Our Guide to the Top 7 Education Contract Management Software Solutions

Navigating the world of education contract management software is essential for educational institutions looking to optimize their contract processes. These software solutions not only streamline the entire contract lifecycle (from drafting to renewal) but also enhance operational efficiency and mitigate legal risks.

Which tool(s) should you choose? 

That’s the question we answer in this SignWell guide. We’ve compiled the top seven education contract management software that will help educational institutions manage contracts with vendors, suppliers, consultants, and other parties.

Keep reading to discover the right education contract management software options.

What Is Education Contract Management Software?

Education contract management software is a digital solution designed to handle the entire lifecycle of contracts within educational institutions. 

It aids in the creation, execution, and analysis of contracts, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and improving operational efficiency. This software is particularly beneficial for managing various types of contracts, including those related to employment, vendor services, and student enrollment.

For an example, look no further than SignWell.

SignWell is a legally binding electronic signature solution that simplifies the document signing process and helps educational institutions get contracts signed quickly. With SignWell, you can spend less time chasing signatures and more time focusing on what truly matters—providing quality education.

Benefits of Using Education Contract Management Software

Timely Execution

Education contract management software automates the contract lifecycle, ensuring efficient and timely completion of each stage. Whether it’s generating contracts, getting them signed, or keeping track of when to renew a contract, an automated solution can streamline the process.

Increased Visibility

Education contract management tools provide a centralized platform for easy access and tracking of contracts. According to NAEP research, higher-ed institutions deal with 1,230 vendors on average, which makes it essential to have a centralized contract management system that can provide visibility across various departments and agreements​.

Guaranteed Compliance

Higher education institutions face regulations like the Higher Education Act (HEA) and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), making compliance a crucial aspect of their operations​​. Contract management software offers centralized repositories, tracking, reporting, and audit trails; enhancing compliance and minimizing human error​.

Criteria to Consider When Choosing an Education Contract Management Software

Features

All kinds of features can fall under the umbrella of “contract management.” It’s important to assess the features you need and want from a contract management system before committing. 

For example, SignWell offers powerful e-signing features while Ironclad is more focused on contract creation, evaluation, and risk assessment.

Integrations

Choose a software that integrates seamlessly with other systems used by your institution, like ERP or CRM systems. This might be through native integrations, third-party integrations (e.g., via Zapier), custom integration packages, or API access.

Customization

Look for a system that offers the ability to customize workflows and processes, like automated email notifications or reminders, custom tagging systems, and other features tailored to fit your institution’s unique requirements.

Reporting & Auditing Tools

Pick a tool with reporting features to help you analyze data about contracts and track their progress. This could include dashboard views of contract statuses, summaries of key clauses in contracts, reports on spending patterns, and audit trails tracking who modified documents.

Top 7 Education Contract Management Software Solutions

1. SignWell
2. PandaDoc
3. LinkSquares
4. GetAccept
5. Ironclad
6. Juro 
7. SpotDraft

1. SignWell

SignWell is an e-signature solution that simplifies the document signing process for businesses.

We offer education institutions an e-signing experience built with security, accessibility, and efficiency in mind. Features like templates, bulk sending, audit trails, and real-time notifications make your education contract management process easier.

Plus, our intuitive API makes it easy to build SignWell into your existing education management systems—whether you want to collect signatures on your school website or on a mobile app.

Standout Features

• Electronic Signature API: Automate your document workflows, embed e-signing into your app or website, and integrate with any tool in your stack.
• E-Signing: Collect legally binding e-signatures on any device—desktop, tablet, or mobile.
• Document Workflows: Track and prioritize unsigned documents, choose a signing order, and send automatic notifications to keep the process moving.
• Custom Templates: Quickly reuse and resend popular documents by turning them into templates for easy access and guided recipient experience.
• Audit Reports: Track document history with detailed audit reports, including timestamps and full visibility into document activity.
• Integrations: Connect with 5,000+ apps through our comprehensive integration library, or use APIs for custom integrations.

Pricing

SignWell offers four plans—Free, Personal, Business, and Enterprise.

Personal costs $8 per month and includes 1 sender, 5 templates, and unlimited documents. Business costs $24 per month and includes 3 senders (additional senders can be added for $8 each), unlimited templates, and unlimited documents. 

The Enterprise plan is customizable and offers unlimited senders, templates, and documents.

API Pricing

SignWell’s API is pay-as-you-go. Your first 25 API documents are free each month, with additional usage charged on a per-document basis every 30 days. 

The more API documents you send, the cheaper the per-document rate becomes!

Pros & Cons

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Robust security measures
• Fantastic customer service
• Seamless signing and tracking of documents

Cons

• Lacks Make (formerly Integromat) integration (at the moment)

2. PandaDoc 

PandaDoc is an all-in-one document management tool that helps businesses create, manage, track, and e-sign documents. It offers a range of features, integrations, and templates to streamline document workflows and increase efficiency.

Standout Features

• Proposals: Create and share professional proposals quickly using customizable templates.
• E-signatures: Ensure secure and legally binding electronic signatures for documents.
• Quotes: Generate real-time quotes and track their status to streamline sales processes.
• Contracts: Use CRM integrations to pull customer data into contracts, simplifying the document creation process.

Pricing

PandaDoc offers three pricing plans—Essentials, Business, and Enterprise. 

Paid plans include:

• Essentials: $19/user/month, unlimited document uploads & e-signatures.
• Business: $49/user/month, CRM & Zapier integrations, approval workflows, bulk send.
• Enterprise: custom pricing based on per-seat or per-document, smart content, SSO support, unlimited team workspaces.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Create, edit, track, and sign documents quickly and easily
• Sales, development, and customer service teams are responsive 
• User-friendly interface and seamless integration with other programs

Cons

• Some users find it difficult to modify mistakes without starting over
• High price point

3. LinkSquares

LinkSquares is a legal technology platform that offers a comprehensive solution for contract management and legal project management. It streamlines contracting processes, improves efficiency, and provides AI-powered insights into contracts.

Standout Features

• Draft: Craft, review, and approve agreements efficiently with customizable templates and dynamic workflows.
• Finalize: Set up documents quickly and execute contracts in real-time with a seamless interface and visibility.
• Sign: Simplify contract execution by enabling instant contract signing with real-time tracking.
• Manage: Extract data, reduce risk, boost revenue, and gain valuable insights into contracts using AI-powered analytics.

Pricing

LinkSquares does not provide pricing on their website. Request a demo directly from their team.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Uses custom AI model built specifically for legal teams
• Features metadata extraction
• Secure contract centralization
• Has full-text search capabilities

Cons 

• User Interface (UI) could be more user-friendly
• Limited integration with storage platforms
• Lacks the ability to identify and delete duplicates

4. GetAccept

GetAccept is a comprehensive digital sales platform that offers a range of tools and features to support sales teams. It includes a Deal Room for collaborative sales processes and a Contract Room for creating and managing contracts.

Standout Features

• Electronic Signatures: Simplify the contract signing process with secure electronic signatures, reducing friction between buyers and sellers.
• Proposals & Contracts: Create professional proposals and contracts.
• Configure Price Quote: Empower sales teams to generate accurate product quotes and pricing information, tailored to meet specific buyer needs.
• Tracking & Analytics: Gain real-time insights on prospect engagement, map new stakeholders, and take immediate action to accelerate the sales cycle.

Pricing

GetAccept offers a 14-day free trial of Contract Room. 

Their Professional plan is priced at $49 per user per month and provides powerful solutions for growing companies. For larger teams or businesses looking for a world-class digital buying experience, the Enterprise plan is available and requires contacting an expert for pricing details.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Provides a process for electronic signatures
• Facilitates quick configuration, sending, and signing of documents
• Useful for sending video presentations and sales content to differentiate from competition
• Offers intuitive, straightforward, and easy-to-navigate user interface

Cons

• Some features need UI improvements
• Lack of key functionalities like Zapier and API integration
• Issues with CRM sync

5. Ironclad

Ironclad is a contract management software that offers a range of features to increase contracting efficiency. It provides end-to-end contract management solutions, including AI-powered contract data analysis, contract creation and collaboration, knowledge management, analytics and reporting, and integrations with other tools.

Standout Features

• Ironclad AI: Increase contract turnaround time and analyze contract data with automatic contract data tagging, redline suggestions, unapproved clause flagging, and more.
• Ironclad Workflow Designer: Design and launch contracts from a single interface, centralize contract processes, and enforce contract guidelines across the organization with AI Playbooks.
• Ironclad Editor: Collaborate, draft, edit, and redline documents in Word or PDF format, track all changes in one place, and embed negotiation guides into contract workflows.
• Ironclad Repository: Upload, scan, and create fully text-searchable documents, replace manual tagging with automatic contract data extraction, and trace contract operations with a robust activity feed.

Pricing

Contact sales for pricing information.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Streamlines the contract process 
• Great customer service
• Provides version control for legal documents and enables efficient approval processes
• Offers a clean and intuitive user interface

Cons

• Steep learning curve for people with no legal background
• Can’t upload PDFs to the platform
• Limited customization
• Contract link feature for amendments/addendums is inadequate

6. Juro 

Juro is a contract collaboration platform that offers AI-powered assistance to automate routine contract tasks. It provides solutions for drafting, reviewing, and summarizing contracts, with lawyer-grade security and compliance features.

Standout Features

• AI Draft: Create and amend contracts with the help of powerful AI, allowing for efficient and accurate drafting while setting guardrails for your drafting process.
• AI Review: Turn around contracts up to 90% faster by making amendments based on predefined parameters.
• AI Summarize: Summarize whole contracts or individual clauses within seconds, enabling quick sharing and understanding of contract content among teams.
• Contract collaboration platform: Create, approve, negotiate, sign, store, track, and connect contracts seamlessly, streamlining your contract management process.

Pricing

Contact sales for a quote.

Pros

• Creating, sharing, and tracking contracts made easy
• Templates are easy to customize
• Great customer support with quick response times
• The platform is efficient and easy to use

Cons

• Difficult to make multiple changes at once

7. SpotDraft

Source

SpotDraft is a contract management and automation solution that simplifies the signing process by offering efficient, secure, and legally compliant workflows. It helps users create risk-free and secure contracts, collaborate and manage with the team, organize and report, and sign contracts digitally.

Standout Features

• Advanced e-signature workflows: SpotDraft offers efficient, secure, and fully compliant e-signature workflows designed to optimize the signing process.
• AI contract analysis: Analyze contracts using AI to better identify key terms and ensure conditions are met.
• Secure contracts: All contracts are shared, signed, and stored on SpotDraft and are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring the highest level of security.
• Workflows: Streamline collaboration with teams and counterparties using workflows and automated notifications.

Pricing

Contact the sales team to request a quote.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• User-friendly platform
• Responsive customer support
• Sets automatic reminders for renewal or expiry dates
• Features an audit-trail system

Cons

• Some users report technical and usability issues

Conclusion

Education contract management software can be a game-changer for educational institutions. It helps streamline contract workflows, minimize error and risks, and boost compliance and collaboration. 

If you’re looking for a top-notch solution, consider SignWell. We offer educational institutions a powerful set of features—from bulk sending and document tracking to automatic notifications and audit-trail management—that help simplify the contract process.

Sign up for a free trial today and see SignWell in action.