HotDocs by CARET vs. Responsive

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HotDocs by CARET
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
HotDocs is a document automation and assembly software product, acquired and now supported by AbacusNext since 2017.
$25
per user/per month
Responsive
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
Responsive (formerly RFPIO), headquartered in Beaverton, offers their proposal management and automation software, featuring import and export, proposal knowledgebase and answer library, evaluation intake forms, and project management tools (e.g. Gantt chart) associated to proposal tracking.N/A
Pricing
HotDocs by CARETResponsive
Editions & Modules
Basic
$25
per user/per month
Enterprise
Contact sales team
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HotDocs by CARETResponsive
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Features
HotDocs by CARETResponsive
Proposal Creation & Organization
Comparison of Proposal Creation & Organization features of Product A and Product B
HotDocs by CARET
-
Ratings
Responsive
7.6
17 Ratings
4% below category average
Proposal branding00 Ratings8.111 Ratings
Proposal templates00 Ratings5.514 Ratings
Proposal content library updates00 Ratings9.117 Ratings
Guided proposal creation00 Ratings8.19 Ratings
Searchable proposal database00 Ratings7.417 Ratings
Proposal Collaboration & Workflow
Comparison of Proposal Collaboration & Workflow features of Product A and Product B
HotDocs by CARET
-
Ratings
Responsive
7.6
17 Ratings
6% below category average
RFP management & response00 Ratings8.217 Ratings
Proposal collaboration & approval00 Ratings8.216 Ratings
User permissions/proposal editing controls00 Ratings9.116 Ratings
Sales proposal workflow00 Ratings6.211 Ratings
Proposal automation user interface00 Ratings6.316 Ratings
Proposal Delivery
Comparison of Proposal Delivery features of Product A and Product B
HotDocs by CARET
-
Ratings
Responsive
8.1
13 Ratings
2% above category average
Proposal distribution00 Ratings8.110 Ratings
Interactive proposals00 Ratings8.17 Ratings
Proposal content tracking00 Ratings8.111 Ratings
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HotDocs by CARETResponsive
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User Ratings
HotDocs by CARETResponsive
Likelihood to Recommend
7.4
(9 ratings)
9.1
(18 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(16 ratings)
Usability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(2 ratings)
9.8
(16 ratings)
Implementation Rating
4.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
HotDocs by CARETResponsive
Likelihood to Recommend
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
It is well suited in the organisations which deals with lots of paper work like legal, teaching, research, etc as they need similar kind of documents again and again. In a typical office set up it is of great use by human resource, marketing and legal department. Hot docs is not suitable if you have a proprietary or solo business as it do not caters to them.
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
1. RFPIO is perfect for searching for specific information when you are responding to an RFP. Search engine is powerful. We narrow our search using several customized filters and know we are getting a thorough search. 2. Excel responses work very well in RFPIO. 3. Typical RFPs that are formatted in Word are challenging to run via RFPIO. We struggle with this. 4. We have yet to master the template.
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Pros
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Personalized training. We were able to get an expert on a video call who walked us through solutions to each of our unique problems (i.e. all fifty states have different notary blocks, how can we auto-populate it when the state of the deal is selected?).
  • Team access. Multiple people can work with the templates at once, thus allowing the members of our team who deal with financials to work on their documents while others focus on the organizational and legal documents.
  • Once you have successfully drafted your templates, it runs incredibly smooth (barring any minor hiccups that happen with software updates) and efficiently.
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
  • Live collaboration - the ability for multiple experts to simultaneously work on the same RFP.
  • Artificial intelligence - the ability for the product to continually learn what the best answers are and serve them up to our teams.
  • Dynamic branding - the ability for custom brand different templates by vertical, line of business, local branding, etc. with seamless transition.
  • Content review & moderation - the ability for our national content team to bulk review, edit and share content with our teams in a methodical way.
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Cons
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Most HotDocs templates demand high-level code. This includes complicated Word codes
  • Using HotDocs is incredibly user-friendly. Creating and maintaining templates is a programming task
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
  • Reporting and Analytics is basic, you can purchase advanced analytics though
  • It would have been nice to have a set structure in mind or a example/case study to structure our responses in the most appropriate way, but we are working through that with their stellar support team
  • Really great new features, but expensive
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Likelihood to Renew
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
No answers on this topic
Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
UI is friendly. Basically that alone is enough to renew because it is easy to use and gives accurate and fast results. The effective cross collaboration from other colleagues in my organization also makes for this tool to be extremely effective. Now that I understand how to use it, I can also easily train others on how to use it effectively.
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Usability
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
Could be more intuitive - could even "suggest" fill-ins with the option to take or not take the suggestion.
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
I haven't had to contact HotDocs very often for support. I suppose I rated them mid-level simply because I would like to see more online training options or white papers to view to assist with learning. I want to understand how to do something versus having it done for me.
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
The team at RFPIO is extremely responsive. If I email our account manager or report a bug, I usually hear back within two hours. Additionally, they are quick to make software adjustments based on customer requests and needs. We had a really complicated Excel sheet that their team ended up having to upload for me because of the amount of manual work I was doing. Based on that, they updated the software within two release cycles to make the process more automated, so that future Excel uploads would be more streamlined. I have also had several suggestions implemented rather quickly, and they don't hesitate to reach out for clarification when needed.
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Implementation Rating
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
If you use WordPerfect X9 - choose"no word-processing software."
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
We were able to complete an RFP during our free trial. We were already leaning toward RFPIO but that pushed us over the edge.
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Alternatives Considered
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
I haven't evaluated other products. We are so used to HotDocs that it would be difficult for us to switch to something else. We continue to use HotDocs because switching cost is high once you have already started. Be careful before beginning to use this program, as it is hard to breakaway.
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
RFPIO has outstanding, responsive, helpful customer support located in the US in Oregon. Support techs go the extra mile to help with basic issues and functionality training. Same-day support response and problem resolution are the norms. The system is also very user-friendly and very easy to navigate. Their Answer library is simple and far less complex than Qvidian/Inland. Little to no learning curve.
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Return on Investment
CARET (Abacus Data Systems, Inc. )
  • Time savings by employees when generating documents mean better ROI efficiency for labor.
  • Faster, more accurate turnaround for documents needing to be generated from templates.
  • Large capital expenditure depending on the number of users and developers.
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Responsive (formerly RFPIO)
  • I don't have access to the actual ROI data, but we would continue to invest in RFPIO as a company only if it were providing us with the results to win RFPs.
  • RFPIO makes the task of filling out RFP responses much faster for me.
  • RFPIO helps our team be able to divide out RFP chores easily, because we know we all have access to the same high-quality source for information.
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ScreenShots