Product
Three production workspaces, one design engine
Plate Software is a desktop application. Everything works locally: your designs, templates, printer profiles and calibration all live on your own machine, and a normal internet outage does not stop you working.
01Road plates
Core and Essential
The plate you make fifty times a day
Type the registration, pick the size, print. Spacing, character rules and your supplier markings are applied for you, and the checks run before the print button will open.
- Oblong, shortened, square, motorcycle, import, trailer and oversized sizes
- Hex and lipped shaped plates with the border set correctly
- Front, rear, or a matched pair printed as one job
- Your outlet name, postcode and BS AU 145e marking applied automatically
- National identifiers, flags and the zero-emission green flash
- Pre-printed flag media mode for stock you already hold
- Raised-character layouts with jig positions and a placement guide
- Road-use checks that block the print button when something is wrong
02Show plates
Essential
Show plates in about thirty seconds
A fast layout for the everyday job — type the lines, pick a font and colour, and it fits itself to the plate. Switch to advanced artwork when a customer wants something more involved.
- Type one or two lines and let auto-fit size them to the plate
- Any font installed on the machine, or import one for the job
- Plate shape, corner radius, border width and colour
- Background colour or a full background image
- Front, rear or pair output from the same design
- Safe-zone guides so nothing runs into the border
- Advanced artwork mode for layers, shapes and multi-element designs
- Every output permanently marked as not for road use
03Signs
Essential
A proper sign studio, not a bolt-on
A full design surface with rulers, guides and the production tooling a real sign job needs — plus a starter library you can edit rather than build from nothing.
- Any canvas size, plus plate-size signs with shape and corner radius
- Text, boxes, circles, lines, shapes and images
- QR codes and barcodes generated in place
- Editable starter templates for safety, workshop, parking and information signs
- Rulers, grid, guides, snapping, align and distribute
- Multi-page documents with duplicate and batch output
- Bleed, safe area and crop marks
- Tile to media for output larger than your printer
- Production PDF, high-resolution raster and supported vector export
04Printing and calibration
Identical on both tiers
Direct plate production is exactly the same whether you are on Core or Essential. There is no artificially crippled printing path to push you upwards.
Printers and profiles
Find the printers already on the machine, then keep a saved profile for each one so the setup you got right stays right.
- Windows printer discovery
- A saved profile per printer and media
- Separate front and rear printer assignment
- Dual-printer pair mode
- Thermal, laser and LED workflows
- Custom paper and media sizes
- Mirror output for laser film
Calibration that holds
Printers drift and blanks vary between batches. Get it right once per profile and it stays where you put it.
- X and Y offset calibration
- Scale calibration
- Rotation and mirror controls
- Test print and calibration wizard
- Calibration saved per profile
- Repeatable output across a run
Getting work out
Queue it, print it, and print it again next week without rebuilding anything.
- Print preview before you commit a blank
- Front and rear as one paired job
- Copy quantity and batch output
- Production queue
- Local print history
- One-click reprint from history
Your files, your machine
Designs, templates and printer profiles are stored locally. A normal internet outage does not stop you working.
- Local project saving and reopening
- Local template library
- Local backup and restore
- Keeps working during a temporary outage
- No customer or identity documents collected
- Diagnostics never include your artwork unless you attach it
05Where the line sits
What we check, and what only you can
You are the one whose name goes on the plate, so you should know exactly which part of the job the software is carrying and which part stays with you.
We take care of
- Character rules and spacing, applied while you type.
- The permitted mark descriptions and how each one is laid out.
- Two-row grouping on motorcycle and square blanks.
- Your supplier marking and British Standard reference on every road plate.
- A design check that holds the print button closed when something is wrong.
- Keeping show plate work visibly and functionally separate from road production.
- Rule and template updates, included for as long as you subscribe.
Stays with you
- The material and stock you print on.
- Your printer, ink or toner, and the state they are in.
- The manufacturing process and the finished article.
- Your obligations and record-keeping as a supplier.
- The final judgement on whether a plate leaves your counter.
We will not tell you a plate is legal, and we would be suspicious of software that did. The design check reports what it can see on screen; it cannot see the blank, the ink or the finished plate in your hand. Plate Software is not DVLA-approved software and does not certify anything you manufacture.
06Compare
Core and Essential, line by line
| Capability | Core | Essential |
|---|---|---|
| ProductWhat each tier is for. | ||
| Road-use number plates | Included | Included |
| Show plates | Not included | Included |
| Signs | Not included | Included |
| Production Licences includedOne per subscription, on every tier | Included | Included |
| Additional Production Licence packsPriced the same whichever tier you are on | Included | Included |
| Windows desktop application | Included | Included |
| Windows desktop applicationWindows 10 and 11, 64-bit | Included | Included |
| Local project saving | Included | Included |
| Local backup and restore | Included | Included |
| Automatic updates | Included | Included |
| Customer records, documents and compliance workflowPlanned for the future Professional tier | Not included | Not included |
| Orders, inventory and trade accountsPlanned for the future Business tier | Not included | Not included |
| Customer web applicationNot part of the launch release on any tier | Not included | Not included |
| Road plate creationCore is a complete road-use production product, not a cut-down Essential. | ||
| Standard oblong plates | Included | Included |
| Shortened supported formats | Included | Included |
| Square and 4x4 formats | Included | Included |
| Motorcycle formats | Included | Included |
| Import formats | Included | Included |
| Trailer formats where applicable | Included | Included |
| Oversized supported formats | Included | Included |
| Hex road-use templates | Included | Included |
| Lipped and shaped supported templates | Included | Included |
| Front only, rear only, or a matched pair | Included | Included |
| Road-use character rules | Included | Included |
| Supplier and footer markings | Included | Included |
| British Standard marking configuration | Included | Included |
| Permitted identifiers and flags | Included | Included |
| Green flash | Included | Included |
| Adjustable constrained border | Included | Included |
| Pre-printed flag media mode | Included | Included |
| Raised-character layout and guide support | Included | Included |
| Road-use validation before print | Included | Included |
| Saved road plate projects and templates | Included | Included |
| Printing and calibrationDirect plate production is identical on both tiers. The export difference exists because Essential adds creative workflows where a production file is a normal requirement. | ||
| Direct printing | Included | Included |
| Print preview | Included | Included |
| Multiple printer profiles | Included | Included |
| Front and rear printer assignment | Included | Included |
| Dual-printer pair mode | Included | Included |
| X and Y calibration | Included | Included |
| Scale calibration | Included | Included |
| Rotation and mirror controls | Included | Included |
| Test print and calibration wizard | Included | Included |
| Print queue | Included | Included |
| Local print history and reprint | Included | Included |
| Copy quantity | Included | Included |
| Supported thermal workflows | Included | Included |
| Supported laser and LED workflows | Included | Included |
| High-resolution creative PDF export | Not included | Included |
| High-resolution creative raster export | Not included | Included |
| Supported vector export | Not included | Included |
| Show plates | ||
| Dedicated Show Plate mode | Not included | Included |
| Custom spacing | Not included | Included |
| Custom fonts | Not included | Included |
| Multiple text elements | Not included | Included |
| Custom colours | Not included | Included |
| Background images | Not included | Included |
| Logos and graphics | Not included | Included |
| Decorative borders | Not included | Included |
| Text effects | Not included | Included |
| Custom dimensions | Not included | Included |
| Layer controls | Not included | Included |
| Reusable show templates | Not included | Included |
| Signs | ||
| Dedicated Sign workspace | Not included | Included |
| Custom canvas size | Not included | Included |
| Multiple text boxes | Not included | Included |
| Shapes and lines | Not included | Included |
| Images and logos | Not included | Included |
| SVG import | Not included | Included |
| Layers, lock and visibility | Not included | Included |
| Align and distribute | Not included | Included |
| Guides, grid and snapping | Not included | Included |
| QR codes | Not included | Included |
| Barcodes | Not included | Included |
| Bleed and safe areas | Not included | Included |
| Crop marks | Not included | Included |
| Basic page tiling | Not included | Included |
| Sign templates | Not included | Included |
| Production PDF export | Not included | Included |
| High-resolution raster export | Not included | Included |
| Platform, support and licensing | ||
| Offline entitlement | Included | Included |
| Device transfer | Included | Included |
| Upgrade without reinstalling | Available | Already the top launch tier |
| Software updates | Included | Included |
| Rules and template updates | Included | Included |
| Printer profile updates | Included | Included |
| Email support route | Included | Included |
| Knowledge base | Included | Included |
| Roadmap area in the application | Included | Included |
| Partner-supplied licence support | Included | Included |