A printIQ alternative built for flexographic prepress trade shops
printIQ is a cloud MIS for printers and converters that run presses — estimating, web-to-print, and online ordering priced per sheet, label, or unit. Flexoworks is purpose-built for flexo plate trade shops, where the unit of business is plate area, not print output. Native plate-area quoting and billing, three-party customer flows, and a record that runs from artwork intake to invoice.
printIQ is built for the press. Flexoworks is built for the plate.
printIQ is the superior choice for printers and converters that run their own presses — cloud-based estimating, web-to-print customer portals, and online ordering across offset, digital, label, and packaging. Its quoting is built around production output: per sheet, per label, per lineal meter, per unit. Flexoworks is the system of record for flexographic prepress trade shops that sell plates, not print runs — plate-area quoting and billing (area × rate × count), customer-and-job tracking from artwork intake to invoice, and clean QuickBooks handoff. The right call for plate trade shops.
A press-and-converter MIS isn't a plate trade shop MIS.
printIQ is a capable cloud MIS for printers and converters. The mismatch is structural: a prepress trade shop sells imaged plates, not print runs — and printIQ's estimating, pricing, and customer model are shaped for the company that runs the press.
Pricing is per sheet, label, or unit — not plate area
printIQ quotes production output: per sheet, per lineal meter, per unit, with die libraries and imposition. A trade shop bills the square inch of imaged photopolymer (area × rate × count). That plate math becomes a configuration exercise on top of a press-oriented engine.
Built for the press floor, not the prepress trade shop
Production boards, shop-floor data capture, inventory, and scheduling assume you manufacture printed product. A plate trade shop's record is intake → prepress → plate imaging/QC → delivery → invoice — a different lifecycle.
One customer per order, not three parties
printIQ models a customer ordering print. A flexo trade shop routinely bills the brand for plates, ships to the converter, and rebills the designer. The three-party flow isn't the default shape of the data model.
Web-to-print storefronts solve a printer's problem
printIQ's strength is self-serve ordering and online storefronts — valuable when end customers order printed product. Trade shops need structured artwork intake from brands and converters, not a public web-to-print catalog.
Flexoworks ships the trade-shop model out of the box. Plate area, plate type, gauge, screening, gang allocation, brands, converters, and designers are first-class entities — and it integrates with the prepress workflow tools (Esko, Kodak, Hybrid) shops already run on the imaging side, rather than replacing them.
Where each tool earns its keep — and where it doesn't.
| Dimension | Flexoworks | Esko Automation Engine | printIQ | Generic ERP / QuickBooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary buyer | Flexo prepress trade shops (sell plates) | Prepress workflow (any technique) | Printers & converters (run presses) | Generic accounting + ops |
| Billing model | Plate area × rate × count — native | Not an MIS | Per sheet / label / unit (print output) | Manual |
| Quote-to-invoice continuity | Same plate math drives quote and invoice | Not an MIS | Strong for press-run estimates | Re-keyed each step |
| Web-to-print / customer portals | Structured brand/converter intake | Not its role | Native — self-serve ordering & storefronts | None |
| Plate type / gauge / screening | First-class entities | Native (workflow side) | Generic job specs | Free-text fields |
| Three-party billing (brand → converter → shop) | Core design point | Not an MIS | One customer per order | Spreadsheet |
| Esko / Kodak / Hybrid integration | Yes — sits above the RIP | N/A — is Esko | Esko/Enfocus integrations | None |
| Accounting integration | QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, NetSuite | Not an MIS | Cloud accounting connectors | Is the accounting tool |
Native / strong fitPartial / requires workNot a fit
What flexo trade shops ask when comparing printIQ.
What is the difference between printIQ and Flexoworks?
printIQ is a cloud-based print MIS built for printers and converters that run their own presses — estimating, web-to-print storefronts, online ordering, and production scheduling across offset, digital, label, and packaging. Its quoting is shaped around production output: per sheet, per label, per lineal meter, per unit. Flexoworks is purpose-built for flexographic prepress trade shops that sell plates, where the unit of business is plate area — quoting and invoicing run on area × rate × count, with three-party billing across brands, converters, and designers native to the model.Is Flexoworks better than printIQ?
It depends on what you sell. If you run presses and sell printed product, printIQ's estimating and web-to-print storefronts are a strong fit. If you are a prepress trade shop that sells imaged photopolymer plates, Flexoworks is the better fit — plate-area quoting and billing, gang allocation across customer POs, and converter delivery are first-class, not custom configuration. Flexoworks is the system of record for the trade-shop business; printIQ is calibrated for the printer/converter.Is Flexoworks cheaper than printIQ?
For a flexo plate trade shop, generally yes on total cost of ownership. printIQ is tiered cloud MIS (Small Business through Enterprise) priced for printers and converters, and configuring it to plate-area economics adds implementation effort. Flexoworks is SaaS priced per active user with usage tiers based on monthly plate area billed — see Flexoworks pricing for the breakdown. No plate-area workarounds to build or maintain.Can Flexoworks replace printIQ?
For a prepress trade shop that sells plates rather than print runs, yes — Flexoworks owns quoting, job and customer tracking, plate imaging/QC status, delivery, and invoicing in one record. For a printer or converter that needs press estimating, scheduling, inventory, and customer storefronts, printIQ remains the stronger fit. Flexoworks is built for the trade-shop layer, not the press floor.Does printIQ handle plate-area billing for flexo trade shops?
printIQ has a flexo solution with die libraries, imposition controls, and custom shape calculators, and it prices per sheet, per lineal meter, and per unit. But its economics assume you are manufacturing printed product. A trade shop bills the square inch of imaged photopolymer (area × rate × count) and often bills the brand, ships to the converter, and rebills the designer. That plate-area, three-party model is native in Flexoworks rather than configured on top of a press-oriented MIS.Who should use printIQ instead of Flexoworks?
Printers and converters that run their own presses and sell printed product. If you need to estimate press runs, publish self-serve web-to-print storefronts, take online orders, and schedule the shop floor across offset, digital, label, and packaging, printIQ is purpose-built for that. Flexoworks is for the prepress trade shop upstream of the press that sells plates and invoices by plate area.
A 30-minute walkthrough on your real plate workflow — printIQ's model alongside Flexoworks, side by side.
Bring a quote, a job ticket, and a recent invoice. We'll show you the same job in Flexoworks end to end — quote, intake, plate area, gang allocation, ship, AR. No slideware.