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Manufacturing · head to head

3YOURMIND vs LabVIEW

3YOURMIND logo

3YOURMIND

Manufacturing

Order management and MES for additive manufacturing, with digital part inventories

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
LabVIEW logo

LabVIEW

Manufacturing

Graphical dataflow programming for automated test, measurement and instrument control

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 3YOURMIND no pricing is published, and the suite is modular, so the quoted figure depends on which of the three product lines you take; the widely repeated 10,000 euro figure comes from third-party directories, not the vendor.; LabVIEW nI is now part of Emerson, completing in 2023, so LabVIEW sits inside an industrial automation conglomerate rather than being the flagship of a dedicated test company; roadmap priorities and support pricing follow the parent, not the user base.
  • They diverge on capability: 3YOURMIND covers Part identification, LabVIEW covers Graphical dataflow programming.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which 3YOURMIND and LabVIEW actually diverge.

Attributes where 3YOURMIND and LabVIEW differ
Attribute3YOURMINDLabVIEW
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, On-premise, APIWindows, Linux, macOS

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Manufacturing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in 3YOURMIND

  • Part identification
  • Digital inventory
  • Order management
  • Automated quoting
  • Agile MES
  • Quality tracking
  • Distributed manufacturing
  • Machine connectivity

Only in LabVIEW

  • Graphical dataflow programming
  • Front panels
  • Instrument driver library
  • Hardware integration
  • Real-time and FPGA targets
  • Analysis and signal processing
  • Application builder
  • Nigel AI assistant

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

3YOURMIND

  • A navy or defence logistics organisation setting up distributed on-demand manufacturing for spares at forward sitesnot LabVIEW
  • An energy operator screening a legacy spare parts catalogue to find which items are cheaper printed on demand than stockednot LabVIEW
  • An additive service bureau automating quoting and order intake so engineers stop pricing jobs by handnot LabVIEW
  • A manufacturer scheduling mixed jobs across several printer technologies with traceable quality records per partnot LabVIEW

LabVIEW

  • An automotive supplier building an end-of-line test rig that must drive a power supply, read a scope and log pass/fail against a serial numbernot 3YOURMIND
  • A semiconductor lab characterising devices across a PXI chassis where deterministic timing between instruments mattersnot 3YOURMIND
  • A medical device manufacturer needing a validated, documented test system with an operator front panel a technician can run unsupervisednot 3YOURMIND
  • A research group prototyping a control loop on CompactRIO where part of the logic must compile down to an FPGAnot 3YOURMIND

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

3YOURMIND

  • No pricing is published, and the suite is modular, so the quoted figure depends on which of the three product lines you take; the widely repeated 10,000 euro figure comes from third-party directories, not the vendor.
  • The part identification module only produces useful output if ERP master data and consumption history are clean, and organisations with poor material master data spend the first phase on data quality rather than printing.
  • It is enterprise-scale software aimed at fleets and networks; a shop with a handful of machines gets more from a printer vendor own job management at no extra cost.
  • Machine integration depth varies by manufacturer, so a mixed fleet including smaller or newer OEMs often needs manual steps that undermine the automated scheduling case.
  • The company is a mid-sized independent in a sector that has consolidated heavily, and buyers making a multi-year distributed manufacturing commitment are exposed to that if ownership changes.

LabVIEW

  • NI is now part of Emerson, completing in 2023, so LabVIEW sits inside an industrial automation conglomerate rather than being the flagship of a dedicated test company; roadmap priorities and support pricing follow the parent, not the user base.
  • No prices appear anywhere on the NI site for commercial editions; Base, Full, Professional and the LabVIEW+ suite are all quoted through NI or a reseller, so a buyer cannot compare cost against a Python-plus-PyVISA alternative without opening a sales conversation.
  • Graphical source code diffs badly. Merging two engineers’ changes to the same virtual instrument in git is impractical without NI’s own comparison tools, so team development on LabVIEW is slower and more serialised than on text-based languages.
  • The pool of engineers who write LabVIEW is small and ageing relative to the pool who write Python, so hiring a replacement for the person who built your test rig is materially harder and more expensive than replacing a general software engineer.
  • The environment pulls you toward NI hardware and NI add-on toolkits, and licences for real-time, FPGA and vision modules are sold separately on top of the base edition, so the quoted LabVIEW price is rarely the delivered cost of a working test system.

Pricing, plan by plan

3YOURMIND

On request
  • 3YOURMIND Suite$undefined/year
    • Modular: Agile PLM, Agile ERP and Agile MES licensed separately
    • Cloud or on-premise deployment
    • Annual subscription quoted by module and scale

LabVIEW

On request
  • LabVIEW Community EditionFree
    • Free for personal, non-commercial use only
    • Full LabVIEW feature set for hobbyists
    • No commercial deployment rights
  • LabVIEW Base$undefined/year
    • Core acquisition, control and user interface capability
    • Suited to simple test and measurement applications
    • Available as subscription or perpetual licence
  • LabVIEW Full$undefined/year
    • Adds advanced analysis and signal processing
    • Recommended where mathematics and filtering are required
    • Available as subscription or perpetual licence
  • LabVIEW Professional$undefined/year
    • Adds application builder, source control and deployment tooling
    • Includes the Nigel AI assistant
    • Available as subscription or perpetual licence

Which should you pick?

Choose 3YOURMIND if

  • You need part identification.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, On-premise, API.
  • You also want digital inventory.
3YOURMIND review

Choose LabVIEW if

  • You need graphical dataflow programming.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, macOS.
  • You also want front panels.
LabVIEW review

Questions people ask

Is 3YOURMIND or LabVIEW better?
Neither clearly leads. 3YOURMIND starts at On request and LabVIEW at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, 3YOURMIND or LabVIEW?
3YOURMIND starts at On request and LabVIEW at On request.
Does 3YOURMIND or LabVIEW run on more platforms?
3YOURMIND runs on Web, Cloud, On-premise, API. LabVIEW runs on Windows, Linux, macOS.
What is 3YOURMIND best used for?
3YOURMIND is most often used for a navy or defence logistics organisation setting up distributed on-demand manufacturing for spares at forward sites, an energy operator screening a legacy spare parts catalogue to find which items are cheaper printed on demand than stocked, an additive service bureau automating quoting and order intake so engineers stop pricing jobs by hand, a manufacturer scheduling mixed jobs across several printer technologies with traceable quality records per part. Of those, a navy or defence logistics organisation setting up distributed on-demand manufacturing for spares at forward sites and an energy operator screening a legacy spare parts catalogue to find which items are cheaper printed on demand than stocked are not what LabVIEW is typically brought in for.
What can 3YOURMIND do that LabVIEW cannot?
3YOURMIND covers Part identification, Digital inventory, Order management, Automated quoting. LabVIEW covers Graphical dataflow programming, Front panels, Instrument driver library, Hardware integration.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

3YOURMIND: What does 3YOURMIND cost?

The vendor publishes nothing. Expect an annual subscription quoted per module, plus integration work. Third-party listings cite roughly 10,000 euro a year as an entry point, which should be treated as unverified.

LabVIEW: Who owns LabVIEW now?

NI, formerly National Instruments, was acquired by Emerson in an acquisition that completed in 2023. LabVIEW is now an Emerson product.

3YOURMIND: Is it a slicer?

No. It sits above build preparation, handling part selection, orders, scheduling and traceability, and integrates with preparation tools such as Netfabb and Magics.

LabVIEW: Can I still buy a perpetual licence?

Yes. NI offers both subscription and perpetual licences and states there are no functional or feature-level differences between them.

3YOURMIND: Who actually uses it?

Large asset operators and service bureaus. Public references include US Navy distributed manufacturing and energy sector digital inventory programmes.

LabVIEW: Is there a free version?

LabVIEW Community Edition is free for personal, non-commercial use. It carries no commercial deployment rights.

3YOURMIND: Can it run on-premise?

Yes. On-premise deployment is offered, which matters for defence and critical infrastructure customers.

LabVIEW: How much does it cost?

NI does not publish commercial edition prices. Base, Full, Professional and LabVIEW+ are all quoted through NI or a reseller.

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