Comparing the top CPQs- Salesforce CPQ vs Apttus vs Oracle CPQ

The CPQ market has witnessed steady, double-digit growth over the  last few years. Gartner predicts the CPQ market will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% through 2020 in the Market Guide for Configure, Price, and Quote Application Suites. Comparing the top CPQs will help you understand what works best for your org.

If you’re considering making an investment in CPQ, you may already have noticed how overwhelming it is to compare CPQ solutions. The CPQ space is fragmented with the presence of so many vendors including local and large market players. Irrespective of intensified competition, the top players continue to be Oracle, Salesforce, and Apttus, as they are very reliable and provide top-notch technological innovations. 

To help you select the right CPQ for your business, we’ve curated a one vs the other comparison on Salesforce CPQ, Apttus CPQ and Oracle Cloud. 

But before that, let’s see what CPQ does for your organization.

What is CPQ?

CPQ stands for configuration, pricing, and quoting. A CPQ software is a sales software for organizations to generate quotes for orders in a matter of minutes. It aids the sales team through the entire quote to cash process. The CPQ software generates quotes quickly and is accessed by the sales team immediately based on the customer’s requirements. When you hunt down your CPQ options, you can count on the one that breaks complex pricing rules into intelligible custom quotes for your customer.

Salesforce vs Apttus vs Oracle CPQ

All three products are market leaders and provide powerful features. While Salesforce and Apttus are package-based solutions built on the Salesforce.com platform, Oracle is built on its own platform. Apttus CPQ offers Max AI , a quote to cash virtual agent which helps the sales team to configure solutions, create quotes, update contracts, manage discounts, send invoices, update CRM records and so many other functions. Even better, they can chat with this intelligent AI to perform all these functions. It gives recommendations as to what deal may close and other cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. Similarly, Salesforce too gives recommendations leveraging Salesforce’s AI, Einstein which helps in creating quotes and predicting up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. Oracle provides AI based price optimization as well which helps in increasing sales/revenue and recommends various pricing options to help customers make smarter decisions. 

Here’s a comparison between the three products based on various features and pricing.

Salesforce CPQ

Salesforce CPQ helps in streamlining the customer lifecycle using the capabilities of Sales Cloud. It gives full control on product bundling based on your unique business rules. The reps can easily create quotes and proposals using the native Salesforce interface, be it on any device. Salesforce CPQ is best at resolving all pain points surrounding subscription products, volume discounts and product bundling. But it is a complex tool and hence your team may need extensive training to get past the learning curve. It is highly rated for its excellent Guided Selling and Discount Scheduling features. Their popular clients include Cloudera, Alcon, Glassdoor, Barracuda etc. 

Product Features 

• Assists in guided selling for improving business sales.
• Manage contracts and keeps track of orders and renewals as and when required. 
• Acts as a product configurator.
• Handles subscription billing and other payments.
• Offers revenue recognition, sales tax management etc.

Apttus CPQ

Apttus is one of the most popular CPQ softwares in the market  and is  built on Salesforce’s Force.com platform. Although claiming to be an end-to-end CPQ solution, Apttus however still depends on CRM applications for various functions. Nevertheless, Apttus utilizes Microsoft Office tools really well with its X Author technology to create price quotes easily. It has excellent functions to manage even the most complex pricing rules. Apttus’s Artificial Intelligence capabilities using Max AI is off the chart. It  provides the right recommendation on offers which helps the sales team to create precise and up-to-date quotes on the go.However the overall charge is on the higher side compared to the peers. Their popular clients include Salesforce, DocuSign, Adobe, Citrix, Moody’s, ABB and so on. 

Product Features

• Multiple quoting functionality
• Enables upsell or cross-sell recommendations.
• Change the price of your product or service offerings.
• Propose price or discount recommendations. 
• Customization options to handle scenarios which are out-of-the-box for Apttus CPQ.

Oracle CPQ

Earlier known as BigMachines before its acquisition in 2013, Oracle CPQ Cloud is an enterprise-grade CPQ with strong functionalities to streamline the entire quote to cash process. Oracle CPQ Cloud leverages Oracle Adaptive Intelligence Apps for delivering better customer experience with its exceptional machine learning capabilities. It is highly regarded due to it’s great mobile support capabilities. But it has a slightly lower adoption rate compared to its peers. Their popular clients include Schneider Electric, Red Hat, PCCW Media etc.

Product Features

• Subscription ordering to configure and manage subscription contracts.
• Supports automated pricing rules and validations
• Connects multiple front and back office systems simultaneously.
• Feature-based pricing for complex items ensuring complete quote and price accuracy
• Proposal management module for creating branded and customized proposals 

Pricing

Oracle CPQ

Oracle CPQ offers 3 pricing editions:

Standard Edition – from $130/user/month

• Searchable Product Catalog
• Configurable Products
• List and Customer-Specific Pricing
• Discounting
• Extensible Data Structures and Scripting
• Output Document Generation
• Workflow Approvals
• Included Test Environment
• CRM Integration with four leading SFAs
• Reliable Customer Support

Enterprise Edition – from $165/user/month

This includes all features listed in Standard edition as well as : 

• Native Reporting Module
• Batch Transaction Export to Populate Data Warehouse
• Available Channel Sales Module
• Available E-commerce Module (interaction-based pricing)
• Available Database Encryption

Premium Edition – from $240/user/month

Here you can avail features listed under Enterprise Edition as well as: 

• Included Multi-Source Document Creation 
• Available Premium Support
• Included Database Encryption

Salesforce CPQ

Salesforce CPQ cost is mapped out according to the services provided under its four distinct versions.

The most basic version of Salesforce CPQ pricing starts at $75.00 per month, per user. 

Salesforce CPQ Plan @$75/month

At this price package you will avail: 

• Product Configurator
• Product Selector
• Proposal Generation Feature
• Management of Orders
• The Dynamic Order Generation Tool
• The Dynamic Contract Generation Tool
• Management of Discounts
• Pricing Parameters
• Renewal Management
• CPQ Essential Training
• Success Plan
• Dashboard
• Reporting Aspects
• Contract Changes or Amendments

Salesforce CPQ Plus Plan @$150/month

At this price package, you will avail all the services available in the CPQ Plan along with these additional services:

• Advanced level order management services
• Portal Integration of the third party
• Customer self-service
• CPQ Plan features
• Partner Self-service
• Third party API integration

CPQ & Billing Growth and CPQ & Billing Plus

In this pricing package, you can select the services you want based on which you will receive a price quote. 

Apttus CPQ

Being a sales tool that caters to both medium and large enterprises, Apttus CPQ is tailor made to their price quoting, quote dealings, and configuration services. However they have not mentioned detailed pricing info anywhere except that the pricing starts from $35 per month. You can contact them for a demo and then request the price quote based on your business requirements. 

Final Verdict

Although Oracle ranks lower compared to Salesforce CPQ and Apttus CPQ, all the three products are highly efficient and provide impeccable quote-to-cash solutions. That said, you must do adequate homework before investing in any one of them. Our case study here is a perfect example of how Salesforce CPQ can do wonders in increasing profits and scaling annual revenue growth. You can also get a free consultation with our Salesforce CPQ consultant to guide you through the right options and advise what solution works best for your organization.