Honest comparison
MetalShopHQ vs. JobBOSS.
JobBOSS² (from Shoptech / ECI) is one of the longest-running shop-management systems in the metal-fab space. We respect what they’ve built. But the best fit for a 5-to-50-person custom-fab shop in 2026 isn’t always the tool a 200-person manufacturer reaches for. Here’s where each one wins.
JobBOSS is for…
Established mid-to-large manufacturers (50–500+ employees) with dedicated ERP administrators, on-premise deployments, deep payroll and accounting integrations, and an existing investment in JobBOSS workflows.
MetalShopHQ is for…
Small and mid-sized custom-fab shops (3–50 employees) that want shop-floor software running the same day, on a tablet, with no consultants and no implementation project.
Side by side.
Based on publicly available information about JobBOSSas of 2026. Tell us if something’s out of date.
| Feature | JobBOSS | MetalShopHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first job tracked | Weeks of implementation, often consultant-led. | Same day. Most shops are live in under an hour. |
| Pricing transparency | Quote-only. Sales call required to learn the number. | Free during launch. Tiers published Q2 2026. |
| Shop-floor UX | Desktop-first. Workable on a tablet, but not designed for it. | Designed for thumbs and gloves. Tablet-first time tracking. |
| AI document ingest | Not a core feature. | Drop a supplier invoice or quote — AI extracts supplier, doc number, total. Human review before commit. |
| Role-based shop-floor privacy | Configurable but requires admin work. | Five roles ship by default. Shop staff never see costs or supplier prices. |
| Quoting integration | Built-in quoting module, deep but heavy. | Pairs with MetalCutHQ for instant customer-facing CNC quoting. |
| Accounting integration | Deep ERP integrations including payroll. | QuickBooks invoice number linking; more on the roadmap. |
| Hosting | On-premise or hosted; both options. | Cloud only. Canadian data residency. |
When JobBOSS is the better choice.
You’re a 100+ employee manufacturer with established ERP processes, a dedicated systems administrator, on-premise hosting requirements, or heavy-duty payroll integration needs that JobBOSS’s decades of development have solidly covered. If you already run JobBOSS and it fits — stay.
When MetalShopHQ wins.
You run a custom-fab shop, you’d rather get jobs moving on the floor this week than spend a quarter on an implementation, your shop staff use tablets in the bay, you want AI helping with supplier docs, and you want to see the price before booking a sales call.
See if MetalShopHQ fits your shop.
20-minute call, honest answer. If we’re not a fit, we’ll say so.