Ostendo alternatives
Ostendo alternatives for NZ and Australian businesses
Ostendo: $1,250 per single user licence, $1,000 each at five or more, plus 20% a year to renew.
- check_circleYour data in a database you own
- check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
- check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA
The options
What people compare Ostendo with
Ostendo charges you per concurrent user licence, plus an annual renewal fee from year two, and separate consulting days for setup, training and custom reports, all on top of the accounting system you already run. You start looking for an alternative when the seat count, the renewal fee and the report requests add up faster than the jobs on your floor.
Often compared
Katana
A manufacturing job shop system in the same category as Ostendo, covering BOMs, work orders, job costing and stock, and one of the tools businesses weigh up against it.
Often compared
MRPeasy
Another job shop system covering the same ground as Ostendo, BOMs, work orders, job costing and stock, and one businesses put on the same shortlist.
Yours to own
Job Shop for Claude Code
The open-source manufacturing job shop system that is just a database and Claude Code. Built around your business, with your Ostendo data brought across.
See how it worksWe also replace
Paying for something other than Ostendo?
Job Shop for Claude Code replaces these too, with your records brought across.
How to choose
How to choose a Ostendo alternative
- 1
What the bill is tied to
Ostendo ties your bill to concurrent seats, an annual renewal fee from year two, and consulting days for setup and reports, on top of your accounting system. Check whether an alternative charges the same way, or ties its bill to something else entirely, before you compare totals.
- 2
Whether your records stay yours
With Ostendo the jobs, hours, stock and invoices are yours, but the screens around them are rented, per seat, every year. Ask any alternative the same question directly: if you left tomorrow, do you walk out with your own records in a database you own, or with nothing?
- 3
Whether it fits your own rules
A custom report or a new field on Ostendo means another visit from the partner who set it up. Before you switch, check whether the alternative lets you add a field, a rule or a report yourself, in plain language, without booking a consultant.
- 4
What the switch actually involves
Moving off Ostendo means getting your customers, items and job history out and into whatever replaces it. Ask exactly how that import works, whether there is a dry run before anything is committed, and what happens to jobs already open on the floor.
The option that fits
A version built around how your shop runs
Enterprise DNA builds each business its own version of Job Shop for Claude Code, brings the Ostendo data across, and runs it for you. You pay one setup fee, then a monthly retainer, with no per-seat licence and no annual renewal fee. There is also a free version an owner can run themselves, on a database they own from day one, reshaped by describing the change in plain language rather than booking a partner.
- check One setup fee, then a monthly retainer, no per seat
- check Your Ostendo history imported, dry run first
- check Change fields and rules yourself, in plain language
Make it yours
Design your own Ostendo replacement
Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Ostendo. Try it here, and we build the real one.
2. What it runs
3. Make it fit
4. Your colour
Answered from your own database
Good morning. Here is what needs you today.
We build it from the open-source base, bring your Ostendo data across and run it for you.
Questions
Ostendo alternatives, answered
What is Ostendo actually costing us beyond the licence? expand_more
Ostendo charges per concurrent user licence, then adds an annual renewal fee from year two, plus separate consulting days for setup, training and custom reports, all sitting on top of the accounting system you already pay for. The screens are rented every year, even though the jobs, hours and stock underneath them are yours.
How does Job Shop for Claude Code charge instead of per seat? expand_more
There is no per-seat licence and no annual renewal fee. Enterprise DNA builds your version, brings your Ostendo data across and runs it for you for one setup fee, then a monthly retainer. Point the whole team at the same database and everyone works from the same records at once.
Can we run an owned alternative ourselves before paying anyone? expand_more
Yes. There is a free version under an MIT licence that you can run yourself, on a database you own, with no account, no per-seat charge and no renewal fee ever. Enterprise DNA's paid version adds a build around your business plus running it for you.
What happens to our Ostendo records if we move? expand_more
Export your customers, suppliers, items and job list as spreadsheet files, then import them with a dry run first so nothing is lost before it is committed. Open jobs come across as live work, finished jobs as history on each customer's card.
Done comparing? Own the one that fits.
30 minutes with Sam. Bring what Ostendo costs you a year and how you run. We show you what your own version looks like, and if it is a fit, we build it and bring your data across.
Get your version builtDone paying for Ostendo?
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