Since the end of October, a shop can run on InkTracker for $0 a month. Not a trial, not a stripped-down demo that nags you to upgrade. You sign up, you quote, your customer approves the mockup and pays online, and nobody bills you at the end of the month. I want to lay out exactly how that works, including the part where we still make money, because "free" from a software company usually comes with a catch, and you should know where ours is.
What the Free plan includes
The whole front half of running a job, the part every shop does every day:
- Quotes and orders. Your own pricing, quantity breaks, color counts, embroidery by stitch count. The same quote engine the paid plan uses.
- Mockups and customer approval. Put the art on the garment, send it, and get a yes you can point to before anything goes on press.
- Online payments. A pay link on every quote and invoice. Card or bank transfer, the customer's choice.
- Invoices and customers. Customer records, invoices, and the quote wizard you can embed on your own website so people price their own job and send it to you.
- Production status. Where each job is, so the person at the press and the person on the phone agree.
- QuickBooks for jobs paid online. When a customer pays through InkTracker, the invoice and payment land in QuickBooks Online. No retyping.
- PDF export, 1 GB of file storage, and 20 RipIT film downloads a month. RipIT is our color separation tool. Twenty films covers a lot of spot-color jobs.
No card to sign up. US shops only for now, because the payments piece runs on Stripe accounts we can open in the US.
So how do we get paid?
When your customer pays online. That's it. On the Free plan InkTracker takes 0.9% of a card payment and 1.5% of a bank transfer, on top of what Stripe charges to move the money. If a customer pays you by check or cash instead, there's no fee at all.
What it costs on a $1,000 order
Card: $38.30 all-in. That is Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ ($29.30) plus our 0.9% ($9.00). Bank transfer: $20.00 all-in. That is Stripe's 0.8% ($5.00 here, since Stripe stops at $5) plus our 1.5% ($15.00). Our share has no cap on either.
A lot of "free" tools make their money on the payment fee too. The difference is we publish the number, and you can see it on every invoice.
What the $99 plan adds
The back half of the job, and the things a growing shop needs:
- Supplier ordering. Live S&S Activewear and AS Colour prices and stock on the quote, and a purchase order for the blanks straight from the order.
- Full QuickBooks sync. Every invoice, not only the ones paid online, plus expenses.
- Unlimited employees and a broker portal. Your whole crew on the shop floor, and contract customers with their own pricing.
- Full production tracking, performance reports, 5 GB of storage, unlimited RipIT films.
- Lower payment fees. Cards cost 2.99% all-in and bank transfers 1%, capped at $20. That matches QuickBooks Payments.
- The rebate: your customers' payments pay your bill. Every dollar InkTracker earns on your payments comes straight off your $99. A bank payment of $2,000 or more takes $13.50 off. Eight of those in a month and the plan costs you nothing.
When Free is the right call, and when it isn't
Here's the honest math. The Free plan costs you about 0.84% more on cards and 1% more on bank transfers than the $99 plan does. So if your customers pay roughly $10,000 a month or more through InkTracker, the $99 plan is already cheaper on fees alone, before the rebate. Under that, Free wins.
- Stay on Free if you're a one- or two-person shop, you take most payments by check or cash, or you're still deciding whether you want software at all. There's nothing to lose by starting here.
- Move to $99 when you're ordering blanks every week, you want every invoice in QuickBooks, you've got a crew that needs the shop floor view, or your online payments pass that $10k a month mark.
And if you move up and it turns out you didn't need it, cancel. Your shop goes back to Free with everything still in it. No contract, no export-and-start-over.
Why we did it
We run Biota Mfg on InkTracker every day, and we've talked to a lot of shops this year. The ones that need software most are the small ones that can least justify $100 a month before the software has done anything for them. A free plan that earns its keep only when your customer pays you felt like the right deal for a print shop. You get paid, then we get paid. In that order.
That's the whole thing. Sign up on Free, set your pricing, send a quote. If it earns its place in your shop, you'll know.
Common questions
- Is InkTracker really free?
- Yes. The Free plan has no monthly bill and no trial period. InkTracker earns 0.9% of card payments and 1.5% of bank transfers when your customers pay online through it, on top of Stripe's processing fee. If you don't take payments online, you pay nothing.
- Do I need a credit card to sign up?
- No. Sign-up starts on the Free plan with no card. You add a card only if you move to the $99 plan.
- What does the Free plan leave out?
- Supplier ordering (live S&S and AS Colour pricing and purchase orders), full QuickBooks sync for invoices not paid online, unlimited employees, the broker portal, performance reports, storage above 1 GB, and RipIT films beyond 20 a month. Those are on the $99 plan.
- When is the $99 plan cheaper than Free?
- At around $10,000 a month in online payments. Free costs about 0.84% more on cards and 1% more on bank transfers, so above that volume the $99 plan's lower fees cover its price. The $99 plan also credits what InkTracker earns on your payments back against the bill.
- What happens if I cancel the $99 plan?
- Your shop moves back to Free with all of your customers, quotes, orders and invoices still there. You can also export everything as CSV at any time.