DealHub is an enterprise CPQ and proposal suite. For many businesses that is overkill. Proposal Expert delivers the proposal and tracking functionality without the CPQ complexity.
DealHub is an enterprise suite for CPQ and proposals, with a quote configurator, approval workflows, contract management and deep integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot. Proposal Expert is a proposal tool with a block editor, AI generation plus AI scoring per section, pricing tables with optional line items, CRM writeback to HubSpot, Salesforce and Monday.com, and an interface in 16 languages. This page compares the two tools on CPQ depth, onboarding and pricing model, so you can decide whether you need a full CPQ suite or a lighter proposal tool.
DealHub is the better choice when your sales process requires a real quote configurator, with product rules, discount matrices, multi-level approvals and contract management in one system. Large organisations with their own sales operations team, an implementation partner and an enterprise contract with Salesforce get more out of it than out of a lighter tool. If your pricing structure has hundreds of combinations and quoting errors are expensive, the CPQ depth of DealHub is worth the investment. Think of a software company with modules, user tiers and regional discounts that affect each other, or a manufacturer where a wrong configuration leads to a product that cannot be delivered. In those situations the rules in the configurator are not a luxury but a quality check. The implementation project then also comes with a sales operations team that manages and maintains the rules.
Proposal Expert is the better fit when you want to send professional proposals without an implementation project that takes weeks and without a team that maintains configurator rules. The AI scoring rates every section on structure and persuasiveness, the pricing tables cover everyday quotes with multiple options and optional line items without a configurator, and status and amounts are written back to HubSpot, Salesforce and Monday.com. The interface works in 16 languages, prices are published on the site and you start on a free plan. For sales teams of two to twenty people that send dozens of proposals a month with a clear pricing structure, that is usually exactly enough. Your first proposal is ready within an hour, new colleagues onboard themselves through the academy and you do not need to sign an enterprise contract to get started.
Most teams do not need a CPQ suite, because a quote configurator only pays off when your pricing structure has so many combinations and rules that manual quotes become unreliable. If you can explain your offer in a table with a few options and some optional line items, a proposal tool with good pricing tables is lighter, faster and cheaper. A simple structure is often more persuasive than an elaborate configuration too. The compromise effect (Simonson, 1989 and Simonson & Tversky, 1992) shows that with three options clients systematically lean towards the middle, with on average 17.5% extra market share for the middle option. Three clear packages with a recommended middle option therefore do much of the work you expect from a configurator. Ask yourself how often a quote went wrong last month because of a calculation error rather than the content. If that is rare, CPQ is overkill.
Proposal Expert publishes its prices openly, lets you start self-service on a free plan, scores every section with AI and works in 16 languages, four things DealHub as an enterprise suite does not offer in this form. DealHub, on the other hand, has a full quote configurator and contract management, which Proposal Expert deliberately does not replicate. Public pricing and self-service match how B2B buyers want to buy: McKinsey & Company (2022) found that 83% of B2B customers consider transparency more important than brand reputation, and TrustRadius (2025) reports that 45% of B2B buyers name pricing transparency as their top wish. The same principle applies to the proposals you send yourself, which is why the scoring also checks whether your pricing section is clear and in context. On top of that you get the academy with learning paths and the Data Lab for analysis per proposal.
Switching from DealHub to Proposal Expert usually takes a sales team without configurator rules an afternoon and runs in four steps: export, translate quote templates into pricing tables, capture your brand and reconnect your CRM. First export your completed proposals and contracts from DealHub as PDF so your records stay complete and signed documents remain available. Then translate your frequently used quote templates into pricing tables in the block editor of Proposal Expert, with a recommended middle option and optional line items for add-ons, and let the AI draft write the text sections. Store your logo, colours and fonts in a brand kit. Finally reconnect Salesforce or HubSpot from the integrations page and check with a test proposal that status and amounts flow back correctly. Plan the switch at the start of a quarter so deals in progress are closed out cleanly in DealHub.
Your first proposal within an hour, versus weeks of implementation with DealHub.
If you do not need complex CPQ, you avoid the setup and costs that come with it.
Block-based editor with AI scoring, no legacy form-based UI.
DealHub requires enterprise contracts. Proposal Expert has transparent plans starting from free.
| Feature | Proposal Expert | DealHub |
|---|---|---|
| Proposal editor | ✓ | ✓ |
| CPQ (quote configurator) | Basic pricing tiers | ✓ |
| AI scoring | ✓ | – |
| Engagement tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| HubSpot integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Salesforce integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public pricing | ✓ | – |
| Self-service onboarding | ✓ | – |
Sales teams that want modern proposal tooling without CPQ complexity or enterprise contracts.