Entry No. 03 — Inventory Software

What should I use to manage inventory?

This is the one category on the site with two answers, because the right tool depends on a question only you can answer: do you resell finished goods, or make the products yourself?

Start here

Which one is you?

If you resell finished goods

Go with Finale Inventory

  • You buy finished products and resell them
  • You sell across Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, Etsy, or more than one channel at once
  • Your main problem is knowing what to reorder and when
See the Finale breakdown ↓
If you make what you sell

Go with Katana Cloud Inventory

  • You manufacture, assemble, or craft the products yourself
  • You need to track raw materials, not just finished stock
  • You need a bill of materials and a production schedule
See the Katana breakdown ↓
Pick for resellers

Finale Inventory

Built for e-commerce and retail sellers moving finished goods across multiple sales channels — not for tracking a production line.

  • Deep multi-channel sync. Connects to Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, Etsy, and dozens of other sales and shipping platforms so stock counts stay accurate across every channel you sell on.
  • Reorder forecasting built in. Uses your sales history to flag what to reorder and when, instead of you eyeballing a spreadsheet or finding out you're out of stock from a customer complaint.
  • Warehouse and barcode tools. Supports barcode scanning, multi-location tracking, and lot/serial numbers if you outgrow a single storage room.

Worth knowing

Finale's public pricing is inconsistent across sources — older tiers start around $99/month, but current official pricing appears to be quote-based, starting closer to $499/month depending on order volume and integrations. Get an exact quote before assuming a price.

Get a Finale quote →
Pick for makers & manufacturers

Katana Cloud Inventory

Purpose-built material requirements planning (MRP) — for tracking what goes into a product, not just what's left of it.

  • Bill of materials tracking. Define exactly what raw materials and components go into each finished product, and Katana tracks consumption as you produce.
  • Production scheduling. See what needs to be made, when, and whether you have the materials on hand to do it — the core job a pure resale tool like Finale isn't built for.
  • A real free plan. Up to 30 SKUs with unlimited users and integrations, which is enough for many businesses to fully test it before paying anything.

Worth knowing

The paid Core plan runs about $299/month once you outgrow the 30-SKU free tier. Some long-time users report costs and multi-warehouse routing becoming limiting at larger order volumes — worth revisiting if you scale past a small operation.

Try Katana free →
Side by side

Finale vs. Katana

 Finale InventoryKatana Cloud Inventory
Built forReselling finished goodsManufacturing / assembling goods
Starting priceQuote-based, historically from ~$99/moFree (30 SKUs), Core from $299/mo
Sales channelsStrongest — 40+ integrationsCore integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, QuickBooks)
Bill of materialsNot the focusCore feature
Best fitDTC brands, multi-channel sellers, 3PLsSmall manufacturers, food & consumer goods makers
Notes

Common questions

What if I both make some products and resell others?

Go with whichever makes up the bulk of your revenue first. Some businesses run both tools side by side, though that adds complexity — most are better off standardizing on one once volume grows.

Do either of these replace QuickBooks?

No — both are built to sync with QuickBooks (or another accounting tool), not replace it. Inventory and accounting stay separate systems that talk to each other.

Can I start free and upgrade later?

With Katana, yes — its free tier is a real starting point. Finale doesn't currently publish a free tier, so start with a trial or demo instead.

Know which one fits?

Pick the path above that matches how your business actually operates.

Finale Inventory → Katana Cloud Inventory →