Carbon vs PartsBox

Carbon combines ERP, MRP, MES, and QMS functions for manufacturers planning materials, running production, managing quality, and tracking actual costs. Product rules can generate bills of materials, routings, and quoted prices, with revision control and effectivity dates. Shop-floor tools include digital travelers, work instructions, QR and barcode tracking, and finite-capacity scheduling. First articles, nonconformances, CAPAs, and calibrations can be linked to production records, serials, and lots. Carbon is aimed at discrete manufacturers, including makers in defense, aerospace, automotive, medical devices, electronics, robotics, energy, space, semiconductors, and industrial equipment. Integrations include Onshape, SolidWorks, Slack, Jira, QuickBooks, Xero, and others. It provides REST endpoints, webhooks, an MCP server, and typed client generation for several languages. Deployment options include managed cloud, customer cloud accounts, Docker, on-premises, and air-gapped networks; air-gapped deployment is an Enterprise feature. Community includes core functionality under AGPL-3.0. Starter costs $40 a month, billed per user monthly, and a 30-day trial is listed.

PartsBox manages electronic parts inventory, BOM pricing, purchasing, production builds, and lot traceability for companies that build electronics. It tracks stock, storage locations, prices, and history, with quantities expressed in units such as pieces, length, weight, and area. BOM imports from KiCad, Altium, EAGLE, or CSV can be priced using distributor offers, price breaks, minimum order quantities, order multiples, and currency conversion. Production builds can be recorded in one pass or stages, including consumed stock and lots; additional tools include attrition, kitting, pick lists, and device serial numbers. Lot control tracks quantities, locations, costs, and production usability, with forward and backward traceability and an audit trail. Teams share an organization database with role-based access and can export entered data as one JSON file. Integrations include KiCad, Altium, a public API, and Zapier. PartsBox is cloud deployed and available through web and API. A free Maker plan is listed for personal projects; paid plans start at €49/mo when billed annually, and a 14-day trial is available.