QuotedPartComparisons · Updated 2026-10-30
Fulcrum vs ProShop
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Both are cloud ERPs for machine shops, built with different priorities. Fulcrum leads with scheduling and connected shop data. Its AI-powered Autoschedule replans the shop from live data, it nests DXF files on the quote, and it charges by revenue rather than per user, with a fixed launch fee. ProShop leads with compliance and shop knowledge. It sells AS9100 workflows, ITAR access controls and a path to CMMC Level 2, and markets Chip, an AI that learns from past jobs. It offers standard and government pricing, quoted on request. Pick Fulcrum if scheduling and fab work drive your shop. Pick ProShop if audits and defense customers do.
See how QuotedPart connects to your workflow with its API, MCP server, autonomous quoting and shop-specific learning.
Side by side
Both vendors' pages were read on October 30, 2026. Neither publishes a price.
| Fulcrum | ProShop ERP | |
|---|---|---|
| Price model | Not priced per user; price depends on the shop's gross revenue and the number and complexity of integrations; ask sales | Pricing customized per shop; standard and government options; request a proposal by form |
| Users | Unlimited users rather than per-user pricing | Not stated on the pricing page |
| Implementation | Fixed, one-time launch fee; in-house launch team migrates data and trains, no billable hours | Every plan includes dedicated, continuous support |
| Quoting | Quotes built from imported or drawn BOMs and routings; costs update from labor, material and machine details; upload a dxf on a quote to generate a nest and update material and machine time | Template-driven quotes with the shop's labor, material and vendor costs, margin guards and quantity breaks; awarded quotes convert to customer POs and work orders |
| Scheduling | AI-powered Autoschedule builds and re-runs the shop schedule from live data | Shop floor management and scheduling is one of its modules |
| Compliance | Not a headline on the pages checked | AS9100, ITAR-controlled workflows and a path for shops pursuing CMMC Level 2 |
| Integrations | Open API; Fulcrum says nearly all customers use it, usually with its launch team and developers; integrations are configured, not plug-and-play | Sage 50, QuickBooks, Paperless Parts, Datanomix, Mastercam, Net-Inspect, High QA and GroundControl |
| Accounting | Fulcrum connects to an accounting system instead of building its own | Sage 50 and QuickBooks integrations |
What shop owners said about ProShop
We looked for first-hand experience on Practical Machinist and found a 2023 thread titled "ERP – JobBoss^2 vs. ProShop vs. Something Actually Good?". The experiences split, and both sides are worth reading before a demo. One owner of a 51-person, 22-machine high-mix shop wrote: "We switched from E2 to Proshop and would never look back… It's whatever you put into the software." Another wrote: "I had an absolutely awful experience with ProShop… the software was so insanely time consuming that we never fully finished the implementation… I had over 10k into the software." A third shop said it got a refund and moved to Realtrac.
The pattern is common to any full ERP. Shops that put in the setup work get a connected system, and shops that can't spare the hours stall. Ask both vendors how many hours of your own staff the implementation takes, not just how many weeks.
Pick Fulcrum if
Your pain is the schedule: hot jobs, machines down, promise dates you can't trust. Pick it too if you do sheet metal and fabrication alongside machining, because DXF nesting on the quote and BOM imports from PDFs, images and spreadsheets save real time there. Its no-per-user pricing suits a shop that wants every operator on tablets. Fulcrum leaves accounting to your existing system, so you keep QuickBooks or similar.
Pick ProShop if
Your customers audit you. ProShop's AS9100 workflows, ITAR access controls and CMMC Level 2 path are built into how the system runs, not added later. It integrates with Net-Inspect, High QA and GroundControl for first article inspection and ballooning, with Mastercam for tooling, and with Paperless Parts for quoting. Expect a heavier implementation. Ask for references from shops your size that finished it.
Shops that mainly want faster quotes don't have to settle this choice first. Most quoting tools work alongside either ERP, and Paperless Parts names integrations with both.
Sources and limits
Claims are dated where they can change. Product calculations are examples from the stated inputs, not a promise about a customer's quote. Competitor wording is attributed to the source shown.
- Fulcrum: Not priced per user; price depends on the shop's gross revenue and the number and complexity of integrations; ask sales (their words: “Our pricing is based on factors like the gross revenue of your shop, how many other systems you want to integrate with Fulcrum, and the complexity of those integrations.”) — source (checked 2026-11-04)
- Fulcrum: Unlimited users rather than per-user pricing (their words: “We don’t charge per user the way a lot of other ERP systems do”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- Fulcrum: Fixed, one-time launch fee; in-house launch team migrates data and trains, no billable hours (their words: “No billable hours. Fixed, one-time launch fee.”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- Fulcrum: Quotes built from imported or drawn BOMs and routings; costs update from labor, material and machine details (their words: “Import BOMs from drawings or CAD software and easily add routing steps.”) — source (checked 2026-11-04)
- Fulcrum: Upload a DXF on a quote to generate a nest and update material and machine time (their words: “Upload a DXF file directly on a quote to generate a nest and automatically update material and machine time cost estimates without leaving Fulcrum.”) — source (checked 2026-11-04)
- Fulcrum: AI-powered Autoschedule builds and re-runs the shop schedule from live data (their words: “Fulcrum's AI-powered Autoschedule creates your shop's optimal schedule”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- Fulcrum: Open API; Fulcrum says nearly all customers use it, usually with its launch team and developers; integrations are configured, not plug-and-play (their words: “Nearly all of our customers leverage Fulcrum's API to connect to other software”) — source (checked 2026-11-04)
- Fulcrum: Fulcrum connects to an accounting system instead of building its own (their words: “we don’t rebuild what already works (accounting)”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- Fulcrum: Reads image files, PDFs, CSVs or XLSX files to create a bill of materials; BOM lines can be imported during the quote or sales order workflow (their words: “Fulcrum reads image files, PDFs, CSVs, or XLSXs and creates a full bill of materials in seconds.”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- ProShop ERP: ERP/MES/QMS for precision machine shops, now marketed around Chip, its AI that learns from past jobs (their words: “ProShop is the AI that learns your machine shop.”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- ProShop ERP: Pricing customized per shop; standard and government options; request a proposal by form (their words: “ProShop’s manufacturing software pricing is customized to match the unique needs of your shop.”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- ProShop ERP: Every plan includes dedicated, continuous support (their words: “Dedicated, continuous support”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- ProShop ERP: Modules include shop floor management and scheduling, calibration and maintenance, quality and inspection, inventory and material planning, and cutting tool and workholding management (their words: “Shop Floor Management & Scheduling”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- ProShop ERP: Template-driven quotes with the shop's labor, material and vendor costs, margin guards and quantity breaks; awarded quotes convert to customer POs and work orders (their words: “Set profit guards and quantity breaks based on actual job costs.”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- ProShop ERP: AS9100, ITAR-controlled workflows and a path for shops pursuing CMMC Level 2 (their words: “For shops pursuing CMMC Level 2, ProShop has a dedicated path built to get you audit-ready.”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- ProShop ERP: Sage 50, QuickBooks, Paperless Parts, Datanomix, Mastercam, Net-Inspect, High QA and GroundControl (their words: “Combine the power of Paperless Parts’ quoting solutions with ProShop’s ERP capabilities.”) — source (checked 2026-10-30)
- Practical Machinist thread "ERP - JobBoss^2 vs. ProShop vs. Something Actually Good?" (2023): owner experiences quoted as written, one positive and two negative on ProShop. — source (checked 2026-10-30)
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