5 Katana Alternatives: Easy Inventory Management Solutions
Updated June 7, 2023.
Our team tests eCommerce apps and publishes alternative app recommendations that are unbiased and not influenced by payments we receive from some of the app developers.
The US inventory management software market passed $3 billion in 2022, and is expected to have a 5% CAGR between 2023 and 2032. And it's no mystery why: effective e-commerce inventory management can have several benefits. This includes effective product restock planning, more accurate forecasting, and improved customer experience—just to name a few.
Natively, Shopify has a few shortcomings when it comes to inventory management, like not being in-depth, many manual processes, and a lack of analytics and insights. Katana is one app that helps e-commerce store owners to address some of those shortcomings. It can help you track raw materials, finished goods, and order fulfillment, cost accurately, and conduct floor-level management. But Katana isn't for everyone. If you feel you're in this boat, we've put together 5 alternatives for you to weigh out.
Our Top Picks for the Best Katana Alternatives
- Out-of-Stock Police – Best Alternative Overall
- Push Down & Hide Out of Stock – Best for Beginners
- Wipeout Hide out of stock – Best Free Alternative
- Thrive by Shopventory – Best for Data-Rich Reporting
- Orderhive Inventory Management – Best for Automation
1. Best Alternative Overall
KeepShoppers Score: 9.9
Ease of Use: 9.9
Features: 9.8
Price: 9.9
Struggling to prevent losses from out-of-stock products? Out-of-Stock Police, one of Egnition’s product management apps, is the ideal tool for this purpose. You can either push low-stock items to the bottom of your collections or hide them altogether, ensuring your customers can only view your available products. Plus, you can set custom stock thresholds for timely restocking. Finally, you have the flexibility to edit your theme and display relevant products, cross-sell items, and even offer coupons to visitors who land on your out-of-stock product pages.
Pricing Plans
- Bronze: Free to install for up to 49 products
- Silver: $4.99/month for up to 499 products
- Gold: $9.99/month for up to 4,999 products
- Platinum: $14.99/month for up to 9,999 products
- Rhodium: $19.99/month for 10,000+ products
- Palladium: $26.99/month for 25,000+ products
- 7-day free trial
Why We Liked It
We rate Out-of-Stock Police as the best Katana alternative overall due to its simplicity, process automation, and highly affordable plans. With an intuitive interface, it's incredibly easy to use. These functionalities make Out-of-Stock Police a top choice for both small and large businesses.
Pros
- Free plan
- Affordable plans
- Automated processes
- Boosts SEO
- Low-stock alerts
- Doesn't impact store speed
Cons
- Cheaper plans can be limiting
» Find more details in our full Out-of-Stock Police review
2. Best for Beginners
KeepShoppers Score: 9.8
Ease of Use: 9.8
Features: 9.7
Price: 9.8
Push Down & Hide Out of Stock helps you manage sold-out products effectively. When an item goes out of stock, the app moves it to the bottom of your collection. And, when it gets replenished, the app puts it back in its original position based on its sorting type.
You can sort in-stock products based on elements like price, bestsellers, new-old, and more. Plus, you can redirect pages of hidden products to preserve the SEO ranking of sold-out items.
Pricing Plans
- Free: Free to install for up to 50 products
- Basic: $4.99/month for up to 500 products
- Professional: $8.99/month for up to 10,000 products
- Enterprise: $17.99/month for up to 100,000 products
- 3-day free trial
Why We Liked It
Push Down & Hide Out of Stock is the best Katana alternative for beginners. With its quick setup, clean user interface, easy configuration, and automated processes, the app ensures a smooth experience. Businesses can use it to effortlessly manage sold-out products, thanks to the robust set of features that simplify inventory management tasks.
Pros
- Free plan
- Hide and redirect sold-out products
- Sort in stock items using filters
- Track inventory changes in real time
Cons
- May not unhide products automatically
» Explore more of the best Shopify apps for managing out of stock inventory
3. Best Free Alternative
KeepShoppers Score: 9.8
Ease of Use: 9.9
Features: 9.6
Price: 9.9
Wipeout scans your online store once a day and hides any sold-out products, so they won’t be visible to customers navigating your online store or collection pages. But when sold-out products come back in stock, Wipeout will automatically re-publish them to your online store.
You can also bulk-exclude products to save time and reverse any products you chose to hide or publish if you’re unhappy with the results within 24 hours.
Pricing Plans
- Manual option: Free to use for up to 3,000 products
- Automatic option: $9/month for up to 100,000 products
Why We Liked It
Wipeout earns the title of the best free Katana alternative because, unlike other inventory management tools, Wipeout's free plan includes daily store scanning, hiding of sold-out products, automatic publishing upon restocking, and bulk exclusion. Additionally, Wipeout's paid plan stands out for its affordability, making it a cost-effective choice compared to other similar options.
Pros
- Free plan
- Schedule automatic hide & publish
- Bulk-exclude items
- Reverse within 24 hours
Cons
- No automation on free plan
» Discover whether free Shopify inventory management apps are actually worth it
4. Best for Data-Rich Reporting
KeepShoppers Score: 9.6
Ease of Use: 9.5
Features: 9.8
Price: 9.0
Thrive by Shopventory is a centralized inventory management and reporting solution specifically designed to support merchants selling via multiple channels or locations. With just a few clicks, you can connect your brick-and-mortar locations with your online store and see all your business data in one place.
Plus, Thrive lets you automate purchase orders to restock products. On its higher tier plans, the app offers scan-to-create functions and intelligent stock forecasting to take your business to the next level.
Pricing Plans
- Standard: $99/month for up to 3,000 transactions
- Professional: $249/month for up to 10,000 transactions
- Elite: $499/month for up to 25,000 transactions
- Enterprise: $999/month for up to 75,000 transactions
- 30-day free trial
Why We Liked It
If you were looking for a Katana alternative that offers data-rich insights, Thrive has got you covered. We were impressed to learn that it offers four types of detailed reports: sales reports, inventory reports, multi-channel & location reports, and custom reports. All of these reports give you the information you need to make smarter, more profitable business decisions.
Pros
- Multi-location inventory management
- Reporting by sales channel or location
- Automated purchase orders
- Scan to count, transfer, and reorder
- Shopify POS integration
Cons
- Learning curve
- No free plan
- Expensive for small businesses
» Need even more info? Try one of the best Shopify analytics apps for actionable insights
5. Best for Automation
KeepShoppers Score: 9.6
Ease of Use: 9.4
Features: 9.8
Price: 9.0
Multi-channel inventory management doesn’t have to be difficult. Orderhive lets you integrate, execute, and manage orders for multiple online stores. You’ll get automatic stock level updates when a new order arrives, while the app also pushes updated order status, shipping information, and returns on your behalf. Plus, you can connect Orderhive to 300+ shipping providers to keep tabs on your orders.
Pricing Plans
- Essentials: $125/month with many inventory management features
- Pro: $225/month with all types of automations
- Pro Plus: $325/month with premium integrations
- Enterprise: $500/month with access to marketplaces and services
- 15-day free trial
Why We Liked It
Orderhive is a superior Katana alternative for multi-channel inventory management. We rated it best for automation due to its powerful trigger-based automation system. Apart from providing automatic stock level updates, order status, and shipping information, Orderhive also syncs returns—all in an effort to help you streamline your inventory management.
Pros
- Multi-store inventory and shipping management
- Automatic stock-level updates
- 300+ integrations
- Excellent onboarding and customer service
Cons
- Learning curve
- Pricey for small businesses
» Weigh up the best Shopify apps for multi-store inventory management
Why Should You Consider a Katana Alternative?
There can be multiple reasons why you're looking for alternatives to Katana. As a small business with a tight budget, Katana may be too expensive or you need more advanced reporting capabilities for better decision-making. Perhaps you just find Katana's system too slow or experienced some glitches you're not willing to deal with. So, when choosing apps for your store, it’s worth exploring alternative solutions that offer smoother and more efficient inventory management.
Making the Final Cut: Which Katana Alternative Is Right for You?
When it comes to choosing an alternative, it's important to consider your own unique circumstances: your business needs, goals, operations, and budget. For example, if you're just starting out, you might benefit most from Push Down & Hide Out of Stock, or if you need data-rich reporting, you might opt for Thrive by Shopventory. If you're still on the fence, we strongly recommend Out-of-Stock Police because of its multitude of useful features, strong usability, and overall great value for your money.
KeepShoppers Methodology
When we evaluated these alternative apps, we used a certain set of parameters. These included:
- Ease of Use: How intuitive is the user interface (UI)? How easy is the setup? How high-quality and timely is customer support?
- Features: What's the range of features and the extent of the features' usefulness in managing inventory?
- Integrations: How many integrations are there? What's the extent of the integrations' benefits?
- Pricing: What's the value for money compared to Katana? Are there free plans, features, and add-ons available? Is the monthly fee worth it?
- Customer Reviews: How do stores in different countries and different sectors rate the app?
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there cheaper alternatives to Katana?
Yes, there are several more affordable inventory management apps than Katana. For example, Wipeout and Out-of-Stock Police still offer great benefits without the same price tag.
How difficult is it to move from Katana to an alternative app?
The process will vary based on several factors, but overall, it's not too difficult. If you're looking to make the jump, don't be too intimidated. Just remember the key considerations: data migration, configurations, customizations, integrations, and testing.
Will I get a refund if I cancel my Katana subscription?
According to Katana's website, users won't be refunded for canceling their annual subscription. This means that if you'd like to change apps, you may want to plan for the end of your subscription period unless your switch is urgent or the benefit outweighs the cost.