A JobBOSS alternative for shops that don't want an ERP project
JobBOSS² is a real job shop ERP and it does a great deal. If what you actually need is to know which jobs are going to ship late, most of that is machinery you will pay for and never switch on. Here is the comparison, including the parts that don't favour us.
Credit where it is due
JobBOSS² is ECI Software Solutions' job shop ERP. It is the product formed in 2021 by merging the original JobBOSS with E2 SHOP, the Shoptech product ECI acquired in November 2020. Quoting, job costing, scheduling, inventory, purchasing and shop floor data collection run out of one database, cloud-hosted or on-premise.
It is genuinely built for job shops — this is not a generic ERP with a manufacturing skin on it — and it is aimed at roughly the 10–100 employee range. If you need estimating, inventory and AR/AP in the same system as your routings, JobBOSS² does that and ShopTrace does not.
ECI does not publish a price list. Independent ERP research sites put the subscription at roughly $85–$150 per user per month before implementation, and a typical implementation at three to six months. Those are third-party estimates, not quotes — get your own before you decide anything.
JobBOSS vs ShopTrace
Every JobBOSS² figure below is either from ECI's own product material or from the independent ERP research sites linked at the bottom of this page. ECI publishes no list price, so anything with a dollar sign on their side of the table is an estimate.
| JobBOSS² | ShopTrace | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Full job shop ERP — quote to cash, one database | Job tracking and delivery risk. Nothing else. |
| Built for | Roughly 10–100 employees | 3–30 person shops |
| Pricing model | Per user, per month, quoted. Not published; third-party estimate $85–$150/user/mo | $129/month flat, unlimited users, published on this site |
| Time to first value | An implementation project — commonly quoted at 3–6 months | Import your job list and start the same afternoon |
| Who configures it | ECI or a certified partner; reviewers consistently report module setup and custom reports need outside help | You do, from the browser |
| Quoting and estimating | Included | Not in the product |
| Accounting, inventory, purchasing | Included | Not in the product |
| Shop floor capture | Data collection terminals and stations | Operator taps the job on their own phone and speaks a status |
| Deployment | Cloud or on-premise | Cloud only |
| Maturity | Shipping for years, thousands of shops | Pre-launch. Early access waitlist. |
When JobBOSS² is the better buy
- You need quoting, job costing, inventory and accounting in one system of record. That is an ERP's job and ShopTrace is not an ERP.
- You are past about 40 people, with real inventory to value, purchase orders to chase, and quality paperwork that has to live with the job.
- You need on-premise, for CMMC scope or any other reason. ShopTrace is cloud only.
- You want a vendor with thousands of shops running the product and a support line that has existed for a decade.
- You already have JobBOSS configured the way you want it. Tearing out a working ERP to fix a visibility problem is a bad trade.
When ShopTrace is the better fit
- You are 3–30 people and the honest answer to “where does that job stand” is still “let me walk out and ask.”
- You have priced a shop ERP, seen the implementation quote and the timeline, and worked out that the cure costs more than the disease.
- Your quoting is fine in the spreadsheet you have used for years. It is the promise dates that hurt.
- You bought a shop system once, ended up entering everything twice, and the floor quietly went back to the traveler.
- Per-seat pricing means the people who most need to see the board — the ones running the machines — are exactly the ones you cannot afford to give logins to.
- You want to know what a rush job does to the rest of your promises before you say yes to 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.
JobBOSS, answered straight
Is ShopTrace a replacement for JobBOSS²?
Not a like-for-like one, and we would rather be blunt about it. JobBOSS² is a full ERP with quoting, inventory, purchasing and accounting. ShopTrace does job tracking and delivery risk and nothing else. If you need those ERP functions, keep the ERP. If you bought the ERP mainly to answer “what is late,” ShopTrace does that part for less money and far less setup.
How much does JobBOSS² cost?
ECI does not publish pricing; you get a quote based on user count, modules and deployment. Independent ERP research sites put the subscription around $85–$150 per user per month before implementation, with implementation itself typically three to six months. ShopTrace is $129 a month flat for the whole shop, published, with no setup fee.
What is the difference between JobBOSS and E2 Shop System?
They were two separate products. ECI acquired Shoptech, the maker of E2 SHOP, in November 2020, and launched JobBOSS² in May 2021 as a single cloud-native successor to both. E2 is no longer sold to new customers; existing installs are still supported, and JobBOSS² is the migration path ECI points them to.
Can I run ShopTrace alongside JobBOSS²?
There is no JobBOSS² integration today, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. ShopTrace imports a job list from Excel or Access on day one, which is how a shop would try both in parallel. If a two-way connector is what would decide it for you, say so when you join the waitlist — that is exactly the input that sets what gets built first.
How long does ShopTrace take to set up?
An afternoon. You import your existing job list from Excel or Access, and operators log progress from phones they already own. Nothing to install on the floor, no terminals to buy, and no per-seat licence to ration.
Where these facts came from
- ECI Software Solutions — JobBOSS² product page
- ERP Research — JobBOSS² guide
- Top10ERP — JobBOSS² pricing and implementation
- Capterra — JobBOSS² verified reviews
Product names and trademarks belong to their owners. ShopTrace is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a partner of ECI Software Solutions. Find something on this page that is out of date or wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.