Custellence Alternative

Key differences

Both platforms are strong choices for journey management. Here's a quick summary of key differences:

Getting started: Smaply publishes all pricing on its website and offers self-serve upgrade with a credit card; Cemantica does not publish pricing for paid tiers and requires a sales conversation to access them.

Prioritization: Smaply provides three portfolio views with customizable scoring dimensions and portfolio types; Cemantica uses a Cost/Benefit matrix with fixed scoring criteria.

Collaboration: Smaply offers three-level permissions (account, workspace, journey) with filtered view sharing via URL; Cemantica provides workspace-based access with export-only external sharing.

Research approach: Smaply's Research Hub is built for qualitative synthesis with a dedicated curation space; Cemantica focuses on quantitative VoC data integration with real-time streaming from extensive connectors.

Read on to learn which best suits your needs.

Quick comparison

Getting started and adoption

How you evaluate and adopt a tool matters as much as what it does. Smaply publishes all pricing on its website, offers a functional free plan (10 maps, 10 personas, core integrations), and lets teams self-serve upgrade with a credit card at any time. Month-to-month billing is available on all plans. When teams need volume discounts or enterprise procurement, sales support is there, but it is never required.

Cemantica offers a Free Trial with core mapping and persona features, but it does not include access to the Integration Center, user management, or SSO. Pricing for paid tiers is not published on the website; teams must book a demo or engage sales to learn cost.

With Smaply, a team can start mapping, connect Jira or Google Analytics, and prove value to stakeholders before any budget conversation. Smaply starts at $38/editor/month (annual) with unlimited journeys on all paid plans. For teams that want to prove value before committing budget, Smaply's self-serve path removes friction at every stage.

Portfolio management and prioritization

Journey management requires turning insights into prioritized work. Smaply provides three purpose-built portfolio views: a Summary dashboard for leadership (activity trends, status distribution), a Table view for operational teams (link counts, cross-journey usage), and a Matrix view for collaborative prioritization (drag-and-drop rescoring on configurable axes). Portfolio items are structured entities (pain points, opportunities, solutions, plus custom types) that exist across journeys and update globally when edited. Relationship visualization shows how items connect, making prioritization logic visible. Scoring dimensions are fully customizable to match each organization's language.

Cemantica's Opportunity Module routes pain points and opportunities into a Cost/Benefit prioritization matrix, with multiple time horizons for planning (quick wins through long-term). This is a solid framework. However, Cemantica's scoring uses fixed criteria, and deeper task management relies on external tools. Smaply's planning cards display live delivery status from Jira, Asana, and others directly within journey maps, keeping the full chain visible in one place.

Collaboration, sharing, and organizational fit

Journey management tools need to fit into how organizations communicate. Smaply offers granular permissions at three levels (account, workspace, individual journey), so teams share specific journeys with specific stakeholders without exposing a full workspace. Contextual comments on individual cards keep feedback focused. Viewers can comment without edit access, making stakeholder review safe. Filtered views shared via URL tailor what each audience sees. Custom branding applies throughout the editors and exports. G2 rates Smaply's Quality of Support at 10.0/10.

Cemantica provides workspace-based collaboration with a Comments Center for centralized notifications. Multi-language platform support (five languages) is a genuine strength for global deployments. However, external sharing appears limited to file export (PDF, Excel, image), and workspaces are limited to two on the Free Trial and Expert tiers. Smaply offers multiple workspaces from the Repository plan and scales to unlimited on Governance.

Journey mapping and integrations

Smaply's journey maps function as connected hubs. Portfolio item cards display customer quotes from the Research Hub. Planning cards show live delivery status from Jira, Asana, and Azure DevOps. Metrics cards pull data from Google Analytics, Power BI, and Qualtrics. Embed cards bring in designs from Figma, boards from Miro, and documents from Google and Microsoft ecosystems. Filters, saved views, and persona filtering let teams create different perspectives on the same journey. The mapping surface is intuitive and creates polished output.

Cemantica's mapping strength is real-time VoC data overlay, streaming customer sentiment into maps from extensive connectors. For teams whose primary data input is survey feedback, this is valuable. However, Cemantica has no documented integrations with design tools (Figma, Miro), and its full integration catalog is only available as a downloadable PDF brochure. Smaply covers more integration categories and makes integrations accessible from the free plan. Cemantica gates integration access behind the Expert tier, where pricing is not published.

Journey management, research, and AI

Cemantica and Smaply take different approaches to journey hierarchy. Cemantica prescribes an L0/L1/L2 framework with 7 CX-specific scoring criteria and a classification system (Mainstream, VIP, Growth, Challenge). For organizations that want a ready-made CX methodology, this reduces setup decisions. Cemantica also offers consulting services (CX maturity assessments, CCXP certification) to support guided adoption. Smaply gives teams the flexibility to define their own hierarchy conventions, naming, and scoring dimensions. Journey Coordinator assigns ownership, and Journey Performance Indicator tracks each journey's health.

On research, Smaply's Research Hub is purpose-built for qualitative synthesis: upload transcripts and notes, extract quotes with AI, organize insights, then convert to portfolio items or merge with existing ones. Full traceability is maintained from source to journey map. Cemantica excels at quantitative VoC integration, with real-time sentiment streaming and multilingual sentiment analysis validated by Forrester.

On AI, both platforms accelerate CX workflows. Cemantica's Alex AI spans personas, mapping, pain point detection, ideation, and financial impact analysis. Smaply's AI focuses on a human-in-the-loop workflow with a dedicated synthesis space where teams review and curate before anything enters maps or portfolio. Both platforms hold ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications and are GDPR-compliant European companies.

Pricing

Smaply offers published, transparent pricing on its website. Plans range from a functional free plan through Repository ($38/editor/month annual), Framework ($67/editor/month annual), and Governance ($96/editor/month annual). All paid plans include unlimited journeys. Teams can self-serve upgrade or engage sales for enterprise procurement with volume discounts.

Cemantica offers a Free Trial, Expert, and Enterprise tier. Pricing for Expert and Enterprise is not published on the website. Cemantica states pricing is per user and not by map count. A third-party listing indicates a starting price of $24/month per user, though this is not confirmed on Cemantica's own website.

Pricing subject to change. Check vendor websites for current details.

How to choose

Smaply is the better fit if:

• You want to evaluate and adopt journey management without a required sales conversation
• You need transparent, published pricing so you can compare options independently
• You want customizable scoring dimensions and portfolio types that adapt to your organization's language
• You need granular sharing with filtered views, custom branding, and stakeholder-safe viewer roles
• Your team's primary research input is qualitative (interviews, workshops, user research)

Cemantica may be better if:

• Your organization wants a prescriptive CX methodology with a ready-made L0/L1/L2 framework and fixed scoring criteria
• You need consulting services (CX maturity assessments, CCXP certification) alongside the platform
• Your primary data input is quantitative VoC survey feedback and you need multilingual sentiment analysis
• You prefer a sales-guided evaluation process with structured proof of concept

Want to explore Smaply further?

If Smaply feels like a better fit for your approach to journey management, try it free or talk to our team about your needs.

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