Same three verbs. Different fourth and fifth.
CPQ suites are strong where a large sales team needs approval workflows, deep ERP order entry and rules maintained by an admin. They are priced per seat.
They do not answer a buyer in plain language on your website. They do not design or present. The designers who never quote still cost a seat, and the buyer who asked at 6 p.m. is still waiting at 9 a.m.
Keep a CPQ if your orders live in the ERP and your approvals run through it. Choose Poly9 AI if the people who quote are reps, designers, dealers and buyers who ask in words.
The five verbs, plus three that decide it.
| What matters | CPQ tools | Poly9 AI |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | A rep reads the configuration back to the buyer. | Your AI answers the buyer directly, from the catalog record, on your site or in chat. |
| Configure | Guided selling forms with compatibility rules. | Options in plain language, shown on the product, with your rules refusing what does not fit. |
| Price | Price rules maintained by an admin in the suite. | Cost recipes and grade matrices written in plain language; one engine does the arithmetic. |
| Quote | A PDF from a template, approved in a workflow. | A quote the buyer opens from the email and approves in one tap; replies land in the thread. |
| Present | Not in scope. | Renders of the product in the chosen option, collections from a mood board, one link. |
| Learns your business | Rules change when the admin changes them. | Every question, quote and collection teaches it: which options sell together, what each buyer asks. |
| Pricing model | Per seat, per year, plus implementation. | One credit per sales action; $100 buys a thousand; everyone included. |
| Time to first quote | Weeks to months of implementation. | The same day with a sample catalog; two to five days of rule capture for a full price book. |
Category behavior is described in general terms; specific products vary. Poly9 AI behavior is as shipped in September 2026.
Why the differences matter.
A CPQ tool assumes a rep is at the keyboard. The buyer asks the rep, the rep drives the configurator, the suite produces the quote. Poly9 AI assumes the buyer is asking, in words, on your site at 6 p.m. or in a showroom chat, and answers from the same catalog record the rep would read.
Both enforce compatibility. A CPQ does it in guided-selling forms an admin maintains; Poly9 AI does it in the pricing rules you wrote, so “washdown without stainless” is refused with the reason before a price appears.
Pricing is where the two are closest. A CPQ prices from rules an admin maintains in the suite; Poly9 AI prices from cost recipes and grade matrices written in plain language and applied by one engine. Neither estimates. Poly9 AI adds “price on request” for the rule you have not written yet.
A CPQ quote is a document that moves through an approval workflow. A Poly9 AI quote is a page the buyer opens from the email on the train home, approves in one tap and replies to in the thread. Every line is traceable to its rule. Nobody on your side refreshes an inbox waiting to find out. If your approvals must run through the suite, keep the suite.
Design and presentation are outside a CPQ. Poly9 AI renders the product in the chosen option, builds a priced collection from a mood board and hands the buyer one link, because a custom sale is usually a picture before it is a number.
A CPQ knows what its admin told it. Poly9 AI learns from every question, quote and collection: Dana prefers grade F when the difference is under $200; nailheads go with box pleats 71% of the time. The rules are still yours; the memory is new.
Per-seat pricing charges for the designers who never quote. Poly9 AI charges one credit per sales action, so a showroom with twenty designers who each quote twice a week pays for the quotes, and every person on the team is included.
A CPQ implementation is a project. Poly9 AI is an account: create it, add the catalog or start with a sample one, write the first rule, send the first certified quote in the same session. Kravet’s 37,400 SKUs took one day to load.
- Your orders are entered and approved inside the ERP, and the CPQ is the front door to it.
- Quotes need multi-step approval chains with delegated authority.
- You have an admin whose job is maintaining the rule set, and the rules change weekly.
- Your sellers are a large inside-sales team at keyboards, not designers, dealers or buyers.
- The people who quote are reps, designers, dealers and buyers who ask in words.
- The buyer should get the answer on your site, without waiting for a rep.
- A picture of the product in the chosen option sells more than a PDF.
- You want to pay for quotes, not for logins.
Some builders keep the CPQ for order entry and put Poly9 AI in front of it. The buyer or the rep asks in plain language. Poly9 AI configures and prices from the same rules. The configured quote is handed to the suite for approval and ERP entry.
Ask for an option you have not priced.
Whatever you compare it with, run this on your own catalog. Poly9 AI prices from your recipes and matrices through one engine, and when the rule is missing it says “price on request” and drafts the request. The tool that produces a plausible number instead is the one that costs you an order.
A Lee Industries frame priced in grade F from the real matrix. Sample conversation, real rules.
Questions about CPQ tools.
Is Poly9 AI a CPQ?
Can it read our CPQ rules?
What about approvals?
Why is there no per-seat price?
Sources: Tacton CPQ Benchmark 2025 (43% quote in spreadsheets; 79% quote-quality problems) · Aleran 2025 (71% take a day or more; 88% lost deals to slow quotes) · Salesforce CPQ end-of-sale notice, 2025 · Poly9 AI plan catalog, September 2026. All comparisons →
Start free. Judge it on your own catalog.
Create your account, add your catalog or start with your industry’s sample catalog, and ask the question you would ask the other tool. 250 sales actions free, no card, and the account stays yours.