Essential contract management software buying information
Contract management software automates the creation, tracking, and monitoring of contracts and agreements. It allows users to draft contracts from scratch, customize existing templates for specific clauses, and store all contracts and related documents in a centralized digital repository.
Businesses across industries—including legal services, human resources (HR), sales, operations, finance, procurement, and customer support—use the software to automate and streamline the contract management process.
Most contract management software solutions on the market are priced on a “per month” basis, and a typical entry-level pricing plan is around $7 per month. Premium or advanced system subscriptions commonly cost upward of $99 per month.1
If you’re a first-time buyer, start evaluating software options with your budget, number of users, precise use cases, and necessary integrations in mind. Additionally, discuss with stakeholders a list of key questions to ask providers to determine if an option fits your needs, such as:
What contract management tasks can this product automate?
Does this tool offer pre-built templates to edit or customize contracts for specific project or industry needs?
What types of documents (e.g., PDFs, spreadsheets) does this tool support?
Can I upload, review, and compare third-party and legacy contract documents with this tool?
Does this product help identify potential risks, such as missed deadlines, compliance issues, or unfavorable terms?
What are the most reviewed contract management systems?
Capterra Shortlist identifies the top contract management systems based on a proprietary blend of user ratings and popularity, helping small businesses efficiently find the most effective contract management solution for their needs.2 Here are the five most-reviewed products in our Capterra Shortlist for this category:
These rankings are determined by combining verified user ratings and publicly available web search popularity data:
Ratings score: Relative score of the software based on ratings given by users on Capterra, normalized for number and recency of reviews.
Popularity score: Relative popularity of the software based on web search trends and products’ web presence.
What is contract management software?
Contract management software, or contract lifecycle management software, automates the entire contract management process, from contract creation and negotiation to tracking, monitoring, and renewal. It also automates contract approval workflows, allowing users to set up approval chains to move contracts through various stages, such as review and finalization.
The software lets multiple users work on a contract simultaneously, facilitating collaboration and speeding up contract processing. It also enables regulatory and policy compliance by providing governance over what is signed and with whom and allowing role-based access to terms and obligations with third parties.
Capterra covers 697 contract management software products, and we published 5,401 reviews from software users in the past year.3
Contract management software pricing
Most enterprise contract management software solutions on the market are priced on a “per month” basis, and a typical entry-level pricing plan is around $7 per month. Premium or advanced system subscriptions commonly cost upward of $99 per month.
Entry-level systems generally include contract drafting, time tracking, contact management, and document management features.
Premium or advanced plans usually provide additional features, including advanced analytics, reporting, contract personalization, accounting capabilities, and priority support.
First-time buyers should be aware that:
Initial setup, training, and data migration are common upfront costs.
Maintenance and customer support are common recurring costs.
Free trials are often offered by contract management software providers, and some systems provide free versions.
Contract management software features rated by users
All contract management tools include document management, contract drafting, and pre-built templates, and most share a variety of common features such as electronic signature and workflow management.
Core contract management software features
Document management: Store, manage, and track all contract documents from a centralized location. 81% rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Contract drafting: Create, edit, and revise contracts or written agreements. 72% rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Pre-built templates: Use pre-made templates to create contracts for common use cases, such as nondisclosure agreements and employment contracts.
Common contract management software features
Electronic signature: Get contracts signed online and verify the identity of signatories using biometrics or password authentication. 84% rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Digital signature: Validate the authenticity and integrity of a digital document. 82% rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Document storage: Store documents in a centralized location for ease of access and sharing. 77% rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Completion tracking: Track the current status and completion of tasks, goals, or deliverables via progress indicators. 74% rate this feature as critical or highly important.
Audit trail: Track changes made to a contract over its lifetime and view date/time records for each change made.
Contact management: Manage, organize, and store contact information.
Workflow management: Create, design, and manage workflows for repetitive tasks, such as getting approvals and sending alerts.
Top contract management software benefits identified by users
Effective team support: Users have noted their contract management software systems’ helpful team support features that enable them to extract the most value and efficiency from their software.
“It connects businesses with a global talent pool, backed by responsive support, fostering smooth and efficient collaborations across borders.”
–Walid F., product design manager in consumer services
Intuitive user interface: Because contract management software is used in so many different industries, across multiple teams and individuals, it must be easy to use. Users are able to quickly understand how the product is meant to be navigated in order to complete tasks correctly.
“It has an easy-to-use interface that allows you to manage all aspects of your business from a single platform.”
–Cevdet Ö., Project Engineer in manufacturing
Seamless integration with other systems: Contract management platforms are typically easy to integrate with other software, such as customer relationship management (CRM), accounting, and HR solutions, enabling seamless data sharing between the systems.
“Integration with our existing apps was ridiculously simple along with integrating it into everyday use in our business.”
–Jeff C., co-owner and artist
Enhanced client collaboration: Collaboration features such as revision history, concurrent editing, and comments allow businesses to communicate with clients and get feedback from them in real time.
“This platform improved the professionalism of me as a freelancer since it gets me feedback from clients while doing the project.”
–Kushan C., planning engineer, construction
Common challenges of contract management software identified by users
For contract management software, document upload problems, customization and user accessibility issues are the most frequently cited limitations in user reviews from the past year.
Users say they aren’t easily able to change the fonts, background colors, or other visual elements of the contracts created with their software, which is a drawback for those who would like to introduce their own branding (e.g., logos) into contracts. Others mention some technical difficulties with mobile apps, for example, or problems related to internet connectivity causing disruptions with the contract signing process.
What is contract management software used for?
Analysis of our extensive contract lifecycle management software reviews highlights the most common use cases:
Expediting the contract signing process: The digital signature feature allows stakeholders to execute contracts online, without having to deal with physical paperwork. Clients can sign and send the contracts electronically, making the entire workflow more efficient and faster.
Streamlining document management: A contract management solution serves as an all-in-one document management platform with options for creating, editing, approving, sharing, and storing documents. These tools also support regulatory compliance and access control.
Automating the contract workflow: By automating the entire contract management workflow, from contract creation and negotiation to tracking, monitoring, and renewals, the software reduces administrative burden, helping businesses save time and resources.
Who uses contract management software?
Because of its versatility, enterprise contract management software is one of the most ubiquitous technologies for businesses of all sizes and industries. Systems are usually geared toward teams involved with managing or handling contracts, such as:
Legal teams
Sales teams
HR teams
Finance teams
While anyone related to the teams above likely uses a contract management tool, user reviews data from the past twelve months reveals some of the most common kinds of users. The top user industries include IT and software development, marketing and advertising, and construction. Additionally, 38% of reviews are from companies with 11-200 employees, and 18% come from businesses with two to 10 employees.
Common contract management software integrations
Software reviewers say they commonly integrate their contract management tool with CRM, document management, and digital signature.
Additionally, reviews over the past year that mention integration have a generally positive user sentiment, indicating that integration is likely not an issue with contract management tools. During software evaluation, confirm that your shortlisted provider offers integration support to make this process smooth.
Recent trends in contract management software
Growing prominence of generative AI: According to Gartner, generative AI (GenAI) will play a major role in transforming and streamlining contract lifecycle management, making the entire process more efficient. Instead of manually drafting contracts, which is time-consuming and highly technical, GenAI can train the software on existing contract data sets and then use those data sets to create new contracts tailored to specific needs. This automated process would enable users to reduce administrative workload, devote more resources to their core activities, and lower reliance on manual labor.4
Learn more about contract management software can help your business
