OpenBOMvs
Katana
Katana: If the real problem is production scheduling and inventory rather than engineering BOM control
OpenBOM
Cloud bill of materials and part catalogue management priced per seat, with free read-only users
As of 31 August 2026, OpenBOM has a free plan and paid plans start at $30/month. OpenBOM manages parts, BOMs and change orders in the cloud for hardware teams too small for a full PLM. Softwr lists it under Manufacturing. OpenBOM is made by OpenBOM (Newman Cloud Inc.), available on Web, Windows, macOS, API.
Overview
What OpenBOM does
OpenBOM is a cloud database for hardware product data: part catalogues, multi-level bills of materials, vendor and purchasing information, inventory counts and, on higher plans, CAD file management, revision control and engineering change orders. It publishes its prices, which is rare in this category, and it exposes a REST API with no call limits on paid plans. CAD add-ins for the common mechanical and electrical packages are a separate per-seat charge. The commercially interesting design is the seat model. Editing seats are paid, but read-only users are unlimited and free on every paid plan, which matters because in most hardware companies the people who need to see a BOM, meaning purchasing, contract manufacturers and quality, vastly outnumber the engineers who change it. That changes the shape of the bill against tools that charge for every login. The catch is a second axis: data record count. Storage of records is metered separately, so a growing part library can raise the bill even with a fixed headcount. Buyers are hardware startups and small manufacturers moving off spreadsheets, and contract manufacturers who need to share structured BOMs with customers. The trade-off is depth. OpenBOM is a BOM and catalogue tool with change management bolted on, not a configuration-managed PLM, so companies in regulated industries needing full audit trails, workflow approvals and effectivity dating outgrow it. The two-dimensional pricing, seats plus records plus CAD add-ins, also makes the real annual cost noticeably higher than the headline per-seat number.
What people use it for
- A hardware startup replacing a shared BOM spreadsheet before its first contract manufacturing run
- A contract manufacturer sharing structured BOMs with customers who should see but not edit them
- An electronics team pulling BOMs straight out of Altium and mechanical CAD instead of retyping them
- A small manufacturer that needs part numbering and revision discipline but cannot fund a PLM project
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about OpenBOM.
- Pricing has three axes, editing seats plus data record count plus per-seat CAD add-ins at $25 to $45 each, so the real annual cost is well above the advertised per-seat figure.
- Paying yearly nearly halves the seat price, from $55 to $30 and $165 to $90, so monthly billing carries an unusually heavy penalty for teams that want flexibility.
- Change management, revision control and CAD file management are absent from the entry Team plan, so the cheapest tier is a catalogue rather than a working PLM.
- It lacks the approval workflows, effectivity dating and audit depth that regulated medical and aerospace suppliers need, so companies pursuing ISO 13485 or AS9100 typically migrate away.
- Record count is metered separately and a large imported part library can push a small team into a higher data tier without adding a single user.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of OpenBOM
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- OpenBOMvsFusion 360
Fusion 360: Includes Fusion Manage-adjacent data management if you are already on Autodesk CAD
- OpenBOMvsOdoo
Odoo: If you want BOMs inside a wider ERP rather than a standalone engineering tool
Pricing
What OpenBOM costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- Up to 2,000 data records
- Basic BOM and catalogue management
- Non-commercial and educational use
Professional Team
$55 /mo
- $30 per seat per month billed yearly
- BOM management, part catalogue, inventory
- RFQ and purchase orders
- REST API
- Unlimited free read-only users
Company
$165 /mo
- $90 per seat per month billed yearly
- Everything in Team
- CAD file management and revision control
- Change management (ECO) and xBOM
- Multi-factor authentication
Enterprise
On request
- Single sign-on
- Custom integrations
- Private or custom hosting
- Enterprise support
Capabilities
Features
Multi-level BOMs
Nested assemblies with roll-up of cost and quantity
Part catalogue
Central item master with properties, revisions and attachments
CAD add-ins
Extraction of BOMs from mechanical and electrical CAD, charged per seat separately
Change management
Engineering change orders and revision control on the Company plan and above
Free read-only users
Unlimited viewers on any paid plan at no extra cost
REST API
No call limits, included with paid plans
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is OpenBOM free?
There is a genuine free tier limited to 2,000 data records and aimed at non-commercial and educational use. Commercial teams start at $30 per seat per month billed yearly.
Do I pay for people who only look at BOMs?
No. Read-only users are unlimited and free on every paid plan, which is the main reason the total cost undercuts seat-for-seat PLM tools.
Are the CAD add-ins included?
No. They are $25 per seat per month billed yearly, $45 monthly, and require an active Team or Company subscription.
Can OpenBOM replace a full PLM?
For a startup, usually yes. For regulated manufacturing needing controlled workflows and full audit trails, no.
Keep looking
Where to go from OpenBOM
- OpenBOM alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- OpenBOM pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- OpenBOM badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Manufacturing softwareThe full category
- Best Manufacturing softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Manufacturing software for
Compare OpenBOM with
- Fusion 360
- Aras Innovator
- Duro PLM
- PTC Windchill
- Propel
- Materialise Magics
- Ignition
- Seeq
- SolidWorks
- AVEVA System Platform
- Rockwell FactoryTalk
- AMFG
- Authentise
- COPA-DATA zenon
- Autodesk Netfabb
- Aras Innovator
- Arena PLM
- Arena PLM
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for OpenBOM, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on OpenBOM
OpenBOM alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
OpenBOM pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare OpenBOM
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