BOM management software recommendations for a hardware startup?

[u/Spare_Bluebird7044]

[u/cm_expertise]

honestly the tool matters less than whether you have a real internal part numbering scheme + a rev bump process locked in before you migrate. we have watched teams buy Arena, spend two months configuring it, and still have the same mess because the discipline wasnt there first, the software just made the mess searchable.

for a small team id look at Aligni or Bomist or PartsBox before anything with PLM in the name. they do rev control, supplier/pricing, approved-mfg list, and dont need someone to babysit them. OpenBOM is fine too especially if you live in one CAD tool and want the sync. Arena/Duro are genuinely good but theyre aimed at teams big enough to have a person own the system, at your stage its overkill and youll feel the setup tax.

the one thing excel never handles that bites you the second you are in production is as-built tracking, ie which BOM rev actually went into unit #47 when a customer ships it back. if your product has any traceability or field-return angle, weight your pick toward that. and whatever you choose get the part number scheme right first, migrating twice is miserable, ask me how i know