Head-to-Head: Keelvar vs. Jaggaer

As new vendors continuously emerge, the ProcureTech landscape becomes increasingly fragmented. This means that when selecting a new technology, procurement organizations often have a tough choice to make between a cost-effective best-of-breed specializing in area, and an expensive suite which can cover more steps of the procurement process. Jaggaer has long positioned itself as a flexible spend management suite, but in practice, many organizations are finding that Keelvar’s specialist focus on sourcing optimization and automation delivers better results.

Where Jaggaer Falls Short

Jaggaer’s optimization tool can technically handle complex events, but buyers often run into problems:

• Outdated system – The user interface hasn’t evolved in years, and key sourcing products are being discontinued.
• Slow optimization – Scenarios can take up to an hour to run, and sometimes fail completely.
• Supplier limits – Events with more than 100 suppliers must be split into multiple phases, frustrating both buyers and bidders.
• Heavy reliance on support – Many controls are locked to Jaggaer’s support team, slowing down event management.

The result is low adoption and limited supplier engagement, which means less competition, fewer savings, and frustrated buyers. 

Switching from Jaggaer to Keelvar

The example of Mars…

Mars wanted to run more complex tenders but faced resistance to Jaggaer, which wasn’t user-friendly. Teams struggled to set up events, processes were slow, and adoption was low.

After switching to Keelvar, everything changed:

• Mars planned to run 75 events in the first year but actually ran over 150 events.
• Building complex RFPs for European road freight was 90% faster.
• Average time to bidding dropped by 25%.
• Across $1.61B of spend, Mars achieved 4% savings, including $12.4M in price compression.
• Bidder participation reached 70% in large events.

As one Mars leader put it: “You don’t even have to train the teams to use [Keelvar] You now have an [agent] do all the work of building and creating the events for you.”

… and Associated British Foods (ABF)

ABF is another example of stellar results from switching to Keelvar. They run sourcing events across logistics, packaging, direct materials, and MRO, with no centralized procurement hub. Managing events manually meant smaller freight lanes often went untendered.

Keelvar gave them the ability to scale without losing control:

• Instead of sourcing for 100 freight lanes, ABF now runs events for 625 lanes in one go.
• Cycle times dropped by 47% and event launch times improved by 50%.
• Supplier engagement rose to 80% participation, higher than peers.
• In just one year, ABF saved $3.5M in ocean freight.

Procurement leaders at ABF highlight that suppliers value the clear, transparent process, making them more engaged and competitive

Why Enterprises Choose Keelvar

For organizations frustrated with the limits of Jaggaer, Keelvar offers a modern alternative:

• Speed – Optimization runs in minutes, not hours.
• Ease of use – A clean interface and intelligent features mean no reliance on external support.
• Automation – Autonomous Sourcing handles simple events end-to-end, something Jaggaer doesn’t offer.
• Scalability – No restrictive supplier caps or phasing requirements.
• Future-proof – Ongoing investment in AI-driven sourcing ensures continuous innovation.

Final Thoughts

Mars and ABF’s results show what happens when enterprises move from legacy platforms like Jaggaer to a modern, AI-first tool. With Keelvar, they’ve been able to run more events, engage more suppliers, and unlock millions in savings, all while making sourcing easier for their teams.

For procurement leaders weighing their options, the head-to-head comparison is clear: Keelvar delivers faster, simpler, and more impactful sourcing outcomes than Jaggaer.