Responsive Pricing and What Buyers Pay

Responsive publishes one price and hides the rest. Its pricing page shows the Emerging edition "starting from $10,000" and sends Growth and Enterprise to a sales call. Recorded purchase data on Vendr puts the median Responsive contract at $14,750 a year, with 133 purchases between $5,518 and $40,303, from a page Vendr last updated in April 2026. Treat those as reported planning figures and confirm your own quote with Responsive.

Responsive is the proposal and RFP response platform that used to be called RFPIO. It holds a library of approved answers and routes RFPs, DDQs and security questionnaires through writers and reviewers. This page covers what is public, what buyers report, where the sources disagree, what moves a quote, and how it compares with a security-first alternative if your inbound work is mostly questionnaires.

How much does Responsive cost?

Responsive costs a median of about $14,750 a year, based on Vendr's Responsive page, with recorded purchases from roughly $5,518 to $40,303 and an average saving of 16% off the first quote. The company says each deployment is built from a platform fee, user licenses, and add-ons and services, so two buyers on the same edition can pay very different amounts.

A small team starting a structured RFP process should plan near the lower half of that range. A multi-team organization that needs advanced integrations, custom AI and premium support should plan toward the top, because those features sit in the Growth and Enterprise editions.

Responsive pricing plans

The grid below comes from responsive.io/pricing as we read it in October 2026. Only one edition shows a number.

Ask for the platform fee, the user licenses and each add-on as separate lines. That is how Responsive builds the quote, and it is the only way to see which part is moving.

What buyers report paying for Responsive

The sources do not fully agree. Vendr's write-up describes pricing as per named user and names Professional and Enterprise tiers, while responsive.io shows Emerging, Growth and Enterprise editions and presents unlimited projects. Vendr's own text also quotes typical discounts of 10% to 30% below list, which is wider than its 16% average. Use the range to test a quote, not to budget to a single number.

What drives the Responsive quote

• Edition. Intake requests, advanced integrations and custom AI sit above Emerging. Buy the edition your process needs today.
• User licenses. Responsive prices license types separately, so moving occasional contributors to a lighter license is the usual saving.
• Add-ons and services. Premium connectors, onboarding and professional services are extra. Ask for them as their own lines.
• Term and renewal. Vendr reports annual increases of roughly 3% to 7% in auto-renewing contracts. Get the cap and the notice period in writing.
• Competition. Vendr reports 15% to 25% off initial quotes when buyers reference Loopio or Qvidian early.

Is Responsive worth the price?

For a team that answers long RFPs with narrative sections, several writers and a formal review, a governed answer library pays for itself in hours saved on every bid. The value falls if most of your inbound work is security questionnaires, because the hard part there is not wording an answer but proving it against a current control. A library of past answers goes stale the moment a policy changes.

Responsive vs Scrutineer for security questionnaires

The honest summary: if your inbound work is mostly RFPs and proposals, Responsive is a mature fit and Scrutineer is not a substitute. If it is mostly security questionnaires and you also owe your buyers SOC 2 or ISO 27001 evidence, one flat plan that answers from controls usually costs less than a library plus a compliance tool. Whichever you buy, put the renewal uplift cap and notice dates on a calendar from day one, ideally in contract management software that alerts you before the window closes.

Responsive alternatives and how their pricing compares

Loopio is the closest rival and is also quote only, with a reported median near $24,318 a year, which we break down in Loopio pricing and what each plan costs. Qvidian and other proposal tools sit in a similar range. If the work you are buying for is the stream of vendor security questionnaires from enterprise customers, compare these quotes against the best security questionnaire automation software before you sign, because a tool built around controls can replace the library entirely for that workload.

How to get an accurate Responsive quote

1. Count the people who write, review and only contribute. Those three numbers drive the license line.
2. Decide whether you need intake requests, advanced integrations or custom AI. If not, price Emerging first.
3. Ask for the platform fee, licenses and each add-on as separate lines.
4. Get the renewal uplift cap, notice period and the price at the next user band in writing.
5. Bring a written quote from a second tool to the negotiation.

If your questionnaires are about security, run one in the demo at the top of this page. It maps a sample question to a control and the evidence behind it, the way it would answer yours. Scrutineer is readiness software, so an accredited auditor still issues any attestation.

Frequently asked questions

Does Responsive have a free plan?

Responsive's pricing page lists no free plan. It lists Emerging from $10,000, then Growth and Enterprise on request.

What is Responsive's cheapest edition?

Emerging, shown as starting from $10,000 on responsive.io. Vendr's recorded low is $5,518 a year, so a smaller negotiated contract exists.

Is Responsive the same as RFPIO?

Yes. RFPIO is the former name of the platform, and Vendr still compares the two as one product line.

How does Responsive pricing compare with Scrutineer?

Responsive starts from $10,000 a year with a reported median near $14,750. Scrutineer lists Growth, which includes security questionnaire automation, at $1,200 a month or $7,200 a year, with no per-questionnaire fees.