Manual contracts are a thing of the past — they consume time, cost a lot, and might contain risks. With more and more hiring, selling, outsourcing, renting, and investing done digitally, it just isn’t worth it to send contracts back and forth with the good old snail mail. That’s why automating the contracting process is essential for any business.

According to Forrester Research, it takes 3.4 weeks to create and approve the average contract. All this time could be used doing something more productive, and by taking advantage of contract management software, you can draw up and sign contracts within minutes.

Today we’ll dive into the different costs of contract management software and give you everything you need to make an informed decision.

Contract Management Software vs Manual Contracts?

The costs of manual contracts are increasing year by year. World Commerce and Contracting estimates that the average cost of a simple contract is $6,900, rising to more than $49,000 for more complex agreements. This includes lawyer fees, document fees, shipping, time spent negotiating, etc.

On the other hand, the pricing of contract management platforms can fall between a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per year, saving you a significant amount of money. These tools often include pre-made professional templates and electronic signing to make the process even faster and more cost-efficient.

With various options at a wide range of price points across the market, it’s important to know exactly how much to pay for a contract management solution and what to look at.

👉 If you want to learn more about contract management software before diving into our pricing analysis, check out our 2021 Guide to Contract Management Solutions.

Should You Build an In-House Custom Solution or Buy Ready-Made Software?

When we think about buying new software, we usually remember the costly monthly fees we’ve paid in the past, and we don’t want to make the same mistakes again. Maybe there’s another way?

Many companies like to explore the option of building custom contract lifecycle management software in-house as opposed to buying someone else’s software. Big corporations tend to keep everything under one roof, so smaller companies often want to follow their thought process.

You already know that contract management is crucial for your business, and it can save you a lot of time, so which one should you go with — building an in-house solution or buying a ready-made contract management suite?

Build It In-House

This option might seem very tempting, especially if you’re already in the technology industry. After all, building a custom solution means everything will be under your control, and you also have a greater sense of security.

Only you have access to the contracts, you can make changes to the software whenever you want, and you don’t have any limits on how many contracts you can create or sign.

However, this is the most expensive and often the most unreliable option. Hiring developers to build out a custom solution takes a lot of money and probably twice as much time as you think. In addition, you’re in charge of the software, so whenever something happens or whenever something stops working, you need to allocate your current employees to fix it.

There is also an element of stress because what are you going to do when you need to draw up a contract to that star employee you’ve been looking for, and at this exact time, the custom solution produces an error?

If you can’t afford hiccups like that, then you should definitely go with a ready-made contract management platform that has 24/7 support and that has a whole team dedicated to keeping the servers online at any given moment.

Buying Contract Management Software & Hiring a Contract Manager

There are many different software available in the marketplace, but before we take an in-depth look into the best ones, we need to answer one more crucial question. Should you buy contract management software and hire a dedicated contract manager or buy CMS that could be used by anyone?

This answer comes down to the complexity that you’re looking for. If you work in a legal field, you might want to personalize every little detail and need more customization than companies in other industries. With solutions such as Contract Express or HotDocs, you get that advanced contract customization and automation, but it also means that both software can only be used by trained professionals.

Again, you need to start thinking about hiring a dedicated person to take care of this, more specifically, a contract manager. The national average salary for a contract manager is $7,708 per month in the United States.

So it’s clear that this position will cost a lot more than the monthly fee of contract management software options. Plus, you also need to provide training to that person so they can keep up with the changes in these advanced tools.

Buying Contract Management Software That Could Be Used by Anyone

Over the past five years, contract management software that anyone could use has become extremely dominant in the marketplace. This software provides everything needed for small and medium-sized businesses and saves hundreds of hours of their time. For example, Tele2 Estonia saves an average of 49 hours just by crafting 100 NDAs per year with our software instead of doing it manually like they used to.

Most software offer ready-made templates that you can easily customize depending on your needs, and the workflow has been made so simple that anyone can do this. These tools often boast a significant knowledge base and on-demand customer support, so you can be sure you’ll get your questions answered.

You can use it yourself as the business owner or have your HR people take care of drawing up and sending out contracts with the software. Since the competition between these tools is growing, all popular contract management companies are doing their best to constantly iterate their products. That’s why software that anyone could use is a strong option you should consider.

Picking The Right Tool: What Factors Determine the Price of Contract Management Software?

Before we dive into the contract management software price comparison, we need to highlight the factors determining the cost of contract management software.

Depending on your business, some of these factors are more important to you than others, so keep an eye out for what’s essential for you when we analyze the different tools later on.

Here are all the factors that determine the contract lifecycle management software pricing:

Contract Management Software Pricing Guide

Contract management software pricing can vary a lot, with costs ranging from $3 per month to $45,000 per year, according to an analysis from Capterra.com.

Many software companies offer free options for their tools but remember that these free versions often have very limited capability.

👉 Here’s an overview of the contract management free tools that might interest you.

Now it’s time to dive deep into the cost of contract management software and compare each of the most popular tools head-on so you could choose the best solution for your business!

Avokaado

Avokaado is an all-in-one contract lifecycle management software that will take care of everything you need — from document creation and workflow management all the way to digital signing and electronic storing.

Avokaado stands out because of its ease of use and its extensive library of smart templates that will streamline your processes, which can be applied across all kinds of different industries. It offers seamless and instant signing by using Dokobit or SignNow.

Moreover, Avokaado hosts easy API-integrations to seamlessly integrate the platform with your existing tech stack: a data register, CRM, or your own software. All in all, it makes for a really smooth document management experience.

Pricing:

• Starter: 29€ per month
• Standard: 49€ per user per month
• Premium: 60€ per user per month
• Custom: Contact the team for a personalized rate and solution

Free trial: Avokaado comes with a 7-day free trial for the Starter and Standard plans, so you can start crafting documents and getting signatures before you pay anything.

ContractpodAI

ContractpodAI is contract lifecycle management software with a big focus on the legal side. Their platform is AI-driven, allowing you to quickly analyze the contracts and compare a significant number of documents side-by-side.

Pricing:

• Their pricing is customized to your needs, so there are no plans available. Contact their team to get a customized quote.

Free trial: They don’t offer a free trial but you can request a free demo for your business to learn more about ContractpodAI.

Precisely

Precisely is a digital contracting platform that automates and reduces manual tasks while ensuring compliance. Like most other contract management software, it allows you to create contracts at scale and monitor the workflow.

Pricing:

• Professional: $62 per user per month
• Enterprise: $89 per user per month

Free trial: 14-day free trial

Legito

Legito takes pride in smart document crafting, where you can create even the most complex documents with ease. Their AI system makes sure that there are no discrepancies in the contracts and gives suggestions for improving each document. They have a lot of integrations and are suitable for a variety of different industries.

Pricing:

• Single User: $360 for 3 months, or $1,200 when paid annually
• Small Business (10 users): $2,880 for 3 months, or $9,600 when paid annually
• Custom (20+ users): Contact their team to get a personalized rate

Free trial: 30-day free trial

Concord

Concord likes to advertize itself as one of the simplest contract management suites. Over 500,000 companies use Concord, and they have convenient integrations with Word and Google Docs, so you can work on your contracts right in these platforms.

Pricing:

• Standard: $23 per user per month
• Pro: $59 per user per month
• Enterprise: Contact their team for a personalized solution

Free trial: They have a Free plan available to test out their software with up to three users.

Ironclad

Ironclad is built by lawyers for everyone. They offer digital contracting from making to managing and storing contracts so you can focus on legal work, not paperwork. In addition, it’s a cloud-based solution with 24/7 customer support.

Pricing:

• Their pricing is customized to your needs so you’ll need to book a free consultation and work out a personalized solution.

Free trial: Ironclad doesn’t offer a free trial but they’ll show you the platform on the demo call.

Contractbook

Contractbook offers end-to-end contract management technology for your business. You can draft, edit, sign, store, and execute everything in just one single platform. That means you can save a lot of time while managing everything in one place.

Pricing:

• Core: $115/month for 3 users
• Automate: $420/month for 3 users
• Integrate: $1,445/month for 3 users

Free trial: They offer a Free plan to try out their software but it has some restrictions.

Juro

Juro is a contract automation platform that empowers legal and business teams to streamline their contract workflow and manage everything in one unified workspace. They also have specialized products and solutions for legal ops, sales contracts, HR paperwork, and developers.

Pricing:

• Lite: $59 per user per month
• Team: $90 per user per month
• Business: Contact their team for a customized plan and pricing

Free trial: Juro offers a Free plan that’s limited to 50 contracts, 1 template, and 1 user.

Onit

Complicated processes for drafting and signing contracts cripple businesses. Onit has built a powerful legal contract management technology that helps you in all stages of contract management.

They also boast a variety of different legal products next to contract lifecycle management, should you need them.

Pricing:

• To find out your customized pricing, you need to schedule a demo with their team

Free trial: None but you can schedule a demo to learn more about their solution

Contract Logix

Contract Logix helps you securely and easily find, access, and manage contacts from different devices. They have built various smart contract technologies that allow you to manage processes, track KPIs, organize contracts, and get real-time reports.

Pricing:

• Express CMS: $59.00 per feature, per month
• Premium CLM: Schedule a free demo or a discovery call with their team

Free trial: None but you can request a free demo for your company

ContractWorks

ContractWorks is an easy platform that can be set up in minutes. They offer everything you need to take control of contracts, like tracking the lifecycle and electronic signing. However, it might not have the best options for creating contracts.

Pricing:

• Standard: $600 per month
• Professional: $800 per month
• Enterprise: $1000 month

Free trial: You can sign up for a free trial for each of these plans

Icertis

Last but not least on our list is Icertis — the AI-powered analytical contract management platform that turns ordinary contracts from static documents into your strategic advantage by structuring critical information and speeding up workflow.

Pricing:

• To get to know their pricing, you need to contact their sales team via their website

Free trial: None but you can schedule a free demo

Summary — The Best Option

Determining the cost of contract management software is no easy task, but with our in-depth pricing guide, you can finally choose the best option for you.

All the named contract management platforms have their unique advantages and disadvantages, so you need to focus on the areas that matter to you the most.

When making the final decision, definitely keep in mind the following questions:

• Do you want to build your own software in-house or buy a ready-made professional solution?
• Do you need an all-in-one software suite or just one specific tool?
• Are contract templates, document collaboration, and signing integrations vital to you?
• How many users will be managing the contracts?
• What is your preferred price range?

This way, you can discover everything the contract management system offers with zero investment.

Avokaado is one of the most competitive in terms of pricing, and it offers everything a small to medium-sized business needs for document creation, signing, and lifecycle management.

👉 Try Avokaado for free for 7 days

Thanks for reading our guide! We hope that you can now make an educated decision to choose the right tool for your business and save up a whole lot of time and money with contract management software.