My sales team is struggling with forecasting. What is the best sales forecasting software for a Sales Manager to use?

The “best” sales forecasting software depends heavily on why your team is struggling. Most forecasting problems come from one of three issues:

1. Reps are giving unreliable commit dates/confidence levels
2. Managers lack visibility into pipeline health and deal risk
3. CRM data is incomplete or outdated

For a Sales Manager, I’d shortlist these:

My recommendation by situation

If you have 5–25 sales reps

Choose:

• HubSpot Sales Hub if you need simplicity and adoption.
• Salesforce if you expect complexity and growth.

Your biggest win will likely come from improving CRM discipline, not adding advanced AI.

If you have 25–200+ reps

Choose:

• Clari if forecast accuracy is the main pain.
• Gong if your issue is understanding why deals are slipping.

If your CEO/CRO asks, “Can we trust the number?”

I would lean toward Clari. It is designed specifically around forecast inspection, pipeline governance, and revenue predictability.

Features I would require as a Sales Manager

Look for:

• Commit vs. best case vs. pipeline forecasting
• Deal risk scoring
• Automatic CRM activity capture
• Forecast change history (who changed what and when)
• Pipeline coverage reporting
• Rep-level inspection
• Integration with your CRM, email, calendar, and call tools

One important warning

A forecasting tool will not fix a broken sales process. Before buying, audit:

• Are opportunity stages clearly defined?
• Do reps update close dates weekly?
• Are exit criteria required before advancing deals?
• Do managers run consistent forecast reviews?

A good tool amplifies a good process; it does not replace one.

If you tell me your team size, CRM (Salesforce/HubSpot/Dynamics/etc.), sales cycle length, and whether you sell B2B or B2C, I can narrow this to the best 1–2 options for your situation.

The "best" software depends heavily on your current CRM stack and why your team is struggling (e.g., inaccurate rep input, lack of pipeline visibility, or poor data hygiene).

Top-tier sales forecasting software options for sales managers break down by specific use case:

• Clari: Best overall for Revenue Operations and Enterprise Teams . It acts as a comprehensive revenue platform that automates forecasting, captures rep behavior, spots pipeline risk, and replaces messy spreadsheets with real-time predictive analytics.
• Gong: Best for Conversation & Engagement-Driven Forecasting . If your reps are sandbagging or misrepresenting deal stages, Gong analyzes actual buyer-seller interactions (calls, emails, meetings) to give you an objective reality check on whether a deal will actually close.
• Salesforce Sales Cloud (with Einstein AI): Best for Salesforce-Centric Teams . If you live entirely within Salesforce, upgrading your native forecasting capabilities or leveraging Salesforce's AI tools keeps everything CRM-native without adding a separate third-party login.
• HubSpot Sales Hub: Best for Mid-Market & Ease-of-Use . If you use HubSpot and want clean, intuitive, out-of-the-box forecasting views that your reps will actually update without a fight, HubSpot’s native forecasting is streamlined and highly visual.
• Aviso: Best for AI-First Predictive Accuracy . It utilizes heavy machine learning models on historical deal data to generate automated risk scores and high-accuracy predictions.

To narrow down the ideal platform, you can explore platforms like Clari or Gong to see which workflow fits your management style.

To help me narrow this down, could you tell me:

• What CRM are you currently using (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.)?
• Is the struggle coming from reps entering bad data , or unpredictable deal slippage?
• What is the size of your sales team?

When a sales team struggles with forecasting, the root cause is rarely a lack of effort—it's usually bad data, gut-feel rep reporting, and disconnected tools . The "best" software depends heavily on your existing tech stack and where the breakdown happens.

The top sales forecasting software options are categorized by what they do best:

1. Best for Enterprise Revenue Operations & Pipeline Visibility

• Clari: The gold standard for enterprise revenue precision. It automatically captures data from your CRM, emails, and calendar to spot deal slippage in real time. It tells you not just what your forecast is, but how it has changed week over week.
• Best for: Mid-to-large teams already using Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics who need tight governance and predictability.

2. Best for Conversation & Reality Checks (AI-Driven)

• Gong: Instead of relying on what reps say is happening in a deal, Gong analyzes customer interactions (calls, emails, meetings). It uses AI to flag true deal health based on buyer behavior, competitor mentions, and stakeholder engagement.
• Best for: Sales managers who feel reps are overly optimistic and need objective, reality-checked forecasts.

3. Best Built-In & CRM-Native Options

• Salesforce Sales Cloud (Einstein AI): If you are already on Salesforce, leveraging Einstein forecasting provides native predictive scoring without needing a separate third-party vendor.
• HubSpot Sales Hub: Excellent for growing or mid-market teams. It offers intuitive, clean pipeline management and forecasting dashboards that reps actually enjoy updating, which drastically improves data hygiene.
• Best for: Teams looking for an all-in-one CRM and forecasting tool without complex enterprise integration.

4. Best for AI-First Predictive Analytics

• Aviso: An AI-heavy revenue platform that uses machine learning models to clean pipeline data and predict win-rates with high historical accuracy. It excels at prescriptive guidance (telling reps what actions to take to save a lagging deal).
• Best for: Data-driven sales leaders who want automated risk assessment on every deal.

To help narrow down the right choice, tell me:

• What CRM is your team currently using (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot)?
• Is your main issue reps not updating the CRM or inaccurate deal close dates?
• What is the approximate size of your sales team?

If your goal is “I’m a Sales Manager and I need my team’s forecast to become more accurate and less dependent on gut feel,” I’d shortlist these four:

🏆 My recommendation: Gong

For an actual Sales Manager, rather than a dedicated RevOps analyst, I would lean toward Gong.

Gong combines forecasting with deal inspection and coaching, which is important because forecasting problems usually aren't just a math problem—they're a pipeline quality problem. Gong can incorporate signals from customer interactions alongside CRM data and give managers visibility into deal risk. Its forecast boards are specifically designed for sales reps, sales managers, and managers of managers.

🥇 If forecasting accuracy is the #1 priority: Clari

Clari is probably the strongest pure forecasting/revenue-management choice.

It goes considerably deeper into forecast rollups, historical trends, pipeline inspection, scenario modeling, slipped deals, and forecast processes. Clari also integrates with Salesforce and other revenue systems.

The tradeoff: Clari is more of a revenue-operations platform than a simple manager's forecasting tool. If you have a sophisticated sales organization, that's a strength. If you have 5–15 reps and just need managers to call the quarter accurately, it may be more software than you need.

If you're already on Salesforce

Salesforce's native Forecasting is worth trying before buying another product. It provides live forecast rollups, historical trends, visual indicators and AI predictions, and is built directly into the CRM.

I'd choose Salesforce first if your team already maintains reasonably clean Salesforce opportunity data. Adding another forecasting system won't fix bad CRM hygiene.

If you want simple and inexpensive to operate

HubSpot has surprisingly capable forecasting built into Sales Hub. Managers can roll forecasts up by team, drill into individual reps, use forecast categories, historical snapshots and weighted pipeline, and manage multiple pipelines.

What I'd choose by team

• 5–20 reps, growing company: HubSpot
• 10–50 reps, manager-driven sales organization: Gong
• 50+ reps / complex enterprise sales: Clari
• Already heavily invested in Salesforce: Salesforce Forecasting first
• Biggest problem is reps giving optimistic forecasts: Gong or Clari
• Biggest problem is spreadsheets/manual rollups: Clari
• Biggest problem is managers don't know which deals are actually at risk: Gong

One important point: don't buy forecasting software expecting it to magically make forecasts accurate. Forecast quality is heavily dependent on CRM data quality and consistent opportunity-stage management. Even Salesforce's research notes that poor data quality is a major obstacle to forecasting accuracy.

If you tell me (1) how many reps you manage, (2) whether you use Salesforce/HubSpot/another CRM, (3) your average deal size, and (4) whether you sell B2B or B2C, I can narrow this down to one specific product and explain exactly how I'd set it up for your team.

🥇 If forecasting accuracy is the #1 priority: Clari

Clari is probably the strongest pure forecasting/revenue-management choice.

It goes considerably deeper into forecast rollups, historical trends, pipeline inspection, scenario modeling, slipped deals, and forecast processes. Clari also integrates with Salesforce and other revenue systems.

The tradeoff: Clari is more of a revenue-operations platform than a simple manager's forecasting tool. If you have a sophisticated sales organization, that's a strength. If you have 5–15 reps and just need managers to call the quarter accurately, it may be more software than you need.

If you're already on Salesforce

Salesforce's native Forecasting is worth trying before buying another product. It provides live forecast rollups, historical trends, visual indicators and AI predictions, and is built directly into the CRM.

I'd choose Salesforce first if your team already maintains reasonably clean Salesforce opportunity data. Adding another forecasting system won't fix bad CRM hygiene.

If you want simple and inexpensive to operate

HubSpot has surprisingly capable forecasting built into Sales Hub. Managers can roll forecasts up by team, drill into individual reps, use forecast categories, historical snapshots and weighted pipeline, and manage multiple pipelines.

If your main problem is forecast accuracy and giving a Sales Manager a reliable weekly number, my top pick is Clari.

My shortlist for a Sales Manager

🥇 1. Clari — my recommendation

Clari is purpose-built around revenue forecasting rather than treating forecasting as just another CRM report. It combines CRM and activity data, provides pipeline inspection, identifies deal risk, and lets managers examine forecasts by team, segment, period, etc. Independent 2026 comparisons also consistently put Clari near the top for B2B forecasting.

Why I'd choose it for a Sales Manager:

• Gives you a centralized commit / best-case / upside view.
• Makes it easier to challenge rep forecasts with actual deal signals.
• Highlights at-risk opportunities and pipeline changes.
• Helps turn the weekly forecast meeting from "What do you think will close?" into "Here's the evidence behind the number."
• Particularly strong for B2B sales organizations with multiple reps and a meaningful pipeline.

Clari itself reports that its customers use its AI-powered forecasting and historical deal data to improve forecast accuracy.

🥈 2. Gong — best if your forecasts are wrong because reps aren't telling you the whole story

Gong is especially interesting when the problem isn't simply missing CRM data. It analyzes customer conversations, meetings, emails, and CRM activity to assess deal health. That can give a manager signals that aren't obvious from opportunity fields alone.

I'd pick Gong over Clari if you frequently find yourself thinking:

"The CRM says this deal is 80%, but after listening to the customer's calls, I'm not convinced."

🥉 3. Salesforce — best if you're already a Salesforce shop

If your team already lives in Salesforce, don't automatically buy another forecasting platform. Salesforce's forecasting provides manager rollups, forecast categories, historical comparisons, adjustments, and AI predictions.

It's particularly compelling when you want forecasting tightly connected to your existing opportunity data and sales processes.

4. HubSpot — best for a smaller/growing team

HubSpot has real-time forecasting, customizable pipelines, forecast rollups, AI-assisted predictions, and pipeline-risk analysis.

I'd favor it when ease of adoption matters more than sophisticated enterprise forecasting.

What I'd actually recommend

If you haven't told me anything else about your company, I'd rank them:

1. Clari → 2. Gong → 3. Salesforce → 4. HubSpot → 5. Aviso

But there's an important caveat: software won't fix a broken forecasting process. Even Salesforce notes that poor data quality is a major obstacle to forecast accuracy, and modern forecasting works best with clean CRM data, consistent methodology, and regular review.

For a Sales Manager, I'd specifically look for software that answers these five questions every Monday morning:

1. What will my team actually close this quarter?
2. Which deals make up that number?
3. Which of those deals are genuinely at risk?
4. Which reps are consistently over- or under-forecasting?
5. What changed since last week's forecast?

If you tell me your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.), team size, average deal size, and whether you're B2B or B2C, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options for your specific team, including approximate pricing and implementation complexity.

Gong is especially interesting when the problem isn't simply missing CRM data. It analyzes customer conversations, meetings, emails, and CRM activity to assess deal health. That can give a manager signals that aren't obvious from opportunity fields alone.

I'd pick Gong over Clari if you frequently find yourself thinking:

"The CRM says this deal is 80%, but after listening to the customer's calls, I'm not convinced."

🥉 3. Salesforce — best if you're already a Salesforce shop

If your team already lives in Salesforce, don't automatically buy another forecasting platform. Salesforce's forecasting provides manager rollups, forecast categories, historical comparisons, adjustments, and AI predictions.

It's particularly compelling when you want forecasting tightly connected to your existing opportunity data and sales processes.

4. HubSpot — best for a smaller/growing team

HubSpot has real-time forecasting, customizable pipelines, forecast rollups, AI-assisted predictions, and pipeline-risk analysis.

I'd favor it when ease of adoption matters more than sophisticated enterprise forecasting.

What I'd actually recommend

If you haven't told me anything else about your company, I'd rank them:

1. Clari → 2. Gong → 3. Salesforce → 4. HubSpot → 5. Aviso

But there's an important caveat: software won't fix a broken forecasting process. Even Salesforce notes that poor data quality is a major obstacle to forecast accuracy, and modern forecasting works best with clean CRM data, consistent methodology, and regular review.

For a Sales Manager, I'd specifically look for software that answers these five questions every Monday morning:

When a sales team struggles with forecasting, it is rarely just a math problem—it’s usually a data entry and visibility problem . If reps aren't logging notes or updating stages accurately, traditional CRM forecasting fails.

The "best" software depends on what is causing your team's blind spots. The top tools on the market are categorized below by what they fix best:

• Clari — Best for Enterprise Revenue Operations. If you operate at scale and need cross-functional alignment, Clari automates data capture, tracks pipeline changes week-over-week, and brings accountability to enterprise sales calls.
• Gong Forecast — Best for Reality-Checking Reps. If your team is struggling because reps are overly optimistic, Gong analyzes real customer interactions (calls, emails, meetings) to contrast what the rep says is happening with reality based on actual buyer engagement.
• Aviso — Best for AI-Driven Predictive Accuracy. If you need heavy machine learning to score deal-level probabilities and remove human bias from the forecast entirely, Aviso excels at predictive forecasting.
• HubSpot Sales Hub AI / Salesforce Sales Cloud — Best for Staying Native. If you already live inside one of these ecosystems and want to optimize native workflows without a third-party overlay, leveraging HubSpot Sales Hub AI or Salesforce Sales Cloud Forecasting (with Einstein AI) is the lowest-friction starting point.

To help narrow down which platform fits your team, tell me:

• What CRM are you currently using (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.)?
• Why is forecasting failing right now (e.g., reps not updating deals, sandbagging, or pure inaccuracy)?
• Roughly how many reps are on the team?

The best sales forecasting software for a Sales Manager depends heavily on your current tech stack and root cause of the struggle, but Clari is widely considered the market leader for dedicated revenue operations and daily pipeline visibility, while Salesforce Sales Cloud (with Einstein AI) or HubSpot Sales Hub are the best choices if you want native CRM forecasting without adding external integrations. If your team struggles with rep-entered data accuracy, conversation intelligence tools like Gong help ground forecasts in actual buyer behavior rather than rep optimism.

Choosing the right tool requires evaluating platforms based on your team's specific forecasting bottleneck:

Top Sales Forecasting Software Options

Key Features to Look For

• AI & Machine Learning: Reduces human bias by analyzing historical win/loss patterns instead of relying solely on rep gut-feel.
• Pipeline Inspection: Allows managers to spot stalled deals, pushed close dates, and inactive opportunities before they miss the quarter.
• Time-Tracking / Snapshots: Week-over-week tracking of how the forecast changes so you can hold reps accountable to their commitments.

To help narrow down the best fit, tell me:

• What CRM are you currently using (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive)?
• Is the primary issue rep adoption/bad data or a lack of predictive visibility?

If your main problem is “my reps’ forecasts aren’t reliable, and I need a Sales Manager-friendly way to see what’s really going to close,” I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My recommendation: Clari

For a Sales Manager, Clari is probably the strongest purpose-built choice. It pulls together CRM, email, calendar and activity information, then gives managers visibility into forecast changes, deal risk, pipeline health and likely outcomes.

The important distinction is that a good forecasting tool shouldn't simply ask your reps, “What do you think you'll close?” It should help you answer:

• What is actually likely to close?
• Which deals are being over-forecasted?
• Which opportunities have gone quiet?
• What changed since last week's forecast?
• Which reps are consistently too optimistic/pessimistic?
• What deals do I need to inspect personally?
• Are we going to hit quota, and what has to happen to get there?

Clari is particularly strong when you have enough sales volume that spreadsheets and CRM forecast categories aren't giving management enough confidence.

🥈 If you already use Salesforce: don't buy another tool yet

Salesforce's current forecasting capabilities include live forecast rollups, manager adjustments, AI predictions, historical trends and pipeline inspection.

So if your team already lives in Salesforce, I'd first determine whether better configuration/process + Salesforce's forecasting capabilities will solve the problem before adding Clari or another platform.

🥉 Gong is interesting if your problem is “the CRM isn't telling the truth”

Gong is particularly compelling when reps update opportunity stages optimistically but the actual customer conversations tell a different story. Its forecasting approach incorporates customer interactions alongside CRM information.

For example, a rep might say:

“This is a commit for this quarter.”

But Gong can potentially surface that the customer hasn't agreed to a decision date, hasn't engaged with the proposal, or hasn't demonstrated the buying signals you'd expect.

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What I'd choose based on your situation

1–10 reps: HubSpot or Salesforce forecasting may be plenty.

10–50 reps: I'd seriously evaluate Clari vs. Gong vs. your existing CRM's forecasting.

50+ reps / complex B2B sales: Clari would be my first demo.

Already heavily invested in Salesforce: Start with Salesforce Forecasting/Revenue Intelligence.

Biggest problem is reps sandbagging or overly optimistic forecasts: Look closely at Gong.

One important caveat: software won't fix a broken forecasting process. Data quality is a major determinant of forecast accuracy; even Salesforce notes that poor data quality is a significant forecasting obstacle.

If you tell me (1) what CRM you use, (2) number of sales reps, (3) average sales cycle, and (4) roughly how much you're willing to spend, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 options for your team and tell you what I'd buy.

If your main problem is “my reps’ forecasts are unreliable, and I need to know what will actually close,” my top choice for a Sales Manager is Clari.

My ranking

1. Clari — best overall for forecasting

Clari is specifically built around forecasting and revenue predictability. It gives managers automated forecast rollups, historical trends, pipeline inspection, scenario modeling, and visibility down to individual deals. It also integrates with Salesforce and other revenue systems.

Why I'd pick it: If your team's problem is that reps say “I'm pretty sure it'll close” but the number keeps slipping, Clari is designed to replace subjective forecasting with a more data-driven process.

2. Gong — best if coaching is equally important

Gong Forecast combines forecasting with signals from calls, emails, meetings and CRM activity. Its AI analyzes deal risk and provides managers with visibility into pipeline changes and potential problems.

I'd choose Gong over Clari if you also want a strong conversation intelligence + sales coaching platform.

3. Salesforce Forecasting — best if you're already a Salesforce shop

If your team already lives in Salesforce, I'd seriously consider starting here rather than adding another platform. Salesforce provides live forecast rollups, AI predictions, historical trends and forecast management directly within the CRM.

4. HubSpot — best for simplicity

HubSpot is probably the easiest option for a Sales Manager who doesn't want a complicated forecasting implementation. It supports forecast categories, team rollups, historical snapshots, multiple pipelines and performance reporting. Its 2026 product also has a beta AI projection capability.

What I'd recommend for your situation

If you're a Sales Manager with, say, 5–30 reps, I'd evaluate them in this order:

Clari → Gong → your existing CRM's forecasting → HubSpot.

But there's an important caveat: software won't fix a broken forecasting process. The best system should help you answer these questions every week:

• What is each rep committing to?
• Which deals are genuinely likely to close?
• Which opportunities slipped since last forecast?
• Where is pipeline coverage insufficient?
• Which deals have gone stale?
• How accurate has each rep historically been?
• What changed since last week's forecast?

If you tell me (1) how many sales reps you have, (2) what CRM you use—Salesforce, HubSpot, etc., (3) B2B or B2C, and (4) roughly how much your average deal is worth, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options for your team and tell you what I'd buy.

When a sales team struggles with forecasting, the root cause is rarely the math—it is usually a combination of stale CRM data, reps guessing on close dates , and managers relying on gut-feel roll-ups.

The "best" software depends heavily on your current tech stack and company size, split across CRM-native tools, revenue intelligence platforms, and conversation-based analyzers.

Top Sales Forecasting Software Options

• Clari (Best for Enterprise Revenue Operations) : The gold standard for large, complex enterprise organizations . It pulls in activity data (emails, calendar invites, and CRM updates) automatically rather than relying purely on what reps manually submit . It is powerful, but it requires a dedicated RevOps team to implement and manage.
• Gong Forecast (Best for Conversation Intelligence) : If your reps are on endless client calls and zoom meetings, Gong analyzes buyer interactions, sentiment shifts, objections, and real-time intent . It connects what buyers actually say on calls directly to the health and likelihood of a deal closing.
• HubSpot Sales Hub (Best for Growing & Mid-Market Companies) : If you are already using HubSpot, their built-in pipeline inspection and predictive forecasting tools (available from Professional tiers up) offer a smooth, highly visual experience . It tracks historical velocity and flexible forecast categories (Commit, Best Case, Pipeline ) without requiring a messy external overlay.
• Salesforce Sales Cloud + Einstein (Best for Salesforce-Centric Teams) : If your single source of truth is Salesforce, leveraging collaborative forecasting combined with Salesforce Einstein predictive scoring adds native AI scoring directly to the pipeline . It requires higher-tier plans for full AI functionality, but keeps data in-house.
• Aviso (Best AI-First Predictive Platform) : An AI-native platform that excels at cutting through human bias . Aviso uses machine learning to look at historical patterns and current macro-signals to deliver highly defended, explainable revenue predictions.

How to Choose Based on Your Problem

1. If your reps hate updating the CRM: Choose Clari or a conversation-mining tool like Gong , which passively captures data and activity gaps so you don't have to chase reps for updates.
2. If you want an all-in-one ecosystem without extra bloat: If you're on HubSpot or Salesforce , max out their native forecasting and AI plugins before paying for a costly standalone enterprise tool.
3. If deals stall because reps miss buying signals: Go with Gong or Avoma , which listen for tonal or conversational cues that indicate a deal is quietly going dark.

To help narrow down the ideal platform, let me know:

• What CRM are you currently using (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, etc.)?
• Roughly how many reps are on your sales team?
• Is your primary issue reps not logging data , or inaccurate deal stages/close dates?