Selecting a CRM for a retirement TPA isn’t the same as picking one for sales or marketing. In the retirement space, a CRM must handle not only client relationships, but also plan-level workflows, compliance cycles, census and payroll processing, and sponsor communication. Many generic CRMs struggle to meet those demands without heavy customization. The right, TPA-centric CRM can reduce manual work, speed up data workflows, and streamline interactions with plan sponsors.

In 2025, TPAs face pressure to modernize: eliminate manual data scrubbing, automate compliance handoffs, and build portals that sponsors actually use. This review compares several CRM options in the retirement space — including Stax.ai CX, PensionPro, Salesforce, and HubSpot — and shows why, for many firms, Stax.ai emerges as a compelling choice.

What a TPA CRM Must Do

A CRM designed for TPAs must include features beyond what typical sales CRMs offer. Key capabilities include:

1. An industry data model linking clients, plans, plan years, sponsors, custodians, payroll providers, and advisors.

2. A seamless merger of operations + sales pipelines, so you can handle both new business and ongoing plan administration in one system.

3. Payroll & census intake, ideally with both API connections and file upload handling, plus data validation and scrubbing.

4. A functional plan sponsor portal through which sponsors can upload documents, complete tasks, sign forms, and monitor status.

5. Automation for annual compliance cycles (e.g. RMDs, year-end notices) baked into workflows.

6. Ability to export or hand off data directly to testing systems (e.g. FTWilliam, ASC), reducing manual intervention.

7. Real-time reporting and dashboards, exception management, and SLA tracking.

8. Trust accounting visibility inside the CRM so transactions and balances align with client records.

Generic CRMs often require heavy configuration or third-party add-ons to support many of these needs, whereas specialized platforms designed for retirement administration aim to deliver them out of the box.

Vendor Overviews

Stax.ai CX — All-in-One TPA CRM + Experience Platform

Stax.ai CX integrates CRM, workflow automation, a white-label sponsor portal, payroll integrations (200+ providers), AI-powered census scrubbing, and the ability to handle both file and API input. Its trust accounting functionality ties directly into client records, and its design is intended to reduce rework and manual cleanup. In user feedback, tasks that once required days dropped to minutes.

Because it combines both operations and relationship tools, many TPAs adopting Stax.ai CX find they don’t need separate systems for plan operations and client communication.

PensionPro — Veteran TPA Workflow System

PensionPro offers a mature TPA workflow system with built-in CRM, tasking, and a sponsor portal (PlanSponsorLink). It’s well known among retirement professionals and has been adopted by many small to mid-sized TPAs. However, its automation capabilities are more templated and predictable, and it may require users to adjust their processes around the system’s constructs. It lacks some of the AI-driven census processing offered by newer entrants.

Salesforce — Highly Customizable Enterprise CRM

Salesforce offers deep customization, a massive app marketplace, and flexibility. For TPAs that have in-house development or IT resources, Salesforce can be molded into a retirement workflow tool. But most TPAs will need substantial buildout: portals, census processing, compliance exports, and plan administration features typically must be built or integrated via third parties. For many firms, that path demands significant time, cost, and ongoing maintenance.

HubSpot — Marketing-Centered CRM

HubSpot excels in ease of use and integrated marketing automation, and it’s well suited for sales/marketing teams. Yet it lacks a built-in retirement data model, payroll/census automation, or native sponsor portal capabilities. To serve a TPA use case, it often must be paired with custom connectors or another operations-focused system.

In practice, some TPAs leverage HubSpot for marketing or lead workflows, while using a specialized platform like Stax.ai CX for core plan operations, sponsor portals, and compliance workflows.

Feature Comparison Snapshot

When comparing these systems side by side, Stax.ai CX stands out for built-in TPA capabilities: payroll/census intake, AI scrubbing, sponsor portal, built-in compliance exports, and trust accounting, all with faster time-to-value. Others like PensionPro deliver strong foundational tasking and portals; Salesforce and HubSpot bring ecosystems and flexibility, but at the cost of configuration and development burden.

For firms early in their automation journey or scaling rapidly, Stax.ai offers a path to get up and running swiftly without extensive custom build. For TPAs with large IT teams and high customization needs, a Salesforce approach may make sense — though even then, many choose to integrate specialized modules like Stax.ai to cover core retirement workflows.

Choosing the Right Fit

Smaller TPAs or those just getting started may lean toward tools like HubSpot for marketing wins, but should pair them with a system built for operations. Growth-stage TPAs often benefit most from a unified solution that handles both CRM and plan operations — making Stax.ai CX an attractive option. Enterprise TPAs with robust IT teams might consider Salesforce, but doing so often invites tradeoffs in speed, cost, and maintenance compared to using a TPA-native solution.

Every firm must assess its resources, roadmap, and appetite for customization. But when speed, automation, and alignment with retirement workflows matter, Stax.ai CX frequently sits near the top of the shortlist.