Art Gallery Software - Leading Providers
All information provided has been gathered by Masterpiece Solutions, Inc. Our goal is to provide an accurate and simple comparison. If you find anything in error, please send your feedback to info@masterpiecesolutions.com. All feedback will be reviewed and updates to the site will be made to reflect the most current and accurate information.
Masterpiece Solutions | Masterpiece Manager Version10
Company Website
Founded in 1995, Masterpiece Solutions is based in Parker, Colorado. Masterpiece Solutions is recognized as the pioneer of the Art Gallery Software market. It was the first retail automation software product to deliver fully automated websites to its clients. Masterpiece released its 10th version of the software and website suite ofe software and web site suite. This version includes several significant NEW capabilities never before available to the art business. Some of these are Email Marketing, Online Auctions, Quickbooks Integration and Online/Off-line business continuity. The company offers telephone and email support that is included in the monthly subscription fee. In addition to its position as an innovator in the industry, Masterpiece also receives very strong reviews for its customer support.
Masterpiece Solutions offers two options for art gallery software: Desktop software that is downloaded (marketed by the name Arete) and Masterpiece Manager Version10 the 100% Cloud-based software and web site suite. This page is a review of the Version10 software suite.
Pros:
15+ years delivering exclusively to the art business
No term commitments required
Offers desktop and web-based art gallery software option
Global presence with gallery clients on every continent
Cloud-based solutions hosted with Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing
Works with Macs and Pcs - and any combination of computing environments
Fully automated websites - also works with 3rd party websites
Huge portfolio of website customers - 400+
Complete POS module - including payment processing
Full Email Marketing Module - replaces iContact or ConstantContact
Online Auctions - proprietary or public
Unlimited support
No long-term contracts
Inexpensive
Cons:
Slow to deliver Mac compatible version
Not located in major art market like NYC, London or Santa Fe
Artbase
Company Website
The first solution in the marketplace was introduced in 1991. Originally designed as an installed software solution, it is now an exclusively a server installed program that must run within your business location. It includes Inventory as well as Contact Management solutions. These capabilities are handled quite expertly. Large omissions are website integration, POS, and Email marketing.
Pros:
Works on any computer: Mac, PC, Linux
Unlimited support
No long-term contracts
Cons:
Not a web-based solution
Can not be accessed when away from business location
Requires additional FileMaker Pro software license
No integrated website solution
No Build Your Website capability
Requires computer configuration and network management expertise
No POS module (requires external POS terminal)
No Quickbooks integration
Does not offer Auctions
Does not offer complete email marketing solution
Offers no online marketplace for marketing your goods
artcloud
Company Website
'artcloud' is a late entrant into the market (2014). It was created by
OntoLogic, a company with previous software ventures in the Legal, Healthcare and other industries. In January 2015, art become the new focus of OntoLogic. The company is run by husband and wife Alex and Emily West based in Georgia.
"Ontologic owns 100 percent of this company, ArtCloud. We are just in art galleries now but we are about to expand into boutique retail. We are going to turn it into a point-of-sale system... whatever it is, watches, paintings, pots." - artcloud CEO Alex West, 2014
Pros:
Not enough history to evaluate
Web based access
Cons:
Artist Review by Christine Wong
Poor, annoying user experience. Dimensions, medium, and pricing are all required before you can create an artwork record. That is not always possible. For example, if you are having the work fabricated, or you have already shipped off the work, you can not measure it. Further, artists who are represented by galleries don not set prices. You should be able to create a record with the info you have and fill in blanks later. You should not be forced to make something up in order to save a new record. These are completely arbitrary limitations. Another example of this is that the inventory number field only allows numbers, no letters, dots or hyphens (the CALL workbook suggests including your initials, and possibly a letter to indicate a category, such as P
for painting
).
Buggy. I signed in for a trial, and created a new record, got a pop-up that a new record was created, but it's nowhere to be found. I tried it again, with the same result, with the additional bug that the image field is no longer clickable.
It's like an inventory system for an art business, with Artwork
sharing the main menu with Merchandise
, Clients
, and Invoices
.
No field for exhibition history
ArtSystems | Gallery Pro
Company Website
Founded in 1989. Artsystems has requested that detailed company information not be shared on this page.
Pros:
Lengthy history serving the art industry
Tech support included in subscription fees
Robust feature set
Located in New York City
New Mac compatible desktop software option
Integrated web site option
Cons:
Expensive
Limited features: No Mass Email, No Online Auction, No Marketplace
No web-based software option (must download software to computer)
Extra fees for additional user licenses
Clients can not use their own web sites
No mass email capability
Managed Artwork
Company Website
Founded in 2001, Managed Artwork is a relative late-comer to our industry. Founded as the first “online” solution, it offers a thinner solution than Artsystems. As the only web-based solution when introduced, Managed Artwork found a following of forward-thinking customers that did not want to be restricted to a certain type of computer platform or location. This business model also allowed Managed Artwork to offer the first “subscription-based” pricing model. The company restricts the size and number of images its customers can post to the program. This may be the result of an aging platform that is not coping well with the bandwidth and capacity needs of modern imaging standards.
Pros:
Online
Works on any computer: Mac, PC, Linux.
Website integration (works with your own website)
Unlimited support
No long-term contracts
Cons:
No “off-line” mode. Does not work without Internet connection
No POS module (requires external POS terminal)
Cannot use your own website
No Build Your Website capability
No Quickbooks integration
Does not offer Auctions
Does not offer complete email marketing solution
Offers no online marketplace for marketing your goods
Expensive – menu pricing means that a full featured solution is $2000 for setup, and $600 per month