If you’re an in-house legal counsel at a growing startup, a founder who still handles contracts manually, or a legal operations manager at a scaling mid-market company, contract management often starts out simple..
A few agreements are drafted in Word, revisions happen over email, approvals are chased on Slack, and signatures go through DocuSign. Contracts are eventually stored in Google Drive or SharePoint, with renewal dates tracked in a spreadsheet.
For a while, that system works.
In fact, many teams still operate this way. 49% of legal teams manage contracts using Word documents, email, and shared folders.
But it works only until contract volume grows.
Suddenly, sales teams are waiting on legal edits, procurement agreements take days to locate, and no one is entirely sure which version of a contract is final. Even reviewing contracts is time-consuming, with in-house lawyers spending around 3.1 hours on a single contract.
This is usually when teams begin exploring contract lifecycle management (CLM) platforms like Icertis.
Icertis is one of the most well-known enterprise CLM platforms. It handles large, complex agreements across procurement, legal, and sales teams, and it offers deep workflow automation, compliance tracking, and analytics.
But the platform is also built with large enterprise deployments in mind, which often means longer implementation timelines, higher costs, and significant configuration effort.
For many growing companies, that level of complexity simply isn’t necessary.
Instead, they want tools that can replace the patchwork contract workflow they already use: drafting, approvals, signatures, storage, and renewal tracking, without requiring months of implementation or a dedicated legal tech team to manage the system.
That’s where newer CLM platforms are worth evaluating.
To make your search easier, we did the heavy lifting and identified the top 9 Icertis alternatives with simpler workflows and better collaboration among legal, sales, and procurement teams, while still providing the automation and visibility needed to manage contracts at scale.
Icertis is an enterprise contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform built to handle the entire contract process: from drafting and negotiation to approvals, compliance, and renewals.
At the core of the platform is Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI), which centralizes contract data, automates workflows, and uses AI to flag risks and unusual terms in agreements.
Icertis is designed for organizations managing large contract volumes across global teams. But that same enterprise depth is also why some teams eventually start looking for alternatives.
Based on multiple user reviews, some of the most common challenges teams mention are:
These drawbacks don’t mean the platform is flawed. It’s built for multinational enterprises with dedicated legal tech teams that can support implementation cycles of up to 6 months. If that isn’t your setup, you’re likely outside the ICP it was designed for.
For teams without that infrastructure, the challenges tend to become more noticeable as contract volume grows.
And that matters because contracts are rarely handled by just one department. 29% of a company’s workforce interacts with contracts in some way, across legal, procurement, finance, and sales.
So when the CLM platform becomes difficult to manage, the friction doesn’t stay in legal. It spreads across the entire revenue and procurement workflow, which is often when teams begin looking for simpler or faster-to-deploy Icertis alternatives.
If Icertis starts to feel too complex or resource-heavy, the next step is evaluating alternatives that better fit your team’s workflow.
Here are the key capabilities to look for when choosing an Icertis alternative.
We rounded up the top Icertis alternatives that offer simpler setups, smarter tools, or better value, depending on what you need. Some focus on helping legal teams move faster, while others make the entire contract management process easier without the extra bulk.
Let’s take a look at the ones that stand out.
Best for: Legal teams, founders, and legal operations leaders at startups and mid-market companies (10–500 employees) that want to move away from scattered contract tools and manage drafting, negotiation, approvals, and signing in a single AI-driven platform.
Aline is an AI-powered contract lifecycle management platform specifically designed and modeled for modern legal, sales, and finance teams.
It’s especially well-suited for startups, B2B companies, and growing businesses that need to manage contracts quickly and efficiently.
Aline brings everything into one clean, easy-to-use platform that helps you draft, redline, review, sign, and store contracts, all without switching between different tools.
Aline focuses heavily on automation and AI to reduce the amount of manual contract work legal teams handle. With Aline AI, your contract playbook is applied automatically during redlining, so reviews stay consistent without slowing things down.
In practice, teams have used it to redline contracts up to 10× faster, save 20+ hours per week on manual review, reduce outside counsel costs by around $60K annually, and analyze thousands of agreements in real time.
That means fewer delays, cleaner contract negotiations, and a lot less time spent on less valuable tasks. Legal teams stay in control, while business stakeholders can move faster without relying on legal for every step.
See what our customer has to say:
“Aline is like having a lawyer on call for redlining. The ability to use AI to draft new documents instantly, analyze legal language, and redline contracts brought unmatched speed and accuracy.” - Collin Clifford, Head of Legal, Superhuman.
$40K saved/year · 15+ hrs/week recaptured · 50% faster redlining
Gives legal teams full control without support: Lets legal operations teams configure templates, playbooks, and approval workflows directly.
Real Results from Teams Using Aline:
Try Aline and see how it fits your contract workflow.
Best for: Legal, procurement, and operations teams at mid-market and enterprise companies that already run agreements through DocuSign and want more structure around approvals, templates, and contract tracking.
Source: G2
DocuSign CLM builds on the familiar e-signature tool many businesses already use. It adds structure to the entire contract lifecycle, which can make it easier to create, review, approve, and manage agreements at scale.
For teams that are already deep into DocuSign’s ecosystem, this upgrade keeps everything under one roof.
It’s designed for businesses that need more than just signatures. With tools like contract templates, workflow automation, and a searchable clause library, DocuSign CLM helps legal and procurement departments keep the workflow clean.
While it can be more rigid than newer platforms, it’s a solid pick for organizations with clear processes and established approval paths.
Best for: Legal operations, compliance, and procurement teams at mid-sized to enterprise organizations that require configurable workflows, detailed compliance controls, and tailored contract processes.
Source: G2
The Agiloft CLM platform is flexible contract lifecycle management software built for businesses that need full control over how they handle contracts.
It’s especially useful for legal, procurement, and operations departments that want to customize everything without needing developers. Its no-code setup gives users the freedom to build processes that match their team’s needs.
Agiloft also includes AI contract review features to speed up analysis, reduce compliance risks, and help users locate contracts quickly.
Best for: Revenue operations, sales operations, and legal teams at mid-market and enterprise companies that manage large volumes of sales agreements inside Salesforce.
Source: G2
Conga CLM is contract management software that focuses on making business processes more predictable and efficient.
It’s built to help organizations reduce contract delays, improve accuracy, and keep teams aligned, especially those already using Salesforce. Conga lets users handle complex contract workflows without slowing down daily operations.
One thing that stands out about Conga is its contract analytics. Users can see how contracts move through the system, spot delays, and optimize contract performance using built-in reports.
Best for: Operations, finance, or legal teams at small businesses and growing companies that want an easy way to organize contracts without implementing a complex CLM system.
Source: G2
ContractSafe is a contract management platform created for simplicity. It’s a suitable fit for businesses that don’t need a full-blown legal system but still want a secure and organized way to handle business documents.
If your team mainly needs to store, search, and track contracts without diving deep into complex contract creation or workflows, ContractSafe delivers just that.
It focuses on clean contract storage, smart search, and ease of use. The platform doesn’t overload users with features they won’t use. Instead, it’s about giving teams quick access to contract data and tools that reduce risk, minus the steep learning curve.
Best for: Legal, sales, and operations teams at high-growth startups and scale-ups that manage high contract volumes and want cross-team collaboration in one platform.
Source: G2
Juro is a contract management platform designed for companies that deal with high contract volumes and want to simplify the process from start to finish. Legal and business teams can collaborate in a shared workspace to avoid bouncing between tools.
Once you’re in, everything is neatly organized. Contracts, comments, approvals, and related documents live in the same place. Teams don’t have to dig through inboxes or shared drives; Juro keeps your contract portfolio searchable and structured.
It also connects with other business tools, so your contracts fit right into your existing systems.
Best for: Corporate legal departments at mid-market and enterprise organizations that need structured workflows, AI-assisted contract analysis, and centralized contract oversight.
Source: G2
ContractPodAi (now Leah) is an AI-first contract management solution that simplifies contract handling while maintaining structure and oversight. It combines contract automation, smart clause recognition, and clean workflows to reduce manual steps and improve the way contracts are handled.
The platform covers everything from new contract generation to managing legacy agreements, with tools that support fast execution and consistent compliance.
Missed deadlines and messy processes are less likely when everything lives in a single system, complete with reminders, version tracking, and approval routing that match how your team actually works.
Best for: Legal, finance, and operations teams at small to mid-sized companies that want a simple contract platform with fast team adoption.
Source: G2
Concord is a cloud-based contract platform aimed at helping users stay on top of things while keeping the workflow simple.
It’s well-suited for mid-sized businesses that need to keep things moving. Concord covers everything from contract drafting and negotiation to signing and renewal tracking within a single interface.
Its clean layout and practical features encourage user adoption across departments. Teams can collaborate in real time, monitor contract status, and track renewal dates.
With automated approvals and audit-ready logs, Concord also supports risk mitigation and helps ensure compliance across your contract workflows.
Best for: Procurement, sourcing, and finance teams at large enterprises that manage vendor contracts alongside purchasing and supplier performance inside the Coupa platform.
Source: Coupa.com
Coupa CLM is part of Coupa’s larger business spend management platform. This platform offers contract lifecycle tools with a strong focus on procurement, vendor relationships, and compliance.
It’s a good fit for companies that want contracts to tie directly into financial planning and supplier performance.
Unlike more legal-focused systems, Coupa CLM brings contract workflows into the purchasing and sourcing process. Teams can manage contract terms alongside budgets, vendor data, and performance insights.
The result is better risk control, more timely approvals, and improved operational efficiency across sourcing and procurement.
Many Icertis alternatives improve one part of the contract workflow. Some focus on faster redlining, others offer better contract storage or workflow automation. While these tools solve individual problems, most still leave teams switching between multiple systems.
Aline takes a different approach.
Instead of adding another point solution to the stack, Aline replaces the entire contract workflow with a single AI-native platform. Drafting, redlining, approvals, signing, and contract analytics all happen in one system, eliminating the need to manage agreements across Word, email, e-signature tools like DocuSign, shared drives, and spreadsheets.
That consolidation is one reason teams see results quickly. Aline customers report 5–10× ROI within months, and the platform typically goes live in just a few days instead of months-long deployments. With 97% customer retention, many organizations continue to rely on Aline as their contract volume grows.
If your team is exploring Icertis alternatives because contract workflows are becoming harder to manage, simplifying the entire stack often makes the biggest difference.
Book a demo to see how Aline replaces your contract tool stack with one AI-powered platform.
Common Icertis competitors include Aline, Agiloft, DocuSign CLM, ContractPodAi, Conga CLM, Juro, Concord, ContractSafe, and Coupa CLM. These platforms offer various tools for contract management, each catering to different team sizes, workflows, and budgets.
Coupa and Icertis serve different needs. Icertis focuses heavily on contract lifecycle workflows, while Coupa CLM is tied closely to spend and procurement processes. For companies managing vendor-related contracts and budget alignment, Coupa may feel more direct. But when looking at flexibility and cost effectiveness, alternatives like Aline may offer better value without added complexity.
Icertis typically targets enterprise teams, and its pricing structure reflects that, often requiring long contracts and custom quotes. Hence, there is no public pricing available on their website. However, some teams might find that the pricing structure makes it less accessible. Tools like Aline offer transparent pricing with faster onboarding and fewer setup delays.
Yes. Icertis reached unicorn status in 2019 and continues to operate as a major player in the CLM space. It’s widely used by enterprise teams that need contract management software designed for large agreement volumes, advanced controls, and structured compliance workflows.
Pramata works well for teams that want simpler contract visibility and risk management, while Icertis offers more complete control and a stronger workflow designer. The better choice depends on your process needs and the potential risks of picking a platform that’s either too heavy or too limited.
Brent is an attorney, a full-stack JavaScript engineer and the CEO of Aline.
Subscribe to our newsletter to receive new posts straight to your inbox 👇
