Contractbook vs. Zefort: workflow automation or contract portfolio management?

Contractbook and Zefort are contract lifecycle management (CLM) platforms that help companies centralize agreements, apply AI to daily processes, and reduce manual contract work, but they are built around different priorities.

Contractbook is designed for companies that want contracts to move faster through the business, helping teams across sales, HR, operations, and finance create, sign, centralize, and automate contract workflows. Zefort, by contrast, puts more emphasis on long-term post-signature control, helping organizations turn signed agreements into structured, searchable information and maintain visibility across the contract portfolio over time.

Here’s an honest look at how Contractbook and Zefort compare across features, support, and implementation.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• A brief overview of Contractbook and Zefort
• Who each contract management solution is built for
• A side-by-side feature comparison
• The main reasons in-house legal and procurement teams choose Zefort over Contractbook

Overview: Contractbook and Zefort at a glance

Here’s a brief look at the similarities between the two platforms, along with the key differences.

Contractbook: Contract automation for operational efficiency

Contractbook is a Denmark-based CLM platform, acquired by the Swedish e-signature and digital identity provider Scrive in 2025, built to help companies manage contract work from one place.

The platform focuses on operational efficiency. Teams can create agreements from templates, collaborate, sign, store contracts, extract data with AI, set reminders, and connect contract activity to tools such as CRM, HR, finance, and workflow systems.

That makes Contractbook a strong fit for teams that want to improve operational efficiency around contracts. Its value is clearest when organizations need to standardize repeatable agreements, automate routine steps, connect contract data to business systems, and reduce manual handoffs between legal and commercial teams.

Contractbook is well rated on G2 and Capterra, with reviewers consistently praising its ease of use and customer support. At the same time, an automation-first approach may not suit every organization, especially those that need deeper customization, stricter user-role controls, or stronger governance for complex contract environments.

“It could benefit from more differentiated user roles, limiting certain users from building automation workflows for example. As an admin, I find that the default functionality for regular users gives access to unneeded functionality.”

Contractbook Capterra reviewer, Head of Product Marketing

“[Cons] Customization options. Custom options are always a huge thing for me!”

Contractbook Capterra reviewer, Owner

Zefort: AI contract management for lasting contract control

Zefort is a Finland-based AI contract management platform founded in 2017 and built for organizations that need lasting control over contracts and contract data. Rather than treating contracts primarily as workflow items, Zefort helps companies turn every agreement into structured, searchable, auditable information.

Organizations can define their own metadata model, use AI to extract the information that matters to them, centralize contracts from different sources, set reminders, manage access at a granular level, search across portfolios, and maintain a reliable system of record.

Zefort is particularly useful when contracts already exist across shared drives, inboxes, spreadsheets, or other systems and need to be brought under consistent control. European infrastructure is an additional advantage for organizations with strict requirements around data location and provider jurisdiction.

Customers highlight Zefort’s flexibility and support when managing large or complex contract portfolios:

“Zefort took a big role in the migration, which included importing thousands of contracts and metadata into the new repository. They configured the system for us and ensured we weren’t left alone at any stage. Our biggest effort in the process was preparing and cleaning the metadata – once that was done, the rest went very smoothly.”

Jani-Petri Semi, Solution Architect at Elenia

“Customer support has responded quickly, and development suggestions have been approached constructively. Regulatory requirements in the banking sector place significant demands on the product as well, and this is exactly where flexibility has been critical.”

Anne Ruuskanen, IT Manager (Supplier Relationship Management) at S-Bank

Who is each CLM built for?

Both platforms support better contract operations, but they emphasize different parts of the contract lifecycle: Contractbook focuses strongly on moving contract workflows through the business, while Zefort puts more emphasis on maintaining control and visibility after contracts are signed.

Contractbook is best for fast-moving operational teams

Contractbook is a good fit for companies that want to make contract work faster, more connected, and easier for business users. It is particularly relevant when contract management is slowing down commercial teams, sales operations, HR, finance, or customer-facing workflows.

If your main pain points are slow contract processes, disconnected business systems, repetitive manual work, and difficulty turning contracts into actionable operational data, Contractbook’s automation-first approach may be a good match. Its templates, AI-driven data extraction, workflow automation, integrations, e-signature, and centralized contract management are designed to help contracts move faster across the business.

Contractbook may be less suitable when the priority is granular access control, highly customizable contract data, or maintaining consistent oversight across large collections of existing agreements.

Zefort is best for organizations that need long-term contract oversight

Zefort is a strong fit when the priority is understanding and managing what happens after contracts are signed. It helps organizations consolidate existing agreements, structure contract data around their own requirements, and maintain visibility into obligations, key dates, ownership, access, and other contract information over time.

Its strength is combining lasting post-signature control with a relatively lightweight operating model. Teams can start by centralizing and structuring their contract portfolio, then expand metadata, workflows, integrations, and automation as their requirements evolve.

Zefort may not be the right fit if the primary need is for high-volume pre-signature contract generation for simple, repeatable agreements. But for organizations that need contractual memory, audit readiness, and operational trust, Zefort is built for the long term.

Contractbook vs. Zefort: Feature comparison

Why companies choose Zefort over Contractbook

When teams choose Zefort, it usually comes down to three things: European infrastructure and data control, greater flexibility in how contract data is structured, and more granular access management.

European infrastructure and stronger data control

Both Contractbook and Zefort support GDPR compliance, EU data hosting, and ISO 27001 certification. But only Zefort can state it’s built solely on European infrastructure. For European organizations with strong governance and compliance requirements, this distinction can be critical.

“Zefort allows managing documents with the highest level of confidentiality through a completely secure digital process, from signing to archiving.”

Anna-Mari Kettunen, Executive Assistant at A-lehdet

More flexibility in how contract data is structured

Zefort gives teams more control over how contract information is organized across the portfolio. Customers can define mandatory metadata fields, configure contract and vendor types, manage visibility rules, link related agreements, and maintain consistent records across large legacy archives.

This is especially useful when existing contracts need to be cleaned up, enriched, or brought into a common structure. It can also support frameworks such as DORA, where organizations need consistent data on ICT vendors, subcontractors, obligations, risks, and reporting fields. Zefort’s AI can extract and organize this information from existing agreements without turning every change into a separate IT project.

“When we were evaluating new tools, the most important factor was their ability to meet regulatory requirements. DORA was not the only regulatory framework to consider; requirements related to EBA and crisis management also needed to be addressed.”

Anne Ruuskanen, IT Manager (Supplier Relationship Management) at S-Bank

More granular access management

Zefort gives organizations more precise control over who can see, edit, and manage contract information. Compared with Contractbook’s more role-based permission structure, Zefort combines user roles, user groups, and binder-level access rights, allowing organizations to control access by team, contract type, business unit, or sensitivity level.

For example, companies can restrict access to HR agreements, board materials, M&A documents, or critical supplier contracts while still maintaining centralized oversight and audit-ready visibility across the wider contract portfolio.

“We wanted a system that would remove friction from daily work and ensure contracts were properly stored, searchable, and accessible to everyone who needed them.”

Jani-Petri Semi, Solution Architect at Elenia

🔑  Key takeaways

• While both platforms help companies centralize and manage contracts, Contractbook focuses more on operational speed and workflow automation, while Zefort emphasizes long-term post-signature control.
• Contractbook is a strong fit for teams that want faster contract workflows, especially across sales, HR, finance, and operations.
• Zefort is designed for organizations that need reliable oversight of signed agreements, including structured contract data, access control, obligations, key dates, and portfolio-wide visibility.
• Organizations, particularly in Europe, with complex contract portfolios may value Zefort’s flexible metadata, granular permissions, contract relationships, and European infrastructure.