BoltWise is...
Built specifically for industrial distributors operating in fastener, MRO, and PVF categories. Every part of the product reflects the complexity of those markets: messy RFQs, inconsistent part descriptions, non-stock sourcing, and catalog data that is never perfectly clean.
If your team wins or loses based on quoting speed and accuracy, the comparison below will help you make the right call.
Proton.ai is...
A broad commercial suite for distributors: CRM, PIM, ecommerce AI, and, since July 2026, order and quote entry. Proton's own PIM page targets B2B distributors with 50,000 or more SKUs. Fasteners and PVF are not among the twelve verticals it lists. It publishes an 85% product match rate at 90% accuracy, does not name supplier sourcing for non-stock parts, and does not integrate with INxSQL or The Business Edge. Quoting is Proton's newest product and BoltWise's only one.
| Category | BoltWise | Proton.ai |
|---|---|---|
| How long it has done quoting | Since 2023. It is the only product. | Order and Quote Entry reached general availability July 21, 2026. Waitlist-only as of March 2026. |
| Published match rate | 95%+ on PO matching, 90%+ on matchable descriptions. | 85% of products matched at 90% accuracy. |
| Matches a description with no part number | Yes. Built for it, across fastener, MRO, and PVF catalogs. | Not described as a distinct capability. |
| Built for fastener, MRO, and PVF | Yes. Industrial distribution is the entire product. | Fasteners and PVF are not among the 12 verticals Proton lists. |
| Supplier sourcing for non-stock parts | Core feature. Finds who stocks it without leaving the quote. | Not a named capability. |
| Catalog size assumption | No SKU floor. Phone and email quoting is the workflow we speed up. | Targets “B2B distributors with 50,000+ SKUs.” |
| ERP fit for industrial distributors | Prophet 21, INxSQL, and The Business Edge. Quotes post back in one click. | P21, Eclipse, Infor SX.e, SAP, NetSuite, AS/400, DDI. INxSQL and The Business Edge not named. Read-only unless two-way sync is configured. |
| Typical time to live | About 3 weeks. | 12 to 14 weeks per Proton’s published ORS Nasco case study, including customer-side data cleanup. |
| Where the engineering goes | One problem: quoting, part matching, and sourcing. | Split across CRM, PIM, ecommerce AI, chatbot, and quoting, with pricing and inventory modules listed as coming soon. |
| Ideal buyer | Inside sales and quoting teams at fastener, MRO, and PVF distributors. | Larger distributors buying a commercial suite with a digital commerce roadmap. |
Quoting in fastener, MRO, and PVF distribution is harder than most distribution quoting. Customer descriptions are inconsistent. The same part gets described a dozen different ways depending on who is sending the RFQ. Specs are often incomplete. Inside sales teams fill the gaps with memory, old orders, and supplier relationships built over years.
BoltWise is built around that reality. It extracts structured line items from unstructured RFQ inputs and matches them against your catalog using industrial-specific intelligence, including when the line carries no part number at all. It surfaces sourcing options for non-stock parts without requiring your reps to leave the quoting workflow. And it writes finished quotes back into Prophet 21, INxSQL, and The Business Edge.
Proton is building a suite. BoltWise is building one thing, and has been building it for industrial distributors since 2023. If quoting is the problem you are solving this quarter, that difference shows up in the first demo.
Respond to complex, multi-line industrial RFQs faster than competitors
Match inconsistent customer part descriptions to the right catalog items across fastener, MRO, or PVF categories
Source non-stock or hard-to-find parts without chasing suppliers manually
Reduce dependency on tribal knowledge concentrated in a few key reps
Increase quote volume without adding headcount
Win more bids by being first with an accurate number
Proton names Epicor P21, Epicor Eclipse, Infor SX.e, SAP, NetSuite, IBM AS/400, and DDI System among its integrations. INxSQL and The Business Edge are not named. Proton also reads from your ERP by default: their integration page states that Proton does not write back unless you explicitly configure a two-way sync. BoltWise writes structured quotes into Prophet 21, INxSQL, and The Business Edge as standard behavior, not as a configuration step.
When a customer asks for something you do not stock, BoltWise surfaces sourcing options without your rep leaving the quote. Proton does not name outbound supplier discovery as a capability anywhere in its product line. For fastener, MRO, and PVF distributors, where chasing non-stock lines is a daily part of quoting, that is not a minor omission.
Both tools read quotes from multiple input formats. The difference is what happens when the input is incomplete. Proton publishes an 85% product match rate at 90% accuracy, which means roughly one line in seven still routes to a human. BoltWise publishes 95%+ on PO matching and 90%+ on matchable descriptions. On a forty-line industrial RFQ, that gap is the difference between reviewing a couple of lines and reworking six.
Proton is spending its engineering on breadth: CRM, PIM, ecommerce AI, a conversational assistant, and now order and quote entry, with pricing and inventory modules listed as coming soon. BoltWise is spending all of it on quoting, part matching, and sourcing for industrial distributors. Those are different bets about where the value is, and if quoting is what is costing you deals, only one of them is aimed at your problem.
We are too slow responding to RFQs
Our best quoting knowledge lives in a few people's heads
We lose bids because we do not respond fast enough
Our catalog and part data are messy and inconsistent
We need better sourcing support for non-stock items
We run Prophet 21, INxSQL, or The Business Edge
We are a fastener, MRO, or PVF distributor and need software built for us
We are buying a full commercial suite, not just quoting
We need to reduce manual order entry across high input volume
We also need AR and back-office workflow automation
Customer requests come in across email, PDFs, spreadsheets, handwritten notes, and phone calls
Yes. BoltWise integrates with Prophet 21, INxSQL, and The Business Edge, the ERP systems most commonly used by fastener, MRO, and PVF distributors. Structured quotes post back in one click with no retyping.
Yes, for the quoting side. BoltWise is built only for fastener, MRO, and PVF distribution and does nothing but quoting, part matching, and supplier sourcing. Proton is a suite whose quoting module reached general availability in July 2026. BoltWise does not replace Proton's CRM, PIM, or ecommerce products, and does not try to.
Maturity on the specific job you are hiring for. Quoting is Proton's newest module, generally available since July 21, 2026 and waitlist-only as recently as March. It is the only thing BoltWise has built since 2023. Proton publishes an 85% match rate at 90% accuracy. BoltWise publishes 95%+ on PO matching and 90%+ on matchable descriptions, tuned specifically for fastener, MRO, and PVF descriptions.
BoltWise, if quoting is what you are buying. Proton's Order and Quote Entry product became generally available in July 2026 and publishes an 85% match rate at 90% accuracy. BoltWise has been building industrial quoting since 2023 and publishes 95%+ on PO matching and 90%+ on matchable descriptions. Fasteners and PVF are not among the twelve verticals Proton lists, and Proton does not integrate with INxSQL or The Business Edge.
Proton serves industrial distributors broadly and has large industrial customers. Fasteners and PVF are not among the twelve verticals Proton lists on its customers page, and it publishes no fastener case study. Its quoting module is a few months old with no public reviews of it yet, and it does not integrate with INxSQL or The Business Edge. Those gaps matter most for exactly the distributors BoltWise is built for.