Fabrication Estimating Software: 6 Tools Compared for 2027

Which category of tool you need

Fabrication estimating software is the tool that turns a drawing, CAD file or part list into a priced quote covering material, machine time, labor and overhead. For most small metal shops, the buying decision is about category rather than brand. If you quote from drawings every week and already run accounting or an ERP, start with a quoting layer that reads CAD and hands finished quotes to that system. If you need quoting, inventory and job costing in one system, start with an ERP that includes estimating. If you fabricate structural steel from models, start with a steel-specific suite.

This guide compares six tools across those three categories: Costimator, Paperless Parts and SecturaFAB for drawing-based quoting; Cetec ERP and Katana for ERP-style estimating; and Tekla PowerFab for structural steel. Four of the six do not publish a price, so the tables below separate what each vendor states from our judgment about fit.

Key Takeaways

• Choose by category first. A quoting layer, an ERP with estimating and a steel suite each fix a different bottleneck.

• Four of the six tools here direct buyers to a quote on their pricing pages: Costimator, Paperless Parts, SecturaFAB and Tekla PowerFab.

• Cetec ERP is the only tool here that lists a per-user price on its pricing page, with a five-user minimum.

• Katana offers a free plan capped at 30 SKUs, which makes it the lowest-commitment way to test a small parts catalog.

• Tekla PowerFab is built for steel fabricators. A sheet-metal or general job shop should look at the other options first.

• Productivity claims such as MTI's 78% faster estimating figure come from the vendor, and we found no independent check of them.

How we evaluated these tools

This is an informed buyer's guide built from public information: vendor websites, pricing pages, review directories and trade press. We did not run trials of any product, so each capability described below is what the vendor or a cited page says it does. We weighted six criteria, shown in the table below. The weights are our judgment for a small shop, not vendor data, so adjust them if your work is different.

The criteria favor fit and handoff over feature count. A tool with many features that cannot read your files or export to your system adds manual work.

We left out ProEst, Autodesk's construction estimating product, because its Autodesk product pages would not load during our research, so we could not verify its scope or pricing. We also excluded Statii, because we could not confirm a current product page. FabSuite appears under Tekla PowerFab: Trimble acquired FabSuite in 2018, and PowerFab is built on the former FabSuite system, now called Tekla EPM, according to AEC Magazine (2019). SourceForge's 2026 "Best Fabrication Estimating Software" page lists nine products but states no ranking criteria, according to SourceForge (2026), so we did not use its order.

Side-by-side feature matrix

The matrix records only what each vendor page or cited review states. "Not described" means the page we opened did not say, which is not the same as "not available."

Paperless Parts: over 62 geometric attributes read from CAD according to Paperless Parts (2026), which the page pairs with 25 configurable manufacturability checks.

Nesting is the feature most often confused with estimating. Nesting arranges parts on a sheet to calculate material use, and material is usually the largest cost line, so nesting feeds the quote directly. Paperless Parts and SecturaFAB both describe nesting inside their quoting tools. Costimator's page does not describe it, so ask the vendor directly.

Pricing and total cost: what is published

Pricing checked November 13, 2026. Only two of the six vendors print a number on their own pricing pages, and the other four ask buyers to request a quote.

Katana free plan: $0 for up to 30 SKUs according to Katana (2026). The free plan includes unlimited users, and Katana's paid tiers are quoted separately.

Cetec ERP publishes the most line items of any vendor here. The table below lists them.

Every figure in the table above comes from Cetec ERP's pricing page, according to Cetec ERP (2026).

Here is a worked example using illustrative numbers. Suppose a five-person office runs Cetec ERP at the published rates. Five users at $50 is $250 a month, or $3,000 a year. Adding Standard support at $650 a month brings the subscription to $10,800 a year, and a QuickBooks Online link at $300 a month adds $3,600, for $14,400 a year before expert services. Those figures come from the same Cetec page, according to Cetec ERP (2026). The quoting-layer vendors cannot be priced the same way until each returns a written quote for the same scope. If the shop instead uses Katana as the system of record, the integration work is different. Katana's developer reference shows an order created with a POST to /v1/sales_orders and a sales_order_rows array, and its update reference says setting status to PENDING creates a quote, while NOT_SHIPPED marks an order that has not shipped (Katana create reference; Katana update reference).

Vendor profiles

Each profile separates published facts from our read. The facts come from the linked page. Our read is judgment for a buyer running a shop like the ones described above.

Costimator (MTI Systems)

Published facts: MTI describes Costimator as cost estimating and quoting software for manufacturing, built on over 330 industry-validated cost models covering machining, sheet metal, welding and laser cutting. The Costimator page says estimates can come from 2D drawings, part descriptions or 3D models, and that data exports as XML to Epicor, JobBoss, E2 Shop System and ProfitKey. Pricing is quote-based, and a free demo is offered.

Costimator vendor claim: 78% faster estimating according to MTI Systems (2026). The page attributes this and two related figures to customer surveys, and we found no independent verification.

Best fit: shops that quote machined and sheet parts from drawings or descriptions, and procurement teams that run should-cost checks.

Limitations: the page does not describe nesting, and cost models must be tuned to your machines and overhead before the numbers mean much.

Implementation: budget time for model setup and a test export into your ERP before go-live.

Our read: the strongest fit here for machined parts. Ask for a sheet-metal demonstration using your own drawings.

Paperless Parts

Published facts: the sheet-metal page describes unfolding models, nesting components onto the same sheet, checking manufacturability against configurable rules, and pricing fasteners from 11 distributors. The vendor's pricing page lists no prices and points to "Get Pricing Information." ERP integration is not described on the sheet-metal page.

Best fit: sheet-metal shops and job shops where several estimators need one consistent quoting method.

Limitations: no published price, and no ERP handoff described on the sheet-metal page.

Implementation: the vendor has not published a timeline on the pages we opened, so ask for one in writing.

Our read: the most detailed sheet-metal feature set among the quoting-layer vendors on their own pages. The price still has to come from the vendor.

SecturaFAB

Published facts: the SecturaFAB page describes estimating and quoting for metal fabrication, with over 30 primary and secondary operations such as laser, plasma, press brake and welding. It supports true-shape nesting, cloud-hosted deployment, and ITAR registration. Pricing is not published.

SecturaFAB: over 30 operations supported according to SecturaFAB (2026).

Third-party review material names SYSPRO, Global Shop, JobBOSS, Epicor, Genius ERP and Eniteo as ERP integrations, according to SoftwareConnect. The same review says the product is not a fit for businesses that need highly customizable interfaces or do not need CAD integration.

Best fit: metal fabricators and job shops that quote from CAD every day and want nesting and ERP handoff in one quoting tool.

Limitations: SoftwareConnect's 2026 roundup of 11 products says setup takes time and layout customization is limited, according to SoftwareConnect (2026).

Implementation: plan for a setup period and an ERP sync test before relying on quote data.

Our read: the closest fit here for drawing-driven metal shops. Choose it only after a written quote and a test on your own drawings.

Tekla PowerFab

Published facts: the Tekla PowerFab page describes steel fabrication management from estimating through shipping, including model-based or manual estimating, nesting and cut lists, purchase requisitions, yard inventory, shop-floor tracking and an open API. It names Tekla Structures and Advance Steel as integrations. Pricing is not published, and the page shows no prices, only "Contact us" buttons. Launch coverage describes PowerFab as built for steel fabricators and sold as an annual subscription, according to AEC Magazine (2019).

Best fit: structural steel fabricators who want estimating, scheduling, inventory and shipping in one system.

Limitations: sheet-metal shops and general job shops are outside its stated target market, and pricing is not published.

Implementation: expect integration work with your modeling software, since the product is designed around Tekla Structures and Advance Steel.

Our read: if you do not model steel, skip this one.

Cetec ERP

Published facts: the Cetec pricing page lists a per-user subscription, support tiers from $0 to $3,200 a month, an optional QuickBooks Online link, and expert services scoped by contact. Its feature list includes "Job Costing & Quoting" and links to a machine and job shop industry page. The page says little about drawing-based metal estimating.

Best fit: machine and job shops that want quoting, scheduling, inventory and accounting in one ERP.

Limitations: if drawing-based estimating is the core need, the pricing and feature pages do not show it. Costs stack quickly once support, integrations and expert services are added.

Implementation: expert services are how Cetec scopes projects, so ask for the scope in writing before you compare totals.

Our read: a good candidate for a shop that wants one system. Confirm the depth of its estimating against your own parts before you commit.

Katana

Published facts: the Katana pricing page lists a free plan with unlimited users and up to 30 SKUs, and paid plans as custom annual contracts. Its industry page calls the product steel fabrication estimating software, but estimating is tied to inventory, bills of materials and moving average costs. It integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero, offers an open API, and says setup should take "a couple of days."

Best fit: small shops with a limited parts catalog that need inventory, bills of materials and costing together, and that want to start free.

Limitations: the pages we opened do not describe drawing-based (CAD) estimating or nesting. The free plan stops at 30 SKUs, and paid pricing is quote-based.

Implementation: the open API supports custom workflows, and the developer documentation shows how sales orders are created and updated.

Our read: the free plan is a low-risk way to test the workflow, but it is an inventory and production system first and an estimating tool second.

Where quotes stall between estimate and order

Many small shops lose time between the estimate and the purchase order, not inside the estimating screen. A drawing sits in an inbox, an estimator re-keys the part list, and the approved price never reaches the order system. That gap is where US Tech Automations would fit, alongside an estimating tool you already own.

The workflows below are proposed designs for discussion, not a live deployment or a result from any customer. The first is intake. The trigger is a new request email with drawings attached, arriving in a shared mailbox. The action logs the customer and part list and creates a draft estimate task for an estimator. The output is a draft record with the drawing attached. Prerequisites are document access and an import route into the estimating tool, which you must confirm with the vendor, since the pages we opened do not describe one for each product. The human review point is the estimator, who approves every price before a quote leaves the shop.

The second is order release. The trigger is an approval reply or signed purchase order from the customer. The action creates or updates the order in the ERP through its API. With Katana as the example, that means a POST to /v1/sales_orders with sales_order_rows, and the order stays in NOT_SHIPPED until someone releases it. The output is an order record plus an alert listing any missing fields, such as a customer ID. Prerequisites are an API key with write access and a tested mapping from quote lines to ERP items. Sales confirms the PO terms and material pricing before release, and every write goes to a test instance first.

The third is re-pricing. The trigger is a supplier price file update, or a quote that has been open longer than a window you set. The action flags affected quotes and places them in a re-pricing queue. The output is that queue. The estimator decides whether to re-price.

The do-it-yourself alternative is to stitch these steps together in Zapier, Make or n8n, or to script them in-house. Those tools can keep run histories, retries and error branches, and can produce audit evidence, when they are configured that way. The buyer still designs and owns the parts that matter most: idempotency, so a retried step does not create a duplicate order; escalation when a step fails; access controls on API keys; and maintenance when the ERP changes its fields. A proposed US Tech Automations design could configure the run log, the error routing and the review queues as one set, with the same prerequisites. The buyer still decides which prices may be sent and who approves them.

Who this is for

Choose a quoting layer such as Paperless Parts or SecturaFAB if your estimators work from drawings and you already have accounting or an ERP to receive the result. Choose Cetec ERP or Katana if you need one system for inventory, production and costing, and you are prepared to confirm how deep its estimating goes. Choose Tekla PowerFab only if you fabricate structural steel from models.

Red flags: your drawings are not ready to send to a vendor, so the tool would estimate from descriptions alone. You need a fixed published price before you speak with anyone, which rules out most of this list. You want one system to replace a process you have not written down yet.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations

A workflow layer from US Tech Automations is the wrong choice if your quote volume is low enough that one estimator and a spreadsheet handle it without rework, because a workflow adds configuration you then have to maintain. It is also the wrong choice if you want one vendor to handle estimating and ERP together, since Cetec ERP and Katana already combine them in one product. And if your work is structural steel, Tekla PowerFab's model-based estimating is built for that job, so a separate workflow layer adds little.

Glossary

• Nesting: arranging parts on a sheet or plate to calculate material use and scrap.

• DFM check: a rule that flags a design a shop cannot make cheaply, such as a tight bend radius.

• Cost model: a set of formulas for machine time, setup, labor and overhead for one process.

• Bill of materials (BOM): the list of parts and raw materials that go into one product.

• SKU: a stock-keeping unit, the code that identifies one item you sell or track.

• ERP: enterprise resource planning software that runs accounting, inventory, production and orders in one system.

• Should-cost: an estimate of what a part should cost to make, used to test supplier prices.

• Routing: the sequence of operations and work centers a part passes through.

Before you request quotes

• Export three recent drawings or part lists in the formats your estimators actually use.

• Ask each vendor for a written price, the support tier, and the cost of any setup or integration work.

• Ask which ERP or accounting system the tool exports to, and whether that export is included.

• Request a demonstration on one of your own drawings, not the vendor's sample file.

• Confirm who owns cost-model setup and who maintains it after go-live.

• Write down the one bottleneck you are fixing, so you can judge the result against it.

Frequently asked questions

Does fabrication estimating software need an ERP?

No, a quoting tool can run on its own, but it should export to the system that runs your orders. Costimator describes XML export to ERP systems, and SecturaFAB describes pushing quotes to your ERP.

Which fabrication estimating software publishes prices?

Only Cetec ERP and Katana publish a price on their own pricing pages, with a per-user rate and a free plan respectively. The other four tools in this guide direct buyers to a quote.

Is Cetec ERP a fair comparison with a quoting tool?

Only partly, because Cetec is an ERP with estimating, while Paperless Parts and SecturaFAB focus on quoting from drawings. Compare them on the scope you need, not on headline price.

Can a spreadsheet replace fabrication estimating software?

Yes, for a shop that quotes the same few part types from simple inputs. Move off a spreadsheet when estimators re-key drawing data or when two people price the same job differently.

Are the productivity claims from vendors reliable?

Treat them as vendor claims. MTI attributes its 78% estimating-speed figure to customer surveys, and we found no independent verification of it.

Is Tekla PowerFab right for a sheet-metal shop?

Usually not. The vendor page and 2019 launch coverage describe it as built for steel fabricators.

Conclusion

For most small metal shops, the first decision is the category and the second is proof: a written price and a test on your own drawings. Start with a quoting layer if drawings are the bottleneck, with an ERP that includes estimating if you need one system, and with Tekla PowerFab only if you fabricate structural steel. If you already have a shortlist and need the handoff between estimate and order designed and reviewed, see how US Tech Automations configures this.