ActiveDocs vs. PandaDoc

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveDocs
Score 7.2 out of 10
N/A
ActiveDocs is a document management software offering from ActiveDocs.N/A
PandaDoc
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
PandaDoc headquartered in San Francisco offers their eponymous electronic signature platform for sales teams, containing sales proposal automation and CPQ (configure, price, quote) features, and integration with CRMs.
$35
per month per seat
Pricing
ActiveDocsPandaDoc
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Starter
$35
per month per seat
Business
$65
per month per seat
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveDocsPandaDoc
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsPandaDoc offers a free eSign plan and 3 paid packages for eSigning and document automation. All plans include unlimited documents and eSignatures. Evaluations start with a free 14-day trial. Up to a 46% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveDocsPandaDoc
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User Ratings
ActiveDocsPandaDoc
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
6.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
6.3
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
2.8
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
6.7
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveDocsPandaDoc
Likelihood to Recommend
I often use ActiveDocs for team building materials. During the day to day rush, we really like to use the models provided, we can be agile with that ease. And the team can share different documents. We no longer have to spend hours in front of the computer typing up a document that can easily be created in minutes.
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As an alternative to other electronic signature mechanisms, I can't recommend PandaDoc more highly. It works, plain and simple. It is less costly - by a lot - than most alternatives, stores signed documents online for easy access, is simple to use by both our staff and our clients, and makes our lives far easier.
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Pros
  • Easy to use for basic users, extremely configurable for advanced users.
  • Deep Microsoft Word integration ensuring consistent document output.
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  • PandaDoc allows our team to create and send detailed sales proposals and quotes with the use of their templates.
  • The use of collaborative editing is also beneficial because our team is able to have multiple users edit and comment on documents simultaneously.
  • Document tracking is useful because we are able to receive real-time notifications and updates on the proposal process.
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Cons
  • The built-in template designs are a bit lackluster. While there are numerous, they all have the same blase style and formatting
  • The built-in template designs are not very diverse and could be expanded upon.
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  • I would like to see the ability to LOCK a field instead of locking an entire block or document.
  • I would like to see more standard features that need to be part of the service instead of add-ons.
  • Would like to see an option to allow different levels of users than just the two standard options.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
We have been using it for a few years now and find it vital to getting our bids out quickly and accurately to our customers. We can get a request for information from a customer and once we have their basic parameters create a professional bid in minutes. It's actually usually harder to find out what the customer wants than to use PandaDoc and create a document with it
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Usability
Very good usability overall. Any user can pick this up and run with it. HotDocs, the closest competitor, has similar end-user usability, but from a designer of templates perspective, ActiveDocs definitely has the edge in this regard. I would recommend this for any company that mass produces documents from templates as deliverables.
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Once you get the hang of it, it's very easy to use. There can be a slightly steep learning curve to get fully in on the system. The new editor v2 has really improved usability and allows us to collaborate on documents simultaneously. Once the templates and library items are set up, a new document, whether it be a sales or HR document, takes very little time to complete.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
We haven't had any real issues regarding downtime as of yet.
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Performance
The software overall is very excellent. It responds quickly and produces documents well. The integration with systems makes data input easy. Questions can be designed to allow further expansion of template creation/customization. The rules section is very useful for complicated If/Than/Else style templates. Although experience and training help, the software is very user-friendly out of the box.
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As I mentioned earlier - performance is near perfect as I can create, send, adjust my documents. I love the tracking feature as well as I can tell when my documents have been seen and by whom. The only issue I have run into is with saving and formatting - occasionally the file document does not save with the newly assigned name or the content of the document does not stay formatted nicely.
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Support Rating
ActiveDocs can be a considerably complex product because your use cases can be potentially endless. In our experience, when we have come across a problem or issue with the product ActiveDoc's support has always responded to our queries within 24 hours. Support is only provided via email in 95% of cases. Each year your support and maintenance includes support hours. These are used when you contact support and your issue is not found to be a bug or problem with the product (completely fair and understandable). When we've identified or discovered bugs (mainly with the latest version of Word) it is patched by the next release. They typically release about 4-5 updates per year.
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Recently I could not upload a pdf to a contract - support was very responsive and easy to work with. They got back to me the next day with an apparent fix - however when I opened the document nothing had changed. I then could not respond to the rep who was helping me because it was a "no-reply address", the problem still has not been solved and we had to make alternate arrangements to get this to the client. Never had it happen before and was only with this one contract.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Implementation was before the time I was here at Riafox, however, support has been great in assisting to merge spaces and upgrade to 2.0 Editor.
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Alternatives Considered
ActiveDocs and HotDocs are very similar. HotDocs requires training or a technically savvy mind to pick up and run with. ActiveDocs seems much more user-friendly and easy to use. HotDocs, however, can produce some very intricate documents based on the templates. Both use rules and question-based information intake. Another benefit of ActiveDocs is its integration with numerous systems including Office 365.
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PandaDoc is a more polished, professional, and 'legitimate' software site than other solutions, since PandaDoc really specializes in creating professional proposals, quotes and invoices. The eSignature capacity and pricing table capacity embedded in the documents as well as fillable fields, pre-made, customizable and reusable templates also make PandaDoc stand out.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
I agree. We have created folders for multiple departments and have been successful with the usage.
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Return on Investment
  • ActiveDocs allows us to create, edit and validate any type of content quickly and with no coding skills.
  • Easy and quick editing.
  • Really flexible and simple to set up
  • Helped us achieve a much higher level of efficiency in our daily operations.
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  • We have greatly increased the efficiency in which we can get signatures from individuals for documents and increase productivity.
  • We have been able to find older documents very easily.
  • W-9 have been very difficult due to Section 3, but this was addressed with conditional logic
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ScreenShots

PandaDoc Screenshots

Screenshot of some of the custom-designed themes, templates, embedded rich media, and interactivity to give every deal the opportunity to get noticed.Screenshot of automatic notifications, on-the-fly editing, CRM Integrations, and integrated eSignatures.Screenshot of reporting, with drill down to the deal level with proposals, to pick which deals to include (or exclude).Screenshot of legally binding eSignaturesScreenshot of centralized communications to streamline the negotiation process, and make revisions in real-time in a single location.Screenshot of document analytics that display what’s really happening after documents are sent with real-time reporting on engagement and activity on the documents. This enables teams to respond faster to prospects.