12 Best Contract Management Software [2021 Update]

Which contract management software will boost your close rate and save your team time? Systems that provide professional documents and seamless integration enable companies to stay compliant while increasing close rates by 40% or more.

However, not all software is easy to use right out of the box. Plus, you may find that it’s not possible to integrate your contract software with current workflows.

1. PandaDoc – Best Contract Lifecycle Management Software Overall

PandaDoc is a complete digital document and management solution to automate your contract management process. The software includes built-in eSignatures and plenty of integrations. Contract templates and a content library prevent costly errors while in-document commenting and redlining improves workflows.

Top Features:

• Contract drafting – Ideal for sending multiple contracts for a single deal, since it automatically transfers critical customer metadata from an existing document to a newly prepared one
• Contract renewals – Has built-in renewal notification emails to alert the relevant parties when the time to revisit the original contract rolls around
• Contract redlining and collaboration – Users can leave comments on specific sections of the contract or use the general chat feature to facilitate seamless collaboration between teams
• Approval workflows – Automates monotonous tasks by streamlining sales operations with customizable user-role management and approval processes
• Preapproved templates and content library – Allows users to create, customize, and populate contracts from preexisting templates and preapproved clauses in a matter of minutes
• eSignature integration – Gets contracts signed digitally with legally-binding eSignatures, effectively eliminating bottlenecks for shorter turnaround times
• Payment processing – Allows for the speedy collection of payments with any PCI DSS compliant gateway once all parties seal the deal
• Reporting and analytics – Provides an overview of contract metrics, insights into expenditures and revenues over time, financial reporting information, and upcoming activities and alerts
• CRM integrations – Pulls customer data directly from the CRM onto new contracts
• User roles and permission management – Offers various levels of differentiated user access
• Security – Uses GDPR, FERPA, HIPAA, and SOC 2 Type II compliant security standards; Data in the repository is encrypted using AES-256 technology to prevent unauthorized third-party access to sensitive information

Price range: The cost ranges from $9 for individuals up to $49 for businesses.

Why choose PandaDoc: It’s an all-in-one solution for secure collaboration, management, and contract tracking. It’s a full contract lifecycle management solution that makes it easy to not only handle contract creation at scale but also for internal teams to manage contracts from contract automation, contract drafting, and contract approval (before they’re delivered to clients) to signature and payment. The flexibility of the contract management platform means that it can support almost any business process that requires document management and electronic signatures.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: The ability to upload nearly any type of contract documents, from Word to PDF. Users also appreciate that it’s user-friendly for both internal teams and external parties and acts as a contract repository for teams.

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Users suggest that there is a mild learning curve due to the full range of features that PandaDoc provides.

# of integrations: Countless, including 15 CRMs, accounting programs, and payment services. Support: Full support via phone, email, and online chat at any time of day.

2. ContractWorks CLM Software

ContractWorks offers industry-leading security, transparent pricing, and custom reporting. With document tagging, including their AI quick start tagging system, it’s easy to locate contracts and track action. This software prioritizes security and offers several backup options.

Top Features:

• Milestone alerts – Users can create future alerts and notifications to get ahead of upcoming milestones, deadlines, and contract renewals
• Central contract storage – Stores all documents in a single repository with real-time, multi-user access, eliminating the need for shared drives
• Document tagging – Automatically identifies each document using various predetermined criteria such as contract type, termination/renewal date, parties, etc.
• Custom reporting – It allows users to create reports using any metric, as well as save, export, schedule, and share contractual documents with any group of users
• Advanced OCR text search – Sifts through thousands of scanned image files or PDF documents by converting them into searchable text data
• Quick review annotations – Users can highlight specific sections of a contract using different colors with various actionable criteria for quick and easy reference
• Contract data encryption – Uses 256-bit encryption technology to keep documents that are both in transit or storage safe from unauthorized access

Price range: $600 to $800 a month for unlimited enterprise users.

Why choose ContractWorks: Provides smooth data migration and a transparent pricing model.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Users find that this software makes it easy to run reports. 

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Larger organizations with multiple reviewers face problems because revisions aren’t possible. Instead, they need to restart the entire process. 

# of integrations: Although ContractWorks doesn’t mention integrations, you can connect with Salesforce for a one-time fee of $500.

Support: Customer support available during business hours.

3. Ironclad Enterprise Contract Management Software

Ironclad is a contract management software solution that helps legal teams automate workflows, generate reports, and process contracts with ease. The drag and drop user interface helps all stakeholders, even those without technical knowledge, use Ironclad. Also, you can preview and make changes without leaving the platform.

Top features:

• Approval workflows – Comes with a signature and approval conditionality regardless of the agreement types
• Centralized repository – Dynamic storage of documents with intuitive search capability, including structured and full-text search of the entire contract database; It also allows users to identify contracts through relationships like parent/child
• Contract authoring – The workflow designer supports contract automation with no coding prerequisite
• Digital collaboration and  contract negotiation – It has built-in editing, redlining, and auditing capabilities
• Document Tagging – Ironclad editor allows for “@”-mention of colleagues and also has an accept/reject feature built into the app
• Secure infrastructure – Guarantees data protection during every stage of document transfer, storage, and processing, using set SOC 2, Type II policies
• App integrations – Has powerful API integrations for CRM platforms like Salesforce, cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox, and eSignature providers like PandaDoc, HelloSign, and DocuSign

Price range: No pricing information on their website.

Why choose Ironclad: Companies choose Ironclad to automate repetitive processes by their legal team. 

Main advantage on G2Crowd: The primary advantage of using Ironclad is that the automated workflows save legal departments time because contract language in templates requires less time in lawyer review. 

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Those without a legal background, such as a human resources team, may face issues with understanding how the workflow functions. 

# of integrations: Although Ironclad provides a public API, it only offers one CRM integration compared to 15 from the Ironclad alternative. 

Support: 24-hour support via a live representative.

4. DealHub.io

Featuring native integration with Salesforce, DealHub.io helps organizations quickly create and send contracts.

Its easy-to-use interface works for staff with various levels of tech training, ensuring that everyone on your team feels comfortable using the software. Also, administrators can preapprove templates to ensure accuracy.

Top features:

• Contract creation – Users can generate contracts, quotes, MSAs, NDAs, and other business-critical documents using the same platform
• Contract collaboration – Supports collaborative input and internal sharing of contracts with different departments such as legal, procurement, or management
• Approval workflows – Users can configure criteria to facilitate approval workflows
• Contract redlining – Customers can provide valuable feedback through the CLM software allowing users to streamline revisions
• CRM integration – Auto-syncs with CRMs to capture and transfer data onto contracts
• Document tracking – The contract tracking software captures all views and edits to an agreement and identifies the various parties it has been shared with
• Contract repository – Dynamic storage allows for easy retrieval and re-use of stored or previously-amended agreements respectively
• eSign capability – All eSigned documents alongside the signer’s details are automatically synced to the CRM

Price range: No pricing information on their website.

Why choose DealHub.io: Automate proposal and contract process without leaving Salesforce. 

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Users appreciate the content library and document analytics. 

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Some users have reported experiencing difficulty when configuring and using the deal room. 

# of integrations: Unlike the alternative to DealHub.io, this software only features three integrations on their website: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Freshworks.Support: Available online with a live representative 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

5. Concord

Concord makes compliance and negotiation simple with its contract management software. It offers features like the ability to track changes and hold discussions with stakeholders and other reviewers inside the platform.

Plus, users can see the status of all contracts to speed up the buying cycle.

Top features:

• Contract generation – Comes with preapproved templates to make the contract creation process easy, fast, and painless; It also has a version-control feature to ensure that users always use the up-to-date version of the document
• Automated approvals – Reduces the approval wait-time by automatically sending contracts and other business-related documents through the right approval channels
• Online negotiations and redlining – Allows for in-document comments, redlines, and edits within the platform, significantly speeding up the sales cycle in the process
• Free for customers – Guests can edit, review, and eSign the contract at no additional cost and with no signup requirements
• CRM integration – Supports Salesforce integration to allows users to create and track customized contracts and quotes; It also automates the post-signature execution workflow in the CRM
• Report customization – Users can build real-time custom reports and display aggregated data drawn from all existing contracts, allowing them to identify potential opportunities for expansion or upsell
• e-Signing capability – This fully electronic contract management system has a built-in eSignature solution to minimize the duration of the end-to-end CLM process and eliminate the need for on-premise agreement signing

Price range: Prices range from $100 to $195 per creator per month plus $50 to $95 per collaborator per month. 

Why choose Concord: Users who need to create an audit trail choose Concord.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Current users appreciate how the tagging system automatically gives departments access to specific documents. 

Main complaint on G2Crowd: The app appears to be more suited to professionals working in legal or operations. It may not be ideal for those in sales and marketing.

# of integrations: Concord only offers one CRM integration compared to the Concord alternative, which provides 15 integrations.

Support: Online, during business hours.

6. Icertis Contract Management

Icertis Contract Management provides contract templates and clause libraries to speed up processes using its cloud computing and storage system.

The software also helps global companies ensure compliance with regulations like Europe’s GDPR. This highly functional tool for enterprises delivers a remarkable amount of information while maintaining your contracts.

Top features:

• Intelligent contract creation – Comes with built-in capability for modeling any kind of contractual relationship
• User and role management – Provides a personal, intuitive, and role-based experience for any user on the platform
• Security – Incorporates enterprise-grade administration standards to keep highly-sensitive contracts in storage and transit confidential at all times
• Contract operations – Users can take advantage of the flexible, rule-based contract generation, execution, collaborative, and management tools available on the platform
• Risk & compliance – Comes with several commercial-risk, governance, and compliance tools
• Reporting – Optimizes all aspects of the contract management lifecycle to provide valuable insights driven by artificial intelligence including VisualizeAI, DiscoverAI, and NegotiateAI
• Integrations – This cloud-based contract management software is built on Microsoft Azure making it integration-friendly and highly-scalable to several different kinds of Saas cloud architecture

Price range: No pricing information on their website.

Why choose Icertis: Even complicated integrations are easy with the open Icertis API platform.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Customers appreciate being able to access and manage their contracts in one place. 

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Administrators find it challenging to learn how to use the system to their advantage. 

# of integrations: While exact numbers of integrations aren’t given, the API framework allows tech teams to connect with any number of programs.

Support: Unlike the alternative contract management software options, Icertis doesn’t offer 24/7 support. Instead, you can only contact them online during business hours. 

7. Conga Contract Management

Conga (formerly Apttus) offers various tools for contract management, including Conga Collaborate, Conga Sign, Conga Composer, and Conga CPQ.

The Conga Contract Management suite of tools help you save time, minimize risk, and manage your contacts in one spot. Plus, Conga offers pay-as-you-grow or end-to-end enterprise options.

Top features:

• Contract creation – Allows users to set up clause libraries with preapproved clause bundles for the creation of strong, legally-binding contracts
• Collaboration – Multiple users can edit and review contracts from their respective user applications for added functionality with no additional training required
• In-document commenting and redlining – Non-legal users can redline and comment on a document through an interactive online interface
• Contract experience customization – Allows users to automate approvals, workflows, and updates to keep the contract lifecycle on course
• Automatic updates – Eliminates the potential for missed deadlines or renewals
• Document tracking – Audit trail captures all views and edits made to the agreement, and remains intact at all times
• Risk & compliance – Comes with several enterprise-grade controls to streamline processes, reduce risk, and minimize costs
• Integrations – Supports different types of configurable third-party integrations for CRM, supply chain management systems, and cloud storage solutions

Price range: Conga Collaborate pricing starts at $50 per user per month. 

Why choose Conga Contract Management: AI insights and simple step-by-step wizards make this software easy to use.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Users like having all of their contacts in one convenient location. 

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Switching to this software can pose some technical problems and is time-consuming.

# of integrations: Conga doesn’t list its integrations, they say,

“Conga’s technical services experts have a 100% proven track record of integrating with any application.”

Support: Their online system offers a live rep 24-hours a day although Conga Composer doesn’t provide email support like the alternative.

8. ContractSafe

ContractSafe is designed as an all-in-one, contract management solution. It supports an unlimited number of users without any of the complex user permissions synonymous with other apps.

Top features:

• Search & reporting – Supports quick and intuitive keyword searching for contracts, reports, or any other business-related document, using broad or highly-specific terms
• Central repository – Stores all contracts in one secure location and comes with useful tracking and searchable features that are compatible with scanned documents as well
• Security – Supports data encryption for contracts in storage and transit; It also comes with malware, virus, and intrusion-detection capabilities
• Alerts & notifications – This contract management software for small business entities and large-scale enterprises alike comes with handy intelligent alerts to ensure users never miss a critical deadline, termination, or renewal date
• Sharing & roles – Supports an unlimited number of users with a simple role-and-permission assignment, including no-delete and read-only users
• Integrations – Integrates with a host of applications for cloud storage, eSignature, CRM, procurement software, and other industry-acclaimed contract managers like PandaDoc and Agiloft
• Support – Free implementation, in-product help, and customized training sessions available 

Price range: The Basic plan pricing starts from $299/mo. for 500 active users, to $899/mo. for 5,000 active users on the Enterprise plan.

Why choose ContractSafe: The software comes with a Speed Search feature that works with scanned documents as well.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Many users like the contract database, which allows documents to be stored in a cloud repository alongside the built-in advanced search capabilities.

Main complaint on G2Crowd: The existing dashboard is more of a spreadsheet that doesn’t offer much functionality aside from listing the existing contracts.

# of integrations: Some of the integrations ContractSafe supports include SalesForce, DocuSign, Active Directory, and Okta/SAML 2.0.

Support: Live Chat support is available during business hours.

9. SpringCM for Small Businesses

Suggested for companies with at least 250 employees, SpringCM (acquired by DocuSign) provides an affordable option for businesses.

Customers can access their contract management tool online and via mobile devices. Plus, a variety of self-help options guide various workflows.

Top features:

• Contract generation – Supports the creation of new contracts from preconfigured, preapproved templates capable of sourcing and populating metadata from other systems
• Central repository – The dynamic, scalable repository comes with an intuitive and customizable folder structure that allows users to store, organize, and tag contract documents in a single, searchable location
• Configurable workflow – Users can automate even the most complex of contract processes, eliminating manual handoffs and bottlenecks to speed up deal closures
• Collaboration and negotiation – Any changes made to contracts can easily be tracked across multiple versions of the document for accurate, unadulterated audit trails 
• Workflow automation – It allows users to generate new contracts from standard, predefined templates for redlining, routing, eSigning, and approvals with shorter turnaround times
• Security – Uses FedRAMP, TRUSTe, HIPAA, and SOC 2 compliant security standards to minimize unauthorized third-party access to sensitive information

Price range: From $40 to $80 per user per month.

Why choose SpringCM: Flexible options for businesses in a pattern of growth.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Customers like how SpringCM makes collaboration easier. 

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Several users complain about a lag time or glitches where the user is logged out too soon. 

# of integrations: While its API helps with integrations, it offers one CRM connection compared to the 14 that the alternative to SpringCM provides. 

Support: Only provides support online during business hours.

10. Nintex

Nintex is a process management system first, and contract management comes second. This software makes it easy to develop and automate complex workflows within an organization.

Plus, it’s easy to import high-resolution images into your documents.

Top features:

• Document generation – The Nintex DocGen feature allows users to instantly create documents like contracts, invoices, and other critical business documents
• Workflow automation – Simplifies complex workflows by streamlining core business operations using an interactive drag-and-drop visual editor
• eSignatures – Allows users to eSign business-critical documents within automated workflows, and even have alerts and reminders to track the progress
• Process collaboration – The app comes with built-in visual tools that make it easy to capture feedback from the relevant stakeholders in real-time
• Reporting & analytics – Process intelligence software tracks the performance of various workflows to uncover and interpret data-driven metrics to make improvements as needed
• Integration – Comes with a drag-and-drop connector within the workflow designer for users to integrate frequently-used business apps for cloud storage, CRM, and lots more

Price range: Starts under $950 a month up to $1,300 a month. 

Why choose Nintex: Generate contracts from Salesforce or Microsoft Office 360.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: The main benefit of using Nintex is that it’s easy to learn the basics of use.

Main complaint on G2Crowd: Users suggest that the architecture feels clunky and is difficult to troubleshoot. 

# of integrations: Unlike the Nintex alternative, this company only integrates with one CRM.

Support: Online, during business hours. 

11. SAP Ariba

SAP Ariba streamlines every aspect of the contract lifecycle from creation and collaboration, to execution and compliance in one easy-to-use central repository.

It offers users a lower overall total cost of ownership with little to no demands on an organization’s IT team.

Top features:

• Central repository – Comes with advanced search tools and secure storage for quick on-demand access to business-critical documents
• Preapproved templates – Users can build contracts using preexisting and preapproved legal clauses and templates
• Integrations – Supports SAP Ariba solutions, ERPs, CRMs, and other third-party integrations for higher compliance levels
• Audit trail – Notifies the user of any changes made to preapproved document formats to keep all agreements standard
• Alerts and notifications – Users can input key-milestone, renewal, and termination dates for contracts to exploit any business opportunities that arise
• eSignature – Supports third-party eSignature management
• Document tracking – Controlled processes as well as automated tracking, inform stakeholders of all off-contract actions to fortify compliance activities
• Version control – Ensures that the current up-to-date versions of the contracts are available to users

Price range: No pricing information provided.

Why choose SAP Ariba: Provides unrivaled transparency allowing users to stay informed during every phase of the contract lifecycle.

Main advantage on G2Crowd: Easy synchronization and integration with other ERPs.

Main complaint on G2Crowd: The APIs it comes with, are limited and difficult to integrate.

# of integrations: Limited number of integrations with other cloud-based applications supported.

Support: Email support available via service requests on the Contact Us page

12. Trackado

Trackado is a simple, fast, and easy-to-use tool that allows users to store and access their contracts remotely from a central document repository.

It also comes with built-in reminders on critical contract milestones.

Top features

• Contract repository – Provides a central database for storing all contract information and allows users to easily search for, find, and retrieve documents by their category, department, or a variety of custom properties
• Events and reminders – Users can register events such as upcoming contract renewals and terminations to keep track of deadlines and activities related to those events
• Approval workflows – Supports the generation of workflows from predefined templates, or their creation from scratch, and logs all activities by the initiator and participants as it gets routed through the required approval channels
• Business partner module – Displays contact details and any other relevant information on the parties, as well as activities related to a particular business partner
• Integrations – Comes with built-in cloud storage integrations for Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox
• Document tracking – It has custom properties that allow users to customize the specific data they want to monitor

Price range: Pricing starts from $0/mo. for the Free plan, which supports only one user, to $199/mo. for the Enterprise plan that supports up to 25 users.

Why choose Trackado: Provides accurate and up-to-date billing information to help users stay on top of their financials.

Main advantage on Capterra: Easy-to-use and easy-to-navigate thanks, in large part, to its intuitive layout and functional display.

Main complaint on Capterra: Some users found the notification alerts and renewal options slightly confusing.

# of integrations: Aside from cloud storage integrations like OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox, Trackado does not appear to support any other integrations.

Support: Live Chat support available during business hours.

Whatever platform or toolset you choose to manage your contracts, make sure to start with a thorough analysis of your team’s requirements for features, integrations, and user experience. From there, it’ll make your search for the perfect contract management tool much easier since you’ll be able to evaluate each one on an objective basis. 

Don’t hesitate to try multiple tools’ demos so that you can compare one against another!

FAQ

What is the best quality management software for a contract?

PandaDoc is, no doubt, the industry leader when it comes to dynamic and robust end-to-end contract management solutions. When sourcing for CLM software the key things you need to look out for are the top built-in features, its ease-of-use, alongside the overall number of integrations supported. The higher the number of capabilities it has, the easier and more convenient it will be to use.

PandaDoc embodies everything you would want in the best contract management software. From contract creation, collaboration, and approval, to eSigning, CRM integration, and payment processing – PandaDoc does it all. It explains why it’s a top choice for professionals across the world.

What does contract management software do?

The goal of any CLM app is to automate the entire contract lifecycle from creation to payment in a single unified workspace. The idea is to speed up the closing of deals so that you can get down to business and focus on what matters – increasing your bottom line.

Why is contract management software important for your business?

Your business needs a CMS since it helps to keeps track of key milestone dates, eliminate redundancy, provide critical performance metrics, supports real-time collaboration, and track all versions of a document.

How much does contract management software cost?

While the prices may vary widely depending on the features it has and the number of integrations supported, most software providers offer a monthly or annual subscription plan. The specific cost depends on the number of users and the specific plan you pick, with most providers offering a significant discount on annual plans.

Prices range anywhere between $0 for an individual user on a Free plan, to $900 per month for Enterprise plans that support an unlimited number of users.

Does Salesforce have a contract management system?

Yes, it does. The Salesforce CLM software is built on the company’s already-existing CRM solution. It is designed to manage the entire contract lifecycle while pulling relevant customer data from the CRM.

While it may not provide the full array of capabilities you get with other contract management systems in the market like PandaDoc, it does automate certain aspects of key processes, which in turn reduces the turnaround times compared to traditional approaches.

Originally published January 5, 2020. Updated 15 February 15, 2021.

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