OpenAsset alternative for engineering firms: Corpus vs OpenAsset
By Yermek Ibray, Founder & CEO, SalemWise Solutions. Every statement about OpenAsset comes from OpenAsset's own public pages as of October 10, 2026, linked inline and listed under Sources. Corpus statements can be checked in the live demo.
Who this is for
You run an engineering firm of 20 to 500 people, or you lead its business development. An RFQ is open. Someone has to find the three to five past projects that match it, prove what the firm did on them, and get that into an SOQ by Friday. You may have seen OpenAsset recommended and wonder whether it solves that job. This page compares the two products on that one job, fairly.
What each product is built to do
OpenAsset
OpenAsset describes itself as an AI-powered DAM and proposal writing platform for AEC firms (as of October 10, 2026). DAM means digital asset management. Its DAM manages project photos, files and employee profiles in one place, and helps the marketing team build proposals from them. Its AI product, Shred, checks that each RFP requirement is met, scores Go/No-Go against thresholds your firm sets, turns RFP criteria into ready-to-edit drafts, and pulls snippets from past proposals. Its AI content tools generate and update project descriptions and employee bios. Per its IT FAQ, OpenAsset syncs project and employee data from Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint, connects to Unanet CRM records, and is available only as a cloud service. OpenAsset does not publish prices on its site.
Corpus by SalemWise
Corpus by SalemWise is page-cited AI search over a company's own documents. Engineering firms are the first worked example. For them, Corpus reads the project record itself: reports, drawings, specs, calc packages and bid tabs. Each answer cites the document and page. Click a citation and the source page opens with the sentence highlighted. If the archive does not hold the answer, Corpus is designed to say "Nothing on file." On a new RFQ, it suggests bid/no-go scores with each scored factor linked to its sources. Fit, relationship and capacity stay your call. It drafts SOQ sections from your past projects with page citations, and flags what the archive cannot support for a person to write. It builds the fee with the math done by code. Arithmetic done in code is only as good as its inputs and formulas, so a qualified person still checks them. Set up for you: Corpus is cloud-agnostic. It runs on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or your own servers, with an open-weight model and no public AI API.
Side by side
| OpenAsset | Corpus by SalemWise | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Marketing and proposal teams at AEC firms | Principals, BD leads and engineers at engineering firms |
| Main job | Manage project photos and proposal content, and draft proposals from it | Find facts in the project record and draft from them, with page citations |
| Works from | DAM content, past proposals, project and employee data synced from Deltek or Unanet | Project files: reports, drawings, specs, calc packages, bid tabs |
| Go/No-Go | Scores against thresholds your firm sets | Suggested scores, each scored factor linked to its sources |
| Drafting | Ready-to-edit drafts from RFP criteria and past proposal snippets | SOQ sections from past projects, each claim cited to a page |
| When the answer is missing | Not stated on the pages we read | Designed to say "Nothing on file" |
| Where it runs | Cloud only, per its IT FAQ | Set up for you: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or your own servers |
| Price | Not published; request a demo | $5,000 pilot; setup from $21,000, then $1,500 to $2,000 a month, no per-user fees |
When to choose OpenAsset
- Your proposal pain is photos, boards and brand-consistent layouts.
- You want one curated library of approved project descriptions and staff bios that marketing owns.
- Your project and staff data already lives in Deltek or Unanet, and you want it synced into proposal content.
- A cloud service fits your IT policy.
If that is the problem, OpenAsset is built for it and Corpus is not. Corpus does not manage photos, brand templates or proposal layouts.
When Corpus fits
- The facts you need are in the project files, not in past proposals: the boring logs, the spec section, the bid tab, the calc package.
- Your marketing library is thin or out of date, so engineers get pulled off billable work to dig.
- You want every claim in the SOQ traced to a page someone can open and check.
- You would rather hear "Nothing on file" than get a confident guess.
- You need the files to stay on your own servers.
The two can run side by side. Corpus finds and cites the facts in the record. Your team carries them into the proposal tool it already uses.
How to test both on one real RFQ
Do not decide from a feature list. Run one pursuit through both and count what you could check.
- Pick one RFQ you are pursuing now. Use your own files, not a sample.
- Write down five facts the SOQ must prove. For example: three similar projects from the last five years, the test standard you specified on one of them, and the unit prices from a recent bid tab.
- Ask each tool for those five facts. For each answer, open the source and time how long it takes to confirm it.
- Ask one question you know your files cannot answer. Note which tool says so and which one guesses.
- Compare the drafts your team would actually submit, and the hours it took to get there.
For OpenAsset, ask for a demo on your own content. For Corpus, start with the live demo. It holds a fictional sample firm's archive, built from real public engineering documents: about 7,000 pages of plan sets, geotech reports, specs, bid tabs and public RFQs. Then run your real RFQ in the pilot.
FAQ
Is Corpus an OpenAsset alternative?
For one part of the job. OpenAsset is a DAM and proposal platform for marketing teams. Corpus searches the project record and drafts with page citations. Many firms will still want what OpenAsset does for photos and layouts.
Does Corpus manage project photos or proposal layouts?
No. Corpus works from documents: reports, drawings, specs, calc packages and bid tabs. Its drafts are text your team edits and carries into its own templates.
Where do our files go with Corpus?
Set up for you: Corpus is cloud-agnostic. It runs on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or your own servers. It uses an open-weight model and nothing goes to a public AI API. In the pilot, your files are never used to train or fine-tune a model. In full deployment, fine-tuning on your files happens only if you agree in writing. We don't have a SOC 2 report, which is one reason you can choose your own hardware.
Next step
Book a free 30-minute call. Bring one RFQ you are pursuing now and tell us where the facts for it live. We will tell you plainly whether it is a Corpus problem, a OpenAsset problem, or both.
If it fits, the next step is the $5,000 pilot on one real pursuit. It takes about 2 to 3 weeks. We load a copy of up to 3 years of your project PDFs and run your RFQ through Corpus: a go/no-go scorecard, an SOQ draft with page citations to check, and a fee build. There is no integration work. The $5,000 is credited toward setup if you sign a deployment within 60 days of the pilot's end. Full deployment is from $21,000 setup, then $1,500 to $2,000 a month, with no per-user fees.
Want to look first? Try the live demo or read more about Corpus. Comparing other tools? See all our side-by-side guides.
Sources
Checked October 10, 2026:
- OpenAsset home page: "AI-powered DAM and proposal writing platform"
- OpenAsset DAM: project photos, files and employee profiles
- OpenAsset Shred: RFP requirement checks, Go/No-Go thresholds, drafts, past proposal snippets
- OpenAsset AI: project descriptions and employee bios
- OpenAsset IT FAQ: cloud-only deployment, Deltek and Unanet integrations
OpenAsset and Shred are names of their owner. SalemWise Solutions is not affiliated with OpenAsset. Check OpenAsset's pages for its current offer.
