10 Alternatives to Zoho Inventory for Small and Medium-Sized Companies

Recently, we have seen a welcome surge in alternatives to Zoho Inventory, giving small and medium-sized companies flexibility in how they manage their stock.

With specialized features, better integrations, and more accessible price points, these inventory management alternatives have all found their own niche, which is a massive bonus for those on the market for a new solution.

The only problem is working out which of these Zoho Inventory competitors are most likely to help you.

That’s why we’ve compiled a list of alternatives to Zoho Inventory — to provide you with a clear account of each product’s pros and cons. By understanding what each platform offers, you can make a more informed decision to improve your inventory management, boost your efficiency, and ultimately grow your business.

1. Bitrix24 — Leading inventory management software backed by an all-in-one business platform

Bitrix24 combines the best inventory software and a full suite of tools for an all-in-one solution for small and medium-sized companies. The inventory management tool works side-by-side with our comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) system for seamless monitoring and analysis, which you can also access and manage from a mobile app.

The solution includes a barcode scanner that facilitates searching for and adding items to inventory documents. In constant communication with records from all of your locations and warehouses, stock levels automatically update across the company, making it easy to scale up operations without rethinking your inventory management software.

Fully customizable, Bitrix24 allows you to sync your inventory with your e-commerce shop front and adjust costing based on whether you need to shift stock quickly or not. All of your data is gathered in a gross profit report to monitor progress and make adjustments in real time. As everything is in one place, it’s easy to switch from your inventory to your Sales Intelligence to help accelerate sales or predict high demand in the future.

With separate tabs for inventory, orders, write-offs, analytics, and more, Bitrix24 gathers a vast array of data from all elements of your management system, showing you what works and what doesn’t. Current stock, stock reserved, and available stock all give you an accurate, real-time picture of your inventory. This data-driven system means you have enough information to track your stock, minimize losses, avoid mistakes, and continuously improve your workflows in the future.

2. NetSuite Inventory Management — The premium option with a vast range of customizations

Of all the inventory management alternatives on this list, NetSuite may be the best-known solution, and its reputation is well deserved. Although it is primarily aimed at companies looking to scale up their operations, it is still a more-than-viable option for SMEs.

NetSuite has endless customizations to tweak your warehouse management software and fit your company’s needs perfectly. As well as multi-location inventory tracking, automatic reorder points, and reporting and analytics, you can combine it with other NetSuite apps, such as their ERP, CRM, and e-commerce platforms.

Such versatility and so many features can be a burden for some smaller companies. Users sometimes feel trapped in their subscriptions with far too many tools at their disposal, which leads to more confusion than productivity. This, along with the cost, is a common barrier preventing SMEs from choosing NetSuite as a complete alternative to Zoho Inventory.

3. Odoo —An open-source ERP solution for growing businesses

Against a trend of alternatives to Zoho Inventory championing excellent customer service, Odoo is open source. Consequently, it has received online criticism for its supportbut its relatively low cost per user per month still makes it accessible for small and medium-sized companies on a budget.

Odoo’s inventory management software displays activities such as delivery orders, receptions, drop shipping, back orders, and late items on one centralized dashboard. Barcode scanners help you keep track of your inventory and display accurate stock numbers on your e-commerce. Odoo also integrates with most big-name shipping carriers to deliver your products to their destination with as little risk as possible.

In addition to inventory solutions, Odoo provides sales and marketing tools, e-signature capabilities, website builder, CRM, HR, and more. By bringing all of these together, you can manage your supply chain while also running social, email, SMS, and event marketing to boost your sales.

Automations between all of your apps — and especially among your stock management tools —allow you to focus your team’s attention away from time-consuming administration, and instead get them to work on the more human side of their job.

4. Cin7 — Inventory control with seamless POS integration

Cin7 is a cloud-based inventory management tool designed to cover the entire lifecycle of your inventory operations. It gives you the power to track stock levels, manage orders, and monitor product movement from one handy dashboard.

Cin7 integrates its warehouse management software with point-of-sale (POS) systems, cutting down on the amount of moving parts in your workflows. A real-time connection between sales and inventory means you can always display accurate stock levels to your customers. Similarly, Cin7 links up to all major e-commerce and accounting channels, so each app continuously communicates with your central database.

Slightly worrying for data-focused managers is that many users find the reporting module overly difficult, as they don’t automatically generate any data. This requires cumbersome workarounds that aren’t necessary with other alternatives to Zoho Inventory. On the flipside, Cin7’s onboarding process helps users get the most out of their inventory tracking software.

In terms of costs, Cin7 is on the pricier side, which is an important point, considering it isn’t as well-known as some of the other inventory system alternatives on this list.

5. Unleashed — Robust stock control aimed at SMEs

Unleashed provides comprehensive stock management tools on one super-simple dashboard that even non-experts can understand. It shows your inventory across a variety of locationsand implements different minimum levels depending on the product.

As you’d expect from one of the best inventory software solutions, you can track inventory in real time to avoid product backups or stock shortages. The fully integrated system digitizes stocktaking and automates reordering when levels are low, allowing you to concentrate on tasks that require more focused attention. For even better planning, Unleashed will look at your past history, forecast demand for upcoming busy periods, and adjust your stock accordingly.

In addition to a whole host of integrations with the top accounting and e-commerce platforms, Unleashed comes with natively integrated features such as CRM, Kanban project management, and sales intelligence. This helps SMEs from all industries to increase the data they can rely on and make more informed decisions moving forward.

6. Veeqo — Unified inventory and shipping management

Veeqo offers a set of popular small business inventory tools to streamline the fulfillment process. Multichannel orders sync your work across all of your points of sale to give you trust in your stock numbers. The returns function allows you to take stock back and issue full or partial refunds that you can then search by customer name, order numbers, or dates.

Automations take things one step further by filtering orders into batches to move quickly and efficiently through the warehouse. Then, Veeqo automatically adds tags to certain items to make picking faster and more accurate. Printing shipping labels, generating packing slips, and updating inventory levels all save you a good chunk of time and improve fulfillment speed.

On the downside, although Veeqo integrates with some leading e-commerce platforms, users say there is a lack of support around lesser-known options. Compared with other alternatives to Zoho Inventory, this is just one of many customer support issues, including long wait times and less-than-perfect help.

7. InFlow Inventory — A user-friendly platform with customizable showrooms

InFlow Inventory combines centralized inventory tools with supplementary features, including barcode support, order management, and reporting tools. Smart automations give you notifications when stock is running low, and forecast how much inventory you will need.

Users find the showroom element to be exceedingly useful when you don’t have a brick-and-mortar store. InFlow Inventory is among the more personalized alternatives to Zoho Inventory as you can tailor showrooms to specific audiences and send email invites for a more exclusive feel.

Although people have praised the customer support and training sessions that Inflow Inventory provides, they have found difficulty using the mobile version. Without the extensive displays you get on a desktop, it can be tricky to find the movement history of a product when you’re on the go.

8. Lightspeed Retail — Inventory management with hardware options

Lightspeed’s Retail suite is made up of a huge array of apps all under one umbrella. It takes a bit of getting used to, but users agree that the learning curve is relatively fast and customer service is always there to fill in any gaps.

LightSpeed offers a lot of hardware to go alongside its inventory tracking software, such as card readers, scanners, tills, and receipt printers. This gives you start-to-finish small business inventory tools from one supplier. Beyond the sale, Lightspeed Retail has advanced analytics and inventory reports to help you capitalize on sales opportunities, adjust pricing to improve your revenue, and reassess stock in accordance with demand.

With that said, Lightspeed Retail is among the most expensive alternatives to Zoho Inventory out there —even the entry-level tier. On top of that, extra features such as marketing integrations and CRM systems push the price up further, making it one of the most expensive Zoho Inventory competitors.

9. ZapInventory — Well-priced inventory software for teams on a budget

ZapInventory stands out from other alternatives to Zoom Inventory for its affordability and scalability. For a relatively low price, small and medium-sized companies can get a full range of inventory tracking, order management, and reporting. Like other inventory system alternatives, it comes with multi-location visibility, giving you real-time figures across your business and avoiding under or overstocking.

ZapInventory has an in-built CRM that communicates effectively with customers and keeps your warehouse in order. This includes invoicing functions and displaying sales trends, meaning there are very few parts of the sale you can’t control.

However, one app it doesn’t provide is an e-commerce platform. Unfortunately, many users have found issues in the way ZapInventory integrates with the leading e-commerce systems, which can lead to syncing issues and inaccurate inventory data. Similarly, the mobile app lacks the functionality of the desktop version — not ideal for workers who are frequently away from their desks.

10. Fishbowl Inventory — Inventory management with POS, CRM, and shipping

Fishbowl Inventory is explicitly designed for small to medium-sized enterprises and has similar features to other alternatives to Zoom Inventory. Chief among these are barcode printing and scanning, multi-location visibility, lot number and serial number tracking, and automatic reorder points. These inventory solutions help you be more precise in your operations and more efficient in your stock management.

On a more practical level, Fishbowl Inventory supports material requirements planning (MRP), job shop floor control, work order management, and multilevel bills of materials. All of these elements come with unlimited custom fields to apply your preferred pricing rules and units of measurement. For more flexibility and to help scale up your operations, you can integrate Fishbowl Inventory with its proprietary POS, CRM, and ShipExpress, or with industry-leading alternatives.

Although a Fishbowl Inventory package offers many features, its pricing structure isn't very appealing to most users. They don’t reveal the cost of either Fishbowl Drive or Fishbowl Advanced, and the complex implementation process is an added extra. Customers have expressed frustration at having to purchase individual packages to access certain features, such as a report layout that includes pictures for sales orders.

Bitrix24: The best all-rounder among our alternatives to Zoho Inventory

Nobody here is saying that Zoho Inventory doesn’t deserve its reputation. But with so many alternatives out there, leaders need to go beyond simply the name when choosing the software they use.

Bitrix24 allows you to manage inventory, collaborate with your team, and maintain strong customer relationships all from one user-friendly interface. Its inventory management features include real-time tracking, automated stock updates, and low-stock alerts to ensure that you never run out of essential products. Bitrix24 also supports barcode scanning and integrates seamlessly with your e-commerce to streamline your sales process. The affordability, scalability, and extensive feature list set it apart from the rest of the products on this list.

So if you’re looking for an all-in-one platform that is good for your budget and your revenue, sign up for Bitrix24 today.

FAQs

What are the best alternatives to Zoho Inventory?

The best alternatives to Zoho Inventory are:

• Bitrix24

• NetSuite

• Odoo

• Cin7

• Unleashed

• Veeqo

• InFlow Inventory

• Lightspeed Retail

• ZapInventory

• Fishbowl Inventory

Small and medium-sized businesses can rest assured that each of these is a reliable tool, although each has its own area of specialty.

How does Bitrix24 compare to other inventory management tools?

Bitrix24 offers many of the features found in top inventory management tools, such as stock management, inventory data collection and analytics, and barcode scanning. However, Bitrix24 distinguishes itself by providing additional capabilities, including a website builder to create and manage your e-commerce platform, a CRM for tracking customer behavior and managing deals, and sales intelligence analytics to help you capitalize on opportunities. These comprehensive features make Bitrix24 a versatile solution for businesses looking to integrate inventory management with customer relationship management and online sales.

What features should I look for in inventory management software?

Key features to look for in inventory management software include:

• Real-time inventory tracking

• Multi-channel sales integration

• Order management automation

• Detailed reporting

• Scalability

• Integration with other e-commerce-related platforms