FlowState vs Rent It Biz (Ski Speed)
Ski Speed by Rent It Biz runs the rental counter — rental POS, assembly-line fittings, retail, lift tickets. FlowState runs the service bench — tune, mount, and repair work orders. Different jobs.
Rent It Biz and FlowState are easy to confuse because both serve ski shops, but they sit on opposite sides of the counter. Ski Speed, the ski product from Rent It Biz (a rental-software company founded in 1998), is built for the rental operation: a touch-screen rental and retail POS, automatic DIN calculations for rental fittings, an optional assembly-line layout with a registration kiosk, ski-dispensing station, and POS station, plus lift-ticket sales, ski-school scheduling, and online/phone reservations. If your busiest problem is getting a line of skiers fitted and out the door with gear, that is the software for it. FlowState by Reiter Solutions is not rental software at all. It is work-order software for the service side of the shop — the tune, mount, and repair work that comes in over the bench. Customers start their own work order from a per-shop intake page; the shop signs an ESIGN/UETA mounting agreement before drilling; every service flows across a shared Service Queue with promised-by dates and printable tags; and a branded completion email goes out when the work is done. A shop that both rents and services gear could honestly run both: Ski Speed at the rental counter, FlowState at the service bench.
How each handles the work order.
| Capability | FlowState | Rent It Biz (Ski Speed) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job The core difference. Ski Speed is built around the rental counter; FlowState is built around the service bench. Neither is trying to do the other job. | Service work orders — tune, mount, repair | Rental operations — fit, dispense, return gear |
| Rental management A genuine Ski Speed capability with no FlowState analog. If you need rental, FlowState is not the tool. | Not planned — FlowState does not do rental | Full rental POS, reservations, assembly-line workflow |
| Assembly-line rental setup Per rentitbiz.com — a multi-station layout for high-volume rental fittings. | Not planned | Registration kiosk + ski-dispensing station + POS station |
| DIN calculation Ski Speed computes DIN for rental fittings to reduce risk exposure. FlowState captures the binding work on a mount/repair work order rather than a rental transaction. | Not a focus — FlowState records the service, not the rental fitting | Automatic DIN calculation at the rental POS |
| Retail POS Ski Speed sells retail alongside rentals. FlowState does not ring up sales. | Not a focus — FlowState is service-order software, not a POS | Rentals and retail sales from one POS station |
| Lift tickets & ski school Resort-oriented capabilities of Ski Speed with no service-bench analog. | Not planned | Sell lift tickets; schedule ski school |
| Service work orders FlowState’s core. Ski Speed markets rental, retail, and reservations, not tune/mount/repair work-order tracking. | Live — item-driven lifecycle from intake to pickup | Not the product’s focus (rental-first) |
| Customer self-intake Both let the customer start something online, but for different things: a rental reservation vs. a service work order. | Live — per-shop page; customer fills out the work order on their phone | Online/phone reservations for rentals |
| Signed mounting agreements FlowState captures the legal mounting agreement before the skis hit the bench. | Live — ESIGN/UETA-compliant, PDF stored per shop | Not described for service mounting |
| Service Queue board A live service board from front counter to back bench. | Live — shared board the whole shop reads, with promised-by dates | Not applicable — no service-bench workflow |
| Customer notification FlowState SMS is honestly marked roadmap, not live. The shipped channel today is the branded completion email. | Branded completion email today; SMS pickup alerts on the roadmap | Email receipts and SMS (per their materials) |
| Self-serve trial FlowState lets a shop spin up its own demo in minutes. | 7-day demo shop at /try (email-verified) | Contact/quote-based — no self-serve trial published |
We don’t win every row. Here’s where each side actually fits.
Where FlowState wins
- Built for the service bench — tune, mount, and repair work orders — not adapted from a rental or retail POS.
- Customers start the work order on their phone via a per-shop intake page; it lands in your queue already mostly filled out.
- ESIGN/UETA-compliant mounting agreements captured and stored as a PDF before any drilling.
- The Service Queue: a live board the whole shop reads, with promised-by dates and printable work-order tags.
- Durable per-customer equipment and service history that loads automatically for returning customers.
- A branded completion email goes out when the work is done; per-shop isolation keeps each shop’s data separate.
Where Rent It Biz (Ski Speed) wins
- Purpose-built for ski/snowboard rental operations — the exact job FlowState does not do.
- Assembly-line rental layout (registration kiosk, ski-dispensing station, POS station) for high-volume fitting days.
- Automatic DIN calculation at the point of rental to reduce risk exposure.
- One POS for rentals plus retail, with reservations, lift-ticket sales, and ski-school scheduling — useful breadth for a rental-and-resort operation.
- A long-established rental-software company (founded 1998) with experience across multiple rental verticals (ski, bike, watersports).
When to pick Rent It Biz (Ski Speed) anyway
If your main problem is the rental counter — fitting and dispensing gear, selling lift tickets, scheduling ski school, or running an assembly-line rental shop — Ski Speed by Rent It Biz is built for that and FlowState is not. Choose Ski Speed for rental. If your main problem is the service bench (tune, mount, repair work orders), choose FlowState. A shop doing both could run them side by side.
Pricing model — Rent It Biz uses subscription pricing that varies by product and plan. Third-party listings (Capterra, ITQlick, verified 2026-06-21) report subscription pricing starting around $65/month for a single user, with a Rental + Ticketing point-of-sale tier reported starting around $199/month; additional users cost extra. These figures come from third-party directories rather than a published price on the ski page, so treat them as indicative. No FlowState dollar figures are stated here; FlowState pricing is per shop on monthly, seasonal, or annual terms.
The honest test is your bench.
Spin up a 7-day demo shop, pre-loaded with sample customers and work orders. No card required, no auto-charge.
Take the paper off the skis.
Give your shop a single, flowing system from intake to pickup — and give your customers a reason to come back.
Stay attached. Carry speed.