An E2 Shop System alternative — and what to do about the migration
E2 SHOP has not been sold to new customers since 2021. If you are on it, the real question is not “what is an E2 alternative” — it is whether the migration you are being steered toward is the system you would choose today.
Credit where it is due
E2 SHOP is Shoptech's job shop ERP, and for a lot of shops it is simply “the shop system”: quoting, scheduling, job costing, shop floor data collection and a QuickBooks hand-off, running on-premise for years without much drama.
ECI Software Solutions acquired Shoptech in November 2020 and launched JobBOSS² in May 2021, merging E2 SHOP and the original JobBOSS into one cloud-native product. New customers are sold JobBOSS². Legacy E2 installs are still supported, and JobBOSS² is the designated migration path.
That is the decision actually in front of most E2 shops: a migration is coming either way. Which makes this the cheapest moment there will ever be to ask whether you need everything E2 was doing, or only the part that tells you what is late.
E2 Shop System vs ShopTrace
“E2 SHOP” below means a legacy Shoptech install. Where the successor product matters the row says JobBOSS². Neither is priced publicly — see the JobBOSS² page for the third-party estimates.
| E2 SHOP | ShopTrace | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Legacy. Not sold to new customers since 2021; existing installs still supported | Pre-launch. Early access waitlist. |
| Successor | JobBOSS² (ECI) — the designated migration path | — |
| What it is | Full job shop ERP — quoting, scheduling, job costing, inventory | Job tracking and delivery risk. Nothing else. |
| Deployment | Predominantly on-premise installs | Cloud only |
| Pricing model | Per user, quoted. Not published. | $129/month flat, unlimited users, published on this site |
| What the next step costs you | Migrating to JobBOSS² is a data and process migration — months, not days, and schemas and integrations change | Import the job list from Excel or Access and start the same afternoon |
| Shop floor capture | Data collection stations on the floor | Operator taps the job on their own phone and speaks a status |
| Quoting, accounting, inventory | Included | Not in the product |
When staying on E2 — or migrating to JobBOSS² — is the right call
- Your quoting and job costing history lives in E2 and needs to keep living in one system. JobBOSS² keeps that lineage; ShopTrace does not replace it.
- You need inventory, purchasing and AR/AP inside the same system as the work.
- You have a working install, somebody in-house who knows it, and no acute pain. A migration you do not need is pure risk.
- You need on-premise.
- You are growing, and the modules you are not using today are ones you can see yourself using at 60 people.
When a small shop should look at job tracking instead
- You are being quoted a migration for a system whose real daily value, if you are honest, was the job list.
- You are 3–30 people and E2 always felt like more system than you were actually using.
- The floor never adopted the data collection stations, so what is really running your shop is the traveler and a whiteboard.
- You are on a legacy on-premise install and every integration question turns into a VPN and firewall question.
- You want to know what a rush job does to the rest of your promises before you accept it.
The list we would rather you read now than find out later
- 01Quoting and estimating. If your estimating hurts, ShopTrace is not the fix.
- 02Accounting, AR/AP, invoicing, payroll. Keep QuickBooks.
- 03Inventory valuation and purchasing.
- 04Quality management — ISO/AS9100 document control, NCRs, cert tracking.
- 05CRM.
- 06On-premise deployment. ShopTrace is cloud only.
ShopTrace is pre-launch — early access, free for the first 20 shops. Every product these pages compare us to is shipping today and has been for years. If you need something in production next Monday backed by a vendor with a twenty-year track record, buy the ERP. We would rather say that here than after you have spent a week on us.
E2 Shop System, answered straight
Is E2 Shop System discontinued?
Not discontinued for existing customers, but it is no longer sold to new ones. ECI merged E2 SHOP and JobBOSS into JobBOSS² in May 2021. Legacy installs are still supported and JobBOSS² is the migration path ECI points customers toward.
What is the difference between E2 Shop System and JobBOSS²?
E2 SHOP and JobBOSS were two separate job shop ERPs, acquired by ECI separately. JobBOSS², launched in May 2021, is the single cloud-native product that merges them. If you are on E2 today you are on the predecessor; JobBOSS² is where new development goes.
Do I have to migrate off E2?
Not today. But plan for it: development goes to the successor product, and “still supported” is a different promise from “still being built.” Before you make a five-year decision, ask ECI for their support horizon for legacy E2 in writing.
Can ShopTrace replace E2 Shop System?
Only if what you were really using E2 for was the job list and the due dates. ShopTrace has no quoting, no accounting, no inventory and no purchasing. If those matter, the honest answer is JobBOSS² or another full ERP, not us.
What can ShopTrace import?
Excel and Access on day one — which is what most E2 shops already have alongside the ERP anyway. Operators then log progress from their own phones, so there is nothing to install on the floor.
Where these facts came from
- ECI Software Solutions — JobBOSS² product page
- ERP Focus — E2 Shop System (legacy)
- Software Connect — JobBOSS² (formerly E2 Shop System)
Product names and trademarks belong to their owners. ShopTrace is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a partner of Shoptech / ECI Software Solutions. Find something on this page that is out of date or wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.