It’s not just us that like to sing PaperCut’s praises. Popular website Techrepublic posted an interesting article from an ex Equitrac user who made the jump to PaperCut and hasn’t looked back.

I’ll cut to the chase.  We discovered another product called PaperCut that had been getting very positive reviews on a number of higher ed listservs to which I subscribe.  After a short scan of the market and getting a few members of my staff involved, we decided to give PaperCut a shot.  For what it does, the product’s pricing is spectacular, particularly for educational institutions.  For our 1,500 user licenses, we didn’t end up having to pay much more than we did for Equitrac support alone, so, from a financial standpoint, the decision was a no-brainer.  We moved to PaperCut over the summer of 2009 and have had very few problems, but have enjoyed a great number of the product’s features, including:

• A web-based console used for both administration and user access. Users can very easily get a list of every single one of their print jobs.
• Automatic refunding in the event of a failed print job with no need for IT to get involved.
• Multiple easy ways to add money to a student’s printing account. We haven’t yet implemented what PaperCut calls “TopUp” cards, but we plan to do so.
• No problems working with Windows, OS X 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6. Lack of OS X 10.5 and 10.6 support is what drove us away from the older version of Equitrac.
• Automatic creation of user printing accounts through integration with Active Directory. Under Equitrac, getting new printing accounts created was a true hassle.
• Excellent, intuitive reporting tools, including an “environmental impact” report for each user that provides them with information about how their printing affects the environment.
• A very regular release cycle. Last year alone, there were close to fifteen releases, all of which added features and corrected issues.
• Meager system requirements for the server component – 1GB RAM; Windows, Mac OS X, Linux OS support; and less than 1GB of disk space. We run ours on a VMware-based virtual machine.
• Easy, easy administration.

Read the full article.

Responding to customer requests, the company has developed an improved support/stand for Equitrac PageCounter modules. Modules can be desk/wall mounted or floorstanding.