Contract management software helps SMBs close deals faster by removing friction from document creation, approval and signing.
Instead of drafting documents and chasing signatures, sales teams use contract management tools to automate admin and keep deals moving.
These platforms generate accurate agreements, track buyer activity and support fast, secure electronic signatures.
Below, you’ll learn about the seven best contract management software for SMBs and how to build a faster, more reliable document workflow inside your CRM.
Key takeaways for contract management software
Contract management software gives SMBs control over how agreements move from draft to signature, reducing delays and errors.
The most valuable features help teams send accurate documents faster, see buyer activity without chasing updates and keep follow-ups from slipping through the cracks.
When evaluating tools, prioritize software that removes manual work at the closing stage and keeps contract progress visible inside your sales process.
If you want to manage contracts directly in your CRM, try Pipedrive’s 14-day free trial and see how Smart Docs supports faster, more predictable document management.
What is contract management software (and why does it matter?)
Contract management software standardizes your sales process by organizing business agreements in a central repository.
For sales teams and business owners, better organization means consistency. Every contract follows the same structure, pricing rules and legal terms, regardless of who sends it.
You also gain visibility into the negotiation process, so you can see where deals stall and act immediately.
Most contract management tools include these core functions:
Contract management feature | Why you need it |
Automated workflows: Route sales contracts to the right person for approval. | Prevents deals from sitting in an inbox waiting for a manager’s sign-off. |
Automated reminders: Send alerts to you before a contract expires or auto-renews. | Prevents accidental renewal and ensures you never miss a deadline to renegotiate a deal. |
Template library: Stores pre-approved versions of your contracts. | Streamlines contract drafting and ensures your team always uses the correct legal terms and pricing. |
Real-time collaboration: Lets you, your team and your client comment on and edit documents at the same time. | Speeds up the drafting, negotiation and contract review phases. |
CRM integration: Pulls contact and deal data straight from your CRM into contracts or other documents. | Fixes manual data entry errors and speeds up document creation. |
Version control: Tracks every edit you make to the document during negotiation. | Removes confusion over which version is final. |
Audit trail: Records who opened, viewed and signed the document and when. | Provides legal proof of the signature and helps you time your follow-ups for better engagement. |
For SMBs, these features mitigate two common risks: lost deals due to slow follow-ups and lost revenue resulting from missed renewals or incorrect terms.
Ultimately, the software drives cost savings by preventing avoidable errors.
A contract management platform makes it easy to create new documents, collaborate on edits and keep a permanent record of every deal you close. You get a single system that handles everything from draft to signature.
7 best contract management software tools for SMBs in 2026
To choose the right contract management provider, analyze your current sales process.
If your team struggles with negotiation, prioritize collaboration features. If you need speed, look for e-signature tools that integrate with your CRM.
Also, consider whether your contract process typically breaks down during drafting, approval, signing or follow-up. Choose a contract management solution that directly addresses that point of friction.
Here are the top seven tools to help you manage contracts this year.
1. Pipedrive’s Smart Docs: best for managing contracts in your CRM
Pipedrive lets you create, send and track contracts directly inside your CRM.
With the Smart Docs add-on, you can streamline content creation as well as send and sign agreements from your dashboard.
You build templates that automatically pull data from your deal fields, ensuring names, addresses and pricing are always correct. You then send the document for e-signature and track its status in real-time.
You can add Smart Docs to any Pipedrive plan. It comes included with the Premium and Ultimate subscriptions. If you use the Lite or Growth plans, you can purchase it as a separate add-on.
How businesses use Smart Docs:
Smart Docs feature | What it does (and why it matters) |
Auto-filled templates | Pulls contact details from your CRM deals into the contract. Eliminates data entry mistakes and improves the user experience. |
Built-in e-signatures | Allows clients to sign legally binding documents on any device. Removes the need for printing or scanning, which increases conversion rates. |
Product tables | Calculates and inserts line items, costs and discounts from your deals to ensure that pricing is always accurate. |
Document tracking | Sends you a notification the moment a client opens your contract. Lets sales reps follow up when prospects are most engaged. |
Cloud storage sync | Automatically saves created and signed documents to the Pipedrive deal and Google Drive or OneDrive (if you’ve integrated them). Keeps your records organized and accessible to the whole team. |
When to use it:
When you want to manage the entire contract workflow without leaving your Pipedrive dashboard
If you need to generate contracts using live deal data to eliminate copy-paste errors
When you need access controls and locked design templates so reps can’t change pricing or branding without authorization
Who it’s best for: Sales teams that want to manage the entire closing process inside Pipedrive without switching tools or adding extra software costs.
You’ll learn more about how Smart Docs works for contract management later on in the article.
2. PandaDoc: best for combining proposals and contracts
PandaDoc is a document automation tool that lets you create, send and track sales documents.
It integrates with several CRM solutions, including Pipedrive, via both native connections and custom APIs. Syncing your CRM gives you a user-friendly editor that lets you drag and drop text, videos and pricing tables into templates.
How businesses use PandaDoc:
Feature | What it does (and why it matters) |
Content library | Stores standard text blocks and images so you can reuse elements |
Approval workflows | Locks documents down until a sales manager approves them, to avoid unauthorized changes |
Rich media | Supports video and image blocks inside the document |
Document analytics | Tracks when clients open and view your documents to help you understand buyer interest before follow-ups. |
When to use PandaDoc:
If your sales strategy relies on embedded videos or product demos inside the document
When you want customers to select their own packages or adjust quantities on the quote
When you need to keep branding consistent but don’t want to learn a complicated design workflow
Who it’s best for: Sales teams that treat proposals more like digital marketing assets. It suits businesses that need design and interactive features that standard PDF contracts cannot support.
3. DocuSign: best for industry-standard security and compliance
DocuSign is an e-signature platform that secures digital approvals using encrypted documents.
While basic e-signature tools rely on email verification, DocuSign captures multiple authentication points. You can ask signers to confirm their identity via SMS, phone or government ID.
It integrates with Pipedrive to trigger agreements from your CRM, but it focuses on the signing phase rather than document creation.
How businesses use DocuSign:
Feature | What it does (and why it matters) |
Identity verification | Confirms the signer’s identity via SMS or government ID to reduce fraud risks in sensitive transactions |
Certificate of Completion | Records the signer’s IP address, location and timestamps as a tamper-resistant audit record |
Responsive signing | Converts static PDFs into HTML that fits in mobile screens so clients can read contracts on phones |
PowerForms | Generates a specific URL for standard forms (like waivers) so anyone can sign a document on demand |
When to use it:
If you need to verify your signer’s identity beyond a simple email confirmation
You operate in regulated industries (healthcare, finance) that demand specific compliance certifications for legal e-signatures
You work with large enterprises that mandate the use of a certified signing tool
Who it’s best for: Teams in regulated industries where risk management is the priority. It suits businesses that require documents to be compliant and legally defensible.
4. Juro: best for collaborative contract editing
Juro is an AI-powered tool that lets teams create, negotiate and sign contracts within a browser-based editor.
Teams work on a shared link to agree on terms. You can make edits, leave comments and sign the document without leaving the platform.
Juro also integrates with Pipedrive to auto-fill agreements using your deal data.
How businesses use Juro:
Feature | What it does (and why it matters) |
Browser-native editor | Lets you write and edit contracts in the browser, eliminating the need to download, edit and re-upload Microsoft Word documents |
Internal commenting | Allows your team to discuss clauses privately on the document so you can resolve questions quickly without the client seeing |
Conditional logic | Automatically adds or removes clauses based on deal values so that contracts stay compliant with your company’s rules |
Optical character recognition (OCR) search | Scans signed PDF contracts, performs data extraction and turns them into searchable text so you can find old agreements quickly |
When to use it:
If you have contracts that need a ton of negotiation and multiple rounds of edits
When you need legal and sales teams to collaborate on the same document
If your legal team needs to be able to find signed agreements with specific clauses or expiration dates quickly
Who it’s best for: Tech and media companies that need to close high volumes of standard contracts quickly. It suits teams that want to work in the same document and avoid the need for redlining in Word editors.
5. Contractbook: best for automating workflows after the signature
Contractbook manages the entire lifecycle of your contracts, from drafting through post-signature operations.
Where Contractbook stands out is what happens after someone signs a deal. The all-in-one platform focuses on contract operations, helping you track obligations, renewals and key milestones.
Contractbook syncs natively with Pipedrive, linking data from your CRM to your documents with a single click.
How businesses use Contractbook:
Feature | What it does (and why it matters) |
Central contract repository | Keeps all signed contracts in one place so your team can quickly find them |
Automated reminders | Alerts you before renewals, expirations and key obligations for customer success |
Structured contract data | Converts contract terms into data fields you can search, filter and report on |
Collaboration and approvals | Lets sales, legal and leadership review and approve contracts before signing |
When to use it:
When you need to track post-signature obligations, like delivery dates or compliance management milestones
If your procurement operations or finance team needs total spend management oversight after signing
When you manage contracts with renewal dates, notice periods or termination windows that could affect your revenue
Who it’s best for: Operations-driven SMBs that need more control and document tracking after the sale. Contractbook suits teams whose contracts require more flexibility than traditional one-time paperwork.
6. Dropbox Sign: best for quick e-signatures
Dropbox Sign focuses on securing fast, straightforward electronic signatures.
You upload a document, add signature fields and send it for signing. Dropbox Sign doesn’t try to manage negotiation or post-signature workflows. It just optimizes the signing step and gets out of the way.
How businesses use Dropbox Sign:
Feature | What it does (and why it matters) |
Simple e-signatures | Sends documents for legally binding signatures without needing complex setup or detailed templates |
Fast document sending | Lets you upload PDFs or Word files and add signature fields wherever you need them |
Automatic file storage | Saves signed documents to Dropbox, keeping everything under one roof |
Basic audit trail | Records signer actions, timestamps and other metadata to provide proof of signature |
When to use it:
When contracts already exist and only need a signature
When your sales reps send one-off agreements, NDAs or simple order forms
If speed matters more than collaboration, client reporting or analytics
When you want to send contracts with minimal setup and onboarding for your team
Who it’s best for: Small teams that need e-signatures, but not end-to-end contract management. Dropbox Sign fits businesses that want the fastest path to signed contracts without adding new workflows or overhead.
7. GetAccept: best for tracking buyer engagement with video
GetAccept is an enterprise contract management software solution that helps sales teams understand how buyers interact with sales proposals and contracts.
You send documents with video and live tracking, then watch how sales prospects engage with them in real-time.
After you send a document, the platform tracks views and automatically reopens it. Your reps can then use that data to follow up at the right moment and push stalled deals forward.
GetAccept links with Pipedrive to complete document fields with data from your CRM.
How businesses use GetAccept:
Feature | What it does (and why it matters) |
Video introductions | Lets reps record short videos inside proposals to personalize outreach and build trust |
Shows how long buyers read each part of your document and which sections they revisit | |
Live chat | Lets prospects ask questions inside the document instead of starting an email thread |
Deal insights | Surfaces buying signals so reps know when to follow up or push for a close |
When to use it:
When your deals typically involve multiple stakeholders and long decision cycles
If your reps need insight into buyer interest before following up
If your proposals are stalling and your sales team can’t figure out why
If personalization and relationship-building help your business drive conversions
Who it’s best for: Sales-led teams that rely on timing and engagement to close deals. It fits high-touch businesses where excellent customer support and explaining value are as important as the contract itself.
How to control your contract management in Pipedrive
Pipedrive’s Smart Docs add-on keeps contract management inside the CRM, so deals don’t slow down once both sides agree on terms.
Because every contract remains connected to its deal, teams can see progress in real-time. Your reps know when buyers open and e-sign agreements and managers can spot stalled contracts before revenue is at risk.
At the same time, Pipedrive’s workflow automations and activity reminders help you streamline the process and stay on top of deadlines at all times.
Here’s how to use Pipedrive’s contract management features in more detail.
Use Smart Docs to generate and track every contract inside Pipedrive
Smart Docs builds your documents from live CRM data and keeps every signed contract attached to its deal.
Here’s a video that shows how the add-on works in detail:
To initiate a contract for a deal, open the deal record and press “Smart Docs” then “Create new > Document”.
Choose a template you’ve already built or upload a file you want to use. Smart Docs pulls names, addresses, products and pricing straight from the deal – no need to re-type details.
After the document appears in the editor, review the content and make any necessary changes before sending.
When you want to send that contract for signature, open the draft and press “Share > Request signatures” or “Share as link”.
Select the contact you’re sending it to and confirm the email address. Smart Docs emails the contract to your client’s inbox with a link to sign electronically.
After sending, open the deal timeline and check the activity. Smart Docs logs when the recipient opens the document and when they sign it.
This visibility helps teams time sales calls and emails around real engagement signals. You can use this to keep turnaround times low and reduce manual admin in busy sales cycles.
Pipedrive in action: Redlist, a SaaS company in heavy industry, struggled with manual contact creation. Its sales reps had to rebuild proposals from scratch, spending hours on admin for each deal.
To solve their contract dilemma, Redlist switched to Pipedrive and invested in the Smart Docs add-on. It cut document creation time to under 15 minutes, saving its reps around a day of admin work per week and resulting in a nearly 200% increase in annual revenue.
Use Smart Docs templates to standardize contracts and move faster
Smart Docs templates let you control what reps send, while speeding up the contract management process.
To create a template, go to the detail view in “Deals” and press “Documents”.
Then, open “Templates” and press “+ Create new”.
Upload an existing contract or create a new one from a blank document. Insert Pipedrive fields where names, company details, prices or product tables should auto-fill from the deal. Finally, save the template and make it available to the team.
You can use templates for recurring documents, such as service agreements or order forms. Once a template exists, you’ll never need to rebuild it from scratch.
To control what reps can change, choose who can edit your templates before you share them. Go to the “Permissions” tab and set approved users to “Can edit this template”. Leave everyone else on “Can use this template”.
Managing permissions in this manner prevents unauthorized edits and reduces the need for back-and-forth communication with managers or legal reviewers.
Templates also work with product tables. When a deal includes products, Smart Docs pulls line items into the contract. Use this for accurate quotes and contracts that always match the deal value in the CRM.
Automate next steps to keep your deals moving forward
With Pipedrive’s no-code workflow automation features, actions that happen around your contracts can automatically trigger the next steps in your sales pipeline.
To get started, go to “Tools and apps” and press “Automations > + Automation”.
For example, you can trigger an automation to create a follow-up activity or update a deal field after a document is shared. This feature helps sales reps follow up at the right moment, without relying on manual reminders.
You can also use automations to react to signed contracts by triggering workflows based on deal updates or custom fields that reflect signing status.
From there, add actions like moving the deal to the next stage or sending a notification to a manager.
Leaving these steps to Pipedrive helps keep your pipeline and sales forecasts up to date, allowing your reps to focus on higher-value work.
Set activity reminders so that you never miss a follow-up
Activity and goal reminders help you stay on top of contracts without relying on memory.
You can use activity reminders to follow up after sending a contract, check in when a buyer goes quiet or confirm next steps after a signature.
To set a reminder from a deal, go to “Insights” and choose “+ Create > Activity”.
Choose an activity type, such as call or email, set a due date and save it. The activity will now appear on the deal timeline and in your activity list.
Here’s a video showing how you can use the activities and goals management features:
Because the reminder stays tied to the deal, you’ll always see the full context before reaching out.
To create reminders automatically, you can combine activities with workflow automations.
For example, you might trigger an activity when you send a document or when a client has yet to sign after a set number of days.
Activity reminders also work well for contract deadlines.
You can add reminders for renewal dates or expirations to the deal or organization. Adding reminders keeps key dates visible in your pipeline and helps you take action before deadlines impact revenue.
Download your guide to perfecting your sales proposals
Final thoughts
The right contract management software removes every bottleneck during document creation, approval and signing.
Start by identifying where contracts currently slow you down. If reps lose time jumping between systems or lack visibility after sending documents, the problem is your contract workflow. Choose software that fixes that breakpoint.
Pipedrive’s Smart Docs gives you everything you need to manage contracts without leaving your CRM. Sign up for Pipedrive’s 14-day free trial and see how built-in contract management helps you close deals with more consistency and control.
