We just switched from DistillX5 to Whiskey Systems a month ago since DistillX5 raised their prices significantly. I was perfectly happy with DistillX5, but so far so good with Whiskey Systems. A few observations:
DistillX5 is designed to model the activities in the distillery as you do them (charge the still, fire the still, collect distillate . . .) whereas Whiskey Systems is more of a recording tool after the fact.
Whiskey Systems expresses things primarily in proof gallons (I.e., barrels contents are shown as proof gallons and starting proof, volume is not shown. Sure, it’s easy to figure out the volume, but when I’m wondering whether a barrel is full, I’d just as soon like to see the volume and not have to get out a calculator)
DistillX5 is a bit more intuitive and has prettier graphics (which does help me have a sense of what is going on at any particular time). Whiskey Systems is more flexible (no training wheels).
Given the big price difference, I’ll take whiskey systems in a heartbeat, but it helped to have years of experience with DistillX5 first. This has allowed us to switch over with no extra training,. That’s another difference...you have to pay for support with Whiskey Systems, so if you don’t know what you are doing you might rack up a bill.