Storekeeper
Honest comparison

Katana alternatives: pricing, competitors and an honest comparison

Katana is a clean modern MRP for small manufacturers. It also starts at $299 a month, charges another $249 a month for demand planning and forecasting, and adds usage-based fees as you grow. Here is what else is on the menu, priced from each vendor's own page.

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The short answer

The best Katana alternative depends on why you are leaving. If you want manufacturing plus the deepest QuickBooks integration, Fishbowl (from $229/mo) is the usual switch. For multichannel selling as well as light assembly, Cin7 Core (from $349/mo) covers more sales channels. On a tighter budget, MRPeasy (from $49/user/mo) or Zoho Inventory (from $29/mo) do the core job. And if your real problem is forecasting demand and deciding what to reorder rather than scheduling production, that is the gap Storekeeper is being built for.

Pricing verified on each vendor's own pricing page, July 2026. Last updated July 2026.

Side by side

Katana and its competitors, on one table

Entry prices are list prices at annual billing where the vendor offers it. Every vendor discounts; treat these as the starting point.

Tool Entry price Users included Demand forecasting Best for
Katana $299/mo Core Unlimited Paid add-on, $249/mo on top of Core Small manufacturers who plan production daily
Fishbowl $229/mo Essentials (annual) 2 Only on Scale, $729/mo QuickBooks-centered warehousing and manufacturing
Cin7 Core $349/mo Standard 5 Add-on modules; Standard caps 6,000 orders/year Multichannel brands that also assemble
MRPeasy $49/user/mo Starter Priced per user Basic forecasting on higher tiers Budget-conscious small manufacturers
inFlow $129/mo Entrepreneur (annual) 2 Basic reporting, not per-SKU forecasting Small teams that want easy setup and barcodes
Zoho Inventory $29/mo Standard (annual) 3 No real forecasting; order caps per tier Budget buyers, especially inside the Zoho suite
Storekeeper Early access; planned from $49/mo Planned: unlimited The core of the product: per-SKU forecasts, reorder points, dead-stock flags Teams whose bottleneck is purchasing decisions, not production scheduling
The honest part

Why people leave Katana, and why plenty stay

Katana is a well-built product. The complaints are specific, and so are its strengths.

Why people leave

  • The bill climbs. Core starts at $299/mo, but demand planning and forecasting is a separate $249/mo add-on, and automation and integration usage stack on top, so the real monthly cost lands well above the headline.
  • It is built for makers. Katana is MRP first. If you buy and resell rather than manufacture, you are paying for BOMs and production scheduling you never touch.
  • Forecasting is not in the box. The feature most people expect from modern inventory software sits behind the add-on, which is a surprise mid-evaluation.

Why people stay

  • The production planning is genuinely good. Live BOMs, a shop-floor app and make-to-order scheduling in one clean interface is what Katana does better than the cheaper tools.
  • Unlimited users on every plan. You are not taxed per seat, which matters once the shop floor and the office both log in. See our manufacturing inventory software checklist.
  • Modern and quick to onboard. Compared with desktop-heritage rivals, Katana is fast to set up and pleasant to use day to day.
Pick by job, not by review score

Which Katana alternative fits which problem

Start from the job you hired Katana to do. The right competitor falls out of that.

You live in QuickBooks

Fishbowl has the deepest QuickBooks integration in the category and covers manufacturing too. Our QuickBooks inventory management guide shows where the accounting stops and inventory has to start.

You sell everywhere and assemble a little

Cin7 Core connects more sales channels out of the box while still handling light production; watch the order caps per tier. On a budget, MRPeasy gives you real MRP at $49 per user.

You need forecasts, not schedules

If your bottleneck is deciding what to reorder rather than sequencing the shop floor, production planning is the wrong lens. Storekeeper's whole product is the deciding layer: forecasts, live reorder points and dead-stock flags per SKU.

Full disclosure: Storekeeper is in early access. If you need a system running in production this month, buy one of the tools in the table above; our best inventory management software roundup ranks them by scenario, and our Unleashed alternatives page covers another cloud manufacturing platform worth comparing. If your purchasing decisions can wait for a sharper tool, run the free scan at the top of this page and join the list.

Frequently asked

Katana questions, answered

How much does Katana MRP cost?
Katana starts at $299 per month for the Core plan with unlimited users and unlimited SKUs. Demand planning and forecasting is a separate add-on at $249 per month, and additional automation and integration usage is billed on top. There is a free plan capped at 30 SKUs. Budget for the add-ons, because the $299 headline is rarely the final bill for a growing shop.
What is the best Katana alternative?
There is no single best; the right alternative depends on the job. Fishbowl wins on QuickBooks depth, Cin7 Core on multichannel breadth, MRPeasy and Zoho Inventory on price. If forecasting and reorder decisions are what you actually need, weigh whether you want them as a paid add-on or as the core of the product.
Does Katana include demand forecasting?
Not in the base Core plan. Katana offers demand planning and forecasting as a paid add-on at $249 per month on top of the $299 subscription. If per-SKU forecasting and automatic reorder points are the reason you are shopping, that is worth pricing in early, because it roughly doubles the entry cost.
Is Katana good for a business that does not manufacture?
Less so. Katana is built as MRP for makers, so its core strengths are bills of materials, production scheduling and a shop-floor app. If you buy finished goods and resell them, you are paying for manufacturing features you will not use. A pure inventory or multichannel tool usually fits a reseller better and costs less.
What is the cheapest Katana alternative?
Zoho Inventory at $29 per month is the cheapest credible option for resellers, though it does no real manufacturing. For makers who want MRP on a budget, MRPeasy starts around $49 per user per month. Both trade away Katana's polish and depth for a lower price, so match the tool to the job before buying on cost alone.
Katana vs Fishbowl: which is better?
Katana is the more modern, easier-to-onboard MRP with unlimited users, and it suits cloud-first small manufacturers. Fishbowl is the more established system with the deepest QuickBooks integration and combined warehousing plus manufacturing. Choose Katana for production planning UX, Fishbowl for QuickBooks accounting depth and on-premise heritage.

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