Custom software guide

What is the best customer portal when you have outgrown a portal add-on?

A custom portal built by Black Badger is the best next step once you have outgrown a portal add-on, because the limit you have reached is what the parent product lets customers see, and another add-on has the same kind of limit. Zoho Creator is the best product to move to, since you decide the data model and the portal is no longer tied to one application.

Updated November 14, 2026 How we rank

Best customer portal after outgrowing a portal add-on. Updated November 14, 2026.
Rank	Option	Best for	Price	Main limit
1	Custom build by Black Badger	Companies whose add-on shows tickets when customers want orders	One-time build scoped in writing, no per-seat fee	Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
2	Zoho Creator	Companies ready to build their own portal on a platform	Standard $8 a user a month billed yearly, plus portal add-on	Portal users are a paid add-on, and Standard allows one application
3	Salesforce Experience Cloud	Salesforce companies moving up from a basic help portal	Service Portal $4 a login or $10 a member a month	Priced per login or per named member, and object access starts restricted
4	Moxo	Companies whose add-on could not run a process with customers	Team plan $5,000 a year, per Moxo blog	Priced by flows a year and AI use, not by people who log in
5	Clinked	Companies whose add-on could not handle shared documents	Start Up from $11, Standard $239 a month for 100 members	Member allowance per plan, 100 on Standard and 250 on Premium
6	Softr	Teams that want to test a wider portal before committing	Basic $19 a month billed yearly, $25 billed monthly	Client users are capped, at 250 on Pro and 500 on Business

The ranking, entry by entry

1 Custom build by Black Badger

Best for companies whose add-on shows tickets when customers want orders

This is an outgrowing list, so the custom route goes first, and you should know Black Badger publishes this guide and builds these portals. A portal add-on shows customers the data held in one product. In time customers ask for the things that product does not hold, such as order status, invoices, drawings or job photos. We build one portal across the systems where those live, with one login. No fee is charged per customer or per staff seat.

Watch for. If the add-on only lacks one feature and its next plan includes it, upgrade. A build suits companies of 50 or more employees with several systems behind the portal.

Price: One-time build scoped in writing, no per-seat fee After launch you pay running costs such as hosting, database and email. There are no licenses, so adding a person adds no fee.
Main limit: Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
Checked: November 14, 2026 on blackbadger.biz

What a custom build involves, and how to ask about one

2 Zoho Creator

Best for companies ready to build their own portal on a platform

Zoho Creator is the best product for a company leaving an add-on, because it removes the tie to one parent product. The portal is an application you design, with your own data model and workflows, and Professional and Enterprise allow unlimited applications. Portal permission sets rise to 50 per app on Professional and 250 on Enterprise, which gives room for different customer types. You need someone to build and maintain it.

Watch for. Portal users are bought as an add-on in tiers from 250 to 100,000, and the prices are not on the pricing page.

Price: Standard $8 a user a month billed yearly, plus portal add-on Standard is $12 a user a month billed monthly, Professional $20 billed yearly or $30 monthly, and Enterprise $25 billed yearly or $37 monthly. Portal users are a separate add-on sold in tiers from 250 to 100,000 portal users, and the pages read show no add-on prices. Flex is quoted.
Main limit: Portal users are a paid add-on, and Standard allows one application
Checked: November 14, 2026 on zoho.com

3 Salesforce Experience Cloud

Best for salesforce companies moving up from a basic help portal

Salesforce Experience Cloud ranks third. If the add-on you outgrew sat beside Salesforce, this is the step up that keeps one system of record. Customers see and update the same data, and beyond the Service Portal plan there are Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, External Apps and External Identity licenses for wider uses. It ranks third because it is still a portal onto one product.

Watch for. The pricing page shows no prices for those other license types. Some templates and features need licenses even where sites can be created without them.

Price: Service Portal $4 a login or $10 a member a month Salesforce's pricing page calls this plan Service Portal and does not use the name Experience Cloud. Prices are in USD, the page says they may change and to contact sales for detailed pricing. Experience Cloud also has Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, External Apps and External Identity licenses, and the page shows no prices for those.
Main limit: Priced per login or per named member, and object access starts restricted
Checked: November 14, 2026 on salesforce.com

4 Moxo

Best for companies whose add-on could not run a process with customers

Moxo is fourth. Some companies outgrow an add-on because customers need to act on things as well as look at them. Moxo runs onboarding and approvals as guided steps and prices by flows a year, with unlimited seats on the Team plan. It ranks fourth because it answers the process gap and leaves the account area gap. It is not for order history or self-service reports.

Watch for. The Team plan includes 100 flows a year. Count how many customer processes you run before assuming that plan fits.

Price: Team plan $5,000 a year, per Moxo blog Moxo's pricing page shows no prices, only trial and demo buttons. The Team figure comes from a Moxo blog post, which says Team includes 100 flows a year, an AI allowance and unlimited seats. Scale and Enterprise are custom quotes.
Main limit: Priced by flows a year and AI use, not by people who log in
Checked: November 14, 2026 on moxo.com

5 Clinked

Best for companies whose add-on could not handle shared documents

Clinked ranks fifth. If the gap in your add-on was documents, a branded space where clients and staff share files may be all you are missing. Standard includes 100 members and 1 TB of storage, and Premium includes 250 members and 3 TB. It ranks fifth because it is not for a company that expects thousands of customers to log in or wants the portal connected to its own systems.

Watch for. Yearly billing is shown at 20 percent off and two-yearly at 35 percent off. Do not take the longer term until the member count question is answered.

Price: Start Up from $11, Standard $239 a month for 100 members Start Up uses a slider from 1 to 25 users at 2 GB. Premium is $599 a month for 250 members on the plan card, though the comparison section on the same page shows $479. Enterprise for 1,000 or more members is quoted. Yearly billing is shown at 20 percent off and two-yearly at 35 percent off.
Main limit: Member allowance per plan, 100 on Standard and 250 on Premium
Checked: November 14, 2026 on clinked.com

6 Softr

Best for teams that want to test a wider portal before committing

Softr is sixth. Its use on this list is as a trial. Before you commit to a build or a platform, you can put the records customers keep asking for into a table tool and give a small group a portal over them. Pro includes 50 client users at $99 a month billed yearly. It is last because the published plans stop at 500 client users, so it suits a trial and does not suit a company this size long term.

Watch for. Larger numbers need the custom Enterprise plan. Treat what you learn from the pilot as the brief for the production portal.

Price: Basic $19 a month billed yearly, $25 billed monthly From Softr's docs, since the pricing page did not load as text. Pro is $99 billed yearly or $119 monthly, Business is $329 yearly or $395 monthly, and Enterprise is custom. Basic allows 5 team users and 5 client users with no add-on. Pro allows up to 250 client users, and Business up to 500.
Main limit: Client users are capped, at 250 on Pro and 500 on Business
Checked: November 14, 2026 on softr.io

How this list was ranked

This list is for a company that already has a portal of some kind, usually the customer portal that came with its CRM or help desk, and has reached its limits. HubSpot, for example, describes its portal users as tracking tickets, replying to updates and searching the knowledge base, and lists no other portal functions.

We ranked next steps by whether they remove the tie to one parent product or only move it. Custom is first because this is an outgrowing list. On our other lists a product is first.

Questions buyers ask

How do we know we have outgrown a portal add-on?

You have outgrown a portal add-on when customers still ask staff for things after they log in. If they still phone for order status, email for invoices or ask for documents the portal cannot hold, the add-on is covering only part of what they need. Staff sending the same information by hand is the clearest sign.

Can we keep a portal add-on and add a second customer portal?

You can keep a portal add-on and add a second portal beside it. The cost is two logins and two places for customers to look. A better pattern is one portal that includes the support view, either by linking to the help center or by connecting to the support product.

What happens to existing customer logins when we move to a new portal?

Existing customer logins can usually be carried over. Customer accounts are a list of people and permissions, and that list is moved into the new portal so customers are invited once and not asked to register again. How sign-in works is settled in the scope.

Is a custom portal only for large companies?

A custom portal is for companies with enough customers and enough systems to justify it. Black Badger works mainly with companies of 50 or more employees. Below that, a product on this list is usually the better buy.