Stockroom vs purchase orders in QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online has purchase orders on its Plus and Advanced plans, at $140 and $340 a month. They are built for the books: the PO becomes a bill and the bill posts to accounts payable. Stockroom is built for the stock. It emails the PO, receives the delivery into Shopify at the right location, works out what each unit cost you landed and tells you what to order next. It is free, and it can hand QuickBooks the bill.
Creating purchase orders
QuickBooks builds a PO from a vendor and your item list. Stockroom starts one from wherever the need shows up.
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Draft before it goes out | Open the moment it is saved | Yes |
| Start a PO from a customer order | Copy an estimate, old layout only | From the order page, or add to an open draft |
| Start a PO from reorder suggestions | One vendor at a time, no quantities | A buy plan grouped by supplier |
| Import a whole PO from CSV | No | Yes |
| Create at POS by scanning | No | Yes |
| Create from an AI assistant | No | Claude, ChatGPT and others over MCP |
| Freight, fees and discounts on the PO | A negative line as a workaround | Per line or per order |
| Ship one PO to several locations | No | Yes |
| Approval before ordering | Advanced plan, $340 a month | Optional |
| Your own PO number format | Typed in by hand each time | Yes |
| Notes per line | The description column | Supplier-visible or internal |
| Attach files to the PO | Yes | Yes |
| Extra columns of your own | 3 custom fields on Plus, 12 on Advanced | Up to 20 metafields, two on the PDF |
| Team comments and @mentions on a PO | No | Yes |
Suppliers
QuickBooks knows a vendor as someone you pay. Stockroom also knows what you buy from them and on what terms.
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Payment terms, currency and account number on the supplier | Yes | Yes |
| Lead time per supplier | No | Yes |
| Several suppliers for one product | One preferred vendor | With cost comparison |
| Supplier part numbers, pack sizes and minimums | No | Yes |
| Price lists with quantity breaks | One cost per item | Yes |
| Free-shipping threshold and minimum order value | No | Yes |
| Several email recipients per supplier | No | Up to 11 |
| Import and export suppliers as CSV | Yes | Yes |
Sending the PO to the supplier
Both email the PO. Stockroom also tells you what happened to it.
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Email the PO from the app | Yes | Yes |
| PDF with your logo | Yes | And a format per supplier |
| Email templates and Cc list | A default message | Yes |
| Send from your own domain | No | Early access |
| Know when it was sent, and opened | No | 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
QuickBooks Online has no receiving step. You add the PO to a bill, and the bill is the record. Stockroom receives on the PO and puts the stock in Shopify.
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Receive on the PO itself | The PO becomes a bill | Yes |
| Received stock lands in Shopify | No | At the receiving location |
| Incoming quantity shows in Shopify | No | On mark ordered |
| Stock by location | One quantity per item | Every Shopify location |
| Partial deliveries | A partial bill | Yes |
| Receive by barcode scan | No | Admin, POS and a phone camera |
| Receive in Shopify POS | No | Yes |
| Accept or reject units | A vendor credit afterwards | Yes |
| Invoice number and total on the delivery | It is the bill | Yes |
| Read the invoice photo to fill in the counts | No | Stockroom AI |
| Undo a receive | Delete the bill, reopen the PO by hand | Yes |
| Print barcode labels for what arrived | No | Yes |
| Return goods to the supplier | A vendor credit | With a credit note |
What the goods cost you
QuickBooks values inventory for the accounts, FIFO or moving average. Stockroom works out what each unit cost you landed and writes it to the product when you say so.
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Freight and duties allocated into unit cost | Desktop Enterprise only | By value, quantity or weight |
| Cost per item updated on receive | The item cost stays fixed | Weighted average or latest, you confirm |
| Update the product’s cost and price in Shopify from the PO | No | You confirm each push |
| Selling prices reviewed after a cost change | No | Price review report |
| Landed cost on every delivery | No | Snapshotted per receipt |
| Cost history per product | The audit log | Yes |
| Payment status on the PO | Through the bill | Unpaid, partial, paid |
| Owed to suppliers report | A/P aging | Yes |
Reordering and reports
QuickBooks reorders from a point you type in. Stockroom works the point out from your sales, every night.
| Feature | QuickBooks Online | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Reorder points from your sales | A reorder point you set by hand | Yes |
| Low stock alerts | On the products list | Email and Slack |
| Spend by supplier | Yes | Yes |
| Supplier on-time and lead-time report | No | Yes |
| Landed cost report | No | Yes |
| PO and bill in QuickBooks | Yes | With MyWorks Sync, paid |
What Stockroom adds
What a PO in Stockroom does that a PO in QuickBooks leaves to you or to your bookkeeper.
- The stock ends up in Shopify. Mark a PO ordered and Shopify shows the incoming quantity. Receive it and the stock lands at that location. QuickBooks has no route to your Shopify inventory.
- Receiving is a step, with a scanner. Scan or type what arrived, at the desk, at the till or on a phone. Reject what is damaged, record the invoice, and undo it if the count was wrong.
- You learn what the goods cost you. Freight, duties and fees are spread across the units. QuickBooks Online keeps one fixed cost per item and leaves landed cost to Desktop Enterprise.
- 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. Lead times, part numbers, pack sizes, minimums and price lists with quantity breaks live on the supplier, so a new PO comes in filled.
- It tells you what to order. Reorder points from your sales, a buy plan grouped by supplier, and the cheaper supplier flagged when you have more than one.
- 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.
- QuickBooks still gets the bill. MyWorks Sync posts each Stockroom PO to QuickBooks as a purchase order, a bill, or both, so accounts payable is as complete as it is today.
- Any Shopify plan, no user limit. Stockroom is free on every Shopify plan. QuickBooks purchase orders start at the $140 a month Plus plan.
Where QuickBooks is the right tool
None of this is what Stockroom does, and it is the reason to keep QuickBooks.
- Accounts payable. Bills, bill pay, aging and vendor credits, with the PO flowing into all of it. That is the job QuickBooks purchase orders exist for.
- Inventory valuation for the books. FIFO or moving average cost of goods sold, with the audit trail your accountant expects at year end.
- Approval workflows on Advanced. Conditions on amount or vendor and multi-step approvers, if your team needs that level of control on spend.
- Multicurrency with exchange gain and loss. Foreign-currency bills settle with the gain or loss posted, which Stockroom leaves to the accounting system.
- 1099 filing from the same vendor records. For US stores that pay contractors, the vendor list does double duty.
Moving over takes one order
Stockroom does the purchasing. QuickBooks keeps the books. MyWorks Sync carries the bill between them.
- Finish what is open in QuickBooks. Bill the POs already in flight where they are. Stockroom imports a PO from CSV if you want history alongside, and it is not required.
- Start the next one in Stockroom. Your suppliers are created from the vendors on your Shopify products and costs pre-fill from your catalog. Install, open a supplier, add lines, send.
- Let the bill go back to QuickBooks. With MyWorks Sync connected, each Stockroom PO posts to QuickBooks as a purchase order, a bill, or a PO that becomes a bill on receipt, with your A/P account and PO prefix.
Questions we get
Do I need QuickBooks Plus to use Stockroom?
No. Stockroom works on any Shopify plan with no QuickBooks subscription at all. Purchase orders in QuickBooks Online need the Plus or Advanced plan. If you use QuickBooks for the books, MyWorks Sync connects the two and posts Stockroom’s POs and bills into whichever QuickBooks plan you have.
Can Stockroom send the bill to QuickBooks?
Yes, through MyWorks Sync, which is a paid MyWorks product. It posts each Stockroom PO to QuickBooks Online as a purchase order, a bill, or a purchase order that turns into a bill when you receive, with your accounts payable account and an optional PO number prefix. Received quantities and costs come from Stockroom, so the bill matches the delivery.
Does QuickBooks Online receive inventory against a PO?
Not as a separate step. You add the PO to a bill, expense or check, and that closes the PO and updates the item quantity. A partial delivery is a partial bill. Stockroom has a receiving step of its own: scan or type what arrived, reject damaged units, record the invoice, and the stock lands in Shopify at that location.
Does Stockroom replace QuickBooks?
No. Stockroom replaces the purchase order and receiving side. QuickBooks stays your accounting system, and the bill for each delivery can still be posted there with MyWorks Sync. Stockroom writes inventory to Shopify, not to QuickBooks.
Can I move my open QuickBooks POs into Stockroom?
Stockroom imports a whole PO from CSV, so you can bring open orders across if you want them in one place. Most stores finish the open ones in QuickBooks and start the next order in Stockroom.
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. QuickBooks keeps the books.