Send a proposal as a web page, and stop guessing
The worst part of sending a proposal is the hour after you send it. The PDF leaves your outbox and you learn absolutely nothing until the client replies, or doesn't. You cannot tell whether it was opened, whether they got past the pricing page, or whether it went straight to an inbox where attachments go to die. Publishing the proposal as a web page changes the shape of that wait: you send a link, you can see when it was opened, and if the scope changes you fix the page instead of sending a version three.
Write the proposal as a page
Scope, approach, timeline, the pricing table, and what you need from them to start. Give your model the proposal prompt below with your own numbers in the placeholders and ask for one standalone HTML file — a page rather than a document, because the thing you are sending is going to be read on a phone in a corridor.
Publish it, and lock it if the pricing is sensitive
Drop the file, publish, and you have a clean link. On Pro you can put a password on it and choose the slug, so what lands in the client's inbox reads like your work rather than a random string.
Send it, then watch for the open
You will see when the page is first viewed, and whether it was viewed again the day before the call. That is the difference between following up blind and following up on the day they were actually reading it.
The silence is the problem, and a link solves it
A hosted proposal reports back. Views are recorded on every plan, and detailed analytics on a paid plan add referrers, countries and device types — so "opened twice on Tuesday, once from a phone on Thursday" becomes a reason to follow up today rather than next week. That is a genuinely different sales posture from refreshing your inbox.
Be clear about what this is and is not, because it matters when you are quoting someone. This is page-level analytics, not per-recipient tracking: you learn that the link was opened and roughly from where, not which named individual opened it or how long they lingered on the pricing table. Anyone who promises you the second thing from a plain web page is selling you something else.
It also reads better. A proposal is a persuasive document, and a web page lets it behave like one — a scope section that expands, a pricing table that is legible on a phone, an embedded example of the work rather than a screenshot of it. Ask an AI assistant for a single self-contained HTML proposal and you get exactly the file host-html publishes.
A proposal you can still change
Scope moves. A day rate gets negotiated, a phase gets dropped, a typo puts a zero in the wrong place. With attachments, every one of those becomes a new file, and now three versions of your pricing are loose in someone's inbox with no way to tell which one is real.
On a paid plan you edit the hosted page in place and the URL never changes, so the link you already sent is the current proposal by definition. Version history keeps the earlier snapshots, which is worth more than it sounds when a client says "but your original quote said…" — you can see precisely what the original quote said.
One deliberate consequence: the link is the single source of truth. If you would rather freeze a version at the moment of signature, publish a separate page for the signed scope and keep the working one for the negotiation.
Making it look like yours, and keeping it alive
On a paid plan you pick the slug, so the URL reads like your studio and the engagement rather than a random string. Pro also removes the small host-html badge, which is the difference between a document that looks like yours and a document that looks like it came off a free tool. If the pricing should not be casually forwarded around the client's organisation, password protection puts a passphrase in front of it — honest caveat: that stops casual forwarding, not a determined screenshot.
Publishing is free, and a free page expires automatically after 5 days. For a proposal with a two-week decision that is often genuinely enough. What it does not survive is the good outcome: six months later the client wants to check what was in scope, and the link needs to work. Pro is $12 a month, or $120 a year, and keeps every page live forever — which for most people is the moment the subscription pays for itself.
The proposal PDF against the proposal page
| PDF attachment | Hosted page | |
|---|---|---|
| The client opens it on a phone | A document laid out for A4, read at 30% zoom | Laid out for a screen, legible at arm's length |
| The price changes | A second attachment, and now two versions exist | Edit in place on Pro — one link, one current version |
| Following up | Guesswork, or a nagging email a week later | You can see the page was opened, and when the visits happened |
| Keeping the numbers in the room | Forwardable to anyone, forever, with nothing you can do about it | Password-protect it on Pro; a hosted page is otherwise public at its URL |
| What it says about you | Looks like every other proposal in the folder | Your layout, your slug, and no badge on a paid plan |
What this needs from host-html
- Password protection and custom slugs — Both are Pro features. The slug is what makes the link look deliberate; the password is what keeps the pricing off the open web.
- Knowing it was opened — Per-page views and referrers. Honest limit: it tells you the page was read, not who read it.
- The proposal prompt, and thirteen others — Copy the prompt, paste your scope and pricing, publish the file it hands back.
- Publish straight from your agent — One REST call or one MCP tool, so Claude or Cursor can publish the proposal it just wrote and hand you the URL.
Frequently asked questions
How do I turn a proposal into a web page?
Write or generate the proposal as a single self-contained HTML file, then paste it into host-html or drop the file on the upload zone and publish. You get a live link to send in place of the attachment, and nothing needs to be installed on either side.
Can I see if the client opened my proposal?
You can see that the page was opened. Views are recorded on every plan, and a paid plan adds referrers, countries and device types. It is page-level analytics rather than a per-person read receipt, so it tells you when to follow up, not who was reading.
Can I change the proposal after I have sent the link?
Yes, on a paid plan. In-place editing rewrites the page behind the same URL, so the link you already sent shows the revised scope or price, and version history preserves what you sent before the change.
Can I stop the proposal being forwarded to other people?
Password protection on a paid plan means anyone opening the link needs the passphrase, which stops casual forwarding inside a client's organisation. It cannot stop someone who has the password from sharing it, or from taking a screenshot.
Does the client need to sign up or install anything?
No. The proposal is an ordinary web page, so they click the link and read it in whatever browser they already have, on a laptop or a phone. No account, no viewer app, no download.
What does it cost to keep a proposal online?
Publishing is free with a free account, and a free page expires after 5 days whose exact date is shown before you publish. Pro is $12 a month and keeps every page live forever, along with passwords, custom slugs, badge removal and detailed analytics.