Configure, price, quote. CPQ platforms have been flying under the radar for a few years, and the market is still a fraction of the CRM market, despite packing some serious solutions to digital problems.
Yet things are beginning to change. And the market is adapting quickly.
CPQ platforms are, after all, extensions of customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, and they’ve been witnessing strong signs of growth.
The CPQ platform market has been expanding by 20% a year and is expected to break the $1 billion milestone at any moment. 
With this freshly implanted into your mind, let’s now look at the top CPQ tools currently available on the market.
Summary of the top 5 CPQ platforms
- Apttus
- Salesforce CPQ
- IBM CPQ
- Infor CPQ
- Oracle CPQ
First: Apttus
Funnily enough, Apttus was built on the force.com platform over at Salesforce, and it is by a long stretch the most widely used CPQ platform on the market.
Although it is a fully-fledged CPQ solution, Apttus remains reliant on CRM applications for some of the functioning.
The platform leverages the tools of Microsoft Office extremely well through its X Author technology, which ultimately generates price quotes fast and effectively.
Its Saas-based CPQ software utilizes artificial intelligence capabilities for when it comes to prescriptive data as well as recommendations.
Summary: Apttus holds strong core functionalities.
Second: Salesforce CPQ
Of course Salesforce makes the list. The broad-based cloud solution provides offerings in all types of niche markets.
Salesforce CPQ began life was SteelBrick CPQ, and was acquired by Salesforce back in 2015. Salesforce CPQ has a strong market presence yet it just missing out on top spot.
Plus, if you’re using Salesforce for other areas of your organization, then its CPQ solution would be the natural fit.
Summary: Works very smoothly within the Salesforce ecosystem and benefits from its Einstein artificial intelligence capabilities. 
Third: IBM CPQ
Supporting customer self-service, partner sales, and direct sales, IBM CPQ provides multichannel engagements. It offers powerful capabilities that tend to match the needs of large enterprises.
It is ideal for distributed teams that don’t want to deal with having to carry out plenty of preliminary activities such as inheritances and duplicating pricing engine rules, etc.
Users of IBM CPQ can carry out localization of the pricing engine, with the platform capable of supporting distinct geographies.
Those that would benefit most from this CPQ platform would be those have already have IBM solutions, especially ecommerce solutions.
Summary: holds a dynamic pricing engine with multi-level control.
Fourth: Infor CPQ
Infor CPQ works well when it is integrated with ERP solutions that have a good set of product features such as custom pricing options, visualizations, and AI-led recommendations.
Infor CPQ is a primary target of both B2C companies and manufacturing companies and sits comfortably within an ecosystem of EMS platforms.
One of the weaknesses of Infor CPQ, or one of its shortcomings, is that it is considered not that easy to use.
Summary: Infor CPQ is a robust tool with strong core functionalities.
Fifth: Oracle CPQ Cloud
Before it was acquired back in 2013, Oracle CPQ Cloud was known as BigMachines. It seems tailored for enterprise-scale implementations with its depth of core functionalities. On top of that it exceeds in delivering a strong customer experience.
Leveraging the Oracle ecosystem, Oracle CPQ Cloud can tap into Oracle Adaptive Intelligence Apps, which features machine learning functionalities.
It’s not only sales teams that are able to use Oracle CPQ Cloud. The platform can be used as a self-service tool for ecommerce stores that have integrations with Oracle Commerce Cloud.
Summary: comes with a strong set of core functionalities along with great customer experience.
PS: ArganoUV is one of the world’s leading CPQ development & strategy teams. Contact us to see how we can work together.
