Contract management is an integral component of every business, but the process was entirely done manually in the past. Apart from being costly, error-prone, and time-consuming, the approach could also lead to the loss of files. Therefore, contract management software (CMS) or contract lifecycle management (CLM) is developed to solve these problems.
CMS automates contract management processes making it easier, faster, and more efficient to track and manage contracts through its various stages while reducing financial or audit risk. Thus, several contract management systems exist in the market today, each with distinct features. To help you select an apt solution for your company, this article presents the 13 best CMS. This list was arrived at after evaluating 40 solutions features, security, compliance measures, and pricing.
The Top 13 Best Contract Management Solutions Currently In The Market
- Bonsai
- PandaDoc
- DocuSign
- Concord
- Bonsai
- Accelo
- Precisely
- ContractSafe
- Agiloft
- Outlaw
- ContractWorks
- Workday Strategic Sourcing
- Juro
#1 Bonsai
Pricing: The starting price of this software is $17 per month for an annual plan.
Bonsai is reliable software for managing contracts with clients, vendors, and partners. The main feature of this platform is that it offers templates for different contract agreements. You can modify these documents to suit your client’s needs while saving time.
What’s so great about these contracts is that they have been vetted by attorneys. So you can use them for your company or freelance needs with ease. The library of templates is vast to offer options for multiple business sectors, such as real estate, photography, interior design, and much more.
You can also send these contracts to clients in no time by using the efficient client portal of Bonsai. It is also easy to automate this feature by sending a contract agreement to a customer whenever your proposal is accepted. This will enhance your productivity and boost sales of your company.
| Pros | Cons |
| It will save your time | Only a limited number of contract templates are available on the free account |
| You can enjoy more profitability by signing contracts fast before a client can change their mind | |
| An electronic signature option is also available for clients | |
| Allows you to create custom contracts too | |
| Let you enhance your security by requiring a deposit from a client whenever the contract is accepted | |
| You can also send contracts from other apps using a secure link generated by Bonsai |
#2 PandaDoc
Price: $49/per user/month
PandaDoc is a popular and powerful contract management system utilized by thousands of customers globally. It offers companies powerful analytics that eliminates the need for a team or specialists to collect and convert data into usable form. You can use PandaDoc detailed, insightful analytics to send sophisticated documents for less than half the price you will offer a new staff. PandaDoc fortifies you with the necessary tools to create, send, and manage documents and legally binding agreements with ease. This makes it easier for you to shoot an appealing proposal to a potential customer or send a contract with an attached deposit invoice. It comes with hundreds of built-in templates to create an appealing document in no time. Notable PandaDoc features are e-signature technology, industry-standard security, multiple works spaces, and more. PandaDoc is suitable for any size and kind of business.
Pros | Cons |
| Robust document creator | Can’t generate PPT file |
| Extremely customizable | Doesn’t allow to write in landscape mode |
| Highly Intuitive and user-friendly interface | |
| Superbly automates workflow | |
| Excellent tracking ability | |
| Seamless integration with numerous platforms | |
| Has great collaborative tools |
#3 DocuSign
Price: $15 -$60/ per user/ per month
DocuSign is a top-rated CMS designed with small businesses in mind. It is quite inexpensive yet offers a valuable CMS solution. In addition to e-signature, other features include reusable templates, real-time content notification, recipient reminder, payment collection, content repository, and more. DocuSign also enables you to customize your mail to include your brand logo and brand color. DocuSign can be integrated with Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, and other 350 pre-built solutions. The software also offers a strong security feature that secures its storage centers
Pros | Cons |
| Easy generate and send documents | Requires recipient authentication |
| Allow customization of reusable templates | Occasionally has a problem with syncing docs |
| Offline sending and e-signing | |
| Can target multiple clients at once | |
| Provide full history and audit trail certificate |
#4 Concord
Price: $17/per month
Concord helps enterprises effectively manage their contract lifecycle. From unlimited volume to key integration, Concord provides the answer to large businesses’ CM needs. It offers your business quality onboarding assistance, and it’s very easy to use. Concord allows you to work from your Concord dashboard or GDrive. Key features of Concordia are conditional approval workflow, private comment for effective negotiation, clause library for pre-approved clauses, e-signature, and tons of templates.
Pros | Cons |
| Effective follow through after contract execution | Doesn’t allow comment on PDF document |
| Ability to store unlimited documents | Limited reporting metrics |
| Robust monitoring features and tools | |
| Superb contract negotiations tools | |
| Easy templates creation and use |
#5 Bonsai
Price: $24/per month
Bonsai offers freelancers optimal contract management solutions. Bonsai is simple and intuitive. It helps you handle the most critical part of contract, which is legally binding. It offers you dozens of standard built-in templates. Bonsai also provides you modern features for creating and tracking proposals, quotes, and contracts. This software allows you to focus on your business because it handles the heavy lifting for you. Bonsai’s vital features include automated client-side notification, personalized private portal, iOS, Android mobile application, essential project management features, and many more. Bonsai currently supports over 180 Clients allowing them to work with clients from different parts of the world.
Pros | Cons |
| Accurately tracks the various documents associated with different projects | Not available in others languages other than English |
| Saves contract draft cost | Evidence of work not captured by time tracking feature |
| Can track time spent on project | |
| Very insightful dashboard | |
| Extremely easy to use |
#6 Accelo
Price: $19 – $79/per user/month
Handling contract renewals and invoicing is not always easy for service-based companies. It is quite strenuous trying to balance satisfying existing clients and new clients. Accelo is developed to remove all time-consuming manual tasks needed to stay updated. Further, Accelo provides other awesome features and tools for the smooth management of your business. These include unlimited contract types, time tracking tools, budget monitoring tools, automatic invoice generation, customizable templates, and an intuitive clients portal. To prevent missing deadlines, Accelo allows you to automate and customize your notification. You and your team also get to know what next could be renegotiation, contract closing, or contract renewal.
Pros | Cons |
| Constant CRM update | Paid Customer service |
| Robust project management tool | Can’t attach the target to the tag while uploading |
| Streamlines management experience | |
| Seamless customization | |
| Connecting clients to companies and projects for improved relationship |
#7 Precisely
Price: $44/per user/per month
Precisely is contract management software designed to assist midsized and businesses get employees updated and involved in the contract before sending it out for signings. Precisely aligns your company’s legal department with other aspects of the business for effective contract management. The software streamlines your workflow effectively. Additionally, the software enables you to efficiently automate your contract APIs to collect contact data directly from your ERP, CRM, and marketing automation system instead of filing the contract manually.
Pros | Cons |
| Unlimited integration options | The interface isn’t too intuitive |
| Can manage and archive unlimited contracts | Header and footer of contract templates can’t be customized |
| Powerful built-in analytics tools | |
| Effectively design automatic custom approval workflows | |
| Offers 14-days free trial |
#8 ContractSafe
Price: $299/for 500 contracts/per month
If you want to avoid the stress and huge costs involve in managing multiple users contracts, then ContractSafe is the best solution for you. It allows multiple users at an affordable rate. Businesses often utilize businesses that need to enter a contract with many users like banks, hospitality, legal firms, hospitals, and more. ContractSafe offers robust security features and end-to-end data center encryption, so you don’t have to worry about the security of your contracts on the platform. Also, as an admin on the platform, choose who to read and edit a document.
Pros | Cons |
| Intuitive and intelligent features | Note section doesn’t allow spacing |
| Flexible repository can store any file format | Charges fee for custom field access |
| All-round tight security | |
| Has unlimited vendor support | |
| User-friendly interface and tools |
#9 Agiloft
Price: $65/per user/per month
Agiloft is one of the oldest CMS software in the market and comes with modern features and tools. It has been offering businesses of different sizes limitless codeless customization options since 1990. So, it’s a viable solution you can trust for your custom features. The software gives free to create custom workflows, reports, routing processes, and a personalizable dashboard to keep an eye on your KPIs and alerts. Agiloft cab is perfectly integrated with Microsoft and Google. Further, with Agiloft, you get an audit trail for all documents, store your data in secure GDPR and HIPAA compliance storage centers.
Pros | Cons |
| Free plan for SMBs | Lacks internet chat feature |
| Allows automation without coding knowledge | Unlimited customization makes the system confusing sometimes |
| Access and Configure Task Templates for your Projects | |
| 30 days free trial |
#10 Outlaw
Price: $60/per month
Are you looking to deploy software with solid AI-assisted analytics and other valuable features? You might want to consider outlaw. The software AI analytics can help you run reports on timelines, ongoing activities, and contract statuses. Outlaw provides integration with Salesforce, HubSpot, Zapier, Slack, and QuickBooks for efficiency in your entire business. Outlaw is ideal for any business; its unlimited cloud storage, contracts, and e-signatures mean you don’t have to sweat about volume. Moreso, the outlaw stores your data in a secured data storage center with SOC 2-compliance. Other key features include a self-service template and a dynamic contract field.
Pros | Cons |
| Live chat support | Can’t send a reminder to people in the checkpoint process |
| Easy to set up and use | Templates creation has some learning curve |
| Fast error-free contract generation | |
| Increased contract cycle visibility | |
| Effective and secure negotiation |
#11 ContractWorks
Price: $600 per month for 2,500 documents and five e-signature licenses
ContractWorks is a powerful software that offers businesses AI technology-driven automation solutions. It is easy to use and offers you numerous customization options. The software allows you to save easily, schedule, share and export your reports. Some of the fantastic features the solution offers you include OCR and advanced search capability, automated smart contract outlines, drag, and drop download, milestone alert, and annotation for quick document evaluation. In addition, ContractWorks provides audit log reporting, secure storage centers, and 256-bit data encryption. Its professional and enterprise plans allow integration with Salesforce.
Pros | Cons |
| Unlimited users | Limited integration options |
| Free Data Migration | Has no mobile app |
| Simple yet powerful interface | Inability to edit documents and share redlines |
| Smart document tagging | |
| Save documents in cloud service certified as SOC |
#12 Workday Strategic Sourcing
Price: Available upon request
Workday Strategic Sourcing is a cloud-based software that eliminates most of the challenges common with sourcing and supplier management. The software helps streamlines your business sourcing pipelines and contracts. It offers you stakeholder visibility across the entire organization. WSS advanced search capability prevents you from wasting time surfing the file repository for documents. The system also offers great collaborative tools that help everyone be on the same page. Similarly, you can set up automatic schedule reports to keep stakeholders updated.
Pros | Cons |
| Excellent for sourcing, intake, and pipeline | inability to include files, graphics, tables in response to a question |
| Extremely easy to use | No free trial |
| Outstanding collaboration tool | |
| Provide various metrics for effective performance evaluation | |
| Bird’s-eye visibility for every contract |
#13 Juro
Price: Free for 50 contracts and user
$450/month,5 users
Juro is an end-to-end contract management software with amazing CLM tools and features. Juro required no code enabling businesses to self-service and manage their data in a unified workspace. This CLM software is designed with legal counsel in mind but can also be utilized by other professionals. The end-to-end contract management software offers you numerous templates and a no-code pre-built templates editor to create contracts and send them out for approval. Juro can be integrated with Gdrive, Slack, Greenhouse, and Salesforce. Some essential features of the CLM software are a native signature, internal commenting, audit trail, mass action, CVS export REST API, and Webhook.
Pros | Cons |
| Unlimited templates | Difficult to make numerous changes at once |
| Easy to create and manage customers Contracts | Expensive paid plan |
| Clear and transparent interface | |
| Offers actionable insights | |
| Fast approval workflow |
FAQs
What are the factors to consider when choosing a CLM software?
Some of the major factors to consider when choosing a contact management system are ease of use, security, integration, customization and automation tools, audit support, and volume capabilities. Also, consider the system’s interface, advance search feature, price and notification, and reminder. Finally, be sure the CLM you choose is suitable for your business type and size.
What are the key features of CLM Software?
Though contract management systems offer different features, the common ones include custom/ smart fields, automated approval processes, automated alerts, e-signature, audit trails, OCR capabilities, and content repositories.
What is the cost of CLM Software?
A common feature about contract lifecycle management software pricing is that they are offered monthly or annually. However, some benefits come with the annual subscription. Some of these include an increased number of users and contract volume as well as discounts on the subscription fee. So, the yearly plan is more suitable for big businesses, and the lower cost plan is best suited for small businesses. The average cost of the CLM low plan begins at $25/month, while the high plans with multiple top-notch features start at $125/month.