What Katana MRP is built for
Katana is a cloud manufacturing resource planning platform aimed squarely at production-heavy businesses: production scheduling, shop-floor terminals, routing, and multi-level bill of materials management sit alongside its inventory tracking. It is a strong fit for manufacturers who genuinely need that production-planning depth from day one.
That depth comes with cost and setup complexity: Katana's pricing scales with sales orders and shop-floor operators, commonly reaching several hundred to $500-1,000+ per month as a business grows, and production configuration takes longer to set up than a straightforward inventory rollout. Teams whose real bottleneck is stock visibility, receiving accuracy, and reorder timing—rather than production scheduling—often pay for more system than they use.
Feature comparison
| Category | StockFlow | Katana MRP |
|---|---|---|
| Entry pricing | Free Starter plan, paid from $19/month | Usage-based, often $500-1,000+/month at scale |
| Core strength | Inventory accuracy, purchasing, transfers, barcode workflows | MRP depth: production scheduling, shop-floor control, routing |
| BOM support | BOM for light manufacturing and assemblies | Multi-level BOM built for complex production |
| Best fit | Inventory-led small manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors | Manufacturing-intensive operations needing full production planning |
| Setup time | Minutes to hours, self-serve | Longer, due to production and routing configuration |
Choose StockFlow if
- Your bottleneck is inventory accuracy, receiving, and reorder timing, not production scheduling
- You need BOM support for light manufacturing or assembly, not full shop-floor control
- You want to start free and scale cost gradually as you grow
Choose Katana MRP if
- You run manufacturing-intensive operations needing production scheduling and routing
- Shop-floor terminals and detailed production tracking are core requirements
- You have the budget for usage-based pricing that scales with orders and operators
Who is each best for?
Choose Katana when your operation is manufacturing-intensive and production planning depth justifies the added cost and setup complexity. Choose StockFlow when inventory accuracy, purchasing, and light-assembly BOM support are the real problem, and you would rather start free than configure a full MRP system for workflows you do not run.
More on Katana: 7 best free Katana MRP alternatives. Related comparisons: inFlow alternative and OpenBOM alternative. BOM hub: free bill of materials software.
Trusted by small businesses
What our customers say
“Super Kind! Quick replies from their support and very easy fixes, changed the dashboard a bit and customized it. Also gave me 450 items extra on the free plan just for me. Highly recommend and again great service!”
“Best customer service! Stockflow's customer support is fast and extremely helpful. They assisted me with customization of the software to improve my experience as a user.”