OnRobot vs Robotiq vs SCHUNK vs Soft Robotics: End-of-Arm Tooling Compared on One Dealer's Shelf

Comparing gripper brands across different sellers usually compares the sellers, not the brands. So this comparison holds the shelf constant: every figure below was read on 4 August 2026 from one US distributor, Automation Distribution, which lists all four of these brands with live checkout prices — 120 OnRobot SKUs, 96 Robotiq, 96 SCHUNK and 7 Soft Robotics (now sold under SMC part numbers). Same margin structure, same day, same currency.

What separates these four turns out to have very little to do with grip force.

The four business models

OnRobot sells finished electric tools: a two-finger gripper, a vacuum gripper, a sander, a screwdriver, a 2.5D vision system, all speaking one interface. It is the shortest path from "I have a cobot" to "it holds something." Full pricing is in our OnRobot price guide.

Robotiq sells a gripper — Hand-E C10 at $7,249.69, PowerPick vacuum kit at $9,351.56 — but the catalogue around it is a cell: an adjustable pedestal ($5,379.38), a linear seventh axis ($13,314.84), a PLC ($10,616.25), and then pre-packaged machine-tending solutions at $14,989.22, $20,983.13 (single Hand-E) and $26,977.03 (dual Hand-E). At the top sits an MT-100 machine-tending cell — UR cobot, Robotiq gripper, WAGO control package — at $74,399.00. For scale, a comparable FANUC CRX machine-tending workstation priced at $73,811.29 on Vention the same day, so the packaged-cell tier is genuinely competitive rather than a marked-up bundle.

SCHUNK reads like an industrial component catalogue because it is one, and its centre of gravity is machine tending and workholding rather than cobot appliances: EGK electric grippers at $3,690.00-$4,080.00 across four fieldbus variants, TANDEM pneumatic vises at $2,450.00-$2,930.00, dual-gripper EOAT packages at $3,660.00-$5,950.00, manual tool changers from $385.00. If your application is loading a lathe and clamping a part, SCHUNK covers both ends of that job and the others do not.

Soft Robotics is now a seven-SKU line under SMC, and it is the only one here designed around handling variable, delicate, food-contact product: mGrip parallel tool kit $10,147.62, circular tool kit $8,301.46, replaceable finger modules at $384.60 (aluminium) or $430.75 (stainless). It is a specialist purchase and priced like one.

The number that is never on the gripper page

Every one of these brands ships a tool that cannot talk to a robot on its own. We priced the minimum viable addition for each, same shelf, same day:

That ordering is stable and it is the single most decision-relevant thing in this comparison. The soft gripper that looks like a $10k tool is a $16k tool; the SCHUNK gripper that looks mid-priced is the one that arrives closest to its sticker. None of these uplifts include fingertips, suction cups, a tool changer or a mounting flange, all of which run $85-$710 per item across all four brands.

Only one of them sells you the hard part

Robotiq is alone here in listing labour with a price on it: Startup Assistance at $11,578.13, on-site palletizing or screwdriving training at $2,636.25, a proof-of-concept service at $2,636.25, four-hour courses at $1,309.22, and coaching by the hour at $320.63. OnRobot's answer to the same problem is software — its D:PLOY deployment licence runs $4,499.75 to $25,960.10 depending on term. SCHUNK and Soft Robotics sell neither on this shelf.

That is a real fork in the buying decision, not a footnote. Deployment labour is the part of an automation budget that is hardest to estimate and, as we found this week pricing complete work cells, the part that carries a 37-58% surcharge when someone else does it. A vendor that will quote it as a line item is doing you a favour even if the line looks expensive.

Which to choose

• Machine tending a CNC, metal parts, existing plant air. SCHUNK. The catalogue covers gripper, vise and tool changer with one part-number scheme, and the delivered uplift is the lowest of the four.
• A first cobot cell, mixed parts, no automation staff. OnRobot for the tool, and budget the compute box and the deployment software as real lines.
• You want the cell, not the components. Robotiq. It is the only one of the four that will sell you a packaged machine-tending solution and the commissioning hours to go with it.
• Food, produce, bakery, anything soft or wet. Soft Robotics / SMC, and price the control unit and air preparation from day one.

Limits of this comparison

This is one distributor's list on one day. Holding the seller constant removes dealer margin from the comparison, but it means these are not the lowest prices available: a second dealer we checked the same day listed the identical OnRobot SKUs 10.7-14.4% lower, and Vention's cell bill of materials showed a SCHUNK EGU 60 at $5,587.00 and an OnRobot RG6 at $6,920.00 — both inside the band the distributors were asking. Payload and stroke are the manufacturers' own figures and are not measured to a common standard. And five SCHUNK adapter kits on this shelf list at $0.00 with a working Add to Cart button, which is a catalogue artefact rather than a price; see what a published robot price is actually worth.

For tooling matched to a specific arm, browse collaborative robots or our pick-and-place category.

Sources

• OnRobot catalogue, Automation Distribution: https://www.automationdistribution.com/onrobot/
• Robotiq catalogue, including services and packaged solutions: https://www.automationdistribution.com/robotiq/
• SCHUNK catalogue: https://www.automationdistribution.com/schunk/
• Soft Robotics / SMC mGrip listings: https://www.automationdistribution.com/soft-robotics/
• OnRobot SKUs at a second dealer (Shopify, USD confirmed at cart): https://thinkbotsolutions.com/collections/onrobot-grippers
• Vention FANUC CRX machine-tending workstation with itemised bill of materials: https://vention.com/designs/fanuc-crx-machine-tending-workstation-with-flat-tray-139016
• Robotiq product range: https://robotiq.com/
• SCHUNK gripping systems: https://schunk.com/us/en