PrintSmith estimating software

[ginfay]

Does anyone use PrintSmith estimating software? Can someone give me a ballpark of how much does this software cost?

[Al Ferrari]

Why not call the 800 number at their website and make it clear that before they give you their extended sales pitch you want a price on the base system without the bells and whistles, and go from there.

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Al

[sorrentomesa]

Before even considering PrintSmith, evaluate Printer's Plan from SoftUse. Print Estimating and Management Software for Printers - Printer's Plan Much more powerful, no dongle, one year money back guarantee..I could go on and on.

I know a lot of PrintSmith users. A number of them have switched to Printer's Plan and are extremely happy.

Also compare the prices between the two for support contracts.

S.

[Ian Mackenzie]

$6 - $10K.
It has gone up a lot in past 3 years.
It's quite robust, but the code is getting a bit stale.
No wide format capablities.

[Ritter]

It has been a year since I last used printsmith but I wasn't a fan at all. For the price range Ian is suggesting I would run for the hills!

I beg you, do the research and compare the alternatives.

[ginfay]

$6-10k is definitely more than what I'd like to spend. It would be hard to switch from my current service to PrintSmith for that price. I'm also assuming that there's some kind of yearly maintenance that I would have to purchase.

[JaimeZ]

I'm pretty down on Printsmith myself. I've been using it for 5 years and we need to add one more computer user. Printsmith charges $500 to add one computer user and they offer a great deal at $999 for three--thanks for the generosity. At that price level you'd think that support would be immediate when you call, but it isn't; when you call you have to leave a message on a machine and if they deem it important you will get a call within 3 hours--if they don't it's a next day call.

And as stated they're large format module stinks, yes they have one, and I have not gotten it to work! I would like to call tech support but I have lost confidence they would be able to help. They were not able to help me with my last problem; one of work stations, when the pricing is updated the workstation will not launch Printsmith. There is a work around but it's getting old to copy files from one workstation to the other.

I'm seriously looking to stop use of it and change to another system.

[lkr]

We've been using Printsmith since September of 2006 and we're very happy with it. It's very flexible and powerful, especially if you're interested in using it to track costing as well as generate pricing. There's so much that it can do that we haven't even scratched the surface yet.

The service is friendly and helpful and they're very responsive to customer suggestions. It's really not a big deal that you call and leave a message and they get back to you. If you're totally dead in the water, they have a mechanism to escalate your call.

A REAL bonus for us is the fact that the master and the workstations work on either MacOSX or Windows (including Vista). We recently switched to an Apple X Serve for the backbone of our network and the transition of the master from Windows to Mac was simple and flawless.

The cost is about right, from our perspective. We tried several cheaper alternatives and found them just too simplistic for our needs. You get what you pay for.

One note though: it's a very powerful program which is only as good as the data you put into it. Take the time to set it up right and you'll reap the rewards. I tried to part-time it while doing my other duties in the shop and found I eventually had to sequester myself for a couple of weeks to get the system set-up the way we wanted.

[davidash]

PrintSmith is a great program if you use it right.

Email me for details on my services.

David
Independent PrintSmith Consultant
davidash@mindspring.com

[Al Ferrari]

A couple of sequestered weeks? Can you explain what all is involved?

Al