How Much Does Proposal Software Cost?

You're tired of spending hours on getting a decent proposal in front of the client. You see an ad for proposal software at just the right time. Maybe someone recommends it to you. You decide to look into your options.

Half a day later, you've got ten tabs open. Between sends, envelopes, usage credits, and features spread across different plans, you're not even sure what you should be comparing anymore.

As someone who keeps a close eye on proposal software pricing and regularly writes about it, I’ve got you. Let’s break down what you’re paying for so you can find the right software at a price you’re comfortable with.

How proposal software pricing works

Most proposal software costs come down to three things:

• How many users you need
• How many proposals you're looking to send
• Which features are included in a plan

The part that makes comparing different providers hard is that these three pricing factors often overlap. The most expensive plan also doesn't imply that every feature is included.

1. User count is your first point of elimination

If you work alone or in a small team, any plan that makes you pay for more users than you have is out.

Even if there’s a feature you really want, I can guarantee you someone else offers it without you needing to pay for an imaginary colleague.

$25/user/month sounds like a better price than $40. That's also how it's going to be presented on the pricing page, with a minimum user count stated below, so make sure not to miss that.

If the first option has a minimum of five users and the second lets you buy just the one you need, your choice is between $125 and $40 a month.

2. Your sending limit should survive a good month

Once you've ruled out paying for people who don't exist, the next step is checking how many documents you can send.

First, check whether the sending allowance is per user or shared across the account. Five users with 50 sends each can send 250 documents. Five users sharing 50 sends get 10 documents per month each.

Then, count everything you intend to send through the software. Proposals, contracts, statements of work, renewals - it all counts towards the same sending allowance.

Assuming getting more clients is part of the plan, use a busy month as your benchmark. Check what happens when you reach the limit, too.

Can you buy additional sends? How much do they cost? Can you upgrade temporarily and then downgrade your plan if you're in the middle of an unusually busy month?

Check what counts as a send

This would be easier if every provider counted the same thing. Naturally, they don’t.

For example, Better Proposals counts documents sent. You can create as many drafts as you like. Sending a document uses one send, but resending that same document or adding another recipient doesn’t use another one. If you're considering Better Proposals, jump to the plans comparison for tips on deciding.

Docusign counts envelopes. An envelope can contain several documents. Send a contract and a statement of work together, and you can use one envelope. Send them separately, and you’ve used two. Why you'd still want to use two envelopes and other things to consider when evaluating Docusign are covered in this detailed buyer guide.

PandaDoc counts documents and usage credits. Each document created through its API, Zapier, Make, Forms, bulk send, or automations consumes a credit, and you can use up credits before a document gets anywhere near a client. If you're considering PandaDoc, you might want to take a closer look at this PandaDoc pricing guide.

Qwilr counts pages, but there's a difference between manual and automated creation. You can create unlimited pages manually, but API-generated documents use credits. Once the included credits run out, further automated documents cost extra. Our Qwilr buyer guide breaks that down.

So, treat “we send 30 proposals a month” as the start of your calculation. You also need to know how you’ll create them, especially if you're considering software that charges extra for API usage.

3. Check whether the plan does the job you need it to

At this point, your pool of proposal software candidates should be smaller. You’ve ruled out paying for imaginary colleagues and plans you’ll outgrow the moment business picks up. Now, check whether the remaining options actually do what you need.

Write down what you want the software to handle. Reusing content, letting clients choose between packages, collecting a deposit, automatically pulling in data, getting approval before sending. Make a list of whatever matters to your process, then compare that list to the features listed under the plan you're considering.

If a feature you need only appears on a higher plan, that's the price to use in your comparison. Seeing that this feature is now pushing you toward a more expensive plan, test it out. Spending the free trial playing with fonts and then paying more for a feature you haven’t tried hardly makes sense.

4. Be careful with available vs included

Finding a feature under a plan doesn’t always mean the subscription covers it. Depending on the provider, extras can include:

• Integrations
• Additional usage
• Faster support
• Sending from your own email
• Content locking

Look for asterisks next to a feature listed on a pricing page to see what costs extra. A separate charge for an add-on isn’t automatically a reason to eliminate the plan from consideration.

If you don’t need the extra, you simply don’t have to buy it. But if it’s one of the reasons you’re considering the software, include it in your comparison now.

Watch out with payment integrations

By default, any payment provider will charge you a fee for the payments you collect through them. What you need to check when choosing proposal software is if your payment provider's fee is the only one you'll be paying.

There are proposal software companies that list payment integrations as included on a plan, but then also take their own cut on top of the payment provider's fee. You’re already going to be paying them a subscription to help you sell. Whether your proposal software deserves commission on your payments as well is a question only you can answer.

If Better Proposals made your shortlist, here’s how to choose a plan

The same rules apply here: start with your users, check your sending volume, then look at the features you need. You don’t need to squeeze yourself into Starter because you work alone or go Enterprise because you need five users.

All plans include our full editor, unlimited templates, the Content Library, interactive pricing, document tracking, digital signatures, and payment integrations. We don't https://betterproposals.io/pricingtake a cut of your payments on top of the fee your payment provider already charges.

You can create a proposal, see what happens after sending it, get it signed, and collect payment without buying those steps separately. Here’s a breakdown of all the plans and how to choose between them.

Starter: You work alone and send up to 10 documents a month

If you handle proposals yourself and don’t need CRM integrations or advanced team features, Starter is the place to be. It covers one user and 10 document sends per month.

You can reuse your content, let clients choose pricing options, track their activity, and collect signatures and payments. That’s enough for a freelancer or solo business owner who wants to stop rebuilding proposals and chasing separate signatures.

Starter on a monthly subscription: $19/month

Starter on an annual subscription: $149/year

Premium: You need more sends, more users, or connected tools

Premium gives you 50 document sends per month, shared across the account. It also includes CRM integrations, AI integrations, API and Zapier access, a custom domain, and custom onboarding flows.

Choose it when you want your proposals connected to the rest of your process, if you want to completely remove Better Proposals branding, or need to send more than 10 documents per month.

You could be a team of three sharing those 50 sends or just one person who’s had enough of moving information between tools. There's no minimum user requirement, so you'll only be paying for the team you have.

Premium on a monthly subscription: $29/user/month

Premium on an annual subscription: $249/user/year

Enterprise: You need unlimited sends or control over what goes out

Enterprise comes with unlimited sends and adds features like manager approvals, content locking, advanced permissions, simultaneous editing, and inline commenting.

It makes sense when several people are creating proposals and you need control over who can change or send what. Letting your team personalize a proposal doesn’t have to include letting them get creative with your payment terms.

It can also be the right choice simply because you send more than Premium allows. There's no minimum user requirement on Enterprise either, so if you're a small business sending more than 50 documents per month, you'll still only pay for the users you have.

Enterprise on a monthly subscription: $49/user/month

Enterprise on an annual subscription: $499/user/year

What about extras?

Nudge, our follow-up tool, is an optional add-on at $10/user/month available on Premium and Enterprise. It's included in your free trial, so you'll get to try it before deciding whether you need it.

Custom template design is a separate service if you’d like our team to design or redesign your template for you. We'll send you a quote if you're interested.

Close the tabs and test the software

By now, you should have a clearer idea of your top proposal software candidates. Put a real proposal through your favorites and see which one makes your job easier at a price you’re happy to pay.

If Better Proposals is on that list, try it free for 14 days. You came here to spend less time on proposals, so let’s see how much of your afternoon we can give back.