Arena PLM vs Creo

SolidWorks Premium

SAP Business One

Inventor

CATIA

Propel

E-Stock Web

Compare Arena PLM and Creo based on features, pricing, verified reviews, integrations & more on GetApp. Find out which software is best for your business in 2026.

Enterprise resource planning software for SMEs. Manage every aspect of your small or midsize business with SAP Business One.

Propel is a cloud-based quality management platform that helps product companies deliver customer-centric products through a unified product data thread. The solution helps businesses launch profitable products that engage customers for life, combining PLM, QMS, and PIM on a single cloud solution.

E-Stock Web is a stock control and inventory management system compatible with any type of product that a company works or sells.

Allow dispersed product teams and extended supply chains to collaborate in real time with Arena PLM to speed prototyping, reduce scrap, and streamline new product development (NPD) and new product introduction (NPI) processes. We help you design, produce, and deliver high-quality products faster.

Access Controls/Permissions

Activity Dashboard

Alerts/Notifications

Approval Process Control

Approval Workflow

Audit Management

Audit Trail

Bill of Material Analysis

Bills of Material

BOM Creation

Calibration Management

Change Management

Collaboration Tools

Commenting/Notes

Communications Management

Complaint Management

Compliance Management

Components Tracking

Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA)

Cost Tracking

Customizable Fields

Customizable Reports

Data Catalog

Data Import/Export

Data Visualization

Design Management

Document Coding & Control

Document Management

Document Storage

Electronic Signature

Inventory Management

ISO Standards Management

Item Management

Lifecycle Management

Multi-level BOM

Multi-Location

Nonconformance Tracking

Parts Management

Policy Management

Price and Cost Calculations

Prioritization

Product Data Management

Product Lifecycle Management

Production Management

Progress Tracking

Project Management

Quality Control

Quality Management

Real-Time Data

Reporting & Statistics

Reporting/Analytics

Requirements Management

Risk Assessment

Role-Based Permissions

Search/Filter

Single-level BOM

Status Tracking

Supplier Management

Supplier Quality Control

Supply Chain Management

Task Management

Third-Party Integrations

Traceability

Training Management

Version Control

Workflow Management

Arena PLM

Web-based

Windows

Sustaining Engineer

BOM building process is great, Changes are great, Part management is good, Search functions are good.

COO, SVP

Support folks are good, software is stable and will allow us to present to auditors what we do and how we do it.

SMT Manager

I love how easy it is to use, very user friendly, can do all kinds of changes, document all of it.

Operations Systems Analyst 

I've never felt like I was forced to change my workflow with any of the updates, and if I need any help their customer service is excellent.

Product Manager

We predominantly use Arena for BOM tracking/DHF/DMR creation and maintenance, and quality. The experience for both has been great.

BOM Administrator

As I already mentioned, it's super user friendly and it takes no time to work comfortable with it. I contact support service few times and received the feedback in less then 24 hours.

Electrical Engineer

The search feature is limited to a limited "world", and gets stuck with limiters (e.g. search only within completed changes) that aren't apparent when starting a search.

Process Engineer

I consider that Arena is a very good tool for document management and will highly recommend to use.

Quality Engineer

Product revision control is a bit too manual (no auto-rev-up for parent items). Some GUI at the request level is confusing.

IT Manager

I like how user friendly is their application.

Senior Materials Engineer

Depending on whether a change has been rejected or withdrawn, it is sometimes impossible to make further edits to a revision until that change is "deleted", even though it had already been rejected.

Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Redlines section is confusing how to use (I still don't know how to use it!) so I end up just attaching a document for redlines.

I really like the continual effort to provide more features and customer support to implement your PLM environment in a way that works for your company.

IT Director

The GUI is built in a very neat and user friendly way. The support is very professional.

clinical holter technician

Very easy to use and easy to integrate into current business programs and models.

Systems Engineer

The integration aspect into the business was not too difficult for us.

Approval signature flow works very well. Analytics is very powerful, but of course it comes at extra cost.

PLM Manger

Cloud application eliminates maintenance and hardware requirements which reduces IT cost. Incorporation of best business practices for the release and controlling all product data.

Arena PLM screenshot: Arena PLM Analytics

Arena PLM screenshot: Arena PLM Engineering Change Management

Arena PLM screenshot: Arena PLM Projects

Arena PLM screenshot: Arena PLM Quality/CAR process

Arena PLM screenshot: Arena PLM Requirements Management

Arena PLM screenshot: Arena PLM Bill of Materials (BOM) Management

Arena PLM screenshot: Arena SCI with country of origin risk

Large Enterprises

Mid Size Business

Small Business

SolidWorks Premium is the leading 3D design solution in the industry. It seamlessly integrates powerful design tools-including industry-leading part, assembly, and drawing capabilities with built-in simulation, rendering, animation, product data management, and cost estimation. 

SolidWorks will help you get work done faster and easier than before, using innovative phases of product creation to achieve a more productive 3D design experience.

CATIA is a cloud-based and on-premise product modeling software, which helps businesses in various industries, such as architecture, aviation, transportation & construction, design, build, and visualize 3D models. Features include team collaboration, simulation, and real-time concurrent designing.

Inventor is a Windows-based 3D CAD software that assists in 3D modelling through mechanical design, documentation, and product simulation tools. Professionals can create custom design configurations and automate repetitive tasks.

Creo is an engineering CAD software that helps businesses optimize the entire product lifecycle using augmented reality, real-time simulation, additive manufacturing, and generative designing methodologies from within a unified platform.

2D Drawing

3D Design & Modeling

3D Imaging

Animation

Annotations

Bill of Materials Management

CAD Tools

Component Library

Design Analysis

For 3D Printing

For Architects

For Manufacturers

Manufacturing Design Data

Mechanical

Mechatronics

Modeling & Simulation

Presentation Tools

Reference Management

Sketching and Annotation Tools

Creo

Controls Engineer

Creo and Windchill allow us to design products with a great level of detail and sophistication with good revision control and change notice processes. It is very powerful once you get used to it.

Manager Technical Design

You have to do trainings to know what great functions this software has. Also, if you know all config options and mapkeys, you can work very quick and comfortable.

Photographer

I love to design parts seamlessly and its really clean. The STL export feature is also very handy.

Sr Engineer

It is a great program and they are ready to help when necessary.

Graduate Engineer

CREO is easy to use, friendly for beginners and the scalability of the software is very high and definitely worth for money.

Design Engineer

It helps me a lot as it has a lot of integrated features like EZ Tolerance Analysis, Creepage and Clearance Analysis, etc.

Graduate Research Assistant

It has some features, which help you to model some parts easier than the others. The drawing module looks good as well.

Sr. Engineer / Business Administrator for CAD/PLM

I also used Standard Rendering and I was able to produce a very effective images for product catalogs. I also used Mechanism and Simulation modules and they are quite capable.

Student

Sometimes the options would get you confused as you work on because there's that much options present.

planning engg

Software user interface is old styled , its confusing to connect with the database , file size of generated model is high.

The best thing I found in this 3D Modeling software as compared to others is; the drawing options and interface is just amazing with respect to other but at the same time not much user friendly.

student

It is little bit difficult to learn because of its advancement.

I wish this software was better about telling you what's wrong in your design. Sometimes overlapping lines may not be something easily identifiable and will cause error when extruding.

Very robust mid-priced package let down by unintuitive quirks.

Director - Partner & Projects

Automation has limitation as it follows less programing /API integartions.

Mechanical Engineer

Plenty functions and easy to work with others, but hard to learn the software interface and hard to use it for curvature surfaces.

Arena PLM vs Creo Comparison (2026)

Arena PLM

Creo

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives