4 CPQ Software Tools That'll Actually Transform Your Sales Process (No Fluff)

Picture this: Your sales rep just spent three hours building a complex quote for a high-value enterprise client. They've configured 47 different product options, applied volume discounts, calculated subscription pricing, and finally hit "send" with confidence.

The next morning, your finance team discovers a pricing error that would've cost the company $80,000.

Sound familiar? You're not alone. Studies have shown that 50% of sales reps in large enterprise sales organizations are wasting their time on error correction, and other manual tasks such as data entry and writing price quotes.

Here's the reality most vendors won't tell you: not every business needs the same CPQ solution. The massive enterprise platforms that dominate search results aren't always the best fit—especially if you're not selling to Fortune 500 companies or don't have a dedicated Salesforce admin team.

This article cuts through the marketing noise to give you an honest look at four CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) software tools that actually deliver results. We've skipped the usual suspects you'll find on every listicle and focused on platforms that solve real problems for businesses at different stages of growth.

Whether you're drowning in spreadsheets, losing deals because quotes take too long, or watching revenue leak through pricing errors, there's a tool here that fits your world.

Let's dive in.

Before we jump into the tools, let's get crystal clear on what we're talking about.

Configure Price Quote (CPQ) is software that simplifies the process of generating customer price quotes and makes them more effective. Developed to streamline your sales pipeline, CPQ software is often an extension to your existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, giving the software access to key details on your customers. CPQ software collates these details and uses them to determine the best way to configure products for each customer, what the optimal price is, and automatically generates a quote.

In plain English? CPQ software stops your sales team from pulling their hair out every time a customer wants a custom configuration.

Configure: Guide customers (or your reps) through valid product combinations without technical impossibilities. No more "oops, that engine doesn't fit that chassis" moments.

Price: Apply complex pricing rules automatically—volume discounts, customer-specific agreements, regional variations, subscription models—all calculated in seconds instead of hours.

Quote: Generate professional, branded, error-free proposals that actually close deals instead of confusing prospects.

With a 20% to 80% cut in the time spent preparing quotes, CPQ software has served 83% of software, financial, food, beverage, telecommunication, and many other industries as a productive tool.

But it's not just about speed. It's about survival.

Modern buyers expect instant gratification. If your competitor can send an accurate quote in 10 minutes while you're still building yours in Excel after two days, guess who wins?

Plus, manual configure, price, and quote (CPQ) processes can undermine this approach by creating friction that delays deal closings, increases configuration and pricing errors, and erodes customer confidence. Compounding those issues, companies with disjointed processes and data silos have limited visibility into their sales pipelines, translating to late quotes and lost business opportunities. CPQ software addresses these challenges through automation, reducing the potential for costly mistakes and expediting the lead-to-cash chain.

Now that you understand why CPQ matters, let's look at which tools actually deliver.

We've evaluated dozens of CPQ platforms based on real user feedback, implementation complexity, pricing transparency, and actual business outcomes. These four stand out for different reasons—and crucially, for different types of businesses.

If you're tired of CPQ platforms that require a PhD to configure, DealHub is your answer. DealHub CPQ has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Gartner Peer Insights. In their reviews, users praise DealHub's customer support and ease-of-use.

What makes DealHub different? It's built for the modern sales environment where speed and user experience aren't optional—they're mandatory.

DealHub shines for:

• Mid-market SaaS companies scaling rapidly

• Teams managing subscription, usage-based, or hybrid pricing models

• Sales organizations that need guided selling to reduce rep ramp-up time

• Companies wanting a less complicated alternative to Salesforce CPQ

DealHub offers a comprehensive sales engagement platform that expertly manages tasks such as Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ), helping businesses streamline their sales processes. It is particularly well-suited for medium to large enterprises across industries like technology, manufacturing, and healthcare, where complex sales cycles and detailed product configurations are common. One of its standout benefits is the ability to provide highly customizable and intuitive interfaces, enabling sales teams to generate accurate quotes swiftly and efficiently.

Digital Deal Rooms (DealRoom): This is where DealHub gets interesting. Instead of just sending a PDF quote into the void, you create an interactive workspace where buyers and sellers collaborate. Track engagement, share resources, and move deals forward—all in one place.

Guided Selling Process: DealHub provides a guided selling service. You can use a responsive and dynamic guided workflow to walk your channel partners and representatives in the quote process.

New reps become productive faster, and even complex products become easy to quote.

AI-Powered CPQ: DealHub doesn't just automate—it optimizes. The platform uses machine learning to suggest optimal pricing configurations and identify upselling opportunities you might miss.

Flexible Approval Workflows: The approval workflows have given visibility to management about discounting practice and it has allowed us to automate this process.

Control who can approve what, at both deal and line-item levels.

One user review captures it perfectly: The biggest win is being able to work with a system that is a less complicated and pricey version for CPQ.

Another customer noted: The product has reduced errors at the back end by about 80%.

That's not marketing speak—that's tangible ROI.

No tool is perfect. Some users mention that sync with Salesforce could be improved.

If you're heavily invested in the Salesforce ecosystem and need perfect real-time sync, be aware this can require some fine-tuning.

Based on our most recent analysis, DealHub pricing starts in the range of $500 - $1,000.

Pricing is customized based on your needs, so you'll need to contact their sales team for a precise quote.

If you want a modern, intuitive CPQ that your team will actually enjoy using, DealHub delivers. It's not trying to be everything to everyone—and that's exactly why it works so well.

Most CPQ tools automate what you already know. PROS Smart CPQ goes further—it tells you what you should be pricing things at.

PROS Smart CPQ is an AI and Machine Learning powered CPQ software that lets B2B organizations build an omnichannel selling experience for their customers.

This platform is built for:

• Manufacturing companies with complex, dynamic pricing

• Businesses operating across multiple channels (direct sales, partners, e-commerce)

• Organizations where pricing optimization directly impacts margin

• Teams dealing with large, complex quotes (think thousands of line items)

Here's where PROS pulls ahead: CPQ software helps each salesperson price a product or configuration for any customer. Infused with AI-based price optimization technology, CPQ tools become smart quoting engines.

Dynamic Price Optimization: Instead of static pricing rules, PROS analyzes market conditions, customer behavior, historical data, and competitor pricing to recommend optimal prices in real-time. This isn't guesswork—it's data science applied to every deal.

Smart Quoting at Scale: High Performance: Smart CPQ can handle a variety of use cases, from the most simple to long quotes, without sacrificing its speed.

Whether you're quoting 5 items or 5,000, performance doesn't degrade.

CRM Agnostic Architecture: Unlike many CPQ tools married to a specific CRM, A solution that serves as a "single source of sales truth" and can help leverage available customer data from any CRM.

Use Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, or something else entirely—PROS plays nice with all of them.

PROS Smart CPQ is an AI and Machine Learning powered CPQ software that lets B2B organizations build an omnichannel selling experience for their customers. It enables sales reps to manage subscription orders, spots, and sales agreements. Users can analyze the performance of deals with integrated waterfall charts and quote performance tools. PROS also helps sales reps send personalized offers with guided selling, and AI-powered cross-sell recommendations.

The waterfall charts feature is particularly useful for understanding how discounts flow through your deals and where you're losing margin.

PROS is powerful, but power comes with complexity. This isn't a "sign up and go" solution—expect a more involved implementation process. You'll want dedicated resources and possibly consulting support to get the most value.

Also, pricing isn't publicly listed. For a platform this sophisticated, expect enterprise-level investment.

If you're in industrial equipment, complex manufacturing, or high-value B2B sales where a 2% improvement in win rate or margin means millions of dollars, PROS Smart CPQ pays for itself quickly.

The AI-driven pricing alone can uncover revenue opportunities that justify the investment.

As a core component of Conga's Revenue Lifecycle Cloud, Conga CPQ focuses on maximizing profitability through accurate and efficient quoting. Its open architecture allows for easy integration while promoting standardized revenue processes across teams. Conga CPQ ultimately helps build stronger customer relationships and maximizes lifetime value.

Conga isn't just CPQ—it's a complete revenue lifecycle platform. If your business needs to manage everything from initial quote through contract management, renewals, and billing, Conga's integrated approach makes serious sense.

Conga CPQ is ideal for:

• Medium to large enterprises with complex quote-to-cash processes

• Organizations already using Salesforce (Conga is Salesforce-native)

• Companies needing tight integration between CPQ, CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management), and billing

• Businesses where contract renewals are critical revenue drivers

Intelligent Product Selection: Leverage features like product search, comparison tools, and recommendations to guide solution selling and ensure accurate quotes. Streamlined Configuration: Combine configuration validation with dynamic questionnaires and product rules for error-free product selections and accurate pricing. Advanced Pricing Automation: Utilize features like price optimization, promotions, and price transparency tools to create competitive quotes with automated workflows.

Flexible Order Management: Manage one-time purchases, subscriptions, and renewals seamlessly with features like asset-based ordering, subscription orders, and complex billing scenarios all from one platform.

Native Salesforce Integration: If you're invested in the Salesforce ecosystem, Conga's native architecture means deep integration. Your data flows seamlessly, and you're working within familiar interfaces.

What sets Conga apart is its holistic approach. Most CPQ tools stop at "quote sent." Conga follows that deal through:

• Contract generation and e-signature

• Subscription management

• Renewal automation

• Revenue recognition

This end-to-end visibility eliminates data silos and ensures your entire revenue team works from a single source of truth.

It's most often compared to Salesforce and Zuora CPQ - powerful and robust but also a complex tool that needs a ton of customization to get right. "Super complex, often requires code to solve things other tools do out of the box".

Conga's power is also its challenge. Some users note that Conga CPQ can have a steep learning curve, particularly for those new to CPQ software. The platform's complexity, while offering flexibility, can also make it challenging for some users to navigate and fully utilize its features. Additionally, some users mention occasional performance issues and glitches, which can disrupt workflows.

Plan for a serious implementation effort and budget for Salesforce expertise or Conga-certified consultants.

Conga doesn't publish pricing publicly. Expect enterprise-level investment, typically requiring custom quotes based on user count, features needed, and implementation scope.

Conga CPQ is well-suited for medium to large businesses with complex quoting needs. Its robust features and customization options make it a powerful tool for organizations that require a high degree of control and flexibility over their quoting process. The platform's integration with Salesforce also makes it an ideal choice for businesses already using Salesforce CRM.

If you need enterprise-grade capabilities and can invest in proper implementation, Conga delivers tremendous value across your entire revenue lifecycle.

Here's where we get specialized. Tacton CPQ isn't trying to be a general-purpose CPQ for everyone. It's laser-focused on one thing: helping manufacturers sell complex, highly configurable products.

Tacton is a SaaS establishment with specialization in easing the sales process for manufacturers handling intricate products. The major strength of the company lies in its Configure, Price, Quote software which is praised for its exceptional product configuration and visualization abilities. Credited to its innovative product configuration capability, Tacton CPQ and CAD Design Automation were established.

Tacton is purpose-built for:

• Industrial manufacturers (machinery, equipment, vehicles)

• Companies selling products with thousands of possible configurations

• Organizations where engineering feasibility matters in every quote

• Businesses needing 3D visualization for complex products

If you're selling standard SaaS subscriptions or simple products, Tacton is overkill. But if you manufacture custom industrial equipment where the wrong configuration could be physically impossible to build? Tacton is your solution.

What makes Tacton unique isn't just that it handles complex products—it's how it does it.

Visual Product Configuration: Visual product configuration lets users configure products with an intuitive visual interface. This interface can vary in complexity, depending on the needs of each business. It could be a straightforward, 2D configurator with an Amazon-style filtering system on the more basic end of the spectrum. Or a 3D configurator with AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) capabilities on the more technically advanced. Customers can "play around" with your products virtually – resizing sections, adding or removing parts, upgrading features, and changing colors and dimensions. As they experiment, prices change in real-time. A visual configurator is a marked differentiator that gives customers a fully immersive shopping experience and a deeper understanding of the products they're buying.

CAD Integration: Here's the magic for manufacturers—Tacton connects directly with your CAD and PLM systems. When a sales rep configures a product, the system automatically:

• Validates engineering feasibility

• Generates accurate Bills of Materials (BOMs)

• Creates CAD drawings

• Ensures the configuration can actually be manufactured

No more quotes for products that can't be built. No more engineering teams discovering impossible configurations after the sale.

Tacton uses constraint-based configuration logic that understands product rules at a deep level. If selecting Component A requires Component B but excludes Component C, the system enforces these rules automatically—guiding users toward valid configurations without letting them create technical impossibilities.

Since CPQ is a constraint-based engine, it can automate your sales team in designing and building complicated solutions for your customers with little to no training required. By equipping your organization with an intuitive user experience, you can easily upsell and cross-sell items your agents may be unfamiliar with.

For complex manufacturing, Tacton is unmatched. It bridges the gap between sales and engineering in ways general CPQ tools simply can't.

If you're not in manufacturing or your products don't have engineering-level complexity, Tacton's specialized features become unnecessary overhead. Stick with a more general platform.

Pricing requires direct contact with Tacton—expect enterprise-level investment appropriate for industrial manufacturing use cases.

Let's be honest: picking the wrong CPQ software is expensive. Not just in licensing costs, but in implementation time, change management headaches, and opportunity cost while your team struggles with a tool that doesn't fit.

Here's how to avoid that disaster.

Don't buy CPQ software because everyone else has it. Buy it because you have specific problems it will solve.

Ask yourself:

• Are quotes taking too long? (Focus on automation and ease of use → Consider DealHub)

• Are pricing errors costing you deals or margin? (You need AI-powered optimization → PROS Smart CPQ)

• Do you need end-to-end revenue management? (Look at complete platforms → Conga CPQ)

• Are you selling complex, configurable industrial products? (Specialized manufacturing CPQ → Tacton)

CPQ solutions are designed to handle highly customized products and services and can be used by all industry sectors. CPQ is a great way to cost-effectively deliver configurable products and services, regardless of their complexity of customization. CPQ provides guided-selling solutions that provide user-friendly customer interfaces for highly customized products.

Simple products (3-10 configuration options): Almost any CPQ will work. Prioritize ease of use and quick implementation.

Moderate complexity (hundreds of SKUs, multiple pricing models): You need solid configuration logic and good CRM integration. DealHub or PROS fit here.

High complexity (thousands of configurations, engineering constraints): Specialized platforms like Tacton or enterprise tools like Conga make sense.

CPQ solutions are designed to integrate with other business systems to streamline and enhance different processes across your business. Here are some common types of integrations that CPQ systems often have: CRM (Customer Relationship Management): CPQ often integrates seamlessly with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to access customer data and streamline the sales process. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems ensures that product and pricing data is up-to-date and consistent across the business. E-commerce Platforms: CPQ systems can integrate with e-commerce platforms to provide a seamless experience for customers who want to configure, price, and quote products online. This integration helps in maintaining consistency between online and offline sales channels. Billing and Invoicing Systems: Integration with billing and invoicing systems ensures accurate invoicing based on the configured products and pricing.

Critical questions:

• What CRM do you use? (Some CPQ tools are CRM-specific, others are agnostic)

• Do you need ERP integration for inventory/fulfillment?

• Will customers self-serve quotes online?

• How does CPQ data flow to your billing system?

Be brutally honest: How much technical expertise does your team have?

Low technical capability: Prioritize user-friendly platforms with great support (DealHub excels here)

Moderate capability: You can handle more complex platforms with good documentation (PROS or Conga work)

High capability / dedicated admin: Enterprise platforms with deep customization become viable (Conga or Tacton)

The license fee is just the beginning. Real CPQ costs include:

• Initial licensing fees

• Implementation costs (often 1-3x the annual license fee)

• Ongoing customization and maintenance

• Training for sales team and administrators

• Integration development

• Consultant fees if needed

A "cheaper" platform that requires heavy customization can cost more than a pricier but better-fit solution.

Before committing, test the actual platform with your real data and use cases. Most vendors offer:

• Free trials or demos

• Proof-of-concept engagements

• Pilot programs with a small team

As with any software purchase, evaluate options through demos, trials, and customer reviews to find the best fit.

Configure your actual products. Run real pricing scenarios. Have your sales team test the interface. You'll discover friction points before you're locked in.

Even great software fails if implemented poorly. Here are the mistakes we see repeatedly—and how to sidestep them.

Your manual process has workarounds built on workarounds. Don't automate bad processes—fix them first.

At the end of the day, it comes down to your processes. A poorly designed process can't be fixed by the best technology in the world. When you do have the right processes in place, CPQ is the best accelerant.

Instead: Map your ideal quote-to-cash process, then configure CPQ to support that vision.

Sales reps are creatures of habit. They'll resist any new system—even one that makes their lives easier—if rolled out poorly.

Solution:

• Involve sales in the selection process

• Identify early champions who'll advocate for the tool

• Provide role-specific training

• Celebrate early wins publicly

Your team needs to work together to identify your critical business drivers (what are you trying to achieve?) as these will inform your choice of CPQ provider and your setup. Do you want to reduce time-to-quote, increase deal sizes, improve order accuracy, grow customer retention, or all of the above? Design for outcomes, not features. Thirdly, post-implementation, you have to provide practical, role-specific training, broken down into digestible chunks, to give employees the confidence they need (both in their abilities and the proficiency of the software) to stick with the process as they come up against the inevitable challenges.

Every platform offers customization. The temptation is to build every possible feature before launch.

Don't. Start with core functionality that solves your biggest pain point. Launch. Learn. Then iterate.

Complex customizations delay go-live, increase costs, and make future updates harder.

CPQ is only as good as the data you feed it. Companies with disjointed processes and data silos have limited visibility into their sales pipelines, translating to late quotes and lost business opportunities.

Before implementation:

• Audit your product catalog

• Clean pricing data

• Standardize customer records

• Document business rules clearly

Garbage in, garbage out—especially with CPQ.

The impact of CPQ software extends beyond sales operations, influencing various facets of business. With seamless integration capabilities, CPQ aligns sales workflows with other critical functions such as inventory management, order fulfillment, and financial systems. This integration fosters collaboration across departments, enables you to scale more efficiently, and, ultimately, improves the customer experience.

CPQ doesn't exist in isolation. Map out integrations early:

• CRM data sync

• ERP product/inventory feeds

• Billing system connections

• Approval workflow notifications

Budget time and resources for integration work—it's often the longest part of implementation.

You implemented CPQ. Great! But how do you know if it's working?

Here are the KPIs that separate successful CPQ deployments from expensive failures.

Time-to-Quote: How long from initial customer request to quote delivery?

• Before CPQ: Often measured in days

• After CPQ: Should be measured in hours or even minutes

Faster Quote Turnaround Times: No more waiting for days to get quotes. CPQ streamlines the process, enabling your sales crew to deliver proposals quickly and keep the deal moving ahead.

Sales Cycle Length: Track how quote speed impacts your overall deal velocity. Faster quotes often mean faster closes.

Quote Error Rate: Percentage of quotes requiring corrections after sending.

Target: <1% error rate. The product has reduced errors at the back end by about 80%.

This level of improvement is achievable with proper CPQ implementation.

Pricing Variance: How often do sales reps deviate from standard pricing rules?

Lower variance typically means better margin protection and more consistent discounting practices.

Quotes Per Rep: How many quotes can each rep generate per week?

Improved Sales Productivity: Sales reps spend much less time on tactical duties and extra time on strategic selling initiatives.

You should see significant increases in quoting capacity.

Sales Rep Ramp Time: How quickly can new reps become productive?

CPQ with guided selling can cut onboarding time by 50% or more by encoding best practices into the tool itself.

Win Rate: Are more quotes converting to closed deals?

Better accuracy, faster response, and professional proposals should improve win rates by 5-15%.

Average Deal Size: Is CPQ helping identify upsell opportunities?

On the backend, CPQ software enables your sales team to analyze customer behavior to find upselling or cross-selling opportunities. It's a great sales enablement tool because it automatically analyzes customer trends and notifies reps when there is a chance to upgrade a client's package.

Margin Protection: Are discounts controlled? Is pricing optimized?

Track average margin per deal. AI-powered platforms like PROS can significantly improve margin through intelligent pricing recommendations.

Tool Usage Rate: What percentage of quotes go through CPQ vs. manual processes?

If reps bypass the system, you haven't solved the problem—you've just added complexity.

Target: 90%+ of quotes through CPQ within 6 months of launch.

User Satisfaction Scores: Survey your sales team quarterly.

The best CPQ in the world fails if your team hates using it. Monitor satisfaction and address friction points proactively.

Here's the truth that most "Top 20 CPQ Software" articles won't tell you: The best CPQ software is the one your team will actually use.

It doesn't matter how powerful, AI-driven, or feature-rich a platform is if:

• Your sales team finds it too complex

• Implementation drags on for a year

• It doesn't integrate with your existing tech stack

• The ROI doesn't justify the investment

So where does that leave you?

If you're a fast-growing mid-market company that values user experience and wants to get up and running quickly, DealHub offers the best balance of power and simplicity. Your team will adopt it quickly, and you'll see ROI in months, not years.

If you're in complex B2B sales where every percentage point of margin matters and you need AI-powered pricing intelligence, PROS Smart CPQ delivers optimization capabilities that directly impact your bottom line.

If you're an enterprise organization with complex revenue processes and you're already invested in Salesforce, Conga CPQ provides the comprehensive platform needed to manage your entire quote-to-cash lifecycle.

If you're a manufacturer selling highly configurable industrial products where engineering feasibility matters in every quote, Tacton CPQ's specialized configuration and 3D visualization capabilities are unmatched.

1. Audit your current quoting process: Map the actual time, errors, and pain points. Quantify the problem.

2. Define your must-have features: Be specific. "Better quoting" is vague. "Reduce quote creation time from 4 hours to 30 minutes" is actionable.

3. Shortlist 2-3 platforms: Based on your business model, technical capability, and budget. Use this article as a starting point.

4. Run proof-of-concepts: Don't trust demos with fake data. Test with your actual products, pricing, and use cases.

5. Calculate total cost of ownership: Include implementation, training, and ongoing maintenance—not just license fees.

6. Plan for change management: The technology is the easy part. Getting humans to change behavior is hard. Budget accordingly.

The companies winning with CPQ aren't necessarily using the most expensive platform or the one with the most features. They're using the platform that fits their specific needs and have implemented it thoughtfully.

CPQ software isn't magic. But when matched correctly to your business and implemented well, it comes pretty damn close.

Now go fix your quoting process. Your sales team—and your bottom line—will thank you.