OpenBOM: A Guide for Engineers and Manufacturers
What Is OpenBOM?
Managing product data across engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing has long been a messy, error-prone process — one that most companies attempt to solve with spreadsheets, shared drives, and an ever-growing tangle of email threads. OpenBOM is a cloud-based platform built to replace that chaos. It provides real-time collaboration and data management for parts, catalogs, bills of materials (BOM), inventories, and purchase orders — serving as a modern, accessible alternative to traditional PDM (Product Data Management) and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems.
At its core, OpenBOM treats the Bill of Materials not just as a document, but as a living data structure that connects design, engineering, procurement, and production. The platform is built on a familiar spreadsheet-like interface, which means teams can get started quickly without long implementation cycles or steep learning curves.
Who Is It For?
OpenBOM is designed for a wide range of professionals and organizations involved in product development and manufacturing:
• Mechanical and design engineers who need to extract BOM data directly from their CAD tools and keep it synchronized with the rest of the team.
• Purchasing and procurement teams looking for a single, reliable source of part data, supplier information, and order status.
• Manufacturing and operations managers who need accurate BOMs to plan production, manage inventory, and work with contract manufacturers.
• Small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMBs) that need the power of a PLM system without the cost or complexity of enterprise software.
• Larger enterprises that require advanced security, ERP integration, and multi-tenant deployment options.
In short, OpenBOM scales from a solo engineer managing a simple product to a multi-department organization running complex, multi-level product structures across global supply chains.
OpenBOM vs. Traditional PLM / Excel
Most manufacturing companies fall into one of two traps: they either rely on Excel spreadsheets — which quickly become outdated, siloed, and error-prone as products grow in complexity — or they invest in traditional enterprise PLM systems that are expensive, slow to implement, and built for organizations far larger than they actually are.
OpenBOM occupies the space between these two extremes. It offers the familiarity and accessibility of a spreadsheet interface, while providing the data integrity, version control, and collaboration features that spreadsheets simply cannot deliver. Unlike legacy PLM tools built for large centralized IT projects, OpenBOM is a SaaS product — it can be set up in hours, not months, and can grow incrementally alongside your team and product.
The result is a platform that removes the common bottlenecks: engineers no longer need to email Excel files back and forth, purchasing teams stop working from outdated part lists, and operations managers gain reliable visibility into what is being built and what it costs.
Core Use Cases
OpenBOM supports a broad range of use cases across the product development and manufacturing lifecycle. Real-world customer stories illustrate how teams apply the platform to solve specific challenges:
• BOM management: Create and manage multi-level and flattened Bills of Materials, including Engineering BOM (EBOM), Manufacturing BOM (MBOM), and Support BOM (SBOM) for different lifecycle stages and departments.
• Parts and catalog management: Maintain a central database of all components, materials, and assemblies — complete with descriptions, manufacturer details, costs, and supplier information.
• CAD data management: Sync product structure directly from CAD tools, manage design files with version control, and keep engineering data up to date across the team.
• Inventory and procurement: Track inventory levels, manage purchase orders, and run RFQ (Request for Quotation) processes — all connected to the same product data.
• Supply chain collaboration: Share BOMs and product data with suppliers, contractors, and partners in a controlled way, without giving them access to unrelated information.
• Single source of truth: Ensure that engineering, purchasing, manufacturing, and supply chain teams all work from the same, up-to-date product data — eliminating costly mismatches between departments.
Key Features
OpenBOM offers a broad and growing feature set. For a complete overview, see the features and functions page. Key highlights include:
• Spreadsheet-like interface: The UI is intentionally familiar — anyone comfortable with Excel can start working in OpenBOM immediately, without extensive training.
• Catalog and parts database: Organize all items — standard parts, materials, and assemblies — in structured catalogs with custom properties and attributes.
• xBOM (multi-view BOM): Manage different types of BOMs — EBOM, MBOM, SBOM — within a single multi-view architecture, connecting multiple BOM structures to the same top-level assembly.
• Real-time collaboration: Share BOMs and data with anyone inside or outside the organization, with granular control over who can view or edit which fields — similar to how Google Sheets handles sharing.
• Revision and change control: Save BOM revisions, manage change requests and change orders (ECO/ECR), and maintain a full audit trail of what changed, when, and why.
• QR code support: Each item automatically generates a QR code that can be printed and attached to physical components, bridging the gap between digital data and the factory floor.
• Cost rollups: Automatically calculate and roll up costs across multi-level BOMs for accurate product costing and supply chain decision-making.
• REST API: Extend OpenBOM with custom integrations, automation workflows, and AI-driven tools using the public API.
Integrations
One of OpenBOM’s key strengths is its depth of integration with the tools engineers already use. The full list is available on the integrations page. Major integrations include:
• CAD systems: Native add-ins for SolidWorks, Autodesk Fusion 360, Onshape, Altium Designer, and other mechanical and electronic CAD platforms. BOMs can be extracted directly from CAD models and kept in sync as designs change.
• ERP systems: Enterprise-tier integrations with systems such as Oracle NetSuite, enabling automated transfer of BOM and parts data into business operations systems.
• PDM/PLM systems: OpenBOM can act as a bridge between existing engineering data management tools and downstream business systems.
• REST API and custom integrations: For organizations with unique requirements, OpenBOM’s API supports fully custom integrations, including connections to AI workflows and internal tools.
Importantly, CAD add-ins are optional — users who work only through the web interface do not need them. This keeps the platform accessible to non-engineering roles such as purchasing and operations.
Pricing & Plans
OpenBOM’s pricing is designed to be transparent and to scale with actual usage. Full details are on the pricing page. Key points:
• Free to start: A 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required. Free plans are also available for educational and non-commercial use.
• Paid by editors and data volume: Pricing is based on two independent factors — the number of users who need to edit data, and the volume of data records managed. Read-only access for internal teams, suppliers, and partners is unlimited and free.
• Entry pricing: Starts at $30 per user per month, making it accessible to small teams and individual engineers.
• Subscription tiers: Plans range from Team (collaborative BOM and inventory management) to Company (full PLM with change management and CAD file vaulting) to Enterprise (custom ERP integrations, SSO, advanced security, and private cloud deployment).
There are no minimum seat requirements and no long-term commitments for standard plans. Upgrades are processed instantly within the platform.
OpenBOM Reviews
OpenBOM Reviews
OpenBOM has built a strong and well-documented track record on independent software review platforms, making it one of the more transparently validated tools in the BOM and PLM space.
On G2, OpenBOM has accumulated over 770 verified reviews G2 from engineers, purchasing managers, and manufacturing professionals. According to G2 data, 89% of users rate OpenBOM 4 or 5 stars, 87% believe the product is headed in the right direction, and 84% say they would recommend it to others. OpenBOM OpenBOM has also been named to the G2 2026 Top 50 CAD & PLM Software list — recognition based on verified user reviews and market presence data, not analyst opinion or vendor relationships. OpenBOM This is the third consecutive year OpenBOM has received this recognition.
On Capterra, users similarly highlight the ease of getting started, the quality of CAD integrations, and the platform’s ability to replace spreadsheet-based workflows without introducing the overhead of a traditional enterprise PLM system.
Recurring themes across both platforms include praise for real-time collaboration, reliable SolidWorks and Fusion 360 integration, and responsive customer support. The most commonly noted limitations relate to the learning curve for new users and the fact that some advanced features — such as inventory management and multi-factor authentication — are only available on higher-tier plans.
Read user reviews on G2 and Capterra.
Conclusion
OpenBOM occupies a well-defined and genuinely useful position in the engineering software landscape. It is not trying to be the most powerful enterprise PLM system available — it is trying to be the most practical one for the teams that actually need it.
For small and mid-sized manufacturers, design engineers working with CAD tools, or any organization still relying on Excel to manage product data, OpenBOM offers a clear and credible path forward. It removes the most painful friction points — version confusion, disconnected departments, manual BOM re-entry — without requiring a large IT project, a lengthy implementation, or a significant upfront commitment.
The platform’s strength lies in the combination of things it does well simultaneously: deep CAD integration, intuitive data management, real-time collaboration, and a pricing model that scales with actual usage rather than forcing teams into oversized plans. The 14-day free trial with no credit card required makes it genuinely low-risk to evaluate with real data.
Whether you are an engineer looking to get cleaner BOMs out of SolidWorks, a purchasing manager tired of chasing the latest Excel version, or a manufacturing operations lead who needs a single source of truth across departments — OpenBOM is worth a close look.