9 Best Alternatives To Proposify

Sales tech9 mins
Brendan Connaughton|Jan 7, 2022
buyer on mobile phone - looking at options

Proposify is a widely-used proposal software with a number of popular features, such as e-signature, analytic capabilities, custom templates, and payment collection abilities. But there are also a number of drawbacks that have led many customers to seek alternatives to Proposify.

“A sale is not something you pursue; it’s what happens to you while you are immersed in serving your customer.” - Unknown

We’re preaching to the choir when we say the proposal process is a key part of bringing in customers.

Your sales proposal is where your hard work pays off. But— there’s also a benefit in working smarter, not just harder, to win as many deals as possible.

Proposal software really is a sales team’s best friend when it comes to tackling the time-sensitive proposal process. It’s no surprise that the market for such software is growing rapidly, with a number of major players dominating the space.

Proposify is a widely-used proposal software with a number of popular features, such as e-signature, analytic capabilities, custom proposal templates, and payment collection abilities. But there are also a number of drawbacks that have led many customers to seek alternatives to Proposify— users dislike the clunkiness of the interface and get annoyed by buggy formatting errors.

There are several proposal software options on the market; Proposify isn’t the only one. So what are your options?

9 Alternatives to Proposify

Fortunately, there are a number of major players in the proposal software industry, and there are many alternatives to Proposify with a variety of options. Here we take a look at nine of these alternatives.

Qwilr

Qwilr is a highly-rated alternative to Proposify that’s both feature-rich and user-friendly. Qwilr creates mobile-responsive pages that provide customers and prospects with a fully interactive web page experience. Users have the flexibility to either start with a blank slate or utilize an array of proposal templates to fast-track the proposal creation process.

Qwilr’s robust personalization capabilities might be overwhelming for sales teams managing a high volume of proposals if it weren’t for the fact that the generation of proposals can be entirely automated, reducing the time necessary for proposal creation and enabling sales team scalability.

Qwilr is most known for its impressive design capabilities and interactive features, including video, gifs, configurable pricing, a customizable ROI calculator, and the ability to embed custom content like Calendly, Typeform, Google Maps, and more. Additionally, Qwilr users may accelerate deals using e-signature and on-page payment capabilities. Lastly, Qwilr includes analytics, providing users with advanced insights into how and when prospects are accessing and interacting with sales proposals.

Better Proposals

Better Proposals offers a relatively straightforward process for vendors to create and manage proposals using ready-made templates and a number of customization features. Customers can also set up automated notifications with Better Proposals to alert them to changes and updates to the proposals.

Perhaps the biggest drawback to Better Proposals’ platform is usability. Users report that the system can be clunky and counter-intuitive and that they sometimes encounter broken links that create frustration and waste time trying to find a workaround.

Additionally, the drawback of the simplistic approach taken by Better Proposals is the fact that it’s relatively light on features. For example, this proposal software lacks the buyer insights vendors lean on to help cater their pitch to specific prospects. Better Proposals also lacks the ability to export report information for further analysis.

Overall, Better Proposals has a lightweight approach that may be useful for freelancers but is probably not the best option for larger sales teams.

Bidsketch

Bidsketch is a proposal software tool utilized by a variety of end-users for creating professional-looking proposals with relative quickness. One of the more popular elements of Bidsketch is its optional terms feature, which allows prospects to effectively build their own proposal by selecting from a list of optional features compiled by the vendor.

A significant limitation of Bidsketch, however, is its lack of adequate functionality for tracking proposals once they’ve been sent. This can make the proposal management process particularly challenging for companies with a large number of proposals in the works at any given time. Bidsketch also has a fairly limited set of analytic capabilities compared to other proposal software options and lacks robust reporting functionality.

Get Accept

Get Accept, like many of the other options on our list, offers proposal templates to help users get started. Another benefit of Get Accept is the chat feature within proposals, allowing prospects to ask questions without jumping to email. Get Accept also has e-signature, deal tracking capabilities, and the option to add a video to proposals. But, unfortunately, that’s the extent of Get Accept’s interactive features, and if you’re seeking a more visual, aesthetically-pleasing proposal software option, Get Accept comes up short. Even Get Accept users comment about the limited design features, and instead, use this quote software option as an alternative to Docusign.

Nusii

Nusii has sought to position itself as a modern and CSR-focused proposal software. On the usability front, Nusii has a broad international appeal considering its availability in 35 languages. Additionally, this proposal software provides a relatively straightforward process for proposal creation, which helps users save time. Nusii also includes the option to embed YouTube and Vimeo videos into proposals for added flare.

Socially conscious customers like the fact that Nusii donates 1% of its revenue to advanced carbon removal technologies, and privacy buffs like the fact that it doesn’t use cookies and is fully compliant with the EU’s GDPR.

Despite these pros, Nusii is more of a niche software for e-commerce companies and creative agencies. While it offers a more robust alternative to MS Word and Google Docs with features like proposal tracking and notifications and signing features, Nusii doesn’t quite measure up to the more robust proposal software offerings on this list.

PandaDoc

Most proposal software shoppers have heard of PandaDoc, commonly for their e-signature features. PandaDoc also allows users to create and share documents online, collect payments, and offers an array of proposal templates. However, PandaDoc proposals are also less visual than some of the other proposal software options on our list.

PandaDoc’s interface is a simple drag-and-drop functionality, allowing users to upload a variety of documents from Word to PDF. However, users complain that duplicating a document or template is cumbersome and the software has limitations in design. Additionally, PandaDoc lacks interactive capabilities beyond inserting a video. While PandaDoc may look appealing on the surface, this proposal software option is limited in content options, plus does not account for users viewing proposals on a mobile device.

Proposable

Proposable is another alternative to Proposify because it ticks most of the fundamental boxes of the proposal lifecycle: editing, tracking, and signing. Proposable offers drag-and-drop functionality as well as integration with email and text messaging.

The most often cited cons of Proposable are that it’s not particularly intuitive for users to learn to use and doesn’t offer end results that are as polished or impressive as other proposal software in the space.

QuoteWerks

There’s a general tradeoff in proposal software between the robustness of a feature set and ease of use. QuoteWerks falls on the more basic, easy-to-use end of the spectrum. This makes it great for those looking for a straightforward tool for basic tasks, but it does lack a lot of the features that make more robust proposal software options popular with vendors.

Qvidian

On the other end of the spectrum is a proposal software like Qvidian, which markets itself to larger organizations. Qvidian offers the ability to include Word and Excel questionnaires for customers and team members and – perhaps its most significant feature – a database allowing content to be easily stored and accessed for future use.

Unfortunately, Qvidian’s robust feature set isn’t provided in a particularly user-friendly fashion, and users often describe this proposal software as “clunky” and confusing to use.

For more on how Qwilr sales proposals can help your team stand out, save time, and win more business, we invite you to book a personalized demo.

How to choose an alternative to Proposify and the best proposal software for your business

If you're searching for an alternative to Proposify, as with any major purchase, factor in your unique needs and use cases, plus consider user and analyst insights about the pros and cons of the options you’re considering. Companies like HP, Morningstar, Zendesk, Dropbox, and others know the value ofcreating stunning proposals in minutes and they rely on Qwilr proposal software to help them stand out from the crowd. So can you.

About the author

Brendan Connaughton, Head of Growth Marketing

Brendan Connaughton|Head of Growth Marketing

Brendan leads growth marketing & demand generation at Qwilr – looking after performance marketing, SEO, CRO and analytics. Brendan’s has experience with high growth companies like Airwallex and led growth teams agency side for a few years.