Companies look beyond Fishbowl when its published tiers stop at a single-level bill of materials, when the manufacturing features sit behind Advanced pricing, or when they want a trial rather than a demo. The options below cover maker-first tools, scanner-led stock apps, open-source systems and multichannel platforms.
Short answer: Where a category has smaller vendors worth recommending, they occupy the first three places and the big brands come below them. For Fishbowl users, the top three picks from our inventory management ranking are Katana, inFlow Inventory and ERPNext Stock. Pick Katana if a small maker wants shop-floor planning without a QuickBooks-first accounting model. These 11 products are all in Best Inventory Management Software in 2026; the notes say how each one compares with Fishbowl.
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Pricing: Subscription billed annually; Fishbowl Inventory from $229 a month, published; Fishbowl Advanced from $675 a month, quoted
Established in: United States
Built for: A US manufacturer running QuickBooks that needs work orders
Not for: A business that does not run QuickBooks or Xero
01
Why buyers look past Fishbowl
01
Manufacturing depth sits on a different price list
Fishbowl's pricing page shows Essentials at $229, Growth at $429 and Scale at $729 a month for 2, 5 and 10 users, billed annually. Full BOMs with sub-assemblies, MRP, production scheduling and work orders belong to Advanced Manufacturing, from $675 a month, priced by users and deployment. A shop that arrived for the cheaper tier can find the work-order features one tier away.
02
Multilevel BOMs are not in the cloud product yet
Fishbowl's manufacturing page says the cloud product handles single-level BOMs and kits, with multilevel BOMs on Advanced Manufacturing and described as coming to the cloud product next. It positions the cloud product for light assembly, kitting and build-to-order on QuickBooks Online or Xero. Anyone building layered products has to check which edition they would land in.
03
Evaluation runs through a demo
The pricing page offers 'Request Demo' or 'Get my quote' buttons on every plan and mentions no free trial. For a buyer comparing five tools on real data, that adds sales calls to the schedule, where several rivals below let you open an account first.
finance is already on NetSuite or a full ERP migration is planned anyway
#12
03
What each one does differently
1
Katana
Estonia · Published
Katana comes from Estonia and starts from the production order: materials, bills of materials and what can be made today. Its free plan allows 30 SKUs with unlimited users, and the pricing page offers a 15-day test with unlimited SKUs before you must cut back. Larger accounts move to Advantage, a custom annual contract that bundles implementation, integrations and a named success manager.
Switch from Fishbowl if a small maker wants shop-floor planning without a QuickBooks-first accounting model.
inFlow is a Canadian product whose home page leads with barcode generation and scanning, and a free 14-day trial needs no card. Assembly and kitting sit in a separate add-on called inFlow Manufacturing, so a business that mostly counts, picks and ships pays for the extra only when it starts building. The pages we read do not publish a starting price.
Switch from Fishbowl if stock handling by hand-held scanner matters more than routings and work orders.
ERPNext is free to run on your own server under GPL-3.0, and Frappe says no feature is held back. Frappe Cloud bills by site and server instead of by seat, from $5 a month for one site. Stock and Manufacturing are listed modules inside a wider ERP, so the effort goes into configuration and someone to own the install.
Switch from Fishbowl if you have a technical person and prefer a per-site bill to named-user pricing.
InvenTree is an open-source parts and stock system, with bill of materials views that show which sub-parts a new part needs and stock visible by part, location or build. Suppliers and supplier items attach to any part, and plugins extend it. The pages read show no plans or prices, and you run it yourself, which also means no QuickBooks link comes ready-made.
Switch from Fishbowl if you build electronics or hardware, want parts-centric records and can host it.
Unleashed lists Core at $399 a month and Pro at $729, with three and five users included and extra seats at $69 and $89. Bill of materials and assembly are in both plans, though the production module is optional on Core. Xero and QuickBooks Online connect, and a 14-day trial runs with every feature on. Its owner is the Access Group.
Switch from Fishbowl if you buy, assemble and resell, and want margin and landed cost beside light production.
Cin7 Core runs in three published tiers: Standard at $349 a month with 5 users, Pro at $599 with 10 users, and Advanced at $1,199 with 15. Material requirements planning arrives at Pro and advanced warehouse management at the top tier, and sale orders are capped per year. Omni is quoted for larger companies, and extra users, integrations and forecasting cost more.
Switch from Fishbowl if a manufacturer also sells wholesale and through several web channels, and MRP at Pro level is enough.
Zoho Inventory publishes a ladder from a free plan (50 orders, 1 user, 2 locations) through Standard at $29 up to Enterprise at $249 per organisation per month, with monthly order caps rising from 500 to 15,000. A 14-day trial precedes any paid plan, and composite items cover simple kits rather than routings.
Switch from Fishbowl if the job is mostly purchase and sales orders on a tight budget, with no real shop floor.
Finale, now owned by Descartes, sells Essentials from $499 a month for one or two warehouses and Growth from $799, with Enterprise quoted. The barcode warehouse module comes with Growth and Enterprise, QuickBooks Online is the supported ledger, and contracts typically run 12, 24 or 36 months. There is a demo request, no trial, and no manufacturing focus.
Switch from Fishbowl if you outgrew Fishbowl Inventory on the distribution side and want scanning and picking to lead.
Linnworks prices by order volume on a quote and concentrates on one job: keeping a single stock figure across marketplaces and web shops while routing orders. It does not describe production work, so a maker that ships through many channels would pair it with something else for the factory.
Switch from Fishbowl if your problem is overselling across channels, and building things comes second.
Brightpearl, sold as Brightpearl by Sage, bundles orders, inventory, purchasing and accounting as a single system for retailers, on a quote with a long implementation. The accounting sits inside the product, which removes the QuickBooks connection Fishbowl is built around but replaces your ledger as well.
Switch from Fishbowl if you would rather retire QuickBooks than keep two systems reconciled.
NetSuite Inventory is the Oracle mid-market ERP's stock module, quoted per module and per user, and usually brought in by a partner. Stock, purchasing and finance post to one ledger, so it fits a company already running NetSuite or heading there. As a swap for Fishbowl alone it is a bigger project than a monthly subscription.
Switch from Fishbowl if finance is already on NetSuite or a full ERP migration is planned anyway.
You make products in layers and want MRP without a custom quote
Cin7: MRP arrives on Pro at $599 a month with 10 users, and the Advanced tier at $1,199 adds warehouse management.
02
You want a free start for a small workshop
Katana: The free plan holds 30 SKUs with unlimited users, and a 15-day test lifts the SKU cap.
03
You need the stock system on your own server
ERPNext Stock: It is free to run under GPL-3.0, and Frappe Cloud offers sites from $5 a month if you would rather not host.
04
You buy and resell and want a trial before any sales call
Unleashed: A 14-day trial runs with all features, and Core at $399 a month lists BOM and assembly.
05
You run on a tight budget and mostly handle orders
Zoho Inventory: A free plan covers 50 orders and 1 user, and Standard is $29 a month for 500 orders.
04
When Fishbowl is still the right choice
Fishbowl remains sensible when the books are in QuickBooks and the factory needs more than a stock list. Its home page names QuickBooks Online, Desktop and Canada plus Xero, with shipments, receipts and adjustments posting automatically, and Shopify and Amazon sell from the same count. Advanced Manufacturing adds MRP, routing, lot genealogy and an open API, and it lists flexible deployment for firms wanting infrastructure control. If work orders and lot tracing already run well, the switch rarely pays back.
05
What moving off Fishbowl involves
01
Pin down which edition you really use
Note whether you are on Essentials, Growth, Scale, Advanced Warehouse or Advanced Manufacturing, and which features your team opens weekly: multilevel BOMs, MRP, lot tracing, EDI. A feature list from the old tool saves you from buying an equivalent you do not use.
02
Export items, BOMs and open orders
Ask for parts, vendors, customers, bills of materials, lot histories and open purchase and sales orders in a usable format, and keep QuickBooks or Xero history intact. Agree which system holds the audit trail for regulated lots after the switch.
03
Count stock once, then run both for a cycle
Take a full physical count at cut-over, load it into the new tool, and run one production cycle with the old system read-only. Compare costs posted to the ledger before the old contract ends.
06
Questions about replacing Fishbowl
6 answers
What is the best alternative to Fishbowl for a small manufacturer?
Katana ranks first in our list. It starts from production orders and materials, has a free plan for 30 SKUs with unlimited users, and offers a 15-day test with unlimited SKUs. inFlow and ERPNext Stock follow for scanner-led or self-hosted set-ups.
Which Fishbowl alternative has the cheapest entry point?
ERPNext is free to run yourself, and Frappe Cloud starts at $5 a month per site. Zoho Inventory has a free plan with 50 orders and 1 user.
Katana's free plan stops at 30 SKUs. Fishbowl's own cheapest published plan is Essentials at $229 a month.
Can I keep QuickBooks if I leave Fishbowl?
Yes with several. Unleashed lists QuickBooks Online and Xero, and Finale supports QuickBooks Online. Brightpearl instead carries its own accounting, which changes the ledger question. Check desktop-edition support first if you run QuickBooks Desktop, which Fishbowl's pages name explicitly.
Is there a Fishbowl alternative with a free trial?
Unleashed gives 14 days with every feature on, Zoho Inventory 14 days, and inFlow 14 days with no card. Katana's free plan has a 15-day unlimited-SKU test. Fishbowl and Finale both point you to a demo instead.
Which option handles MRP and multilevel production?
Cin7 Core adds MRP on its Pro tier at $599 a month. Fishbowl Advanced Manufacturing does the same with BOM sub-assemblies, and ERPNext lists a Manufacturing module. Unleashed and inFlow cover assembly and kitting rather than full planning.
What suits a company that sells on many marketplaces?
Linnworks is built around one stock figure across channels and is quoted by order volume. Cin7 lists channel integrations per tier, from 2 on Standard to 6 on Advanced. Fishbowl's Growth plan includes multichannel ecommerce for comparison.
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Sources
Checked 7 November 2026
Fishbowl pricing: Essentials $229, Growth $429, Scale $729 a month billed annually for 2, 5 and 10 users; Advanced Warehouse from $595; Advanced Manufacturing from $675; demo and quote buttons, no trial mentioned; features per plan.
Fishbowl home page: QuickBooks Online, Desktop, Canada and Xero; Shopify and Amazon; 50+ integrations; American Fork, Utah; demo offered.
Fishbowl manufacturing: Single-level BOMs in the cloud product, multilevel on Advanced Manufacturing, MRP, lot tracing, QuickBooks coverage, cloud-hosted.
Katana pricing: Free plan up to 30 SKUs with unlimited users, 15-day test with unlimited SKUs, Advantage custom annual contract.
inFlow home page: Barcoding, inFlow Manufacturing for assembly and kitting, free 14-day trial without a card, no price listed.
ERPNext pricing: Free self-hosting, GPL-3.0, Frappe Cloud sites from $5 a month billed by usage, Stock and Manufacturing modules.
InvenTree: Open-source inventory system, BOM management, stock by part or location, suppliers, plugins.
Unleashed pricing: Core $399 and Pro $729 a month, included users, extra user prices, BOM and assembly, Xero and QuickBooks Online, 14-day trial.
Cin7 pricing: Standard $349, Pro $599, Advanced $1,199 a month, users, integrations, order caps, MRP at Pro, Omni quoted.
Zoho Inventory pricing: Free plan, Standard $29 to Enterprise $249 per organisation per month, order caps, 14-day trial.
Finale pricing: Essentials from $499, Growth from $799, Enterprise custom, barcode module with Growth and Enterprise, QuickBooks Online, 12 to 36 month agreements, demo.
Linnworks: Multichannel order and stock management vendor.
Brightpearl: Orders, inventory, purchasing and accounting system sold by Sage.
NetSuite: Oracle ERP with inventory module, quoted.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Checked and edited by Sebastiaan Smits, last on 7 November 2026. The editorial process explains the method.
