Top Tools at a Glance
Best for Fast, template-driven proposals | User Review "Exceptionally User-Friendly and Easy to Use" DH David H. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) | ||
Best for All-in-one proposal + CPQ automation | User Review "Automates Sales with Easy Integrations"  KG Kaif G.
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Best for Interactive, web-style proposals | User Review "Effortless Integration, Intuitive Usage" OM Olivia M. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) | ||
Best for High-volume RFP and questionnaire responses | User Review "Essential Collaboration Tool for Streamlined Responses"  U Verified User Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) | ||
Best for Centralized RFP content management | User Review "very useful" A Verified User Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) | ||
Best for Services proposals with recurring pricing | User Review "Effortless Proposals and Agreements with Smart Pricing Features" A Verified User Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) | ||
Best for Team-scaled proposal consistency | User Review "Excellent Data Security and Compliance Focus" PK Pramod K. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) | ||
Best for Proposal delivery with sales engagement | User Review "Excellent Tool for Music Admissions Teams" A Verified User Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) | ||
Best for Complex configuration and pricing proposals | User Review "Effortless Simplicity and Smooth Navigation" U Verified User Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) | ||
Best for Proposal-to-billing automation for service firms | User Review "Transforms Client Engagements with Ease" DV Danielle V.
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All-in-one proposal + CPQ automation
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High-volume RFP and questionnaire responses
Complex configuration and pricing proposals
Buyer's Guide: Proposal
Read Buyer Guide in Detail
All Proposal Tools
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the ease of use in PandaDoc, finding document updates and signature collection straightforward and efficient.
Users value the user-friendly document management in PandaDoc, noting ease of updates and seamless integration.
Users love the simplicity and ease of use with PandaDoc, making document management quick and efficient.
Users struggle with signature setup issues, finding it not obvious and facing challenges on mobile devices.
Users find PandaDoc to be expensive, especially when essential features require additional payments, limiting its practicality.
Users desire additional features in PandaDoc, noting the absence of key functionalities that would enhance usability.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the responsive support team of DealHub.io, noting their thorough assistance and fast implementation process.
Users value the ease of use of DealHub.io, which simplifies complex configurations and enhances collaboration.
Users value DealHub.io for its time-saving features, enhancing efficiency and focus on closing deals successfully.
Users find the learning curve challenging, especially when mastering extensive features and customization options initially.
Users find limited customization options frustrating, often requiring external support for advanced features and adjustments.
Users find the steep learning curve challenging, especially during setup and customization, which can slow down productivity.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users love the ease of use of Qwilr, appreciating its intuitive interface and professional proposal appearance.
Users find Qwilr's effortless proposal creation exceptional, highlighting its simplicity and interactive features for effective presentations.
Users value the exceptional customer support from Qwilr, receiving quick and helpful responses when needed.
Users feel that Qwilr offers limited customization, making it tough to fully align with branding needs.
Users report missing features in Qwilr, such as limited functionalities and challenges with document customization.
Users note the limited functionalities of Qwilr, expressing a desire for more formatting options in future updates.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of Responsive, highlighting its intuitive design and effective integration for seamless collaboration.
Users appreciate the powerful project creation and versatile answer library, enhancing ease of use and supporting daily tasks.
Users value the efficiency of Responsive, allowing tasks that took days to be completed in hours or less.
Users find the learning curve steep, making it challenging for new users to navigate and utilize all features effectively.
Users find the interface not intuitive, making navigation and locating content challenging for new users.
Users feel the missing features hinder customization and efficient use, complicating their experience with Responsive.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Loopio to be extremely easy to use, enhancing efficiency with its intuitive features and centralized access.
Users value the time-saving features of Loopio, enabling quicker access to essential information and efficient proposal management.
Users appreciate the efficiency of Loopio, boosting speed and accessibility for managing proposal content effectively.
Users find the missing features in Loopio to hinder efficiency and complicate project management and collaboration.
Users face limitations in bulk editing and importing responses, which complicates the efficiency of Loopio.
Users face limited features in Loopio, hindering flexibility in handling complex document structures and customization.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users love how Anchor provides time-saving solutions, drastically reducing the time taken to create and send proposals.
Users appreciate the user-friendly interface of Anchor, making proposal creation and payment collection enjoyable and efficient.
Users appreciate the automation capabilities of Anchor, enabling quick proposal sending and effortless billing management.
Users express frustration with payment issues, particularly regarding slow invoice payments and problematic account verification with Plaid.
Users highlight processing delays in invoice approvals, which can lead to missed payments from clients amid improved settlement times.
Users are disappointed with the lack of essential features, seeking improvements like mobile access and refund options.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users love the ease of use with Proposify, making proposal creation and tracking effortless and efficient.
Users love the customizable templates of Proposify, making proposal creation quick, professional, and enjoyable.
Users love the easy creation of proposals with Proposify, thanks to its numerous templates and user-friendly design.
Users find the difficult editing process in Proposify frustrating, impacting document creation and overall user experience.
Users find limited customization in Proposify's proposal builder, making it difficult to tailor proposals effectively.
Users face editing difficulties with Proposify, experiencing frustrating formatting issues and glitches, especially with tables.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of GetAccept, reporting a seamless experience with no complaints from their team.
Users praise the amazing customer support of GetAccept, highlighting quick and effective assistance whenever needed.
Users value the exceptional customer support of GetAccept, appreciating quick responses and genuine investment in their success.
Users feel the absence of essential features like PDF conversion and branding options impacts their experience with GetAccept.
Users express frustration over limited customization, as it complicates document changes and creates unnecessary internal friction.
Users find the difficult editing process in GetAccept challenging, though customer support provides prompt assistance.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Oracle CPQ to be user-friendly, making daily tasks and report generation easy and efficient.
Users value the sales efficiency of Oracle CPQ, significantly enhancing quote accuracy and enabling faster deal closures.
Users benefit from the time-saving capabilities of Oracle CPQ, streamlining tasks and enhancing overall efficiency.
Users find the configuration complexity of Oracle CPQ challenging, particularly for those without prior CPQ experience.
Users find the setup and customization complex, especially for those lacking prior CPQ experience, requiring significant time and expertise.
Users find the steep learning curve of Oracle CPQ challenging, making it difficult to master the system efficiently.
Written by G2’s researcher using verified user reviews and product data, with no personal bias.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Ignition's ease of use exceptional, enabling efficient proposal drafting and seamless integration with client operations.
Users praise the exceptional customer support of Ignition, highlighting its helpfulness and quick chat feature for urgent inquiries.
Users love the easy setup of Ignition, allowing for seamless client onboarding and streamlined proposal management.
Users find Ignition to be expensive, especially when compared to free alternatives, but value its time-saving capabilities.
Users experience a notable learning curve during initial setup, but improvements follow with practice and familiarity.
Users find the limited customization options frustrating, especially for designing proposals to suit their aesthetics.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of DocSend, enabling efficient document sharing and enhancing collaboration effortlessly.
Users love the secure and professional document management capabilities of DocSend, enhancing accountability and teamwork.
Users love the secure document sharing and tracking features of DocSend, enhancing collaboration and efficiency in workflows.
Users find the pricing to be steep, especially for small teams or those not on a startup program.
Users find the lacking features of DocSend frustrating, especially with advanced options tied to higher-tier plans.
Users find the limited features of DocSend quite costly, especially for those not on startup programs.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the easy-to-use interface of Conga Composer, allowing seamless document creation and data management.
Users value the user-friendly document management of Conga Composer, simplifying document creation and customization effortlessly.
Users highly value the time-saving capabilities of Conga Composer, reducing lengthy contract sessions significantly.
Users find the learning curve challenging, especially for complex tasks and mastering merge syntax.
Users find the steep learning curve challenging, especially when implementing complex features and troubleshooting issues.
Users experience limited template flexibility, with occasional issues in the template builder and challenges for large documents.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find RELAYTO's interface to be extremely easy to use, enhancing their content creation experience significantly.
Users appreciate the seamless integration of AI for enhanced presentations, making content creation engaging and efficient.
Users appreciate the high quality and customization options of RELAYTO, enhancing document presentation and workflow efficiency.
Users find the learning curve challenging, yet believe the effort pays off with practice and support.
Users find the learning difficulty of RELAYTO challenging, but support helps in overcoming initial hurdles effectively.
Users find the steep learning curve of RELAYTO challenging initially, but support helps them master the tools over time.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Inventive.AI's ease of use refreshing, enabling quick document creation and efficient workflows.
Users value the time-saving capabilities of Inventive.AI, drastically reducing RFP completion time and enhancing overall efficiency.
Users commend the enhanced efficiency of Inventive.AI, significantly reducing response times and streamlining complex workflows.
Users find the reporting features lacking, expressing a need for improved customization and visibility in analytics.
Users feel the need for better control over access management, especially with role-based permissions and workflow limitations.
Users note the insufficient analytics in Inventive.AI, lacking robust reporting and integration options for better insights.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Conga CLM incredibly easy to use, streamlining contract management with efficient features and a user-friendly interface.
Users value the efficiency of Conga CLM, experiencing improved contract management and a streamlined workflow.
Users praise Conga CLM for its robust features, ease of use, and exceptional customer support.
Users find the steep learning curve of Conga CLM challenging, often feeling overwhelmed by its complex features.
Users face a steep learning curve with Conga CLM due to complex setup and overwhelming features.
Users experience time-consuming processes with Conga CLM, especially during document generation and configuration efforts.
Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings
Learn More About Proposal Software
What is Proposal Software?
Proposal software provides features that streamline the process of writing, managing, and sending business proposals. In terms of helping with proposal writing, proposal software offers simple document builder interfaces that make proposals visually appealing as well as easy to read and follow. Some businesses spend countless hours manually building proposals whereas proposal software cuts that time down by providing proposal templates as well as drag and drop features to add visually appealing pictures and content. Proposal software also comes with e-signature integrations which allow customers to promptly scan the document and find the areas where they need to sign.
In terms of helping manage proposals, proposal software generally provides analytics and notification features that can help users track how clients interact with a proposal. This allows users to see how many times a client opened, viewed, or commented on a proposal. Additionally, both the customer and the business that sends the proposal can comment in the proposal if there are any questions the client has. This allows for easy conversation to happen rather than back and forth emails.
What Types of Proposal Software Exist?
Cloud-based proposal software
Cloud products often operate under a SaaS model and are run over the internet (in the cloud). These are generally sold as a subscription and require a recurring payment, most often as monthly or yearly payments. Cloud-based proposal software offers the major advantage of real-time collaboration with the client. This way a company can share their proposal via the internet, then the client can comment in real time and the business can respond with answers. The alternative is downloading the proposal and that can require many back and forth conversations over email or a phone call
On-premise proposal software
An on-premise proposal software is often a one-time payment for a perpetual license. This type of solution is becoming less common across most software vendors as subscription models are taking over. However, for some businesses, an on-premises solution may make sense. For example, on-premises solutions give companies confidence that their servers are locked down and they don’t need to trust another company with their private data. This can make proposals more secure if the data is only being shared between the business sending and receiving the proposal.
What are the Common Features of Proposal Software?
The following are some core features within proposal software that can help users in various ways:
Document builder interface: Proposal software allows users to easily search and add features to a proposal with a document builder interface. This includes customizing the proposal with different templates, branding, and even media. This can be a huge factor in displaying a company’s value. For example, for a landscape or interior design firm, it will be extremely useful to provide videos and pictures displaying how effective their work is. This makes the proposal look clearer and more professional for other businesses.
Collaboration: Oftentimes, a proposal will need members across a variety of teams to jump in and provide expertise where it’s needed. Proposal software allows multiple users to work on the same document, which provides more visibility and support for each proposal. Users can also easily create, edit, and collaborate on supplemental documents, as well as track changes right within the proposal software.
Assembly and approval workflows: A huge benefit of proposal software is task and team management. This allows companies to automate workflows by routing documents to the correct individuals for adding content and approval.
Analytics: Proposal software provides companies with a variety of analytics tools. With engagement tracking features, teams can track who is looking at their proposal, how often, or for how long. Businesses can also use proposal effectiveness reporting. This allows users to see which pieces of content are performing the best and grants the user with custom reports and dashboards on proposal volume and acceptance. These analytics tools will help users craft more effective proposals in the future.
Other Features of Proposal Software: API Integrations, CPQ Integrations, Engagement Tracking Capabilities, Proposal Effectiveness Reporting Capabilities
What are the Benefits of Proposal Software?
Speeds up proposal time: Proposals are often a long, drawn-out process that can take months for businesses to complete. Proposal software reduces the time it takes to complete a proposal by automating plenty of repetitive tasks within the overall proposal process. This includes canned responses to familiar RFP questions, preexisting proposal templates, and automatic price quoting. These features, among others, allow businesses to spend less time on tedious tasks and focus on the overall quality of their proposal.
Improved collaboration: In addition to automation, proposal software aids in content management, team collaboration, and workflow management. With proposal software, employees can work on the document with their coworkers, assign tasks out to relevant teams, and track proposal deadlines.
Who Uses Proposal Software?
Sales teams: Sales teams are a huge part of the proposal process. They are often the ones who must effectively communicate the value of a company’s work, and in doing such, they must respond to RFPs with effective answers. Proposal software allows the sales team to collaborate in real time on a proposal, which allows everyone to add their expertise. Proposal software also allows sales teams to speed up the entire sales process by giving the requesting company the ability to sign the proposal online. Furthermore, proposal software integrates with CRM software, which houses all necessary contact information that must be included in the proposal. This helps identify key stakeholders to include in the proposal.
Marketing teams: A proposal is an important marketing tool for most businesses. Proposal software allows marketing teams to take control over branding and use customizable templates to present proposals with a clear and professional look. Proposal software offers a variety of templates that can be used to play to a company’s strengths. This includes templates that market a company’s SEO, social media, content marketing, video production, and much more.
Proposal managers: Proposal managers can use proposal software to lead team efforts during the proposal process. WIthin proposal software, proposal managers can use project management tools to assign tasks and track the progression of the proposal. This helps keep teams focused and aware of proposal completion deadlines.
What are the Alternatives to Proposal Software?
CPQ software: Configure, price, quote (CPQ) software helps companies automate the lifecycle of the quoting and proposal process, starting with the moment a customer supplies their needs in a company’s offering and ending with sending a detailed quote to the customer or prospect. This can be used as an alternative to proposal software as CPQ software offers many of the same features in addition to pricing features.
Software Related to Proposal Software
Related solutions that can be used together with proposal software include:
CRM software: Many proposal software solutions can integrate with CRM software. If a company uses a CRM, they can research proposal tools for potential integration with that CRM. Ensuring that proposal software integrates well with current systems or expanding the search to more complex systems that can manage proposals is key to choosing the right software.
CPQ software: Proposal software works hand in hand with CPQ software. When companies are crafting their proposals, they often need to send out detailed quotes in line with what they are offering. CPQ software helps companies pull accurate quotes and helps make the proposal process much smoother.
E-signature software: E-signature software gives users the ability to gather signatures on documents shared electronically, eliminating the need for physical documents to record signatures. This is a great tool to integrate with proposal software since most proposals require signatures from the requesting company
Challenges with Proposal Software
Shifting from legacy systems: Proposal software can store documents in their native format, such as Microsoft Word and Excel, PDF, or HTML. The way the existing systems of a company handle these file types, and their preferred document type, can be a potential roadblock when they transfer to using proposal software.
Which Companies Should Buy Proposal Software?
Virtually every business that has an enterprise sales team will, at one time or another, send out a proposal to another company. For this reason, proposal software can truly be utilized by businesses in nearly any industry that must tailor sales proposals to a client. While some proposal software are created for certain industries such as construction, education, healthcare, or financial services, most proposal software are industry agnostic and can be used across any industry that has an enterprise sales team.
How to Buy Proposal Software
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Proposal Software
Requirements gathering for proposal software is critical to ensure that the business is implementing a product that meets all of their needs. While some businesses are more focused on the aesthetic presentation of their proposals, other businesses might be more focused on the integration with e-signature software. Whatever a company’s requirements are it is always best to create a list of the must-have features that the business needs to consider purchasing proposal software.
Compare Proposal Software Products
Create a long list
Long lists are created by eliminating software options that do not provide critical functionality. To make a long list for proposal software, a buyer should look at the following functionalities and deem which products provide the necessary functionality:
- E-signature
- Template creation
- Media support for images, audio, and video
- Analytics
- Collaboration
- Quote management
- Contract management
- Payment integrations
- Assembly and approval workflows
Create a short list
Once a buyer has narrowed down their list from the above functionality, it’s important to prepare even more specific requirements. For example, if a company is in a certain industry, they should make sure that there is functionality that might help them create proposals for that industry. Likewise, if a company uses a certain CRM they should make sure that the proposal software integrates with that CRM.
Conduct demos
Demos are one of the most important stages in the buying journey. This allows a buyer to sit through an actual product demo and see if the product matches all of the requirements. To make sure the demo runs smoothly, users must ensure that the vendor has all of the requirements beforehand so they can showcase their features properly.
Selection of Proposal Software
Choose a selection team
The selection team for proposal software should include at least one member from the enterprise sales team, customer success team, and marketing team. These are plausibly the teams that will use proposal software most often, and as such, they should have the most input on desired features of the proposal software.
Negotiation
When negotiating during the purchasing stage, the selection team should always strive to have implementation and ongoing support fees included in the cost. This way if any ongoing support is needed then businesses can always contact their customer success or support representative.
Final decision
After the negotiation stage is conducted, the final decision requires buy-in from everyone on the selection team. It’s important to get everyone on the same page to ensure that all requirements are met and the final decision is supported by everyone involved.
What Does Proposal Software Cost?
As with any software purchase, the price of proposal software can fluctuate based on a lot of things. The first thing that will affect pricing is the number of licenses or seats that a business needs to purchase. This essentially means the number of users that have access to the software with their own logins. For proposal software, this can range anywhere from $19 per user per month up to $70 per user per month. The more seats a user wants to purchase, the more they’ll have to pay.
The reason for the wide range in pricing per seat can be based on a variety of factors. For example, some proposal software is run on a model where the user is charged based on the number of proposals they want to use per month. While the most basic plans allow users to have five active proposals at a time, the highest-priced plans generally allow users to send an unlimited number of proposals per month.
Another factor that contributes to the price of proposal software is the features included. The lowest tiered plans may include basic features such as e-signature and templated proposals, where the most expensive plans include integrations with other software, analytics, and client input forms.
Return on Investment (ROI)
Below is the breakdown of the estimated time to ROI according to the review data on G2 as of December 18, 2020:
- 55% of buyers see an ROI in 6 months or less
- 28% of buyers see an ROI in 7-12 months
- 10% of buyers see an ROI in 13-24 months
- 7% of all other buyers see an ROI from 24 months onwards
Implementation of Proposal Software
How is Proposal Software Implemented?
Implementing proposal software is generally a straightforward process. According to G2 review data as of December 18, 2020, 68% of users were able to implement and go live with proposal software in under a month. Generally, this process is broken down into a few key stages:
- Software installation
- Process review and needs analysis
- Design, configuration, and integrations
- Training
- Post-implementation support
During this process, some users may find a stall in implementation time when it comes to software integrations. Some users like to implement their proposal software with other products in their software stack including CRMs, content management systems, payment processing, and more. This can be a lengthy process so businesses must be prepared for longer implementation times if they go this route.
