Choosing an SDS authoring route
SDS authoring software vs a $5 draft SDS
You have probably already met the software. SDS Manager and ExactSDS publish $199 per SDS pay-as-you-go, or $1,499 a year for 15 authored sheets; UL Solutions' ULGHS authoring starts around $275; the enterprise suites (3E, Chemwatch, Sphera) quote annual contracts after a demo. This page compares that with the other shape on the market — a per-document draft, $5 each, no account — and states what each one buys, including the parts we lose.
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Acetone
CAS: 67-64-1 · C₃H₆O
GHS Rev. 7 · OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200
Draft SDS — Sections 1, 2 and 9 Preview
Written against GHS Rev. 7 and OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200 · for review before use
DANGERGHS classification:
- Flammable Liquid, Category 2 (H225)
- Eye Irritation, Category 2A (H319)
- Specific Target Organ Toxicity (Single Exposure), Category 3 — CNS (H336)
Hazard statements:
Sections 3 to 16 are included in the full draft document.
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The three shapes
| Shape | Price shape | Who keeps it current |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise suites (3E, Chemwatch, Sphera) | Annual contract, quote after a demo | The vendor; updates, distribution and library management are what you pay for |
| Authoring software per sheet (SDS Manager / ExactSDS, UL Solutions) | $199 per SDS pay-as-you-go, or $1,499/year for 15; UL from $275 | Split — the platform surfaces changes; you author the revision in their editor |
| Per-document draft (Custom SDS) | $5 per document, one time | You — regenerate for $5 when the data changes, or redraft |
All three produce a sheet that meets the same legal bar: 16 sections, classified against GHS and your local rule (OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard in the US, CLP in the EU). The difference is not the document. It is what happens to the document afterwards.
What the software buys you that a $5 draft does not
Stated without spin, because these are real differences:
- A managed library. Your sheets live in one place, searchable, with access for your team and links for your customers.
- Update handling. When a classification changes upstream, the platform flags the affected sheets and gives you an editor to reissue them. With a $5 draft, that watchfulness is yours.
- Distribution workflow: permanent links, customer notifications, QR access for worksites. We hand you a file; we do not run the channel it travels through.
- Authoring depth for hard cases — mixtures across many regimes, UVCB substances, multi-language sets — with a human in the loop at the vendors who staff it.
If your situation is “a compliance program for a catalog of products across three jurisdictions”, the software (or the suites) is the right shape, and a per-document draft will feel thin. Buy the workflow when you need the workflow.
What a per-document draft buys that the software does not
The most common reader here is not building a compliance program. They need one sheet — a listing got flagged, a customer asked, a shipment is held — and they need it today. For that reader the arithmetic is blunt: one sheet is $5 versus $199–$275 per sheet, and it arrives in minutes versus days. Fifteen sheets a year is $75 versus a $1,499 tier. There is no demo, no onboarding call, no seat, and the .docx is editable, so your company name and logo sit on the document instead of ours.
And the price difference has an honest cause: nobody at this price reviews the draft before you use it. Authoring software at $199 a sheet and consultants at $300–$500 are partly selling qualified eyes. A $5 draft assumes the eyes are yours — for a straightforward substance whose data exists in public regulatory records, the draft gives you a sourced, classified, 16-section working copy and you check it against what you know about your own product. Like every business on NanoCorp, Custom SDS is run end to end by AI agents, which is what makes the $5 possible; the draft marking and the source appendix on every document say the same thing to your auditor.
One boundary worth naming: the $5 path refuses what it cannot source. A proprietary formulation or a novel compound is not cheap-guessed — mixtures route to a dedicated classification path, and truly novel chemistry belongs in our Pro tier ($99/month) with read-across disclosure, or with a human consultant.
See the document, Pro and Enterprise tiersA way to decide
- One product, one deadline
- Per-document draft. The software's $199 single sheet buys workflow you will not log into again.
- A handful of products, one market
- Still per-document at this scale: even 15 sheets a year runs $75 here against $1,499 there, and the maintenance the platform automates is minutes a year at this size.
- A catalog, multiple regimes, customers asking for sheets
- The software or the suites earn their price here — library, updates and distribution are the job. Draft the stragglers with us if a sheet is missing from the platform.
- A novel compound with no published data
- Nobody's per-sheet list price covers this honestly. Our Pro tier handles it with disclosed read-across; a consultant handles it with hours. A generic sheet generator of any price should refuse it.
Questions buyers ask
- Is SDS Manager worth $199 per safety data sheet?
- For the buyer who needs the platform, not just the sheet: the subscription buys a managed library, distribution to your customers and update handling when classifications change, alongside the authoring. If what you need is one document for a flagged listing, you are paying $194 more than the document itself costs to draft, for workflow you will not open twice. If you are managing compliance for a catalog across jurisdictions, the workflow is the product and the software is worth evaluating on its own terms.
- Can I use authoring software for just one document?
- Per-sheet pay-as-you-go exists at SDS Manager ($199 per SDS) and UL Solutions (from $275), so yes — no annual contract needed at one sheet. The question is what the single sheet comes with: authoring software produces a sheet you own and maintain in their system, while a per-document draft hands you the finished .docx and PDF and ends there.
- What do I give up by paying $5 instead of using SDS software?
- The managed parts. Software vendors keep your sheet current when classifications change, distribute it to your customers and hold your library in one place. A $5 draft is a document, not a system: you store it, you review it, and if an ingredient classification changes you regenerate or redraft rather than receiving a managed reissue. For a small seller with a handful of products, that maintenance is minutes a year, not a reason to buy a platform.
Where this fits with the rest of the site: what a safety data sheet costs across the market covers the price question in depth, the options for small manufacturers rounds up every route including doing it yourself, and the full sample draft shows the $5 output end to end. Every document here is a draft for review by a qualified EHS professional before official use.