needed. Keeps legal language consistent and accurate.
• Automated contract creation: Generate contracts from templates using form inputs, CRM data, or internal requests.
• Detailed reporting: Track contract status, performance, and key terms with flexible dashboards and filters.
• Role-based access: Control who can view, edit, or approve different types of agreements.
• Integrations: Works with Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and more to keep your systems aligned.

Pricing

Agiloft provides customized pricing. External estimates say the starting price is $6,000/year and can go up to $60,000/year for premium packages.

Implementation time: Typically takes 5 months with an ROI of 15 months.

Best Fit For

• Companies that need a scalable base for effective contract management across departments.
• Legal operations and contract management teams that need better visibility into contract status, approval delays, and stakeholder workloads.
• Teams that want a customizable platform for data collection and reporting.

Not Ideal For

• Small legal teams looking for a quick onboarding
• Organizations that want to configure workflows and advanced automations entirely on their own.

Pros

• Great for teams implementing contract automation software across departments
• Helps standardize how sales agreements and legal documents are created
• Supports detailed contract management tasks
• Scales well as your business grows or your process changes.

What are Customers Saying About Agiloft on G2?

Agiloft has a 4.5/5 user rating on G2. The following are a few of the feedback.

“I appreciate the comprehensive view that Agiloft Contract Management Suite provides, enabling me to see all contracts at their various stages at a glance through its charts.” Source

“Some of the customization options take extra time to fine-tune, and it would be helpful if more integrations were available out of the box.” Source

4. ContractWorks

ContractWorks is a lightweight contract management tool built for speed, not bells and whistles. It focuses on the basics, such as signing, tracking, and storing contracts.

If your team doesn’t need a full-scale platform but still wants to automate parts of the contract process, ContractWorks gets the job done.

It’s a solid option for legal and sales teams looking to solve common contract automation problems without a complicated setup. You can launch contracts quickly, automate contract approvals, and monitor contract status from a simple dashboard.

Best Features

• Pre-approved clauses: Create templates with standard terms already in place. This makes contract creation faster and keeps language consistent.
• Automated contract workflows: Set up approval steps, automated alerts, and signature flows so contracts move without constant check-ins.
• E-signatures built in: Sign documents right in the system.
• Smart tagging and search: Organize contracts with custom tags and find what you need in seconds.
• Access controls: Limit who can view, edit, or sign contracts across teams.

Pricing

It has 2 pricing plans: Standard and Premium. Each follows a custom pricing model. Third-party estimates the starting price to be $600 per month for unlimited users.

Implementation time: 4-6 weeks.

Best Fit For

• Organizations that prioritize ease of use over extensive customization
• SMBs seeking a lower-maintenance alternative to a highly configurable enterprise contract management solution.
• Teams that require extensive reporting and filtering requirements.

Not Ideal For

• Teams that require deep platform customizations, especially with tailored dashboards.
• Organizations that are looking for integration with enterprise tools.

Pros

• A good fit for sales teams that want fast, simple sales contract automation
• Helps standardize the contract creation process with pre-approved clauses
• Uses automated workflows to speed things up and reduce back-and-forth
• Easy to adopt for teams with limited bandwidth or tight deadlines.

What are Customers Saying About ContractWorks on G2?

The platform has a 4.6/5 user rating on G2. Here is some of the feedback

“ContractWorks makes it very easy to organize, store, and search for contracts. The user interface is intuitive, and the advanced search options save a lot of time when managing large contract repositories.” Source

“The automated workflows are not good as they complicate the contract management process, cosnuming me time.” Source

5. Zoho Contracts

Zoho Contracts is part of the larger Zoho suite, designed for businesses that want their contract work to connect with other systems they already use. It’s an integrated contract automation software that helps teams manage the full contract process.

This platform is especially useful for legal and operations teams looking to automate routine contract tasks.

With built-in templates, approval flows, and smart tracking, Zoho Contracts takes care of repetitive tasks and gives you better control over timelines and contract execution.

Best Features

• Automated contract creation: Build contracts from templates using form data to keep things consistent.
• Approval workflows: Route individual contracts for review, edits, or sign-off based on your team’s structure.
• Obligation tracking: Set reminders and follow-ups for key contractual obligations so nothing gets missed.
• Centralized dashboard: See contract status, owners, deadlines, and risk analysis results in one place.
• No manual data entry: Pull in details from Zoho CRM, Zoho Sign, or other connected tools to speed up the process.
• Audit trails and reporting: Improve your contract monitoring process by tracking activity and performance across your contract portfolio.

Pricing

It has 3 pricing plans:

• Standard: $25 per user/month. $5 per lite user/month.
• Professional: $40 per user/month. $10 per lite user/month.
• Premium: $50 per user/month. $15 per lite user/month.

Implementation time: 2-4 weeks for large enterprises.

Best Fit For

• Organizations already using the Zoho ecosystem and looking to extend existing CRM, electronic signature, and business workflows into contract management.
• Teams that want to automate renewals, expirations, and contract reminders.
• Teams looking for standardized templates and clause libraries for consistency.

Not Ideal For

• Businesses looking for a deeply configurable enterprise CLM capable of supporting highly specialized contracting processes.
• Companies that depend on a large number of third-party integrations outside the Zoho ecosystem.

Pros

• Connects well with other Zoho tools for smoother contract workflow automation
• Cuts down manual data entry and repetitive tasks
• Allows teams to finalize contracts faster with fewer errors
• Keeps contractual obligations visible and easy to follow up on

What are Customers Saying About Zoho Contracts on G2?

Zoho Contracts has a 4.6/5 rating. Here’s what the platform’s users have to say:

“Good as far as contracts signing is considered, easy to use, sending and accepting contracts are easily done and best use is when your company is also using Zoho CRM.” Source

“It’s bit costly and it’s not cost-friendly for Small Businesses” Source

Spreadsheets Vs. Contract Management Software: When to Make the Switch?

Spreadsheets, shared drives, and email threads may work when contract volumes are low.

However, as contract volumes increase, manual tracking becomes harder to maintain. Teams spend more time searching for documents, monitoring renewal dates, coordinating approvals, and ensuring everyone is working from the latest version.

The table below highlights the key differences between spreadsheets and contract management software across the contract lifecycle.

What Features Should You Look for in Contract Management Software?

Use the checklist below when evaluating contract management software. The right platform should reduce manual work and support your approval process without adding another tool to your tech stack.

Put AI to Work Across the Entire Contract Lifecycle With Aline

The best contract automation software depends on your team’s priorities.

• Juro is a good option for browser-based collaboration
• Agiloft works for deep customization around reporting and analytics
• ContractWorks focuses on faster deployment and lower administrative overhead
• Zoho Contracts works best for organizations already invested in the Zoho ecosystem.

However, if your goal is to reduce manual effort across the contract lifecycle, Aline brings contract creation, review, approvals, signatures, and post-signature intelligence into a single workflow. Teams can automate routine contract work without taking on the 5-month implementation projects and ongoing platform administration that often come with traditional CLM software.

Also, built-in AI helps accelerate contract reviews, enforce approved playbooks, and identify key contract saving 10-15 hours per legal user.

Teams using Aline are already recovering $40K by reducing dependence on external counsel, saving 15+ hours/week on redlining.

“We ran a query to find the exact time frame that we must notify our customers about a security breach and it gave us results for all of our contracts in seconds!”

Glenn Cionek, RevOps at Wallarm

“Aline cut our redlining time in half and saves us roughly $40K a year in outside counsel fees.”

Collin Clifford, Head of Legal at Superhuman

By increasing contract throughput by 50–75%, the platform enables faster deal cycles, greater consistency in contract reviews, and improved collaboration across business functions.

Get a demo to see how our comprehensive CLM fits your workflows.

FAQs About Contract Automation Tools

What are examples of automation tools?

Popular automation tools include platforms that support contract generation, approval workflows, e-signatures, and document management. Many also include AI-powered contract features for redlining, clause suggestions, and contract analysis to improve accuracy and speed.

What is the best tool for contract management?

Aline stands out for combining automation, contract negotiation, and review in one system. It’s built for legal operations and business teams that want to manage the full lifecycle with robust security measures and compliance tracking to ensure compliance with industry regulations.

What is a CLM tool?

A CLM tool, or contract lifecycle management platform, manages every step of a contract’s journey from drafting to renewal. Its key features often include automated approvals, data extraction, and performance reporting to track contract metrics and improve business processes.

What is the difference between CMS and CLM?

A CMS focuses on storing and organizing documents, while CLM software handles the full lifecycle, including automating repetitive tasks like approvals, renewals, and reminders. This helps teams boost business outcomes and maintain strong business relationships.

How does contract automation improve security and value?

It increases contract security by using encryption and access controls while improving contract value through better tracking and analysis. These combined benefits make automation a practical choice for modern teams managing complex agreements.