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Print management software can be helpful to a lot of companies that want to cut back on their printing expenses.
Many providers offer print management software, and two of the more prominent ones are Y-Soft and PaperCut.
Which one should you use? What are the similarities and differences between the two?
We’ve been a printer/copier company for almost 40 years and have dealt extensively with both Y-Soft and PaperCut and want to use that insight to provide a comparison between the two so you can see which one might be right for you.
Getting the right print management software is crucial because, to reap the benefits of print management, you have to find the one that would be the best fit for your print environment.
The majority of this article will be dedicated to Y-Soft and PaperCut, but let’s first go over what print management software is so you have a good working definition of the service:
What Is Print Management Software?
Print Management Software is an all-encompassing software used by companies that want to control their usage to help lower printing costs and ensure an efficient print environment.
There are a lot of components to print management software, but some of the primary benefits include:
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Controlling costs by tracking and limiting print behavior among people that use the machine.
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Eliminating wasted or unnecessary print jobs.
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Allowing for print authentication to make your devices more secure.
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Permitting you to print from any authorized device at any time.
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Automating network credentials so you don’t have to enter them individually.
Print management software can be beneficial to businesses that consistently print at a high volume because unmanaged printing expenses can contribute to as much as 3% more on your annual budget.
Common industries that implement print management software in their workplace are school districts, hospitals, governmental entities and large businesses.
Print management software will not be a fit for every workplace because it is an advanced way to manage print environments that use office machines at a high volume.
Thus, workplaces that don’t print at a high volume or don’t have excessive printing bills would not be the best fit for print management software.
What Is Y-Soft?
Now that you have a solid understanding of what print management software is and who is a fit for it, let’s dive into the specifics around Y-Soft and PaperCut, starting with Y-Soft.
Y-Soft has a mission statement to “develop intelligent enterprise office solutions that build smart business and empower employees to be more productive and creative,” according to their website.
They offer multiple types of software for different products, such as a managed cloud infrastructure service and software to manage 3D printing exclusively. The specific software we will be focusing on for this blog, though, is their Y-Soft SafeQ Print Management Suite.
As we will discuss in more detail later on, Y-Soft’s Print Management Suite comes with many of the benefits found in traditional print management software, including accountability, sustainability, compliance and print service cost reduction measures.
Y-Soft has almost 24,000 customers and partners, including Raiffeisen Bank International and Boehringer Ingelheim.
What Is PaperCut?
PaperCut is arguably the most popular brand in the print management world and is considered one of the leaders in the industry.
They’ve been in the industry for over 20 years and have four main products in the print management category that offer varying degrees of features and perks: PaperCut NG, PaperCut MF, PaperCut Pocket and PaperCut Hive (more on this later).
Some of their main goals with print management include being able to print from any device at any time, securing documents throughout the printing process and cutting costs while also shrinking your environmental footprint.
They serve multiple industries, including education, healthcare, legal and local government, and over 89,000 organizations have implemented PaperCut’s service, according to their website.
PaperCut was ranked first and considered a leader in G2’s Grid Report for Print Management in the Summer of 2022 (Y-Soft was considered a “Contender,” which is a tier below).
2 Similarities Between Y-Soft and PaperCut
Now that we’ve covered the basics of both Y-Soft and PaperCut, let’s go over two of the main similarities between the two print management software companies:
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Both Offer the Basics of Print Management
The first similarity is a rather basic one, but it should be stated nonetheless: Both companies offer all the essential, cost-cutting, measures that print management is supposed to accomplish.
If you think back to the previous section discussing what print management software can do, Y-Soft and PaperCut each offer those benefits as a part of their software. This includes print authentication, print tracking and reporting and rules-based printing, among others.
And if you take G2’s Report for Print Management cited in the previous section, PaperCut is the leader in print management software and Y-Soft is one of the major players in the game. This signals that both are quality options when it comes to executing a successful print management plan.
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Both Serve Multiple Industries
Y-Soft and PaperCut also have some overlap in the industries that they concentrate on when implementing print management.
Some of the industry overlap between the two companies includes healthcare, education, enterprise and small businesses.
These industries represent the traditional clients for whom print management would be most beneficial, and both Y-Soft and PaperCut have a history of success in those respective fields.
2 Differences Between Y-Soft and PaperCut
With the similarities out of the way, let’s now dive into the differences between Y-Soft and PaperCut:
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Support Services
The number one area where Y-Soft and PaperCut differ is in their infrastructure for support.
Support for print management is crucial because if the software you’re using breaks down, your entire print system would be affected—disrupting your daily document processes.
Y-Soft offers direct support, which means you’re able to speak directly with software engineers to remedy the situation if your software starts acting up.
PaperCut’s support, on the other hand, uses a two-distribution model method, and all the initial support must go back to the dealer whom you purchased the software from, and then to one of the two distribution partners for issue resolution. If the problem requires direct PaperCut support, only then will the distribution partner sponsor the engagement directly with PaperCut.
It’s perhaps the main drawback to using PaperCut. Although it is considered one of the leaders in the industry, getting support with its software might be a bit more difficult than other print management software, like Y-Soft.
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Purchasing Options
We’ve touched on the next difference in the previous sections, but both Y-Soft and PaperCut offer different products that you can choose from.
Y-Soft’s Print Management Suite is separated into several modules: Authentication, Rule-Based Engine, Print Roaming, Mobile Print, Core Workflows, Credit and Billing, and Reporting. Businesses can pick and choose which modules they’d like to add to their package, or they can buy the comprehensive set to get all of them.
Read through “Y-Soft’s Print Management Suite” page to see these features and modules explained in more detail.
PaperCut is offered in specific versions, as well, but the features will be different on each. As listed previously, the four options are PaperCut NG, PaperCut MF, PaperCut Hive, and PaperCut Pocket. Read through PaperCut’s “Products” page to see the different features of each version.
Although both Y-Soft and PaperCut offer all the rudimental elements of print management, they will differ in some of their products’ features.
Look through the product pages linked above and see which features line up the most with your print management requirements.
There are many options in the print management space, and Y-Soft and PaperCut are not the only companies you can choose from.
If you would like to see more comparisons on print management software, read the blogs below:
Which Print Management Software Is Right for You?
Print management is becoming increasingly popular as an opportunity for businesses to cut on extraneous expenses in the workplace and improve their daily business operations.
Y-Soft and PaperCut both offer the basics of print management but differ in some key features and other crucial areas like support. To figure out which one is right for you, you will need to first go through their products and decide which one lines up with your goals.
But if you want a general takeaway from this blog, PaperCut is the current leader in print management and would naturally be a worthy solution for print management.
However, if you would rather have a better and quicker infrastructure for support whenever an issue arises (which will likely happen at some point), Y-Soft would likely be a better fit because of its direct support service.
When it comes to print management software, both Y-Soft and PaperCut have solid reputations for customer satisfaction---so investing in either one will likely yield the results you desire with print management.
We sell both Y-Soft and PaperCut, and because we have extensive experience with print management, can adequately guide you to the right software to execute your printing goals.
If you are interested in incorporating print management software into your workplace, reach out to us and one of our experienced business consultants will walk you through the next steps.
