Storekeeper
Honest comparison

Katana MRP alternative and Katana alternatives compared on price and fit

Katana is a clean modern MRP for small manufacturers. Core starts at $299 a month, rises with sales orders and locations, and sells traceability, warehouse and manufacturing management as add-ons. 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 fills.

Pricing taken from each vendor's own pricing page.

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 Planning and forecasting included; traceability $249/mo add-on 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 $99/mo Lite (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 From $49/mo Unlimited The core of the product: per-SKU forecasts, reorder points, dead-stock flags Teams whose bottleneck is purchasing decisions, not production scheduling
Before you compare

Katana pricing, line by line

Katana moved to usage-based Core pricing. The headline is the floor; these are the lines that build the real bill.

Katana line item Price What to know
Core plan From $299/mo Unlimited users, SKUs and integrations; 1 inventory location; price scales with sales orders
Extra inventory locations Usage based Added per location at decreasing rates
Traceability add-on $249/mo Batch and serial number tracking
Manufacturing management add-on $199/mo Routings and manufacturing cost insights
Warehouse management add-on $149/mo Bin locations, pick and pack, receiving app
Onboarding package $2,000 One-time guided setup for Core customers
Advantage plan Custom annual contract Katana builds custom integrations, dashboards and automations for you

A single-location maker that adds traceability and manufacturing management starts around $747 a month before order volume, plus $2,000 up front. That is a fair price for real MRP. It is a lot to pay if what you actually need is a reliable answer to what to reorder, which is where demand forecasting software built for resellers costs a fraction of it. Every Katana plan, add-on and three sample budgets are in our Katana pricing guide.

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 with one location, then prices up with sales order volume and extra locations. Traceability ($249/mo), warehouse management ($149/mo) and manufacturing management ($199/mo) are add-ons, and the onboarding package is $2,000.
  • 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.
  • Usage pricing is hard to budget. Monthly billing follows actual order volume, and annual billing carries a premium for locking the price, so a seasonal spike or a good year moves the bill.

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.

If you want a long-established suite, shortlist 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 scan at the top of this page and see what a forecast-first system tells you.

Frequently asked

Katana questions, answered

How much does Katana MRP cost?
Katana Core starts at $299 per month with unlimited users, unlimited SKUs and one inventory location, and the price rises with sales order volume and added locations. Add-ons cost extra: traceability $249 per month, warehouse management $149 and manufacturing management $199. The onboarding package is $2,000. A plan capped at 30 SKUs exists for testing.
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?
Yes. Katana's current pricing page lists planning and forecasting, plus AI replenishment suggestions for purchase orders, as included on its plans rather than as a paid add-on. Its strength is still production planning for makers. If you resell finished goods and forecasting is the main reason you are shopping, a forecast-first tool can cost far less than Core plus onboarding.
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.

More ways teams use Storekeeper

AI inventory

Katana schedules production. Storekeeper decides the reorder.

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