Qvidian vs Responsive (2026): pricing, features and verdict

Short answer: If you are buying a response platform from scratch in 2026, Responsive is the easier default: AI drafting is part of every edition, the entry price is published ($10,000 platform fee on the Emerging edition, plus user licenses, on a standard 12-month term), and it runs from intake request to e-signature. Qvidian is the better fit when your team ships governed, branded proposals and statements of work from Word and PowerPoint templates, starts deals in Salesforce, and needs a full audit trail. Budget extra for Qvidian’s AI Assist add-on, and check that Windows-only legacy add-ins and no mobile support suit your team.

Qvidian is sold by Upland Software, a company with a broad catalog that also covers email marketing, fax and contact-center software. Qvidian is its proposal and RFP product, positioned for “the entire deal cycle.” Responsive launched in 2015 as RFPIO, took its current name in 2023, and says it now has nearly 2,000 customers and more than 300,000 users.

Both are enterprise systems built around a governed content library, and both sell through a sales call. The split is in what each one treats as the finished product: a formatted sales document for Qvidian, a completed response workflow for Responsive.

Key takeaways

• AI in the base price, or not: Every Responsive edition includes an “AI & automation studio,” and its pricing FAQ says AI is “built into the Responsive platform.” Qvidian’s AI Assist is an optional add-on “for an additional fee” (both checked October 2026).
• One published number: Responsive’s Emerging edition starts from $10,000 as an annual platform fee, with user licenses and add-ons extra. Qvidian publishes no pricing.
• Hosting choice: Responsive customers can elect AWS hosting in six regions (US, Canada, UK, Australia, Singapore, EU), with flexible hosting listed on its Growth edition. Qvidian documents a US data center and a European one.
• Document craft: Qvidian brings branded templates, PowerPoint pitch decks, statements of work and 70+ out-of-the-box reports. Responsive brings intake requests, e-signature and a Trust Center.
• Review standing: On G2 in July 2026, Responsive is 4.5/5 from 1,308 reviews and Qvidian 4.3 out of 5 from 166. On Capterra in October 2026, it is 4.5 (190 reviews) against 4.4 (41 reviews).
• Limitations: Responsive reviewers report export formatting cleanup and suggested answers that miss the question. Qvidian is not supported on mobile, and reviewers report library search that misses the best answer.

Proposal factory or response platform

Picture the last thing your team sent a buyer. That one image settles most of this comparison.

If it was a 40-page proposal with your cover, your fonts, a pricing table and an executive summary tuned to the account, Qvidian was designed for you. Its product page lists proactive proposals, RFPs, RFQs, RFIs, statements of work, DDQs, security questionnaires, and pitch decks built through a PowerPoint integration. Branded templates enforce style rules. A Salesforce rep can start and update Qvidian projects from the opportunity record, pre-filled with CRM data.

If it was a 300-row security workbook or a portal full of yes/no questions, Responsive is the more natural fit. Its AI page describes an agent that shreds RFPs, DDQs and vendor security questionnaires for key requirements and a go/no-go summary, an import agent (which Responsive calls patented) that captures tables, dropdowns and subsections, and a writing agent that drafts from “trusted content and prior successful responses.” The Growth edition adds intake requests, LookUp for frontline teams, and e-signature.

Both can do the other job. Responsive has integrations for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Qvidian answers questionnaires from its library and can bulk insert answers. But each was clearly shaped by a different kind of customer, and you will feel that in the interface every day.

AI drafting: included versus add-on

This is the sharpest practical gap in 2026.

Responsive ships AI across the platform. Beyond the agents above, Ask is a desktop app that answers from your content library “with clear source citations” and can be set to search external sites such as your help center. A TRACE Score rates AI-generated content for accuracy, relevance and traceability. Agent Studio lets teams build custom no-code agents from templates. Its subprocessor list names OpenAI (GPT) for generative writing assistance, located in the United States, and its AI page says it was built so “company-specific information isn’t added to third-party data models.”

Qvidian AI Assist is sold separately. It rewrites existing library content for tone, length and voice, generates new answers from library content, and lets you query an RFP to pull out key information. Admins can set rules for corporate tone, terminology, length and language. Every AI-generated answer is flagged automatically for human review, which a compliance team will appreciate. Upland says generated responses are not used to train the model and data passed to the models is not stored. AI Assist runs in Qvidian for Word, Excel and PowerPoint; Upland describes Qvidian for Web as a planned extension, not a current one.

User feedback tracks the packaging. A Capterra reviewer in March 2025 wrote that Qvidian had “no AI feature as of yet,” and G2 reviewers in October 2023 and January 2026 asked for AI first drafts in place of manual library searching. Responsive’s reviewers have the opposite complaint: the AI is there, but Capterra reviews from November 2024 to April 2026 report suggestions that miss the question, and one in March 2026 says generated answers “always need to be reviewed.”

So neither one hands you a finished answer. Responsive gives you a draft to check; Qvidian, without the add-on, gives you a search box.

Governance, audit and security paperwork

Qvidian earns its reputation here. Its security page lists user permissions and access control, a complete content audit trail that records every change, 24/7 monitoring, GDPR compliance, and SSAE 118 and ISAE 3402 attestations. Product pages add content expiration dates, usage tracking, review jobs, and 70+ reports with a drag-and-drop report builder. Upland says Qvidian is used by 8 of the 10 largest US banks and 4 of the 5 largest asset managers. That is a vendor claim, but it is consistent with what Qvidian is built to do.

Responsive’s governance arrives in layers by edition. Emerging includes integrations and access control plus admin and reporting; Growth adds advanced access controls; Enterprise adds enterprise security and controls and advanced reporting. Its DPA commits to SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 or equivalent.

One paperwork note on Qvidian: its current security page highlights SSAE 118 and ISAE 3402, while its technology-industry page lists ISO 27001 and SSAE 16 Type II. If your vendor-risk team needs a current ISO 27001 certificate, request it from Upland rather than relying on either page.

For the buyer whose auditors ask “who approved this wording, and when,” Qvidian is still the stronger answer out of the box.

Office, Salesforce, browsers and where data lives

Both connect to the tools enterprise proposal teams already use. The difference is what is included and how the clients behave.

Qvidian lists Salesforce, Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint and Teams), Outlook, a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge, and an open API. Upland’s integrations page says Qvidian for Salesforce, Office and Web are included “at no additional cost for all licensed users.” That is generous. The constraints come from its configuration guide (dated January 2024): Qvidian is “not supported on a mobile device,” and its legacy Office add-ins run on Windows only, so Mac users need a virtual PC. Most writers and SMEs do not need those add-ins, but some content-architecture edits have no alternative yet.

Responsive lists 32 integrations and “20+ native integrations and 75+ APIs,” including Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, Slack, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, Dropbox, Seismic, Highspot, Whistic, Door, a Chrome extension and a ChatGPT connector. But its pricing page names “CRM and API integrations” and “MCP Server & Connectors” as add-ons, so the Salesforce link you assume is standard may be a line item.

On hosting, Responsive is broader. Its subprocessor list lets customers elect AWS hosting in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore or the European Union, though “flexible hosting options” appear on the Growth edition, so confirm what your edition includes. Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure are listed in the United States for alternative or enhanced features. Qvidian’s configuration guide documents two login hosts, qvidian.com for its United States data center and qvidian.eu for its European one.

Contracts, pricing and total cost

Responsive publishes how it prices; Qvidian publishes what is extra. You need both pieces to compare quotes.

Responsive, as of October 2026:

• Platform fee: annual; the Emerging edition starts from $10,000, while Growth and Enterprise are quoted.
• User licenses: priced “based on who needs access,” across admins, contributors and SMEs.
• Add-ons: MCP server and connectors, CRM and API integrations, security, governance and custom reporting, premium onboarding and support.
• Terms: “a minimum of 12 months is standard”; a proof of concept only “for qualifying situations”; unlimited response projects on every edition.

Qvidian, as of October 2026:

• Pricing: no public price list; quotes come through Upland after a demo request.
• Extra: AI Assist, per Upland’s own FAQ.
• Included: Salesforce, Office and Web integrations for licensed users.
• Watch: two Capterra reviewers in 2018 noted that SMEs need licenses to update content, so ask how occasional contributors are counted.

The traps run in opposite directions. Responsive’s $10,000 is a floor, not a total, and CRM integration may sit outside it. Qvidian’s base quote may look lean until you add AI Assist, which is the feature most teams are shopping for. Ask both vendors to quote the same scope: named users, occasional SMEs, AI drafting, Salesforce, onboarding and migration. Anything less and you are comparing a menu to a receipt.

Moving from Qvidian to Responsive

This pair gets searched mostly by Qvidian customers at renewal. If that is you, a few things are worth sorting out before the first Responsive demo.

Separate answers from documents. Your Qvidian library probably mixes question-and-answer content with template components: cover letters, executive summary blocks, merge codes, dynamic slide components. Responsive’s library is built around answers. The answer content moves; the document architecture mostly does not, and somebody has to decide where branded proposals will be built afterwards.

Clean before you move. Qvidian reviewers already report search that surfaces repeats. Carry that into a new system and the AI will draft from the clutter. Expire stale entries and merge duplicates first, then migrate.

Price the migration. Responsive lists premium onboarding and migration assistance among its paid services, and its FAQ says timelines depend on scope, integrations and content migration. Get the entry count and the services line into the quote.

Mind the overlap year. With a 12-month standard term on Responsive and an existing Upland contract, check renewal dates so you are not paying both for longer than the migration needs.

Known issues and limitations

Qvidian

• AI is an add-on: AI Assist is optional “for an additional fee,” per Upland’s AI Assist page (checked October 2026).
• No mobile, Windows-only add-ins: not supported on mobile, and Mac users need a virtual PC for the legacy Office add-ins, per the configuration guide (January 2024, checked October 2026).
• Search that misses: G2 reviewers from October to December 2023 report library search that does not surface the right answer and returns repeats, and Capterra reviewers in 2018 and 2020 describe the same (checked October 2026).
• Certification wording varies by page: the security page lists SSAE 118 and ISAE 3402, while the technology page lists ISO 27001 and SSAE 16 Type II (checked October 2026).

Responsive

• Layered cost and annual term: platform fee from $10,000, plus user licenses and add-ons, with 12 months as the standard minimum and no standard free trial, per its pricing page (checked October 2026).
• Export cleanup: Capterra reviewers in February 2025 and April 2026 report extra formatting work when exporting into buyer templates (checked October 2026).
• Suggestion accuracy: Capterra reviewers from November 2024 to April 2026 report suggested answers that do not match the question asked.
• Paid connectors: CRM and API integrations and the MCP server are listed as add-ons on the pricing page (checked October 2026).

Choose Qvidian when

• Your output is branded proposals, statements of work and pitch decks assembled from approved templates.
• Opportunities start in Salesforce and you want Qvidian projects created from them, with the connector included.
• Auditors or compliance reviewers expect a full change history, content expiration and dozens of standard reports.
• Your content architects work on Windows in Word and PowerPoint, and nobody needs to work from a phone.
• You already run Qvidian, governance is working, and you can add AI Assist to close the drafting gap.

Choose Responsive when

• Most of your volume is questionnaires (security reviews, DDQs, RFPs) and you want AI drafts in the base edition.
• You need data residency outside the US and EU, for example in Canada, the UK, Australia or Singapore.
• You want intake requests from sales, e-signature and a Trust Center in the same platform.
• You use HubSpot, Dynamics or Zoho rather than Salesforce, or keep content in Google Drive, Box or Dropbox.
• You want a published price floor before the first sales call and can commit to 12 months.

Verdict

Same category, different jobs. Qvidian is a governed proposal factory: templates, document assembly, audit trail and Salesforce-led projects, with AI available for a fee. Responsive is a wide response platform: AI agents included, intake to e-signature, six hosting regions, and a pricing model with several moving parts. The governance credit goes to Qvidian; the AI and breadth credit goes to Responsive.

Teams replacing Qvidian usually do it for AI drafting and a lighter footprint, and typically shortlist Responsive, Loopio and one or two AI-native tools. Teams keeping it usually keep it for templates and control. Or put plainly: if your deliverable is a document, Qvidian; if it is a completed questionnaire, Responsive.

Read the full Qvidian review or Responsive review, or browse all RFP & DDQ software.

Sources checked

• Qvidian product page (Upland Software) (checked October 2026)
• Qvidian AI Assist page (checked October 2026)
• Qvidian integrations page (checked October 2026)
• Qvidian security page (checked October 2026)
• Qvidian for technology companies page (checked October 2026)
• Qvidian Browser and Microsoft Office Configuration Guide (January 2024) (checked October 2026)
• Qvidian reviews on Capterra (checked October 2026)
• Qvidian reviews on G2 (checked October 2026)
• Responsive pricing page (checked October 2026)
• Responsive AI product page (checked October 2026)
• Responsive about page (checked October 2026)
• Responsive integrations page (checked October 2026)
• Responsive subprocessor list (checked October 2026)
• Responsive data processing addendum (checked October 2026)
• Responsive reviews on Capterra (checked October 2026)
• Responsive reviews on G2 (checked July 2026)