Stockroom vs Katana for purchasing
Katana is manufacturing software with purchasing inside it: bills of materials, production scheduling and a shop-floor app, from $299 a month plus add-ons. If you make what you sell in volume, that is what you are paying for. If you buy goods for a Shopify store, Stockroom does the purchasing side free, inside your Shopify admin, and writes incoming and received stock straight to Shopify.
What it costs
Katana’s price rises with locations, delivered orders and the add-ons you switch on. Stockroom has one price.
| Feature | Katana | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | Core from $299, Advantage on a custom contract | Free |
| Free plan | 30 active SKUs, Shopify only | No SKU limit |
| Extra locations and order volume | Billed on top | Included |
| Forecasting | $149 a month add-on | Included |
| Mobile barcode receiving | $149 a month warehouse add-on | Included |
| Users | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Creating purchase orders
Katana starts a PO from the stock screen or a manufacturing order. Stockroom starts one from wherever the need shows up, including your Shopify admin and POS.
| Feature | Katana | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Runs inside your Shopify admin | A separate app with a connector | Yes |
| Start a PO from a customer order | From a manufacturing order | From the order page, or add to an open draft |
| Start a PO from reorder suggestions | Row by row, or the forecasting add-on | A buy plan grouped by supplier |
| Import a whole PO from CSV | Through Make or the API | Yes |
| Create at POS by scanning | No | Yes |
| Create from an AI assistant | Not documented | Claude, ChatGPT and others over MCP |
| Discounts on the PO | Not documented | Per line or per order |
| Approval before ordering | Drafts and permissions | Optional |
| Your own PO number format | PO-1 onwards | Yes |
| Notes per line | No | Supplier-visible or internal |
| Attach files to the PO | Links only | Yes |
| Your product metafields as PO columns | No | Up to 20, two on the PDF |
| Team comments and @mentions on a PO | No | Yes |
Suppliers
Katana keeps one default supplier and one purchase price per item. Stockroom keeps every supplier’s terms and prices, and compares them.
| Feature | Katana | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Payment terms on the supplier | No | Yes |
| Lead time and minimum order quantity | On the item | On the supplier, per product |
| Several suppliers for one product | One default supplier and price | With cost comparison |
| Pack sizes | Not documented | Yes |
| Price lists with quantity breaks | No | Yes |
| Free-shipping threshold and minimum order value | No | Yes |
| Several email recipients per supplier | Up to 10 per send | Up to 11, saved |
Sending the PO to the supplier
Both email a PDF. Stockroom also tells you what happened to it, and gives the supplier somewhere to reply.
| Feature | Katana | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Email the PO from the app | One PO at a time | Yes |
| PDF with your logo | Yes | And a format per supplier |
| Email templates | No | Yes |
| Send from your own domain | No | Early access |
| Know when it was opened | Sent or failed only | Yes |
| Supplier confirms and adds tracking on a link | No | No login for them |
| PO lands in the supplier’s own Shopify store | No | Stockroom Network |
Receiving the delivery
Katana receives into Katana and overwrites Shopify’s Available figure afterwards. Stockroom receives straight into Shopify.
| Feature | Katana | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Incoming quantity shows in Shopify | No | On mark ordered |
| Received stock lands in Shopify | Overwrites Available, one way | At the receiving location |
| Receive by barcode scan | Desktop, or mobile with the warehouse add-on | Admin, POS and a phone camera |
| Receive in Shopify POS | No | Yes |
| Accept or reject units | No | Yes |
| Receive more than was ordered | Not documented | Yes |
| Invoice number and total on the delivery | From the accounting bill | Yes |
| Read the invoice photo to fill in the counts | No | Stockroom AI |
| Receive from an AI assistant | No | Over MCP, with a preview first |
| Undo a receive | All lines at once | Yes |
| Return goods to the supplier | No | With a credit note |
What the goods cost you
Both allocate freight into unit cost. Katana keeps the result in Katana. Stockroom writes it to the Shopify product when you say so.
| Feature | Katana | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Freight and fees allocated into unit cost | By value or quantity | By value, quantity or weight |
| Cost per item updated on receive | Moving average, in Katana | Weighted average or latest, you confirm |
| Update the product’s cost and price in Shopify from the PO | Imports Shopify’s cost, never writes it | You confirm each push |
| Selling prices reviewed after a cost change | No | Price review report |
| Landed cost on every delivery | Yes | Snapshotted per receipt |
| Payment status on the PO | From the QuickBooks or Xero bill | Unpaid, partial, paid |
| Owed to suppliers report | No | Yes |
Reordering and reports
Katana’s forecasting is a $149 a month add-on. Stockroom’s reorder points run nightly for every store.
| Feature | Katana | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Reorder points from your sales | With the forecasting add-on | Yes |
| Buy plan grouped by supplier | From a default supplier | Lowest-cost supplier flagged |
| Low stock alerts | Red rows on the stock screen | Email and Slack |
| Supplier on-time and lead-time report | Yes | Yes |
| Spend by supplier | Yes | Yes |
| Bills into QuickBooks | Manual, per PO | With MyWorks Sync, paid |
What Stockroom adds
What a PO in Stockroom does that Katana leaves to you, or charges extra for.
- It lives in your Shopify admin. Purchase orders, receiving and reports open inside Shopify, next to the products and orders they are about. There is no second system to log into or keep in sync.
- Shopify shows what is coming. Mark a PO ordered and the incoming quantity appears on the product in Shopify and POS. Katana pushes Available only, so incoming stays in Katana.
- Receiving happens where the boxes are. Scan at the desk, at the till in Shopify POS, or with a phone camera. Reject what is damaged, record the invoice, undo a wrong count. No warehouse add-on.
- Shopify’s cost keeps up. After a receive, Stockroom shows the landed cost per unit and writes it to Shopify’s cost per item when you confirm. Katana reads that field once and never writes it back.
- Prices keep up with costs. The price review report shows where a cost rise ate your margin and suggests a new price you can push to Shopify.
- Suppliers hold their terms and compete. Payment terms, price lists with quantity breaks, pack sizes and minimums live on each supplier, and the cheaper one is flagged on the PO.
- Forecasting is included. Reorder points from your sales and a buy plan grouped by supplier, every night, on every store.
- It works from your AI assistant. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or another assistant over MCP and ask it to draft a PO or receive a delivery. Stockroom shows a preview before anything moves.
- It handles the supplier side too. Supplier confirmation on a link with no login, tracking added by the supplier, and returns to the supplier with a credit note.
Where Katana is the better fit
Katana is manufacturing software first. These are the parts Stockroom does not try to do.
- Production scheduling and a shop floor. Manufacturing orders with priorities, operations and resources, and a shop-floor app for operators to log time and materials. Stockroom’s builds have stages, a priority and an assignee, not a scheduled production line.
- Material requirements from the BOM. Katana works out what to buy from what you plan to make, across subassemblies and outsourced production. Stockroom puts the components its open builds will run short of on the buy plan, and does not plan across subassemblies or a production schedule.
- Serial number traceability. Katana’s paid traceability add-on covers batches, lots and serial numbers. Stockroom tracks lots and expiry dates, in early access, and does not track serial numbers.
- Moving average cost per location, in one ledger. Katana holds its own inventory valuation across every location and channel. Stockroom keeps Shopify as the record and writes costs to it.
- Bills into Xero. Katana posts POs to Xero as well as QuickBooks. Stockroom’s accounting path today is QuickBooks, through MyWorks Sync, with Xero coming.
Questions we get
Does Stockroom do manufacturing?
Some. Stockroom has bills of materials and builds: define what goes into a finished product, build a batch, and the components come out of stock and the finished goods go in, with cost carried across. Open builds put the components they need on the buy plan. It does not schedule production, run a shop floor, or plan materials from a production plan. If that is your business, Katana is built for it.
Does Katana show incoming stock in Shopify?
No. Katana pushes one figure to Shopify, Available, calculated as in stock minus committed, one way. Purchase orders on the way stay in Katana. Stockroom writes incoming quantities to Shopify when you mark a PO ordered, so the product page and POS show what is coming.
Can I use Stockroom with Katana?
Not usefully. Both want to own purchasing and both write stock to Shopify, so you would end up with two sets of POs and two systems adjusting the same inventory. Pick the one that matches your business: Katana if you manufacture, Stockroom if you buy.
What does the $299 buy?
Katana Core includes one location and a volume of delivered sales orders. More locations and more orders raise the price, and forecasting, mobile warehouse scanning, manufacturing management and traceability are add-ons from $149 to $249 a month each. Prices as published on Katana’s site on 11 September 2026.
Can I move my Katana purchase orders into Stockroom?
Stockroom imports a whole PO from CSV, and Katana exports its data, so open orders can come across. Most stores finish what is open in Katana and start the next order in Stockroom, where suppliers are already created from the vendors on their Shopify products.
What does Stockroom cost?
Purchase orders and receiving are free, and they stay free. That is the core of the app. As Stockroom grows into deeper inventory management, the advanced end of that will be paid, along with hands-on onboarding and priority support. Pushing your POs and bills into QuickBooks is a paid MyWorks Sync subscription.
Try it on your next order
Install free, create one PO, email it, and receive it when it lands. Nothing in Katana is touched.