In today’s digital world SaaS is a must have for businesses looking for flexibility, scalability and efficiency.

But with the rise of SaaS comes the challenge of managing an ever growing portfolio.

From optimizing spend and security to productivity and compliance, SaaS management is complex.

This review looks at the features, pros and cons of 8 SaaS management platforms:

  1. Trelica
  2. Zylo
  3. Torii
  4. Productiv
  5. Lumos
  6. BetterCloud
  7. Zluri
  8. Nudge Security

Each has its own special sauce for different types of organizations so choosing the right one is key to streamlining operations, securing applications and getting the most out of your SaaS investments.

1. Trelica

SaaS management, give IT managers the tools they need to manage their SaaS applications, optimize spend, ensure security compliance and drive adoption across their organization.

Features:

  • SaaS Discovery and Inventory Management: Automatically discover and catalog all SaaS applications in use across your organization, so you have complete visibility.
  • Spend Tracking and Optimization: Get visibility into your SaaS spend with detailed analytics and reporting. Find ways to save costs by re-allocating licenses and eliminating underutilized subscriptions.
  • License and Renewal Management: Simplify license and subscription management with automated renewal notifications and license optimization recommendations.
  • Application Usage and Engagement Insights: See how your organization is using SaaS applications with detailed usage analytics. Drive adoption and get the most out of your investments.
  • Security and Compliance Monitoring: Keep your SaaS ecosystem secure with continuous monitoring for compliance with industry standards and internal policies. Quickly identify and remediate security risks.

What Sets Trelica Apart:

  • Centralized Dashboard: Our dashboard is user friendly and gives you a single view of your entire SaaS portfolio so you can monitor and manage at a glance.
  • Seamless Integration with Communication Tools: Trelica stands out by having workflows that can trigger notifications in popular communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams. This ensures critical information and updates reach your team within their daily workflow so they can respond faster.
  • Customizable ITSM Workflows: We integrate with leading IT Service Management (ITSM) tools and allow creation and synchronization of tickets directly from Trelica. With advanced conditions and branching logic we can accommodate the real world complexity of IT operations. This allows for highly tailored processes that fit your organization’s policies and operational requirements, so you can streamline your IT tasks.
  • Scalability: Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, Trelica scales with your organization and can manage thousands of SaaS applications and users.
  • Customer Success & Support: In addition to our support desk, you get a dedicated Customer Success Manager who will proactively reach out and provide expert guidance and help whenever you need it.
  • Proudly Bootstrapped: We are proudly bootstrapped so we have complete independence and flexibility to prioritize our customers’ needs without the influence of outside investors. This means our decisions are always aligned with what’s best for the users of our platform, not external stakeholders.

Industry recognition:

  • GigaOm: For the second consecutive year, Trelica has been identified as an "outperformer" and "leader" in GigaOm's Radar for SaaS Management Platforms (SMPs). Learn more.
  • G2: Trelica has been awarded over a dozen badges across two SaaS management categories in the G2 Winter Reports, maintaining our stellar 4.9/5 average rating.

Customer quotes:

  • "Trelica has more than paid for itself by helping us optimize licenses for just three apps - that’s in addition to the efficiency gains and security benefits," Bill Penberthy, Head of IT at Moonpig
  • "From onboarding to offboarding, Trelica automates the user lifecycle, which makes my life so much easier," Bernard Isibor, Global Manager, IT Ops & Infrastructure
  • "Trelica fully automates the process of identifying and addressing potentially wasted SaaS spend." Carol Atkins, Software License Asset Manager
  • "Trelica automations identify inactive users and eliminate overprovisioning, helping us reduce our SaaS spending significantly." Leon Weavers, Head of IT

2. Zylo

Zylo is a SaaS management platform that focuses on optimizing SaaS spend and license management. For organizations that want to get a deeper understanding of their SaaS investments, Zylo has a suite of tools to uncover hidden costs, streamline subscription management and ensure software licenses are fully utilized.

Key Features:

  • SaaS Spend Analysis: Zylo gives you detailed visibility into your organization’s SaaS spend, identifies unused subscriptions and redundant apps to reduce unnecessary expenses.
  • License Utilization and Compliance: With Zylo, IT managers can monitor license utilization so every dollar spent on SaaS is used effectively. The platform also helps maintain compliance with software licenses, reduces the risk of audits and penalties.
  • Renewal Management: Automated renewal management so you never miss a renewal deadline. Zylo will alert you in advance so you can make strategic decisions about continuing or canceling.

Pros:

  • Detailed Spend Tracking: Zylo excels at providing a detailed view of SaaS spend so organizations can identify and eliminate waste.
  • Beautiful Dashboards: One of Zylo’s best features is its beautiful and intuitive dashboards to get to spend data, insights and analytics, making it easy for IT and finance teams.
  • Proactive License Optimization: By focusing on license utilization Zylo helps companies adjust their SaaS portfolio to match actual usage, not overspend on unused licenses.

Cons:

  • Discovery Tool Effectiveness: While Zylo is great for spend management, its discovery tools, especially around OAuth discoveries, don’t fully discover all SaaS apps beyond those directly linked to spend data or contracts.
  • Focus on Spend Data: Zylo is good at optimizing SaaS spend, primarily through contractual spend data, which may require additional tools for deeper app usage insights or full shadow IT tracking.
  • Limited Integrations: The number of direct integrations is seen as limited by some users, which may impact its ability to give a full view or automate across more apps and services.
  • Minimal IT Ops Workflow Support: Zylo’s support for IT operational workflows is minimal, which can be a challenge for teams that want to automate and streamline IT processes like onboarding, offboarding and application provisioning.

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3. Torii

Torii is a SaaS management solution that automates the boring and complex tasks of managing an organization’s SaaS stack. It simplifies IT workflows from employee onboarding to offboarding by automating SaaS operations so IT teams can focus on strategic initiatives.

Key Features:

  • Automated SaaS Discovery and Management: Torii automatically finds and inventories all SaaS apps in use across the organization, gives a full view of the software landscape.
  • Workflow Automation for IT Processes: IT managers can automate various workflows with Torii, including user onboarding, offboarding and application provisioning, to increase efficiency and reduce manual errors.
  • Application Usage and Performance Tracking: The platform gives insights into how apps are being used so companies can make data driven decisions about their SaaS investments.
  • Integrates with Many IT Systems: Torii has a broad integration ecosystem, connects with other IT management tools and systems to amplify its automation capabilities.

Pros:

  • Automation Power: Torii’s strength is its ability to automate many IT tasks, lessening the load on IT and making operations smoother.
  • Full SaaS Visibility: The automated discovery feature gives IT managers a full view of their SaaS landscape, including shadow IT, so they have control and governance.
  • More Efficiency and Productivity: By streamlining SaaS management workflows Torii helps organizations get IT more efficient, so they can respond faster to SaaS changes or personnel changes.

Cons:

  • Learning Curve: Implementing and getting the most out of Torii’s automation features may take some time, especially for teams not used to automation tools.
  • Limited Integrations: Torii has an open platform for integrations but may not natively integrate with as many SaaS apps as other vendors. This may require workarounds or manual data entry for specific apps.

4. Productiv

Productiv is a SaaS management solution that focuses on application engagement and productivity analytics. It’s for organizations that want to go beyond usage stats and get deep insights into how employees are using SaaS apps. Productiv’s approach helps businesses understand the real value of their software investments so they can make informed decisions about software optimization and adoption.

Features:

  • Real-Time Application Engagement Analytics: Productiv gives granular insights into how employees are using SaaS apps, tracks metrics like feature usage, time spent and collaboration patterns.
  • SaaS Portfolio Management: It has tools to manage the entire SaaS portfolio from one dashboard, including license allocation, renewal management and spend optimization.
  • Customizable Reports and Dashboards: IT managers can create custom reports and dashboards to highlight key metrics so they can share with stakeholders and guide strategic decisions.
  • Collaboration Tool Insights: Collaboration tools get special attention with analytics to help team work and productivity across departments.

Pros:

  • Data-Driven Decision Making: By focusing on engagement analytics Productiv lets organizations make decisions about their SaaS stack based on how apps are actually used, so they can get more out of software spend and more productivity.
  • Better Software Adoption: Application engagement insights help identify training opportunities and barriers to adoption so companies can tailor their training programs and get more ROI out of their SaaS investments.
  • SaaS Spend & License Management: And beyond analytics Productiv has a suite of license management to spend optimization tools for IT managers.

Cons:

  • Analytics-Focused Approach: While Productiv’s focus on engagement analytics is a key differentiator, organizations that just need tools for operational tasks like automated provisioning or security compliance may need to supplement Productiv with other solutions.
  • Complexity for Small Teams: Small organizations with simple SaaS needs may find Productiv’s advanced analytics features more than they need and underutilize the product.
  • Integration Range: Productiv’s integrations may not cover every niche or specialized tool used by some organizations. This may require additional solutions for those with extensive or unique SaaS footprints.
  • Pricing: There is indication that Productiv’s pricing is complex and not as transparent as some users would like. Prospective customers should ask detailed questions during the sales process to get a full understanding of the costs.

5. Lumos

Lumos is a newer player in the SaaS management space and differentiates itself with a strong focus on security and compliance in the SaaS management ecosystem. For organizations that want to keep their SaaS portfolio secure and compliant Lumos combines discovery, management and security features to offer a full solution to the many challenges of SaaS sprawl.

Features:

  • SaaS Application Discovery and Inventory: Lumos has robust tools to discover and catalog all SaaS apps in use so IT managers have complete visibility into their SaaS landscape.
  • Spend Management and Optimization: The platform gives insights into SaaS spend, identifies opportunities for cost savings through subscription optimization and elimination of redundant apps.
  • Security Posture Assessment: Lumos’ standout feature is its ability to assess and report on the security posture of SaaS apps so organizations can meet industry standards and compliance requirements.
  • Integration and Workflow Automation: Lumos integrates with existing IT systems and enables workflow automation for SaaS management and security operations.

Pros:

  • Security-Focused: Lumos’ focus on security and compliance sets it apart in the market, giving IT managers the tools to manage and secure their SaaS stack.
  • Full SaaS Visibility: The discovery features ensure no app is left behind, including shadow IT, which is essential for security and compliance.
  • Cost Optimization: And beyond security Lumos helps organizations optimize their SaaS spend so investments are aligned to actual usage and needs.

Cons:

  • New to Market: As Lumos is newer, its feature set and integrations are still expanding. Companies with extensive third-party integration requirements may find the current offerings more limited than more mature platforms.
  • Security Focus May Miss Engagement: While Lumos focuses on security and compliance it may not yet have the breadth of application engagement and productivity insights that some organizations need for their SaaS management strategy.

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6. BetterCloud

BetterCloud is a leader in SaaS operations management and provides IT teams with advanced automation tools to manage, secure and optimize their SaaS environments. The platform is designed for full visibility across SaaS apps so organizations can enforce policies, automate IT tasks and protect data across their SaaS stack.

Features:

  • Automated Management Policies and Workflows: BetterCloud allows IT teams to create custom management policies and workflows, automate tasks like user provisioning, deprovisioning and access controls.
  • Data Protection and Security Compliance: The platform has robust data protection features to help organizations protect sensitive data and comply with various regulatory standards.
  • User Lifecycle Management: BetterCloud has tools to manage the entire user lifecycle within SaaS apps from onboarding to offboarding so access rights and permissions are always up to date.
  • Large Integration Marketplace: BetterCloud’s strength is its many integrations with popular SaaS apps so management can be done across the entire SaaS stack.

Pros:

  • Robust Automation and Policy Enforcement: BetterCloud’s automation reduces manual IT tasks, increases efficiency and minimizes human error.
  • Full Security Features: With its focus on data protection and compliance BetterCloud is ideal for companies with high security requirements and gives peace of mind through control of SaaS data.
  • Scalable SaaS Management: The platform’s many integrations and custom workflows make it scalable and suitable for all sizes of companies and can manage complex SaaS environments.

Cons:

  • Complexity and Setup Time: BetterCloud’s feature set and customization options can be overwhelming and take more time to set up especially for companies without dedicated IT resources.
  • Market Maturity: As one of the first vendors in the SaaS management space BetterCloud has a long history of innovation. But that also means it may be seen as an older platform and users may wonder how it will continue to evolve with the fast changing digital landscape.
  • Cost for Smaller Companies: BetterCloud’s comprehensive offering can be a big investment which may be a consideration for smaller companies or those with limited IT budgets.

7. Zluri

Zluri enters the SaaS management space with a platform to manage the complexity of a diverse SaaS stack in modern enterprises. It takes a holistic approach to SaaS management with discovery, management, optimization and security in one solution. This makes Zluri a good option for companies that want to get control of their SaaS apps, streamline operations and security.

Features:

  • SaaS Discovery and Management: Zluri can automatically discover all SaaS apps used in an organization, provide a complete inventory and manage the entire SaaS portfolio.
  • Spend Optimization and License Management: The platform has tools to track SaaS spend, optimize spend by identifying unused or underutilized subscriptions and manage licenses.
  • Application Usage and Performance Insights: Zluri provides detailed analytics on how employees use various SaaS apps so organizations can make data driven decisions on software adoption and optimization.
  • Security and Compliance Monitoring: A key part of Zluri’s offering is its security focus with features to monitor compliance with regulatory standards and identify security vulnerabilities in the SaaS stack.

Pros:

  • All-in-One SaaS Management: Zluri’s feature set covers almost everything in SaaS management from discovery and spend optimization to security and compliance so it’s a one stop solution for companies.
  • More Visibility and Control: With its discovery and analytics capabilities Zluri provides unparalleled visibility into SaaS usage and spend so IT managers have the information to make informed decisions.
  • Proactive Security and Compliance: The platform’s security focus means companies can not only manage but also secure their SaaS apps against threats and comply with regulations.

Cons:

  • Complexity for Smaller Companies: With so many features smaller companies or those with simpler SaaS needs may find Zluri’s platform too complex and underutilize its capabilities.
  • Adaptation and Learning Curve: Companies will need to invest time in training and adaptation to fully use Zluri’s feature set especially if their IT teams are not used to working with integrated SaaS management platforms.
  • Scope, Depth and Quality: Zluri’s feature set aims to cover everything in SaaS management which may dilute its focus on specific areas. This broad approach may impact the depth and quality of certain features.

8. Nudge Security

Nudge Security stands out in the SaaS management space by its focus on securing SaaS apps and managing risks of SaaS sprawl and shadow IT. It’s designed for companies that put security first in their SaaS ecosystem and want to give IT managers the tools to identify, assess and mitigate risks quickly.

Features:

  • SaaS Application Discovery and Risk Assessment: Nudge Security can discover all SaaS apps used in an organization including unauthorized or shadow IT apps and assess their security risks.
  • Continuous Security Threat Monitoring: The platform has continuous monitoring capabilities so any security threats or compliance issues are identified and addressed promptly.
  • Compliance Reporting: Nudge Security helps organizations comply with various regulatory standards by providing reporting tools that show the security posture of their SaaS apps.
  • Third-Party App Access Management: It also allows IT managers to control and monitor third-party app access to the organization’s SaaS apps to prevent unauthorized data access or breaches.

Pros:

  • SaaS Security Focused: By being security focused Nudge Security is a unique offering in the market catering to companies that want to secure their SaaS apps.
  • All-in-One Discovery and Risk Management: The platform’s ability to discover all SaaS usage and assess the risks makes it a must have for IT security teams.
  • Compliance Enhancer: With detailed reporting Nudge Security helps companies comply with regulations and reduce the risk of fines and data breaches.

Cons:

  • Niche Focus on Security: While Nudge Security’s focus on security is a strength, companies looking for a full SaaS management solution that includes spend management, license optimization and usage analytics may need to integrate Nudge Security with other management tools.
  • Learning Curve and Resource Allocation: Implementing a security focused platform like Nudge Security may require dedicated resources and time to fully use its capabilities especially for companies without a dedicated IT security team.

Conclusion

As we’ve seen the features and pros of these eight SaaS management platforms, it’s clear that the right tool can make a big difference in managing your SaaS ecosystem. Whether you want to optimize software spend with Zylo, automate IT workflows with Torii, get deep insights into application engagement with Productiv, secure your SaaS portfolio with Nudge Security or find a balanced all-in-one solution like Trelica the options are many and powerful.

Selecting the right SaaS management platform requires careful consideration of your company’s specific needs, challenges and goals. Think about the size of your SaaS stack, security requirements, budget constraints and integration with existing tools. Remember the best SaaS management strategy is one that solves current problems but also scales with your company’s growth and digital evolution.

In summary, managing SaaS apps is a key part of modern IT strategy and requires attention and tool selection. By reading this review IT managers and decision makers are better equipped to choose a platform that boosts operational efficiency, security and compliance and delivers on the promise of SaaS flexibility and innovation.

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Disclaimer:

Please note that the assessments and comparisons provided in this article represent our best understanding of the mentioned SaaS management platforms. It's important to highlight that we have not conducted hands-on testing of any third-party products ourselves for this review. Additionally, our perspectives are influenced by our motivations and positioning within the industry, which may affect our objectivity. We encourage readers to conduct their own research, including direct consultations with the service providers, to ensure that the chosen solution best fits their specific needs and circumstances.

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