Supplier RFQ software for distributors usually stops at the purchase order, which is the wrong end of the problem for a distributor that has a customer waiting: the supplier’s price has to become a customer offer with margin applied, and only one of the five tools compared here does that automatically. Most “best RFQ software” lists are written for buyers running a purchasing department, or for vendors responding to someone else’s RFQ, and rarely for the distributor stuck in the middle.

The distinction matters in day-to-day work. A customer emails for a part that is not in the price list. Someone forwards the request to two or three suppliers, waits, chases, then retypes the cheapest answer into a spreadsheet, adds a markup and sends an offer. Every step in that chain is manual, and each is a place where the customer’s patience runs out before the offer does.

There is no single best tool for every distributor. OferIQ ranks first when the job is to answer customers, because the supplier’s price flows into the offer under your margin rules. Zigaflow is the closest alternative for trade and project businesses, at a clearly published price. Ecount, Odoo Purchase and Fairmarkit are better described as buying tools: they are strong at comparing and ordering, and silent on the customer quote.

Buy-side versus sell-side: the split that decides the pick

A buy-side RFQ asks “which supplier should I order from?” and ends when a purchase order is issued. A sell-side RFQ asks “what do I need to pay to quote this customer?” and ends when a priced offer goes out. Odoo’s documented flow is a clean example of the first: you email a vendor, wait for the order deadline, and click Confirm Order to turn the RFQ into a purchase order. Ecount’s module is similar, with a useful addition of side-by-side unit prices across suppliers.

Zigaflow and OferIQ start from the other direction. Zigaflow creates RFQs from lines on a quotation, so the supplier’s price lands on the quote line and stays traceable to that supplier. OferIQ goes a step further by applying margin rules when the reply arrives, which removes the retyping step altogether.

What we observed about friction and pricing

Two details are easy to miss. First, supplier friction: a quote request that requires a supplier to register a portal account is a quote request that arrives late, so the no-account links used by OferIQ and Zigaflow, and Ecount’s reply-in-email, are a practical advantage. Second, plan gating: as of 2026-10-19 Zigaflow includes RFQs only on its £399 per month Momentum plan, which is five times the £79 Essentials price, so the cheap entry plan will not do the job. Procurify, often assumed to cover this, describes requisitions, approvals and purchase orders on its own site and does not mention RFQs, which is why it is not ranked.

Where this is heading

Enterprise sourcing is moving toward AI agents that run the RFx process end to end; Fairmarkit announced such a platform on 29 April 2026, and its efficiency claims are vendor-reported. For mid-sized distributors, the more immediate change is smaller: tying the supplier request to the customer quote, so one inquiry produces one offer without anyone reopening a spreadsheet. Before choosing, run a real request that needs a supplier price through a demo or trial and time how long it takes from customer email to sent offer.