Elora Grid vs CPQ software
CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) tools turn a defined product catalog and pricing rules into clean quote documents for sales reps. They're built for repeatable, catalog-based selling. Engineering project quoting is the opposite: every job is a one-off, the inputs are unstructured documents (RFQs, scopes of work, drawings), and most of the effort is reading, interpreting and compliance, before a price exists. Elora Grid does that document-heavy front end. The two solve different halves of "quoting" and often sit side by side.
What each is built for
CPQ software
Configure-Price-Quote platforms (Salesforce CPQ, Oracle CPQ, SAP CPQ, DealHub, Tacton and similar) sit on top of your CRM. A rep selects from a modelled product catalog, a rules engine enforces valid configurations and pricing, and the system generates a branded quote or proposal.
Best at
- Selling configurable products from a defined catalog and price list
- Enforcing valid option combinations and discount / approval rules
- High-volume, repeatable quotes generated by sales reps
- Guided selling and proposal generation tied to CRM opportunities
Not built for
- Reading a 120-page scope of work, spec set or drawing pack
- Engineered-to-order bids where the “product” is a one-off scope
- Filling a client's bespoke returnable schedules from your answer library
- Finding contradictions across the SoW, the specs and the drawings
Elora Grid
Elora Grid is an AI quoting assistant for engineering teams and high-mix manufacturers. You hand it the documents a tender arrives as; it reads them and returns the deliverables: compliance checklists, populated returnables, conflict registers, a current price book. Every line cited, judgment calls flagged to a human, nothing sent or written without approval.
Best at
- Turning unstructured RFQs, SoWs and drawings into structured deliverables
- Bespoke, engineered-to-order project bids with no fixed catalog
- Compliance and conflict checking across a whole document set
- Filling any client's template in their format, cited and audit-trailed
Head to head
| Dimension | CPQ software | Elora Grid |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Catalog-based, configurable product sales | One-off engineering and project bids |
| Primary input | A modelled product catalog and pricing rules | The client's documents (RFQ, SoW, specs, drawings) and your company databases and documents |
| Who drives it | Sales reps, inside the CRM | Your quoting, estimating and bid team |
| Core job | Configure a valid quote and generate the document | Document heavy work along the whole bid process |
| Unstructured documents | Not handled; needs structured product data | Read and acted on, that's the point |
| Pricing | Applies your rules to catalog items | Never invents prices; flags pricing for humans |
| Setup | Model your products, rules and approvals | Can start work immediately, improves over time |
| Typical output | A branded quote or proposal | Returnables, compliance checklists, conflict registers, price book |
| Audit trail | Rule-based, within the catalog | Every line traced to a source document and page |
Do you need both?
Often, yes, and they don't overlap. A CPQ shines once you know what you're quoting and have it modelled as products. Elora Grid does the work that comes before that: reading the enquiry, checking it against the spec, and producing the documents a CPQ catalog can't. Where there's no catalog at all, because every job is bespoke, Elora Grid covers the quoting work end to end.
- 01Use a CPQ for the configurable, catalog-based part of your range.
- 02Use Elora Grid for the document-heavy, engineered-to-order part a CPQ can't model.
- 03Elora Grid reads the enquiry and prepares the scope; your CPQ prices the modelled items.
Which one do you need?
Choose a CPQ when
- Your products are configurable and live in a defined catalog
- Sales reps assemble quotes from set options and price rules
- You quote high volumes of similar deals through your CRM
Choose Elora Grid when
- Each job is bespoke and arrives as documents, not catalog selections
- The work is reading, compliance and returnables before a price exists
- You want more quoting capacity without a CPQ-scale implementation
Common questions
Is Elora Grid a CPQ tool?
No. CPQ tools generate quotes from a structured product catalog and pricing rules. Elora Grid works the other way round: it reads the unstructured documents a tender arrives as and produces the deliverables behind a quote. There's no catalog to model; it works from your documents.
Can we use both together?
Yes, and many teams should. Elora Grid handles the document-heavy front end (reading the enquiry, compliance, returnables) while a CPQ handles configurable catalog pricing. They don't overlap.
We tried to make a CPQ work for project bids and it didn't. Why?
CPQ assumes a modelled catalog and repeatable configurations. Engineered-to-order bids have neither: the “product” is a one-off scope defined by the client's documents. That's exactly the gap Elora Grid fills.
Does Elora Grid price the job for us?
No. It never invents prices. Pricing cells and judgment calls are flagged for your team; everything else is drafted, cited and left for your approval.
Send a real tender. Get the output back.
Hand Elora Grid one real task and judge the result yourself.