Job tracking for a 2–5 person sign shop
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A 2–5 person sign shop needs one list that everyone can see: every approved job, its stage (to do, in production, ready, installed or picked up, invoiced) and its due date, with overdue jobs obvious. A whiteboard or spreadsheet does that for free if the jobs come from quotes you can see. Shop software earns its cost when it creates the job from the approved quote, so nothing is re-typed, and when it shows which finished jobs haven't been invoiced. For 5 people, published prices run from $49 a month (Grommetbook) to $254 (shopVOX Express) and $339 (CoreBridge Small Business), as of November 2026. If you need production scheduling or inventory, a fuller tool fits better.
Disclosure: we make Grommetbook, one of the options below. Competitor prices come from their public pricing pages on the date shown; check them before you decide.
What a small shop actually needs to track
- Stage: to do, in production, ready, installed or picked up, invoiced. Five columns are enough for most shops of this size.
- Due date on every job, with overdue and due-today jobs pulled to the top.
- What the job is, copied from the approved quote: sizes, materials, quantities and price. Re-typing it is where mistakes come from.
- Who approved it and when, so there's no argument about the spec at pickup.
- The invoice hand-off. A job that's installed but never invoiced is the most expensive tracking mistake a small shop makes.
Whiteboard, spreadsheet, Trello or shop software
| Option | Costs | Works when | Breaks when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whiteboard | Nothing | Everyone works in one room and jobs are short | An installer is out all day, or you need history |
| Shared spreadsheet | Nothing | One person keeps it current | Two people edit it at once, or jobs are re-typed from quotes |
| Trello or another general board | A free plan (November 2026) | You want cards and columns on phones | Quotes and prices live somewhere else, so every card is re-typed |
| Sign shop software | See the next table | Jobs start from approved quotes and end as invoices | You pay for modules you don't use |
What shop software costs at 3 and 5 people
Published monthly prices, November 2026. Per-user plans grow with the team; flat plans don't.
| Product | 3 people | 5 people | How it's priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| shopVOX Express | $196 | $254 | $109 + $29 per user |
| Printavo Standard | $244 | $244 | Up to 5 users |
| SignTracker | $129 | $129 | 3–5 user band |
| SignShop Profit (Shop) | $59 | $59 | Up to 5 users |
| Grommetbook | $49 | $49 | Per shop, any number of users; free for up to 5 new quotes a month |
CoreBridge starts at $129 a month for one office user and one production user, plus an onboarding fee, so a 3–5 person shop would need Small Business at $339 a month (up to 5 office and 5 production users), plus onboarding. Full details are on the comparison page.
How the Grommetbook Job board works
When a customer approves a quote on their phone, it becomes a Job in To do, with the quote's lines, the customer's name and the approval time attached. Anyone in the shop moves it through in production, ready, and installed or picked up. Invoiced is set when the invoice is pushed to QuickBooks, which is coming soon; until then you export finished jobs as a CSV. The top of the board reads like "5 Jobs in production · 2 due today · 1 overdue", and each column shows its count and dollar total. Installed jobs that haven't been invoiced are counted separately, and the invoice CSV of finished (ready or installed) jobs imports into QuickBooks. You can do all of it with forms in your browser, or ask an AI assistant: "what's overdue?", "push back the Smith sign to Friday".
What it doesn't do: production scheduling by machine or person, inventory, proofs, or collecting deposits and payments. For scheduling and proofs, SignShop Profit has both; shopVOX has online proofing and sells inventory as an add-on.
Which to pick
- Two people in one room, few jobs a week: a whiteboard is fine. Write the due date on every job.
- Jobs re-typed from quotes, or finished jobs slipping through uninvoiced: use software that turns the approved quote into the job. That's where the time and money go.
- Production scheduling or proofing needed: SignShop Profit has both; shopVOX has proofing, with inventory as an add-on.
- Apparel as well as signs: see Printavo for a sign shop.
Quotes come first: sign estimating software for small shops and the free sign quote template.
Try it
Start in your browser with no card; the first 14 days are unlimited. Or connect your AI assistant: steps are on Connect your AI. Prices are on pricing.
Questions
- What is the cheapest way to track sign jobs?
- A whiteboard or a shared spreadsheet costs nothing and works for a shop where everyone stands in the same room. It breaks down when jobs are re-typed from quotes, due dates live in someone's head, or finished jobs don't get invoiced.
- Do I need full shop management software to track jobs?
- Not for 2–5 people. You need one list everyone can see, with each job's stage and due date, started from the approved quote so sizes and prices aren't re-typed. Fuller tools add more: SignShop Profit has production scheduling and proof approval links, and shopVOX has online proofing and an inventory add-on.
- How much does sign shop job tracking software cost for 5 people?
- Published prices as of November 2026: shopVOX Express $254/month, Printavo Standard $244, SignTracker $129, SignShop Profit $59 and Grommetbook $49. Grommetbook is also free for up to 5 new quotes a month.
- Does Grommetbook schedule production or track inventory?
- No. It has a five-stage Job board with due dates and overdue flags, created from approved quotes, and an invoice CSV for QuickBooks. If you need production scheduling, look at SignShop Profit; for inventory, shopVOX sells it as an add-on.