Alternative to Configura (CET)

Configura is a Swedish software company best known for CET Designer, a space-planning and CAD tool used by contract furniture manufacturers, office dealers, and AV integrators. It is a deep engineering platform, built for specifying complex commercial spaces rather than for embedding a product configurator on a website. If you are an outdoor-living dealer or manufacturer evaluating 3D quoting tools, it helps to understand where the two products actually overlap and where they do not.

Configura CET vs CPQ3D at a glance

Feature	Configura CET	CPQ3D
Primary use case	Space planning, CAD specification, commercial interiors (office, AV, healthcare)	Embeddable 3D product configurator for outdoor-living structures and configurable physical products
Deployment	Desktop application; dealer-installed, not browser-embedded	One script tag on any website; live in about 2 minutes
Target users	Contract furniture manufacturers, large enterprise dealers, AV integrators	Mid-sized outdoor-living dealers and manufacturers (roughly €2M+ turnover)
Pricing model	Enterprise licensing; pricing on request	First 10 quote requests free, then volume packs from €3.50 per request. No subscription.
3D models	Manufacturer-supplied CET extensions; proprietary format	Bring your own 3D models (BYOM); standard formats
Customer-facing web embed	Not the intended use case	Core use case: customer visits dealer website, configures product in browser, submits quote request
Sales process required	Yes	No. Self-serve signup.

What Configura is for

CET is a professional tool for specifying large commercial spaces. A furniture dealer uses it to plan an office floor, generate drawings, and produce a bill of materials. The output is a specification document, not a web experience for an end customer. That makes it well-suited for contract dealers who need to produce accurate CAD drawings for architects and project managers.

What CPQ3D is for

CPQ3D sits at the end of a dealer's website, not inside a dealer's back office. A homeowner visiting a dealer site can configure a pergola in 3D, adjust dimensions and options, and submit a quote request. The dealer receives a structured lead with the exact configuration. There is no CAD output and no space-planning canvas. The goal is to capture configured quote requests from website visitors.

Overlap and honest differences

The two products serve different moments in the sales cycle. Configura works after the conversation starts, when a dealer needs to produce a professional specification. CPQ3D works before the conversation, when a website visitor is deciding whether to contact a dealer at all. They can coexist: a dealer might use CPQ3D to capture inbound leads online and CET to produce formal specifications for the ones that convert.

The commercial model is also different. Configura is a licensed software product with implementation work attached. CPQ3D charges per quote request and has no upfront cost. The first 10 requests are free, so you can test the conversion rate before spending anything.

If you want to understand the cost side in detail, the pricing page covers the pack model: /3d-product-configurator-cost.