Frequently asked questions

BOMexplorer accepts KiCad BOM CSV exports (Symbol Fields Table), Altium BOM exports, and generic CSV formats. Drag-and-drop your file — intelligent column header mapping handles Refs, RefDes, Designator, Qty, MPN, Value, and more automatically.

BOMexplorer works with BOM CSV files from KiCad 5.0 and later. It also supports Altium BOM exports and any generic CSV with recognizable column headers.

Simply upload your BOM CSV file. BOMexplorer auto-detects columns, matches parts against providers, and presents results in seconds. No configuration needed to start.

Free tier: OEMSecrets (free aggregator), DigiKey (direct API), and Mouser (direct API). Pro tier adds Nexar (premium — lifecycle status, tech specs) and FindChips (premium aggregator). Free users see premium providers listed in matching results with a 'premium_plan_required' reason.

If the active provider returns no results for a component, BOMexplorer automatically tries the next configured provider in sequence. This continues until a match is found or all providers are exhausted. Admins can configure the provider priority order.

Confidence badges indicate match type: Exact MPN (highest confidence), Parametric match, Keyword match, AI-suggested, and Unmatched. Scores help you quickly assess match reliability at a glance.

Hierarchical matching: (1) Exact MPN match → (2) Hyphen-stripped MPN match → (3) Distributor part number match → (4) Keyword search. Multi-stage matching maximizes coverage across providers.

AI Assist has two components: (1) Natural language BOM filtering — type plain English queries like 'show me capacitors under $0.10' to highlight matching rows, and (2) AI part classification for components that traditional matching can't handle.

AI Explainer provides AI-powered explanations and insights for component data. Free tier: 5 invocations/month. Pro tier: 20 invocations/month.

Free tier: 50 AI Assist lines per month. Pro tier: 500 AI Assist lines per month. Both natural language query and AI classification count toward this limit.

Pro tier: automated overnight re-query via Celery background job. All active BOM lines are re-checked for price and stock changes while you sleep. Free tier: manual refresh available.

Out-of-stock, low-stock, price spikes, end-of-life (EOL) notices, and lead-time increases. Each flag has a lifecycle: Open → Watching → Ignored → Resolved with snooze support.

Alerts appear in-app with visual flag indicators. Pro tier also receives morning digest emails summarizing all new flags detected overnight. Configure thresholds per project in preferences.

Yes, per-project overrides let you set custom stock level thresholds for alerts. Global preferences define default behavior, and projects inherit those values unless overridden.

Navigate to the Alternatives page for any BOM line. All ranked candidate parts are shown with pricing, stock, and distributor info. Click swap on any alternative and confirm — the substitution is recorded with timestamp and reason.

Yes. Each BOM line has a collapsible substitution timeline showing all swaps with the old MPN, new MPN, timestamp, and trigger reason. Full audit trail for compliance.

When multiple alternatives exist, BOMexplorer ranks them by suitability. AI-suggested candidates are marked with a badge. Rank 2+ results are automatically stored as alternatives for future reference.

Free tier: CSV export. Pro tier: CSV and XLSX (Excel format) export.

Yes. Locked parts are preserved across re-matching and re-export. Use row locking to freeze confirmed parts so they never change unexpectedly.

Yes, always free. Includes 3 projects, 50 parts per project, 3 providers (OEMSecrets, DigiKey, Mouser), 50 AI Assist lines/month, 5 AI Explainer invocations/month, CSV export, natural language BOM filtering, manual search, lock/unlock BOM lines, DNP marking, price monitoring (nightly alerts), project cloning, and part alternatives + substitution history. No credit card required.

Unlimited projects, unlimited parts per project, all 5 providers (adds Nexar premium and FindChips premium), 500 AI Assist lines/month, 20 AI Explainer invocations/month, XLSX export (Excel format), and all free plan features. $10/month via Paddle.

Token packs are add-ons purchasable via Paddle when your AI quotas are exhausted. Tokens do not expire monthly. Starter pack: 100 tokens at $5 USD with 180-day expiry. Additional packs may be configured. Available on any plan.

All Pro subscriptions and token packs are processed securely through Paddle. Supports cards, Apple Pay, and more. Cancel anytime from preferences — access continues until billing period ends.

Contact us for academic and student discounts. We support educators with special pricing.

Selecting or swapping a part auto-locks if the preference is enabled. Locked lines prevent accidental changes during re-matching operations.

Even if the plan field remains 'paid', expired trial users get free-tier limits enforced. Per-user overrides can be set by admins via max_projects_override and max_parts_per_project_override.

Global preferences: distributor order, excluded distributors, preferred manufacturers, accept generic passives, lifecycle policy, currency, region, grade. Per-project overrides: distributor restrictions, quantity, grade, lifecycle policy (null values inherit from global).

Your BOM files are processed in real-time. Raw CSV rows are preserved as JSON per line to enable re-matching without re-import. Create an account to save projects permanently. We only retain the minimum data necessary for providing the service.

No. We query providers' public APIs and websites but never share your BOM data with them. Your component lists remain private.

JWT authentication with short-lived access + refresh tokens in httpOnly cookies. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Password reset uses tokenised email links with 24h expiry and always-200 responses to prevent email enumeration.