Presswise

PressWise by SmartSoft has been a popular cloud-based print production workflow system for small to midsize print service providers, with users praising its value proposition and noting "for the price of the solution I don't think it can be beat." Many shops appreciate the workflow improvements, with print files going directly to press and freeing up graphics teams, along with responsive and friendly support.

However, some print shop owners are exploring alternatives due to:

• Poor QuickBooks integration — Users consistently report "the QB integration is terrible," with critical issues including incomplete data imports where "full data and descriptions do not import into QB," and orders being prematurely marked as closed in QuickBooks while still actively in production
• Steep learning curve for storefronts — Compared to competitors, PressWise has a notably "steep learning curve when it comes to setting up a storefront," making initial implementation more time-consuming than alternatives
• Problematic update management — Users report that "some of the update pushes are not very well communicated by SmartSoft and cause disruptions and/or API programming link breakage," leading to unexpected downtime
• Weak inventory and specialty item handling — The platform "lacks in handling promo items" with competitors excelling "over PressWise in the inventory management" department, and partial shipping described as "the feature that is the largest struggle"
• Limited pricing transparency — Rather than published pricing tiers, potential customers must contact SmartSoft for custom pricing, making it difficult to evaluate cost before significant time investment

If you need seamless QuickBooks integration, better inventory management for promotional products, easier storefront setup, or more transparent pricing, the alternatives below offer different approaches that may better serve your commercial printing operation.