Elfsquad vs Mercura: CPQ for manufacturers compared
A neutral, sourced comparison of Elfsquad and Mercura CPQ for manufacturers of configurable products: rules, pricing, quotes, dealer portals, integrations, pricing model and how to choose.
Elfsquad is for a manufacturer of complex, configurable equipment, think packaging machines, lifts or construction machinery, that wants one fixed-price CPQ with unlimited users and a strong rules engine. Mercura CPQ is for a manufacturer of configurable products such as ventilation, doors or lighting that wants published per-user pricing, a self-serve start and a dealer portal with its own price tiers. The single clearest reason to pick one over the other: if you need to know the price before the first call, Mercura publishes it. If you want every salesperson, engineer and dealer on the system without counting seats, Elfsquad's single plan is built for that.
A note on the name. This page compares Mercura CPQ at mercura.io, a Danish company. A separate company in Munich, also called Mercura, automates quotes from emailed requests for distributors. The FAQ covers the difference.
Elfsquad vs Mercura at a glance
| Elfsquad | Mercura CPQ | |
|---|---|---|
| What it automates | Configure, price, quote and order for complex products: rules engine, BOM generation, 2D and 3D visual configuration, quote documents, approval routing, dealer management | Configure, price and quote for complex products: form and constraint builders, pricing engine, branded PDF quotes, BOM, visualisation, dealer portal, analytics |
| Where the automation stops | At a configured, priced, approved quote and the order handed to the ERP or CRM | At a configured, priced quote, with in-policy dealer orders sent to HQ as configuration and BOM lines |
| Who it is built for | Manufacturers of complex equipment: agriculture and construction machinery, packaging and processing machines, lifts, pumps and valves. "200+ Manufacturers", logos include Handtmann, Cibes Lift Group, Damen and Zarges | Manufacturers of configurable products: ventilation, doors, lighting, lifts, industrial equipment. Logos include Lindab, Lappset, Migatronic, Nexans and Saint-Gobain |
| Deployment | Cloud. Named integrations with Dynamics 365, Business Central, Salesforce, Power Automate, Odoo, Exact Online, Windchill and ECI Ridder iQ | Cloud, built and hosted in the EU, GDPR compliant. Connects to ERP, CRM, PIM and CAD through REST and an SDK; its own pages name no vendors |
| Pricing model | Pricing on request. One plan, unlimited users, no per-user fees, one price for implementation and license. Add-ons for showroom, dealer management, testing environment and advanced visualisation | Published. EUR 40 per user per month, five user minimum, all features included. Rollout from EUR 0 in-house to EUR 40K to 100K+ for a complex enterprise project |
| Best when | Many users across sales, engineering and dealers, complex engineered products, and a Microsoft or Salesforce stack | A smaller sales team that wants to start fast, see the price upfront and give dealers their own pricing tiers |
What Elfsquad does well
Elfsquad has been at this a while. It was founded in 2016 in Drachten, in the Netherlands, as Elfskot, with the stated goal of building "a configurator for highly complex, customer-specific products", according to its own story. It now calls itself "business-led CPQ software", and the phrase means something specific.
The first strength is who builds the models. The CPQ product page says business users model product logic, variants and rules once and reuse them everywhere, without code and without depending on a consultant. The rules engine validates in real time and catches logic conflicts before a quote goes out. For a manufacturer whose configuration knowledge lives in two engineers' heads, getting it into a system those engineers can maintain themselves is the whole point.
The second is depth on the engineered-product side. Visual configuration in 2D and 3D with CAD integration, a project configurator for multi-machine orders, BOM generation for multi-component systems, and approval routing by value, region or product type. Its industries list reads like a machine-builder trade fair: packaging and processing, construction and agriculture equipment, lifts, pumps and valves.
The third is the licensing. The pricing page promises "One clear plan. No hidden tiers, no per-user fees, no surprises", with unlimited users and one price covering implementation and license. That matters more than it sounds. Per-seat CPQ pricing quietly pushes companies to keep engineers, service staff and dealers off the system, and then the rules drift out of date.
Integrations are named rather than implied: Dynamics 365, Business Central, Salesforce, Power Automate, Odoo, Exact Online, Windchill and ECI Ridder iQ. On Capterra Elfsquad holds 4.5 out of 5 from 13 reviews, with the rules engine, ease of use and fast support named repeatedly. Its own published results are "7x Faster Error-Free Quotes Created" and "75% Less Faulty Production", vendor figures rather than audited ones.
What Mercura does well
Mercura CPQ comes from Aarhus, Denmark, and describes itself on mercura.io as "A modern CPQ platform built for manufacturers who need speed, flexibility, and control". It covers the same core loop, configure, price and quote, and its strengths sit in different places.
The first is transparency on price. The pricing page lists EUR 40 per user per month with a five user minimum, all features included, volume discounts from 10 and 50 users, and a free trial. It even publishes rollout ranges: EUR 0 if you build it yourself, EUR 1K to 10K for a workshop-based setup, EUR 40K to 100K or more for a complex enterprise rollout. Very few CPQ vendors put that on a public page, and it lets a team size the decision before talking to anyone.
The second is how rules and prices are split between roles. According to the low-code CPQ page, product managers build configuration with a visual IF/THEN rule builder and attribute selectors, while pricing analysts get their own interface for tiers, formulas and conditions, with inline validation. The CPQ page adds that pricing can be pulled from the ERP in real time, with discount and promotion rules applied on top.
The third is the dealer portal. On the dealer portal page, dealers configure, price and quote with the same rules and price books as inside sales, with dealer tier pricing and discount limits enforced in the session. Orders inside policy go to HQ as complete configuration and BOM lines. Anything outside policy routes to inside sales with the full session attached. That is a clean line between what dealers can decide and what the factory decides.
Mercura's published results are "40% higher conversion", a 30 percent higher average sales price and 80 percent fewer returns, again vendor figures. Logos include Lindab, Lappset, Migatronic, Nexans and Saint-Gobain.
Where each one stops
Elfsquad stops at the configured, priced and approved quote, and at the order passed to the ERP or CRM. What happens to that order afterwards is the ERP's job. Reviewers on Capterra are candid about the cost of the power: a learning curve before a model is built, "sometimes too many possibilities", quote templates that need Windows during setup, and ERP integration that can take real technical effort. Pricing is not public, so the fixed plan has to be priced in a sales conversation.
Mercura stops at the configured, priced quote and the in-policy dealer order sent to HQ. Its own product pages say it connects to ERP, CRM, PIM and CAD systems but do not name which ones; a third-party listing on SourceForge names Dynamics 365, SAP Business One, Odoo, HubSpot, AutoCAD and SOLIDWORKS among others. Its tagline mentions AI, but the product pages we read did not describe a specific AI feature, so ask what that means in the demo. And it has no independent user reviews yet on Capterra or SourceForge, so references will have to come from the vendor.
How to choose between them
If you want to know the price before the first meeting, choose Mercura. EUR 40 per user per month and published rollout ranges let you build a budget on day one. Elfsquad asks for a conversation first.
If many people need access, choose Elfsquad. Unlimited users on one plan means engineering, service, sales and dealers can all be on the system without a seat count. At EUR 40 per user, Mercura gets cheaper to start and more expensive as headcount grows, so do the arithmetic with your real user list.
If your products are heavy engineered equipment, lean Elfsquad. Project configuration, CAD-linked 3D, BOMs for multi-component systems and approval routing are built for machine builders, and its reference customers are exactly that. Mercura's references skew towards configurable building and industrial products.
If you sell through dealers and want strict pricing tiers, lean Mercura. Both offer dealer management, but Mercura describes the mechanics in detail: tier pricing and discount limits in session, in-policy orders straight to HQ, exceptions to inside sales. Elfsquad sells dealer management as an add-on to its plan.
If your stack is Microsoft or Salesforce, choose Elfsquad. Dynamics 365, Business Central, Power Automate and Salesforce are named integrations on its own site, and reviewers mention them. Mercura's own pages leave integrations unnamed, so confirm your specific ERP in writing.
What neither one covers
Both tools get the configuration right and put a correct price on the quote. What neither is built to do is carry that deal through everything that happens around it: the discount that needs a second approval, the credit check, the order confirmation, delivery follow-up, invoicing, and the reorder nobody chased. That work usually stays spread across the ERP, a shared inbox and a few people who know how things are done.
That is the ground Elentaria covers: one system for commercial operations, running the routine steps inside a company's own rules and approvals so the exceptions stay human. It is a different purchase from a configurator and does not replace what Elfsquad or Mercura do well.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Elfsquad and Mercura cost?
Mercura publishes its price: EUR 40 per user per month, a five user minimum, all features included, and rollout costs from EUR 0 in-house to EUR 40K to 100K or more for a complex enterprise project. Elfsquad does not publish a number. It sells one plan with unlimited users and one price for implementation and license, pricing on request, with add-ons for showroom, dealer management, a testing environment and advanced visualisation. Compare them on your real user count, because the models cross over as headcount grows.
Is Mercura CPQ the same company as Mercura in Munich?
No. Mercura CPQ at mercura.io is a Danish company making a product configurator and CPQ for manufacturers, and it is the one compared on this page. Mercura at mercura.ai is a Munich company, part of Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch, that reads quote requests and tenders from email and matches them to a distributor's catalog. They solve different problems, so check which one a reference or review is about.
Can business users maintain the product rules without developers?
Both say yes. Elfsquad says business users build and maintain configuration models with drag and drop, without code or a consultant. Mercura splits the work between product managers, who use a visual IF/THEN rule builder, and pricing analysts, who manage tiers and formulas in a separate interface. In practice, both still need someone who understands the product logic deeply, and Elfsquad reviewers mention a learning curve before the first model is live.
Which one integrates with our ERP?
Elfsquad names Dynamics 365, Business Central, Salesforce, Power Automate, Odoo, Exact Online, Windchill and ECI Ridder iQ on its own site, though one Capterra reviewer found ERP integration difficult. Mercura's pages describe connections to ERP, CRM, PIM and CAD systems through REST and an SDK without naming vendors, and a SourceForge listing names Dynamics 365, SAP Business One and Odoo among others. For either, ask for a customer reference running your ERP and version.
Do they handle orders, or only quotes?
Both go a step past the quote. Elfsquad describes its scope as configure, price, quote and order, with the order flowing into the ERP, CRM or production systems. Mercura sends in-policy dealer orders to HQ as complete configuration and BOM lines. In both cases the order then lives in the ERP, and fulfilment, invoicing and collections are handled there, not in the CPQ.
If the configurator is only the first part of the problem and the real delay is everything after the quote is accepted, the manufacturing page walks through that whole cycle. There is also a wider look at the category in best quote-to-cash automation tools for manufacturers in 2026, and the process underneath it in the B2B commercial operations process from quote to cash.
