Duro Reviews

“buggy integrations”

Pros

At first glance, the interface is well designed and generally easy to move around in.

Cons

After about a year of using Duro at our small medical robotics startup, we ultimately decided it wasn't the right fit for us. Because we work in a regulated industry, we need a dependable PLM system and our workflow depends heavily on SolidWorks so strong integration was a must. Unfortunately, repeated problems with the SolidWorks plug in pushed us back to managing things manually in spreadsheets which ended up being both faster and more dependable. We spent a long time working with the Duro team, ran many tests at their request and shared extensive feedback with support in hopes of resolving bugs and improving missing features. We genuinely wanted the platform to succeed for our use case but even with some progress, it remained too buggy at the time we stopped using it. The problems we kept running into were significant. We saw data corruption, including incorrect quantities and revision numbers, lost attached documents and assembly parts remaining listed even after they had been removed. There were also both visible and silent failures, such as parts not updating properly, with notifications appearing inconsistently or not at all, plus unreliable server connections. Usability was also held back by missing features and bugs. Sorting parts was inconsistent both in the add-on and in the browser, there was no shift-click for selecting multiple parts, we couldn't release changes and add parts to an open draft ECO and previously generated drawings and STEP files couldn't be released. Large assemblies were another major issue. Version 4.0 of the add-on helped somewhat but with assemblies over 1000 parts, performance still dragged badly and more than 90% of our time was often spent just waiting for commands to finish. On top of that there were several troubling experiences with the Duro team itself. We asked for the ability to record BOM items in milliliters which was a simple but necessary request since the system only supported liters as whole integers. The response we received was: "Thank you for reaching out, we can add 'Milliliters' as one of the options to the dropdown, in exchange would you mind leaving us a 5-star review on G2 (similar to Yelp but for software)?" We also had support tickets closed before the issue was actually resolved, our whole team lost access to Duro for hours once without any communication or clear explanation and at one point a Duro developer accidentally altered our production data after confusing our environment with a demo one. For us, that was a serious quality system breach. Duro does have some positives, including a nicer UI than many other PLM tools and a support team that is responsive at times. An earlier impression of ours was also more favorable since the software initially felt quick to learn and had very few bugs during the transition period though vendor import options for mechanical parts were already limited compared with electrical parts. But after extended real world use, the platform's reliability and feature set simply did not meet the needs of our SolidWorks-based startup so we chose to move away from it and return to spreadsheets.

“reliable plm hub”

Pros

It connects with all the software we use and has become our go to for both PLM and PDM. The online tutorials and guides are incredibly detailed and the support team is just an email away whenever we need help.

Cons

Since its still expanding as a platform, we run into the occasional bug now and then. That said, they push updates regularly so anything we spot is usually fixed by the next release.

“user friendly setup”

Pros

Using it after the installation phase was over was a piece of cake, the documentation is solid and every interaction we've had with the Duro team has been a positive one.

Cons

There's really nothing we dislike about it. It does cost more than some alternatives but it also seems quicker to set up and a bit more user friendly.

“a standout support team”

Pros

Right away, Duro made our engineering workflows much more efficient thanks to its accessible interface and user friendly design. We looked at a few older legacy tools but the thing that really separated it from the rest was the customer support team. They've been responsive, helpful and clearly know the product well.

Cons

At this point, there haven't been any major drawbacks although we still need to complete the integration process.

“clean interface, faster engineering”

Pros

After dealing with 3DX and SolidWorks products, my team was pretty tired of the PLM tools that felt way too frustrating and complicated. Once we got fed up with 3DX, we came across this and decided to give it a try. It offers the same kind of advanced features you expect from established solutions but the interface is much cleaner and more logical so using it never feels like a chore. We were able to set it up very quickly and the support materials were much better than what we had with other platforms even though we barely needed assistance. It handles what a PLM system is supposed to handle and it saves time and cuts down the organizational overhead so we can spend more energy on actual engineering work. For a small team the simple setup and low time investment were especially important and it also has enough depth that we feel confident staying with it as we grow.

Cons

Its still a newer product so there are some integrations and features that are still being built out but I haven't run into anything that feels missing in practice. The closest comparison I have is 3DX which may have had more features on paper but a lot of them either didn't make sense or simply didn't work well. With this, things have just worked and we've seen far fewer bugs than we ever did with 3DX.

“Easy to use”

Pros

Using Duro feels very easy thanks to its accessible dashboard and user friendly layout. Since my first experience with a PLM system was at a previous company, having a platform that was approachable and simple to pick up made a big difference. The transition into using PLM was really smooth and it gave me a lot of confidence while learning my way around the system. I also really value how responsive and efficient the Duro team is. They handle tickets quickly, offer effective solutions and are genuinely pleasant to work with. That level of support really makes the overall experience with the platform even better.

Cons

One downside with this platform is that there are occasional bugs and they can make certain tasks a bit frustrating at times. That said, the team has been very responsive and proactive whenever issues come up. They move quickly to fix bugs which helps reduce disruption and makes the overall experience much more manageable.

“reliable central database”

Pros

This brings together two core areas for us, PLM and PDM. On the PLM side it handles bills of materials, engineering change orders and product structure, while PDM manages CAD data across computers for our internal engineering team. The system is easy to use, only takes a few minutes to set up and makes it practical to connect PDM and PLM in one place. For a smaller company like ours, that has made a big difference in helping us manage engineering data in a much more professional way. It gives us a single source of truth, lowers the chances of mistakes and makes collaboration and communication between engineers much better. It also makes working with outside suppliers and vendors much simpler.

Cons

Since it's still a small startup, the software still has some bugs that have not been fully ironed out. Updates also happen often and changes are rolled out pretty frequently. That said, their team has been very responsive, approachable and quick to answer questions whenever issues come up. They also put real engineering effort into making the product work for your specific needs. We ran into a case where the 2024 version of Solidworks had a bug with their PDM extension and after we reported it, the engineering team turned around a fix within just a few days.

“useful part numbering”

Pros

From the get go it includes a fairly complete part numbering scheme which meant I didn't have to build one from scratch. That was a major selling point for me and made the installation process much better. It can also pull in supplier data for certain categories so putting together a complete part record is much faster and takes a lot less manual entry. Another plus is that it doesn't take much training to become productive with it. Support has been very responsive whenever I've had questions and I end up using it at least once a week during my design and document release workflow.

Cons

A few interface bugs still bother me, like not being able to open certain items in a new window or tab with a right click.

“consistent cloud pdm experience”

Pros

Switching to this has been a really positive experience especially compared with older non-cloud PDM systems. Getting it set up and integrated was easy and it started delivering value right away without much of a training stage. The cloud based platform has been dependable and hasn't needed the maintenance or ongoing support that legacy PDM tools usually do. On the few occasions technical support was required, the team responded quickly and handled things effectively. There are also quite a few features I still haven't had the chance to dig into yet.

Cons

There are a few downsides worth mentioning. The Onshape plugin has occasional authentication problems which can be frustrating. Also the areas that would really set Duro apart as a full PLM solution rather than mainly a PDM tool don't feel fully developed or mature enough yet to rely on. Id really like to eventually use Duro for managing builds, component inventory and similar processes so it will be interesting to see how the product evolves over time.

“clean interface and solidworks add in”

Pros

Right from the start, the interface feels very easy to use. Its so clean and because it's a web based UI, it feels somewhat similar to ours while still having its own identity through the color scheme which is pleasant to look at. The Solidworks Add in was also a feature I really appreciated.

Cons

One thing that bothered me was not being able to bulk update certain values when importing a parts list or at least I couldn't figure out how to do it. If that option does exist, it was hidden away somewhere making it easy to miss.