Looking for a proposal software can be like looking for the other glass slipper. Here are nine things to consider during your search.

No two businesses are alike, so finding a proposal software that best matches your needs can be hard. So many choices. So many features!

But irrespective of the fact, when it comes to proposal creation, the key problem faced by businesses remains the same—it’s tiring and time-consuming.

In a time when every wasted second on mundane tasks can cost you a deal, you have two choices. Either your team continues to spend time manually doing tons of formatting and editing, or you can choose a proposal software that does it for you.

Picking a proposal software that meets your needs will save you time and energy on things you probably don’t even think about twice. They’ll make the best performing, professional looking proposals for significantly less effort than your old proposals used to.

Allow us to save you a zillion Google searches on the best proposal software in the market. In this article, you’ll find the most promising proposal software in the market and the key considerations when evaluating one for your business. The best bit? We have something for every type of business, so you can choose the ones that are closest to your business needs.

How to choose the right proposal software solution?

Every business has different requirements when it comes to proposal management software—there are plenty of providers in the market. That’s why, we’ve selected the elements that most universally represent those requirements and will help you streamline the creation of your sales proposals.

But before you jump guns, think about these two questions:

  • What is your team’s most significant pain around the proposal process?
  • What do you want to achieve by using or changing to a new proposal software?

Beyond those two personal responses, here are nine things to consider when picking a proposal software.

  • Design Functionality: A proposal software with excellent design functionality will cut down on creation time and produce consistent, branded proposals that impress your prospects. When evaluating the look for design capabilities such as drag and drop options, a WYSIWYG editor, embed options for video and other interactive elements, and the ability to create, choose and customize templates.
  • Analytics: Imagine you got insights into how much time people spend with each component and what actions they’ve taken within the proposal. A feature like this within your proposal software will help you generate the perfect follow-up cadence explicitly triggered by user behavior rather than elaborate guesswork.
  • Integrations: Imagine if your proposal software could automatically fill customer information into a template, or your customers could purchase right within your proposal. Ensure your proposal software integrates with critical sales or software tools your team works with to keep everything in sync and organized.
  • Automation: An excellent proposal software will take your sales process and turbocharge it with automation while allowing your reps to focus on things like accelerating sales activity and closing quotas.
  • Collaboration: Working together might sound like a given, but many tools companies use to create professional looking proposals do not have excellent collaboration functionality. Even if you work solo, you might need this functionality as your team grows, so choose a proposal software that comes armed with a collaboration feature.
  • Templating: The ability to pull a specific template and modify it easily with pieces from a standing library of content is valuable and saves precious hours. Look for a proposal software that comes armed with a templating feature to ease your workload.
  • Security: There’s tons of confidential information in your proposals for both you and your customers, and these are things you’d want to protect.

Best for sales teams: Qwilr

In a perfect world, your prospects would hear your sales pitch and sign on the dotted line instantly. Unfortunately, that’s rare. In most instances, your sales reps spend hours creating proposals from scratch, adding context and content that would eventually impress your prospects, only to rinse and repeat the whole process for a new prospect.

Thankfully the old way of proposal generation is a thing of the past, and today your sales team can create stunning and interactive proposals on the go using proposal software minus a designer.

Product image of Qwilr - dragging in a block

Qwilr's proposal editor

The ability to create proposals on the fly saves sales teams hours, helps them focus on building a pipeline, improves sales efficiency, increases closed/won rates and allows your team to focus on customer relationship management.

So which sales proposal software is ideal for your team?

Sales teams need more than just proposal software today—what they are looking for is drag and drop editor, strong analytics, integration capabilities with other sales tools, as well as ready-to-use templates.

Qwilr offers all this and more features to sales teams. Sales reps can create winning sales proposals using its template library, get real-time analytics into proposals, add interactive pricing quotes, and get deals signed from within the proposal through Qwilr’s electronic signatures. In a nutshell, it offers everything that a modern sales team needs, including quick sign-off.

Signing up for Qwilr is easy too. Just book a 15-minute demo to see how your team can save time, stand out and do more business.

  • Pricing: Qwilr offers business and enterprise plans starting at USD $35, with a 14-day free trial.
  • Use case: Qwilr can be used by sales, marketing, sales ops, customer success and recruitment.
  • Templates: Yes, Qwilr offers over 100+ professional proposal templates.
  • Tracking & analytics: Users can see who engaged with their content and what they looked at when clicking.
  • Integrations: Qwilr easily integrates with various sales software across the board. This includes various CRM software (we have a nifty HubSpot and Salesforce integration) and sales tools.
  • Standout feature: Automated content helps the sales team create content on the go. Also offers a powerful content library.
  • Customer support: 24/7 customer support on weekdays with limited support on weekends and holidays.
Qwilr is best for sales teams

We appreciate we may be a little biased, so we thought to include a direct quote from Jesse Green, a seasoned Revenue Operations professional from SixFifty, sharing his personal experience and insights on using Qwilr for proposal creation and management:

There's numerous other leaders in the sales, marketing and RevOps space that have great things to say about Qwilr. Here are some more of our favourite examples here, here and here.

Best for beginners: PowerPoint

When you’re just starting your business (possibly as a one-man army), you are juggling to get more clients while managing every aspect of your business. The more efficient you are with your time, the more money you can make and hence your focus should be on making the business more efficient.

This applies to your sales proposals, too, even if the process is mundane and repetitive. In a world where first impressions matter a lot, you can’t take a lacklustre approach to creating them.

The point is to wow your clients in the first go while keeping your budgets in check.

Powerpoint proposal example

Example of a proposal made in Powerpoint

PowerPoint software has long been the absolute go-to for beginners, and there’s a reason for it. Creating online proposals using PowerPoint is easy, affordable, and requires no technical skills for sales people. PowerPoint also allows users to edit, share, and track changes in the presentation. The user interface is top-notch and a perfect solution for small businesses that are seeking a comprehensive tool to create proposal documents.

  • Pricing: Standalone PowerPoint subscription is available for $6.99/month (one-time licence) or available as a bundle with Microsoft 365 suite for $109.99. Trial days are available.
  • Use case: Freelancers, creative businesses, small to mid-size businesses.
  • Templates: Yes. PowerPoint offers customizable themes and templates in 40+ categories to users. Users can also create templates from scratch or use the duplicate feature to use an existing one.
  • Tracking & analytics: Allows users to track changes using the Compare feature.
  • Integrations: Integrates with Microsoft Office tools such as Excel and Microsoft Word, making it easy to insert charts, graphs and other content into the proposals.
  • Standout feature: PowerPoint allows users to add multimedia features such as videos, images and audio, making it easy for businesses to add visual elements to proposals.
  • Customer support: PowerPoint users can seek support via email, chat, FAQ and knowledge base.
Best proposal software for beginners

Best for new businesses: Canva

We can’t stress enough how challenging, hard and confusing it is to start a business. And while you are being a champion, maintaining clients through projects, staying organized, and ensuring you’re on top of your task boards, you need less busy work and more time spent on sales activity to make it count.

One of the ways to do this is by automating repetitive tasks, such as proposal creation, using a tool that’s already a part of your tech stack. By doing so, you can minimise your spending and maximise the use of a tool that’s already integrated into your business workflow—it’s a win-win, right?

One such example is cloud-based design tool—Canva. Chances are that you’re already using it to whip up marketing assets for social media posts and email marketing, brand management, and brainstorming ideas. But can you create proposals with Canva?

The answer to the question is yes. With its ready-to-use templates, in-built functionality, user-friendly and built-in powerful features (stock images, resizing and brand elements), creating a visually stunning proposal with Canva is literally child’s play. Bonus, you do all this without any dependence on a design resource!

canva proposal example

Proposal example in Canva

As you scale and add potential clients to your books, you may wish to explore a more comprehensive proposal automation software like Qwilr that’s built for growing sales teams and is geared to offer more than just nice visuals.

  • Pricing: Canva offers a free Pro ($119.99$) and Canva for Teams ($14.99/monthly). For new businesses, it’s ideal to sign up for a Pro account, as it offers powerful branding elements and
  • Use case: Sales and marketing teams, non-profits, startups, creative agencies.
  • Templates: Yes. offers beautifully designed free and paid templates for quick proposal creation.
  • Tracking & analytics: Yes. Offers insights on daily unique views, viewers, unique links and other metrics.
  • Integrations: Yes. Canva integrates with Slack, Google Drive, WordPress, Asana and other CRM software, social media and productivity tools.
  • Standout feature: Canva allows sales reps/new business owners to add beautiful graphs to their proposals, turning raw data into something that’s both visual and easy to understand.
  • Customer support: Limited support, mostly through the help centre and ticketing system.
Best proposal software for new businesses

Best for freelancers: Fiverr Workplace


Sending a meticulous proposal is key when you’re a freelancer. It’s one of the first (and most important) touchpoints a lead will have with your overall company, and it needs to be their best.

That’s why you need a proposal software that does much more than create visually stunning proposals. And that’s where Fiverr Workplace can help you. Fiverr Workplace ensures that entrepreneurs can put their billable hours to best use, i.e. spent on closing deals rather than waste them on managing sales documents or creating proposals from scratch each time.

Fiverr Workplace proposal example

Example of a proposal in Fiverr Workspace

Sales teams can create better proposals as well as allows attach contracts and collect deposits all at once, making project management extremely easy.

  • Pricing: Fiverr Workplace provides a full suite of business management tools at $24/month, including proposal software.
  • Use case: Freelancers, small businesses and agencies.
  • Templates: No templates are available, but it allows you to create customized proposals.
  • Tracking & analytics: Yes. Allows users to track open and click rates and when a proposal is signed.
  • Integrations: It does not offer native integration, but Fiverr Workplace integrates with other apps via Zapier.
  • Standout feature: Fiverr Workplace sends automatic reminders to clients with open proposals, so you don’t have to!
  • Customer support: Free, live chat 12 hours a day, and 24/7 email support.
Best proposal software for freelancers

Best for non-profits: Google Workspace

It’s true that the time spent on soliciting donations, attracting volunteers or amplifying your non-profit is what’s going to help your organization grow.

And while your team can’t waste time on repetitive tasks, sending regular proposals to attract funding, grants, or even seeking support from profitable companies or the government cannot be ignored. This is key as it presents significant revenue opportunities for your organization.

With limited budgets and resources, doing more with less is routine and applies to all business spheres—picking a proposal software included. What you’re looking for is a tool that’s affordable yet offers exceptional functionalities, and what better than Google Workspace?

Google Workspace comes armed with tools such as docs, spreadsheets, slides and a lot more that will help you create end-to-end proposals without a designer or software. Google Slides within the Workspace help simplify proposal creation process and comes with easy-to-design templates. You can also add videos, images, drawings and smooth transitions to your proposals as well as directly import graphs and data from spreadsheets in a seamless manner.

Google Slides proposal example

Example of proposal creation in Google Slides

  • Pricing: A variety of pricing plans are available, starting with the Business Starter plan starting at $6/user/month. This includes access to business email, Workspace products (including slides), and video conferencing.
  • Use case: Small to medium businesses across industries.
  • Templates: Yes, Google Slides offer templates. Users can also create slides from scratch and save them as reusable templates.
  • Tracking & analytics: Provides notifications and insights into change history.
  • Integrations: Google Slides integrates with a wide variety of apps. The experience within slides can be enhanced with Add-ons or simple Apps Script.
  • Standout feature: Offers a co-editing feature where several people can work on the same slide at the same time.
  • Customer support: 24/7 support is available for users.
Google workspace is best for non-profits (comparison table)

Best for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME): Adobe Express for business

The key to the success of any SME is new business generation. The more leads that convert into actual clients, the better it is for the business. But the underlying fact is that without a convincing proposal, the deal won’t move forward. Without the proposal software, churning out proposal after proposal will torment your team.

If you’ve been looking to ease the workload on your team and in the market for a proposal writing software that will suit the needs of a mid-market company like yours, look no further than Adobe Express.

Adobe Express Proposal Example

Example of a proposal in Adobe Express

Adobe Express for Business allows you to make the best first impression in front of your prospects without your team churning out custom proposals from scratch each time. The tool offers a wide variety of features, such as a template and stock images, as well as easy integration with Adobe Creative Cloud workflows and libraries.

  • Pricing: Reach out to the team for customized pricing. You can access Adobe Express for free if your organization already has an Adobe Creative Cloud Plan.
  • Use case: Marketing, sales, human resources and creatives
  • Templates: Yes, it offers a variety of templates. Users can also access branded templates from the library.
  • Tracking & analytics: No tracking and analytics are available.
  • Integrations: Adobe Express integrates with a variety of tools within the Adobe Suite as well as Google, Microsoft, Canvas, Flipgrid and more!
  • Standout feature: Adobe Express is available in a variety of languages, so if you are looking to localise proposals, you can do so with ease.
  • Customer support: Customer support is available through help docs and chat.
Adobe Express is best for SMEs

Best for enterprise: Qwilr

For enterprise companies, sales challenges are unique, and a big driver of success is their ability to sell faster and manage revenue lifecycle, i.e. better sales pipeline management while delivering exceptional customer experience.

Unfortunately, standalone sales proposal tools may seem handy, but they don’t fully cater to enterprise business requirements. It makes more sense to invest in an all-in-one tool that connects every stage of your sales process, is seamless and allows you to close deals faster.

Qwilr proposal example

Example of a proposal in Qwilr

Qwilr’s sales proposal platform is a great automated solution for enterprise businesses looking to ship customized business proposals at every sales stage. Instead of spending hours collating images and defining various key elements of the proposal, Qwilr allows sales teams to collaborate and track buyer engagement while scaling the sales experience with automation.

  • Pricing: Qwilr offers its enterprise plan at USD $59/user/month (billed annually). Book a demo to get started.
  • Use case: Qwilr can be used by sales, marketing, sales ops, customer success and recruitment.
  • Templates: Yes, Qwilr offers over 100+ professional proposal templates.
  • Tracking & analytics: Users can see who engaged with their content and what they looked at when clicking.
  • Integrations: Qwilr easily integrates with various sales software across the board. This includes various CRM, sales and payment tools like Stripe.
  • Standout feature: Automated content helps the sales team create content on the go. Deals can be signed using Qwilr’s esign feature.
  • Customer support: 24/7 customer support on weekdays with limited support on weekends and holidays.
Qwilr is best for enterprise businesses based on feature set

Find what fits

Sales proposal software is the best tool at your disposal to land a new business. Finding the best fit for your business isn’t straightforward, but you can start by taking a holistic view of what you want to change about your current proposal process and what is important to you. From there, ensure that the proposal software you’re going with aligns with those things.

Maybe, for instance, automation isn’t that important to you, but version control and design are. Develop a list of high-level requirements by picking and choosing what you need to fulfill your business strategy. Your perfect proposal software is right around the corner.

And if your growth-focused sales team is looking to make quantum leaps with its proposal strategy, why not give Qwilr a try? From proposal templates to analytics and 24/7 customer support, you’ve got yourself a winning sales tool. Speak to the team or book a demo to get started.

About the author

Brendan Connaughton, Head of Growth Marketing

Brendan Connaughton|Head of Growth Marketing

Brendan heads up growth marketing and demand generation at Qwilr, overseeing performance marketing, SEO, and lifecycle initiatives. Brendan has been instrumental in developing go-to-market functions for a number of high-growth startups and challenger brands.