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Anyone who’s dealt with RFPs knows they’re a massive headache. You spend hours or days bothering teammates, scavenging for just the right document, and triple-checking answers, only to realize the deadline is creeping up way too fast.
And if your process isn’t airtight, mistakes slip through, and suddenly, your proposal isn’t as competitive as it should be.
Now, you don’t need to drown in questionnaires because you can automate your RFPs with the right AI. This saves you a ton of time.
And, when searching for an RFP software, Responsive (previously known as RFPio) is one of the big names in this space, but let’s be real, it’s certainly not the best software out there since it does have problems with accuracy, a complex interface, among many other things.
So, in this article, we’ve rounded up the top Responsive alternatives that do RFP automation, but better. Let’s take a look.
Responsive Alternatives at a Glance
| Tool | Top Feature | Free Trial? | Starting Price |
| Loopio | Users can track metrics like win rates and how frequently content is used and viewed | N/A | N/A |
| 1up | Fast questionnaire automation capabilities | ✅ | $250 / month |
| Ombud | Scalable platform that grows with your company and doesn’t charge per feature or present paywalls | No | N/A |
| QorusDocs | Strong integration with Microsoft Office. | ✅ | N/A |
| Seismic | Sales team enablement allows for specific hub-building | No | N/A |
| Qvidian | Responding to large, complex financial docs | N/A | N/A |
The Downsides of Responsive
Before we look at the Responsive competitors, let’s look at why Responsive (RFPio). After all, it’s a leading automated response software with some real benefits.
Customers have reported the following issues with Responsive:
- Maintaining a large library of Q&A: This is the hardest part about these RFP tools. Once you’ve built a large knowledge base, you need to spend meaningful time maintaining it.
- Inaccurate AI-generated answers: One of the biggest selling points of working with automated response software is accurate answers that win you deals. The fact that Responsive fails at this even some of the time makes it hard to get behind.
- Complex interface: Again, we want to save clients time and money. If they have to take a ton of time learning how to use the interface, how to upload docs, and how to ask questions, it might not be worth it in the end.
- No free trial: While Responsive does offer a demo option if you enter your contact information, there is no free trial. Also, there’s no price list on the website, just a section that explains the plans. In each case, you’ll have to book a sales call with a representative, hoping they don’t upsell you into oblivion.
1. Loopio
Loopio is essentially a content management system like Responsive, meaning you’ll spend a lot of time cleaning up responses and updating responses as well. It is one of the most popular automated response software companies that lets teams manage every step of the sales cycle from within AI-powered workflows.
From deciding whether to accept an RFP to tracking prospects as they view your docs, Loopio helps you do it all.
The platform’s structured content library is a key feature, ensuring teams can organize and reuse accurate responses. However, maintaining this library requires ongoing effort if they’re outdated, AI-generated answers may miss the mark.
Loopio supports multiple file formats (Word, Excel, PDF, and web-based questionnaires) and includes reporting tools to track content performance. While automation speeds up responses, manual oversight is still needed for formatting, customization, and keeping content fresh.
Loopio Key Points
| Use cases | Loopio is an AI response platform for RFPs and questionnaires. |
| Standout feature | AI-powered workflows that keep teams moving steadily through multiple projects. |
| Tracking and analytics | Users can measure deals won, review accuracy, and gain insights. |
| Integrations | Users can integrate with dozens of other platforms, like Salesforce, Seismic, Slack, MS Office, Google, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box. |
| Customer support | Users can access a knowledge base for answers to common questions or submit a support ticket for more niche help. |
Top Features of Loopio
- Centralized Content Library
- Automated Workflows
- Customization Options
- Analytics that Track Performance
Loopio Pricing
Loopio does not offer a free trial, and pricing information isn’t available on their website. The company asks you to contact sales to discuss their essentials, plus, advanced, and enterprise plans.
- Essentials Plan: Contact Sales
- Plus Plan: Contact Sales
- Advanced Plan: Contact Sales
- Enterprise Plan: Contact Sales
Pros and Cons of Loopio
| Pros | Cons |
| Simplifies complex tasks with powerful search tool from a centralized dashboard | Users often find it difficult to use, With limited self-service training you have to learn everything from scratch |
| Large library to hold huge amounts of catalog responses | Trouble building and managing the content library as content becomes outdated |
| Mapping tool is especially helpful when importing documents | Struggles with formats that are not easily recognizable, so the user ends up having to enter questions manually |
| No pricing information, and no free trial | |
| Weak automation capabilities, requiring users to maintain the knowledge base |
2. 1up
Of course, we had to include our own platform, not just to self-promote, but because we truly believe we offer the fastest, most accurate responses to RFPs, fully automated.
Don’t just take it from us. You can also ask companies like FusionAuth, WalkMe, and Deliveroo why they chose 1up to automate sales questionnaires.
1up has built a reputation for having a single source of truth – you. That is always reliable and always accurate. We’ll connect directly to your source material, and 1up will pull answers in record time. It will even include links back to the source.
Your team members can ask single questions in their messaging system, like Slack, MS Teams, or Google Chat. Or, you can have a Word Doc or Excel Sheet to be automatically filled out, no matter how long it is. Plus, we even have a browser extension that answers questions for you on the web if you don’t have a doc.
Comparing 1up vs Responsive? Click here for a deeper dive.
1up Key Points
| Use cases | 1up is an AI that will get your sales reps answers to any question from your own internal source material. |
| Standout feature | Fastest automation capabilities for questionnaires |
| Tracking and analytics | 1up analyzes your company’s knowledge sources and updates them in real-time. |
| Integrations | Users can integrate Slack, Google Chat, and MS Teams. |
| Customer support | Users can access a live chat with a real human or open a ticket in the dashboard. |
Top Features of 1up
- Automated Question Answering
- Rapid Onboarding
- Automated Multi-Question RFP and Questionnaire Responses
- Knowledge Base for Accurate Answers
- Workflow Management
1up Pricing
1up offers a 14-day free trial and starter, as well as pro and enterprise plans.
- 1up Starter: From $250 per month
- 1up Pro: From $850 per month
- 1up Enterprise: Contact sales to discuss
Pros and Cons of 1up
| Pros | Cons |
| Lightning fast responses unlike competitors who respond in hours or days. | Limited Enterprise audit logging capabilities |
| The platform is simple to use with tons of integrations with Slack, MS Teams, and more. | Live support only in North America working hours |
| No inaccurate responses as all data is from your internal documents, website, and more. | White-glove onboarding limited to Enterprise plan |
| The fastest setup time compared to any other RFP automation platform, with an easy walk-though demo provided. | Does not export custom PDF templates |
| Fills out complex sheets and files with hundreds of lines with ease. | |
| Offers live chat with a real human, instead of just another AI support system, while taking all user feedback to heart and actually integrating it. | |
| Provides links to where the information was retrieved so you can verify accuracy. |
3. Ombud
Ombud offers centralized content management, collaboration, and file sharing, including doc signing in real time, creating a seamless workflow.
Ombud wins with its clientele because of its AI-powered platform that helps users manage multiple files across workspaces and portals from within a team or as a client. Teams can easily collaborate on RFPs and also leverage AI to summarize documents and generate new content based on existing stored data.
Ombud Key Points
| Use cases | Ombud can be used for hiring and onboarding vendors quickly |
| Standout feature | AI-powered platform to automate file management and extract metadata. |
| Tracking and analytics | Ombud allows users to monitor file activity, content usage, and user access. Users can get detailed reports on how files are being used. |
| Integrations | Users can integrate Ombud with other platforms like Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Slack, Zoom, and more. |
| Customer support | Ombud offers enhanced support 24/7/365. |
Top Features of Ombud
- Easy document sharing: Users can share docs and close deals faster with e-signatures.
- Collaboration: Teams can work together using comments and task sharing on the application without having to switch over to email or another messaging system.
- Integration: Ombud lets companies integrate with Outlook, Microsoft Office 365, Google Docs, and more.
- Workflow automation: The AI-powered platform automates repetitive tasks, streamlines data, and allows users to assign tasks to the app.
Ombud Pricing
- Ombud does not provide pricing information on its website. Interested parties will need to get on a call with a salesperson.
Pros and Cons of Ombud
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy to upload and export a lengthy RFP | Hard to assign questions to others, and find out what are your assignments are. |
| Offers a thorough study guide to learn about company products | Far too many conditional responses in portals |
| Rapid onboarding of new clients | No free trial |
Need help choosing RFP software?
Check out our free guide to evaluating RFP software tools.
4. QorusDocs
QorusDocs offers automation for pitches, presentations, and statements of work. It combines AI-driven content generation with response automation, creating a versatile tool for document management.
It’s proposal management under the guidance of sales enablement.
QorusDocs has a team that is experienced in legal documents, architecture, engineering, and IT services. So, users get specialized support for their content needs.
QorusDocs Key Points
| Use cases | QorusDocs is for teams that need automated content for proposal management. |
| Standout feature | QPilot, the AI assistant over at QorusDocs is their big sell. |
| Tracking and analytics | Can track how recipients engage with proposals. |
| Integrations | QorusDocs integrates with all Microsoft products. |
| Customer support | Contact support via a ticket or find answers to your question with several user guides. |
QorusDocs Top Features
- AI-Powered Proposals
- Proposal Collaboration
- Integration with Microsoft
- Proposal Engagement Tracking
Pricing for QorusDocs
- QorusDocs does not offer a free trial. Interested parties will need to request a demo and contact sales to get pricing information.
Pros and Cons of QorusDocs
| Pros | Cons |
| Ability to customize QorusDocs to match CRM systems | The onboarding is confusing and takes much longer than users anticipate. |
| Native to Microsoft Office, so easy to manage with those systems | Weak search capabilities, and too many fields to fill out when closing a case |
| Reliable customer support | It can be difficult to set up and understand, and requires a lot of training |
| Dashboard could be more intuitive according to user feedback | |
| Support is often needed since the website is so complex. |
5. Seismic
Seismic is a sales enablement platform that helps you store and access all your content in one place. The founders saw a need for sales and marketing teams to “become more nimble and deliver personalization and customization for their customers.”
The specific goal of Seismic is to automate the creation of pitchbooks, making it easier for teams to present their products in modern, innovative ways.
However, Seismic is super difficult to figure it out and use all of the features. And it has zero RFP automation capabilities, which will cost you a lot of time and money in the long run.
Seismic Key Points
| Use cases | Ideal for client-facing teams looking to streamline the process of building, refining, and updating pitchbooks. |
| Standout feature | Sales team enablement allows for specific hub-building. |
| Tracking and analytics | Users can track prospect engagement and gain a full view of interactions through a customizable dashboard. |
| Integrations | Users can integrate with several applications, including MS Office, Google Workspace, Salesforce, and more. |
| Customer support | Users can email support, fill out a contact form, or chat live with AI. |
Top Features of Seismic
- Large, Centralized Knowledge Base
- Collaboration Tools to Create Hubs for Specific Teams
- Customizable Content
- Interactive Modules for Learning and Coaching
Seismic Pricing
- Seismic does not provide pricing information on its website. Interested parties will need to contact sales.
Pros and Cons of Seismic
| Pros | Cons |
| You can monitor document interactions in real-time with its LiveSend feature | Difficulty syncing documents in real-time, causing a lot of chaos |
| In-depth analytics and insights tools that give you data on how your content is doing | Too few upgrades, so the system begins to feel outdated over time |
| Very difficult to learn all of the features and fully utilize the platform. |
6. Qvidian
Qvidian is a proposal management software that is widely used in financial services. They help financial companies create strong proposals while making compliance easier to manage.
The platform also includes Qvidian Analytics, which tracks recipient engagement to provide deeper insights.
While Qvidian offers solid organization features and an intuitive interface, especially after a recent update – some users find its document architecture overly technical and its content update process less than seamless.
Qvidian Key Points
| Use cases | Qvidian is specifically good with financial services companies in simplifying compliance. |
| Standout feature | Responding to large, complex financial docs full of technical jargon. |
| Tracking and analytics | Qvidian Analytics is a feature that allows users to monitor recipient engagement. |
| Integrations | Qvidian works with products like Microsoft Office and Salesforce. |
| Customer support | Users can login and chat with the AI, browse through training docs, or ask questions on a community forum. |
Top Features of Qvidian
- Collaboration Tools
- Analytics
- Workflow
- Audit Trail
Qvidian Pricing
Qvidian software by Upland does not offer pricing information on its website. Interested parties will need to request a demo or chat with sales to get more information.
Pros and Cons of Qvidian
| Pros | Cons |
| Helps users make the technical simple in proposals | Document architecture is extremely technical, so you’ll need some expertise |
| Great support for users, who can get questions answered quickly and accurately | The content update process can be lengthy, involved, and annoying |
| User interface is intuitive, and it gets regular, flashy updates | Merge codes are not optimized for automation |
Time For You to Choose Your Responsive Alternative?
At the end of the day, picking the right automated response software comes down to what actually fits your business needs, not just today but months or even years down the line. Every company runs on a different rhythm, and the level of complexity in your projects and your budget will play a big role in the decision when choosing a Responsive competitor.
The upside? You don’t have to make that call blindly. Options like 1up give you a free trial, a demo, or at least a sneak peek into what they’re all about. Book a 1up demo today.
