FrameReady was discontinued on August 1, 2026, and the shop has to pick something, but it does not have to pick the one replacement being pointed at. The real options are LifeSaver Cloud (the official path, annual billing), SimpleFrame (quoted per shop, with migration done for you), Virtual Framer ($125 a month, best preview), Framing POS (from $30 a month, basic) and FrameForge ($39 to $89 a month, monthly, no contract, 14-day trial). Export your customer list as CSV before anything else, then test two of them with real jobs.
I built FrameForge, so I have a horse in this. I also spent years on a delivery route into frame shops, and I would rather you pick well than pick me.
What happened
FrameReady ran on FileMaker and on Windows and macOS versions that reached end of life. Its owner, LifeSaver, discontinued it effective August 1, 2026, and the FrameReady website now points at LifeSaver Cloud. Existing customers are being invited to migrate there.
That is one option. It is not a requirement. Your data is yours, and every system on this page can take a customer list.
Step one, before you decide anything
Export from FrameReady while you can still open it. At minimum: the customer list as CSV, and whatever order and inventory reports it will give you. Save them in two places. Then keep the old machine, powered off, in a closet for a year. Order history does not move cleanly between any two POS systems, and you will want to look something up.
Do this today even if you have not picked a replacement. The replacement can wait a month. The export cannot wait past the day the old machine dies.
The five options, side by side
LifeSaver Cloud. The official conversion, the longest track record, and broad vendor catalogs. Billed annually; the entry tier shows $79 and the higher tiers need their pricing tool. Shops that have moved have reported inventory features that are thinner than FrameReady's. Pick it if you want the vendor most others will be on and annual billing suits you.
SimpleFrame. Cloud and tablet-first, united-inch pricing, a large vendor catalog, and a done-for-you migration that they say finishes in a session for most shops. No published price; you request a quote, and card processing is bundled. Pick it if you want someone else to do the move and you are fine with a per-shop quote.
Virtual Framer. $125 a month or $1,375 a year. The strongest photo-realistic preview and a very large moulding library. The priciest of the group. Pick it if the preview is how you sell.
Framing POS. From $30 a month for five users. Simple and inexpensive, thinner on reporting. Pick it if your shop is simple and budget decides.
FrameForge. $39 Starter, $59 Shop, $89 Gallery, month to month, no contract, 14-day trial with no card. United-inch pricing from supplier files with a visible freshness date, a live preview, email quote approval with a deposit, work tickets with the cut list, order-ready texts on Shop and Gallery, QuickBooks export, consignment on Gallery, CSV export even after a trial ends. Newest of the five. Pick it if you want pricing that is the same no matter who is at the counter and billing you can walk away from.
The full comparison table, with each vendor's data export policy, is on the switching from FrameReady page. I compiled it from their public pricing pages and framer forums in August 2026, and I will correct anything that goes stale.
How to choose in two weeks
Pick two from the list above and run them side by side on trials. Price the same three real jobs in each. Print a work ticket from each and hand it to the bench. Load one supplier file in each. Mark an order ready in each and see what the customer gets. Then export from each and look at the file.
What you are testing is not the feature list. It is whether the numbers match what you charge, whether the workshop can work from the ticket, and whether you can leave.
Moving to FrameForge, if that is the pick
- Import the FrameReady customer CSV in one step. Names, phones, emails and addresses match up and duplicates are skipped.
- Load your supplier price files, either the spreadsheet your rep emails or the shared catalog that updates on its own.
- Enter your markup curve and labor rates once. Every ticket follows.
- Run this week's real orders through it during the trial.
For the first ten shops, I do the import for you and you get the Shop plan (normally $59) locked at $39 a month for as long as you stay subscribed. The home page shows how many of the ten spots are left, and the offer closes when the tenth shop claims it.
Start your free trial with no card, or email info@getframeforge.com with your FrameReady export and I will tell you what will and will not come across before you commit to anything.
Questions people ask
Do I have to move to LifeSaver Cloud?
No. LifeSaver owns FrameReady and is the official migration path, but any system that imports a CSV customer list can take your shop. Nothing about the shutdown forces a particular replacement.
How do I get my customers out of FrameReady?
Export the customer list as CSV while you can still open the program. FrameForge imports that file in one step and skips duplicates.
Will I lose my order history?
Order history does not transfer cleanly between systems. Keep a copy of your FrameReady exports and your last machine in a closet for a year so you can look things up.
What does FrameForge cost after FrameReady?
$39, $59 or $89 a month, month to month, 14-day trial with no card. The first ten shops get the Shop plan at $39 a month locked while they stay subscribed.