A Cyrious alternative without the implementation project
Cyrious supports estimating and business management for sign, graphics and print companies. Sign OS is an Australian option built around your product recipes and connected job workflow. Test both on your own jobs and confirm current setup terms with each supplier.
Cyrious's published offer, checked 3 October 2026
Cyrious describes estimating and business management for sign, graphics and print work. Ask for current deployment, implementation and pricing terms for your shop; these are not inferred from older editions.
Deterministic costing, without the configuration project
The reason shops choose Cyrious is usually costing depth — knowing what a job actually consumed rather than what it was quoted at. Sign OS is built on the same conviction and reaches it differently: products are recipes, so substrates, machine minutes, labour, waste and markup are computed every time rather than configured once by a consultant and maintained by whoever remembers how.
Back costing closes the loop. A finished job shows quoted against actual — materials drawn, hours booked, purchase orders raised — so the next quote for that product is better informed than the last.
- Quotes computed from recipes, auditable line by line
- Back costing: quoted versus actual on every finished job
- Time booked to jobs from the floor, not reconstructed later
- Purchase orders raised from the shortfall a job actually has
What you are actually comparing
Both systems can run a sign business end to end. The differences that will still be true in three years are structural: where the software runs, how you are billed, what it takes to get started, and which accounting package the integration was designed around.
- Deployment: Sign OS is cloud-native, nothing to install or host, works from a tablet on the floor
- Launch $89 for 3 users, Workshop $169 for 10 users, Scale $249 for 20 users, Signature $349 for 30 users per month AUD. Users are included up to each plan’s limit; extra users cost $10 per ten a month. Yearly billing saves 10%: Launch $960, Workshop $1,824, Scale $2,688, Signature $3,768 AUD paid yearly. See Pricing for package inclusions and Build your own.
- Getting started: self-serve 30-day trial, no card, no implementation phase
- Base: built and supported in Victoria, Australia
- Accounting: two-way Xero and QuickBooks live; MYOB built, not switched on
Where Cyrious is the better choice
If you are a large operation with several production departments, deep custom workflows and staff who already know Control, the honest answer is that switching costs you more than it buys. Sign OS is aimed at shops from a solo operator up to roughly twenty users. Above that, and especially where a long-configured system is already accurate, stay where you are.
- Very large or multi-department operations with established configuration
- Shops needing on-premise deployment for policy reasons
- Teams already fluent in an incumbent system that is working
Switching is a trial, not a project
You don't migrate to Sign OS — you trial it in parallel. Bulk CSV import brings customers, materials and suppliers across in an afternoon; the shared catalogue gives you a head start on products; and your next few new quotes run in Sign OS while old jobs finish where they are. If it doesn't earn its keep in 30 days, you've lost nothing — the demo is free and doesn't ask for a card.
- Bulk CSV import: customers, materials, suppliers
- Shared global catalogue of materials, machines and processes
- Run in parallel — no cut-over day, no consultants
- Free 30-day trial, no card, cancel by simply stopping
Frequently asked questions
- Is Sign OS cloud-based?
- Yes — nothing to install or host. It runs in a browser, including on tablets on the shop floor. An optional desktop sync app keeps a folder per job on your shop drive in step with the platform on Windows and Linux (both in beta; macOS is not ready yet).
- Can Sign OS handle job costing properly?
- Quotes are computed from product recipes rather than stored as worked examples, and finished jobs show quoted against actual — materials drawn, hours booked and purchase orders raised — so the costing loop closes.
- How long does it take to get started?
- The trial is the onboarding. Bulk CSV import brings customers, materials and suppliers across in an afternoon, and you run new quotes in parallel while existing jobs finish where they are. No cut-over day.