CobbleStone Software VS ViewForge

CobbleStone Software's answer

CobbleStone provides a CLM solution that is highly configurable and user-friendly. On top of that, CobbleStone has over 20 years of experience successfully implementing contract management software.

ViewForge's answer:

Three things. (1) Data ownership: ViewForge writes fitment as Shopify metaobjects native to your store — most competitors store fitment in their own database. (2) 8 verticals out of the box: auto, motorcycle, tractor, marine, power equipment, bicycle, printer, electronics — most competitors are automotive-only. (3) Smart Parse: extract fitment automatically from your existing product titles and descriptions instead of re-typing everything.

CobbleStone Software's answer

CobbleStone's primary users are legal teams, procurement teams, compliance teams, sales teams, and finance teams. Users from throughout the organization can request contracts and view status.

ViewForge's answer:

Shopify merchants whose customers need to know whether a part fits before they will buy it — and who do not have an engineer on staff to build that themselves.

Concretely: auto and truck parts retailers, powersports and motorcycle dealers, tractor and agricultural parts sellers, marine and outboard suppliers, small-engine and power equipment stores, bicycle and e-bike component shops, printer supply merchants, and electronics accessory sellers.

Catalog sizes run from a few dozen products on the free tier up into the tens of thousands; it is running in production on a catalog of roughly 40,000 SKUs. The common thread is not the industry — it is that "does this fit my thing" is the question deciding the sale.

CobbleStone Software's answer

CobbleStone Contract Insight is a web-based CLM application that can be accessed via desktop and native mobile app available on the Apple iOS and Android app stores. CobbleStone Contract Insight can be provided as a SaaS/cloud application or it can be installed on clients' server(s).

ViewForge's answer:

• TypeScript
• Shopify metaobjects, as the fitment data store
• Shopify theme app extensions for the storefront components: fitment search, saved-vehicle garage, compatibility table, product-page fit notice
• Shopify Storefront API, for querying fitment from the theme
• Shopify Admin GraphQL API, for writing and exporting fitment records
• NHTSA vehicle database, for VIN decoding
• ACES and PIES XML parsing, for automotive catalog import

CobbleStone Software's answer

CobbleStone Contract Insight is the preferred contract lifecycle management software solution for clients that want an easy-to-use system that has been selected by thousands of users worldwide.

ViewForge's answer:

Data ownership. Fitment lives in your Shopify metaobjects, so uninstalling does not take your compatibility data with it. Convermax, EasySearch and PartFinder all keep it in their own databases, and getting it back depends on their export tooling on the day you cancel.

Cost at the low end. The search widget, the compatibility table on the product page and the saved-vehicle garage are all on the free tier, up to 50 products, with no expiry. EasySearch puts the table and the garage behind its $75/month Premium plan. Convermax starts at $250/month.

Automotive and non-automotive coverage. Eight built-in templates, and fully custom templates from $19/month, for catalogs that do not decompose into Year/Make/Model at all.

CobbleStone Software's answer

CobbleStone's mission is to provide the most advanced, cost-effective, and user-friendly contract and procurement management software applications that enable employees to do their best work.

Our software products and staff go above and beyond the expectations of each other and our clients. -We take a pledge to follow our Code of Conduct. -We take a pledge to respect our clients, our co-workers, our environment, and ourselves. -We strive to be successful by exemplifying sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, and charity. -Our products and software solutions should continue to evolve to meet modern-day business needs.

CobbleStone Software has a proven track record providing contract management software with industry-leading flexibility and features designed to meet the unique needs of your organization. Our solutions are the result of millions of dollars of research and development, thousands of hours, client feedback, and industry "know-how". CobbleStone Contract Insight's® features set in the contract management software marketplace are unprecedented. It is about thinking long term, being responsive, and understanding the power of organization governance. We believe this is the right way to do business, and our satisfied customers would surely agree.

The need for our contract software solution began with a situation whereby a leading company violated an agreement and had to settle the dispute for over two million dollars. In that instance, our mission was created to help organizations avoid violations of agreements while providing a better solution to manage contracts & obligations.

Founded in 1995, CobbleStone was among the first and most experienced companies to offer a contract management software product, and we continue to be a leader with full contract lifecycle management and e-Procurement software.

Contact a CobbleStone Representative today to learn more!

For press inquiries and media relations, visit CobbleStone Software's press page at https://www.cobblestonesoftware.com/company/press.

ViewForge's answer:

ViewForge came out of agency work. Normal View was building for a parts retailer running roughly 12,000 SKUs who needed fitment search, and every app we evaluated stored the merchant's compatibility data in the vendor's own database.

That is a strange trade when you look at it directly. Fitment data is genuinely expensive to produce — it is weeks of work — and the merchant would not own the result. It would belong to whichever app happened to be installed that year.

Shopify metaobjects made a different answer possible: write fitment as native structured data inside the merchant's own store. The theme reads it, the Storefront API queries it, Admin GraphQL exports it, and it is still there after an uninstall. That decision is what the rest of the app is built around.

Everything else came from real catalogs rather than a roadmap. Eight verticals exist because a tractor catalog is not Year/Make/Model. Smart Parse exists because that retailer had already written fitment into 12,000 product titles, and nobody was ever going to retype them.