RFQ software: the honest buyer's guide

Enterprise sourcing suites (Coupa, Ivalu, Jaggaer, GEP): full source-to-pay, workflow-heavy, best when you have >$200M spend, category managers, and a governance model. Six-figure ACV.

Mid-market platforms (Keelvar, ScoutRFP, Fairmarkit, Simfoni): auction-focused or tail-spend focused, faster to deploy, five-figure ACV.

Buyer-side lightweight (SourcingHub, Portal, RFP360): help a single buyer or small team launch RFQs and compare quotes without an implementation project. Sub-$500/month.

Category-tuned templates so pricing, terms, lead time and hidden fees are captured in a single structured schema instead of a free-form Word doc.

Automatic quote normalization — landed cost, TCO, payment-term equivalence. Comparing raw prices is the #1 source of wrong awards.

Hidden-fee flagging: fuel indices, currency clauses, MOQ traps, tiered pricing that requires aspirational volume.

Audit trail: who saw what quote, when, and how the decision was documented. Non-negotiable for public sector, regulated industries, and any post-award challenge.

e-Auctions: powerful for high-volume commoditized categories, useless for services or single-source. Don't pay for an auction module you'll run twice a year.

Supplier discovery marketplaces: quality varies wildly. Verify with real buyers before believing the coverage claims.

AI 'recommendation engines': ask to see the reasoning. If it's a black box, treat it as a spellchecker, not a decision-maker.

1. How long to first RFQ live? If the answer is >4 weeks, it's an enterprise suite.

2. What categories do you have tuned templates for? Generic templates = manual work every time.

3. How do you normalize quotes with different pricing structures? Watch them demo it live, not a screenshot.

4. What's your hidden-fee detection? Ask for 3 real examples.

5. What happens when a supplier changes the scope in their quote? A good tool flags it; a weak one silently averages it.

6. Can I export the full analysis to Excel/PDF? If not, you'll rebuild it manually for your CFO.

7. What's the total cost year 1 including implementation and training?

8. Who owns the data if I cancel? Ask for the export format.

Demos that never leave a curated sandbox. Ask to run your own RFQ during the demo — with real supplier PDFs.

'Custom integrations' quoted in vague weeks. Get a fixed price or walk.

Reference customers all in one industry when they claim horizontal coverage.