How to Choose MSP Quoting Software: 9 Things to Check Before You Buy

If you're looking for quoting software for your MSP, you probably have a few things you'd like to improve.

Maybe you're tired of building quotes in Excel or Word. Maybe your PSA's quoting tools aren't giving you the flexibility you need. Or perhaps your team is spending too much time looking up prices, copying customer information, and making changes to proposals.

Whatever brought you here, you want quoting software that makes your job easier.

But you also want to make a good long-term decision. Your MSP may look quite different a few years from now. You might have more employees, additional distributors, different business systems, or new services to offer.

The software you choose should work for your business today without holding you back tomorrow.

At QuoteWerks, we've been helping MSPs, VARs, and IT solution providers create quotes for more than 30 years. We've seen what works, what causes problems, and what businesses often overlook when choosing quoting software.

Here are nine things worth checking before you make your decision.

1. How Easy Is It to Create an Accurate, Professional Quote?

This should be the starting point.

Your quoting software needs to make everyday work easier. If creating a quote requires more steps than using a spreadsheet, something isn't right.

Think about the quotes your team creates most often. Maybe it's a laptop with a warranty and installation. Maybe it's a new firewall or a monthly managed service. These should be easy to put together without rebuilding everything from scratch.

At the same time, you want your quotes to look professional and maintain consistent pricing.

What to look for

• Quick quote creation: Can you put together a straightforward quote without unnecessary steps?
• Product and service lists: Can you easily find the items your company sells?
• Reusable templates: Can you create consistent, branded quotes without formatting each one manually?
• Customer information: Can you reuse existing customer details instead of typing them repeatedly?
• Quote revisions: Can you make changes without losing track of previous versions?
• Quote history: Can your team find previous quotes and see what's been sent to customers?

Where QuoteWerks fits

QuoteWerks gives your team a central place to create, save, revise, and manage quotes.

You can use your existing product lists, select items and services, apply pricing, and generate professional proposals using reusable templates.

For example, if a customer needs five laptops with warranties and deployment services, your salesperson can add those items, adjust quantities, and prepare the quote without manually calculating totals or formatting a new document.

And when the customer asks for a change, you can revise the existing quote rather than starting over.

Try this during a demo: Ask the vendor to create a simple quote with three or four items, change the quantities, and generate a customer-ready proposal. Pay attention to how many steps it takes.

Learn more: Create Accurate Quotes Faster with QuoteWerks

2. Does It Work with Your CRM and PSA?

Most MSPs already have software for managing customers and running their business.

You might use ConnectWise PSA or Autotask for service delivery, while your sales team works in HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive.

Your quoting software should work with those applications, not force you to replace them.

And there's something else worth considering: your sales CRM and PSA don't necessarily have to be the same system.

What to look for

• CRM integration: Can you pull customer and opportunity information directly into a quote?
• Opportunity updates: Can quoting activity be reflected in your sales pipeline?
• PSA integration: Can the appropriate information be passed into ConnectWise PSA or Autotask?
• Primary and Secondary CRM: Can you use a dedicated sales CRM while keeping your PSA for service delivery?
• Integration depth: What information actually moves between systems, and which tasks still require manual entry?

Where QuoteWerks fits

One of the things that makes QuoteWerks different is its support for a Primary CRM and Secondary CRM.

Let's say your MSP uses HubSpot to manage leads, opportunities, and sales activities. You also use ConnectWise PSA to handle service tickets, projects, agreements, and purchasing.

With QuoteWerks, you can use both.

HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive → QuoteWerks → ConnectWise PSA or Autotask

Your sales team continues working in its preferred CRM. QuoteWerks handles the quoting, and when the quote becomes an order, the appropriate customer and sales information can be created or updated in your PSA.

This also means you don't have to fill your PSA with every prospect or opportunity that never becomes a customer.

The same approach works with Autotask as a Secondary CRM.

You can keep the systems that already work well for your business and let QuoteWerks help connect them.

Try this during a demo: Start with an opportunity in your CRM, create a quote, and have the vendor demonstrate exactly what happens in ConnectWise or Autotask when the quote becomes an order.

Learn more: ConnectWise PSA Integration | Autotask PSA Integration

3. Can You Quote the Products and Services Your MSP Actually Sells?

MSPs don't always sell individual products.

A typical sale might include computers, monitors, software licenses, warranties, installation labor, and ongoing managed services.

Sometimes you'll quote these items individually. Other times, you'll want to package them together into a standard solution.

Your quoting software should accommodate both.

What to look for

• Hardware and software: Can you quote products from different vendors together?
• Professional services: Can you include installation, configuration, training, or other labor?
• Recurring charges: Can you include monthly and annual services alongside one-time purchases?
• Bundles and kits: Can you save commonly sold combinations of products and services?
• Required and optional items: Can you make sure important components are included while offering upgrades?
• Quantity dependencies: Can related item quantities be adjusted when the quantity of a primary product changes?

Where QuoteWerks fits

QuoteWerks lets you combine hardware, software, services, and recurring charges in one quote.

You can also create reusable bundles for things your business sells regularly.

For example, suppose your company offers a standard workstation package with a computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, warranty, and deployment labor.

Rather than adding every item individually, you can create a bundle and reuse it.

If the customer wants a second monitor or an upgraded warranty, you can adjust the package.

You can also group items together so the customer sees a clean, organized proposal while your team retains the product and pricing details it needs.

Try this during a demo: Build a workstation package with hardware, installation services, and a recurring support charge. Then change the quantity and add an optional upgrade.

Learn more: Kits, Bundles, and Grouped Items

4. How Does It Handle Distributor Pricing and Vendor Quotes?

If your MSP regularly sells hardware, you're probably familiar with checking multiple distributor websites to find pricing and availability.

You might buy from TD SYNNEX, Ingram Micro, D&H, or another supplier. Each can have different prices and inventory levels.

You may also receive special pricing or a bill of materials from a vendor that needs to become part of your customer quote.

Your quoting software should help with that work instead of making you enter the same information multiple times.

What to look for

• Distributor support: Does it work with the distributors you regularly purchase from?
• Current pricing: Can you retrieve live costs and availability?
• Vendor comparisons: Can you compare suppliers before deciding where to buy?
• Special pricing: Can you work with negotiated prices and special bids?
• Vendor quote importing: Can you import spreadsheets and bills of materials?
• Product information: Can you bring descriptions and specifications into your quotes?

Where QuoteWerks fits

QuoteWerks supports real-time pricing and availability from several leading IT distributors.

Instead of visiting multiple websites, you can check supported distributor pricing from within QuoteWerks and compare your options.

QuoteWerks also has tools for importing vendor quotes.

Imagine receiving a spreadsheet with 75 products from a distributor. You shouldn't have to spend your afternoon copying part numbers, descriptions, quantities, and costs into your quoting software.

QuoteWerks can help bring that information into a customer quote, saving time and reducing data entry mistakes.

Real-time distributor pricing and electronic ordering are available with the appropriate QuoteWerks edition.

Try this during a demo: Give the vendor a real distributor spreadsheet. Ask them to import it, apply your pricing, and turn it into a customer quote. Then compare pricing and availability for several items.

Learn more: Real-Time Distributor Pricing | Managing Vendor and Distributor Quotes

5. Can You Keep Pricing Consistent and Protect Your Margins?

Mistakes in pricing can be expensive.

A distributor changes its cost, a salesperson applies too much discount, or installation labor gets overlooked. Sometimes the mistake isn't discovered until after the customer accepts the quote.

Your quoting software should make it easy to see what you're making on a sale and help prevent costly mistakes.

You also want to make sure your team can get quotes out without requiring management to review every one.

What to look for

• Margin visibility: Can you see costs, selling prices, markup, and margins while building a quote?
• Pricing rules: Can you establish consistent pricing across your sales team?
• Discount controls: Can you identify discounts that reduce margins beyond acceptable levels?
• Approvals: Can certain quotes require review before being delivered?
• User permissions: Can you control who has access to sensitive pricing information?

Where QuoteWerks fits

QuoteWerks displays costs and margins as you build quotes, making it easier to catch pricing issues before they reach the customer.

You can also establish pricing rules and approval workflows.

For example, you might allow salespeople to offer standard discounts on their own but require approval when a quote falls below a minimum margin.

That keeps routine quotes moving while giving management visibility into the exceptions.

For a small sales team, being able to see accurate margins may be all you need. For a larger team, approvals and permissions can help maintain consistency.

Try this during a demo: Create a quote, apply a discount that puts the margin below your acceptable level, and see how the software handles it.

Learn more: Margin Control and Discount Management

6. What Happens When the Customer Receives the Quote?

A good quote needs to look professional, but it also needs to be easy for the customer to review.

Customers may want to compare options, ask questions, request a change, or get approval from someone else.

If every adjustment means sending another PDF and another email, the process can become unnecessarily time-consuming.

Take a close look at what happens after the salesperson clicks Send.

What to look for

• Professional proposals: Can you use your branding and present information clearly?
• Online delivery: Can customers view their quotes in a browser?
• Quote tracking: Can salespeople see when customers view their proposals?
• Optional items: Can customers select available options?
• Electronic acceptance: Can customers approve and sign quotes online?
• Payments: Can customers pay deposits or balances directly through the quoting process?

Where QuoteWerks fits

QuoteWerks can generate professional quote documents using your company's templates and branding.

For businesses that want an interactive experience, QuoteValet allows customers to review quotes online, select supported options, ask questions, accept proposals, and make payments.

For example, a customer reviewing a network upgrade might want to add another wireless access point or select a better firewall.

With QuoteValet, supported changes can be made directly through the online proposal without requiring another round of PDF revisions.

Your salesperson can also see when the customer has viewed the quote, making follow-up more informed.

QuoteValet is included with the Balanced and Pinnacle editions of QuoteWerks Web.

Try this during a demo: Ask the vendor to send you an actual quote. Open it as a customer, select an optional item, ask a question, and complete the acceptance process.

Learn more: QuoteValet: Interactive Quotes, Acceptance, and Payments

7. What Happens After the Customer Accepts the Quote?

This is one of the areas that can get overlooked when evaluating quoting software.

Getting the customer to say yes is a big step, but there's often a lot of work left to do.

Products need to be ordered. Purchase orders need to go to the right suppliers. Someone needs to track deliveries, receive equipment, and make sure everything is ready for installation.

If your quoting software stops at acceptance, your team may end up recreating much of the information in other systems.

What to look for

• Quote-to-order conversion: Can an accepted quote become a sales order without re-entering everything?
• Purchase order generation: Can you create POs from the products being sold?
• Multiple vendors: Can you create orders for different suppliers?
• Purchasing consolidation: Can you combine purchasing requirements across customer orders when appropriate?
• Electronic ordering: Can you place orders directly with supported distributors?
• Order tracking: Can you see what has been ordered, shipped, and received?
• Receiving: Can you handle partial deliveries and record serial numbers or asset tags?

Where QuoteWerks fits

QuoteWerks includes purchasing, procurement, and receiving capabilities.

That means the information you gathered while creating the quote can be used when it's time to order products.

Suppose a customer purchases 25 computers, monitors, and docking stations. The computers are coming from one distributor, the monitors from another, and the docking stations are backordered.

QuoteWerks helps you generate the necessary purchase orders and keep track of what's been ordered and received.

Your team can also record partial shipments and serial numbers rather than maintaining separate spreadsheets.

You can create purchase orders for vendors even when you don't have a real-time distributor integration. Additional purchasing automation and electronic ordering are available in higher editions.

Try this during a demo: Take an accepted quote, generate purchase orders for two suppliers, and show how the software handles a partial delivery.

Learn more: Purchasing, Procurement, and Receiving

8. Will It Still Be a Good Fit When Your Business Changes?

Your MSP may have five employees today and fifteen a few years from now.

You might also change CRM systems, add distributors, introduce new services, or automate parts of your sales process.

The software you choose should be able to accommodate those changes without forcing you to rebuild your entire quoting process.

This is also where pricing matters. A product that seems inexpensive initially may become much more expensive as your team grows or you need additional functionality.

What to look for

• Licensing: Do you pay for every named user or only the number of people using the software simultaneously?
• Quote and template limits: Are there restrictions on how many quotes or templates you can create?
• Feature availability: Can you select the capabilities you need without purchasing unnecessary extras?
• Integration options: Can the software connect with different CRM, PSA, and accounting systems?
• Automation: Are APIs, webhooks, or other integration tools available?
• Onboarding and support costs: Are there required setup, implementation, or support charges?
• Long-term cost: What happens to your subscription as you add users or introduce new workflows?

Where QuoteWerks fits

QuoteWerks uses concurrent-user licensing.

For example, if seven employees need access but only two use the software at the same time, you need two concurrent-user licenses rather than seven individual subscriptions.

QuoteWerks also offers unlimited quotes, templates, and named users.

And because QuoteWerks offers different editions, you can select the functionality that makes sense for your business.

The integration options are another consideration.

QuoteWerks has more than 115 native integrations with CRM, PSA, accounting, distributors, payment processing, and other business applications.

QuoteWerks Web also connects with Zapier, giving you access to automation possibilities across more than 9,000 applications.

You can keep the systems you're already using and introduce new connections when they're useful.

There are no mandatory activation, setup, or paid onboarding fees. Some capabilities and integrations depend on the edition or additional subscriptions, so it's worth reviewing the complete cost for your particular requirements.

Try this during a demo: Give the vendor your current number of employees, expected usage, and required integrations. Ask for the total cost today and what would change if you doubled your sales team or switched CRM platforms.

Learn more: QuoteWerks Pricing | QuoteWerks Integrations and Zapier

9. Who Will Be Supporting the Software in the Years Ahead?

Quoting software can become an important part of your daily operations.

Over time, you'll build templates, product lists, pricing rules, and connections with other systems.

Replacing all of that isn't something most companies want to do regularly.

That's why it's worth looking at the company behind the software, not just the features on its website.

What to look for

• Company history: How long has the company been in business?
• Product development: Is it continuing to improve the software?
• Technical support: Can you reach knowledgeable support representatives when something goes wrong?
• Ownership: Is the company independently owned or part of a larger software organization?
• Customer relationships: Does the company have customers who have relied on it for years?
• Long-term direction: Does the vendor's approach to development align with what your business needs?

Why we think this matters

QuoteWerks has been helping businesses create quotes and manage their sales processes for more than 30 years.

We're independently owned, self-funded, and have never relied on venture capital funding.

We're also not part of a larger software conglomerate.

That gives us the freedom to make product decisions based on what our customers need rather than following the priorities of outside investors.

We've continued developing QuoteWerks over the years, introducing new integrations, purchasing capabilities, QuoteWerks Web, and many other improvements.

We also maintain an in-house technical support team, with direct phone support available when customers need help.

Company history alone doesn't tell you whether a product is right for your business. But when you're choosing something you'll depend on every day, it's worth knowing who you're doing business with.

Try this during a demo: Ask who handles technical support, how product improvements are prioritized, and what resources are available when you need help with an integration.

Learn more: About QuoteWerks

Put the Software Through a Real-World MSP Quoting Test

Feature lists only tell you so much.

The best way to compare quoting software is to give each vendor the same real-world scenario.

Start with something simple. Then introduce the kinds of requirements your team deals with regularly.

Here's a checklist you can use during your demonstrations.

You may not need every capability on this list.

The important thing is that the software handles your current process well, and you understand what's available if your requirements change.

One more suggestion: Ask the vendor to demonstrate what happens when something goes wrong.

Maybe a product is unavailable, a customer changes the quantity, or a distributor increases its price.

Those situations often tell you more about the software than a perfectly prepared demo.

Learn more: Schedule a QuoteWerks Demo

Choose MSP Quoting Software That Works for You Today and Tomorrow

The best quoting software isn't necessarily the one with the longest feature list.

It's the one that makes your everyday work easier, fits with the systems your business already uses, and gives you the flexibility to handle new requirements.

Maybe today you simply want to stop creating quotes in spreadsheets.

A year from now, you might want to connect your CRM, introduce online quote acceptance, or add more structure to your purchasing process.

You shouldn't have to start over with a different quoting platform to make those changes.

That's what QuoteWerks is designed to do.

We help businesses create accurate, professional quotes while providing additional capabilities for product configurations, pricing controls, integrations, online acceptance, purchasing, and more.

You can use the features that make sense for your business without having to make your quoting process more complicated than it needs to be.

Frequently Asked Questions About MSP Quoting Software

What is MSP quoting software?

MSP quoting software helps Managed Service Providers create quotes and proposals for hardware, software, services, and recurring charges.

It can also help with pricing, customer information, quote acceptance, CRM and PSA integrations, and purchasing.

The features available depend on the product and edition.

What should a small MSP look for in quoting software?

Start with the basics: quick quote creation, professional templates, product and service pricing, quote revisions, and access to customer information.

You should also consider whether the software can connect with your existing business systems and support additional workflows if your company expands.

QuoteWerks can be used for everyday quoting without requiring you to configure every available feature.

Can I use HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive with ConnectWise PSA or Autotask?

Yes. QuoteWerks supports using a sales-focused CRM as your Primary CRM while using ConnectWise PSA or Autotask as a Secondary CRM.

This allows your sales team to manage leads and opportunities in its preferred CRM while the PSA remains responsible for service delivery and related operational workflows.

QuoteWerks connects quoting with the appropriate customer and opportunity records in those systems.

Can MSP quoting software handle hardware and recurring managed services in the same quote?

Yes. QuoteWerks can include hardware, software, professional services, and recurring charges in a single quote.

For example, you can quote a firewall, installation services, and a monthly managed security service together.

What's the difference between quoting software and CPQ software?

Quoting software helps businesses prepare and deliver quotes and proposals.

CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote. CPQ functionality helps manage product configurations, pricing rules, optional items, and other quoting requirements.

QuoteWerks provides both everyday quoting and CPQ capabilities, allowing you to use the features that fit your sales process.

Does QuoteWerks support purchasing and receiving?

Yes. QuoteWerks includes purchasing, purchase order generation, order tracking, and receiving capabilities.

Real-time electronic ordering and additional procurement automation are also available with supported distributors in the appropriate editions.

How does QuoteWerks licensing work?

QuoteWerks uses concurrent-user licensing instead of charging separately for every named user.

If several employees need access but only a smaller number work in QuoteWerks simultaneously, those employees can share the available concurrent licenses.

QuoteWerks also provides unlimited quotes, templates, and named users.

Can I try QuoteWerks before purchasing?

Yes. QuoteWerks offers a free trial of QuoteWerks Web with no credit card required.

You can also schedule a demonstration with the QuoteWerks team to see how the software works with your actual quoting process, CRM, PSA, and distributors.

Ready to See How QuoteWerks Fits Your MSP?

Whether you're creating a few quotes each week or managing a busy sales team, QuoteWerks can help you create accurate quotes, work with your existing systems, and keep the process moving after the sale.

There are two easy ways to get started.

Start a Free Trial

Want to explore QuoteWerks yourself?

Start a free trial of QuoteWerks Web and see how it works with your quoting needs.

Start Your Free Trial

Schedule a Demo

Have specific questions about your CRM, PSA, distributors, pricing, or purchasing process?

Schedule a demonstration with our team. Bring a real-world quote and we'll show you how QuoteWerks can handle it.

Schedule Your QuoteWerks Demo