# Katana alternative

> Katana is very good at the thing it does. The question is what happens at the edges of it.

**URL:** https://cubeerp.co.uk/alternatives/katana

**Vendor:** Katana Technologies | **Category:** Inventory and MRP tools | **Last reviewed:** 2026-08-06

## What Katana actually is

Katana is cloud inventory and manufacturing software aimed at small product businesses, particularly those selling through Shopify, WooCommerce and similar channels. It has a free tier limited by SKU count, a Core plan starting from a published monthly rate with unlimited users and unlimited SKUs, and a custom Advantage tier. Notably, several capabilities that a manufacturer would consider core - manufacturing management, batch and serial traceability, and warehouse management - are priced as separate monthly add-ons on top of the plan. Onboarding is a paid package on the free tier and included on Core. The interface is well designed and the time to first value is short.

## What Katana does well

- Unlimited users on every paid plan, which is unusual and valuable if you have a lot of shop-floor people.
- A clean, modern interface that people actually adopt without much resistance - not a small thing in manufacturing.
- Strong native e-commerce integrations, particularly Shopify, and a documented API on all tiers including free.
- Fast to stand up. A small maker can be running properly in days rather than months.

## Side by side

| Dimension | Katana | CubeERP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scope | Inventory and MRP, plus add-on modules | Quote to cash across 14 modules, all included |
| Users | Unlimited on all paid plans | Per named user - better for small teams, worse for very large ones |
| Traceability and WMS | Priced add-ons | In the base product |
| Multi-site | One inventory location included; more affect price | Multi-site and multi-warehouse as standard |
| Implementation | Remote onboarding programme, roughly six weeks | On-site discovery, configuration, migration, training and go-live |
| Field service and quoting | Not the product’s focus | Included modules |

## Worth checking before you sign

- **Add-ons are where manufacturing lives:** Manufacturing management, traceability and warehouse management are each priced monthly on top of the plan. A manufacturer needing all three should compare on the total, not the headline plan rate.
- **Inventory locations beyond the first:** Katana’s Core and Advantage plans include one inventory location, with additional locations affecting the price. Multi-site operations should model this before comparing.
- **It is not an ERP:** Katana does not set out to be one. There is no purchase approval hierarchy, no field service, no quoting workflow of the kind a bespoke engineering business needs, and no ledger. For many businesses that is a feature; for some it becomes the ceiling.
- **Support is remote by design:** The model is onboarding programmes and remote support rather than somebody walking your shop floor. That keeps the price down and works well for straightforward operations.

## When Katana is the better choice

If you are a small maker or D2C brand selling mostly through Shopify, with one location, straightforward assemblies and a team that is comfortable self-serving, Katana is very likely better value and quicker to live than we are. Unlimited users alone can make it the right economic answer. We would rather tell you that than sell you an implementation you did not need.

## What leaving Katana involves

- **The trigger is usually a second site or a real audit:** Businesses move on when they open a second location, take on a customer with a serious traceability requirement, or start quoting bespoke work. Those three are the signals that matter. Growth alone is not one.
- **Data comes out through the API:** Katana’s API is available on all tiers, so extracting products, bills of materials, stock and order history is straightforward and does not require an upgrade to get your own data out.
- **Keep the e-commerce integrations:** Shopify, WooCommerce and the accounts sync all have direct equivalents in CubeERP, included rather than added, so the channel side of the operation is re-pointed rather than rebuilt.

## Frequently asked questions

**Katana has unlimited users. Is CubeERP not more expensive?**

For a business with many light users, quite possibly - and we will say so. Our per-named-user model suits teams where a defined group works in the system daily. Where fifty people each touch it occasionally, unlimited-user pricing is hard to beat and you should take it seriously.

**When do people outgrow Katana?**

Most commonly at a second physical location, at the point a customer or auditor demands full batch traceability with the paperwork to match, or when the business starts quoting engineered-to-order work rather than making stock items.

**Do we lose the Shopify integration?**

No. Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento integrations are part of the CubeERP base product with no per-connector licence, so the channel setup carries across.

**Is CubeERP as easy to use?**

Katana is a smaller product and that makes it simpler - we would not claim to beat it on immediate simplicity. What we offer instead is that the complexity you do have is configured for you on site rather than left for you to work out.

**Could we run both?**

It is possible through the API but rarely sensible. Two systems holding stock is the exact problem both products exist to solve. Pick one.

## Related comparisons

- **Unleashed alternative** - https://cubeerp.co.uk/alternatives/unleashed
- **MRPeasy alternative** - https://cubeerp.co.uk/alternatives/mrpeasy
- **Cin7 alternative** - https://cubeerp.co.uk/alternatives/cin7

> Katana is a trade mark of Katana Technologies. Cube Systems Limited is not affiliated with, endorsed by or a partner of Katana Technologies. This comparison is based on information published by the vendor and was last reviewed on 2026-08-06. Verify current details with the vendor before making any decision.

## Contact

- **Product:** CubeERP
- **Trading name of:** Cube Systems Limited (company number 17220899, ICO registration number ZC216972)
- **Email:** hello@cubeerp.co.uk
- **Sales:** sales@cubeerp.co.uk
- **Support:** support@cubeerp.co.uk
- **Telephone:** 01234 672 617 (+441234672617)
- **Address:** Unit 11, Olney Business Park, Osier Way, Olney, Buckinghamshire, MK46 5FP
- **Opening hours:** Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm
- **Part of:** Crushed Ice Group (https://crushedicegroup.co.uk)