Zoho Creator is the best platform for building software your customers will log in to, because it sells portal users in tiers from 250 to 100,000 and lets you build your own data model and workflows. A custom build by Black Badger ranks second and is the stronger choice when the customer experience is part of what you sell and you want no fee per customer login.
The ranking, entry by entry
1 Zoho Creator
Best for companies with many customer logins and a builder on staff
Software for customers is priced differently, because customers usually outnumber staff many times over. Zoho Creator is first because it is set up for that. Staff are licensed per user, and customers come in as portal users sold in tiers that run from 250 to 100,000. Behind the login you design the data model and the workflows yourself, with up to 250 portal permission sets per app on Enterprise.
Watch for. Zoho does not publish portal user prices on its pricing page. Get the tier price for your real customer count in writing, and ask about the custom domain, which is included only on Enterprise.
- How it charges
- Per user, plus a paid add-on for portal users
- Main limit
- Portal users are a paid add-on, and Standard allows one application
2 Custom build by Black Badger
Best for products where the customer experience is part of what you sell
A custom build is second. What customers see when they sign in is your company, and on a platform it looks and behaves the way the platform allows. Black Badger builds client portals and customer-facing systems around your own process and brand, connected to the systems your staff already use. You own the code and the accounts, and adding the thousandth customer login adds no license fee. We publish this guide, and this is our own service.
Watch for. A system customers depend on needs someone answerable for it after launch. Agree who maintains it and how changes are requested before the build starts, and put that in the written scope.
- How it charges
- One-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting
- Main limit
- Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
What a custom build involves, and how to ask about one
3 Softr
Best for A quick portal over records for a few hundred customers
Softr ranks third. If your records already sit in a table tool and you want customers to see their own records, it is the quickest route on this list. It ranks third because of its user caps. Pro includes 50 client users and can add up to 250, Business includes 100 and can add up to 500, and anything larger needs the custom Enterprise plan.
Watch for. Users with free email domains such as Gmail count as client users. If your customers sign in with personal addresses, count them all against the cap.
- How it charges
- Flat monthly price by plan, plus a fee per extra client user
- Main limit
- Client users are capped, at 250 on Pro and 500 on Business
4 Retool
Best for developer teams adding an external view to internal tools
Retool is fourth. It is an internal tool builder first, and it is on this list because external users are supported from the Business plan. They are free up to 50 and then billed per external user, yearly, from 51 to 250. For a company whose developers already use Retool inside, opening a view to a limited set of customers is a short step.
Watch for. The listed external user pricing covers up to 250 users. Past that the price is by quote, and single sign-on is listed only for Enterprise.
- How it charges
- Per builder and per internal user, billed yearly or monthly
- Main limit
- SSO, SCIM, Git source control and granular roles are Enterprise only.
5 OutSystems
Best for large customer apps built by an in-house development team
OutSystems ranks fifth. It counts internal and external end users separately, which tells you customer-facing apps are an expected use, and it suits a company with developers and a long list of apps. It ranks fifth here because no part of the cost is published. The price is quoted from application objects, user counts and add-ons.
Watch for. Default uptime is listed as 99.5 percent, and 99.95 percent is an add-on. For software customers rely on, ask for the price of the higher level.
- How it charges
- Quoted by app size, end users and add-ons
- Main limit
- Price rises with app size, user count and add-ons, and is quoted.
6 Lovable
Best for A first version of a customer app to test with real users
Lovable ranks sixth. An AI builder is a fast way to put a first version of a customer app in front of a few friendly customers and learn what they want. It ranks sixth because customer software depends on access rules. Lovable documents row-level security policies for data in generated apps and does not describe a built-in role system, so the rules are yours to define and test.
Watch for. Have someone qualified test that one customer cannot see the records of another before launch. Your team is responsible for that check.
- How it charges
- By credits, not seats, in monthly tiers
- Main limit
- SSO is Business only. Audit logs and SCIM need Enterprise.
7 Base44
Best for A simple customer-facing app with login built in
Base44 is seventh. The vendor says authentication, hosting and a managed backend are built in, so a simple app with customer login needs no second service. It is last on this list because the pages we read do not say where app data is stored. For software that holds customer records, your customers may ask that question before you can answer it.
Watch for. Each plan has a monthly cap on message credits, from 100 on Starter to 1,200 on Elite. Heavy building uses them quickly, so plan changes around that.
- How it charges
- Monthly by plan, billed yearly, with message credits
- Main limit
- Message credits are capped per plan. SSO is Enterprise only.
How this list was ranked
We ranked for a company of 50 or more employees that wants customers, dealers or vendors to sign in and do something, such as place an order, check a job or pull a document. The first test was how each route prices people outside the company, since they usually far outnumber staff. The second was how much control you keep over what each customer can see.
External user limits and how each vendor charges for external users were read from each vendor's own pages. Where a vendor sells customer logins as an add-on without a published price, the entry says so.
Questions buyers ask
How is customer-facing software priced differently from internal software?
Customer-facing software is priced on external users, while internal tools are usually priced per employee. Each vendor handles external users differently. Some sell tiers of portal users, some cap client users by plan, and some quote it. With a system you own there is no charge per login, only the running cost of the service.
Is customer-facing software the same as a customer portal?
A customer portal is one kind of customer-facing software. This list also covers ordering tools, dealer systems and software you sell access to. In each case people outside your company sign in, which raises the requirements for access rules, uptime and appearance.
What should we check before letting customers into a system?
Before letting customers into a system, check three things. One customer must never see the data of another, you must know where the data is stored, and someone must be answerable when the system is down. Test the first one yourself with two test accounts before launch.
When does a custom build make more sense than a platform for customer software?
A custom build makes more sense than a platform for customer software in three cases. The software is part of your product or your service, customer numbers make per-login pricing expensive, or the system has to follow business rules a platform cannot express. Black Badger builds client portals for those cases and you own the result.