Katana alternatives
Last reviewed
Katana is free up to 30 SKUs, and above that Advantage is priced by quote on a yearly contract. In reviews, users most often report sharp price rises tied to order volume, features sold as add-ons and trouble cancelling.
Is Katana right for you?
Katana is good at what it was built for. Small makers praise its bills of materials, its materials tracking and how quickly a team learns it. If you run a workshop where operators log each step on a shop-floor app, Katana is designed around that.
If most of your products are made by factories and suppliers, you sell on Shopify and Amazon, and your order count is growing, the price is where Katana users say it stops working. Here is what they report.
Katana and Kerno, side by side
| What Katana users report | Kerno | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to 30 SKUs, then a quote. “they blindsided us with a 4x price increase to our yearly subscription” | Free during early access, then a founding price you keep for as long as you stay |
| Growing | “Frankly, the model feels punitive, not proportional.” Plans tied to order count | Free during early access. When paid plans start, you get 30 days’ notice and a founding price you keep for as long as you stay |
| Features | “a lot are behind expensive add-ons and pricing can change all of a sudden substantially” | Every feature included during early access. Nothing switches to paid on its own |
| Getting started | “It took us several months to onboard Katana. The system is glitchy.” | Runs alongside what you use now. Connect Shopify and Amazon, or import a CSV, and see your own numbers straight away |
| Your stock on day one | “Every time I install they jumble up all of my inventory” | Kerno reads your stock and changes nothing until you say so |
| Forecasting | “Planning and forecasting”, with the method not documented | Built in. Every purchase order is drafted from the forecast, with the reason behind each quantity. Confirm it, or autosend |
| Amazon | Listed, with no detail on what syncs. The free plan connects to Shopify only | Shopify and Amazon from the start, including stock at Amazon’s warehouses |
| Components and builds | Bills of materials and subassemblies, the part reviewers praise most | Each component tracked as its supplier ships it. See what you can build today, then run the build with its full cost booked |
| Support | “Our latest email explaining these issues and asking for a senior review has gone unanswered.” | We read every request ourselves |
| Leaving | “continued charging us for several months after I had canceled my subscription” | No card, no contract. Export everything as CSV whenever you like |
Quotes are from Katana’s reviews on the Shopify App Store and Trustpilot, 2024 to 2026.
What Katana users like, and where Kerno stands
- Bills of materials for small makers. “Specially the BOM is spot on!” Kerno tracks each component from its supplier’s shipment to the build, so you know what you can make today and what each unit cost.
- Easy to learn. “Honestly, took the entire team VERY little time to learn the process.” Kerno is built for small teams too, and sets itself up from your history.
- Shopify across several stores. “Seamlessly integrated into our 2 Shopify stores with data being synced instantly.” Kerno adds Amazon to the same live stock count.
- Helpful onboarding staff. Several reviewers name their onboarding manager. With Kerno you talk to the people who build it.
Most of Katana’s praise is from 2019 to 2023. All three 2026 reviews we read are one star.
What Katana users report
From the reviews we read, by how often each comes up:
- Price rises and plan jumps. About 20. “Katana was great until they increased the price by 60% and took away features at the same time.”
- Cancelling and billing. About 6. “Overcharged us and agree they owe us 8K yet refuse to refund!”
- Features sold as add-ons. About 5. Lot numbers, bin locations, ingredient reports and API access.
- Bugs and slow onboarding. About 4. “Katana is overpriced, glitchy, and lacking features.”
- Stock changed on install. About 3. “I installed this app and in a matter of minutes the app changed and modified all my inventory”
Ratings: Katana is rated 4.0 from 134 reviews on the Shopify App Store, 4.7 from 72 on the Xero App Store and 2.0 from 13 on Trustpilot. Capterra lists it at about 4.6.
Other options
These are the names that come up most when people search for a Katana alternative.
| Tool | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| MRPeasy | Small manufacturers that schedule production in-house | $49–$149 a user a month |
| Fishbowl | Makers and distributors on QuickBooks who can staff an implementation | $229–$729 a month, billed yearly |
| Cin7 | Brands that want inventory, sales and assembly in one system and can run an implementation | Core $349–$1,199 a month; Omni by quote |
| Odoo | Firms with a partner or technical owner that want one system for everything | $22.80–$36 a user a month, plus setup |
| Kerno | Shopify and Amazon brands that want one record from factory order to invoice, without a switch-over project | Free during early access |
See the whole flow, or ask for early access.
Sources, checked 2 November 2026: Katana pricing, Katana features, Katana integrations, Katana on the Shopify App Store and its reviews, Katana on Trustpilot, Katana on the Xero App Store, Katana on Capterra, and the pricing pages of MRPeasy, Fishbowl and Odoo.
See it in Kerno Forecast.
What you see once your store is connected, with example data. It opens on the view for this topic; click through the other tabs. More about Kerno Forecast
Overview
Every product across Shopify, Amazon and your warehouses, as of 5 Dec. Recalculated each morning.
- Buy list$9,421What the suggested orders cost, at each supplier’s price.
- Products to order this week4Products whose order-by date is in the next 7 days.
- In-stock rate91%Share of selling days each product was in stock, weighted by its sales. Last 90 days.
- Sales lost to stockouts$24,800Sold-out days × in-stock daily sales × price. An estimate. Last 90 days.
- Stock on order$10,310Open purchase orders not yet received, at cost.
- Overstock$5,240Cost of stock with more than 180 days of cover, or unsold for 90 days.
- Forecast accuracy87.0%1 − (units forecast wrong ÷ units sold), per product, last 3 months.
- Days of cover51 days(On hand + on order) ÷ in-stock daily sales. Median across products.
- Stock turns5.2×Cost of goods sold in the last 12 months ÷ average stock at cost.
- Supplier delay10 daysAverage days the last 3 orders arrived after the supplier’s quoted date.
Needs you today
Order 840 insulated bottles today.Ningbo has taken 38 days, not 25. Ordering later than today means a sell-out around 9 Jan, in the January sale.
Order cold brew jars and black mugs by 8 Dec.One Jingdezhen order for both, so the mugs ride in the same shipment.
3 purchase orders are late.The 200 bottles and 400 mugs are already counted, at their new dates. Chase the 200 straw packs Ningbo didn’t ship.
Black mugs at Amazon drop under 28 days this week.Send 90 from New Jersey before Amazon starts its low-inventory fee.
Gift boxes are covered for the peak.650 arrive from Leeds on 9 Dec, before the last week of Christmas orders.
Buy list
What to order, how many and by when. The order-by date allows for each supplier’s real lead time plus 7 days of safety stock.
| Product | Sold a day | On hand | On order | Days of cover | Lead time | Order | Order by | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulated bottle, 750 mlNingbo Steelware, $6.40 each | 30 | 1,100 | 200 | 43 | 38 days | 840$5,376 | Today | Out of stock 27 of the last 90 days; the December peak is inside the cover window. |
| Spare bottle lidNingbo Steelware, $0.90 each | 9 | 420 | – | 47 | 38 days | 350$315 | 6 Dec | 5 of its 9 a day sell inside two bundles. Rounded up past the 300 minimum. |
| Steel straw packNingbo Steelware, $1.20 each | 6 | 380 | 200 | 97 | 38 days | 500$600 | 25 Jan | Not due until 25 Jan. Added to this Ningbo order so it ships in the same run. |
| Cold brew jarJingdezhen Ceramics, $5.50 each | 8 | 410 | – | 51 | 41 days | 420$2,310 | 8 Dec | Sales up 4% a month since June. The last 3 orders took 41 days, not 25. |
| Travel mug, blackJingdezhen Ceramics, $4.10 each | 19 | 580 | 400 | 52 | 41 days | 200$820 | 8 Dec | 400 already on order, so only 200 more. Goes on the same order as the jars. |
| Gift box setLeeds Print & Pack, $11.00 each | 25 | 300 | 650 | 38 | 21 days | – | Covered | 650 arrive 9 Dec and cover the rest of the peak. Sales fall to 6 a day in January. |
| Buy list | $9,421 | |||||||
Sold a day leaves out the days a product was sold out, and counts every bundle sale on each product inside it. Quantities round up to the supplier’s minimum and the bottle’s case of 24. Change any quantity and the purchase order follows.
Forecast
One model per product, picked by which would have forecast its last 12 months best. Every forecast shows its range, and you can change any month.
Insulated bottle, 750 ml, units a month
Solid: sold last year. Red: units it would have sold in September and October if it hadn’t sold out, which the forecast counts as demand. Dashed: the forecast, with the shaded range it expects to land in 9 months out of 10.
Every product’s forecast
| Product | Model | Next 30 days | Next 90 days | Accuracy | Your changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulated bottle, 750 ml | Seasonal, peaks in December | 1,380 | 3,140 | 88.0% | +180 in January for your planned sale, added by you |
| Gift box set | Seasonal, peaks in November and December | 620 | 900 | 81.0% | – |
| Travel mug, black | Steady | 570 | 1,710 | 91.0% | – |
| Cold brew jar | Growing, up 4% a month | 250 | 790 | 84.0% | – |
| Spare bottle lid | Follows the bottle and its two bundles | 270 | 830 | 89.0% | – |
| Steel straw pack | Steady | 180 | 540 | 90.0% | – |
| Insulated bottle, 1 l | New, borrows the 750 ml bottle’s pattern | 0 | 640 | New | Launches 20 Jan, set by you |
Accuracy compares the last 3 months’ forecast with what sold. Your changes stay on the forecast, labelled, until you remove them.
Purchase orders
Every purchase order from draft to received. Expected dates use each supplier’s real lead time, not the date they quoted.
| Order | Status | Lines | Value | Supplier said | Expected | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PO-124Ningbo Steelware | Draft | 840 bottles, 350 lids, 500 straw packs | $6,291 | – | 12 Jan | Approve and send today. |
| PO-125Jingdezhen Ceramics | Draft | 420 cold brew jars, 200 black mugs | $3,130 | – | 18 Jan | Approve by 8 Dec. |
| PO-123Leeds Print & Pack, sent 18 Nov | Confirmed | 650 gift box sets | $7,150 | 9 Dec | 9 Dec | On time. |
| PO-122Jingdezhen Ceramics, sent 30 Oct | Confirmed, late | 400 black mugs | $1,640 | 24 Nov | 10 Dec | 16 days late. Ask for a ship date. |
| PO-121Ningbo Steelware, sent 2 Nov | In transit, late | 200 bottles | $1,280 | 27 Nov | 10 Dec | At the port. The bottle’s buy list already counts it. |
| PO-119Ningbo Steelware, sent 20 Oct | Partly received, late | 200 of 500 straw packs still to come | $240 | 14 Nov | Not shipped | Short by 200. Chase them, or close the rest of the order. |
Drafts are ready to check and send as a PDF or email, in the supplier’s currency. Receive in part or in full; a short delivery stays open until you close it.
Suppliers
| Supplier | Quoted lead time | Real, last 3 orders | On time | Minimum order | Currency and terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ningbo Steelware | 25 days | 38 days | 1 of 3 | 300 per product | USD. 30% with the order, the rest before it ships |
| Jingdezhen Ceramics | 25 days | 41 days | 0 of 3 | 200 per product | CNY. 50% with the order, the rest before it ships |
| Leeds Print & Pack | 21 days | 21 days | 3 of 3 | 250 per product | GBP. 30 days after delivery |
The buy list plans with the real lead time. When a supplier speeds up, the next three orders bring the figure back down.
Locations
Stock and days of cover at each place you sell from. Each location is forecast from the orders it ships.
| Product | Own warehouse, New Jersey | ShipMonk, Las Vegas | Amazon FBA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insulated bottle, 750 ml | 52040 days at 13 a day | 18026 days at 7 a day | 40040 days at 10 a day |
| Travel mug, black | 38048 days at 8 a day | 408 days at 5 a day | 16027 days at 6 a day |
| Cold brew jar | 30060 days at 5 a day | 11037 days at 3 a day | 0Not stocked |
Suggested transfers
| Product | Move | From | To | Freight | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel mug, black | 120 | Own warehouse, New Jersey | ShipMonk, Las Vegas | $46 | Las Vegas runs out in 8 days; New Jersey has 47. After the move both have about 32 days. |
| Insulated bottle, 750 ml | 70 | Own warehouse, New Jersey | ShipMonk, Las Vegas | $38 | Evens both sites to about 35 days, so west coast orders don’t ship from New Jersey at twice the postage. |
Approve a transfer and Kerno writes the transfer order, or the inbound shipment for ShipMonk. A transfer is suggested only when it costs less than ordering more.
Amazon FBA
Amazon FBA, from Amazon’s inventory, restock, inventory-planning and storage-capacity reports. Amazon’s own restock suggestion sits beside Kerno’s.
- Ready to ship674Units Amazon can sell now.
- Reserved96In customer orders, moving between warehouses, or being checked.
- To send this week90Units Kerno suggests sending from your own stock.
- Storage used182 of 300Cubic feet against your limit for standard-size items.
- Aged surcharge$168Amazon’s estimate for next month, on stock over 180 days old.
Send 90 black travel mugs to Amazon this week.Send 90 from New Jersey this week. Under 28 days, Amazon adds a low-inventory fee to every unit.
210 sage travel mugs are 271–365 days old.Amazon estimates a $168 surcharge next month. A removal order at about $0.97 a unit costs less, or run a coupon first.
Stock at Amazon
| Product | Ready to ship | Reserved | Unsellable | Amazon suggests | Kerno: send now | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulated bottle, 750 mlB0C7K2M4QX | 340 | 6035 in orders, 20 moving | 4 | 280 | – | Covered to 14 Jan. Kerno plans the next send for 20 Dec, from the 12 Jan order. |
| Travel mug, blackB0C9TRVM6K | 130 | 3022 in orders, 8 moving | 2 | 180 | 90 | Send 90 from New Jersey this week. Under 28 days, Amazon adds a low-inventory fee to every unit. |
| Travel mug, sageB0C9TRVS2P | 204 | 62 in orders, 0 moving | – | – | – | Remove 150 or run a coupon before the aged surcharge rises in January. |
Amazon’s suggestion assumes you can send any amount at any time. Kerno’s counts what is in your own warehouse, what is on order from the supplier, and the next send date.
Units by age at Amazon
| Product | 0–90 days | 91–180 | 181–270 | 271–365 | Over 365 | Surcharge, next month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulated bottle, 750 ml | 400 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Travel mug, black | 150 | 10 | – | – | – | – |
| Travel mug, sage | – | – | – | 210 | – | $168 |
After this week’s send, storage use is 191 of 300 cubic feet. Inbound shipments are planned to avoid Amazon’s placement fee where splitting the shipment costs less than the fee.
Bundles
Bundles are built from stock of their parts, so Kerno forecasts each part from every listing it sells in.
| Bundle | Made from | Sold a day | Can build now | Limited by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottle and two spare lids | 1 × insulated bottle, 750 ml, 2 × spare bottle lid | 2 | 210 | Spare bottle lid |
| Starter set | 1 × insulated bottle, 750 ml, 1 × steel straw pack, 1 × spare bottle lid | 1 | 380 | Steel straw pack |
Where each part’s demand comes from
| Part | Sold on its own | In bottle and two spare lids | In starter set | Total a day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulated bottle, 750 ml | 27 | 2 | 1 | 30 |
| Spare bottle lid | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| Steel straw pack | 5 | – | 1 | 6 |
A spreadsheet that only counts lids sold on their own sees 4 a day and orders less than half of what you need.
Overstock
Stock with more than 180 days of cover, or nothing sold in 90 days. $5,240 at cost, kept off the buy list until it sells down.
| Product | Units | At cost | Sold a day | Days of cover | Last sold | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel mug, sage$4.10 each | 640 | $2,624 | 0.4 | 1,600 | 21 Nov | Bundle it with the black mug, or mark it down 30%. It is off the buy list. |
| Bottle carry strap$1.10 each | 1,200 | $1,320 | 2 | 600 | 4 Dec | Add one free to bottle orders over $60 until it is under 180 days. |
| Cold brew jar, 2 l$7.20 each | 180 | $1,296 | – | No sales | 3 Aug | Ask the supplier about a return, or clear it at cost. |
The sage mug includes 210 units at Amazon, where it also costs an aged surcharge. See the Amazon FBA tab.
Budget
Your buying plan by month: stock arriving, what you pay and when (deposits included), against the budget you set.
| Month | Forecast sales | Stock arriving, at cost | Paid to suppliers | Budget | Left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December | $142,000 | $10,070 | $9,540 | $15,000 | $5,460 |
| January | $96,000 | $9,421 | $6,600 | $12,000 | $5,400 |
| February | $88,000 | $14,800 | $11,200 | $12,000 | $800 |
| March | $99,000 | $18,900 | $16,400 | $12,000 | −$4,400 |
| April | $103,000 | $12,300 | $10,900 | $12,000 | $1,100 |
| May | $108,000 | $11,700 | $11,000 | $12,000 | $1,000 |
March is $4,400 over budget.Spring stock for the 1 l bottle launch lands then. Move its second order to April, or raise March’s budget; the forecast shows what each choice does to stock.
Plan to a sales target
Set a target and Kerno shows the stock it takes. To reach $650,000 from December to May, 8% over the forecast, you’d buy about $8,400 more, mostly bottles and gift boxes, and pay $2,600 of it in March.
Kerno compared, from factory order to invoice.
| Stage | Kerno | Brightpearl | Cin7 | Finale Inventory | Katana |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Runs alongside what you use now, and sets itself up from your history | Scoped before you sign; customers “go live in 90-120 days, on average” | Group, one-to-one or partner-led onboarding; fee and time not published | “Go live in 2–6 weeks”; standard onboarding included | Implementation on Advantage, no separate fee; “up and running in a matter of weeks” |
| Purchase orders | Drafted from the forecast, in the factory’s currency. Confirm it, or autosend | Suggested purchase orders through Inventory Planner | From reorder suggestions with the ForesightAI add-on; foreign currencies converted | Recommended reorder quantities turned into purchase orders | From safety stock or the plan screen, in the supplier’s currency |
| Production and shipments | Production status on every PO; packing list and commercial invoice in one click | Not documented | Stock in transit for invoiced POs not yet received; production tracking not documented | Several shipments per PO; production tracking not documented | Outsourced POs track materials sent and expected dates |
| Landed cost | Freight and duties on the shipment, added to each product’s cost from the bills | Freight and import duty in each product’s landed cost | Extra PO costs spread into landed cost | PO fees spread by quantity, weight, value or volume | Extra PO costs split by value or quantity |
| Receiving | Counted in against the PO at any warehouse; shorts and damage flagged on the spot | Not documented | Partial receipts; the shortfall stays on backorder | Partial receipts, the rest backordered; scanner receiving is an add-on | Partial receipts; the rest stays expected |
| Builds and kits | See what you can build today; each build booked at its full cost | Bundles, kits and assemblies; bills of materials through a partner app | Bills of materials and assembly on every plan; MRP on Core Pro and up | Kits, bundles and bills of materials; builds use up components | Kits, bills of materials, subassemblies and a shop floor app |
| Orders and stock | Shopify, Amazon and wholesale in one list; stock held for each order as it arrives | Shopify and Amazon; orders allocated across channels and warehouses | Shopify and Amazon; Core allocates stock when the order comes in | Shopify and Amazon, including FBA; several warehouses | Shopify and Amazon FBA and FBM; stock reserved by order priority |
| Shipping | Labels, packing lists and customs invoices; tracking to the customer and channel | Courier labels from the order; ShipStation also connects | Through ShipStation and other shipping apps | Labels through a free ShipRush account; ShipStation also connects | Through ShipStation, Shippo and others |
| Accounting | Invoices, cost of goods and supplier bills sync to QuickBooks Online or Xero | Its own built-in accounts, or Xero, QuickBooks Online or Sage Intacct | Xero or QuickBooks Online, including cost of goods | QuickBooks Online: invoices, bills and cost of goods | QuickBooks Online and Xero: invoices from sales, bills from POs |
| Contract | No card, no contract. Export everything as CSV whenever you like | Not documented | Core monthly or yearly, renews automatically, 30 days’ notice to leave | Most sign 12, 24 or 36 months; renews automatically, 30 days’ notice | Advantage is a yearly contract that renews automatically; 30 days’ notice |
| Price | Free during early access, then a founding price you keep | By quote; unlimited users included | Core $349–$1,199 a month; Omni by quote | From $499 a month; Enterprise by quote | Free to 30 SKUs; Advantage by quote |
Kerno Forecast compared with the main alternatives.
| Feature | Kerno Forecast | Inventory Planner | Netstock | Prediko | Katana |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forecast model | One per product, picked by which forecast its last 12 months best | Choose a model per product, adjustable | Picks from about 10 statistical methods for each product | AI-assisted; model not named | “Planning and forecasting”; method not documented |
| Sold-out days | Left out of demand, and the lost sales estimated | Not documented | Optional uplift for months with a stockout, set from 0 to 100% | Not documented | Not documented |
| Lead times | From each supplier’s last 3 deliveries, not the quote | Not documented | Measured from 3 or more past receipts, otherwise set by hand | Not documented | Used for purchase orders and reorder points |
| Why each quantity | A plain reason on every line | Forecast calculation visible | Shows the policy and constraints behind each order quantity | Reviews call it a “black box” | Not documented |
| Bundles and kits | Each part forecast from every bundle it sells in | Not documented | Component demand from bills of materials | Bundles across locations; BOM add-on $20 | Bills of materials and subassemblies |
| Purchase orders | Drafts by supplier, rounded to minimums and cases | Yes, with minimum-order scaling | Recommended orders, rounded to minimums and multiples, sent to your ERP | Unlimited | From stock needs, lead times and reorder points |
| Transfers between locations | Suggested only when cheaper than ordering more | Yes | Distribution plans and excess redistribution, as transfers in your ERP | Yes | Several locations; transfers not documented |
| Amazon FBA | Restock beside Amazon’s own, aged stock and storage limits, during early access | Amazon connection | No Amazon or Shopify connection; works through your ERP | Amazon connection | Amazon listed; sync not described |
| Buying budget | By month, with deposits paid when they’re due, during early access | By month or retail week | Not documented | Revenue-target planning | Not documented |
| Overstock | Cost, days of cover and a next step | Last sold, units and cost | Excess and obsolete stock flagged against your stock policy | Not documented | Not documented |
| Price | Free during early access, then a founding price you keep | Quote only | From $900 a month, billed yearly | From $49 a month | Free to 30 SKUs; Advantage by quote, on a yearly contract |
From each vendor’s website, pricing page and Shopify App Store listing, checked October and November 2026. “Not documented” means their pages don’t describe it.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Katana cost?
Katana's pricing page shows two plans. Free covers up to 30 SKUs, with Shopify as the only sales channel. Advantage has no published price, is scoped on a sales call and runs on one yearly contract. Katana's Shopify App Store listing still shows a Core plan from $299 a month, and reviewers report paying over $1,000 a month with add-ons.
Why do people leave Katana?
In the reviews we read, mostly price. Reviewers report rises of 60%, four times and five times, often tied to order count rather than revenue, along with lot tracking, bin locations and API access sold as add-ons, and billing that continued after cancelling.
What do Katana users like?
Bills of materials and materials tracking for small makers, an interface the team learns quickly, Shopify sync across several stores, and helpful onboarding staff.
Does Katana work with Amazon?
Amazon is listed on Katana's integrations page, but the page doesn't describe what syncs. Its free plan connects only to Shopify. Kerno connects Shopify and Amazon from the start, including stock at Amazon's warehouses.
How is Kerno different from Katana?
Kerno is built around buying: every purchase order is drafted from the forecast, with the reason behind each quantity, and followed through production, shipping and your warehouses. It tracks components as suppliers ship them, shows what you can build today and books each build at its full cost. There is no card and no contract, and when paid plans start you keep a founding price for as long as you stay.