The truth: the most common billboard “software” is a spreadsheet plus QuickBooks. It’s free and flexible — until the plant grows, a lease quietly lapses, or you can’t remember which faces are open. Here’s the honest trade.
| HighSign Pro | Spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free up to 5 faces, then flat | Free |
| Occupancy at a glance | Live calendar | Manual color-coding |
| Lease-renewal alerts | Automatic countdowns | Easy to miss |
| Invoicing & paid/overdue | Built in | Separate tool |
| Public availability page | Shareable link | Copy/paste a list |
| Multiple users, no version chaos | Yes | “final_v3_REAL.xlsx” |
| Breaks when a formula breaks | Never | All the time |
If you have a handful of boards, you’re just starting out, and you personally hold the whole picture in your head, a spreadsheet works — and honestly, our free tier is there for exactly that moment. The case to switch shows up when you cross ~10–15 faces, add anyone else who needs to see the book, or get burned once by a lease you forgot to renew.
Spreadsheets are free and flexible; HighSign Pro trades a little of that flexibility for occupancy you can see, renewals that nag you, invoices in the same place, and a link you can send advertisers. Start free and keep the spreadsheet as a backup until you don’t need it.