# How do we choose a CPQ tool?

Pick the tool your pricing model demands, and be explicit about what you give up. There is no great tool in this category — they all trade off. Know each one's ceiling before discovery ends, because the common failure is a customer's enthusiasm for a platform overriding what its pricing engine can do.

Two variables decide it: the complexity of the selling motion and the complexity of the product configuration. The pricing model — usage-based versus flat-rate — decides the billing side separately. Configuring usage tiers is largely a solved problem now; the real work is everything downstream of the tier.

## Sources

- **Method** — [CPQ playbook — Pick the tool the pricing demands](https://www.leanscale.team/knowledge/playbooks/cpq-playbook/)

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Cluster: Cpq · https://www.leanscale.team/knowledge/answers/how-to-choose-cpq-tool/