Inventory management software streamlines the tracking and management of stock levels, orders, sales, and deliveries for businesses. By providing real-time insights and automation capabilities, it ensures the efficient use of time and resources while minimizing errors and incidents like overstocking and understocking.

Some inventory management solutions have features geared toward specific operations—like extensive integrations with ecommerce platforms for online sellers or production scheduling and materials tracking for manufacturers. We recommend these inventory planning software providers for various use cases:

  • Zoho: Best for SMBs
  • Cin7: Best for multichannel sales
  • Square: Best for small brick-and-mortar businesses
  • inFlow: Best for B2B and wholesaling
  • Katana: Best for manufacturing
  • Ordoro: Best for dropshipping
  • Sortly: Best for low-volume sales and microbusinesses
  • Logiwa: Best for high-volume warehouses
Zoho Inventory logo. Cin7 logo. Square logo. inFlow logo. Katana logo. Ordoro logo. Sortly logo. Logiwa logo.
Pricing (per month) Free–$249 $349–$999+ Free–$89 $89–$1,055 $179–$1,799 $349–$499 Free–$149 Custom-quoted
Software integrations Good Excellent Good Excellent Good Good Poor Excellent
Mobile app
Customer support Phone, email

24 hr/day Mon–Fri
Phone, email

Hours unlisted and vary by country
Online forum, phone, email, live chat

6 a.m.–6 p.m. Pacific time Mon–Fri
Email, live chat

Mon–Thurs 1:30 a.m.–3 p.m. PST; Fri 1:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m.
Email, live chat

Hours unlisted
Phone, email, online help request form

8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Central time Mon–Fri
Online help request form only Phone, email, live chat

9 a.m.–6 p.m. CST Mon–Fri
Scalability Good Excellent Fair Good Excellent Fair Poor Excellent
Learn more Visit Zoho Visit Cin7 Visit Square Visit inFlow Visit Katana Visit Ordoro Visit Sortly Visit Logiwa

Zoho Inventory: Best for SMBs


Pros

  • Free and affordable plan options
  • Real-time tracking
  • Powerful reporting and analytics
  • 24-hour customer support
  • Vendor management capabilities

Cons

  • No return management features
  • API requirements and glitchy integrations
  • Scaling can be expensive
  • Customer support has mixed reviews
Zoho Inventory logo.

Our Rating: 4.6/5

  • Inventory tracking: Real-time tracking gives you accurate insight into items individually or by groups and variants. The Zoho dashboard offers a streamlined view of details like SKU numbers, prices, and shipping weight, as well as on-hand quantities and reorder levels. The software supports serialized inventory tracking, batch tracking, and expiry date tracking, making it suitable for a wide range of product types.
  • Automation: With Zoho, you can set up workflow rules to automate routine tasks, such as sending out purchase orders when stock levels fall below a certain level or notifying customers when their orders have been shipped.
  • Order management: Zoho streamlines the order management process with tracking for order fulfillment status from picking, packing and shipping. It integrates with major shipping carriers, allowing you to print shipping labels and track shipments directly from the software. 
  • Purchase ordering: Sophisticated vendor management features allow you to create purchase orders directly from the dashboard with tools to add vendors and record or import expenses, operating costs, and bills for delayed payment.
  • Multichannel selling: A simplified and streamlined dashboard lets you manage orders and synchronize stock levels for multiple ecommerce platforms including, Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and Etsy.

Zoho Inventory’s pricing model is designed with flexibility in mind, catering to a variety of business needs from startups to growing SMBs. Offering a free plan alongside multiple paid subscriptions, it provides accessibility and scalability. However, upper-tier plans can make growth expensive for small businesses.

Paid subscriptions are priced as follows (per month, billed annually):

  • Free: 50 order/month, 2 users, 1 warehouse
  • Standard: $29/month – 500 orders/month, 2 users, 1 warehouse
  • Professional: $79/month – 3,000 orders/month, 2 users, 2 warehouses
  • Premium: $129/month – 3,000 orders/month, 2 users, 3 warehouses
  • Enterprise: $249/month – 15,000 orders/month, 7 users, 7 warehouses

Each plan tier comes with additional feature upgrades, such as serial number tracking, advanced analytics, vendor portals, and multi-currency transactions. 

We chose Zoho Inventory for its balance of comprehensive features against affordability, particularly for SMBs. It supports a wide range of inventory and order management tasks with the flexibility to scale, unlike our lower-volume picks such as Sortly. And, while it doesn’t have the robust B2B functionality of InFlow, it can support multiple business models. Its integration with the Zoho suite enhances its utility, making it an effective solution for businesses seeking to optimize their inventory systems without compromising on cost or functionality.

  • Pricing: 4.69/5
  • Core features: 4.75/5
  • Usability: 4.58/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 4.17/5
  • Security and reliability: 5/5
  • User scores: 4.43/5

Zoho Inventory is a versatile planning software solution for SMBs with valuable features and affordable pricing, making it our top choice. With a free subscription plan and easy setup on both desktop and mobile platforms, it’s accessible for businesses looking to streamline their inventory management processes, complete with 24/5 support, perishable item tracking, multilocation support, and robust analytics. Plus, it smoothly integrates into the Zoho ecosystem of CRM, accounting, marketing, and people management tools, making it well-suited for businesses aiming to tackle multiple operational challenges.

Read more: Five Small Retail POS Systems With CRM Features

Cin7: Best for multichannel sales


Pros

  • Extensive ecommerce and shipping integration
  • Integrated POS systems
  • Multi-warehouse management
  • Comprehensive stock and component tracking
  • Advanced analytics

Cons

  • High subscription prices
  • Overly complex for small operations
  • Steep learning curve
  • Mixed customer support reviews
Cin7 logo.

Our Rating: 4.5/5

  • Multichannel integrations: Cin7 boasts the largest number of pre-built integrations of any provider on our list, offering connectivity with 700 platforms and tools, including ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, various types of POS systems, supply chain planning solutions, accounting programs, and payment gateways. This network capability is designed to unify inventory, sales, and fulfillment processes across all channels to maintain accurate data and visibility. 
  • Order processing: The software streamlines purchasing and fulfillment with automated orders and smart forwarding to suppliers based on sales data, plus unique features to handle backorders and dropshipping. 
  • Production management: Cin7 includes features to manage simple manufacturing jobs and bundled products, as well as tools to manage component inventories and bills of material (BOMs).
  • EDI compliance: For businesses that deal with major retailers, Cin7 offers comprehensive EDI (electronic data interchange) capabilities, allowing for direct communication. This includes the automated exchange of purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices, streamlining transitions, and ensuring compliance with retail partners. The software’s EDI solution integrates seamlessly with its other features to eliminate the need for third-party providers. 
  • Supply chain solutions: The software offers robust purchase and supplier management features, order routing, and seamless integrations with a variety of 3PL (third-party logistics) providers from order fulfillment companies to shipping carriers. This includes the automated exchange of purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices, streamlining transactions, and ensuring compliance with large retail partners.
  • Reporting: Cin7 can generate comprehensive and customizable reports, offering deep insights into forecasting, inventory levels, performance, and operational efficiency, helping businesses make data-driven decisions and anticipate market trends for stock needs. 

Read more: What Are the Different Types of POS Systems?

Cin7’s pricing strategy is straightforward, however more expensive than most of the small business-focused providers on our list. It delivers value through its extensive features geared toward mid-sized and large-scale businesses. 

  • Standard: $349/month ($295 limited offer available) – 6,000 orders/year, 3 users, 2 integrations
  • Pro: $599/month ($449 limited offer available) – 12,000 orders/year, 6 users, 4 integrations
  • Advanced: Starts at $999/month – 120,000 orders/year, 10 users, 6 integrations
  • Omni: Custom pricing – unlimited order per year, 8 users, 5 integrations

Cin7 stands out as the best choice for businesses focused on multichannel sales, complete with far more integrations than any of the competitors on our list as well as unique features to support warehouses and supply chains. It’s perfectly suited for rapidly growing online sellers who need advanced fulfillment and purchasing automation, seamless integration for multichannel sales, and in-store sales capabilities via a POS system.

  • Pricing: 4.06/5
  • Core features: 5/5
  • Usability: 3.75/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 5/5
  • Security and reliability: 5/5
  • User scores: 4.20

Cin7 is specifically designed for businesses looking to excel in multichannel sales with specialized features for warehouse and logistics management. It combines an extensive array of integrations, stock tracking, and automation tools to accommodate businesses with a range of inventory planning and management needs. Cin7 is uniquely positioned to support online stores and marketplaces along with your choice of shipping software, providing a seamless end-to-end solution for order processing, inventory, and shipping management.

Square: Best for small brick-and-mortar businesses


Pros

  • Forever-free plan
  • Specialized plans for niche markets
  • Powerful ecommerce and omnichannel tools
  • Ease of use
  • Extensive integrations

Cons

  • Limited custom reporting
  • Square ecosystem restriction
  • Rudimentary tracking features
Square logo.

Our Rating: 4.34/5

  • Comprehensive tracking: Both free and paid plans support a large number of products, sophisticated product categorization, and Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)/Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) barcodes. Paid plans provide inventory counting tools, automatic purchase orders, label printing, vendor management, and more.
  • Integrated ecosystem: Square offers a comprehensive suite of tools that work seamlessly together, including payment processing, POS, online sales, and customer management. This simplifies operations for retail businesses by leading to more streamlined work and less administrative overhead. However, it may be restrictive for customers wishing to use certain third-party tools.
  • Variants and modifiers: Square offers more robust options for creating item variations (such as size, color, and material) and modifiers (like add-ons or customizations) than the other providers on our list, providing flexibility in how products are cataloged and sold.
  • Ecommerce and omnichannel selling: Square provides a free online store builder that integrates directly with its software. This provides a custom-branded store with inventory synced in real time across digital and brick-and-mortar storefronts, complete with tools to sell on social channels and offer various shipping or pickup options.
  • Mobile management: Square’s mobile app enables real-time inventory management with functionalities like stock transfers, purchase orders, label printing, barcode scanning, and receiving low stock alerts. 

Square’s pricing model is transparent and designed to support small businesses in a variety of industries with scalability. Keep in mind that all plans incur POS processing fees ranging from 2.5% + 10 cents per transaction to 3.5% + 15 cents per sales transaction.

  • Free Plan: Basic inventory management, POS, and a free ecommerce site for starters
  • Square Plus for Retail: $89/month per location
  • Square for Restaurants: $60/month, one countertop POS and unlimited KDS (kitchen display system) devices
  • Square Premium: Custom-quoted, build a bespoke plan

Square is one of our top recommendations primarily due to its excellent free inventory software package and features tailored to small storefronts, offering a seamless integration of inventory management and POS capabilities. Its ability to work well within the Square ecosystem of retail tools sets it apart from standalone apps like Sortly. Square’s specialization in retail and restaurant sectors (including a specialty restaurant POS), combined with its straightforward pricing and comprehensive support resources, ensures small businesses can manage inventory effectively without significant investment. 

  • Pricing: 5.0/5
  • Core features: 3.0/5
  • Usability: 3.75/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 4.58/5
  • Security and reliability: 5.0/5
  • User scores: 4.70/5

Square is a top choice for small brick-and-mortar businesses seeking effective yet straightforward inventory management solutions. With its free plan, Square addresses the fundamental needs of retail, food and beverage, professional services, microbusinesses, and solopreneurs.

Recognized for its affordability and user-friendliness, Square’s inventory system syncs live tracking of sales across online, in-store, and mobile platforms. Although it primarily functions as a POS system with its own custom POS hardware, its inventory tools are sufficiently robust for most small business requirements.

Read more: Best POS Hardware for Business in 2024

inFlow: Best for B2B and wholesaling


Pros

  • Robust B2B features
  • Clear and easy-to-use interface
  • Options for cloud and on-premise data storage
  • High-quality customer support
  • One-click workflows for quoting, ordering, and invoicing

Cons

  • Limited functionality on mobile app
  • Users report lags and delay
  • Pricing jumps quickly with sales volume
  • No API on starter plans
inFlow logo.

Our Rating: 4.3/5

  • Advanced B2B functionality: inFlow stands out with its specialized B2B features designed to enhance wholesale operations—including virtual showrooms for product display, B2B quotes and invoicing for streamlined sales processes, sales rep order routing for efficient order management, and production workflows to manage manufacturing processes end-to-end.
  • Intelligent tracking and reordering: With visibility into stock across multiple locations and sublocations (including transit status and product availability), inFlow simplifies the tracking process. It also recommends reorder points and enables one-click purchase order generation, optimizing stock levels and reducing shortages.
  • Pricing and costing tools: inFlow offers a suite of tools for managing quotes, orders, and invoices. It can handle backorders and push inventory values directly to QuickBooks and Xero. This integration simplifies finance management and ensures consistency across multiple systems.
  • Comprehensive inventory organization: The software allows for detailed product organization with features like multi-level categories, product names and SKUs, product photos, and specific attributes such as units of measurement, dimensions, and weight.
  • Support: The company’s customer service receives high praise from users in online reviews and comes with dedicated account managers plus setup assistance.
  • Mobile app: Available on iOS and Android, inFlow’s mobile app gives you some of the features of its web platform, including the ability to scan barcodes with a smartphone or device and check stock levels or transfer status. That said, its mobile capabilities are not as robust as other providers on our list. 

inFlow’s pricing structure is designed to accommodate businesses at various stages of growth. That said, pricing jumps significantly from the first to second tier, which can make scaling expensive.

  • Entrepreneur Plan: $89/month – 100 orders/month, 2 users, 1 location, 1 integration
  • Small Business Plan: $219/month – 1,000 orders/month, 5 users, unlimited locations, 2 integrations
  • Mid-Size Plan: $439/month, 5,000 orders/month, 10 users, unlimited locations, 3 integrations
  • Enterprise: $1,055/month, 10,000 orders/month, 25 users, unlimited locations, 4 integrations

Each plan tier comes with an ungraded amount of setup assistance, from two to 10 hours, as well as enhanced features like showroom capabilities and user access rights. 

We picked inFlow for its mix of functionality and usability, bringing easy-to-use software and simplified workflows to support complex inventories and sales processes. Its specialized focus on B2B sellers and multi-location businesses delivers good value despite its moderately high pricing. Plus, we like that its high-level support offerings can help businesses migrate smoothly and promptly resolve any issues.

  • Pricing: 3.44/5
  • Core features: 3.75/5
  • Usability: 5.0/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 4.17/5
  • Security and reliability: 5.0/5
  • User scores: 4.43/5

inFlow’s comprehensive stock tracking, purchasing, and fulfillment features cater to the full spectrum of needs for retailers and manufacturers alike. inFlow excels with its support for parts, assemblies, and finished unit tracking, enhanced by barcode functionality, multi-warehouse management, dropshipping, and automated purchasing processes. 

What truly distinguishes inFlow from vendors such as Square and Zoho is its suite of B2B and wholesale-specific features, including virtual showrooms, B2B quotes and invoicing, sales rep order routing, and production workflows, making it a top-tier option for businesses in these sectors.

Katana: Best for manufacturing


Pros

  • Purpose-built for manufacturing
  • Highly scalable
  • End-to-end inventory control and traceability
  • Responsive support team and large online knowledge base
  • Unique visual interface tracks job status

Cons

  • Costly for small businesses
  • Users report frequent bugs and reporting errors
  • No live phone support
  • Low order volume limits on each plan tier are not suited for DTC
Katana logo.

Our Rating: 4.28/5

  • Production management: Katana combines inventory control with production and resource management, providing real-time insights. It helps businesses make informed manufacturing decisions tied to current inventory levels, prioritize production based on material availability, and manage shop floor tasks efficiently. Users love the visual queuing of orders and jobs on the Katana interface (shown above).
  • Inventory optimization and control: Katana provides complete visibility and management of both finished products and raw materials across multiple locations. Features include real-time tracking of stock levels, automated transactions, reorder points to prevent stock-outs, and barcode functionalities for accurate stock management and restocking alerts.
  • Traceability: End-to-end traceability is ensured with batch tracking, expiry dates, and serial numbers management. Katana allows businesses to maintain control over stock quality, manage warranty claims, and efficiently recall faulty batches if necessary, ensuring compliance and customer satisfaction.
  • Contractor and supplier management: Katana improves collaboration with contractors and suppliers by tracking outsourced manufacturing orders and materials in real time. This feature helps in managing the supply chain more effectively, ensuring materials are available when needed and received items are cost-accurate.
  • Ecommerce and omnichannel sales: The software synchronizes multiple channels into one dashboard to ensure efficient inventory and sales data, timely order fulfillment, and accurate stock maintenance. It offers native integrations with a variety of carts, marketplaces, and shipping apps to support multichannel sales. 

Unlike our other picks, all of Katana’s plans come with unlimited users, SKUs, and integrations, giving it high flexibility when it comes to your business’ unique structure. Instead, plans are tiered based on GMV (or gross merchandise value) and sales per year. 

 Here’s the pricing breakdown (billed annually):

  • Starter: $179/month – 1,200 orders/year, 1 location, $600,000 GMV per year
  • Standard: $359/month – 6,000 orders/year, 3 locations, $5 million GMV per year
  • Professional: $799/month – 18,000 orders/year, 10 locations, $50 million GMV per year
  • Professional Plus: $1,799/month – 40,000 orders/year, unlimited locations, $150 million GMV per year

The software’s low order volume limits per plan, relative to the monthly cost of each, show that it’s more suited for large-order, B2B businesses than DTC sellers. 

Katana was selected as the best inventory management software for manufacturing thanks to its unparalleled support for the manufacturing process, from planning to production and beyond. It excels in offering a detailed, user-friendly system that encompasses every aspect of manufacturing inventory management.

While its pricing and limitations aren’t particularly small-business friendly, we find that Katana provides excellent value for medium-sized and large-scale manufacturing businesses seeking to optimize their operations and scale efficiently.

  • Pricing: 4.06/5
  • Core features: 4.50/5
  • Usability: 5.0/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 3.33/5 
  • Security and reliability: 4.17/5
  • User scores: 4.60/5

Katana distinguishes itself from typical inventory software by integrating production workflows directly with inventory management in a way that’s both simple and powerful. It moves beyond basic inventory tracking by connecting material tracking, scheduling, and supplier coordination with B2B sales, as well as ecommerce and shipping needs. This approach simplifies the manufacturing process and gives businesses a comprehensive tool for navigating modern manufacturing challenges. Katana ensures manufacturers can respond quickly to market changes, keep up with demand, and stay organized.

Ordoro: Best for dropshipping


Pros

  • Unique, dropshipping-specific features
  • Highest user rating on our list
  • Extensive ecommerce integrations
  • Advanced inventory and order management automations
  • Experienced, US-based support team

Cons

  • Delayed inventory syncing (not real-time)
  • No mobile app
  • Costly inventory plans
  • Some essential features are paid add-ons
Ordoro logo.

Our Rating: 4.19/5

  • Inventory control: Ordoro provides visibility to display accurate amounts across channels to optimize your storage locations and meet demand. It delivers automated low-stock alerts, purchase ordering capabilities, robust bundling, and auto-syncing. However, unlike many of our other picks, it syncs hourly rather than in real time. 
  • Automated purchasing and fulfillment: Ordoro delivers highly customizable automation rules to send orders to multiple warehouses and dropship vendors, as well as generating one-click purchase orders informed by sales forecasting. This not only simplifies supply chain management but also ensures drop-shipped orders are quickly forwarded to vendors for direct shipping to customers. Plus, Ordoro shipping software lets you compare rates, print labels, and facilitate return shipping. 
  • Dropshipping and supplier management: Ordoro simplifies dropshipping and purchase order management with tools like automated order routing and splitting and bulk update capabilities, ensuring accurate and timely fulfillment. Its vendor portals allow for real-time order information exchange and inventory level synchronization for seamless collaboration between businesses and their fulfillment partners.
  • Kitting for customized manufacturing: With robust kitting features, Ordoro tracks items from components to finished products. This is valuable for businesses specializing in custom items, made-to-order goods, and subscription boxes, offering precise inventory control over bundled products.
  • Customer support: Ordoro boasts an Austin, Texas-based support team staffed by experienced personnel with a minimum of five years of experience with the software, and service is highly rated in reviews. 

Ordoro’s pricing differs from our other recommended providers as it offers distinct products for inventory, shipping, and dropshipping, each integrating smoothly yet priced separately:

  • Inventory management:
    • Advanced: $349/month – 1,000 order/month, unlimited users, locations, and sales channels
    • Premium: $499/month – Adds purchase orders, bill of materials, and manufacturing orders
  • Dropshipping:
    • Advanced: $349/month – 1,000 order/month, unlimited users, locations, and sales channels
    • Premium: Custom pricing, – Custom order volume per month, adds supplier feeds and vendor portals
  • Shipping App:
    • Essential: Free – 100 labels/month, 1 user, 1 location, 1 sales channel
    • Advanced: $59/month – 3,000 labels/month, 5 users, 5 locations, unlimited sales channels
    • Premium: $149/month – Unlimited labels/month, unlimited users, locations, and sales channels

Dropshipping is a different animal, and having purpose-built software can ease the hurdles of supplier coordination and supply chain visibility. Ordoro gives users the tools and integrations they need to succeed on multiple ecommerce channels and warehouses as well as in a variety of different business models, setting it apart from competitors like Square that offer less flexibility. 

Combining Ordoro’s fragmented tools can end up being costly for small businesses, but the value added through streamlined operations and potential for scalability justifies the investment for higher order volumes. Plus, its unique order-forwarding automation capabilities have the power to significantly lower administrative strain and keep customers happy, making it one of our top picks. 

  • Pricing: 3.13/5
  • Core features: 4.25/5
  • Usability: 4.17/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 4.17/5
  • Security and reliability: 4.58/5
  • User scores: 4.87/5

Ordoro is best for businesses focused on dropshipping, ecommerce, and multichannel sales, thanks to its comprehensive approach to inventory management, supply chain coordination, and seamless order fulfillment. This software excels in syncing inventory levels and shipping statuses in real time across a vast array of platforms and marketplaces, providing unified retail management capabilities.  

What sets Ordoro apart is its innovative purchasing automation, allowing orders to be automatically routed to warehouses and dropship vendors, as well as the generation of one-click purchase orders based on precise sales forecasting or reorder quantities.

Sortly: Best for low-volume sales and microbusinesses


Pros

  • Simplicity and ease of use
  • Free and affordable plan options
  • Highly customizable
  • Useful hardware integrations for barcodes and QR codes
  • Mobile app with offline mode

Cons

  • No built-in ecommerce, shipping, or POS integrations
  • Restrictive scalability
  • No direct support contact methods (request form only)
  • No vendor management capabilities
Sortly logo.

Our Rating: 4.07/5

  • Streamlined inventory organization: Sortly simplifies inventory management by allowing users to easily add items, upload existing inventory spreadsheets, and organize products. With customizable fields, folders, and tags, businesses can define unique information for items, ensuring that the inventory management solution adapts to their specific operational needs and enhances overall efficiency.
  • Mobile app: Sortly’s app is highly rated and allows for inventory management from anywhere, providing flexibility and ensuring up-to-date inventory tracking and adjustments on the go. But unlike many of our other picks, it can’t be used for scanning and barcoding features. 
  • Open API: It’s important to note that Sortly doesn’t offer native integrations with any ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, shipping apps, or POS systems. Users can take advantage of its open API to develop custom connections, but this often requires technical expertise or added costs, and can complicate operations. Currently, pre-built integrations with QuickBooks, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. 
  • Barcode and QR Code Management: Sortly delivers efficient item tracking and management with integrated barcode and QR code scanning capabilities. Users can connect a variety of hardware to scan, generate, and print custom labels directly from the platform, streamlining the check-in/checkout process and ensuring accurate inventory counts.

Sortly’s pricing structure is designed to support businesses at various stages of growth, from sole proprietors to expanding ventures.

  • Free: Up to 100 items, 1 user, 1 custom field – $0/month
  • Advanced: Up to 2,000 items, 2 users, up to 10 custom fields – $49/month
  • Ultra: Up to 10,000 items, 5 users, up to 25 custom fields – $149/month
  • Enterprise: Customizable for unlimited items and 10+ users – Custom pricing

Annual billing options offer significant savings, making Sortly an even more cost-effective choice for mindful businesses.

Sortly’s blend of easy-to-use, flexible inventory management features, combined with its affordability, makes it a great choice for small businesses with less extensive inventory needs. While it lacks pre-built integrations that may be mission-critical for some businesses (like ecommerce platform connectivity), its open API helps bridge the gap to provide scalability when needed.  

Unlike many other software options that may overwhelm small and microbusinesses with unnecessary advanced features and high costs, Sortly strikes the perfect balance with its straightforward, powerful tools at an affordable price, offering the best value for your investment.

  • Pricing: 4.69/5
  • Core features: 2.75/5
  • Usability: 4.17/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 3.33/5
  • Security and reliability: 5/5
  • User scores: 4.5/5

Sortly is a standalone software that streamlines inventory management for various small-business use cases. Unlike more complex end-to-end systems, Sortly focuses on the essentials: easy tracking of item quantities and locations— whether for sale, office supplies, project materials, or equipment assets. Its straightforward approach, combined with affordability, makes it a top choice for small businesses, microbusinesses, and startups seeking simplicity without the need for extensive inventory management and order processing functions.

Logiwa: Best for high-volume warehouses


Pros

  • Warehouse management tools that go beyond inventory and orders
  • Granular item tracking and management
  • Advanced fulfillment and order processing features
  • Extensive integrations
  • Robust analytics with a wide range of customizable reports

Cons

  • Opaque pricing and plans
  • Limited POS connectivity
  • Lacks staff management tools
  • Clunky user interface
Logiwa logo.

Our Rating: 4/5

  • Detailed inventory tracking: Logiwa specializes in granular management for complex inventories, with real-time tracking of lot and serial numbers across multiple warehouses. Its inventory system prevents overstocking and stockouts by using directed put-away and smart replenishment based on specific product characteristics. With robust purchase order management and proactive low-stock alerts, Logiwa ensures businesses can swiftly adjust to inventory demands and maintain precise stock levels.
  • Warehouse optimization: Logiwa enhances fulfillment efficiency with multi-location warehouse planning and walking path optimization that reportedly reduces manual effort by up to 30%. This boosts order processing speed and cuts operational costs. The system also supports complex inventory practices like FIFO/FEFO and grouped waves picking.
  • Integrations: With over 200 pre-built integrations, Logiwa connects warehouses to a broad range of ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, shipping carriers, and accounting software to streamline the flow of information, ensuring inventory levels are synced.
  • Comprehensive analytics and reporting: Logiwa provides in-depth analytics and customizable reports for real-time warehouse insights, including inventory, order status, and shipping efficiency. These tools help track performance metrics, identify trends, and support data-driven decisions, with features for demand forecasting and 3PL analytics to optimize future strategy adjustments.
  • Customer Support: Logiwa offers responsive customer support with average response times of seven to nine minutes, ensuring any issues are swiftly addressed. Implementation support, although requiring a quote and contract, is comprehensive, setting businesses up for success in typically four  weeks.
  • Options for B2C, B2B, and 3PL: Logiwa’s software is uniquely tailored to support high-volume B2C and DTC businesses, as well as B2B and 3PL operations. Its flexible fulfillment options and multi-location features ensure businesses can scale efficiently while managing hybrid fulfillment models and various business types.

Unlike our other recommended providers, Logiwa’s pricing involves custom quotes. It’s also unclear whether it offers different plans with varying features and limitations. That said, many user reviews state that it’s a great program for the price. 

Custom-quote pricing is not uncommon for 3PL providers, especially fulfillment companies that provide third-party warehousing services. But other WMS providers with published pricing charge anywhere from $300–$3,000 depending on business size and model.

We chose Logiwa for its comprehensive approach to managing warehouses and fulfilling orders, not just tracking inventory—giving high-volume businesses and other 3PLs a fully functional suite of tools. It excels in giving users a detailed view of their inventory in real time, enabling efficient order fulfillment, and predicting future stock needs, which helps in keeping operations running smoothly.

  • Pricing: 0.63/5*
  • Core features: 4.75/5
  • Usability: 4.14/5
  • Integration and compatibility: 5/5
  • Security and reliability: 5/5
  • User scores: 4.47/5

*Due to its custom-quoted costs, we were unable to access Logiwa for affordability or plan flexibility, which negatively impacted its score in the ‘pricing’ criteria

Unlike our other picks, Logiwa is a WMS (Warehouse Management System) that comes with all of the sophisticated tools necessary to run a high-volume warehouse—including robust inventory planning software. Logiwa provides an integrated approach that covers warehouse management, order fulfillment, and the supply chain from end to end. 

It offers an exceptional ability to streamline inventory control through advanced tracking as well as order processing features like walking path optimization and diverse picking strategies. Logiwa’s extensive integration capabilities, including connections with over 200 ecommerce, shipping, and ERP platforms, position it as a versatile and valuable tool for businesses aiming to optimize their inventory processes and improve overall operational efficiency.

Key components of inventory management software

Every business has different inventory needs, especially at various stages of growth—but these key components are the essential parts of a functional and scalable inventory planning software solution:

  • Real-time inventory tracking: Essential for maintaining accurate stock levels, avoiding overstocking or stockouts, and ensuring timely order fulfillment.
  • Order management: Integrates your sales channels to receive, process, fulfill, and track customer orders while syncing inventory for up-to-date accuracy. 
  • Integration capabilities: Ensures smooth connections with your other mission-critical tools, including ecommerce platforms, accounting software POS systems, and CRM systems.
  • User interface: Prioritizes ease of use with an intuitive design, ensuring quick adoption and minimal labor required for use. 
  • Multilocation management: Easily manage stock across multiple locations, including transferring items between warehouses and tracking inventory levels by location.
  • Purchase order and vendor management: Lets users create and organize purchase orders, automates reordering, simplifies supplier relationships, and includes vendor performance tracking to enhance purchase efficiency.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Provides deep and customizable insights into inventory metrics, sales trends, and overall supply chain performance for forecasting and data-driven decision-making.
  • Barcoding: Accelerates inventory processes such as receiving, counting, and tracking, while minimizing human errors.
  • Shipping tools: Includes built-in solutions for label printing and shipment tracking or seamless integration with external shipping software, simplifying logistics.

Benefits of using inventory management software

Inventory is one of the largest expenses for many organizations, making it crucial to manage it properly. Inventory planning software can protect your stock by minimizing organizational issues, losses, overstocks, and stockouts, helping make operations smoother, more profitable, and responsive to customer needs.

Many inventory solutions can also replace multiple tools in your arsenal—including order management and shopping software. And the right software can serve as a centralized point to capture sales and order information from all of your locations and sales channels to unify and simplify operations. 

Choosing the best inventory management software solution

Finding the right inventory management software depends on your business’s unique needs, including the complexity of your inventory, order volume, sales channels, and growth plans. 

Consider software that integrates smoothly with your existing systems, offers the scalability to support your business as it expands, and offers purpose-built features for any specialized needs (like manufacturing, serving niche industries, or operating on a tight budget). 

Read more: How to Choose the Best Inventory Management Software 

FAQs

Some businesses with low order volumes, simple inventories, and a single storage location can get by using traditional spreadsheet methods for managing inventory. However, most modern businesses can greatly benefit from a solution designed to streamline the process and ensure accuracy.

Some inventory management tools geared toward small businesses offer low-volume software for free. However, paid plans range anywhere from $29 to $1,700+ depending on their sales, location, or user allowance as well as general complexity.