Poly9 AI vs CPQ tools
The full comparison: the five verbs, pricing models, who should choose which, and using both together.
OpenResources · Guides
Classic CPQ or Sales AI for custom products
CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) software helps sales teams build and price complex product configurations. For custom and configured products, the choice between classic CPQ and a Sales AI depends on who quotes, where they quote, and whether you need a picture before a number.
Published 18 September 2026 · Cost facts from the pricing page
CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote: software that guides a user through product options, applies pricing rules to the choices, and produces a formal quote. Classic CPQ was built for a sales team at keyboards. A Sales AI keeps the same three verbs but lets buyers, designers and dealers ask in plain language and returns price on request when a rule is missing.
What CPQ means for custom products
Configure, Price, Quote software emerged to solve one problem: sales reps at large companies were spending days building complex product quotes in spreadsheets, missing compatibility rules and making pricing errors.
Configure means guiding the user through product options with rules that prevent invalid combinations. A CPQ tool knows that a washdown enclosure without stainless steel is impossible and refuses the choice.
Price means applying cost rules to the configuration. If the customer chooses grade C fabric in 8 by 10 with a custom border, the system calculates the price from your grade matrix, size multipliers and option adders. No spreadsheet, no guess.
Quote means producing a formal document, usually a PDF, with line items, terms, approval routing and ERP integration for order entry. The quote moves through internal approvals before the buyer sees it.
For custom products: CPQ means you can price a cabinet across every door style, finish, soft-close upgrade and top material in one system, instead of texting the estimator every time a showroom client changes the hardware.
Why CPQ was built for enterprise sales teams
Classic CPQ platforms were designed for a scenario like this. A sales rep at a manufacturing company receives an RFQ for industrial equipment with dozens of options. They log into the CPQ tool, configure the product through guided forms, the system prices it from approved rules, they add a discount if authorised, the quote routes to management for approval, then a PDF goes to the buyer. The ERP order is created from the CPQ record.
This workflow assumes a rep is at the keyboard, the buyer is waiting for a callback, the quote is a document that travels through approvals, and pricing rules are maintained by an admin who changes them in the platform when the price book updates. Pricing is per seat per year, because everyone who quotes, reviews a quote or approves a discount costs a licence.
Implementation takes weeks to months. Professional services map your rules, connect the ERP, train your admin, build approval workflows and launch. Once live, the system is powerful but rigid: every new rule, product option and price change goes through the admin. Sales reps become fast at quoting. Buyers still wait.
Limits
Where classic CPQ struggles with custom products
Buyers on your website in the evening
A furniture buyer visits your site after work, finds a sofa they love, and wants the price in grade F with contrast welt. Classic CPQ cannot answer them; it lives behind a login for your sales team. The buyer fills in a request-a-quote form and waits for a rep to log in, build the quote and email a PDF the next morning.
Designers who need a picture
A multi-brand showroom designer is on the floor with a client. The client asks what a rug looks like in 8 by 10, in the blue colourway. CPQ gives the designer a quote line. The designer wants a render of the rug in that size and colour in the room. Visual rendering is outside the scope of CPQ, so the designer emails the vendor and the client says they will think about it.
Dealers who never quote
You have showroom partners who each quote a couple of times a week. In a seat model you pay an annual licence for each of them. The assistant at the dealer uses the login once a quarter. The interior designer who brings the clients never touches it, because the system is for sales. You are paying for seats, not quotes.
Rules you have not written yet
A cabinetry maker receives an RFQ for walnut doors in a new eco-finish they just launched. The finish is not in the CPQ rule set. The system cannot price it. The admin adds the rule, tests, deploys. Meanwhile the quote is late. Classic CPQ requires every rule before every quote; real custom products have rules you are still writing.
Plain-language questions
A buyer asks in chat for a linen duvet in king, flame-retardant certified, in sage green, within a budget. A CPQ cannot parse that sentence. It expects a rep to translate it into form selections: category, product, size, certification, colour, then filter by price. CPQ is a form. A buyer is a conversation.
Trade show booth speed
An exporter at IHGF has a buyer at the booth asking about a metal tray in brushed brass, custom size, FOB Mumbai. The exporter opens the CPQ login on a phone, if mobile access exists at all, works through several screens, and the buyer has moved to the next booth. At a fair, configure and quote has to happen in the time it takes to stand there.
What Sales AI adds to configure-price-quote
Sales AI (Poly9 AI is one) keeps the three CPQ verbs, Configure, Price, Quote, but rethinks who uses the tool, where they use it, and what happens when a rule is missing.
The buyer asks in plain language on your website, in a showroom chat, at a trade show booth, instead of a rep at a keyboard filling in forms. The AI reads the question, finds the catalog record, applies your pricing rules, and answers with a certified price or price on request if the rule is missing. No rep, no form, no waiting for the morning.
The quote is a web page the buyer opens from the email on the train home, approves in one tap, and replies to in the thread, instead of a PDF that routes through approvals. Every line is traceable to its rule. The buyer sees the product rendered in the chosen option: a sofa in grade F fabric, not a stock photo.
You pay per sales action instead of per seat: one credit per quote, per collection, per AI answer that applied a rule. From the pricing page, $100 buys 1,000 credits and 250 are free to start. Everyone on the team is included, and designers who never quote cost nothing.
Sales AI accepts price on request for the rule you have not written yet, instead of requiring every rule before launch. You start quoting today with the rules you have. When a buyer asks for walnut doors in the new eco-finish, the AI returns price on request, protecting your price rather than inventing a number. You quote the edge case by hand, write the rule afterwards, and the next buyer gets a certified price.
You write pricing rules in plain language such as "grade C fabric, per yard, with a waste factor" or "cabinet base price, soft-close upgrade, quartz top per linear foot", instead of admin-maintained forms. The AI applies the arithmetic. When the rule changes, you edit the sentence. No admin screen, no test environment, no deploy cycle.
Core principle: Classic CPQ assumes a sales team at keyboards, building quotes for buyers who wait. Sales AI assumes buyers, designers and dealers asking in words, on your site or in chat, and getting answers at once, with certified prices from your rules or price on request when the rule is missing. Same three verbs. Different fourth and fifth.
Decision guide
When to choose classic CPQ or Sales AI
Choose classic CPQ if
- Your orders are entered and approved inside your ERP, and CPQ is the front door to it
- Quotes need multi-step approval chains with delegated discount authority
- You have admins maintaining rule sets that change weekly, and the rules are complex enough to justify dedicated tooling
- Your sellers are a large inside-sales team at keyboards, not designers, dealers or buyers asking in words
- You already have a CPQ investment, it works, and your bottleneck is not buyers waiting for reps
Choose Sales AI if
- The people who quote are reps, designers, dealers and buyers who ask in plain language
- Buyers should get answers on your website, in chat or at a trade show booth without waiting for a callback
- A picture of the product in the chosen option sells more than a PDF line item
- You want to pay per sales action (per quote, per collection) instead of per seat
- You need to start quoting today with the rules you have, and add precision over time with price on request for edge cases
- Your custom products are sold by showrooms, dealers, exporters or on buyer-facing websites, not only by an internal sales team
Using both together
Many manufacturers use Sales AI for buyer-facing quotes (website, showroom floor, trade show booth) and keep their CPQ for internal sales-team workflows that require ERP order entry and approval chains. The Sales AI handles speed and conversation; the CPQ handles enterprise sales operations. When a buyer approves a quote from the Sales AI, the line items export into your CPQ or ERP for formal processing.
What each approach trades away
Classic CPQ trades speed for control
You get deep ERP integration, multi-step approval workflows, seat-based access control and admin-maintained rules. You trade buyer-facing speed: the buyer on your website in the evening fills in a form and waits until a rep builds the quote in the morning. If your approvals and order entry must run through the CPQ, that trade is worth it. If your buyers leave before morning, it is not.
Sales AI trades ERP depth for buyer-facing speed
You get instant buyer-facing quotes in plain language, visual rendering, price on request for missing rules, and pay-per-action pricing. You trade deep ERP order entry and approval workflow tooling. If your orders are entered by hand anyway, or the approval is the owner looking at it and saying yes, you are not losing depth you were using. If your ERP is the system of record, the Sales AI becomes the front door and you export line items into the ERP afterwards.
Price on request is a feature, not a gap
Classic CPQ requires every pricing rule to be built before you can quote. Sales AI lets you quote with the rules you have and return price on request when a rule is missing. For custom products with thousands of option combinations, that is reality, not a workaround. The buyer gets an instant answer for the configurations you have priced and a follow-up for the edge case, instead of every quote waiting on the rule you have not finished for eco-finish walnut.
Implementation paths compared
| Step | Classic CPQ | Sales AI (Poly9 AI) |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first quote | Weeks to months (rule mapping, ERP integration, admin training) | Same day with a sample catalog; your own rules as you load them |
| Rule authoring | Admin maintains rules in the CPQ platform; changes need testing and deployment | Write rules in plain language; edit any time; no deploy cycle |
| Missing rules | Cannot quote until the rule is built; launch is all or nothing | Returns price on request; quote what you know today, add precision over time |
| User training | Sales team training on the CPQ interface; admin training on rule maintenance | Buyers and reps ask in plain language; little to learn |
| Pricing model | Per seat per year; everyone who logs in costs a licence | Per sales action; $100 buys 1,000 credits on the pricing page; everyone included |
Classic CPQ column describes the typical enterprise implementation path; the Poly9 AI column is the product as shipped.
CPQ for custom products: FAQ
What does CPQ mean for custom or configured products?
CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote: software that guides users through product options, applies pricing rules to those choices, and produces a formal quote. Classic CPQ tools are built for sales teams at keyboards; a Sales AI lets buyers configure and get quotes in plain language on your website, without waiting for a rep.
When should I choose classic CPQ over Sales AI?
Choose classic CPQ if your orders are entered and approved inside your ERP and CPQ is its front door, you need multi-step approval chains with delegated authority, admins maintain rules that change weekly, and your sellers are a large inside-sales team at keyboards. It excels at deep integration with enterprise sales operations.
When is Sales AI with certified rules a better fit?
Choose a Sales AI when the people who quote are reps, designers, dealers and buyers asking in plain language, buyers should get answers on your website without waiting, a picture of the product in the chosen option matters, and you want to pay per sales action instead of per seat.
What is price on request and why does it matter?
Price on request (POR) means the system asks the buyer to contact you when a pricing rule is missing, instead of guessing. With COM fabrics, special finishes and custom sizes, not every combination has a certified rule yet. Classic CPQ needs every rule before launch; a Sales AI with POR quotes what you know today.
How is CPQ pricing different from per-seat software?
Classic CPQ is priced per user per year, so designers who never quote still cost a seat. Poly9 AI charges one credit per sales action, a quote, a collection, a chat answer, and the pricing page lists $100 for 1,000 credits. You pay for outcomes, not logins, and everyone on the team is included.
Can I use both CPQ and Sales AI together?
Yes. Many manufacturers use a Sales AI for buyer-facing quotes on the website, showroom floor and trade show booth, and keep their CPQ for internal workflows that need ERP order entry and approval chains. Export the approved quote lines from the Sales AI into the CPQ or ERP when formal processing is required.
How long does CPQ implementation take for custom products?
Classic CPQ implementations take weeks to months, with professional services to map rules, integrate the ERP and train admins. A Sales AI starts the same day with a sample catalog, because it uses plain-language rules and returns price on request for the rules you have not loaded, so you quote at once and add precision over time.
Start quoting custom products today
Configure options, price from your rules, quote in plain language. No seats, no setup fee. 250 sales actions free for 30 days, no card, and the account stays yours.