Esko is the enterprise standard for packaging prepress. ArtPro+ is the native PDF editor most large converters use for structural design and prepress. Automation Engine orchestrates the entire workflow, from incoming customer file to plate output. If you're a $200M+ packaging converter with a dedicated prepress department, you probably run Esko.
Preflight is for everyone else. $5M to $50M label and packaging converters, brand production teams, and prepress bureaus that need packaging-tuned preflight without committing to the full Esko stack. Browser-based. $50 per month per seat.
ArtPro+ is genuinely excellent at what it does. It's a packaging-native PDF editor with deep CAD integration, including direct ArtiosCAD interop. Automation Engine is a full workflow orchestration platform. Together they support the kind of integrated, automated, plate-output-end-to-end operation that an enterprise converter needs to run reliably at scale.
We don't compete with that. Preflight is not a packaging editor and not a workflow orchestration platform. It's a focused preflight analysis layer.
Most label and packaging converters are not the size where the Esko license investment pays back. If you run an HP Indigo or a Xeikon, a mid-sized flexo press, or you produce flexpack on a film line, and your prepress team is one or two people, not a department, the Esko stack is overkill. You need a way to validate incoming customer files quickly, without a license seat in a per-user named-user system or a workflow engineering project.
Preflight handles that layer. Upload a PDF, get back a structured report on spot colors, plate count, dieline detection, bleed measurements, image DPI, barcode validation, and total ink coverage, calibrated against the profile (digital label, flexo label, flexpack) you select. The engine reads ArtiosCAD-exported dielines and the conventions Esko-produced files typically use, so files coming from your brand customers' Esko-equipped studios work out of the box.
| Preflight | Esko ArtPro+ & Automation Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Target customer | $5M to $50M converters, brand production teams | Enterprise converters ($200M+) |
| Price | $50 / month per seat | Enterprise license (contact Esko) |
| Scope | Focused preflight analysis | Full prepress plus workflow stack |
| AI cross-validation layer | Yes. AI reviews findings for inconsistencies | No AI layer |
| Workflow integration | API and hot-folder watcher in beta (enterprise tier) | Automation Engine |
| Packaging editing | Not in scope (use Acrobat / Illustrator) | Native, deep CAD integration |
| ArtiosCAD-exported files | Read for dieline detection | Native authoring |
| Procurement cycle | Self-serve, monthly | Enterprise contract |
| Deployment | Web browser | Desktop plus server |
If your customers are brand owners with internal packaging design teams running Esko, you'll get files with Esko-authored dielines and spot-color conventions. Preflight's engine is built to read those files correctly, including the Pantone, dieline-layer, and registration-color conventions Esko-produced files typically use. You don't need to translate or normalize before uploading.
The AI cross-validation layer. Esko's preflight checks live inside ArtPro+ and Automation Engine as rule-based steps that an enterprise prepress team configures and maintains. They're deeply integrated with the rest of the Esko stack, which is the right design for enterprise converters running everything end-to-end inside that stack.
Preflight does something Esko's preflight doesn't. It runs an AI cross-validation layer alongside the rule-based checks. After the rule engine and visual audit extract their findings, the AI re-reads the whole report and flags inconsistencies that no single rule catches, the kind of subtle mismatch that only shows up when you read findings together rather than as isolated checks. The AI also pulls context from any notes the customer sent with the file and feeds those hints into the same validation pass.
For mid-market converters who aren't running the full Esko stack, and who can't justify the license seats to do so, that AI layer is the reason a $50/month tool can give you analysis quality you can stand behind.
The enterprise tier ships API access and a hot-folder watcher (in beta), the same workflow patterns Automation Engine uses, without the enterprise license commitment up front. If you want to slot Preflight into a workflow that hands off to Esko downstream, contact hello@preflight.art and we'll set up an evaluation.
Upload a packaging PDF and get a structured report in a few minutes. Pantone separations, ArtiosCAD keylines, peel-and-reveal dielines, and flexpack pouch geometry all handled out of the box.