Softwr

Software · head to head

Catalyst vs Gainsight

Catalyst logo

Catalyst

Software

Customer Success Platform Built by CSMs

From
$500/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Gainsight logo

Gainsight

Software

The #1 Customer Success Platform

From
$2500/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Catalyst pricing is custom and not published, requiring sales contact; Gainsight limited customization options; teams resort to exports and scripts when platform lacks required fields
  • They diverge on capability: Catalyst covers Health scoring, Gainsight covers Health scores.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Catalyst and Gainsight actually diverge.

Attributes where Catalyst and Gainsight differ
AttributeCatalystGainsight
Starting price$500/month$2500/month
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb
Founded20172011

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Catalyst

  • Health scoring
  • Playbooks
  • Journey builder
  • 360 customer view
  • Revenue intelligence
  • Segment

Only in Gainsight

  • Health scores
  • Churn prediction
  • Playbook automation
  • Customer 360 view
  • Journey orchestration
  • Zendesk
  • Ios support
  • Android support

Both cover

  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot
  • Slack
  • Web support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Catalyst

  • Customer Success
  • Csm Toolsnot Gainsight
  • Automationnot Gainsight

Gainsight

  • Customer Success
  • Retentionnot Catalyst
  • Health Scoringnot Catalyst

Both are used for customer success, on those jobs the choice comes down to price and fit rather than capability.

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Catalyst

  • Pricing is custom and not published, requiring sales contact
  • Integration complexity for organizations with non-standard tech stacks

Gainsight

  • Limited customization options; teams resort to exports and scripts when platform lacks required fields
  • Integration reliability issues; broken connectors and schema changes create stale health scores
  • Cannot automatically track emails within the platform; requires manual logging or third-party solutions
  • Long implementation and setup; typically requires 12-24 weeks and mandatory implementation services
  • High total cost of ownership; Year 1 costs often exceed $200K including required professional services

Pricing, plan by plan

Catalyst

$500/month
  • Essential$500/month
    • Health scores
    • Automation
    • Reporting
  • Enterprise$1500/month
    • Custom integrations
    • Advanced analytics
    • Dedicated support

Gainsight

$2500/month
  • Essentials$2500/month
    • Health scores
    • Customer 360
    • Playbooks
  • Enterprise$5000/month
    • Advanced analytics
    • AI predictions
    • Custom integrations

Which should you pick?

Choose Catalyst if

  • You need health scoring.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want playbooks.
Catalyst review

Choose Gainsight if

  • You need health scores.
  • You also want churn prediction.
Gainsight review

Questions people ask

Is Catalyst or Gainsight better?
Neither clearly leads. Catalyst starts at $500/month and Gainsight at $2500/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Catalyst or Gainsight?
Catalyst starts at $500/month and Gainsight at $2500/month.
Does Catalyst or Gainsight run on more platforms?
Catalyst runs on Web, Mobile. Gainsight runs on Web.
What is Catalyst best used for?
Catalyst is most often used for customer success, csm tools, automation. Of those, csm tools and automation are not what Gainsight is typically brought in for.
What can Catalyst do that Gainsight cannot?
Catalyst covers Health scoring, Playbooks, Journey builder, 360 customer view. Gainsight covers Health scores, Churn prediction, Playbook automation, Customer 360 view. Both handle Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Web support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Catalyst: Is Catalyst still separate after the Totango merger?

Yes. Catalyst operates as a distinct product brand under Totango + Catalyst as of 2026, with both products running on the same roadmap. Catalyst maintains its user-friendly interface while integrating Totango's enterprise governance capabilities.

Source
Gainsight: Does Gainsight offer a free tier?

Gainsight does not offer a free trial for the main Customer Success Cloud platform. Gainsight PX (product analytics) offers a free Starter tier supporting up to 100 monthly active users.

Source
Catalyst: Does Catalyst integrate with Salesforce?

Yes. Catalyst features strong Salesforce integration, allowing seamless data sync and workflow automation between the customer success platform and CRM.

Source
Gainsight: How is Gainsight priced?

Gainsight prices at $150-$300 per user/month for tier plans, but the main CS Cloud pricing is based on customer records managed. Initial deployments managing 500-1,500 customer records typically cost $60,000-$120,000 annually, with Year 1 costs often exceeding $200K including mandatory implementation.

Source
Catalyst: Who should use Catalyst?

Catalyst is designed for mid-market and enterprise B2B companies that want CS-led revenue motion with an intuitive interface focused on CSM day-to-day workflows rather than IT administration.

Source
Gainsight: What are Gainsight's core features?

Gainsight offers health scoring, customer journey orchestration, playbooks, in-app engagement, reporting, customer data consolidation via Customer 360, and Staircase AI for real-time engagement insights. It also includes Skilljar for customer education and Communities for self-service support.

Source
Gainsight: What CRM integrations are available?

Gainsight integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Slack. The Salesforce connector syncs account data, the HubSpot connector ingests engagement data, and Slack automation sends Gainsight notifications and alerts to channels.

ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on Catalyst

More on Gainsight

Keep looking

Other head to heads