FloorCast3D as a CET alternative for rack layout
These two are not really the same kind of product, and pretending otherwise would waste your time. CET is a configuration platform with manufacturer catalogs behind it. FloorCast3D is a single-purpose warehouse rack-layout tool. The useful question is which of those your next job actually needs.
| FloorCast3D | CET Essentials | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $199/mo | from $155/mo |
| Load-estimate BOM | Yes | not offered |
| Permit pre-flight + placards | Yes | not offered |
| Flow / throughput simulation | Yes | not offered |
| CAD + simulation, one tool | Yes | not offered |
“×” means the vendor does not publish the capability — not that it is impossible. Essentials at $155/mo; full Material Handling is $330/mo and the pallet-racking extension is quote-only. Prices were checked against the vendor’s own page on 19 July 2026, US list, excluding tax, and software pricing moves — verify the current figure with CET Essentials rather than trusting this page.
Read the price row carefully
The from $155/mo in the table is Essentials, and it is the number most comparisons stop at, which makes CET look like the cheaper option. The racking-capable configuration is not that number: full Material Handling is $330/mo and the pallet-racking extension is quote-only. Price the configuration you would actually be working in, not the entry tier — and get the extension quoted, because a quote-only line is the part of a budget that surprises people.
When CET is the right answer
When the catalog is the point. If you sell specific manufacturer lines and your value is configuring them correctly against a live catalog, that ecosystem is exactly what you are paying for and a single-purpose layout tool does not replace it. The same is true if CET is already how your organisation quotes across more than racking — furniture, broader material handling — because consolidating on one platform has real value that a feature table does not show.
Switching costs are also a legitimate reason to stay. If your team is fluent in CET and your catalogs are configured, the cost of moving is not the licence fee.
When FloorCast3D is the right answer
When the job is a warehouse rack layout that has to clear a plan check. FloorCast3D reads the layout against the jurisdiction, returns a cited checklist sorted by what actually stops a filing, and writes the whole submittal package as one ZIP for an engineer to review and stamp — the permit guide covers what that package contains. Neither permit pre-flight nor throughput simulation is published for the tier compared here.
It is also the cheaper and simpler answer when racking is the whole job. One plan, one seat, no catalog ecosystem to configure and no quote-only extension to negotiate — and it runs locally, so nothing goes to a server in the middle of a customer meeting. If you want the density and rotation trade-offs behind the layouts it produces, the rack types guide sets those out.
Frequently asked
Is FloorCast3D a replacement for CET?
Usually not a wholesale replacement. CET is a configuration platform with manufacturer catalogs behind it, and if you sell specific lines through those catalogs that is the part no single-purpose tool replaces. FloorCast3D is narrower on purpose: it does warehouse rack layout, the takeoff, the permit pre-flight and a flow simulation, in one desktop tool, without a catalog ecosystem.
How does CET pricing compare?
CET Essentials starts at $155/mo against FloorCast3D at $199/mo, but the comparison is not like for like: full Material Handling is $330/mo and the pallet-racking extension is quote-only, so the racking-capable configuration is the number to price, not Essentials. Both figures were read on 19 July 2026; confirm current pricing with Configura.
Does CET do permit pre-flight or throughput simulation?
Neither is published for the Essentials tier compared here. That is a statement about what the vendor publishes, not about what the platform could be extended to do — CET is broad, and an extension or a partner configuration may cover ground this table cannot see.
Can I use both?
Plenty of dealers reasonably would. CET where the manufacturer catalog and the configuration ecosystem are the point, FloorCast3D where the job is a warehouse rack layout that has to survive a plan check and produce a submittal package. The 14-day trial is the whole product with no card, so running one real job through both costs nothing but an afternoon.
Try it on one real job
The free trial key is the whole product for 14 days — no card, and everything it generates is marked as a trial copy until you subscribe.