Software comparison
WorkGuru vs Tekla PowerFab
Compare WorkGuru and Tekla PowerFab: platform scope, detailed features, adjacent strengths, pricing, implementation, migration and the businesses each suits best.
At a glance
The short version
| Evaluation | WorkGuru | Tekla PowerFab |
|---|---|---|
| Platform type | A mature industrial operations platform covering quoting, scheduling, purchasing, stock, timesheets and job costing. All your operational and communications data in one place, with the general ledger left to your accounting system. | Comprehensive structural-steel fabrication management suite covering estimating, project scheduling, advance bills of material, production control, material optimisation, inventory, purchasing and order entry. |
| Best fit | Fabrication, engineering, manufacturing and project or workshop businesses, where the margin is won or lost on labour, materials and rework rather than on job volume. | Structural-steel fabricators that need steel-specific estimating, BOM/ABM workflows, production scheduling, workshop capacity planning, purchasing, inventory traceability and tight integration with Tekla’s fabrication ecosystem. |
| Pricing model | Published per-user pricing in AUD and GBP, with modules you turn on as you need them, so you can price it before you talk to us. | Named-user subscription licensing, with pricing provided through Trimble/local sales rather than a simple public standard price list. |
| Implementation | DIY, WorkGuru-assisted or partner implementation. | A structured implementation involving server/client setup, the PowerFab database, PowerFab Go, permissions, fabrication standards and often integrations with Tekla Structures, Trimble Connect and shop equipment. |
| Strongest when | The business needs a job-first industrial operating system connecting CRM, quoting, projects, workshop work, labour, purchasing, stock and live job profitability. | The business is specifically fabricating structural steel and needs deep steel material, production, traceability, optimisation and capacity-planning workflows. |
Platform purpose and scope
What each platform is for
WorkGuru
WorkGuru runs the work between winning a job and knowing what it made. Quote it, schedule it, buy for it, book time and materials against it, and see the real cost while the job is still open rather than after invoicing. It is deliberately not an accounting system, a payroll system or a dispatch board — those connect to it.
Tekla PowerFab
Tekla PowerFab is purpose-built for structural-steel fabrication and connects estimating, advance bills of material, project schedules, production control, work areas and machines, material optimisation, inventory, purchasing and order entry. It is materially deeper than WorkGuru in steel-specific fabrication planning, material traceability and production control. It is not primarily a CRM or field-service system; its centre of gravity is the steel fabrication lifecycle from estimate and model/BOM information through procurement, workshop production and delivery.
Best-fit use cases
- Choose WorkGuru when the core problem is coordinating sales, substantial jobs/projects, workshop work, purchasing, labour, stock and margin in one operational flow.
- Choose Tekla PowerFab when steel fabricators needing estimating, material inventory, production control and purchasing tightly connected to tekla workflows.
- Where both fit, compare the real operating model rather than feature count: workshop vs field/site, job/project vs product/warehouse, and the implementation depth you are prepared to take on.
Industries and typical customers
WorkGuru is focused on fabrication, engineering, custom manufacturing, structural steel, mining services, heavy repair and related industrial project/workshop businesses. Tekla PowerFab: Structural steel fabrication and steel service/fabrication operations.
Feature comparison
Every capability, side by side
Grouped the way the work actually runs. The framework is ours, so read the rows where WorkGuru is partial or not competing first — they will tell you more than the ones where we both say yes.
About this comparison. WorkGuru prepared it. Every verdict below is numbered to the source it came from, and we record only what a vendor publishes — “not found” means we could not find it in their public material on the date shown, not that the product cannot do it.
Software changes constantly. If we have got something wrong about Tekla PowerFab, tell us and we will correct it.
Last reviewed: 21 August 2026
- Yes published or native
- Partial a materially different workflow or scope
- Integration available through an integration
- Beta not shipped yet
- No documented as not supported
- Not found not in the vendor’s published product information at the date checked
| Capability | WorkGuru | Tekla PowerFab |
|---|---|---|
| Sales & CRM | ||
| Client Management | Yes1 | Yes31 |
| Contact Management | Yes1 | Yes31 |
| Webforms (website lead capture) | Yes1 | Not found31 |
| Lead Management | Yes1 | Partial31 |
| Sales Pipeline | Yes1 | Not found31 |
| Quoting & Estimating | Yes1 | Yes31 |
| Quote Templates | Yes1 | Partial31 |
| Quote Management | Yes1 | Yes31 |
| Client Follow-Up | Yes1 | Not found31 |
| AI Client, Lead & Quote Follow-Up | Yes1 | Not found31 |
| AI Takeoffs | Beta1 | Not found31 |
| Projects & Jobs | ||
| Project Management | Yes2 | Yes32 |
| Project Templates | Yes3 | Yes32 |
| Project Kanban Boards | Yes2 | Not found32 |
| Task Management | Yes2 | Yes32 |
| Task Kanban Boards | Yes2 | Not found32 |
| Gantt Chart | Yes2 | Yes32 |
| Project Chat | Yes2 | Partial32 |
| Project Documents | Yes2 | Yes32 |
| Variations | Yes2 | Yes32 |
| Timesheets | Yes2 | Yes32 |
| Recurring / repeat scheduled jobs | Yes3 | Not found32 |
| Scheduling & Work Planning | ||
| Work Areas (bays, machines, departments etc.) | Yes4 | Yes33 |
| Resource Scheduling | Yes5 | Yes34 |
| Task Scheduling | Yes4 | Yes33 |
| ToDo List Scheduling & Management | Yes4 | Partial33 |
| Schedule Changes | Yes4 | Yes33 |
| Mobile App | Yes4 | Partial33 |
| Kiosk App | Yes | Partial |
| Purchasing & Procurement | ||
| Purchase Orders | Yes7 | Yes35 |
| Supplier Management | Yes7 | Yes35 |
| Purchasing Against Projects | Yes7 | Yes35 |
| RFQs / Supplier Quotes | Beta7 | Yes35 |
| Supplier Quote Comparison | Beta7 | Partial35 |
| Inventory & Stock Control | ||
| Stock Control | Yes8 | Yes36 |
| Product Management | Yes8 | Yes36 |
| Stock Purchasing | Yes8 | Yes36 |
| Stock on Projects | Yes8 | Yes36 |
| Production Jobs / Internal Assembly | Yes9 | Yes36 |
| Counter Sales / Stock Sales | Yes10 | Yes36 |
| Stock Shortages & Par Levels | Yes8 | Yes36 |
| Serial Tracking | Yes8 | Yes37 |
| Batch Tracking | Yes8 | Yes37 |
| FIFO Tracking | Yes8 | Not found36 |
| Stock Locations | Yes11 | Yes36 |
| Multiple Warehouses | Yes8 | Yes36 |
| Stocktakes | Yes8 | Partial36 |
| Bills of Materials (BOM) | Yes9 | Yes36 |
| Ecommerce channel management | Integration12 | Not found36 |
| Point of Sale | Yes10 | Partial36 |
| Financial | ||
| Job Costing | Yes13 | Yes40 |
| Invoicing | Yes13 | Yes40 |
| Progress Invoicing | Yes13 | Yes40 |
| Reporting | Yes13 | Yes40 |
| Payments | Yes13 | Yes40 |
| Online / Embedded Payment Collection | Integration13 | Not found40 |
| General ledger & statutory reporting | Integration14 | Integration40 |
| Multi-currency transactions | Yes | Yes39 |
| Compliance | ||
| Forms | Yes15 | Partial31 |
| Qualifications | Yes15 | Not found31 |
| Documentation | Yes15 | Yes31 |
| Asset Register | Yes6 | Not found31 |
| Team, Security & Permissions | ||
| Team Management | Yes18 | Yes31 |
| Roles & Permissions | Yes16 | Yes31 |
| Payroll processing | Integration17 | Not found31 |
| Award interpretation | Integration17 | Not found31 |
| Employee records | Yes18 | Partial31 |
| HR onboarding & performance | Integration19 | Not found31 |
| Automations & AI | ||
| Workflows | Yes20 | Partial38 |
| Workflow Templates | Yes20 | Not found38 |
| Workflow Builder | Yes20 | Partial38 |
| User-customisable Automations in System | Yes20 | Yes38 |
| Workflow Notifications & Updates | Yes20 | Yes38 |
Every verdict above is numbered to the source it came from. Sources are listed at the <a href=”#sources”>foot of this page</a>.
Commercials
Pricing, rollout and what it really costs
WorkGuru pricing, implementation and ownership
Current WorkGuru AUD pricing: $350/month platform fee including the first 10 users; additional users $35/month; Inventory $300/month; Workflow Automations $200/month; Advanced Forms $150/month. DIY onboarding is free; guided onboarding and partner implementation are available for businesses that want more help. Re-confirm commercial pricing before publication.
Tekla PowerFab pricing
Trimble does not publish a simple standard PowerFab price in the official material reviewed. Pricing is normally provided through sales/partners based on configuration and licensing. Pricing information was checked on 21 August 2026 and should be re-checked immediately before publication.
Implementation and time to value
PowerFab is generally implemented as part of a steel-fabrication technology stack and can involve integration with Tekla Structures, detailing data and production workflows. WorkGuru can be implemented DIY, with WorkGuru-assisted onboarding, or through an implementation partner depending on the size and complexity of the business.
Total cost and complexity of ownership
Compare more than licence price: software subscription, implementation, data migration, integrations, training, support, internal administration and the cost of additional systems still required around the core platform. A cheaper licence can be more expensive if it leaves the business running critical workflows elsewhere; a broader ERP/MRP can be more expensive if the extra depth is not actually needed.
Switching
Moving from Tekla PowerFab to WorkGuru
Already using Tekla PowerFab? Scope migration around the information that still matters: customers and contacts, products, suppliers, open quotes, current jobs, WIP, documents and relevant job history. The exact import path depends on the export formats and APIs available from Tekla PowerFab. Historical data that does not need to stay live can remain archived. WorkGuru should confirm migration scope, timing and cost before a customer commits.
The verdict
The matrix is evidence. This is the buying advice.
Where Tekla PowerFab is stronger
- PowerFab is materially deeper for structural-steel fabrication because its entire data model is designed around steel shapes, grades, sizes, heats, marks, sequences, lots and fabrication processes
- Production planning goes beyond general job scheduling: workshops contain work areas, machines and machine groups, departments have capacity measured in hours and weight, and work can be scheduled against the actual fabrication environment
- Advance Bill and production-control workflows provide much deeper steel BOM, cut-list, routing, material-optimisation and shop-production capability than a general industrial job-management platform
- Inventory traceability is stronger for structural steel, including dedicated heat-number and serial-number search and material lineage through fabrication
- Procurement includes requisitions and requests for pricing that can be sent to multiple suppliers and have returned supplier pricing imported back into PowerFab
- PowerFab’s project financial workflow includes contract items, change orders, completion-driven billing and AIA-style reporting
- The integration between PowerFab, Tekla Structures, Trimble Connect and PowerFab Go creates a particularly strong operating environment for fabricators already standardised on Trimble’s structural-steel stack
Where WorkGuru is stronger
- WorkGuru is the stronger fit where the business needs one industrial platform across fabrication, engineering, custom manufacturing, maintenance and project work rather than a system specifically designed around structural steel
- WorkGuru provides a broader front-end CRM workflow including web lead capture, lead management, sales pipeline and client/quote follow-up; PowerFab’s front end is primarily estimating, address-book and project/customer administration
- Project and task Kanban boards provide a more general visual job-flow layer in WorkGuru; dedicated Kanban equivalents were not substantiated in current PowerFab documentation
- WorkGuru includes an asset-management and preventative-maintenance operating model for businesses that also service equipment; those are not core PowerFab workflows
- WorkGuru’s compliance and people model is broader around qualifications, employee records and HR/payroll integrations, while PowerFab’s employee records are primarily oriented to labour and production tracking
- WorkGuru’s automation model is a general trigger-condition-action workflow engine; PowerFab has configurable scheduled automated events, but they are narrower and focused on reports, database tasks, integrations and production-system events
- For a fabrication business that does not need structural-steel-specific ABM, heat traceability, machine routing and Tekla integration, WorkGuru can provide the required operational control without adopting a more specialised steel-fabrication stack
Choose Tekla PowerFab if…
Choose Tekla PowerFab when its strongest areas are central to the operating model: advance bills of material and steel-specific estimating; production control purpose-built for fabrication progress; deep material inventory and steel purchasing.
Choose WorkGuru if…
Choose WorkGuru when the business needs an industrial operations platform that connects CRM and quoting to substantial projects, workshop planning, purchasing, inventory, labour, invoicing and job profitability without adopting a broader ERP than the business needs.
FAQs
Tekla PowerFab questions
Is Tekla PowerFab a direct WorkGuru competitor?
In some businesses, yes. The overlap depends on the operating model. This page is designed to show both the shared capability and where each platform is intentionally stronger.
Can we migrate from Tekla PowerFab to WorkGuru?
Yes, migration can be scoped as part of implementation. The exact data, timing and cost depend on the exports/APIs available from Tekla PowerFab and what history you want to retain.
Is WorkGuru cheaper?
Not necessarily in every scenario. Compare current licence pricing plus implementation, modules, integrations and the rest of the software stack. Tekla PowerFab pricing on this page is dated 21 August 2026.
Does WorkGuru do the setup?
It can. WorkGuru supports DIY setup, WorkGuru-assisted onboarding and partner implementation depending on complexity.
Where is Tekla PowerFab stronger than WorkGuru?
See the adjacent-strength section above. We deliberately include capabilities such as field service, MRP, warehousing, construction takeoffs or specialist steel workflows where the competing platform may be broader or deeper.
Method
How this comparison was prepared
This comparison was prepared by WorkGuru. Tekla PowerFab product claims are based on publicly available official product information checked on 21 August 2026. We use the same evaluation framework across every vendor and explicitly identify areas where the competing platform may be stronger.
Customer proof
[CUSTOMER PROOF REQUIRED] Prefer a WorkGuru customer who evaluated or moved from Tekla PowerFab. Capture the previous operating problem, why WorkGuru was selected, implementation experience and measurable result.
Checked 3 September 2026. WorkGuru verdicts are preserved from the supplied comparison page. Tekla PowerFab was re-audited against current first-party product documentation.
Scope note: PowerFab is specifically structural-steel software. Batch/serial verdicts refer to steel heat/lot and serial traceability. MRP is Partial because PowerFab has deep material requirements and capacity planning but is not presented as a general-purpose MRP engine across arbitrary manufacturing.
- WorkGuru — CRM
- WorkGuru — Project Management
- WorkGuru — Project Templates
- WorkGuru — Scheduling
- WorkGuru — Resource Scheduling
- WorkGuru — Asset Management
- WorkGuru — Purchasing
- WorkGuru — Inventory & Stock Control
- WorkGuru — Production Jobs
- WorkGuru — Counter Sales
- WorkGuru — Stock Locations
- WorkGuru — Shopify Integration
- WorkGuru — Financial
- WorkGuru — Xero Integration
- WorkGuru — Compliance
- WorkGuru — Team, Security & Permissions
- WorkGuru — Tanda Integration
- WorkGuru — Team Management
- WorkGuru — Employment Hero Integration
- WorkGuru — Automations
- Trimble — Tekla PowerFab Suite
- Trimble — Project Schedule & Gantt
- Trimble — Workshops, Work Areas & Machines
- Trimble — Departments, Shifts & Capacity
- Trimble — Requests for Pricing
- Trimble — Inventory
- Trimble — Heat & Serial Traceability
- Trimble — Automated Events
- Trimble — Currencies
- Trimble — Contract & Invoicing Reports
See it on your own jobs.
A short demo on your work, not a generic tour.