Choosing a CPQ platform is no longer just about generating quotes faster. For modern SaaS, AI, and enterprise companies, CPQ sits at the center of pricing strategy, deal structure, billing, and long-term revenue integrity.
When evaluating a CPQ solution, revenue and finance teams need to look beyond surface-level features and assess whether the platform can actually support the complexity of real-world deals.
This guide breaks down why CPQ matters, what to evaluate, and how to identify a solution that won’t become a bottleneck six months after implementation.
Why a CPQ solution is important
As SaaS and AI pricing models become more sophisticated, manual quoting or spreadsheet-driven processes quickly break down.
CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) software ensures that every deal is:
- Accurate: Quotes reflect approved pricing, discounts, and contract structures
- Consistent: Sales, finance, and legal work from the same rules
- Scalable: New pricing models don’t require months of re-engineering
- Revenue-safe: Fewer errors, less leakage, cleaner handoff to billing and revenue recognition
Without a capable CPQ, teams often experience slow deal cycles, approval chaos, custom one-off contracts, and downstream billing issues that are painful to unwind.
13 key criteria to consider when evaluating a CPQ solution
Below are the core capabilities to evaluate when selecting a CPQ platform, based on the deal structures and pricing models modern companies actually use.
1. Flexible invoicing structures (Non-annual)
Your CPQ should support invoicing schedules beyond simple annual upfront billing. This includes semi-annual, quarterly, milestone-based, or fully custom schedules tied to customer cash flow or fiscal calendars.
If a CPQ can’t model these structures cleanly, finance teams are forced into manual workarounds downstream.
2. Tiered pricing with increasing usage over time
Many contracts assume growth year over year. A strong CPQ supports tiered pricing where user counts or usage increase annually, with pricing logic that reflects volume changes without manual re-quoting each year.
3. Ramped pricing (Annual fees increasing YoY)
Some deals include contractual uplifts regardless of usage. Your CPQ should handle ramped pricing schedules where annual fees increase predictably over multi-year terms without duplicating products or contracts.
4. Volume-based discounting
As purchase volumes increase within a single period, per-unit pricing often decreases. A CPQ must support volume tiers natively, ensuring discounts are applied consistently and automatically at scale.
5. Multiple currencies and pricebooks
Global and regulated deals demand flexibility. Look for CPQ solutions that support:
- Multiple currencies (e.g., USD, CAD)
- Region-specific or government pricebooks
- Specialized SKUs without custom engineering
6. Co-terming
When customers add products mid-contract, co-terming ensures all subscriptions renew together. A capable CPQ handles this automatically, preventing misaligned renewals and billing confusion.
7. Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs)
Enterprise deals often require advanced constructs, such as:
- Unlimited usage licenses
- Commit-and-true-up models
- Large upfront minimum commitments with flexible consumption
Your CPQ should support these structures without forcing one-off contract logic.
8. Rip & replace (Mid-term contract changes)
Customers don’t always wait for renewal. A modern CPQ supports mid-term upgrades where unused contract value can be credited, rolled forward, or restructured cleanly into a new agreement.
9. Multi-product pricing
Most enterprise quotes include more than one SKU—software, usage, services, or add-ons. CPQ platforms should support bundling multiple product lines into a single, coherent quote.
10. Stackable discounts
Real deals often include multiple discounts, such as partner and promotional incentives. CPQ systems should apply stackable discounts transparently, with clear approval rules and auditability.
11. Prepaid deals
Upfront payments for multi-year or usage-based commitments are increasingly common. Your CPQ should model prepaid structures accurately and pass clean data to billing and finance systems.
12. Hybrid pricing models
Modern pricing often blends fixed and variable components. Look for CPQ support for hybrid models such as:
- Annual subscription fees
- Tiered usage-based charges above a threshold
This is critical for SaaS and AI companies monetizing usage.
13. Services pricing (New quotes and amendments)
Professional services aren’t always sold at the start. A CPQ should support pricing services both in new deals and as amendments—across fixed-fee, time-and-materials, or milestone-based structures.
How Alguna approaches CPQ differently
Configuring a quote in Alguna CPQ.
Backed by Y Combinator, Alguna is a modern AI monetization platform that was purpose-built for fast-moving AI and SaaS companies that can't risk legacy CPQ systems slowing down revenue growth.
Instead of forcing pricing complexity into rigid quote builders, Alguna's no-code CPQ is part of a unified quote-to-revenue platform.
With Alguna CPQ, teams can:
- Model complex pricing and contract structures without engineering support
- Support hybrid, ramped, usage-based, and enterprise agreements natively
- Keep CPQ tightly aligned with billing, usage metering, and revenue operations
- Instantly sync with CRMs and ERP systems
For revenue and finance teams evaluating a CPQ solution, Alguna removes the friction that typically happens after a quote is signed.
Meet Alguna: No-code CPQ purpose-built for AI, SaaS, and services
Accelerate your sales cycle with Alguna CPQ—the only quoting platform that handles complex usage-based, hybrid, and bundled pricing with deep CRM and billing integrations.
Evaluating a CPQ solution that scales with your business
Evaluating a CPQ solution isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about understanding whether the platform can support how your business actually sells, prices, and evolves.
The right CPQ should handle real-world deal complexity, adapt to new pricing models, and reduce friction between sales, finance, and operations. Taking the time to evaluate these capabilities upfront helps avoid painful migrations and revenue risk later.
For modern SaaS and AI companies, CPQ isn’t just a sales tool—it’s core revenue infrastructure.
