Home / Partner Picks / Katana
Best for: Scaling makers and ecommerce manufacturers
Last updated: September 04, 2026
Katana is one of the best ways for a growing maker to get off spreadsheets and run real-time inventory and production in one place — live stock across raw materials and finished goods, bills of materials, production scheduling, a shop-floor app, automatic reorder points and multi-channel order management. A big draw is no per-user fees, so you add the whole team at one price, and it connects tightly to Shopify, WooCommerce, QuickBooks, Xero, Amazon and Zapier plus an open API. There's a free plan (30 SKUs, 1 location) and a Core plan from $299/mo. The honest catch is the modular pricing: deeper capability comes as paid add-ons — manufacturing (~$199), traceability (~$249), warehouse (~$149) — which can push the real bill to $747–$1,095/mo. Excellent once you're manufacturing at some volume; just price the modules you'll actually switch on.
STARTS AT
Free / Core from $299/mo
A free plan plus a paid Core plan from ~$299/mo, cheaper annually, with no per-user fees — team size doesn't change the price. What changes it is add-ons: Core covers essentials, and you layer on optional modules — manufacturing ~$199, traceability/batch tracking ~$249, warehouse management ~$149. Stacking several can take the real cost into the $747–$1,095/mo range, so price on the modules you'll actually turn on, not just the Core headline.
Both. A permanent free plan (30 SKUs, 1 location) is enough for a very small maker to track basic stock, plus a time-limited free trial of paid features to evaluate production planning and integrations. Since Katana earns its keep once you're managing real BOMs, multiple channels and reorder points, load a genuine product with its components and run an order through — that tells you far more than an empty catalog.
Katana keeps Core focused and sells deeper capability as modular add-ons, so you pay for what you need. The main ones: a manufacturing add-on for richer production control, a traceability add-on (batch/expiry tracking) for regulated or perishable goods, and a warehouse management add-on for advanced multi-location fulfilment. Each carries its own monthly fee on top of Core. Upside: flexibility and no per-user charges; downside: needing several modules pushes the real bill well beyond the entry price.
It's built to sit at the centre of a maker's stack: e-commerce (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Amazon), accounting (QuickBooks Online, Xero), shipping/fulfilment tools, and Zapier for no-code automation — plus an open API. Sales orders flow in from your storefronts, inventory syncs out, and finished-goods and cost data reach your accounting system, so Katana becomes the operational hub linking selling, making and bookkeeping.
It tracks inventory in real time across raw materials and finished goods and multiple locations, updating stock as you receive, consume and ship. On manufacturing it handles BOMs, production planning and scheduling, and a shop-floor view — so you see what can be made from available stock and what to order. Auto reorder points trigger purchasing before you run out, and sales/purchase orders live in one place. It connects what you sell to what you make and what you must buy.
Small and mid-sized manufacturers, makers and DTC brands that have outgrown spreadsheets and need real-time inventory and production control — food & beverage, cosmetics, supplements, furniture, hardware and similar, selling on Shopify or Amazon while making or assembling their own products. Its no-per-user pricing suits growing teams. Weaker fit for very small sellers who only resell (simpler inventory tools are cheaper) and large enterprises needing a full ERP with deep financials.
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