Resource
MRP Software Pricing, Explained
How MRP systems are usually charged for, what sits outside the subscription, and the questions worth asking before you compare two numbers that are not comparable.
The models
How MRP Software Is Usually Charged For
- 1.
Per named user, per month
The commonest model. You pay for each person with a login. It is simple to quote and it is predictable while headcount is stable. The difficulty in manufacturing is the shop floor: if every operator booking on to a job needs a licence, the price scales with the number of people making things rather than the number of people planning.
- 2.
Per site, per month
A flat charge covering the site, sometimes with a cap on office users. The total may still rise with additional office users, sites, machines or services. Worth checking what counts as a site, and whether a second unit on the same industrial estate is one site or two.
- 3.
Per module
A base system plus a charge for each area — quality, costing, scheduling. Cheap to start and awkward to budget, because the modules you discover you need are rarely the ones you planned for.
- 4.
Consumption or transaction based
Charged against orders, transactions or storage. Rare in this market, and difficult to forecast for a business whose volume moves with its order book.
Beyond the licence
What Sits Outside The Subscription
Implementation
Almost never included, and almost never a fixed figure, because the work depends on the state of your part numbering, bills of material and stock records. Check which assumptions and data requirements underpin an implementation quotation.
Data Migration
Moving parts, bills, customers, suppliers and stock balances out of spreadsheets or an older system. Usually scoped with implementation; occasionally priced as though it were trivial, which it is not.
Training
Some is normally included. Additional on-site days, or training a second shift, are usually extra.
Integrations And Hardware
Accounts packages, CAD, machine collectors and scanners. Ask whether the connector is included, chargeable once, or chargeable every year.
Due diligence
Five Questions Worth Asking Any Vendor
- 1.
Does a shop-floor operator booking on to a job need a paid licence? For a factory of eighty people this one answer can change the total by more than everything else combined.
- 2.
What is the implementation figure, and what has to be true for it to hold?
- 3.
Which capabilities are in the base price, and which cost extra? Ask specifically about scheduling, quality records and job costing.
- 4.
What happens at renewal? Is there a cap on the annual increase, and is it written into the agreement?
- 5.
Is the quoted figure per month or per year, and does it include VAT? Two numbers are not comparable until both are on the same basis.
Our own figures
What Keystone Charges
Keystone is priced per month, including one factory site, and the figures are published rather than quoted on request. Core is £595, Factory is £995 and Connected Factory is £1,595. Enterprise is priced on application. All figures exclude VAT.
Office users are named and counted, with an allowance on each plan — five on Core, ten on Factory and fifteen on Connected Factory, with Enterprise allowances agreed — and further named users at £30 each per month.
Shop-floor users are unlimited on every plan. Booking on and off a job never counts against the office allowance, so the price does not rise because you took on more people to make things.
What Is Quoted Separately
Implementation and data migration are scoped and quoted after a discovery session. We do not publish a figure for them, for the reason given above: the work depends on the state of your data and we would be guessing.
Additional connected machines beyond the five included with Connected Factory are contracted separately. Hosting, updates and support are in the subscription; there is no separate maintenance charge.
Full detail, including what each plan contains, is on the pricing page. If you are weighing us against a specific vendor, we have put their published terms beside ours: MRPeasy, Statii, 123Insight and Brytebuild.
Work Out What Keystone Would Cost You
Tell us how many office users you have and what you make. The first call takes about twenty minutes and is where pricing is discussed.