Merlin vs Paperless Parts

What does Paperless Parts do?

Paperless Parts calls itself "The #1 Quoting & Estimating Software in Manufacturing" on its homepage. It names job shops and contract manufacturers as its audience, and lists sheet metal fabrication, CNC machining, Swiss screw machining and additive manufacturing, with aerospace and defense, heavy machinery and medical devices among its industries.

Its core is part file analysis: for sheet metal it detects "bends, holes, thickness irregularities, cut lengths, punch hit counts"; for CNC it looks at setup count, features and volume removal; for additive, build times and material volume. It lists ERP integrations including Epicor, Infor Visual and Fulcrum, and security claims including ITAR registration, AWS GovCloud hosting and CMMC Level 2 readiness. Its pricing page does not publish prices; it asks you to request them and says plans fit "a 5-person shop or a 500-person enterprise".

What is the core difference?

Paperless Parts works out what a part should cost to make. Merlin looks up what an item already costs on your price sheet. Those are different problems. A machine shop quoting a new bracket from a STEP file has no price sheet line for it; a fastener or fluid power distributor quoting 40 catalog items has nothing to estimate, only lines to match and price.

Merlin's AI only chooses which catalog item matches a request line. Prices, quantity breaks, customer-specific pricing, totals and lead times are calculated in code from the price sheet, and unclear or missing-spec lines are flagged for a rep. Merlin does not read CAD files or estimate machining time.

How do Merlin and Paperless Parts compare?

Paperless Parts details from paperlessparts.com, verified October 2026.

When is Paperless Parts the better fit?

• You quote custom machined, fabricated or printed parts from drawings and 3D models.
• Your estimators spend their time on setups, cycle times, material and outside processing, not on price lookups.
• You need US defense-oriented security such as ITAR and CMMC readiness.
• You run an ERP it lists, such as Epicor, Infor Visual or Fulcrum, and want estimates to flow into it.

When is Merlin the better fit?

Many metal fabrication businesses do both: custom work quoted from drawings, and a catalog of standard items. In that case the two tools can sit side by side, each on the work it was built for.

A simple test: if a quote line has a part number and a price on a sheet somewhere in your business, Merlin can draft it. If someone has to open a model, pick a material and estimate machine time before anyone knows the price, that line belongs in an estimating tool.

• You distribute or manufacture standard products with a price sheet: fasteners, fittings, hose, packaging, electrical, MRO. See industrial distributors.
• Your RFQs arrive by email as lists of part numbers or descriptions, often mixed with questions about stock and lead time.
• Your customers write in English and French, and you want each quote in the customer's language.
• You also want to answer order status and document requests (spec sheets, SDS, certificates) from the same desk.

What about speed?

Both tools exist because buyers want answers quickly. Paperless Parts' own 2020 survey found that 67% of part buyers expect a quote within 24 hours. Merlin's Quote Desk drafts catalog quotes in minutes, 24/7, so the rep's first task in the morning is approving drafts, not starting from an empty inbox. You can see the effect on your own RFQs in shadow mode before any message goes out.