An honest comparison, including the cases where SDS Manager is the better buy.
SDS Manager is the cheaper product if what you need is a safety data sheet library: it is free up to 200 sheets and EUR 420 a year for 100 sheets on a paid plan. NextSDS starts at EUR 249 a month and is a different shape of tool, because it treats the library as the input and automates what comes after it: CLP labels, safety cards, risk assessments and regulatory screening.
So the question is not which is better. It is whether your work stops once a sheet is filed. If it does, SDS Manager is very likely the right call. If you are still producing labels and instruction cards by hand afterwards, that is the part NextSDS removes.
SDS Manager figures read from their pricing page on 14 October 2026. Prices change, so check before you buy.
Their free plan holds 200 sheets with no time limit, and paid plans start at EUR 420 a year. Nothing NextSDS sells competes with free.
Their ExactSDS product authors GHS-compliant sheets in more than 40 languages. NextSDS does not author sheets at all, it manages the ones you receive.
Their DirectSDS product is built for that, from EUR 40 a month. The NextSDS Safety Portal distributes to your own people, which is a different job.
They ship an iOS and Android app with offline access to the library. NextSDS is a web app, with QR posters for floor-level access.
| SDS Manager | NextSDS | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Up to 200 SDS, no time limit | Feature limited, no expiry |
| Entry paid | EUR 420 / year, up to 100 SDS | EUR 249 / month, Complete |
| Mid | EUR 960 / year, up to 400 SDS | EUR 499 / month, Professional |
| Upper | EUR 2,784 / year, up to 2,000 SDS | EUR 799 / month, Integrated |
| SDS authoring | ExactSDS, from EUR 179 per sheet | Not offered |
| SDS distribution to customers | DirectSDS, from EUR 40 / month | Not offered |
| Wider EHS modules | EUR 8.99 / employee / month | Included in the plans above |
The two are not priced on the same unit. SDS Manager bills per safety data sheet held; NextSDS bills per product managed, and the plan price moves with that count. Use the slider on the NextSDS pricing page to see your number rather than reading the entry price as the whole story.
| Capability | SDS Manager | NextSDS |
|---|---|---|
| Searchable SDS library with QR access | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic alerts when a supplier revises a sheet | Yes | Yes |
| Offline mobile app | Yes | No |
| Authoring your own GHS sheets | Yes | No |
| Sending sheets to your customers | Yes | No |
| Supplier emails parsed automatically into the library | No | Yes |
| CLP labels generated for mixtures | No | Yes |
| Workplace safety and instruction cards | No | Yes |
| Risk assessment with ECETOC TRA, OEL and DNEL | No | Yes |
| REACH, SVHC and CLP screening of your inventory | No | Yes |
| Horizon scanning for upcoming regulatory change | No | Yes |
| Procurement validation before a chemical is bought | No | Yes |
| Environmental and waste reporting | No | Yes |
| ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 framework mapping | No | Yes |
| API and SSO (SAML, Entra ID) | No | Yes |
SDS Manager column compiled from their own pricing and product pages on 14 October 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and it gets corrected.
Count what you did by hand last month because a safety data sheet changed. New labels. Reprinted instruction cards. A risk assessment reopened. A substance checked against the SVHC list. A purchase waved through without anyone looking.
If that number is near zero, buy the cheapest library that works, and that is very often SDS Manager. If it is most of someone's week, the library was never the expensive part, and that is the case NextSDS is built for.
No need for complex training - just start uploading your safety data sheets
and we'll organize everything automatically.
Got questions? We've got answers! The essential info about making chemical safety simple and accessible.
No. For storing and sharing safety data sheets, SDS Manager is the cheaper product, and it has a free tier that holds up to 200 sheets for as long as you want. NextSDS starts at EUR 249 a month. The comparison only tips the other way once you add up what you would otherwise pay other tools, or staff hours, to turn those sheets into CLP labels, safety cards, risk assessments and regulatory screening.
No. NextSDS manages the sheets you receive from suppliers. If you manufacture or formulate products and need to author your own GHS-compliant sheets, SDS Manager sells that as a separate product called ExactSDS, and it is the better fit for that job.
The work that happens after a sheet is filed. NextSDS generates CLP labels for mixtures, workplace safety and instruction cards, and chemical risk assessments including ECETOC TRA with OEL and DNEL comparison. It screens your inventory against REACH, SVHC and CLP, flags upcoming regulatory changes before they land, validates chemicals at the procurement stage, and maps everything to ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 frameworks.
Yes. Export your sheets from SDS Manager and upload them in bulk, or point your suppliers at a Magic Mailbox address and let the AI file them as they arrive. The extraction step rebuilds the structured data, so you do not re-key anything.
If you have a few hundred sheets, one site, and the job is mainly to make them findable, start with SDS Manager's free tier. If you are also producing labels and instruction cards by hand, or an inspection is coming and your risk assessments are out of date, that manual work is the thing NextSDS removes, and it is worth comparing against what those hours cost you now.
