# Proposal software for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "proposal software" and as "sales proposal and quote document tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/revops/proposal-software/2026-10/smb

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/revops/proposal-software/smb/index.md

**Standing:** PandaDoc leads with 67% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 52 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [PandaDoc](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/pandadoc/index.md) | 67% | 11% | 72 |
| 3 | [Better Proposals](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/better-proposals/index.md) | 8% | 12% | 60 |
| 4 | [Prospero](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/prospero/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 11 |
| 5 | [Qwilr](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/qwilr/index.md) | 2% | 8% | 52 |
| 6 | [Proposify](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/proposify/index.md) | 2% | 19% | 59 |
| 7 | [Bonsai](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/bonsai/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 16 |
| 52 | [Loopio](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/loopio/index.md) | 0% | 60% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 53 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Better Proposals, PandaDoc; alternatives Proposify, Qwilr
- GPT-5.4 mini: PandaDoc; alternatives GetAccept, Proposify, Qwilr
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, GetAccept, Proposify, Qwilr
- Perplexity Sonar: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, Bidsketch, Proposable
- Grok 4.20: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, Proposify, Qwilr
- Mistral Small: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, Proposable, Qwilr
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, Proposify, Qwilr
- Llama 4 Maverick: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, Proposable
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, FreshBooks, Proposify, Qwilr
- Kimi K2: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, GetAccept, Proposify, Qwilr
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: PandaDoc; alternatives Bonsai, Proposify, Qwilr
- MiniMax M2.5: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, GetAccept, Proposable, Qwilr
- GPT-6 Luna: PandaDoc; alternatives Proposify, Qwilr
- Muse Glimmer 30B: PandaDoc; alternatives Better Proposals, Proposify, Qwilr

## Sources the answers cite

78 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- pandadoc.com: 52 answers, 79 citations
- qwilr.com: 42 answers, 73 citations
- getaccept.com: 34 answers, 37 citations
- guideflow.com: 34 answers, 35 citations
- proposify.com: 33 answers, 39 citations
- g2.com: 30 answers, 79 citations
- monday.com: 29 answers, 32 citations
- agiled.app: 26 answers, 34 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://pandadoc.com/blog/proposal-software (34 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/best-proposal-software (33 answers)
- https://getaccept.com/blog/proposal-software (30 answers)
- https://monday.com/blog/crm-and-sales/best-proposal-management-software (27 answers)
- https://agiled.app/blog/best-proposal-software-for-small-businesses (25 answers)
- https://zapier.com/blog/best-proposal-software (25 answers)
- https://plutio.com/solutions/small-business/proposals (23 answers)
- https://qwilr.com/blog/best-proposal-automation-software (23 answers)
- https://qwilr.com/blog/best-proposal-software (22 answers)
- https://responsive.io/blog/best-proposal-software-comparison (22 answers)

## Warned against

- Proposify: 11 of 59 labels negative. "Tools with Buggy Editors or Clunky Interfaces (e.g., Proposify, Better Proposals)... Key Tools/Types to Avoid" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- PandaDoc: 8 of 72 labels negative. "Pricing starts at $35-49/user/month (e.g., PandaDoc Essentials ~$35/user/mo ... which balloons for teams but is expensive for solos/freelancers" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Loopio: 6 of 10 labels negative. ""Why avoid: These enterprise-focused platforms typically require sales conversations before showing pricing"; "Sales-gated, from ~$20K/yr"; "No free plan is offered"." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Better Proposals: 7 of 60 labels negative. "Better Proposals has multiple reviews citing poor customer support, billing issues, and a lack of responsiveness" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: PandaDoc at 65%.

- PandaDoc: 49% to 65%, +16. Cleared the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 52, unchanged.
- Agiled: 4% to 11%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 5 → 2 of 52.
- Proposify: 9% to 2%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 6 of 52.
- Better Proposals: 13% to 7%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 2 → 3 of 52.
- Bonsai: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 7 of 52.
- Proposable: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 14 → 9 of 52.
- Prospero: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 4 of 52.
- Qwilr: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 → 5 of 52.
- GetAccept: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 16 → 11 of 52.
- Loopio: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 58 → 50 of 52.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.