The best inventory tracking software for a small business in 2026 is Sortly for the simplest way to count and find things, Zoho Inventory for the cheapest full order flow, inFlow for a flat bill that covers a small team, Odoo if you want to start free and add apps later, Square for Retail if you sell from a shop counter, Katana for small manufacturers, and Cin7 Core for multichannel sellers who have outgrown the rest. If your stock behaves in a way none of them model (rentals, kits, serialized assets, consignment), a small custom app can beat all seven. Prices below were checked on each vendor's own pricing page on October 19, 2026.
Every tool here tracks quantities. What separates them is the one limit that makes your bill jump, so pick the tool whose limit you'll hit last.
How did we pick and price these tools?
We picked cloud-based tools a team of one to ten can set up without a consultant, with a public price or a free plan. For each we recorded the free plan and its cap, the entry paid price and billing period, what the bill is based on, and the limit that forces an upgrade. Prices are in US dollars, from official pricing pages on October 19, 2026.
Two exceptions. Odoo shows prices localized to the visitor's country and we couldn't load its US figures, so we describe how it charges instead. And we left MRPeasy out because its pricing page refused our requests; we don't print prices we can't check.
How do the best inventory tracking tools compare?
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Entry paid price (Oct 2026) | What pushes the bill up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sortly | Simple counting, photos, barcodes | 100 items, 1 user | Advanced $49/mo monthly, or $24/mo billed yearly in year one | More than 500 items or 2 users |
| Zoho Inventory | Cheapest full order flow | 50 orders/mo, 1 user, 1 location | Standard $29/mo billed yearly ($39 monthly) | More than 500 orders a month or 3 users |
| inFlow | A flat bill for a small team | No, free trial only | Lite $99/mo billed annually | A third team member or second location |
| Odoo | Starting free, adding apps later | One app, unlimited users | Standard, per user per month (price varies by country) | Installing a second app |
| Square for Retail | Shops already using Square POS | Square Free, without stock counts, POs or COGS reports | Plus $49/mo per location, plus card fees | Each new location; transfer orders need Premium |
| Katana | Small manufacturers | 30 SKUs, unlimited users | Custom annual contract | Going past 30 SKUs |
| Cin7 Core | Multichannel sellers | No, free trial only | Standard $349/mo (5 users) | 6,000 sales orders a year, 5 users, 2 integrations |
Which inventory tracking software is best for small businesses?
1. Sortly – the simplest inventory app
Sortly is built around a photo of each item and a phone in your hand. Its feature list includes in-app barcode and QR code scanning, low-stock and date-based alerts, and offline mobile access. The Free plan covers 100 unique items, 1 user and 2 active jobs; quantities of one item don't count against the item limit, so 100 items can mean thousands of units.
Advanced is $49 a month billed monthly for 500 items and 2 users. A 50% flash sale on yearly plans brings it to $24 a month ($288 a year), but the small print says that discount covers the first year only; after that, yearly plans get 20% off. Ultra is $149 a month ($74 on the yearly sale) for 2,000 items and 5 users, and it's the first plan that lists purchase orders.
Who it suits: trades, offices and small teams tracking supplies, tools and equipment. The upgrade trigger: item count. Budget for the year-two price, not the sale price.
2. Zoho Inventory – the cheapest full order flow
Zoho Inventory charges per organization, and its plans are capped by order volume. Free covers 50 orders a month, 1 user and 1 location. Standard is $29 a month billed annually ($39 monthly) with 500 orders a month, 3 users and 2 locations, and adds composite items, dropshipments, backorders and a customer portal. Premium is $79 billed annually ($99 monthly) for 3,000 orders, 5 users and 4 locations, and adds barcode generation, stock counting, serial number and batch tracking.
Add-ons let you buy only what you've run out of: an extra user is $7.50 a month billed annually, 500 more orders $7.50, and an extra location $10.
Who it suits: product sellers who want sales orders, purchase orders and invoicing in one place without paying for seats they don't use. The upgrade trigger: order volume, and Premium if you need serial or batch tracking.
3. inFlow – flat pricing for a small team
inFlow has no free plan, only a free trial. Every plan includes unlimited products, sales, purchases and integrations, and the price is set by team members and locations. Lite is $99 a month billed annually for 2 team members and 1 location. Core is $299 for 5 members and 5 locations, Pro is $499 for 10 members, and Max is $699 for 20 members; Pro and Max list unlimited locations. inFlow says annual billing saves 20%. Phone scanning runs through its Stockroom mobile app, sold as an add-on.
Who it suits: wholesalers and distributors with a handful of staff who want one predictable bill. The upgrade trigger: the third person who needs a login, or a second warehouse.
4. Odoo – free for one app, unlimited users
Odoo works differently from everything else here. Its One App Free plan gives you a single app (Inventory, for instance) free for unlimited users, forever, along with any apps it depends on. Install a second app and you move to Standard, which includes every Odoo app and is billed per user per month. Odoo shows prices localized to your country, and its introductory discount applies for 12 months to the users you first order, so check the page in your own region.
Who it suits: businesses that expect to want accounting, sales and a website from the same system later. The upgrade trigger: the day you install a second app.
5. Square for Retail – best if you sell in a shop
Square for Retail is a point-of-sale system first. Square Free costs $0 a month and includes automatic item and SKU creation and low-stock alerts. The features that make it real inventory software (an inventory counting tool, inventory history, bulk stock intake, vendor and purchase order management, and a cost of goods sold report) are marked as not included on Free and start on Square Plus at $49 a month per location. Square Premium is $149 a month per location and adds transfer orders, purchase order imports and cross-location returns. Card processing is on top: 2.6% + 15¢ in person on Free, 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus.
Who it suits: a shop that wants the till and the stock count to agree without a sync. The upgrade trigger: each new location, and Premium the moment you move stock between stores.
6. Katana – for small manufacturers
Katana is manufacturing and inventory software with bills of materials, so bundles and kits draw down their components as you build them. Its Free plan includes all features within a 30-SKU limit, with unlimited users, integrations and locations plus API access; for e-commerce, only Shopify integrates with Free. Everything beyond that is Advantage, a custom annual contract scoped by Katana's team. There is no public paid price.
Who it suits: makers and small manufacturers selling through Shopify. The upgrade trigger: SKU 31.
7. Cin7 Core – for multichannel sellers
Cin7 Core is the most expensive tool here and the one built for the most moving parts. Standard is $349 a month with access for 5 users, 2 e-commerce and app integrations, 6,000 sales orders a year and unlimited inventory locations. Pro is $599 for 10 users, 4 integrations and 24,000 orders, and adds material requirements planning. Advanced is $1,199 for 15 users, 6 integrations, 120,000 orders and advanced warehouse management. There's a free trial, no free plan.
Who it suits: brands selling across marketplaces, wholesale and retail at once. The upgrade trigger: order volume and integration count.
Got an idea? Build it now!
Just start with a simple prompt. No coding required: Greta.sh turns your idea into a working app in minutes.
What will inventory software cost as you grow?
Here's what each tool would cost at three stages, using only the limits and prices above (yearly billing where offered).
| Stage | Sortly | Zoho Inventory | inFlow | Square for Retail | Katana | Cin7 Core |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 user, 100 SKUs, 1 location | $0 (Free) | $0 if under 50 orders/mo | $99/mo (Lite) | $0 basic, $49/mo (Plus) for counts and POs | Quote (Free stops at 30 SKUs) | $349/mo |
| 5 users, 2,000 SKUs, 1 location | $74/mo (Ultra, year one) | $44/mo (Standard + 2 users) | $299/mo (Core) | $49/mo (Plus) | Quote | $349/mo |
| 5 users, 3 locations | Same as above | $79/mo (Premium) | $299/mo (Core) | $147/mo (Plus) or $447/mo (Premium, for transfers) | Quote | $349/mo |
A few things jump out. Zoho stays cheapest as long as your order volume is modest. Sortly's sale price doesn't last: at the 20% yearly discount that applies after year one, Ultra works out to about $119 a month. Square looks cheap until you open a third shop and need to move stock between them. And Cin7 is flat across all three stages, which is why growing brands accept the higher starting price. Odoo isn't in the table because its per-user price depends on your country.
What's the best inventory software for retail vs a warehouse?
For retail, start with Square if you already take payments with it, because the till and the stock count share one catalog. Zoho Inventory is the better retail pick if you also sell online and care more about orders than checkout.
For a warehouse, Cin7 Core wins once you ship to several channels, with unlimited locations on every plan. Odoo suits a warehouse growing into a full ERP; inFlow suits a distributor who wants a flat bill.
How do you know you've outgrown a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is fine for inventory until it quietly isn't. Watch for these six signals:
- You've had a stockout on something the sheet said you had.
- Stock lives in more than one place (a back room, a van, a second shop).
- Someone spends an afternoon each week reconciling the sheet against sales.
- Your SKU count has grown past what one person can eyeball.
- Several people edit the file and nobody's sure which copy is current.
- When a count is wrong, there's no record of who changed it or why.
Two signals is a warning. Three or more and the sheet is costing you more than the cheapest plan above. Our guide to how ops teams replace spreadsheets with internal apps covers the migration itself, and Greta.sh vs Airtable Interfaces covers the half-step of putting an interface on the sheet first.
Got an idea? Build it now!
Just start with a simple prompt. No coding required: Greta.sh turns your idea into a working app in minutes.
When does a custom inventory app beat off-the-shelf software?
For standard retail and wholesale, buy one of the seven tools above. They've already solved barcode hardware, accounting sync and the hundred edge cases you haven't hit yet.
Building your own makes sense in narrow cases where your stock doesn't behave like stock:
Rentals. An item leaves and comes back, and what matters is availability by date, not quantity on hand.
Kits you assemble per order. Katana handles bills of materials, but if the kit changes per customer, a fixed BOM fights you.
Serialized assets. Each unit has its own history: who had it, what was repaired, when it's due back.
Consignment. You hold stock you don't own and settle with the owner after it sells.
Per-seat costs. When ten warehouse staff each need a login, per-user pricing grows faster than the business.
An AI app builder like Greta.sh generates a web app from a plain-English description of how your stock actually moves. Its pricing page lists a Free plan with 5 credits a day for building; deployment and a custom domain start on Starter at $5 a month on the welcome offer (normally $20 a month). Database, GitHub version control and team management are listed on Pro, at $20 a month on the welcome offer (normally $50 a month). Greta.sh's ops solutions page shows the same pattern for dashboards, request queues and approvals.
The trade-off is real: you own every rule you describe, and every rule you forget. Our custom inventory management software guide walks through build vs buy in more detail, and the SaaS sprawl story covers which tools are worth replacing at all.
How should you choose?
Start with what drives your volume. Items (tools, supplies, equipment): Sortly. Orders: Zoho Inventory, then Cin7 Core once you're on several channels. People who need logins: inFlow or Odoo's free single app. A shop counter: Square for Retail. Making what you sell: Katana.
Then run a real week through your top two: receive a delivery, sell something, count a shelf. Keep the one that needs the fewest workarounds.
FAQ
What is the best inventory tracking software for a small business?
Sortly is the simplest for tracking items, Zoho Inventory the cheapest with a full order flow, Square for Retail the natural fit for shops on Square, and Cin7 Core the pick for multichannel sellers.
Is there free inventory tracking software for small businesses?
Yes. Sortly is free for 100 items and 1 user, Zoho Inventory for 50 orders a month and 1 user, Odoo for one app with unlimited users, and Katana for up to 30 SKUs with unlimited users. Square Free costs nothing a month and includes low-stock alerts, but Square's plan comparison marks stock counts, purchase orders and the COGS report as not included.
How much does inventory software cost per month?
On the official pages we checked, entry paid plans range from $24 a month (Sortly Advanced on its first-year yearly sale) and $29 (Zoho Inventory Standard, billed annually) to $99 (inFlow Lite) and $349 (Cin7 Core Standard). Katana's paid plan is a custom quote.
Can I track inventory in Excel or Google Sheets?
For a few dozen items and one editor, yes. It breaks when several people edit at once, stock sits in more than one place, or you need a history of who changed a count.
What's the difference between inventory tracking and inventory management software?
Tracking tells you what you have and where it is. Management adds what happens around it: purchase orders, sales orders, reorder points, costing and reporting. Sortly leans toward tracking; Zoho Inventory, inFlow and Cin7 Core are management systems.
Do I need a barcode scanner to track inventory?
Not always. Sortly lists in-app barcode and QR scanning from a smartphone, Square for Retail lets you receive stock in bulk by scanning, and inFlow sells its Stockroom mobile app for scanning. A dedicated scanner is faster for high-volume receiving.
Can I build my own inventory tracking app without coding?
Yes. AI app builders such as Greta.sh generate a web app from a plain-English description. It's worth it when your stock works in an unusual way (rentals, serialized assets, consignment); for standard retail, an off-the-shelf tool is the better choice.
Got an idea? Build it now!
Just start with a simple prompt. No coding required: Greta.sh turns your idea into a working app in minutes.
Pick the limit you'll hit last
Inventory tools all count. The bill is set by the one limit you outgrow, so price the plan you'll need in a year, not the one you need today. And if your stock follows rules no vendor ships, build the inventory app your business actually runs with Greta.sh.
