MRPeasy
Katana Cloud InventoryMRPeasy vs Katana: Which Manufacturing MRP Wins in 2026?
Quick Verdict
Choose MRPeasy if...
Best for small job shops and make-to-order manufacturers (under ~10 users) who need real production scheduling and instant quoting, not just inventory tracking.
Choose Katana Cloud Inventory if...
Best for D2C brands and e-commerce-native manufacturers whose #1 problem is keeping Shopify inventory in sync, not scheduling a complex shop floor.
If you're a small manufacturer who has outgrown spreadsheets, two cloud MRP systems will inevitably land on your shortlist: MRPeasy and Katana. Both promise to replace the tangle of Google Sheets, QuickBooks, and Shopify tabs that most shops run on, and both are priced well below traditional manufacturing ERPs like NetSuite or SAP Business One. On the surface they look almost identical.
They are not. After testing both systems against real production workflows — multi-level BOMs, shop-floor reporting, e-commerce sync, and reorder automation — a clear split emerges. MRPeasy is a production-planning-first MRP that happens to do inventory well. Katana is an inventory-first MRP that happens to do production. Which one you should buy depends almost entirely on whether your bottleneck today is scheduling the shop floor or keeping stock synced with Shopify.
This guide is written for owner-operators and ops leaders at manufacturers doing roughly $500K to $20M in revenue — the sweet spot where a real manufacturing ERP becomes necessary but enterprise suites are overkill. We'll compare MRPeasy and Katana on production planning depth, inventory and warehouse features, integrations, pricing models (they're structured very differently), and real-world fit for job shops, D2C brands, and food & beverage producers. By the end you'll know which tool to start your free trial with — and what to stress-test during that trial. If you're still early in your search and want a wider field, browse our manufacturing software category for adjacent options.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | MRPeasy | Katana Cloud Inventory |
|---|---|---|
| Production Planning & Scheduling | ||
| Inventory Management | ||
| One-Click Cost Estimation | ||
| Procurement Management | ||
| Built-in Accounting | ||
| E-commerce Integrations | ||
| Quality Control & Compliance | ||
| Shop Floor Reporting | ||
| Real-Time Inventory Management | ||
| Bill of Materials (BOM) | ||
| Shop Floor App | ||
| Omnichannel Order Management | ||
| Batch & Lot Tracking | ||
| Purchase Order Management | ||
| Integrations & API Access |
Pricing Comparison
| Pricing | MRPeasy | Katana Cloud Inventory |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | ||
| Starting Price | $49/user/month | $299/month |
| Total Plans | 4 | 4 |
MRPeasy- Production planning & BOM management
- Drag-and-drop rescheduling
- Lot traceability & WMS
- CRM & basic accounting
- QuickBooks, Xero, Shopify integrations
- Everything in Starter
- B2B customer portal
- Custom fields & quality control
- Serial numbers & subcontracting
- Tiered pricing support
- Everything in Professional
- Approval system & barcode scanning
- Maintenance management
- Multiple production sites
- RMA, packing & 2FA
- Everything in Enterprise
- API & webhooks access
- No module-based pricing
- Minimum 2 users
- No contracts or hidden fees
Katana Cloud Inventory- Up to 30 SKUs
- Unlimited users
- 3 inventory locations
- Core order & inventory management
- Unlimited integrations
- API access
- Unlimited SKUs
- Unlimited users
- 1 location included (add more at extra cost)
- Real-time inventory planner
- Barcode scanning
- Multicurrency support
- Kits & bundles
- Price lists & PDF printouts
- User permissions
- 24/7 customer support
- Production planning & scheduling
- Bill of materials (multilevel)
- Manufacturing orders
- Shop floor control
- Manufacturing cost tracking
- Picking & packing workflows
- Warehouse barcode scanning
- Location-level stock management
- Warehouse-specific reporting
Detailed Review
MRPeasy is a production-planning-first cloud MRP built specifically for small manufacturers with 10–200 employees. Where most affordable MRPs start from inventory and bolt on production, MRPeasy was designed from day one around multi-level BOMs, routings, and finite-capacity scheduling — the features that let a job shop actually plan its week.
In a head-to-head with Katana, MRPeasy's standout moment is quoting. From a BOM, you click once and get a cost estimate and a lead-time estimate based on your current shop load. That single feature is worth the switch for make-to-order businesses that currently guess their quotes. Add in drag-and-drop production scheduling, a Gantt-style visual calendar, and a clean shop-floor app for workers to report progress from a tablet, and you have a proper production system — not just inventory-with-work-orders.
The trade-off is the pricing model: MRPeasy charges per user starting at $49/month, which is the cheapest option for shops under ~5 users but gets expensive fast. If you have 20 people touching the system, Katana's flat tier pricing will beat MRPeasy by a wide margin. MRPeasy is also less visual and less Shopify-centric than Katana — the UX is capable but utilitarian.
Pros
- One-click cost and lead-time estimation from BOMs — a killer feature for quoting make-to-order jobs
- Finite-capacity scheduling with drag-and-drop Gantt view actually plans the shop floor, not just tracks it
- 30-day full-feature free trial with no credit card is the most generous in this category
- Per-user pricing is the cheapest option for teams of 1–5 users
- Native shop-floor reporting app for tablets lets operators report progress without laptop access
Cons
- Per-user pricing scales badly — 20+ user teams pay substantially more than on Katana
- No free plan — after the 30-day trial you're committed to a paid tier
- UI is functional but feels more utilitarian than Katana's modern e-commerce-friendly design
Katana takes the opposite approach: it's an inventory-first MRP with manufacturing features layered on top, and that DNA shows in every workflow. Its live inventory engine syncs with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce in near real time, which makes it the natural fit for D2C brands where a stockout on the storefront matters more than the perfect production schedule.
Against MRPeasy, Katana wins on three dimensions: e-commerce workflow fit, pricing at scale (flat monthly tiers instead of per-user), and UX polish. The interface feels like a modern SaaS product — clean, visual, and approachable for a founder who has never run an MRP before. Its free plan (3 locations, 30 SKUs) is genuinely useful for very small operations that just need a structured inventory system.
Where Katana falls short against MRPeasy is production depth. Manufacturing operations — the feature that lets you define sequenced production steps — is gated behind the $299/month Standard plan, and even there, capacity-aware scheduling is thinner than MRPeasy's. Katana is excellent at answering "what's in stock and what's on order." It's less strong at answering "can we realistically ship this job by Friday given current shop load." For Shopify-native brands, that trade-off is acceptable; for job shops, it isn't.
Pros
- Free plan genuinely usable for micro-manufacturers (3 locations, 30 SKUs)
- Flat monthly pricing scales far better than MRPeasy for teams of 10+ users
- Best-in-class Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce sync — inventory stays accurate without manual reconciliation
- Batch and lot tracking included from the Essential plan, well-suited for food, beverage, and cosmetics
- Modern, visual UI that non-technical founders can onboard into in a day
Cons
- Manufacturing operations locked behind the $299/month Standard plan — Essential is inventory-only
- Finite-capacity scheduling is thinner than MRPeasy; not ideal for complex job-shop planning
- Multi-level BOMs can be finicky to configure initially compared to MRPeasy's BOM editor
Our Conclusion
Here's the short version: choose MRPeasy if your bottleneck is the shop floor, choose Katana if your bottleneck is inventory sync with e-commerce.
Choose MRPeasy if:
- You run a make-to-order or job shop operation where production scheduling, routings, and capacity planning are critical
- You need one-click cost and lead-time estimation on quotes
- Your team is under ~10 users (per-user pricing favors small teams)
- You want a 30-day free trial with every feature unlocked to really test it
Choose Katana if:
- You're a D2C brand running Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce and live-inventory accuracy is your #1 problem
- Your team is 15+ users (flat monthly pricing scales better than per-user)
- You want to start on a free plan and grow into paid tiers
- Batch and lot tracking for food, beverage, or cosmetics compliance is a must-have
Our overall pick for a typical small manufacturer with mixed make-to-order and stocked products: MRPeasy, because its production-planning depth is hard to replicate and its per-user pricing is honest at the scale most shops start at. But for e-commerce-native brands where production is simpler than order volume, Katana wins on pure workflow fit.
Your next step: start both free trials in parallel for one week. Import your top 5 BOMs into each, connect your Shopify or accounting sandbox, and run a full quote-to-ship cycle. Whichever one causes less friction on day three is your answer. For deeper background on what to evaluate, read our guide to the best manufacturing software for small businesses and our take on inventory management tools. Pricing on both platforms has trended up over the last two years — lock in annual billing if you can, and watch Katana's per-tier feature gating, which has shifted features into higher plans twice since 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MRPeasy cheaper than Katana?
For teams under 4 users, yes — MRPeasy's Starter plan at $49/user/month totals under Katana's $179/month Essential tier. Once you hit 4+ users, Katana's flat pricing becomes more economical. At 10 users, MRPeasy runs ~$490/month vs Katana's $299 Standard plan.
Which is better for Shopify stores: MRPeasy or Katana?
Katana has the edge for Shopify-first businesses. Its inventory sync is near real-time and built as a core workflow, whereas MRPeasy's Shopify integration, while functional, is positioned as one of many connectors rather than the centerpiece.
Does Katana or MRPeasy handle multi-level BOMs better?
Both support multi-level BOMs, but MRPeasy goes deeper — including routings, operation times, and capacity-aware scheduling across BOM levels. Katana supports subassemblies and cost rollup but doesn't schedule operations against finite capacity the way MRPeasy does.
Can I migrate from QuickBooks to MRPeasy or Katana?
Both integrate natively with QuickBooks Online and Xero, syncing invoices, bills, and inventory valuations. You don't replace QuickBooks — you keep it for accounting and let MRPeasy or Katana handle operations. Both offer CSV import for existing items, BOMs, and customers.
Which tool is better for food and beverage manufacturers?
Katana is generally the stronger pick for F&B thanks to its batch and lot tracking being available from the Essential plan, plus strong expiration-date workflows. MRPeasy also supports lot traceability but tends to require more configuration for FIFO-by-expiration logic.
Do either offer a free plan?
Only Katana offers a permanent free plan (3 locations, 30 SKUs, basic inventory only — no manufacturing operations). MRPeasy offers a 30-day free trial with full feature access but no free tier after that.