Comparison
Do you need a PIM or datasheet software?
These are answers to different questions, and the expensive mistake is buying one to solve the other's problem.
Last updated September 16, 2026
Product Information Management platforms (Akeneo, Salsify, inRiver and others) centralise product attributes so that every channel reading them gets the same values. Datasheet software takes product information and produces a finished document someone receives. Both start from the same data and that is where the resemblance ends.
The confusion is worth resolving before you spend anything, because the two purchases look similar on a requirements list and are not remotely similar in cost, timeline or outcome. A PIM implementation is a project measured in months; a document tool is something a product manager starts using the same afternoon.
The useful test is what breaks today. If the same specification has three different values in three systems, that is a data problem and a PIM is the fix. If the values are fine but turning them into a document costs a week of someone's month, that is a document problem, and a PIM will not touch it.
Side by side
Side by side
Twelve dimensions, with the honest winner marked. A PIM takes five of them outright, and those five are the reason to buy one.
| Capability | DataSheets Pro | A PIM platform |
|---|---|---|
| Syndicating data to channels | Not supported. Documents are the output; there are no channel or marketplace connectors. | Advantage: A PIM platform. The core purpose. Attributes are pushed to marketplaces, distributor portals, retail partners and websites from one place. |
| Attribute governance and completeness | None. A document either has the fields filled in or it does not. | Advantage: A PIM platform. Completeness scoring, required-attribute rules, validation and review workflow across teams and territories. |
| Being the system of record | No. It reads product data in; other systems do not read from it. | Advantage: A PIM platform. Designed to be the single source other systems query and stay in sync with. |
| Scale of catalogue | Comfortable across a product line; bulk create and export are capped per plan. | Advantage: A PIM platform. Built for thousands to millions of SKUs with deep variant hierarchies. |
| Localisation across many markets | A document is authored in its language; there is no translation workflow. | Advantage: A PIM platform. Locale-aware attribute values with translation workflow and per-market overrides. |
| Producing the finished document | Advantage: DataSheets Pro. The whole point. A page-accurate, print-ready PDF that matches the on-screen preview exactly. | Usually an export or an add-on. Document output is downstream of the data job, and control over the page is limited. |
| Compliance and quality documents | Advantage: DataSheets Pro. Built-in document types for certificates, declarations and quality records, not only data sheets. | Holds the underlying attributes; producing the document itself is someone else's job. |
| Time to first real output | Advantage: DataSheets Pro. The same afternoon. Open the builder, fill in a product, export the PDF. | Months. Modelling, migration, integration and rollout come before the first benefit. |
| Who operates it | Advantage: DataSheets Pro. The person who knows the product. No administrator required. | A dedicated owner, usually with an integrator involved at implementation. |
| Control over how the page looks | Advantage: DataSheets Pro. Templates and a brand kit decide typography, spacing, tables and page flow. | Limited. The platform's concern is the data's correctness, not the document's design. |
| Cost and commitment | Advantage: DataSheets Pro. Free to try with no account; self-serve paid plans per month. | An enterprise purchase with implementation cost alongside the licence. |
| Using both together | Export the product records you need and import them as .xlsx or .csv. | Remains the source of truth; the document tool reads from it. |
The verdict
Which problem do you actually have?
Most teams need one of these much more urgently than the other, and a fair number eventually run both.
You have a document problem when
- Product data is broadly correct, but turning it into a document is slow
- Sheets that should match do not, because different people built them
- Revisions wait on whoever owns the layout file
- You need certificates, declarations and quality records, not just data sheets
- The output people complain about is the PDF, not the data behind it
- Nobody is asking you to feed a marketplace or distributor portal
You have a data problem: buy a PIM when
- The same attribute has different values in different systems
- You are syndicating to marketplaces, distributors or retail partners
- Hundreds or thousands of SKUs with serious variant complexity
- Several systems need to read one authoritative product record
- Attribute completeness and approval workflow are the bottleneck
- You are publishing into many locales with translated values
Straight answer
What DataSheets Pro is not
Said plainly, because this is the comparison where the distinction costs the most to get wrong.
- Not a PIM. There is no channel syndication, no attribute governance or completeness scoring, and no connectors to marketplaces or distributor portals.
- Not a system of record. It reads product data in; nothing else reads product data out of it.
- Not a translation or localisation platform. A document is authored in its language.
- Not an integration layer. There is no public API today (API access sits on the Enterprise roadmap), so the route from a PIM is an .xlsx or .csv export imported into the product library.
- Not a replacement for a PIM you already run. It sits downstream of one, turning records into documents.
Questions
Frequently asked
We are evaluating a PIM mainly to fix our data sheets. Should we?
Probably not, and this is the most expensive version of this mistake. If the product data itself is sound and the pain is producing documents from it, a PIM is a long, costly way to solve a problem it does not directly address: you would still need something to produce the document at the end. If the data genuinely is scattered and contradictory, the PIM is the right purchase and documents are a downstream benefit.
We already have a PIM. What does this add?
The finished document. A PIM holds correct attributes; it does not generally give you a page-accurate, on-brand PDF with spec tables that split properly across pages, or the compliance document types that go alongside a data sheet. Export the records you need and import them as .xlsx or .csv.
Can you connect to our PIM directly?
Not today. There is no public API (it is on the Enterprise roadmap), so the practical route is a scheduled export from the PIM imported as a spreadsheet. If a direct integration is a requirement rather than a preference, say so before you buy, not after.
Do most manufacturers end up with both?
Larger catalogues with real channel obligations usually do, with the PIM as the source and a document tool producing what customers receive. Smaller and mid-sized manufacturers frequently need only one, and it is more often the document tool, because the spreadsheet they already keep is, in practice, working well enough as the source.
Read next
Guides that go deeper
How product teams can automate product documentation without starting with a PIM
Automation can begin with the structured information teams already have (spreadsheets, product records and repeatable templates) before a larger PIM program exists.
Read the guide →How to standardize product documentation across a company
Standardization fails when it depends on people remembering the rules. Here is how to make consistency the default instead of the discipline.
Read the guide →Bulk product data sheet generation: how to scale from 10 products to 1,000
Bulk generation only works when the product data, template logic and validation rules are structured first. Otherwise teams simply create formatting problems faster.
Read the guide →See it on your own product
Open the builder and fill in one product. No account to start, nothing to install; export with a free account.
Sources
- GS1 — global standards for product data exchange
The standards body behind the identifiers and attribute exchange that channel syndication depends on.
- ISO 10013:2021 — Guidance for documented information
Guidance on maintaining controlled documented information as systems and formats evolve.
Claims about A PIM platform were last checked against the sources above on September 16, 2026. Found something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Note: Akeneo, Salsify and inRiver are trademarks of their respective owners, named here only to identify the category. This page compares kinds of system rather than ranking individual products, and describes capabilities rather than prices.