Artwork Archive pricing for galleries and what the plans leave out

Third party listings are the only place these figures could be checked on the day this was written. Capterra's US listing says organization plans start at $24 a month. Another listing gives Standard at $29 a month billed annually or $34 billed monthly, with 500 pieces, 50 locations and 3 users. A Capterra regional listing gives Standard $29, Plus $59 and Enterprise $139 a month without saying how they are billed.

Individual collector and artist plans are priced much lower, from about $8 to $9 a month. Before you sign anything, open the vendor's pricing page in a normal browser and write down the user and artwork limits for each tier. Those limits, not the sticker price, decide your real cost.

Artwork Archive started as an inventory tool for artists and later grew organization plans for collections and galleries. A solo artist or a private collector gets a lot for a small monthly fee. A gallery that sells on behalf of artists has a different list of jobs.

• Consignment records that tie a work to an artist, a commission and a statement
• Invoices that carry the sale, the buyer and what has been paid
• A collector record that shows every offer, visit and viewing room open
• Roles so the sales associate cannot see consignment terms
• Offer PDFs and private viewing rooms sent from the same record

Check each of those in a demo, with your own works. If one of them is handled by a spreadsheet or a second tool, add the cost of that second tool to the Artwork Archive price before you compare.

A low entry price with three users and 500 works fits a small collection. A working gallery usually has more records than that once sold and archived works are counted, and more than three people who touch them: director, registrar, sales, an intern and sometimes the artist.

Count what you would need over two years: stored works including sold, represented artists, staff seats and the number of collectors you follow up. Then match that against the tier limits. A tier that is $30 cheaper but forces a second system for collectors is not cheaper.

For comparison, Gallerists prices per gallery with seats included. The Gallery plan is $74 a month billed yearly, or $149 billed monthly, with five seats and 2,500 works. The art gallery software pricing page lists every tier. It covers inventory, a collector CRM, offer PDFs, viewing rooms, consignment and invoicing. It is not a collection tool for private collectors, and it does not process card payments.

Ask whether the quoted tier includes the number of users you need on day one. Ask how sold, archived and consigned works count toward the artwork limit. Ask what the CSV export contains, so a later move is possible. Ask whether invoices and artist statements are part of the plan or an add on, and whether viewing rooms and offer PDFs are included.

Bring a real week of work to the demo: one new consignment, one offer to a collector, one sale invoiced, one artist statement. Time how long each takes and who has to type what.

Galleries also hire art handlers, shippers and installers, and most of them ask those vendors for a certificate of insurance tracker that shows who is covered before a crate leaves the building. That is a separate task from inventory, but it belongs in the same software budget conversation.

Read Arternal pricing per user or ArtCloud pricing per user for seat based costs, the Arternal alternative page, the Artwork Archive alternative page, or the best art gallery software roundup.