Your business can’t survive without inventory. Yet so many businesses out there don’t have an effective inventory management process.
Overstocking can restrict cash flow while understocking can cause outages or loss of revenue.
The days of using a spreadsheet or the pencil and paper method to track inventory are long behind us. Inventory management software is now available for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Features like order management, product identification, service management, and asset tracking are all common features of inventory management software.
If your business is seeking a modern way to track inventory, you’ve come to the right place.
The 8 Best Inventory Management Software of 2020
There are hundreds of different inventory management solutions on the market today. Finding the best one of your business can feel like a daunting task.
Fortunately for you, I’ve already done all of the research. Here are the top eight inventory management software solutions for you to consider:
As we continue through this guide, I’ll give you an in-depth review of each one below. You’ll learn about the top features, benefits, and costs associated with these solutions.
Best Inventory Management Software Reviews
Cin7
Cin7 is a cloud-based inventory management system. The software is made to optimize stock while minimizing waste.
You’ll benefit from flexible control and full visibility of your inventory. The software is compatible with different inventory methods based on the type of business you have. You’ll be able to keep the perfect amount of stock to meet demand.
Cin7 has tools for inventory planning and tracking profitability costs. These resources go beyond the base cost of the average inventory value.
Tracking and control features include:
- Barcode
- Batch
- FIFO and serial tracking
- Incoming stock
- Component stock
- Finished goods and product bundles
- Consignment
- Dropshipping
- Return inventory management
You’ll also have access to accounting features like COGS, general ledger mapping, and tax reporting.
From your warehouse to your point of sale (POS) system, Cin7 lets you manage inventory from multiple locations and channels.
Cin7 has three different packages for you to choose from:
Starter
- Inventory management
- Pre-order and backorder management
- Multi-location support
- POS built-in
- B2B functionality
- Product bundles
- Inventory-specific CRM
Momentum
- All Starter features
- Inventory forecasting
- Automated order splitting
- Geo-routing
- Multiple user support
- Automated replenishment
- Warehouse management
Advanced
- All Momentum features
- Advanced automation
- Custom EDI integration
- Custom retailer labels
- Custom reporting
- Multi-company automation
The pricing for Cin7 is customized to meet the specific needs of your own business. You can schedule a call or book a demo with the Cin7 sales team to request a quote.
Fishbowl
Fishbowl software has three key software features; manufacturing, warehouse, and asset tracking.
The manufacturing solution helps you calculate inventory needs to avoid over or under-ordering. You can track inventory across each step of the operation, from the initial order to the final delivery.
This solution is also ideal for generating work orders, repairs, and replacement jobs. You’ll be able to save your most common work orders and bills of materials to use for future projects.
On the warehouse side of the operation, the software gives you real-time inventory updates.
Set up automatic reordering rules on all products to avoid running out of stock. You can also eliminate errors by using scanning barcodes.
Asset tracking gives you the ability to track items by serial numbers, lot numbers, expiration dates, and other filters. Monitor your asset levels across all locations, and even transfer inventory between multiple sites.
Fishbowl integrates with other popular solutions like QuickBooks, Salesforce, Xero, Shopify, Amazon, and WooCommerce.
In addition to the software, you can get inventory management hardware directly from Fishbowl as well. They have mobile scanner kits, retail and pocket scanners, barcode printers, and POS hardware.
Fishbowl software pricing is customized based on your needs. You can request a demo online and get a 14-day free trial as well.
Ordoro
Ordoro is a centralized hub for your inventory. It’s an ideal solution for ecommerce businesses with multiple channels of inventory sourcing.
If you’re getting inventory from warehouses, suppliers, marketplaces, and fulfillment centers, everything can be managed in a single dashboard.
As a cloud-based inventory management system, you can start using Ordoro without having to download or install anything. So getting up and running is simple. For those of you who sell products direct to consumer via dropshipping, Ordoro will be a top inventory management platform for you to consider.
Once you set up all of your vendors and products, Ordoro will automatically route inventory to specific shippers. You can manage this manually as well.
Ordoro integrates with the best ecommerce platforms like:
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- WooCommerce
- Magento
- Amazon
- Etsy
- eBay
- 3dcart
- Squarespace
If you’re looking for a backend solution to scale your ecommerce business, Ordoro’s inventory management software is definitely for you.
Ordoro has an Express plan starting at $59 per month, but that does not include the inventory management features. To get that, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro package, which starts at $499 per month.
If you’re a high-volume seller, contact the sales team at Ordoro to discuss custom pricing for an enterprise-level solution. You can schedule a demo for any of these plans today.
Veeqo
Veeqo is an inventory management solution made for retailers. In addition to inventory, the software helps you manage orders and shipping as well.
The software supports a multichannel inventory system with 16+ sales channel integrations. You can manage multiple warehouses, purchases, and suppliers too.
Its order management features handle returns, wholesale orders, and revenue reports.
Veeqo integrates with over 21 different carrier integrations. You can use the software to print shipping labels and get access to parcel tracking as well. If you’re packing items on your own, the software offers barcode scanner picking, bundled invoices, and warehouse reporting.
You’ll benefit from an enterprise-grade barcode scanner, regardless of the size of your retail operation.
Veeqo has three main packages for you to choose from. Pricing is based on order volume facilitated through the software.
Accelerator — $156 – $374 per month
- Unlimited products
- 2-11 users (based on volume)
- Order rules
- Inventory sync with 20+ marketplaces
- 21+ shipping integrations
High Growth — $202 – $639 per month
- 4-13 users (based on volume)
- Purchase forecasting
- User permissions
- Returns management
Premium — $260 – $1,149 per month
- 5-14 users (based on volume)
- Digital picking
- Stock transfer
- Wholesale
All of the rates above are based on an annual contract. Veeqo does offer month-to-month plans at a higher rate. There is also an enterprise plan with custom pricing for retailers shipping more than 10,000 orders per month.
Overall, the flexibility of these plans allows you to choose the perfect option based on your needs.
Zoho Inventory
Zoho is best known for its wide range of business software. Zoho Books ranks high on our list of the best small business accounting software. We even named Zoho Meetings in our guide on the best video conferencing services.
In addition to these tools for things like CRM and more, Zoho Inventory is another top software to consider from this provider.
It’s arguably the most simple solution on our list. Small businesses can keep track of every unit using the Zoho Inventory stock management tools.
You’ll also be able to manage order fulfillment and inventory from a single dashboard.
Top Zoho Inventory features include:
- Order management
- End-to-end tracking
- Warehouse management
- Accounting integrations
- CRM integrations
- Shipping integrations
I like Zoho Inventory because you can manage orders and track the status of shipments on the go with its mobile app, available on both iOS and Android devices.
Here’s an overview of the Zoho Inventory plans and pricing:
Free — $0
- 20 online orders per month
- 20 shipping labels per month
- 20 shipment tracking per month
- 1 warehouse
Basic — Starting at $39 per month
- 1,500 online orders
- 150 shipping labels
- 150 shipment tracking
- 2 warehouses
Standard — Starting at $79 per month
- 10,000 online orders
- 1,000 shipping labels
- 1,000 shipment tracking
- 5 warehouses
- Serial number tracking
- Batch tracking
Professional — Starting at $199 per month
- 30,000 online orders
- 3,000 shipping labels
- 3,000 shipment tracking
- 10 warehouses
- Serial number tracking
- Batch tracking
As you can see, there’s a plan for everyone based on the size of your business.
In addition to other Zoho products, Zoho Inventory integrates with popular tools like Shopify, PayPal, Amazon, eBay, Stripe, and Etsy.
inFlow
With inFlow inventory management, you’ll be able to manage all of your products in one place. Whether you’re buying, selling, or moving, the inFlow software can help you track it.
From products to prices and stock levels, inFlow lets you manage everything from all of your devices.
The software can be compared to a business intelligence service. As a business owner, you will always know what products are in stock, what items have been reserved, and what products have been ordered.
The simplicity of inFlow’s system means large orders or shipping delays won’t catch you off guard and cause a bottleneck in your process.
Big names like AT&T, NASA, Volvo, 7-Eleven, and Panera have all used inFlow for inventory management.
You’ll be able to see the history of every single product. Stuff like FIFO and LIFO will automatically get calculated for you as well.
inFlow inventory management is commonly used for warehouses, manufacturing, wholesale, asset tracking, and job site management.
Here’s a brief overview of the software’s plans and prices:
Light — $71 per month billed annually ($79 month-to-month)
- 2 team members
- 1 location
- Up to 100 orders per month
- 2 integrations
Standard — $179 per month billed annually ($199 month-to-month)
- 5 team members
- Unlimited locations
- Up to 500 orders per month
- 3 integrations
- User access rights
- B2B showroom portal
Plus — $359 per month billed annually ($399 month-to-month)
- 10 team members
- Unlimited locations
- Up to 1,000 orders
- Unlimited integrations
There are optional add-ons available for things like bill of material and workers. You can try any of these plans free for 14 days.
Unleashed
Unleashed provides industry-specific inventory management software for the following business types:
- Manufacturing
- Wholesale
- Distribution
- Retail
- Food manufacturing
- Brewing
- Coffee roasting
- Health and supplements
- Lighting
It’s an ideal solution for manufacturers and those of you who sell products through a B2B ecommerce website.
You can use this inventory management solution to automate your entire B2B selling process. The streamlined process makes it easy for you to fulfill sales orders accurately and efficiently.
Manage everything you need directly from the Unleashed Sales mobile app.
Unleashed integrates with popular business solutions like Shopify, Xero, QuickBooks, Amazon, Zapier, and more.
Accurate inventory tracking is a significant standout of the Unleashed software. You’ll get real-time results in addition to powerful analytics for wholesale, distribution, and retail sales channels.
Here are the price points for Unleashed inventory management:
- Medium — $259 per month billed annually ($279 month-to-month)
- Large — $499 per month billed annually ($549 month-to-month)
- Large Plus — $819 per month billed annually ($899 month-to-month)
The differences between the plans are largely based on the number of users you have. All plans come with unlimited products, customers, suppliers, transactions, integrations, and warehouses.
Finale Inventory
Finale Inventory is a centralized solution for your small business. The software has a wide range of tools, features, and benefits, including:
- Order management
- Wireless barcode scanning
- Multichannel integrations
- Warehouse management
- Powerful reporting
- Purchasing and replenishment
- Kitting and bundles for ecommerce
- Serial number tracking
Finale Inventory has five different plans to accommodate the needs of all business sizes. All come with multi-location support, up to 100,000 items, inventory management, and order management.
Bronze —- $99 per month (or $999 per year)
- Best for small business
- 2 users
- 1,000 orders per month
- 2 integrations
Silver — $275 per month (or $2,750 per year)
- Best for ecommerce
- 6 users
- 5,000 orders per month
- 4 integrations
Gold — $449 per month (or $4,490 per year)
- Best for barcoding needs
- 8 users
- 10,000 orders per month
- 8 integrations
- 4 barcoding licenses
Platinum — $649 per month (or $6,490 per year)
- 12 users
- 20,000 orders per month
- Unlimited integrations
- 8 barcoding licenses
- API access
Custom — Custom pricing
- Best for high volume and Fortune 500
- Up to 300 users
- Up to 800,000 orders per month
- 1.5 million items
- Master service agreement
- Advanced security controls
Contact Finale Inventory to request a demo and free trial.
How to Choose the Best Inventory Management Software For Your Business
What’s the best inventory management software for your business? The answer will be different for everyone. This is the methodology that we recommend to narrow your choices.
Automation
Manual inventory management is outdated. Even if you’re using software, you want to make sure that the majority of your processes have been automated.
Each time a piece of inventory is sold, returned, or moves from one location to another, the system should automatically update. Inventory automation will also help improve the accuracy of your stock management.
Integrations
The inventory management and automation features are useless if you still need to complete manual tasks elsewhere.
Look for inventory management software that integrates with other tools that you’re already using. I’m referring to things like to accounting software, ecommerce platforms, and CRM.
Features
The best inventory management software on the market today has a wide range of features. Some of the top ones to keep an eye on include:
- Inventory costing (LIFO, FIFO, etc.)
- Location tracking
- Stock tracking
- Product categories
- Barcode scanning
Depending on your unique circumstances, you may or may not need some or all of these features.
Business Type
Some software is made for certain types of businesses and industries. For example, manufacturers and wholesalers have different inventory needs than small business retailers.
A B2B ecommerce website would have different needs than a traditional B2C ecommerce operation. So look for a software that specializes in your business type and industry, if possible.
Price
The price for inventory management software varies quite a bit. We’ve reviewed solutions that are free or start at $39 per month. Other options on our list cost more than $1,100 per month.
Most of you will likely fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Pricing usually varies based on features, users, and volume.
Conclusion
With so many inventory management solutions to consider, there are really only eight options that I can confidently recommend. Here’s a recap of the ones we reviewed above:
- Cin7 — Best overall inventory management software.
- Fishbowl — Best inventory management software for manufacturers and distributors.
- Ordoro — Best inventory management for scaling ecommerce shops.
- Veeqo — Best inventory management software for high-volume retailers.
- Zoho Inventory — Best inventory management software for growing businesses.
- inFlow — Best inventory management software for small business.
- Unleashed — Best inventory management software for B2B ecommerce sites.
- Finale Inventory — Best cloud-based high-volume inventory management.
From small business retailers to high-volume distributors, there’s an option for every business on this list.
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