A shopVOX alternative that prices from real material yield
shopVOX is a capable, widely used system for sign and custom manufacturing work. Shops usually look elsewhere for one reason: they want the quote, the material consumed and the true job cost to be the same calculation. That is what Print-It 26 does — it nests every piece onto your actual sheets and rolls, prices the waste, and shows the margin on the line while you type.
Side by side
| Area | shopVOX | Print-It 26 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Configured products and pricing rules you maintain | Cost-based: substrate yield, FIFO stock cost, work-center time, your markup |
| Material nesting | Not the centre of the quote | Sheet and roll nesting with waste and multi-sheet runs priced into the quote |
| Inventory | Inventory tracking | FIFO material ledger, stock forms, reorder points, purchase-order suggestions |
| Production | Work orders and production tracking | Live board with stage rows, capacity planning, and a touch kiosk for the floor |
| Cost visibility | Reporting on jobs and sales | Margin per line as you type, plus job actuals recorded against the estimate |
| Who sees money | Permission profiles | Cost and margin redacted server-side — production and floor users never receive them |
| Customer-facing | Customer portal and proof approval | Branded portal, proof mark-up, online payment, and an optional B2B storefront |
| Accounting | Accounting integrations | QuickBooks Online push of customers and invoices (only accounting sync today) |
| Maturity | Long-established with a large user base in signage | New product, smaller ecosystem, actively developed |
Compiled from shopVOX's publicly described features. Vendors change quickly — check their site for the current picture before you decide.
What switching actually costs you
Cost-based pricing needs your substrates, current costs and work-center rates entered before the first quote is meaningful. Budget a few evenings, not a weekend project.
Customers, vendors, materials and price lists come in from CSV or Excel with a preview, and your document numbering continues rather than restarting.
Quote a live job in both systems and compare. If the cost-based number lands close, your list is well tuned and the gain is visibility. If it does not, that gap is your margin.
When shopVOX is still the better call
- You want a long-established product with a large signage user base and a deep partner ecosystem.
- Your prices genuinely come from a list and material yield is not where your margin moves.
- You depend on integrations beyond QuickBooks Online and Stripe, which are the only two connected today.
- You need vendor catalogue feeds; material and price imports here are CSV or Excel.
Common questions
- Is Print-It 26 a drop-in replacement for shopVOX?
- It covers the same ground — quoting, orders, production, purchasing, invoicing and a customer portal — but it prices from material cost rather than a configured price list, so expect to enter substrates and work-center rates before your first quote means anything.
- What does Print-It 26 cost?
- Starter is $79 per month with one seat, Professional is $199 per month with up to ten seats, and extra seats are $19 per month. Enterprise is quoted. Check shopVOX's own site for their current pricing.
- Can I bring my history across?
- Customers, vendors, materials and price lists import from CSV or Excel with a preview before anything is written, and document numbering continues from where you are today so there is no gap in your records.
- Can I try it before switching?
- The demo shop opens without signing up, and a 7-day trial lets you load your own substrates and rates and quote a real job against your current system.
See it with your own numbers
The demo is a fully worked example shop you can open without signing up. For the longer write-up, read the full Print-It 26 versus shopVOX guide.