a CLM RFP Checklist for Startups (India, 2026)

An Indian startup rarely runs a formal RFP, but a lightweight written request for proposal is the fastest way to compare contract lifecycle management (CLM) vendors without weeks of demos. An Indian startup's constraints are specific: a small or no legal team, a tight budget in rupees, the need to self-serve standard NDAs and vendor agreements, e-stamping that varies by state, and the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act to keep in mind. This checklist gives you the questions to send every vendor, how to score the answers, and how to keep the process fast and fair. ## Before you send anything Write down three things: your current contract volume and top types (usually NDAs, customer agreements and vendor contracts), who will own the tool (often ops or a founder, not a lawyer), and your budget ceiling. Note which documents need stamping or notarisation. Then send the same written question list to three vendors so answers are comparable. ## The RFP checklist: questions to send every vendor Pricing and commitment

• What is the per-seat price at our seat count, and is there a minimum or annual commitment?
• Is AI review included or an add-on, and is there a usage cap or overage?
• What is the one-time implementation or onboarding fee, if any?
• What is a typical renewal uplift? Core capability
• Can a non-lawyer generate a standard NDA or order form from an approved template without help?
• How does AI review flag risky clauses, and on which contract types does it work best?
• Does it support e-stamp and e-sign in the states we operate in?
• How are renewals and key dates tracked, and how searchable is the repository? Data and security (DPDP)
• Is our contract data used to train your models?
• What encryption, access controls and data-residency options are in place, and what certifications do you hold? Fit and growth
• What integrations exist for e-signature, CRM and storage?
• How does the tool scale as we grow, and what does the next tier cost?
• Is there a free trial, and can we test it on our own contracts? ## How to score the answers Put the answers in one table and score each vendor on criteria you can check: three-year total cost from the pricing answers, AI review quality tested on your own contracts, self-serve ease for a non-lawyer, India fit including stamping, DPDP data-training terms, and growth headroom. Weight self-serve and transparent pricing heavily, because a startup needs to move without a sales cycle. A vendor that answers the pricing block in an email lets you populate most of the table before any demo. ## How the main options sit, fairly Several tools suit Indian startups. SpotDraft is India-origin, understands local practice, and serves growth-stage companies well. Juro offers a clean, lightweight editing experience and clearer packaging. Ironclad is powerful but often more than an early-stage team needs and is quote-only. LinkSquares and DocuSign CLM are capable but aimed higher. Confirm current pricing with each vendor directly, since most do not publish a full price. Match the tool to your stage and your India requirements. ## A transparent worked example Adira publishes its pricing, which is exactly what a startup RFP is trying to extract. In US terms Practice is $89 and Firm is $179 per seat per month billed annually; for an Indian startup that is roughly Rs 7,400 and Rs 14,900 per seat per month as an approximate converted value, so treat these as indicative and check current pricing on the Adira site. Enterprise is custom, with a 7-day free trial. You can fill the pricing block of your own checklist immediately. Adira is an AI legal operating system that drafts, reviews, edits, tracks and governs contracts in one workspace, built on Anthropic's Claude and running over a structured clause tree so clause-level review is precise. It is India-first and expanding, tuned through a company persona, and it does not train on your contract corpus, which answers the DPDP question cleanly. As Adira's own measured result, 18 law firms use it and report contract review and due diligence falling from 10 to 12 days to under 2 hours; that is Adira's attributed outcome, not an industry average. Adira has not published an independently adjudicated head-to-head against SpotDraft or Juro, so test all of them on the same contracts in the trial. ## Run it fast Send the checklist Monday, collect written answers by Friday, shortlist two, and run both free trials on the same ten real contracts the following week. Have the person who will own the tool run the self-serve NDA flow and check stamping in your state. Decide on the scored table, not the demo. The whole process can take two weeks rather than two months. Keep the completed table, because when you outgrow the tool in a year or two the same checklist and scoring make the next selection faster, and you will already know which vendors answered the stamping and DPDP questions straight and which dodged them. ## Bottom line For an Indian startup, a lightweight written RFP is the fastest fair way to choose a CLM. Ask every vendor the same pricing, capability, India-fit, DPDP and growth questions, score the answers in one table, and weight self-serve and transparent pricing because you need to move quickly. You can fill the pricing block for Adira straight away and start a free trial at Adira. Confirm competitor prices with each vendor, and let the scored table and a trial on your own contracts make the call.