Pallet design software: the options compared

"Pallet design software" covers several different jobs: engineering a wood pallet's structure, planning how cases stack on it, drawing it, and quoting and producing it. No single tool does all of them equally well, so it helps to know what each category is for.

The landscape at a glance

Pallet Design System (PDS)

The Pallet Design System is the long-standing industry standard for engineered wood pallets in North America. It was first released in 1984, developed with Virginia Tech and the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, and is now owned by Woodpack Global, the renamed National Wooden Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA). The current version, per Woodpack Global, is 6.12, released in August 2026.

What it is known for:

• Certified-grade analysis. Safe loads per support condition from research-calibrated finite element and reliability models, deflection including 30-day creep, lateral collapse resistance, and service-life simulation.
• Recognition. The Uniform Standard for Wood Pallets names PDS as the recognized computer model for its performance standard, and some large buyers ask suppliers for a PDS report.
• Breadth. Stringer and block pallets, panel decks, many fastener types, unit loads of boxes, drums, pails and sheet goods, and a carbon impact assessment.

Practical facts, per the PDS licensing and support pages: it is Windows desktop software, licensed by annual lease. A basic license is listed at $2,000 per year for Woodpack Global members and $5,250 per year for non-members, with server and unlimited options. It is typically licensed by pallet manufacturers, who use it for customer spec sheets, quoting support and production orders. See Pallet Design System and what's on a PDS report.

Woodpack Global also offered LoadSync, a free tool (from 2013) that let pallet users describe their requirements and send them to a PDS licensee, who returned a read-only viewer file. See LoadSync.

Best Pallet and Best Load

Best Pallet is structural design software from White & Company, founded by Dr. Marshall (Mark) White, a Virginia Tech emeritus professor and part of the original PDS team. Trade-press coverage describes stringer and block design (from version 2.1), safe loads for free-span racking, fork tines and floor stacking, line loads, side-by-side durability comparison, plywood and OSB decks, and links to pallet ERP systems. It is sold by annual subscription and was marketed as considerably less expensive than PDS.

Best Load, from the same company, analyzes the whole unit load: pallet, corrugated boxes or other packaging, stretch-film containment and handling equipment. It reports pallet safe load alongside box compression strength and applied stress, so it addresses the packaging system rather than the pallet alone.

Palletization tools

TOPS Pro, Cape Pack, StackBuilder (free) and PalletSolver answer a different question: how many cases fit on a pallet, in what pattern, and how much of the truck or container the load fills. They are valuable for unit load design but do not design or rate the wood structure.

General CAD

Any CAD package can draw a pallet. The drawback is that everything is manual: board positions, nail counts, board feet and weight must be worked out separately, and there is no structural check or pallet-specific output such as a cut list or nail schedule.

Business and production systems

Pallet ERP systems handle quoting, BOMs, production and delivery. PDS can export BOMs in its own XML format for ERP import, and Best Pallet has ERP integrations.

Where an AI pallet designer fits

An AI designer is a front end to the design process: you describe the load and how it ships, and it proposes a construction. palletdesign.ai pairs the AI with a deterministic engine that computes the geometry, applies the Uniform Standard nail minimums and design rules, and produces a to-scale third-angle drawing, parts list, cut list, nail count, weight and an indicative cost, plus an RFQ block.

What it is good for:

• A first design in minutes, from a sentence rather than a wizard
• Comparing variants (stringer vs block, species, board counts) side by side
• A clear drawing and parts list to send to several mills
• Buyers who don't have, or need, a PDS license

What it does not replace: palletdesign.ai's capacity figures are indicative simple beam checks, not certified ratings. Where a customer or your own risk requires a certified safe load, take the design to a PDS licensee or have it tested to ASTM D1185 or ISO 8611.

Which tool do you need?

Many teams use more than one: a fast design tool to agree on the pallet, and PDS or testing to certify it. See how palletdesign.ai works and pricing.