As a life coach, the number of tasks that fill your day-to-day life can seem endless. At the minimum, you’re communicating with your clients, booking appointments, and invoicing for your services. Doing all these tasks can be overwhelming, and you still have to help your clients reach their goals.
Luckily, there are plenty of life coaching applications that can help you automate common tasks the average life coach juggles. This article reveals ten of the best life coaching software tools that’ll help grow your coaching business with confidence.
Important features in life coaching platforms
When choosing tools for life coaches, make sure they have the following features:
- Scheduling: Coaching platforms should let you schedule coaching sessions. Some platforms may go further by letting your coaching clients self-schedule appointments based on your availability.
- Client management: Tools for client management are essential in life coaching applications. In particular, you’ll need client notes to store information about your clients. This functionality lets you brush up on the individual before each coaching session.
- Communication: Your life coaching app should provide a built-in way to communicate with your clients. You may need to chat in real-time or make community-wide announcements (in the case of group coaching), and so on.
- Progress tracking: The whole point of coaching is to help your clients achieve a specific result. A coaching platform that lets the client track their progress is essential to keep them engaged.
- Payments and invoicing: When it’s time to invoice for your services, it’s more convenient if you can create an invoice through the same software. Similarly, coaching software that lets you accept multiple payment types should take precedence over one that doesn’t.
- Reminder notifications: 62% of people miss appointments because they forgot about them. Your chosen life coaching tool should have automated notifications that remind the client about an upcoming coaching session. This feature will help to prevent no-shows.
- Resource sharing: If you plan to send your clients materials (images, documents, videos, etc.), you’ll want a life coaching platform that supports this functionality.
The above list isn’t exhaustive, but it contains most of the key features to look for in a life coaching software tool.
10 top life coaching software
Here are ten of the best life coaching tools you can use to run your life coaching business:
1. GetResponse
GetResponse is best known for its email marketing capabilities, but it’s so much more than just an email marketing platform.
It lets coaches, solopreneurs, affiliates, marketers, and mid-market companies grow, nurture, and convert their audience through a range of marketing channels, including emails, popups, landing pages, websites, webinars, and many more.
It’s a must-have if you want to market your coaching business and attract new clients effectively.
What we like about GetResponse:
It’s our own platform, so it’s granted that I like many things about GetResponse.
In my opinion, GetResponse’s two biggest advantages are that it’s user-friendly and packs many tools under one roof. If you’re not a techie, this will help you run your business with ease and confidence that everything will go smoothly.
Here’s specifically how life coaches can use it to grow their business and stay connected with their audience:
- Email marketing – one of the best ways to educate, nurture, and convert your clients is through email marketing. GetResponse’s email builder, prebuilt email templates, autoresponders, and generative AI solutions will help you stay connected with your clients no matter how big your audience is.
- Forms and popups – whether you want to build an email list of clients or promote your new program, forms and popups can help you target your website visitors with laser precision.
- Landing pages – want to promote a new ebook, quiz, or webinar? Or maybe you’re opening a waitlist for your new program? There’s no better way to do this than through landing pages. They’re designed for converting traffic into leads and selling digital products.
- Websites – don’t have your own website? You can build one inside GetResponse using an AI-powered code-free builder and have it synced with all our marketing tools, automatically.
- Courses – want to grow and educate your audience or make an extra income? GetResponse’s AI Course Builder simplifies the process of building and marketing your courses.
- Webinars – if you’re looking to offer group coaching sessions or sell access to your recordings, GetResponse’s built-in webinar solution will help you succeed.
- Premium newsletters – Paid newsletters are another format popular among coaches. With this solution, you can add another revenue stream and keep your audience engaged long-term.
- Live chats – don’t leave your prospects waiting for an answer. Using live chats, you can connect with them in real-time.
- Paid ads – you don’t have to wait for the organic traffic to kick in to grow your business. With GetResponse, you can run Google Search Ads and Meta Ads all inside one platform.
What we don’t like about GetResponse:
Unlike other tools in this list, GetResponse isn’t 100% pure coaching software and, as a result, doesn’t offer some of the functionalities like scheduling appointments or generating invoices.
On the other hand, its power comes from its robust multichannel marketing capabilities, and it’s likely one of the most integrated apps you’ll see in this article. Currently, it’s integrated with about 170+ apps and many more through integration platforms like Zapier, Make, or LeadsBridge.
This means you can use GetResponse for all your marketing communication, website building, or selling digital products and connect it with a standalone tool that’ll handle appointments or invoicing.
Pricing:
GetResponse offers a free plan and five paid plans: Email marketing, Marketing automation, Ecommerce marketing, Content Monetization, and MAX.
The prices vary depending on the size of your email list and the features you want to access, but generally, you’re looking at $15-$69 p/m for 1,000 contacts.
Want to learn more about GetResponse and how it can help your coaching business? Explore these coaching case studies and our in-depth guide on how to use GetResponse as a life coach to discover how coaches like you succeed with our marketing platform.
2. Paperbell
Paperbell is an all-in-one solution. It’s one of the best tools for starting a life coaching business, providing features like automated scheduling and client management.
What we like about Paperbell
One of Paperbell’s core features is its scheduling function. This functionality lets you block out your available times to avoid double bookings and similar mixups.
Also, you can create A/B schedules if you prefer to work on one week and take the next one off.
Paperbell also offers plenty of flexibility in the way you arrange your coaching packages. You can schedule sessions with your coaching clients as one-off, multiple, or subscription sessions. This leeway means you can charge a flat fee, monthly fee, or bundle, depending on how you choose to structure your coaching program.
Your life coaching practice can also benefit from Paperbell’s client notes. Keeping track of multiple client’s goals can be challenging when done off-platform. Imagine searching for the notepad where you wrote down information about a client five minutes before a coaching session. Since client notes are built into this coaching software, you’ll never face this issue.
Thanks to Paperbell’s intake forms, gathering information about your clients before starting the coaching process is a breeze. They help you create questionnaires and leave it to you to choose the information to collect. Armed with this data, you can ensure your coaching sessions proceed smoothly and on schedule.
Finally, Paperbell’s powerful analytics capabilities help you stay on top of your business. It shows you customer data at a glance, including each customer’s revenue history. These insights reveal your most profitable clients, coaching packages, and more. The feature makes planning for the future less daunting.
What we don’t like about Paperbell
One issue we noticed with Paperbell is that the platform seems pretty slow. Adding client details and creating your time blocks seems to take more time than it needs to. Hopefully, this is an issue that’ll be fixed quickly.
Also, the platform has only one paid plan, which doesn’t give much option. And it doesn’t integrate well with other marketing platforms, which might be critical if you plan to attract a bigger audience or run more robust marketing campaigns.
Paperbell pricing
Paperbell offers just one paid plan starting at $47.50 if you opt for annual billing. The monthly package is more expensive, costing $57 per month.
Read more:
1. Best email coaching templates to simplify your communication
2. What is email coaching and how does it work?
3. Simply.Coach
Simply.Coach is a fantastic online life coaching software. It offers an all-in-one platform that lets anyone offer coaching services regardless of technological proficiency. Whether you need help managing clients or engaging them, this coaching platform does it all.
What we like about Simply.Coach
Being one of the best life coaching software tools, Simply.Coach has self-scheduling functionality built-in:
Clients can use a booking page to book sessions based on your availability.
The tool also takes international clients into account by providing automatic time-zone conversion. And if a client wants to book multiple sessions in advance or reschedule existing ones, they can.
Another of this tool’s key features is its pre-session payment collection capabilities. Simply.Coach has built-in invoicing that removes awkward money discussions from the equation. You can enter the amounts you charge per coaching session and interested clients can pre-pay.
Keeping appointments is incredibly straightforward with Simply.Coach. The tool’s automatic reminders and notifications prevent no-shows by alerting the client via email or text. When used in tandem with Simply.Coach’s scheduling, clients can decide whether to proceed or reschedule. It ensures that your coaching business runs as intended.
Before a session, you can use Simply.Coach’s intent forms to set the tone. This feature ensures life coaches and their clients are on the same page. It lets you prepare in advance while ensuring that the client knows what outcomes to expect. Client management is also a breeze courtesy of this organizational feature.
Client workspaces and functionality for sharing resources help keep your clients engaged during sessions. The people you coach can use their workspace to put down their thoughts while you’re speaking.
You can also create a library and share resources they can engage with later after a session. Simply.Coach makes it easy to send videos, articles, and more via WhatsApp and email.
What we don’t like about Simply.Coach
As of the time of writing this, Simply.Coach’s invoicing feature was still going through beta testing.
The platform also lacks vital marketing tools like a website builder and email marketing solution. However, we must point out that they’re planning on rolling out email and LinkedIn interactions for their business plans.
Simply.Coach pricing
Simply.Coach plans are split into two categories: Solopreneurs and Business.
Solopreneur packages start at $9/mo with a 2-week free trial. This plan seems affordable, but it lacks vital features like digital contracts and progress check-ins. It also lets you coach up to five individuals only.
The business plan is priced based on the number of active coaches. The cheapest package is $79/mo if you only have one active coach.
Also, with the Business plan, you’ll only be charged when your coaches are coaching. This is good because it can stop you from paying for inactive seats.
4. Delenta
Delenta is a coaching platform that helps professional coaches manage their businesses with ease. It offers key features like client progress tracking, client data management, and more.
What we like about Delenta
This coaching software is incredibly customizable. You can white-label the client onboarding experience with your brand’s colors, messaging, and email templates.
Creating online courses is seamless, thanks to Delenta’s suite of tools and intuitive functionality. If you want to monetize pre-recorded lessons, the software can make it happen. Its provision of built-in tools for the task prevents platform juggling. You can create courses, promote them, and earn income at any time of the day.
Delenta’s coaching dashboard provides all the data you need to grow your coaching business in one place:
You can use its easy-to-read graphs to glean insights about your coaching business and make informed decisions. These real-time insights also provide information about your coaching program so you know what’s working and what isn’t.
For coaches who want to do email marketing, Delenta’s white-label email and automation make the process easy. You can create email sequences that reach customer segments at the right time. Using the software’s “Send to Myself” button, you can preview your emails before sending them, ensuring you strike the right tone.
Delenta also has an integrated calendar that helps keep coaching sessions on track and eliminates email chains. Your clients can book or reschedule sessions without interacting with you courtesy of its Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook integration.
Rounding out Delenta’s core features are its integrations. The platform integrates with various tools to facilitate client management, coaching package setup, payment processing, and marketing through tools like email newsletter software.
You can create enticing coaching packages in just a few seconds. It’s also possible to automate your invoices, thanks to the tool’s payments infrastructure.
What we don’t like about Delenta
Delenta has a per-user per-month pricing model, which tends to get very expensive very fast. We don’t like this model.
For some context, Simple.Coach’s cheapest package is $9/mo, and it lets you coach up to 5 individuals. Delenta’s cheapest package is $19 per user/mo. That means you’ll spend $95 per month to coach 5 people.
Delenta pricing
Delenta’s cheapest package costs $19/user per month. This is ideal for solopreneurs. Businesses that require group coaching management will need to spend at least $39 per user per month.
5. Bonsai
Bonsai provides all the tools needed to run your entire coaching business. Whether it’s automated reminders informing clients of upcoming sessions or tools for creating coaching agreements, this coaching software has it all.
What we like about Bonsai
Bonsai sets itself apart from similar tools by providing features for preparing taxes. With Bonsai’s Tax Assistant, you can track your 1099 tax expenses with ease.
In addition to expense tracking, the feature helps you estimate quarterly taxes and identify write-offs. It can automatically spot deductibles, letting you save money when it’s time to pay your taxes.
This coaching software also provides bookkeeping functionality, ensuring you stay on top of your financials.
Scheduling sessions is also easy with Bonsai. You can create different event types by adding details like the event name, duration, and so on.
The software goes a step further than similar options by providing time-tracking tools. This functionality ensures that business coaches who charge per hour can keep track of their billable hours.
Two of Bonsai’s key features are its smart invoicing tools and client forms. With smart invoicing, you can set up recurring payments and automate your “payment due” notifications. Client forms let you collect information from your clients through surveys. Together, they ensure your coaching business has a decent cash flow.
If you need professional contracts, Bonsai has you covered. This coaching software provides vetted templates you can customize to suit your needs.
When it’s time for contract signing, you can use electronic signatures to seal the deal. The feature even lets you request deposits. And once you’ve sent the contract, you can also send out reminder emails to get paid on time.
What we don’t like about Bonsai
Remember the Bonsai Tax Assistant we mentioned earlier? Yeah, that thing comes as an extra add-on costing $10 per month. We playing around with the feature to see if it’s worth it.
The platform also lacks marketing tools like a website builder. However, it supports Zapier integration.
Bonsai pricing
Prices start at $21 per month for the Starter plan. This may be ideal for freelancers. Sadly, the plan lacks vital features like a Calendly integration. For this and other powerful features, you’ll need to spend at least $322/mo for the professional package or $66/mo for the Business plan.
6. HoneyBook
HoneyBook is an “all-in-one clientflow platform.” It has a laundry list of features that cater to many business types, including life coaching businesses.
You can use it for customer relationship management, invoice creation, scheduling, and more. The software even helps you create proposals you can use to market to clients.
What we like about HoneyBook
For starters, invoicing is pretty straightforward with HoneyBook. You can easily create professional-looking invoices that facilitate quicker payment within the software. It offers a variety of invoice templates, all of which are highly customizable.
They also work together with HoneyBook’s payment infrastructure. Once you’re ready to send an invoice, you can forward it as a link and get paid via options like credit card or bank transfer.
The software lets you automate numerous tasks. You can schedule emails and files to be sent at specific times based on triggers like dates and user behaviors. If you like, you can let the automation run as-is or set it so that it requests your approval before sending.
HoneyBook’s automation also works with inquiry responses, offboarding tasks (e.g., “Thank You” messages), and more.
HoneyBook integrates with well-known business tools, like:
- Gmail
- Zoom
- Quickbooks
- Salesforce
- Microsoft Outlook
For example, you can connect it to your Google Calendar for scheduling purposes. These integrations are seamless and help you work more efficiently.
What we don’t like about HoneyBook
The HoneyBook platform has a bit of a learning curve. This is probably because the platform has a lot of features, some of which are not directly related to coaching.
Also, even though you’ll be spending $8/mo on the Starter plan, your invoices, and other assets will still come with the HoneyBook branding.
HoneyBook pricing
Prices start at $8/mo going all the way to $33/mo. The Starter plan is ideal if you want a very basic platform to manage client flows. Otherwise, most users will need to spend at least $18 to access vital features like a scheduler, expense management, and QuickBooks integration.
7. Cognician
Cognician is another coaching platform that provides all the tools needed to create and run coaching programs. This coaching software boasts great customer support, insightful analytics features, and more. And it’s incredibly friendly with third-party software.
What we like about Cognician
One of Cognician’s most prominent features is its cross-platform responsiveness. The software is built to look amazing no matter the device it’s viewed on. You can use it on a desktop or tablet when you’re at home and switch to your mobile device when on the move. This design choice ensures your coaching business is always where you need it.
Another quality that makes Cognician one of the best life coaching software tools is its analytics capabilities. The tool records user interactions and is constantly collecting data. Your Cognician subscription provides unfettered access to this data and the insights that come with it. Thus, you have all the information needed to build a successful coaching practice.
Cognician also provides tools for micro assessments. You can send out questionnaires and surveys to take your clients’ pulse. The software can help you track any changes in user behavior and thinking patterns (when you have multiple clients). With this information, you can make the necessary adjustments to your client acquisition strategy.
The tool also has tools for social learning that provide insights into how your coaching content gets shared.
What we don’t like about Cognician
The company is not very transparent about the pricing details.
Cognician pricing
You’ll need to book a discovery call with the team to get pricing details.
8. Nudge Coach
Nudge Coach is a minimalistic online coaching software. It isn’t as feature-packed as the other apps on this list, but is effective at what it does.
The coaching platform aims to help you give your clients engaging experiences. To that end, it gives you the ability to create a customizable app without incurring expensive software development costs.
You and your clients have to download two separate mobile apps. The app for coaches lets you:
- Check on and keep track of your clients
- Communicate via built-in chat
- Manage communities
Your clients’ app lets them:
- Monitor their progress
- Receive communications and “nudges” from you
- Connect the app with their smartwatches (for example, for fitness coaching)
What we like about Nudge Coach
One of the platform’s main features is its Nudge Cards. These cards are similar to email with two key differences: the first is that you send them within your coaching app. The second difference is that they’re more interactive than emails. Your clients receive content they can interact with, like videos, forms for tracking progress, and so on.
The platform’s program builder works similarly to an email sequence. It lets you create personalized schedules for your clients to follow.
Nudge Coach also excels in client communication. The software gives you multiple ways to stay in touch with your clients. It’s possible to send personal messages (in real-time or programmed in advance), group messages, and post inside communities. Your clients will receive them as push notifications on their phones.
The developers of this coaching platform had client accountability in mind when they built Nudge Coach. It lets you create habit trackers your clients can fill in between sessions.
This feature lets your clients monitor their habit-forming progress for whatever their coaching goals are. For example, someone with health and fitness goals can track their calories, stress levels, and sleep hours.
What we don’t like about Nudge Coach
The cheapest plan costs $60 per month for up to 50 clients. This is fairly reasonable if you already have a good number of clients. But if you don’t have enough clients, you may end up paying more than you need to.
Nudge Coach pricing
Nudge Coach offers a free plan that lets you coach up to 5 clients. Paid plans start at $60/mo. This sounds more expensive than other tools on this list, but as stated above, the plan lets you coach up to 50 clients.
9. My PT Hub
My PT Hub offers complete coaching solutions for personal trainers and fitness coaches. The software can handle group coaching and provides all the features needed to launch your business.
However, the quality that makes it one of the best life coaching platforms is that it doesn’t have client tiers. That’s right: no matter how quickly your business scales, the platform lets you coach unlimited clients without paying extra.
What we like about PT Hub
This coaching platform provides numerous tools for client management. You can use client notes to keep track of information about your clients; chat with clients either one-on-one in groups or send a broadcast; use its public calendar when booking; and more. My PT Hub also helps you handle group bookings neatly.
My PT Hub lets you control your scheduling through waitlists. If you want to prevent more clients from booking an already full group session, you can let them join the waitlist until new slots open.
This coaching software also provides an attendance register to keep tabs on the clients who attend your events.
As a life coaching software for personal trainers, My PT Hub lets your clients upload progress photos. You can use this feature to track each client’s progress toward their fitness goals.
If you host get-togethers in physical locations, My PT Hub lets you create events in-platform. You can input information related to its location, date, capacity, and more.
My PT Hub’s calendar sync capabilities ensure that attendees of group sessions get notified closer to the date.
What we don’t like about My PT Hub
My PT Hub is excellent for fitness coaching but it may not be ideal for other coaching niches. The platform is also slightly more expensive than others on this list.
PT Hub pricing
At $48/mo, My PT Hub is one of the more expensive coaching platforms. There’s also just one pricing plan. On the brighter side, the platform will not charge your fitness clients anything.
10. CoachVantage
CoachVantage has several features that make it one of the best life coaching software programs available. Veteran and aspiring life coaches can expect automated payments (via its Stripe integration), personalization features, and more.
And, its powerful client management tools bring coaching agreements, session notes, and other documents together in one central hub.
What we like about CoachVantage
One of this software’s standout features is its client portal (see the image below):
It lets you provide your clients with a virtual space where they can access coaching-related resources. The portal also facilitates the two-way sharing of these resources. You can brand the portal with your business’s logo and brand colors to add to the experience.
CoachVantage also has a resource library for uploading files and documents. If you frequently use worksheets, videos, PDFs, and other files, you can store them in this library. It’s secure and keeps the files private. The arrangement means your clients can access them from anywhere at any time.
Using CoachVantage’s coaching logs, you can track your sessions and take note of paid versus pro bono hours. The software logs your hours in the background, providing an accurate account of the time spent with a client. It’s also possible to export these logs for certification purposes.
CoachVantage also does automatic client enrollment right. You can create branded sign-up pages your clients can use to get access to the client portal. Potential clients can sign your form and enroll in one-on-one coaching programs. They can also book sessions, make payments, and more.
Collecting payments is easy with CoachVantage. You can offer several payment options, like installment plans and one-off payments.
What we don’t like about CoachVantage
The platform does not provide a lot of marketing tools. You’ll need a separate marketing solution for that.
CoachVantage pricing
Pricing starts at $26/mo billed annually. This plan limits you to only 500MB of file storage which may not be enough if you tend to share a lot of resources with your clients. For more storage, you’ll need to upgrade to the $44/mo plan.
How to choose a life coaching software
There are several types of life coaching solutions you can use to start your coaching business. While some are full-featured software suites, others are minimalist with a handful of core features.
Here’s how to understand the type of software you need:
- Your automation needs: Do you intend to be hands-on about scheduling coaching appointments? Or would you prefer that your clients self-schedule? Are you okay with back-and-forth email correspondence or would rather set up automated sequences? Knowing the tasks you’d like to automate can help you make the right choice.
- The type of coaching you offer: There are different facets of life coaching and some of them require software with specific features. For example, if you plan to operate in the lucrative health and wellness coaching niche, you’ll need a tool that lets your clients upload before-and-after photos.
- Your growth plans: How many clients do you envision coaching in the future? Do you have plans to coach large groups? Many of these coaching tools impose limits on the number of clients you can add. Meanwhile, other options let you scale your client list infinitely without additional charges.
- Your budget: How much do you have to spend? Can you invest in the software for the foreseeable future? You’ll need to consider your budget when deciding on the tool that’s best for your needs.
The above considerations will help you determine the type of coaching app your business needs.
Time to grow your coaching practice
When choosing a coaching tool, look for one that’ll help you manage your coaching business better and set it up for a path of growth.
Many of the coaching apps discussed in this article fit the above criteria. Some even offer platform-specific features, like integrations with third-party business tools and waitlists. Ultimately, your choice of software will come down to your specific needs, growth plans, and budget.