If you’re a PTC Arena user, you’ve likely felt the nagging sense that your product lifecycle management (PLM) system just isn’t keeping up.
It’s not just you. Across the board, users are increasingly frustrated.
The root cause? A combination of underinvestment and strategic neglect, all exacerbated by PTC’s post-acquisition priorities, which are focused on other products.
In short: Arena is not getting enough R&D resources to keep pace with other cloud-native PLM solutions.
Users Are Frustrated—And for Good Reason
Arena users aren’t just mildly annoyed; they’re hitting real roadblocks that have a big impact on productivity.
Let’s look at how Arena’s limitations are hitting businesses where it hurts:
Search That Doesn’t Search
Arena’s global search requires an exact match—no “Google-like” intuitiveness. If you don’t know the exact part number, good luck finding anything. If you have hundreds of parts—let alone thousands—can you really expect to find the right one quickly if you’re relying on an exact match?
Minimal Configurability
Need to tailor workflows or processes? Not with Arena. Outside of the few configuration options that they highlight during the sales process, PLM configurability is off the table. Arena users are forced to rely on custom development, or just bypass the system entirely—hello, Teams chats, email chains, and Google Sheets.
Workaround Nightmares
Because Arena can’t be molded to fit your business, teams build parallel workflows in Excel, SharePoint, or other systems. You’re paying for a PLM that your team has to work around—not with. Good luck with version control and IP security best practices with your product data spread across multiple systems.
Forget No-Code/Low-Code
Modern enterprises thrive on agility. While Arena catches up to basic automated workflows, they don’t support no-code/low-code updates, which means users cannot configure the solution to their specific needs and workflows. Say goodbye to happy users and productivity.
Fragmented User Experience
With reporting and analytics tacked on rather than natively built in, Arena becomes a patchwork of tools instead of a cohesive solution. Arena relies on third-party analytics, leading to reporting delays and a disjointed user experience. The result? Missed deadlines, increased operational costs, lower productivity, and a constant state of workaround fatigue. Your team is being asked to do more with less—and less capable tools.
Bad News—It’s Only Getting Worse
This situation isn’t going to improve because PTC is not investing in Arena.
Windchill is the flagship PLM in the PTC portfolio, and it’s where all the innovation dollars are going. PTC’s public earnings calls, press releases, and investor presentations all cover Windchill as the focus. Arena doesn’t even get mentioned.
That makes sense when you consider Arena only represents a small fraction of PTC’s business.
Arena has been put into a box—with limited resources, a slow erosion of user trust, and a glass ceiling imposed by big brother Windchill.
Oh, and let’s not forget the pricing confusion. With costs fluctuating and no clear value path, Arena’s pricing model is another stressor that compounds the experience.
If you’re waiting for Arena to catch up—it won’t. If you really want to work with PTC, you are better off moving to Windchill, or more specifically Windchill+, since that’s the product getting development resources.
Make the Switch to Propel
Propel Software was built to solve the very challenges Arena can’t—or won’t—address. We’re cloud-native, AI-powered, and relentlessly focused on innovation that puts the user first.
Propel empowers you with:
- Google-like intelligent search
- Flexible, configurable workflows
- Native analytics and real-time insights
- No-code/low-code tools to adapt faster
- Seamless collaboration across teams and partners
- A unified platform connecting PLM, QMS, and PIM
- Productivity-driving AI native to the platform
We’re not working around product gaps. We’re delivering a complete, modern platform built for continuous innovation.
Because your team deserves more than workarounds. They deserve progress.
