Best proposal management software

Proposify is a cloud-based proposal software designed to create business proposals for businesses through various tools and templates. They have a content library and a drag-and-drop feature that lets you choose between case studies, sections, and fees. Suited for web design companies and startups, Proposify aims to streamline the proposal process and automate tasks for sales and marketing teams. Best for solo entrepreneurs and freelancers.

Prospero is a cloud-based proposal creation software that helps users create simple yet professional-looking business proposals in a matter of minutes.

They offer plenty of templates that their users can edit and populate with their own branding material. Prospero allows you to send your proposals directly to clients. It also comes with eSignature capabilities and various integrations to streamline the sales process.

Best for nonprofits. Bidsketch is a professional proposal creation software that lets you create effective business proposals while giving you the means to send them out to clients. With dozens of ready-made templates, you can engage potential clients through electronic proposals and landing pages. Choosing the best online proposal software from the get-go is important because it saves time and unnecessary migration expenses. To make your decision a little easier, we narrowed down the four most important factors to consider when choosing a provider.

Ultimately, you need to be comfortable with the user interface and software. Fortunately, getting a taste isn't very difficult. All of the top providers offer some type of free trial. We typically recommend setting up an account with at least 2 or 3 solutions that you are considering. This will give you backend access where you can start to test out different features. Is the proposal editor easy to use? Can you easily import contacts and templates?

How difficult is it to customize a template with your branding and content? These are things that you can easily test in a few minutes before making the commitment to a paid monthly or annual subscription. Chances are, your business uses a myriad of other programs and third-party applications to handle your business needs. Your proposal workflows should not be mutually exclusive from those tools.

They should be integrated to automate redundant processes and increase overall efficiency. Determine if you need to connect your proposal software with Salesforce, Slack, MailChimp, or another application. Then, browse the apps and integrations pages.

While all proposal software solutions typically come with a robust API, you can save yourself some development hours and dollars by using pre-built integrations. More integrations are usually a good sign and show that the software company is committed to continued development and support. Many online proposal software solutions cater to specific industries and niches.

A lot of them were developed to support the demand for digital services like web development and marketing. Others, however, have existing client bases and expertise in industries like construction, education, financial services, and healthcare. This is extremely helpful when building out legal sections like the scope of work and agreement. Browse template galleries to find a provider that has a wide variety of different assets. The less you can reinvent the wheel the better.

The best providers give you the ability to bootstrap and piece-meal together a template quickly so you don't have to get bogged down with custom design and development. Finding proposal software that offers scalable plans is important, especially for larger sales teams and fast-growing businesses. Most of the proposal software solutions come with a cap on the number of user seats and open proposals that you can have out on the street. This can be cost-prohibitive for businesses that send a large number of proposals.

Though you can work around this by setting up a process to archive open proposals after a certain period of time. Scalability also relates to the types of documents that you want to send.

You might think that the Free plan might be a solution but, not only does this plan only allow for one user, it also limits you to five active proposals at a time. User review: Josh R. As a salesperson, there are few things better than knowing a potential client is viewing your proposal. Proposable is a proposal automation software solution that allows you to easily create and send proposals, as well as collect payments and eSignatures.

In many ways, Proposable is nothing to get too excited about since you get all the standard things you get with any proposal software: templates, document analytics, a simple editor, and payment collection features. There are no fancy colors, complicated tabs, or confusing menus. You can edit templates easily and save everything you need for later use, including your pricing catalog. The process to create a fully customized quote is quite fast and easy, and you can easily customize each one to be most relevant to your products and pricing structures.

Bidsketch is a proposal management tool that promises to cut your proposal time in half with its templates and an interactive interface. You can reuse everything from pricing tables to content and design. And, if you want to create a highly visual proposal, the tool allows you to embed all the images and videos you need, as well as provide links for any additional material.

One thing that might separate Bidsketch from some other entries on the list is the Landing pages feature. You can give your potential clients an entire landing page to view, comment on, and approve their proposal in a few moments. Bidsketch also adds another element to your proposal process: the next steps. With Bidsketch, your clients can see an instant message outlining the exact next steps they need to take as soon as they sign the proposal.

One area where Bidsketch falls short is integrations. The product is well thought out and constructed and impressive when clients see that it is being used. Qwilr takes a slightly different approach when it comes to creating and sending proposals and other sales documents. You can create an immersive experience for your future clients and embed almost any kind of content on the page — Google Maps, calendars, Typeform, etc.

Pricing models are also interactive so your prospects can choose the pricing plan that fits their expectations. However, this innovative approach to proposals comes at a price. Unfortunately, a lot of small businesses will just need a simple PDF solution rather than sending an immersive web experience to each client.

User review: Terry M. I add new sections almost every time I create a proposal and they are very easy to use over and over. My one knock is that there is not a lot of text editing ability. For example, adding bullet points has to be done outside the program and pasted in. Nusii is a simple proposal solution that takes care of the basics really well. Simply insert a variable name, business name, address, etc. A big knock against Nusii, on the other hand, is the lack of editing capabilities, especially when it comes to text editing.

User review: David N. Right off the bat, Prospero is obviously the most cost-effective entry on this list. There is only one pricing plan and it includes all the features available. And, what you get for this price is nothing to scoff at — you get access to lots of well-designed templates, everything is customizable, and the platform even supports many languages and currencies, which is great news for non-U.

The tools below are in no particular order. PandaDoc is a robust and sophisticated tool that enables you to build proposals, interactive quotes, contracts, and more.

The freemium version allows you to upload, create, send, track and e-sign documents, and collect payments. You can upgrade to a paid plan to unlock more features. Some integrations are available only for paid accounts. It also offers online support. Better Proposals is a simple-to-use proposal builder with features like automatic formatting, contact management, collaboration, e-signature capabilities, pipeline management, and more.

Its ready-made templates and drag-and-drop tools make creating professional-looking proposals easy. Predesigned templates include proposals, quotes, contracts, statements of work, and online brochures. Better Proposals offers dozens of integrations via Zapier. Prospero offers more than 30 proposal templates geared to different niches such as photography, graphic design, and writing. You can edit and customize templates with your own branding, including logos, images, and videos.

Prospero features e-signature capabilities, the ability to send a proposal directly to clients, and various integrations, such as Stripe, FreshBooks, QuickBooks, and others. Proposify offers customizable and pre-made proposal templates. Templates are organized by component, allowing you to add sections like overview and goals, team bios, scope of work, and more.

Support is available via phone during business hours as well as online. HoneyBook is a customer relationship management CRM tool that allows you to create proposals — and a whole lot more. You can also use it to manage projects, book clients, sign contracts, send invoices, and accept payments. Because the proposal function brings invoicing, contracts, and payment together, your clients will enjoy a more seamless, professional proposal experience, and that could lead to more closed deals.

You can also create quotes, invoices, and purchase orders, plus build reports and manage databases. QuoteWerks offers plus integrations with other tools, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Outlook, Gmail, QuickBooks, more than 10 payment gateways, and many, many more. Audience: Most industries and companies of all sizes; common users include IT solution providers, manufacturers, value-added resellers VARs , and managed service providers.

Jotform is a simple and stress-free solution for creating proposals.