Proposal software is a sales tool that streamlines the proposal drafting and sending process through customizable templates and a library of ready-made answers to requests for proposal (RFPs). The best proposal software also includes tools to promote faster turnaround, such as activity tracking, esignatures, contract management, and integrated payments. We evaluated nearly a dozen proposal software solutions and found the seven best options that’ll help your businesses win bids.
Here are the seven best proposal software:
- Freshsales: Best overall proposal software and CRM in one (21-day free trial)
- PandaDoc: Best for proposal creation and management (free starting price)
- FlippingBook: Best for tracking proposal activity and analytics (14-day free trial)
- Better Proposals: Best for interactive web-based proposals (14-day free trial)
- Venngage: Best proposal software for advanced features (free starting price)
- Qwilr: Best software option for highly visual sales proposals (14-day free trial)
- HoneyBook: Best for sending proposals and collecting payment (7-day free trial)
Per our scoring, the best proposal software is Freshsales, which also took the top spot in two of the five categories. PandaDoc ranked highly in each subcriteria and was a close second. Freshsales is robust CRM software with a proposal management add-on, so it came out on top since users can create, send, and track proposals and also link them to prospects' contact records in the CRM. Keep reading to see how all seven proposal software fared across features, annual pricing, and more.
If you only need simple slide deck software, see our article on business proposal templates, which includes a free downloadable proposal template created in Google Slides. For an esignature or contract solution, visit our guides to esignature software and contract management software.
Top 4 Proposal Software Features
The top scoring proposal software all offer features such as:
Create your own proposals from a range of premade templates to ensure originality, consistency with your brand, and overall quality.
How We Evaluated the Best Proposal Software
The best proposal software can be CRMs that offer contact and proposal management, or platforms that specialize in proposal-specific features and integrate with a CRM. To choose the top options, we determined the five main categories that make business proposal software most valuable to users, then we used a list of key subcriteria to assign every provider a score out of five. This helped us to rank the best software and identify their primary use cases. Check out our specific criteria below:
Evaluation Criteria
We prioritized the baseline features businesses need to create effective proposals along with overall costs and ease of use. We also took a look at how users can tailor each platform to suit their needs through integrations and customizable elements. User support then rounded out our scoring.
This includes monthly rates, free options (trials and/or free-for-life platforms), and any applicable payment processing fees.
We looked for baseline features like templates and content libraries, plus advanced features like automation and proposal tracking.
We combed through user reviews and ratings regarding implementation and daily use of each software.
We evaluated how customizable each platform is in terms of custom elements and available third-party integrations.
This entails the depth of each software’s customer support channels as well as its knowledge base.
Bottom Line: Best Proposal Software
Whether you’re a freelancer or a large business, you’ll want reliable sales software that can help with proposal creation and management. You’ll also stay organized since collaborative tools and activity tracking will keep you abreast of where you are in the proposal and sales process. Using any of the seven proposal software options above can help you win more bids — and, in turn, spend less time drafting effective proposals during your lead nurturing stage.
