COST
What a spare parts catalog costs, and what drives the bill
There is no single number, because the cost is dominated by something most quotes do not itemise: the work of mapping callouts to real parts. Here is the model, so you can run it on your own figures.
How to read this. Partsy's own prices below are ours and are exact. Every other figure is illustrative — assumptions you should replace with your own rates. We are not going to invent a benchmark and dress it up as research.
The five cost lines
1. Getting usable diagrams
If you already publish exploded views, this is close to zero: the artwork exists. If you have print manuals or photographs, it is a design job — vectorise or clean up the diagram, add the reference numbers, and confirm the numbers still mean what they meant in print.
2. Mapping callouts to parts — the real driver
Every number on the diagram has to be matched to a part: its number, its name, its quantity, its image, and the page a buyer should land on. This is the line item that scales with the number of parts, and it is where the money goes.
It is also the line item with a permanent payoff. Mapping is not throwaway work: once a part is mapped, that map serves the diagram for good, and it is what turns the diagram from a question into an answer.
3. The rendering layer
Something has to fetch a catalogue, draw the diagram, position markers as the image scales, and link each part to the buy path. You either build and maintain it, or you pay for it. This is the one line item that normally scales with the number of diagrams, not the number of parts.
4. Serving and hosting
Diagram files, thumbnails and the API that serves them. Small, and it scales with traffic and with how many people load your diagrams. If a vendor hosts it, it is inside their price; if you host it, it is a CDN bill you barely notice.
5. Upkeep
Redrawn diagrams shifting every coordinate, platform updates, superseded part numbers, the occasional browser behaviour change. Free when you buy; permanent when you build, because building means owning it.
What scales with what
| Cost line | Scales with | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Diagram preparation | Number of diagrams | One-off, then rare |
| Callout mapping | Parts per diagram | One-off per diagram, plus edits |
| Rendering layer | Number of diagrams | Subscription, or a build plus upkeep |
| Serving | Traffic | Small, continuous |
| Upkeep | Time | Continuous |
The practical consequence: 40 parts across 200 diagrams is a much bigger project than 400 parts across 5. If you are comparing quotes, compare them per diagram, not per part.
Partsy's published prices
Partsy is priced on models and catalogs rather than on parts, because that is the driver a buyer can actually predict. As published on the price list: Free at ₹0 with one model plus catalog and one storefront domain; Starter at ₹24,999 with 20; Growth at ₹49,999 with 100 and three domains; Business at ₹99,999 with 500 and ten domains. Parts are unlimited on every tier, including Free.
Two consequences worth stating plainly. Unlimited parts means the mapping work is bounded by your own effort rather than by a meter, which is what makes an ambitious diagram economically sensible in the first place. And the tier boundaries are about how many models you publish and how many storefronts you serve — the two things that genuinely change how much integration work is involved.
The arithmetic to run on your own numbers
Replace the assumed rates with your own and the shape becomes clear:
| Line | Assumption | Worked example |
|---|---|---|
| Diagrams to digitise | you do not already have them | 50 diagrams |
| Preparation effort | assumed 1.5 h per diagram | 75 hours |
| Callout mapping | assumed 4 min per part, 40 parts per diagram | 133 hours |
| Rendering layer | Partsy Growth | ₹49,999 |
| Upkeep | Partsy hosts and maintains it | included |
Read that as a method, not a quote. The two assumptions in italics are the ones worth arguing about, and they are the two that dominate the total. If your parts are already exported with images and URLs, the mapping figure collapses and the project looks very different.
A screenshot of the model in a spreadsheet: the two assumed rates highlighted as the cells to change, and the total updating from them.
The cost of doing nothing, which is the comparison people forget
If a shopper cannot identify a part on your site, they either phone you, email you, or leave. Each of those costs something, and the first two cost something that recurs per customer forever. When you weigh a subscription against a build, weigh it against that baseline rather than against zero — then decide whether the diagram is where your effort belongs at all. If it is not, building it in-house is a legitimate answer, and the criteria apply either way.