8 Alternatives to PandaDoc

While proposal preparation is foundational to the sales process, preparing proposals is not high on most sales or business development professionals’ lists of the things they most enjoy doing.

Why? Because preparing proposals is time-consuming, and it can be stressful because there’s a lot on the line. In fact, on average, only 47% of sales proposals end in a sale. Thus, it’s to your team’s time (and financial!) benefit to close as many prospects as possible. That’s where the rapidly growing proposal software industry can help, by controlling costs and improving closed/won rates.

Every organization too should be looking at automating processes. Many companies are doing more with fewer people and in less time, and automating proposal creation can be a “big rock” for potential savings— and potential revenue generation. But as you explore your options, know that not all quote software is created equally. Let’s look at a few of the more popular choices, including alternatives to PandaDoc.

PandaDoc

PandaDoc is a document management platform that allows users to create and share documents online, including the ability to use e-signatures to get a contract signed. Like other options, PandaDoc offers proposal templates, and the ability to create contracts and quotes that can be shared with prospects and customers for their signatures. PandaDoc also integrates with major payment providers to allow sellers to receive payments electronically.

In evaluating ease of use, PandaDoc’s drag-and-drop features allow users to start with a template and make revisions according to their needs. Additionally, PandaDoc offers analytics to allow users to see when documents have been opened, viewed, and accepted. As PandaDoc is a hosted PDF platform, users can upload documents in a variety of formats from Word to PDF. 

Alternatives to PandaDoc 

Despite PandaDoc’s practical features, it does have drawbacks. As an example, duplicating a document for reuse is cumbersome, meaning if a user has spent time updating and personalizing a template, they’ll need to repeat that process if they want to use the document again. In proposal creation, speed is often the name of the game, and PandaDoc’s interface and capabilities make it challenging to create on-brand collateral quickly. And, once you’ve sent out a document, you can no longer edit or update it. 

PandaDoc isn’t the only game in town, of course. Here we look at some PandaDoc alternatives and what they have to offer. In alphabetical order they are:

Better Proposals

Better Proposals was built to make proposal writing frustration-free. It allows for a relatively simple process for salespeople to create and manage proposals with a combination of ready-made templates and the ability to easily customize content. 

Automated notification helps users stay on top of what’s happening with their proposals. 

A primary downfall: the system can be a bit counter-intuitive to use at times; users often complain about broken links that can stymie their work. Additionally, Better Proposals analytics are fairly lightweight and don’t offer the buyer insights sellers need to personalize their selling approach. You also can’t export any of the report information to do further analysis. Better Proposals is ideal if you’re a freelancer, but may not be the right choice for growing sales teams.

Bidsketch

Bidsketch is a tool used by freelancers, agencies, and sales teams, allowing users to quickly create professional proposals. One of the more compelling aspects is the optional terms feature, enabling the ability to upsell prospects and empowering them to build their own proposal. 

Despite some interesting elements, though, a major downfall of Bidsketch— especially for those who produce numerous proposals— is the ability to keep track of proposals that have been sent. In addition, while Bidsketch offers analytic capabilities as other tools do, they’re limited and don’t allow for the easy production of reports.  

Nusii

Nusii’s positioning is modern and CSR-focused. Some of Nusii’s positives include donating 1% of its revenue to next-generation carbon removal technologies, it doesn’t use cookies, and is fully GDPR compliant. From a user standpoint, Nusii also provides a streamlined approach to proposal creation, helping to save time in the process. There’s also an option to embed YouTube and Vimeo videos into proposals. 

Another interesting feature—it’s offered in 35 languages. 

Designed primarily for creative agencies and e-commerce businesses, Nusii offers a nice alternative to Word and Google Docs and does provide the typical tracking, notification, and signing features. But from a proposal software standpoint, they are not a mainstream offering and fall short of the capabilities of some of the more prominent choices.

Proposable

Proposable offers the full-circle basics for proposal creation: editing, tracking, and signing. Users create proposals through a series of drag-and-drop content blocks and free proposal templates. Proposable is a quick and easy-to-use way for salespeople to prepare, process, close, and track their deals with email and text-messaging options, to stay on top of a proposal’s status. 

A few downfalls, however, have been pointed out by users— it’s not an easy tool to customize or learn. Additionally, the contracts themselves may not provide a “high-end” user experience.

Proposify

Proposify offers eSign and proposal management capabilities. Features include custom templates, analytics, and the ability to collect payments. Proposify also offers a number of useful CRM integrations. 

One of the benefits Proposify offers is that it allows team members to collaborate and track each other’s progress using “roles.” This allows team members to be assigned to specific tasks and to be held accountable for completing their part of the process. 

However, like PandaDoc, Proposify also requires individual users to sign up for individual plans, which can become costly depending on the size of your team. Another drawback—users point to some challenges with aligning text, requiring a fair amount of “putzing” to get things to look “perfect.”

QuoteWerks

QuoteWerks is a simple tool with a simple interface. That simplicity, though, is reflected in its functionality which is really at a considerably basic level. The output is also simple and, some would say, outdated. Still, for those looking for a basic, easy-to-use document creation tool, QuoteWerks may fit the bill.

Qvidian

Built more for larger companies, Qvidian offers many of the same features as other proposal and document creation options but provides what has been referred to as a “clunky interface.” Its database is its top feature, allowing content to be stored and easily found and accessed by team members for future use. Qvidian also offers an option to add on Word and Excel questionnaires which can provide useful insights—from team members as well as customers and prospects. 

With complexity can come confusion, though. It’s likely because of Qvidian’s many features that it tends to be a tool used by larger companies—smaller companies may find the features to be challenging to understand and use.

Qwilr

Qwilr is a unique player in the proposal creation arena. Qwilr’s focus goes beyond “digital documents” creating mobile-responsive pages that provide prospects with a fully interactive web page experience. Users can start with a blank slate or take advantage of an array of proposal templates to streamline the proposal creation process. Additionally, the personalization and generation of proposals can be entirely automated, to reduce time spent on proposal creation and scale with any size sales team.

Qwilr’s intuitive user experience and wide range of features allow flexibility and creativity to create proposals with maximum impact. Qwilr makes it easy for users to create polished and professional proposals— and equally easy for prospects and customers to access, read, understand, and e-sign a proposal. Interactive features, like video, gifs, configurable pricing, and ROI calculators, plus the mobile-friendly design address the needs of today’s busy— and increasingly mobile— decision-makers. 

Qwilr also goes beyond the basics in terms of analytics, offering advanced insights into how proposals are being accessed and interacted with by customers and prospects. Want to focus your next sales call based on what interests your prospect the most? With Qwilr’s quote software, you can.

Which proposal software is right for you?

When considering which proposal software will best meet your needs, it’s important to consider user and analyst insights regarding the pros and cons of the various options available.

The ability to efficiently and effectively create proposals to attract new business or generate more from existing clients is critical for any sales or business development professional regardless of organizational size or industry. There is a wide range of best practice tips that also help the proposal creation process achieve better results. 

Much of the power of professional sales is, of course, related to building relationships and understanding customer needs. But when it comes time to put pen to paper— or fingers to keyboard— having access to a tool that can streamline the process and help to produce a professional proposal that can be immediately sent, reviewed, approved, and signed, can save time, money, and stress. Choosing the right tool matters. Join companies like TikTok, Zendesk, Dropbox, and others in using a quote software tool that can help you create stunning proposals in minutes.