The 10 Best Sales Forecasting Software in 2024

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Sales forecasting software has become an indispensable part of the professional sales toolkit. But let's be real - the market is overwhelming. With dozens of options promising similar features, how do you know which tool will actually deliver value for your business? What features should you prioritize? And are those premium features worth the extra investment?

I spend my days writing about SaaS products, diving deep into their features, and talking to the people who use them daily. Over time, I've learned to spot the difference between genuinely useful capabilities and flashy marketing speak.

Plus, the nerdy side of me loves to use data in order to make better business decisions - so I was excited to speak with sales forecasting experts to learn more about the key benefits of sales forecasting software and the top tools they recommend. Here's what I've learned so far.

Table of Contents

• What Is Sales Forecasting Software?
• The 10 Best Sales Forecasting Software
• Benefits of Sales Forecasting Software
• What to Look for in a Sales Forecasting Software
• Choosing the Right Sales Forecasting Software

Simply put, sales forecasting software helps the organization predict how much they're going to make and when. It looks at things like:

• Past sales trends (like how Q4 always spikes for retail, or how B2B deals slow down in summer).
• Current opportunities in your pipeline (including deal size, stage, and probability).
• Seasonal patterns and market trends.
• Sales rep performance history.
• Customer buying behaviors and cycles.
• External factors like market conditions or economic indicators.

For example, let's say you run a software company. The software might notice that enterprise deals typically take 90 days to close, have a 40% higher close rate when they start with a product demo, and usually slow down during budget season in Q4. It uses all these patterns to create more accurate predictions about when deals will actually close and for how much.

Benefits of Sales Forecasting Software

The biggest benefit is the most obvious: hitting revenue targets. And honestly, this is a major challenge for most organizations.

According to Xactly's 2024 Sales Forecasting Benchmark Report, four out five sales and finance leaders missed their quarterly sales forecast at least once in the past year - and over half missed it multiple times. (Yikes!)

The effects of inaccurate forecasts also go far beyond missing sales targets. In reality, these effects ripple throughout an organization in various ways - inventory shortages, poor resource management, inaccurate staffing, and so on.

That's why sales forecasting software makes such a difference. Sure, it's great that it's more efficient than manual forecasting (goodbye, endless spreadsheets!), but I'm particularly excited about three key advantages:

1. We can finally trust our data. The software dramatically cuts down on those frustrating human errors in data entry and calculations that we've all made at some point. And 97% of sales and finance leaders agree that the right data would make delivering accurate forecasts a lot easier.
2. We get real-time insights whenever we need them throughout the forecast period - no more waiting until the end of the quarter to realize we're off track.
3. We have more time to focus on selling. As David Beitler, Director of Solution Architecture and Head of RevOps at Atrium.ai, explains, "Forecasting tools should reduce friction for sellers. Updating forecasts isn't the highlight of a salesperson's day, so look for software that integrates seamlessly with existing sales data and tools. This helps sellers stay focused on selling rather than manually entering forecast data."

If you can predict accurately, you can plan effectively. As a business owner, I know this is the key to making decisions proactively and adjusting my strategy before things go too far off course.

1. Hubspot Forecasting Software

HubSpot's forecasting software is designed to help teams forecast future revenue and monitor their pipeline. Here, you can track your progress toward achieving your forecasted goals.

It comes with Sales Hub, a suite of AI-powered tools for sales engagement, deal management, reporting and analytics, CPQ, and coaching - plus the ability to seamlessly integrate with more than 1,600 tools in HubSpot's App Marketplace.

My favorite features:

• Timely business forecasts on monthly or quarterly cadences.
• Easy-to-use interface for painless forecast planning.
• Efficient 1:1s for sales, service, and success teams.
• The seamless integration with the HubSpot suite of tools.

How Forecasting Works

HubSpot's forecasting tool is easy to navigate. I'll walk you through four easy steps you can follow to make accurate predictions.

1. Choose your preferred "forecast deal amount."

In the tool, you have three default forecast deal amount options that determine how deal amounts will be displayed in the forecast tool. These are the total amount, weighted amount, and forecast amount.

2. Set up a forecast submission status indicator.

This will alert users who have not updated their forecast within a stipulated period.

3. Set up your pipeline's forecast categories.

By default, this tool uses deal stages to forecast revenue. That said, you have the option to edit your deal stages and create custom forecast categories.

You also have the option to automatically update categories when a deal moves to a different deal stage by toggling the "Automate forecast categories" switch.

4. Assign revenue goals for your team.

With this feature, you can keep track of how close you are to hitting your target for the month, quarter, or year.

What I like: HubSpot's forecasting tool is housed within a powerful CRM which allows it to directly leverage the platform's sales analytics. This means that if you currently use or plan to use HubSpot as your sales CRM, you can directly pull data points to help you build more accurate, advanced forecasts.

User Review

"I love how I can utilize this tool to forecast and track the progress toward achieving internal goals for our sales team. It also helps us navigate which deals need to be pushed along if anything has been stagnant, and reconnect the deal to help it progress. Additionally, tracking turnaround times on tickets has helped us improve our CSAT and help determine how many people we need based on our flow of services." - Katie B., G2 review

Pricing

Forecasting is only available in premium editions of the Sales Hub and Service Hub. Prices vary by tier and number of users:

• Free: $0/month
• Starter: $20/month per seat
• Professional: $100/month per seat
• Enterprise: $150/month per seat

2. Aviso Predict

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Aviso Predict is a revenue forecasting solution that promises 98% sales forecasting accuracy. This tool is designed to help users create forecasts that are highly customizable and powered by AI-driven pipeline insights.

Core features:

• A Time Series AI engine.
• "WinScore Insights" predicts the probability of successfully closing a deal and suggests levers that could influence deal success.
• Scenario forecasting, which allows you to factor "what-if" situations into your forecasts. Typically this means creating best-case, likely, and worst-case forecasts to account for variables.

What I like: Aviso takes a very "data-focused" approach to revenue forecasting, which is visible in the amount of data the platform provides to users.

User Review

"Aviso replaces an extremely manual, painful, and repetitive process to collect sales forecasts at the rep, manager, and company level. It provides excellent visibility into the performance of the sales team and even highlights key deal movement throughout the pipeline." - G2 review

Pricing

Pricing is available upon request.

3. Salesforce Sales Cloud

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Salesforce Sales Cloud is a sales automation software that leverages data, automation, and artificial intelligence to help teams improve their efficiency.

This suite includes a forecast management solution designed to help teams increase prediction accuracy.

Core features:

• The ability to factor product families into your forecasts.
• The ability to switch between four different types of forecasts, each with its quota and adjustment data.
• The ability to leverage artificial intelligence, to drastically improve forecast accuracy.

Overall it's an advanced platform that can be helpful for large companies, but if you're looking for a simpler, more affordable tool, you might be better off with another option on this list.

What I like: Customers can use the Sales Cloud AI, Einstein, to determine new and existing opportunities that are likely to close during the current forecasting period. Reps can also access insights into how and why Einstein assigned the score.

User Review

"I love how Salesforce Sales Cloud provides a holistic view of our entire sales pipeline. The ability to customize reports, create automation through workflows, and track customer interactions makes managing sales processes incredibly efficient. Features like forecasting and opportunity management have drastically improved how we approach sales strategy. The AI-powered insights have been a game-changer in identifying trends and making data-driven decisions." - Jigna K., G2 review

Pricing

To access forecasting features, you'll need an enterprise plan or higher.

• Enterprise: $165/user per month
• Unlimited: $330/user per month
• Einstein 1 Sales: $500/user per month

4. Zoho

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Zoho is a CRM that offers forecasting in its suite of performance management features. I've tried Zoho previously for project management and have found the tool to be fairly straightforward and easy to use.

The platform allows you to build custom forecasts based on conditionals specified in your CRM. You can also monitor forecasts (achieved deals, pipeline deals, pipeline shortages), and automatically create reports based on forecast numbers.

Core features:

• A warning system that alerts users about discrepancies in their forecasts, such as sales target mismatches and pipeline shortages.
• Drill down analysis to monitor pipelines and performance.
• AI-based predictive forecasting and recommendations.
• Includes contact management, sales funnels, workflow automation, task management, and more in one platform.

What I like: Zoho's predictive AI, Zia, can be configured for custom predictions. As long as the prediction matches one of the supported data types (e.g., date/time, number, currency) and the user can provide 200 records to "train" Zia - the possibilities are endless.

User Review

"The best thing about this enterprise tool is the pricing part, which is more reasonable than other CRMs in the market plus the features are amazing, no less than the overpriced tools. It's very easy to handle which requires no IT knowledge, just go through introductory videos and you are good to go." - Mitali C., G2 review

Pricing

Prices start at $14/user each month.

Note: Forecasting is only available in professional, enterprise, and ultimate plans.

5. Pipedrive

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Pipedrive is particularly focused on building a healthy pipeline - hence the name.

The platform's revenue forecast view allows you to set up and monitor forecasts. Meanwhile, the forecast reports feature allows users to generate reports based on conditionals such as forecast periods, deal status, pipeline, probability, team, and more.

Core features:

• A visual sales pipeline with a drag-and-drop editor.
• AI-powered insights and activity recommendations to help sales reps prioritize tasks and improve performance.
• Focuses on activity tracking, encouraging teams to complete specific actions (calls, emails, meetings) that drive sales.
• Built-in communication tools (email and calling integration).

What I like: Pipedrive is easy to use. Although the program is a very powerful platform, most users on G2 find it very intuitive - which is one area where a lot of advanced sales tools fall short. If you're a visual learner, you'll like the deal tracking component of the platform, too.

User Review

"I have been using Pipedrive since I joined this company and, compared to all the previous CRMs I have used, it is most user-friendly and intuitive. Really like the integration offerings it provides, the speed and the mutual coordination between teams it has. Analytics and reports and another key feature that I use almost all day for forecasting my pipe and deals." - G2 review

Pricing

• Professional: $64/month per user
• Power: $79/month per user

Note: There are less expensive plans but revenue forecasting is only available in professional and enterprise plans.

6. Freshsales by Freshworks

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Freshworks CRM is a popular CRM with strong AI capabilities, built-in communication tools, and flexible automation options, making it particularly popular with small to mid-sized businesses focused on optimizing lead management and sales processes. The suite includes things like Freshservice (an IT and ops platform), Freshdesk (a customer support platform), and more.

Freshsales is its sales forecasting feature. It's also powered by Freddy, an AI assistant that runs across the entire CRM.

Core features:

• Unified database that gives you real-time 360° view of your leads to easily personalize interactions.
• Workflows and sales sequences.
• Lead scoring tools.
• Kanban-style board views.

What I like: Freshales AI-based commit suggestions are unique to the platform. Freddy uses historical data to recommend deals that are likely to convert within a set period. The simplicity of Freshsales is a big draw for me, especially compared to the complexity of some other platforms.

User Review

"The platform's pipeline and contact management have improved the way we manage our client relationships. Most of all, I like that Freshsales gives me the tools I need without overwhelming me with too much. As an example, another CRM I considered had over 45 apps, but there was no way I'd use them all. In some ways, I felt it would be a distraction to try to learn them, so I chose Freshsales because it gives me all I need." - Chris F., G2 review

Pricing

• Pro: $39/month per user
• Enterprise: $59/month per user

Note: Forecasting Insights by Freddy AI is only available at the enterprise level.

7. Outreach.io

Outreach is a leading sales engagement platform that focuses on improving sales productivity by automating and optimizing communication workflows.

Core features:

• Accurately measuring coverage using AI that analyzes past shortages and surpluses.
• AI that monitors over 100 signals to proactively identify at-risk deals.
• A scenario planner that can prepare your team for best- and worst-case scenarios.

What I like: Many of the features in Outreach are very "proactive" - historical coverage analysis, scenario planning, deal signals, etc. This makes it a great tool for maintaining a healthy pipeline and reaching revenue goals.

User Review

"Easily the most robust and capable platform for sales engagement - sequences and governance are highly customizable and it's easy to ensure personalization at scale. Their growing platform, including Kaia and forecasting, are impressive. It was an easy choice to consolidate. In terms of best practices and support, it's the best of the sales tech options." - Jordan G., G2 review

Pricing

Pricing is available upon request.

8. Gong

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Gong is a sales conversation analytics and revenue intelligence platform. Its forecasting solution helps salespeople predict, deliver, and defend reliable forecasts.

I think Gong is best for its ability to analyze and transcribe sales calls and meetings - so the forecasting feature is an added bonus.

Core features:

• Conversation analytics.
• Deal intelligence with real-time insights into deal health and potential risks.
• Opportunity scoring, which assigns a score to each deal based on the likelihood of closing, using conversation data to back up predictions.
• "Deal Boards" offer a customizable view of your pipeline, including the most important deals, metrics, and insights.

What I like: Gong offers users a reality-based approach to forecasting. With Gong's insights, you can understand where you realistically stand with every opportunity in your pipeline.

User Review

"Gong's forecasting and reporting truly simplifies what's going on within your business from a sales perspective. Their dashboard is much easier to read and collaborate in than any report in Salesforce. Gong gives both our sales reps and our sales leaders more immediate visibility into our sales pipeline and instantly helps find gaps, so you can manage deals more efficiently and effectively." - Kristi F., G2 review

Pricing

Prices are available upon request.

9. BoostUp

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BoostUp is a flexible sales forecasting and pipeline management platform. This program allows businesses to build custom processes that adapt to their unique needs.

Core features:

• Time series analytics.
• AI predictions and pipeline risk scoring.
• Automated pipeline coverage risk analysis.
• Live forecast trend monitoring and change analysis.

What I like: BoostUp's toolkit seems particularly well suited to sales professionals in management positions. The platform offers advanced features for high-level forecasting and forecast management. That includes maintaining pipeline health and optimizing the performance of the entire team.

User Review

"Coming from other competitors, this was definitely a great experience knowing that forecasting is easy, tracking progress and renewals are easy as well as new business accounts and rollup. I love the added level of detail that you can include with BoostUp knowing how well it integrates with major conversation intelligence products like Call AI. Very clean design overall makes it a breeze to use almost daily." - Kelly W., G2 review

Pricing

Prices are available upon request.

10. Clari

Clari is another leading sales forecasting solution that allows users to build forecasts based on real-time data and predictive insights.

Core features:

• Real-time forecast visibility for all users. Additionally, managers also have visibility into the entire team's rollup.
• A deal inventory dashboard that allows reps to see information about the deals currently in their forecast.
• A mobile app that allows users to track and update forecasts on their mobile devices.
• History tracking that allows users to see changes made to the forecast within a specific time frame.
• Multiple forecast rollups across teams, product lines, geographies, and market segments.

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What I like: Clari instantly reflects changes in the user's CRM. This means users can avoid the hassle of switching back and forth between the two platforms.

User Review

"Clari is by far the EASIEST forecasting tool out there. Coming from a smaller company with fewer sales tools and resources (where we forecasted verbally or in spreadsheets), Clari is a breath of fresh air!" - Chris R., G2 review

Pricing

Pricing is available upon request.

What to Look for in a Sales Forecasting Software

I've reviewed a lot of software tools over the years - and I've helped many readers go through the process of choosing a tool. Often my advice sounds more or less the same: Find what works for you, test it out, don't pay for features you don't need, and have a plan for implementing it with your team.

The biggest trend I see now when it comes to sales software? The AI hype is everywhere - and dare I say the "dynamic landscape" is "evolving rapidly." (Sorry, had to!)

Every solution will claim it's AI-powered and will have a "revolutionary" AI assistant that will "transform" all of your processes. Don't be distracted by the shiny object.

That being said, here are some key things I recommend looking for:

• Accurate and predictive analytics.
• Integration with your tech stack (think CRM, finance software, etc.).
• Scenario forecasting - to address what-if scenarios.
• User-friendly dashboards that your team will actually use.
• Real-time data updates and alerts.
• Clear ROI tracking capabilities.

Look for software that solves your specific challenges rather than chasing the latest buzzwords or trends. And just because something is well-known or more expensive doesn't mean it's the best.

I also always warn about the importance of implementation. Take the time to train your team properly and maintain the data quality - because that will go further than any of the most sophisticated software.

Choosing the Right Sales Forecasting Software

I know that the best sales forecasting tool for your team may feel daunting. Start by listing what features are most important to your unique business. You can then choose a platform that caters to your unique needs, sales processes, and team structure.

I also love getting perspectives from other users, whether that's through G2, Reddit, online communities, LinkedIn, etc. Reach out to your network and see what your peers are using. This will give you much more insight than you'll learn from a product's landing page. Ask about things like where this platform actually falls short, what frustrations users have, and what imperfections are revealed after adoption.

And once you're ready to test a few, check out HubSpot's Sales Hub to get a glimpse at our powerful forecasting capabilities.

Topics: Sales Forecasting

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