Top Tools at a Glance
Best for Fast, template-driven proposals | User Review "Effortless E-Signing and Document Sharing with Pandadoc"  KH Kat H. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) | ||
Best for | User Review "Automates Sales with Easy Integrations" KG Kaif G.
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 Sponsored You’re seeing this ad based on the product’s relevance to this page. Sponsored content does not receive preferential treatment in any of G2’s ratings. BoldSign | Product Description This description is provided by the seller. BoldSign is an easy-to-use and secure electronic signature solution. With BoldSign you can quickly sign documents or send them out for signature, complete contracts, fill out forms, approve... | Try for Free | |
Best for Interactive, web-style proposals | User Review "Effortless Drag and Drop Makes Workflow a Breeze"  C Verified User Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) | ||
Best for High-volume RFP and questionnaire responses | User Review "AI Assistant Boosts RFP Response Efficiency" IS Ilias S.
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Best for Centralized RFP content management | User Review "very useful" A Verified User Enterprise (> 1000 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 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 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 "Streamlined Quoting with Powerful Automation - OCPQ" HT Harish T. 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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You’re seeing this ad based on the product’s relevance to this page. Sponsored content does not receive preferential treatment in any of G2’s ratings.
This description is provided by the seller.
BoldSign is an easy-to-use and secure electronic signature solution. With BoldSign you can quickly sign documents or send them out for signature, complete contracts, fill out forms, approve...
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 love the ease of use of PandaDoc, finding it user-friendly and efficient for managing signatures and documents.
Users love the easy document management of PandaDoc, benefiting from its user-friendly interface and seamless CRM integration.
Users love the easy mailing options of PandaDoc, making template management and document sending effortless and efficient.
Users find signature issues with PandaDoc, particularly regarding personal signature usage and mobile interface difficulties.
Users find the expensive pricing of PandaDoc limits access to useful features and functionality.
Users mention a need for missing features like advanced calculation tables to enhance usability and efficiency.
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 responsive customer support of DealHub.io, noting its speed and thoroughness in resolving issues.
Users commend the ease of use of DealHub.io, appreciating its intuitive interface and quick implementation process.
Users highlight the time-saving features of DealHub.io, enhancing focus on closing deals and improving sales efficiency.
Users find the steep learning curve of DealHub.io challenging initially, but support helps ease the process.
Users find limited customization options challenging, often needing workarounds or external support for advanced features.
Users find a steep learning curve with DealHub.io, making initial setup and customization time-consuming and complex.
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 Qwilr, finding it fast and intuitive for creating professional proposals.
Users find Qwilr's simplicity in creating proposals extremely helpful, enhancing both efficiency and presentation quality.
Users commend the exceptional customer support of Qwilr, noting quick responses and helpful solutions whenever needed.
Users find Qwilr's limited customization options restrictive, hindering branding flexibility and causing layout issues during exports.
Users face missing features like limited functionalities and challenges with document sign-offs and email customization.
Users note limited functionalities and seek more formatting options to enhance their experience with Qwilr.
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, finding it intuitive and effective for daily tasks and collaboration.
Users appreciate the powerful project creation and answer library, benefiting from innovative features and excellent support.
Users highlight the efficiency of Responsive, revolutionizing RFI management and significantly reducing response times.
Users find the learning curve steep, often feeling overwhelmed by the platform's many features and options.
Users find the interface unintuitive, making it challenging to navigate and locate content effectively.
Users express disappointment about missing features like personalized settings and comprehensive Q&A views, impacting their overall experience.
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 Loopio, enhancing efficiency and streamlining responses to assessments effortlessly.
Users value Loopio's time-saving features, enhancing efficiency through easy access to centralized information and quick responses.
Users value the efficiency of Loopio, thanks to its AI capabilities and user-friendly search for quick access to information.
Users note that Loopio has missing features like time tracking and refinements for high-level enterprise RFXs.
Users face significant limitations with Loopio, including search issues and challenges with content import and maintenance.
Users face limited features in Loopio, struggling with customization and document structuring for diverse client needs.
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, streamlining proposal creation and enhancing client engagement effortlessly.
Users love the sleek, customizable templates of Proposify, streamlining proposal creation and elevating professionalism effortlessly.
Users appreciate the easy creation of proposals with Proposify, thanks to its numerous customizable templates.
Users find the difficult editing process in Proposify frustrating, as it lacks intuitiveness and user-friendliness.
Users find the limited customization options in Proposify restrict their ability to create tailored proposals effectively.
Users often face editing difficulties with Proposify, notably in text formatting and table management, which can be frustrating.
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 Anchor for its time-saving capabilities, allowing quick proposal creation and efficient client service management.
Users enjoy Anchor's user-friendly interface, simplifying proposal creation and enhancing overall workflow efficiency.
Users love the automation capabilities of Anchor, enabling quick proposals and seamless billing management without hassle.
Users express frustration with payment issues, wishing for faster invoice payments and simpler integration processes.
Users face a lack of attention to manually charged invoices, leading to missed approvals and potential delays.
Users are frustrated by the absence of essential features like refund processing and mobile invoicing capabilities in Anchor.
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 enjoy the great ease of use of GetAccept, with no complaints about functionality from their team.
Users value the exceptional customer support from GetAccept, appreciating quick and accurate responses to their queries.
Users value the exceptional customer support of GetAccept, consistently impressed by its responsiveness and helpfulness.
Users note the missing features like PDF conversion and branding options, which are important for their needs.
Users find limited customization frustrating, as it forces duplication of contracts and complicates document management.
Users find difficult editing in GetAccept's quote templates challenging, but customer service provides speedy 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 appreciate the ease of use of Oracle CPQ, enabling seamless processing of daily tasks with user-friendly features.
Users value the sales efficiency of Oracle CPQ, streamlining quoting processes and enhancing deal closure speed.
Users value the time-saving features of Oracle CPQ, which streamline quoting processes and enhance deal closures.
Users find the complexity of configuration and customization challenging, especially for those new to CPQ systems.
Users find the setup process complex, needing significant time and expertise for configuration and customization.
Users struggle with the steep learning curve of Oracle CPQ, making it difficult to navigate and utilize effectively.
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 interface incredibly easy to use, significantly enhancing client-friendly tech experiences and proposal creation.
Users appreciate the top-notch customer support of Ignition, enhancing their experience through prompt assistance and guided resources.
Users love the easy setup of Ignition, streamlining client onboarding and enhancing overall efficiency in proposals and payments.
Users find Ignition to be expensive, noting the cost compared to previous free services and competitors.
Users experience a notable learning curve initially, particularly with setups, though improvements are gradually being made.
Users feel restricted by the limited customization options in Ignition, affecting the design of their proposals.
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 DocSend to be easy to use, enhancing their document sharing with secure and efficient tools.
Users appreciate the secure document sharing capabilities of DocSend, ensuring accountability and professionalism in every transaction.
Users value DocSend's secure document tracking and comprehensive features, enhancing collaboration and efficiency in their workflows.
Users find the pricing to be expensive, especially for small teams and those not in startup programs.
Users find the lack of features challenging, especially regarding configuration and the limitations of lower-tier plans.
Users find limited features in DocSend packages relative to cost, making it less ideal for smaller teams.
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 and seamless data generation of Conga Composer, enhancing daily productivity.
Users praise Conga Composer for its easy-to-use interface, making document management and customization effortless.
Users value the time-saving capabilities of Conga Composer, significantly reducing lengthy contract signing sessions.
Users note a steep learning curve with Conga Composer, especially for complex tasks and mastering merge syntax.
Users face a steep learning curve with Conga Composer, especially when implementing complex features and logic.
Users find the limited template flexibility of Conga Composer problematic, especially with large documents and UI challenges.
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 RELAYTO's interface intuitive and easy to use, streamlining the creation of interactive documents effortlessly.
Users love how RELAYTO offers seamless integration of AI and visuals, enhancing document presentation for modern needs.
Users appreciate the high quality and user-friendly features of RELAYTO, enhancing their document customization and workflow efficiency.
Users find the learning curve challenging, but with practice and support, mastering RELAYTO becomes worthwhile.
Users find the learning difficulty of RELAYTO challenging initially, yet support aids in overcoming the hurdle effectively.
Users find the steep learning curve of RELAYTO challenging initially, but it becomes manageable with practice and support.
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 Conga CLM to be extremely easy to use, facilitating efficient contract management and negotiations.
Users value the efficiency of Conga CLM, benefiting from streamlined contract management and improved processing speed.
Users appreciate the comprehensive and adaptable features of Conga CLM, enhancing contract management processes effectively.
Users often face a steep learning curve with Conga CLM, finding its extensive features initially overwhelming and complex.
Users face a steep learning curve with Conga CLM, often finding the setup and features overwhelming.
Users find the time-consuming processes in Conga CLM frustrating, especially during document generation and configuration.
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 praise the flexibility and customizability of ConnectWise CPQ, enhancing their quoting efficiency and automation.
Users appreciate the responsive customer support of ConnectWise CPQ, enhancing their overall experience and reliability.
Users love the flexibility and customizability of ConnectWise CPQ, enhancing their quoting process with ease.
Users find the difficult editing in ConnectWise CPQ frustrating, hindering efficient document formatting and modifications.
Users experience numerous bug issues with ConnectWise CPQ, leading to frustration and inefficiencies in their workflow.
Users find the setup process complex and overwhelming, often recommending consulting expertise for better navigation.
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.
