Best inventory management software for small business (2026)
Seven inventory tools for small shops, workshops and stockrooms compared on what they do well, what to watch and what they cost, with prices taken from each vendor’s own pricing page in November 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Already sell in person? Start with your POS. Square and Shopify both include inventory tracking. Their paid tiers add counts, purchase orders and inventory reporting, so check those before buying a separate tool.
- Sortly is the simplest dedicated app. It is priced by unique items and users, has a free plan for 100 items, and documents barcode and QR scanning, offline mobile access and low-stock alerts.
- Order-heavy businesses should look at Zoho Inventory or inFlow. Both are built around sales and purchase orders. inFlow’s plans start at $99 a month billed annually; Zoho has a free plan and paid plans from $29 a month billed annually.
- Odoo is the most complete and the most to learn. Its One App Free plan includes one app, such as Inventory, for unlimited users; the full suite is priced per user.
- Build your own when your rules don’t fit. With Floot you describe your workflow in plain English and get your own web app. You get exactly your process; you also own testing and changes.
Quick-Start Prioritization Framework
| Rank | Tool | Best for | Starting price (vendor’s page) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Square for Retail | Shops already selling in person | Free; Plus $49/mo per location |
| 2 | Sortly | Simple item tracking with scanning | Free (100 items); Advanced $49/mo monthly |
| 3 | Shopify POS | Shops selling online and in store | Basic $39/mo; POS Pro $89/mo per location |
| 4 | Zoho Inventory | Multichannel order management | Free; Standard $29/mo billed annually |
| 5 | inFlow Inventory | Busy stockrooms and B2B ordering | Lite $99/mo billed annually ($129 monthly) |
| 6 | Odoo Inventory | Businesses that want a full ERP later | One App Free; Standard per user |
| 7 | Floot | Unusual workflows you want to own | Free to start; Pro $25/mo |
There is no single best inventory tool for a small business. A shop that already takes payments through a point-of-sale system needs something different from a workshop tracking materials or a stockroom that never sells to the public. This list ranks seven options by how well they fit a typical small shop, explains who each one suits, and quotes prices from each vendor’s own pricing page as of 11 November 2026. Floot, which publishes this site, is included as the build-your-own option and ranked where we think it honestly belongs.
1. Square for Retail
Best for: shops that take card payments in person and want inventory in the same system as their till.
What it does well
Square’s retail pricing page lists inventory tracking and low-stock alerts on the Free plan. Plus adds inventory history, an inventory counting tool for full or cycle counts, vendor and purchase order management, barcode label printing, bulk inventory intake by scanning, and aging and sell-through reports. Premium adds importing purchase orders and printing barcode labels from them.
Because sales go through the same system, stock levels update as you sell, and the reports draw on real sales without any export or import.
What to watch
The counting tool, inventory history and purchase orders are not on the Free plan, so most shops that take inventory seriously will end up on Plus. Paid plans are priced per location, so a second shop doubles the subscription. It is built for businesses that sell through Square; if you don’t, much of its value goes unused.
Price
Free: $0 a month per location. Plus: $49 a month per location. Premium: $149 a month per location. Card processing fees are separate and vary by plan; Square offers custom pricing above $250,000 a year in processing.
2. Sortly
Best for: shops, workshops and stockrooms that want a simple, visual, mobile-first app to track items, supplies and equipment.
What it does well
Sortly’s pricing page lists in-app barcode and QR code scanning from a smartphone, support for third-party scanners, offline mobile access, low-stock and date-based alerts, item photos, custom folders and tags, stock counts, pick lists, check-in and check-out, and inventory import from a spreadsheet. Plans are limited by unique items and user licences rather than by orders, and the quantity of each item doesn’t count towards the limit.
What to watch
Features step up by plan: unlimited barcode label creation and purchase orders appear from Ultra, customizable role permissions and QuickBooks Online integration from Premium, and API and webhooks on Enterprise. Item limits run from 100 (Free) to 5,000 (Premium). Sortly isn’t a point-of-sale system, so retail shops still need a separate till.
Price
Free: $0 for 100 unique items and 1 user. Advanced: $49 a month billed monthly (500 items, 2 users). Ultra: $149 a month (2,000 items, 5 users). Premium: $299 a month (5,000 items, 8 users). Enterprise: quote. When we checked, yearly plans were 50% off for the first year for new customers (for example Advanced at $288 for the first year), with 20% off yearly plans after that. Paid plans have a 14-day trial that needs a card.
3. Shopify POS
Best for: shops that sell online and in person and want one product catalogue and one stock count across both.
What it does well
Shopify’s pricing page lists 10 inventory locations on its Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, so one catalogue and one set of stock levels can cover your online store and your shop. The POS Pro add-on lists inventory counts, low-stock alerts, purchase orders, faster stock transfers, in-depth inventory reporting and staff roles and permissions.
What to watch
Most of the in-store inventory tools are in POS Pro, which is an add-on per location on top of the Shopify plan. If you only sell in person, you are paying for an online store platform you may not need.
Price
Basic: $39 a month billed monthly or $29 a month billed yearly. Grow: $105 monthly or $79 yearly. Advanced: $399 monthly or $299 yearly. POS Pro: $89 a month per location, which Shopify’s FAQ says is billed yearly. Basic, Grow and Advanced each list 10 inventory locations.
4. Zoho Inventory
Best for: small businesses whose day revolves around orders, especially across marketplaces and an online store.
What it does well
Zoho’s pricing page lists composite items (kits), dropshipping and backorders from the Free plan up. Premium adds barcode generation, stock counting, profit margin, serial and batch tracking, a vendor portal and unit-of-measure conversion. The page lists integrations with Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce, Zoho Books, Xero, QuickBooks Online and major shipping carriers.
What to watch
Plans are limited by orders per month, users and locations: the Free plan covers 50 orders a month, 1 user and 1 location. Stock counting and barcode generation appear from Premium. The pricing page doesn’t say which plan includes each integration, so check before you rely on one.
Price
Free: $0 (50 orders a month, 1 user, 1 location). Standard: $29 a month billed annually (500 orders, 3 users, 2 locations). Premium: $79 (3,000 orders, 5 users, 4 locations). Plus: $129. Enterprise: $249. Add-ons include extra users at $7.50. There is a 14-day trial.
5. inFlow Inventory
Best for: busier stockrooms, wholesalers and B2B sellers that need purchasing, reordering and scanning in one place.
What it does well
inFlow’s pricing page says all its Inventory plans include barcode scanning, label printing, mobile apps for iPhone and Android, and recommended reorder points. It also sells a separate Stockroom plan for scan-in, scan-out stock control without reordering, costing or sales, and Manufacturing plans.
What to watch
It is priced well above the others here. The entry Lite plan includes 2 team members and 1 location, extra team members cost $29 a month each, and inFlow lists a one-time $499 onboarding package as required on most plans (free with a promotional code until 30 November 2026 when we checked). Serial numbers, lot numbers and the API are paid add-ons on some plans.
Price
Lite: $99 a month billed annually or $129 monthly. Core: $299 annually or $379 monthly. Pro: $499 or $629. Max: $699 or $879. Stockroom: $69 a month billed annually or $89 monthly. 14-day trial, no card required.
6. Odoo Inventory
Best for: businesses that want inventory now and expect to add accounting, purchasing, manufacturing or a POS in the same system later.
What it does well
Odoo is a suite of business apps sharing one database. Its One App Free plan lets you use one app, Inventory included, for unlimited users at no cost, with any apps it depends on also free. The Standard plan adds every app for one per-user price, including sales, accounting, inventory and POS.
What to watch
It is the most powerful option here and the one with the most to learn. Odoo’s own pricing page notes that companies with more than 50 employees usually work with a partner, and implementation services are not included in the plans. Once you add a second app you move to per-user pricing for everyone.
Price
One App Free: $0, unlimited users. Standard: from US$24.90 per user a month billed yearly during a first-year discount (US$31.10 after), or US$31.10 billed monthly (US$38.90 after the discount). Custom: from US$49.00 per user a month billed yearly in the first year.
7. Floot (build your own)
Best for: shops and workshops whose process doesn’t fit an off-the-shelf model, such as kits, consignment stock, materials turned into finished goods, or several locations with their own rules.
What it does well
Floot is an AI app builder. You describe your shop in plain English, in Floot’s editor or from ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, and it builds a full-stack web app with its own Postgres database, sign-up and login for your staff with roles, file storage, email, and scheduled jobs such as a daily low-stock email. You can upload your current spreadsheet as a CSV and ask the AI to import it. Floot can also build native iOS and Android apps and submit them to the stores.
The data model is yours, so the app can store stock movements with your reasons, your reorder rules and your reports rather than a vendor’s.
What to watch
You are the product manager. Each change you ask for should be checked in the live preview before you rely on it. Barcode scanning and offline use are not built in; you can ask the AI to build scanning, and you should test it on the phones your staff actually use. Floot doesn’t provide a POS or accounting integration out of the box. If one of the tools above already fits your process, it will be less work.
Price
Free to start: $0 with 100 building actions a day and a one-time $3 hosting allowance. Pro: $25 a month with 1,000 actions a day, $10 of hosting each month, 5,000 AI credits and custom domains. Power: $100 a month. Publishing is free on every plan, hosting is metered by usage, and there is no per-user charge for the staff who use your app. You can connect from the Claude connector directory, the ChatGPT app directory or the Cursor Marketplace.
How to choose
Most small businesses can narrow the list to two in five minutes by answering three questions.
| Square for Retail | Sortly | Shopify POS | Zoho Inventory | inFlow | Odoo | Floot | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes, 100 items | No | Yes, 50 orders/mo | No (trial) | Yes, one app | Free to start |
| Pricing basis | Per location | Items and users | Plan + per location | Orders, users, locations | Plan + users | Per user | Plan + metered hosting |
| Includes a till | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | With POS app | No |
| Phone scanning documented | Bulk intake by scanning | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Not stated here | Build and test it yourself |
| Fits unusual workflows | Within its model | Within its model | Within its model | Within its model | Within its model | Customisable (Custom plan, Studio) | Yes, you describe it |
Where do you sell?
If you take payments in person, start by checking what your POS includes. Square and Shopify both cover the basics, and keeping sales and stock in one system avoids double entry.
What do you track?
Products for sale point to a POS or an order-based tool. Supplies, tools and equipment used by a team point to Sortly or inFlow’s Stockroom plan. Materials turned into products point to inFlow Manufacturing, Odoo or a custom app.
How unusual is your process?
If you can describe your process in the vendor’s terms, use the vendor. If you keep a spreadsheet alongside the tool because the tool can’t represent something important, that is the signal to look at Odoo’s customisation or at building your own.
Common mistakes when choosing inventory software
These are the errors that lead to switching tools a year later.
- Choosing on the monthly price alone. Compare a year’s cost at your real item count, users and locations, including onboarding fees and add-ons.
- Ignoring how the plan is limited. Items, orders, users and locations each hit differently as you grow.
- Buying a separate inventory app when your POS already covers what you need.
- Skipping the trial with your own data. Import a real export and run a week of deliveries and sales.
- Assuming a feature is on your plan because it appears on the features page. Check the plan comparison.
- Not checking how to get your data out before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best inventory management software for a small business?
It depends on how you sell. Square for Retail suits shops already selling in person, Sortly suits simple item tracking with phone scanning, Shopify POS suits online-plus-store sellers, and Zoho Inventory or inFlow suit order-heavy businesses.
Is there free inventory software for small business?
Yes. Square has a Free plan with inventory tracking and low-stock alerts, Sortly’s free plan covers 100 items and 1 user, Zoho Inventory’s free plan covers 50 orders a month, and Odoo’s One App Free plan can be its Inventory app.
Can I use my POS for inventory instead of separate software?
Often, yes. Square and Shopify both track inventory, and their paid tiers add counts, purchase orders and inventory reports. A separate tool makes sense when you track things you don’t sell or need features your POS doesn’t document.
Which inventory app is best for barcode scanning?
Sortly and inFlow both document scanning with a phone, and inFlow says all its Inventory plans include barcode scanning and label printing. Square’s Plus plan lists bulk intake by scanning and barcode label printing.
When does building my own inventory app make sense?
When your process doesn’t fit the off-the-shelf tools, for example kits, consignment, made-to-order goods or rules a vendor can’t represent, and you are willing to test changes yourself. Floot is free to start, and Pro is $25 a month with no per-user charge for your staff.
How much should a small shop pay for inventory software?
Many start at $0 on a free plan. Paid plans on this list range from $24.90 per user a month (Odoo Standard, first-year yearly price) and $25 a month (Floot Pro) to $99 a month billed annually (inFlow Lite), before add-ons. Compare a full year at your real size.
Sources
- Square, Square for Retail pricing and features, 2026 https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/retail/pricing
- Sortly, Pricing and plan comparison, 2026 https://www.sortly.com/pricing/
- Shopify, POS pricing, 2026 https://www.shopify.com/pos/pricing
- Zoho, Zoho Inventory pricing, 2026 https://www.zoho.com/us/inventory/pricing/
- inFlow, Pricing, 2026 https://www.inflowinventory.com/software-pricing-inflow
- Odoo, Pricing, 2026 https://www.odoo.com/pricing
- Floot, Pricing, 2026 https://floot.com/en/pricing
- Shopify, Pricing, 2026 https://www.shopify.com/pricing