If you lead customer onboarding at a B2B SaaS company, you know the drill: lots of moving parts, too many spreadsheets, and never enough time. You want your customers to get value fast, but onboarding is a mess. You’re hunting for a tool that actually helps—not just another dashboard you’ll ignore. This piece is for you. I’ve spent real time in Rocketlane so you don’t have to. Here’s what’s worth your attention (and what isn’t).
What is Rocketlane, Really?
Rocketlane bills itself as a “purpose-built onboarding and project delivery platform.” Underneath the buzzwords, it’s project management software with a twist: it’s made specifically for teams handling customer onboarding, implementations, or other post-sale projects. Think of it as Asana or Monday, but focused on getting customers up and running—not just organizing internal work.
If your onboarding process involves lots of customers, repeatable steps, and collaboration between your team and theirs, Rocketlane might have something for you. If your onboarding is more ad hoc or one-off, you might find it overkill.
Core Features: What’s Useful, What’s Fluff
Let’s break down what Rocketlane actually does, and whether it’s any better than sticking with spreadsheets or general-purpose PM tools.
1. Project Templates & Automation
The Good:
- You can build onboarding project templates with tasks, timelines, owners, dependencies, and even customer-facing instructions.
- When a new customer signs on, spin up a new project in seconds—no more copy-pasting checklists.
- Automations can trigger reminders, update statuses, or handle approvals. This is a time-saver if you’re onboarding at scale.
The Not-So-Good:
- The template builder is solid, but if your process changes a lot, you’ll still end up tweaking each project. Not magic, just a bit less grunt work.
- Automations can get fiddly—expect a learning curve if you want anything fancy.
Pro tip: Spend time getting your templates right. Garbage in, garbage out.
2. Customer Collaboration Portal
The Good:
- Rocketlane gives your customers a portal where they see project status, next steps, and files.
- You decide what they see—no more “Is this done yet?” emails from customers.
- You can message back and forth, share documents, and assign tasks to customers.
The Not-So-Good:
- Some customers (especially in less techy industries) won’t bother logging in. You’ll still need to nudge them via email.
- The portal’s UI is clean but not customizable. If you want heavy branding, you’re out of luck.
Ignore: Any promise that this will “transform client engagement.” It’s a nice-to-have, not a silver bullet.
3. Task Management & Dependencies
The Good:
- You get all the basics: tasks, subtasks, owners, due dates, priorities.
- Visual timelines (Gantt-style) and dependencies help you spot bottlenecks before they blow up.
The Not-So-Good:
- If you’re coming from Jira or ClickUp, you’ll find Rocketlane more limited. It’s not built for complex software projects—just onboarding.
- There’s no native Kanban board, which some teams miss.
4. Status Tracking & Reporting
The Good:
- Built-in dashboards show how projects and team members are progressing.
- You can set up milestones and health scores for projects.
- Export reports for execs or clients—no more wrangling spreadsheets for QBRs.
The Not-So-Good:
- Reports are mostly fixed; deep customization is limited.
- If your execs want beautiful, multi-tab dashboards, you’ll have to export and build your own.
5. Time Tracking & Resource Management
The Good:
- Team members can log time on tasks for better resource planning.
- You get a bird’s-eye view of who’s overloaded and who’s coasting.
The Not-So-Good:
- Time tracking is basic—don’t expect advanced utilization analytics.
- Adoption is hit-or-miss; people forget to log time unless you make it mandatory.
6. Integrations
The Good:
- Connects with Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Google Workspace, and a handful of others.
- API available if you want to build your own connections.
The Not-So-Good:
- Integrations can be shallow, especially with CRMs—expect some manual work during setup.
- No Zapier yet, which is odd for a modern SaaS tool.
Ignore: Hype about “seamless integrations.” Always test with your own stack.
Pricing: Transparent Enough, but Not Cheap
Rocketlane offers three main plans (prices as of mid-2024):
- Professional: Starts at $19 per user/month (billed annually). Gets you core project management, customer portal, templates, and basic reporting.
- Premium: Starts at $49 per user/month. Adds automations, advanced reporting, resource management, and more integrations.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. Offers SSO, audit logs, custom roles, and premium support.
What’s honest:
- You’ll probably need Premium if you want automation and more than a handful of integrations.
- No per-project pricing—everything is per user. For small onboarding teams, costs add up fast.
What’s missing:
- No free plan, just a 21-day trial.
- Some features (like advanced automations) are locked behind higher tiers.
Pro tip: Ask for a discount if you’re a startup or have a larger team. Rocketlane will negotiate.
User Experience: What It’s Like Day-to-Day
The Good:
- Clean, modern UI—most folks can figure it out in an afternoon.
- Onboarding new team members is quick; no one’s lost in menus.
- The customer portal keeps clients in the loop (if they use it).
The Not-So-Good:
- There’s a lot going on. If your workflow is simple, it can feel like overkill.
- Occasional bugs—especially with automations and integrations. Support is responsive, but you’ll have to reach out.
- Mobile experience is okay, not great. Most work happens on desktop.
What gets ignored:
- Rocketlane markets itself as “frictionless.” In reality, there’s always some friction with process changes—plan for a learning curve.
What Sets Rocketlane Apart (And Where It Falls Short)
Where it shines:
- If your onboarding process is well-defined and repeatable, Rocketlane can genuinely cut down on chaos.
- The customer portal is cleaner than most competitors—clients see exactly what’s next.
Where it stumbles:
- Not great for teams with lots of ad hoc or custom onboarding steps.
- Can’t replace your CRM or support system—this is for project delivery, not the entire customer journey.
- If you don’t have buy-in from both your team and your customers, adoption will be tough.
Alternatives worth a look:
- GuideCX: Similar onboarding focus, a bit pricier, but stronger client-side automation.
- Asana/Trello/ClickUp: More flexible, but you’ll have to hack together your own onboarding processes.
- Monday.com: Offers onboarding templates, but not as customer-facing as Rocketlane.
Who Should Actually Use Rocketlane?
- Great fit: SaaS companies with repeatable onboarding, multiple team members, and a need to keep customers in the loop.
- Decent fit: Agencies or consultancies doing lots of client projects with similar workflows.
- Not a fit: Teams with one-off, highly-custom implementations, or those who just need a light task tracker.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Rocketlane isn’t a magic bullet, but it’s one of the better options for B2B onboarding teams who are tired of spreadsheet chaos. If you’re ready to invest a few weeks in setup—and you actually have a process to templatize—it can save you time and reduce confusion for everyone involved.
Don’t overthink it. Start by mapping your current onboarding, build a basic template, and see what breaks. Tweak as you go. No software will fix a bad process, but the right tool can make a good process a whole lot easier.
If you’re on the fence, try the 21-day trial with a real customer. You’ll know pretty quickly if Rocketlane is a fit—or if you’re better off with a simpler (and cheaper) setup.