How many of you use it? What’s the cost? Do you prefer it over Drillinginfo? Strengths and weakness of each site? Other sites you recommend for mineral owners?
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It’s more of a mineral management software whereas Drilling Info is more of a data and analysis product. If you have a substantial amount of minerals you may need both. You might also look at MineralSoft.
Thank you. How much minerals is substantial (generally speaking) for some of these services to start making sense?
MineralSoft is about $2000/mo. DrillingInfo about $5000.yr for one state. I think you have to judge based on the income your minerals are producing, not necessarily how much you have, although that is a factor.
Pam & Kathy -
Wade Caldwell is an experienced Oil and Gas Attorney out of San Antonio and has long been a very wonderful contributor (and a Founder or something) of The Forum. I have the utmost respect for his opinions and advice.
But I spoke recently with an experienced Minerals Manager with numerous clients, large and small and asked him about any software(s) he might recommend for people to use in their efforts to research, organize, and manage their holdings.
He responded that he had tried 4 or more of what are considered the best out there and that none of them were designed to completely address any of his clients’ needs. Too many round pegs and square holes.
He suggest using just a regular spreadsheet like Excel to organize your information, with an eye on what your long time plans are for your interests (holding and developing yourself, leasing to others, selling all or a part, whatever).
I was quoted 12k for an annual subscription for Mineralsoft… nice program but pricey if your just an individual, in my opinion. Salesperson was super nice and wanting to work something out on pricing. Going to look at Mineralware and Pops Royalty just to compare. It’s hard trying to decide if it’s worth it or just keep using my excel spreadsheets 
Take a course on Excel for a couple hundred bucks and you can do everything the software companies do for pennies on the dollar. Grafts, year over year income comparisons, depletion estimates & much more. You can get analysis paralysis using either. LOL
What do mineral management companies charge to handle all mineral-related aspects? Do they charge flat fees, or % of royalties/bonus, etc.?
Usually a percentage of revenue, with separate fee schedules for negotiating leases, easements, etc. Ballpark- Bank Trust departments are about 8%, and mineral managers 4-7% for annual revenues under $1 million. It depends on size, i.e. the larger the holdings, the lower the percentages. In my experience using a good CPA and an attorney as needed on an hourly basis can be far less as a percentage of revenue, but maybe not if holdings are small. The problem is many trust departments and mineral managers won’t handle small holdings.
What did you decide on? We are exploring options now. Currently using tons of excel spreadsheets.