Top 10 Bill of Materials (BOM) Software Tools Compared

Ten BOM platforms across PLM, cloud BOM and ERP, what each one is built for, and how a SolidWorks team gets an indented parts list built from the assembly itself.

You can settle a BOM tool with one test: after a week of revisions, does the parts list still match your assemblies? Most teams fail that test in a spreadsheet — someone exports, someone edits, and the two drift apart by the next design change.

This guide covers the ten platforms worth evaluating, what each one is actually built for, and how to work out which category you belong in before you sit through five demos. If your designs are in SolidWorks, start with live Bills of Materials generated from SolidWorks assemblies — that one page may settle the search before the first demo.

Sibe is a collaboration-first CAD Document Management platform with a native add-in for SOLIDWORKS® 3D CAD. Check an assembly in directly in SolidWorks and Sibe builds an indented Bill of Materials from that assembly’s own references, so the parts list and the model stay on the same version. Details are on the BOM management for SolidWorks page.

Start here: the four kinds of BOM tool

Most confusion in a BOM search comes from comparing tools that were never built for the same job. There are really four categories.

• PLM suites — Siemens Teamcenter, PTC Windchill, Arena, Propel. Built to manage the whole product lifecycle across mechanical, electrical and software, usually across several CAD systems. Deep change control and variant management, priced and staffed accordingly.
• Cloud BOM and purchasing tools — OpenBOM, PartsBox. Focused on the item master, cost roll-ups, vendors and purchasing rather than the CAD side.
• ERP — NetSuite and similar. The BOM lives next to costing, planning and production, which is right when manufacturing execution is the problem you are solving.
• CAD document management — the BOM is generated from the assembly itself, so the parts list and the model cannot drift apart. The shortest route when your designs live in one CAD system.

Four questions place you in one of those faster than any feature matrix:

1. Where does your product data actually live? If the answer is “in our SolidWorks assemblies,” a tool that reads those assemblies beats one you feed by hand.
2. Who needs to read the BOM? If purchasing and project managers need it, seat cost and browser access matter more than advanced configuration management.
3. How often do revisions land? The more often the design changes, the more expensive a hand-maintained list becomes.
4. Who administers it? A PLM rollout assumes someone owns it. A ten-person engineering team usually has nobody spare.

For SolidWorks teams: your assembly is already the BOM

If your team designs in SolidWorks, you can get a current parts list without adding a separate platform. Check in your assembly directly in SolidWorks and Sibe builds an indented BOM in the Web Dashboard: subassemblies, parts, and quantities read from the assembly’s references. Quantities count automatically, including parts repeated across subassemblies — no tallying by hand. Check in a new version and the BOM updates with it.

Map your existing SolidWorks custom properties to columns — part numbers, materials, descriptions, finishes — or add a blank column and type in something that lives outside CAD. Check the BOM out to add rows for items that never appear in a feature tree, such as packaging, fasteners and adhesives, then check it back in; Undo Check-Out discards the edits. Export to Excel (XLSX) or CSV from the Web Dashboard when purchasing wants a file.

Your whole team works from the same list. Editors and Contributors generate, edit, and export BOMs in the browser; Viewers get read-only access — so purchasing and project managers never need a SolidWorks seat.

Worth being straight about the scope: the current release builds one indented BOM from the assembly’s Default Configuration, all BOM work happens in the Web Dashboard, and it is labeled Feature Preview in-product. BOMs are on the Business Plus plan, with transparent per-user pricing rather than an enterprise quote. Setup takes under 20 minutes. The BOM management for SolidWorks page has the full feature rundown.

Want it run on one of your own assemblies? Book a free 20-minute demo — bring a messy assembly with subassemblies and repeated hardware and we will build the BOM live.

Need multi-domain enterprise BOMs across mechanical, electrical, and software? That is what the platforms below are built for.

1. Siemens Teamcenter

Best for: large enterprises managing complex products across mechanical, electrical, and software domains.

Key features:

• Multi-domain BOM management — engineering, manufacturing and service BOMs
• Cloud option via Teamcenter X, in Essentials, Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers
• Product cost management with target-versus-actual analysis
• Deep CAD and ERP integration plus compliance management

Pricing: enterprise licensing, quote required.

2. PTC Windchill

Best for: regulated industries — medical devices, aerospace, automotive — that need tight change control.

Key features:

• Part-centric BOMs with structure comparison and revision control
• Integrated cost analysis through Windchill Cost
• Advanced configuration and variant management
• Extensive CAD and ERP integrations

Pricing: subscription tiers, published entry pricing; confirm current rates with PTC.

3. Autodesk Fusion Manage

Best for: small and medium manufacturers already in the Autodesk ecosystem.

Key features:

• Cloud PLM with embedded BOM management
• Configurable workflows for new product introduction
• Change control and supplier collaboration
• Works alongside the Autodesk design tools

Pricing: quote required, not publicly listed.

4. Arena PLM (by PTC)

Best for: high-tech and medical device companies that want cloud-native PLM.

Key features:

• Centralized BOM and change management
• Real-time collaboration across internal teams and suppliers
• Supply Chain Intelligence to track BOM health, risk and compliance
• One-click CAD integration with Onshape

Pricing: quote required, SaaS subscription.

5. OpenBOM

Best for: small to mid-sized companies that need BOM, purchasing and vendor management together.

Key features:

• Cloud item and BOM management with cost roll-ups
• Integrations with Onshape, Autodesk Fusion, SolidWorks, Altium and more
• Vendor and purchasing workflows, including RFQs
• Change request and revision management

Pricing:

• Team: $100 per user per month
• Company: $150 per user per month
• Enterprise: custom quote

6. Propel PLM (Salesforce-native)

Best for: companies already invested in Salesforce who want PLM, QMS and PIM in one environment.

Key features:

• Native Salesforce data model for BOM and change control
• Unified product record across engineering, quality and marketing
• PDX package support for BOM and AML exchange with external partners

Pricing: custom quote only.

7. SOLIDWORKS PDM with SOLIDWORKS Manage

Best for: SOLIDWORKS-centric engineering teams that need BOM extraction, traceability and database-driven reporting.

Key features:

• PDM vaults with BOM templates and CAD integration
• SOLIDWORKS Manage adds database-driven BOMs, reporting and variant configuration
• Links the engineering BOM (eBOM) to the manufacturing BOM (mBOM)

Pricing: varies by reseller, typically bundled with SOLIDWORKS licenses. (Dassault Systèmes and reseller product documentation, accessed 31 August 2026.)

8. Altium 365 with ActiveBOM

Best for: electronics teams that want supply-chain-aware BOMs alongside PCB design.

Key features:

• ActiveBOM surfaces real-time supplier data — price, availability, lifecycle risk
• Hosted in Altium 365 for design collaboration
• Supply chain risk visible inside the BOM review

Pricing: included in Altium subscription plans; contact the vendor.

9. PartsBox

Best for: small electronics companies managing inventory and BOMs for production.

Key features:

• Tracks component inventory across locations
• BOMs linked to stock, with automatic shortage detection
• Generates purchasing and production orders from BOM data

Pricing: public plans on the vendor site, varying by scale and seats.

10. NetSuite ERP

Best for: manufacturers who need the BOM sitting inside ERP, MRP and costing.

Key features:

• BOM records with revisions, effective dates and costing
• Costed BOM SuiteApp for analysis and roll-ups
• Integrated supply planning and manufacturing resource planning

Pricing: contact Oracle NetSuite.

The ten platforms at a glance

Verify pricing on vendor sites before you buy — plans and list prices change.

Which of these is right for you

Rather than ranking them against each other, here is the honest routing:

• Products across several CAD systems, departments and formal change processes — a PLM suite earns its keep; Teamcenter and Windchill for scale and regulation, Arena or Propel for cloud-native
• A BOM that has to sit next to costing and production planning — the ERP route, with NetSuite as the reference point
• Buying parts as much as designing them — OpenBOM and PartsBox are built around vendors, stock and purchasing
• An electronics-led product — Altium 365 with ActiveBOM keeps supply risk visible during design
• Designs in SolidWorks and a parts list that just has to stay current — you do not need an enterprise rollout; generate the BOM from the assembly and it cannot drift

BOM software FAQs

How do I create a BOM from a SolidWorks assembly?

Check in your assembly directly in SolidWorks — Sibe reads its references and builds an indented BOM in the Web Dashboard. Quantities count automatically, including parts repeated across subassemblies, and every new check-in refreshes the BOM. See BOM management for SolidWorks.

What is the difference between BOM software and PLM?

PLM suites manage the full product lifecycle — BOMs plus change orders, variants, quality and compliance — across many CAD and business systems. If the job is keeping an accurate parts list from your SolidWorks assemblies, BOM tooling inside a CAD document management platform covers it with far less setup.

What is the difference between an eBOM and an mBOM?

An engineering BOM (eBOM) reflects how the product is designed — the structure that comes out of your CAD assembly. A manufacturing BOM (mBOM) reflects how it is actually built, reorganized into production steps and including items that never appear in the model, such as packaging, adhesives and consumables. Most teams start from the eBOM and add to it.

Can people outside the CAD team work with the BOM?

With Sibe, yes — Editors and Contributors generate, edit, and export BOMs in the browser, and Viewers get read-only access. Purchasing and project managers work with the parts list without a SolidWorks seat.

Can I export a BOM to Excel?

Most platforms on this list export BOMs. Sibe exports to Excel (XLSX) or CSV from the Web Dashboard, so you can hand purchasing or a supplier a file they can open.

Where Sibe fits

If you manage products across several CAD systems, departments, and formal change processes, a PLM suite from this list earns its keep. If your BOM needs to live next to costing and production planning, the ERP route makes sense.

And if your team designs in SolidWorks and mainly needs the parts list to stay current, you do not need an enterprise rollout to get there. Sibe’s BOM management for SolidWorks builds an indented BOM from every assembly you check in, alongside automatic version control, revision and approval workflows, and browser-based design reviews that a non-CAD reviewer opens from a share link. Live in under 20 minutes. No servers, no VPNs, no admin hassles.

The fastest way to judge it is on your own data: Book a free 20-minute demo and Ken, our Chief Solutions Architect, will build a BOM live from one of your assemblies and answer your workflow questions. Prefer to poke around first? Try Sibe free for 14 days — no credit card.