The new functionality comes in addition to the existing estimating and invoicing modules in the free Community Edition of Printpak's MIS, which was launched in November 2008.

Norman Marks, managing director of the London- and Mumbai-based business, said: "I think the partnership behind Printpak must be the only print MIS creator financially secure enough to create such innovative new software in a time of recession.

"We owe our success to our customers, and we want to acknowledge our debt to them by making sure our free entry-level version includes proper job costing, without which any estimating routine is incomplete."

Printpak claimed that, with companies increasingly setting prices based on a perception of "what the market can bear", the survivors would be those that estimate accurately, check their costs, and walk away from unprofitable jobs.

The latest full version of Printpak's MIS, Printpak 4.2, features full sales and purchase order processing, stock control and shop floor data capture, in addition to the existing feature list.