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Manufacturing · head to head

JobBOSS² vs Rockwell FactoryTalk

JobBOSS² logo

JobBOSS²

Manufacturing

ECI shop control system formed by merging JobBOSS and E2 Shop System into one product line

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Rockwell FactoryTalk logo

Rockwell FactoryTalk

Manufacturing

Rockwell Automation software portfolio for HMI, historian, analytics and industrial data

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: JobBOSS² the product is a merger of two legacy systems, so existing JobBOSS and E2 customers face a migration and retraining project whose cost is negotiated case by case and is easy to underestimate.; Rockwell FactoryTalk factoryTalk is a brand, not a product, so a quote that says FactoryTalk may cover any of six separately licensed things; buyers repeatedly find that the demo they saw needed View plus Historian plus a Hub subscription.
  • They diverge on capability: JobBOSS² covers Estimating and quoting, Rockwell FactoryTalk covers FactoryTalk View SE and ME.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which JobBOSS² and Rockwell FactoryTalk actually diverge.

Attributes where JobBOSS² and Rockwell FactoryTalk differ
AttributeJobBOSS²Rockwell FactoryTalk
PlatformsWindows, WebWindows, Linux, Web, Cloud

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 JobBOSS²

  • Estimating and quoting
  • Order and job management
  • Shop floor data collection
  • Scheduling
  • Job costing
  • Integrated accounting

Only in Rockwell FactoryTalk

  • FactoryTalk View SE and ME
  • FactoryTalk Historian
  • FactoryTalk Optix
  • FactoryTalk Batch
  • FactoryTalk Hub
  • Native Logix tags

What people use each for

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

JobBOSS²

  • A job shop quoting from spreadsheets that wants estimating, routing and costing in one systemnot Rockwell FactoryTalk
  • An existing JobBOSS or E2 Shop System customer evaluating whether to migrate or replacenot Rockwell FactoryTalk
  • A make to order fabricator that needs accounting inside the manufacturing system rather than alongside itnot Rockwell FactoryTalk
  • A shop that wants operator time capture at work centres to make job costing reflect what actually happenednot Rockwell FactoryTalk

Rockwell FactoryTalk

  • A plant standardised on ControlLogix that needs supervisory HMI without building and maintaining an OPC layer between controller and screennot JobBOSS²
  • A hybrid manufacturer needing ISA-88 batch execution audited against recipes, where FactoryTalk Batch is already validated in the industrynot JobBOSS²
  • Consolidating machine-level HMI screens across many Allen-Bradley lines under one tag model and one alarm schemenot JobBOSS²
  • Adding a plant historian quickly where the site has Rockwell distribution support but no PI administrator on staffnot JobBOSS²

Where each one falls short

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

JobBOSS²

  • The product is a merger of two legacy systems, so existing JobBOSS and E2 customers face a migration and retraining project whose cost is negotiated case by case and is easy to underestimate.
  • ECI is a private equity owned portfolio company with many vertical products, and buyers should read renewal, uplift and support tier terms carefully because the commercial model is built around long term contracted revenue.
  • Machine connectivity is limited, so shop floor data comes from operators clocking in and out rather than from controllers, and any automatic utilisation measurement needs a separate monitoring product.
  • Reporting is rigid compared with a modern system and most shops end up exporting to Excel for anything beyond the supplied reports, which reintroduces the spreadsheets the system was bought to eliminate.
  • The user interface carries its lineage and takes longer to learn than a current generation web application, which matters most for occasional users such as estimators and purchasing staff.

Rockwell FactoryTalk

  • FactoryTalk is a brand, not a product, so a quote that says FactoryTalk may cover any of six separately licensed things; buyers repeatedly find that the demo they saw needed View plus Historian plus a Hub subscription.
  • Licensing units differ per product, tags for Historian, display tags and clients for View, another scheme for Optix, which makes forecasting the cost of a plant expansion genuinely hard.
  • The migration of products onto FactoryTalk Hub subscriptions converts what used to be a perpetual licence into an annual payment where lapsing stops the software, changing a capital purchase into an operating one you cannot exit.
  • Value drops sharply outside an Allen-Bradley estate; against a Siemens or Mitsubishi PLC you are back to OPC UA and lose the main reason to buy FactoryTalk at all.
  • There is no public price list and buying is through distribution, so two plants of identical size in the same company can pay materially different amounts depending on when and how they negotiated.

Pricing, plan by plan

JobBOSS²

On request
  • JobBOSS²$undefined/year
    • Quoting through invoicing for job shops
    • Shop floor data collection and scheduling
    • Hosted or on premises deployment

Rockwell FactoryTalk

On request
  • FactoryTalk$undefined/year
    • Sold through Rockwell distribution, not direct or self-service
    • View licensed by display tag count and client seats
    • Historian licensed by tag count

Which should you pick?

Choose JobBOSS² if

  • You need estimating and quoting.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want order and job management.
JobBOSS² review

Choose Rockwell FactoryTalk if

  • You need factorytalk view se and me.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Web, Cloud.
  • You also want factorytalk historian.
Rockwell FactoryTalk review

Questions people ask

Is JobBOSS² or Rockwell FactoryTalk better?
Neither clearly leads. JobBOSS² starts at On request and Rockwell FactoryTalk at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, JobBOSS² or Rockwell FactoryTalk?
JobBOSS² starts at On request and Rockwell FactoryTalk at On request.
Does JobBOSS² or Rockwell FactoryTalk run on more platforms?
JobBOSS² runs on Windows, Web. Rockwell FactoryTalk runs on Windows, Linux, Web, Cloud.
What is JobBOSS² best used for?
JobBOSS² is most often used for a job shop quoting from spreadsheets that wants estimating, routing and costing in one system, an existing jobboss or e2 shop system customer evaluating whether to migrate or replace, a make to order fabricator that needs accounting inside the manufacturing system rather than alongside it, a shop that wants operator time capture at work centres to make job costing reflect what actually happened. Of those, a job shop quoting from spreadsheets that wants estimating, routing and costing in one system and an existing jobboss or e2 shop system customer evaluating whether to migrate or replace are not what Rockwell FactoryTalk is typically brought in for.
What can JobBOSS² do that Rockwell FactoryTalk cannot?
JobBOSS² covers Estimating and quoting, Order and job management, Shop floor data collection, Scheduling. Rockwell FactoryTalk covers FactoryTalk View SE and ME, FactoryTalk Historian, FactoryTalk Optix, FactoryTalk Batch.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

JobBOSS²: What happened to E2 Shop System?

ECI acquired it and merged it with JobBOSS into the combined JobBOSS² line. Legacy customers are directed towards migration.

Rockwell FactoryTalk: Is FactoryTalk Historian the same as AVEVA PI?

It is built on the PI engine under an OEM arrangement, tuned for Rockwell integration. If you already run PI enterprise-wide, buying Historian too usually duplicates a system you have.

JobBOSS²: Is it cloud based?

It is offered hosted and on premises. Hosted is not the same as a cloud native architecture, and performance expectations should be set accordingly.

Rockwell FactoryTalk: Can I still buy FactoryTalk perpetually?

Some products yes, but the direction is toward FactoryTalk Hub subscriptions. Confirm per product before assuming a capital purchase is available.

JobBOSS²: Does it include accounting?

Yes, accounting is part of the product, which is one of the main reasons small shops choose it over an ERP plus separate finance package.

Rockwell FactoryTalk: Does FactoryTalk work with non-Rockwell PLCs?

Yes, through OPC UA and drivers, but the native tag browse advantage disappears and the case for FactoryTalk over a cheaper independent SCADA weakens.

JobBOSS²: Can it read data from my CNC machines?

Not natively in any meaningful way. Data collection is operator driven, so shops wanting spindle level data buy a monitoring platform alongside it.

Rockwell FactoryTalk: Where do I find pricing?

You cannot without a distributor. Rockwell publishes no list pricing for the FactoryTalk portfolio.

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