Proposal software for small business buyers
Asked as “proposal software”, and as “sales proposal and quote document tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
01The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01PandaDoc49%
PandaDoc49%02Better Proposals13%
Better Proposals13%03Proposify9%
Proposify9%04Bonsai4%
Bonsai4%05Agiled4%
Agiled4%06Prospero4%
Prospero4%07Qwilr2%
Qwilr2%08Proposable0%
Proposable0%09GetAccept0%
GetAccept0%10Loopio0%
Loopio0%02What they warned about
Six of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Proposify12%
7 of 57 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“criticized for restrictive send limits ... bugs ... Users note it's pricier than alternatives and buggy for non-enterprise use.” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
PandaDoc12%
7 of 60 labels negative · 7 of 12 models
“strong, but its pricing page points small businesses toward custom/per-seat or per-document pricing rather than a clearly low fixed entry price” GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt
Loopio55%
6 of 11 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Platforms Requiring Sales Calls Before Pricing... Why avoid: These enterprise-focused platforms typically require sales conversations before showing pricing” Mistral Small, negative prompt
Responsive71%
5 of 7 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“Responsive in particular is designed for multiple approval stages and role-based workflows. For a five-person team, configuring that overhead eats up more time than it saves.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
03What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: four of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.
Sites the answers cite
21 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 185 links across 66 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 8 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.
vendor site · Qwilr10 answers · 14 citations · 3 models
vendor site · PandaDoc10 answers · 12 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Proposify9 answers · 11 citations · 3 models
vendor site · GetAccept8 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
6 answers · 6 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Lindy6 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Agiled5 answers · 7 citations · 1 model
5 answers · 7 citations · 1 model
vendor site · DocHipo4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Guideflow4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Albato4 answers · 4 citations · 1 model
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
7 answers · 2 models
6 answers · 2 models
6 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 1 model
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 1 model
4 answers · 1 model
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
04How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best proposal software for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which sales proposal and quote document tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top proposal tools for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best proposal software for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a proposal software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which proposal tools should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceQuoteWerksChangedBetter ProposalsCone, PandaDocno first choiceagainst: Better Proposals, DealHub, Proposify
Four alternatives
Better Proposals, PandaDoc, Proposify, QwilrThree alternatives
GetAccept, HubSpot CRM, OsmosFive alternatives
PandaDoc, Proposable, Proposify, Prospero, QwilrTwo alternatives
Better Proposals, NusiiGPT-5.4 miniPandaDocPandaDocHeldProposifyProposifyagainst: PandaDocno first choicenothing named
Two alternatives
HubSpot Quotes / Revenue Hub CPQ, ProposifyTwo alternatives
Proposify, QwilrThree alternatives
Better Proposals, PandaDoc, QwilrTwo alternatives
Proposal Kit, QwilrGemini 3.5 FlashPandaDocPandaDocHeldPandaDocProsperoPandaDocagainst: Adobe InDesign, Canva, Conga, DealHub, Loopio, PandaDoc, Proposify, Qvidian, RFP360, Responsive, Salesforce CPQ, Standard Microsoft Word
Three alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposify, QwilrFour alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposify, QuoteWerks, QwilrFour alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposify, Prospero, QwilrThree alternatives
Better Proposals, PandaDoc, ProposableSix alternatives
AutogenAI, Better Proposals, GetAccept, Loopio, Qwilr, SiftHubPerplexity SonarPandaDocPandaDocHeldPandaDocBetter Proposalsno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Agiled, Better Proposals, ProposifyThree alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposify, QwilrFive alternatives
Agiled, Better Proposals, Bonsai, Proposify, QwilrTwo alternatives
Agiled, ProsperoGrok 4.1 FastPandaDocPandaDocHeldBetter Proposals, PandaDocagainst: Loopio, ResponsiveBetter Proposalsno first choiceagainst: Bidsketch, Loopio, Nusii, PandaDoc, Proposify, Qvidian, Qwilr
Three alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposable, ProposifyOne alternative
ProposifyFour alternatives
Bonsai, Proposable, Proposify, QwilrThree alternatives
Jotform, Oneflow, PandaDocMistral SmallPandaDocPandaDocHeldBetter ProposalsBonsai, Jotform, PandaDocno first choiceagainst: BasicDocs, GetAccept, Google Workspace, Loopio, PandaDoc, PowerPoint, Proposify, QuoteWerks, Qvidian, RFP360, Responsive
Three alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposify, QwilrTwo alternatives
Proposify, QuotientFour alternatives
Ignition, PandaDoc, Proposify, QwilrTwo alternatives
Better Proposals, ProposifyDeepSeek V4 FlashBetter ProposalsPandaDocChangedPandaDocPandaDocagainst: Better Proposals, Nusii, Proposify, QwilrPandaDoc, Proposify, Qwilragainst: Conga, DealHub, Oneflowagainst: ChatGPT, Loopio, QorusDocs, Qvidian, Responsive
Two alternatives
PandaDoc, QwilrThree alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposify, QwilrSeven alternatives
Agiled, Better Proposals, Bonsai, HoneyBook, Proposify, Prospero, QwilrFour alternatives
Agiled, Bonsai, Jotform, ProsperoThree alternatives
Loopio, QorusDocs, ResponsiveLlama 4 MaverickAgiled, Better Proposals, PandaDoc, ProposifyProposifyChangedProposifyProsperono first choicenothing named
Four alternatives
Bidsketch, GetAccept, PandaDoc, QuoteCloudFour alternatives
Agiled, Better Proposals, PandaDoc, StorydocFour alternatives
Better Proposals, PandaDoc, Plutio, ProposifyQwen 3.7 FlashPandaDocPandaDocHeldPandaDocProposaly.aino first choiceagainst: Better Proposals, GetAccept, Nusii, PandaDoc, Proposify, Prospero
Three alternatives
Better Proposals, Proposify, QwilrTwo alternatives
Proposify, QuotientFive alternatives
Agiled, Better Proposals, Bonsai, Proposify, QwilrTwo alternatives
Google Docs + Free Templates, JotformKimi K2Better ProposalsPandaDocChangedPandaDocBonsaino first choiceagainst: Conga Composer/Conga CPQ, DealHub, Loopio, PandaDoc, Proposify, Qwilr, Responsive
Four alternatives
PandaDoc, Proposally.ai, Proposify, QwilrThree alternatives
Better Proposals, Dubsado, HoneyBookFive alternatives
Better Proposals, Bonsai, Proposify, Prospero, QwilrFour alternatives
AgencyPitch, Better Proposals, Canva, ProsperoGLM 4.7 FlashXAgiledPandaDocChangedPandaDocOneflow, Proposally.aino first choiceagainst: Microsoft Word, Salesforce-Based Proposal Tools
Six alternatives
Better Proposals, GetAccept, HoneyBook, PandaDoc, Proposify, QwilrThree alternatives
HubSpot Commerce Hub, Proposify, QwilrFour alternatives
Agiled, Better Proposals, Proposify, QwilrFour alternatives
Better Proposals, Bonsai, PandaDoc, ProposableMiniMax M2.5Better Proposals, PandaDocPandaDocChangedPandaDocProposally.aiagainst: PandaDocno first choiceagainst: Salesforce
One alternative
ProposifyTwo alternatives
Better Proposals, ProposifyTwo alternatives
Proposify, QwilrOne alternative
ProposableFour alternatives
Agiled, DealHub, PandaDoc, ProposifyBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
05The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 02:48 | yes | 9 | 8 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 03:39 | yes | 3 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 00:47 | yes | 15 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 01:53 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 01:16 | yes | 0 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 01:33 | yes | 0 | 6 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-14 23:52 | yes | 0 | 21 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-14 23:37 | yes | 0 | 1 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-14 23:08 | yes | 0 | 38 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-14 23:46 | yes | 0 | 25 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 03:38 | yes | 0 | 37 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 01:39 | yes | 0 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-14 23:41 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 00:38 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 04:21 | yes | 9 | 17 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 02:20 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 02:29 | yes | 0 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 02:40 | yes | 0 | 6 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-15 02:26 | yes | 0 | 24 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-15 04:08 | yes | 0 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 03:51 | yes | 0 | 47 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 05:07 | yes | 0 | 44 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 04:02 | yes | 0 | 72 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 00:19 | yes | 0 | 10 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 01:38 | yes | 14 | 9 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 03:15 | yes | 6 | 6 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-14 23:47 | yes | 15 | 26 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 01:54 | yes | 20 | 8 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-14 23:20 | yes | 0 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-14 23:22 | yes | 0 | 6 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-15 03:13 | yes | 0 | 37 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-14 23:27 | yes | 0 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 03:30 | yes | 0 | 35 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 00:50 | yes | 0 | 26 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-14 23:32 | yes | 0 | 106 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 01:44 | yes | 0 | 16 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 02:44 | yes | 7 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 02:26 | yes | 4 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-14 23:02 | yes | 15 | 19 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 04:29 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 03:37 | yes | 0 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-14 23:05 | yes | 0 | 10 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-15 03:53 | yes | 0 | 16 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-14 22:54 | yes | 0 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 03:30 | yes | 0 | 23 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-14 23:06 | yes | 0 | 24 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-14 23:20 | yes | 0 | 49 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 03:31 | yes | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 00:16 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 00:42 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 00:38 | yes | 12 | 22 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 01:53 | yes | 18 | 9 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 01:18 | yes | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 04:08 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-15 03:47 | yes | 0 | 21 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-15 04:00 | yes | 0 | 4 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 02:24 | yes | 0 | 35 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 01:07 | no | 0 | 84 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 05:02 | yes | 0 | 105 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 01:46 | yes | 0 | 13 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 01:57 | yes | 12 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 04:07 | no | 0 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-14 22:54 | yes | 22 | 25 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-14 23:17 | yes | 19 | 8 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 01:13 | yes | 0 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 03:39 | yes | 0 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-15 02:41 | yes | 0 | 23 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-15 02:43 | yes | 0 | 2 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 00:50 | yes | 0 | 39 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-14 23:50 | yes | 0 | 46 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 03:33 | yes | 0 | 20 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 02:58 | yes | 0 | 37 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
Category-scoped readings
HubSpot read as HubSpot Commerce Hub
Unresolved, counted raw
Adobe InDesign
BasicDocs
Conga Composer/Conga CPQ
Google Docs + Free Templates
HubSpot Quotes / Revenue Hub CPQ
Osmos
Proposal Kit
Proposaly.ai
Proprosable
Quillbot AI
QuoteCloud
Salesforce
Salesforce-Based Proposal Tools
SignWell
Standard Microsoft Word
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.