Inventory management for small business: what to use and what it costs
Inventory management for small business: free and paid options, October 2026 prices, costs for teams of 3 and 8, and a one-week plan to switch.
Start from the inventory template
Know what's in stock and reorder in time.
Inventory management for a small business means keeping four lists: items with reorder points, the count in each place, every move in or out, and what’s on order. A spreadsheet handles one stockroom. Shops that ring up sales should use their point of sale. Stock used on jobs needs inventory software, shop software or your own app.
This guide is for owners and office managers at shops, trades, rental yards, parts counters and small distributors. It has a self-check, five kinds of options with costs for teams of 3 and 8, the habits that keep a count right, and how to switch.
How we researched this: in October 2026 we checked every price and plan limit below on each vendor’s own US pricing page. They’re list prices before tax, card fees, hardware and setup, and they change often.
Here’s the short version, with each option’s starting price in October 2026:
| Option | Price from |
|---|---|
| Spreadsheet: Excel or Google Sheets | $0 extra if you already have it |
| Point-of-sale (POS) inventory: Square, Shopify | Square Free, $0; Square Plus, $49 a month per location for the counting tool and purchase orders |
| Inventory software: Sortly, Zoho Inventory, inFlow, Odoo, QuickBooks Online | Free plans from Sortly, Zoho Inventory and Odoo; paid from $39 a month (Zoho Inventory, billed monthly) |
| Shop and maintenance software: MaintainX, Tekmetric, Shopmonkey | MaintainX Premium, $75 a user a month; Tekmetric, $199 a month per shop |
| An app you build: GoodTaco | Free to start; Pro $49 a month includes 10 users |
How do you choose inventory management for a small business?
Start with how your stock moves, not a list of products:
- How does stock leave? Sold at a counter or online: your point of sale should count it. Onto repair orders or work orders: shop or maintenance software. Out to jobs in vans: inventory software or your own app.
- Where do you keep it? One stockroom works in a spreadsheet. A warehouse plus vans, job trailers or a second shop needs a count for each place and a way to record moves between them.
- Who handles it? One or two people at a desk can share a spreadsheet. Five people on phones need a system that records who did what.
- Do you order on purchase orders? Then you want to see what’s already on order, so nobody orders it twice, and to receive partial deliveries.
- How many items do you stock? Some plans cap the number of items, so count yours before you compare prices.
Rental yards and contractors: trailers, tools and gear that come back are rentals or checkouts, not stock. Rental software tracks what you rent out, and our guide to tool tracking software covers gear lent to your crew. Hitch balls, filters, 7-pin plugs and other parts you sell or use up are stock. If your rental software doesn’t count them, use one of the options below.
Already keep your stock list in Excel or a CSV file? Upload it on our spreadsheet to app page. You don’t need an account to try. GoodTaco turns it into a stock app your team can use from a phone. Starting from nothing? Use the inventory management template below.
Can you use a spreadsheet for small business inventory?
Yes, while you have one stockroom and one or two people looking after it. Excel or Google Sheets costs nothing extra, and two sheets do the job: Items, with reorder points, and Stock moves, with a row for every delivery and pick. Our guide to inventory management in Excel has both sheets and the formulas.
It starts costing you time when several people log stock all day, stock sits in several places, or van picks get written on paper first. Then you need a system that records each move as it happens, as our guide to keeping track of inventory as it grows explains.
Does your point-of-sale system track inventory?
Usually, yes, so if you sell at a counter or online, start there. A POS system counts an item down each time you ring it up.
- Square’s retail POS prices each location. Square Free, at $0, includes low-stock alerts. Square Plus, $49 a month per location, adds an inventory counting tool, inventory history, unit costs, barcode label printing, and vendor and purchase order management. Square Premium, $149 a month per location, adds transfer orders between locations. In-person card payments cost 2.6% + 15¢ on Free and 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus (Square retail POS pricing).
- Shopify suits shops that sell online and in a store. Its Basic plan is $39 a month billed monthly, or $29 a month billed yearly, and POS Pro is $89 a month per store location on top (Shopify pricing).
The catch is stock that leaves without a sale. Parts that go into a repair or onto a job never pass through the register, so someone adjusts them by hand. If most of your stock leaves that way, count it somewhere else.
Which inventory software suits a small business?
Standalone inventory software counts stock by location, logs every move and handles purchase orders. Three built for small businesses:
- Sortly prices by users and unique items. Its paid plans add unlimited QR code labels, and Ultra adds barcode labels. Free covers 100 items and 1 user. Billed monthly, Advanced is $49 a month (2 users, 500 items), Ultra $149 (5 users, 2,000 items) and Premium $299 (8 users, 5,000 items) (Sortly pricing).
- Zoho Inventory fits businesses that sell and ship orders. Free covers 1 user, 1 location and 50 orders. Standard is $39 a month billed monthly, with 3 users, 2 locations and 500 orders a month, and extra users are $9 a month each (Zoho Inventory pricing).
- inFlow Inventory is aimed at wholesale, distribution and field service, with a 14-day free trial and no free plan listed. Lite is $129 a month billed monthly, with 2 team members and 1 location; extra team members are $29 a month and extra locations $39. Lite doesn’t include user access rights. Core does, at $379 a month plus a required $499 onboarding package, with 5 members and 5 locations (inFlow pricing).
If you keep your books in QuickBooks Online, check your plan. Plus ($140 a month list price, 5 users) and Advanced ($340, 25 users) include inventory tracking, purchase orders and sales orders (QuickBooks pricing). Simple Start and Essentials can add inventory tracking for $40 a month (Intuit price changes), but purchase orders stay on Plus and Advanced (QuickBooks purchase orders).
Is there free inventory software for small business?
Yes, with limits. Odoo’s One App Free plan covers one app, such as Inventory, with unlimited users (Odoo pricing). Sortly Free covers 100 items and 1 user, Zoho Inventory Free 1 user, 1 location and 50 orders, and Square Free has low-stock alerts. A team that logs moves all day usually ends up paying.
What is parts inventory software?
Parts inventory software tracks the parts a repair shop or maintenance team keeps and ties them to the jobs they’re used on. It usually comes inside the software that runs the shop:
- Maintenance teams. A CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) keeps spare parts for the equipment you look after. MaintainX includes parts inventory and purchase orders on Premium, $75 per user a month billed monthly or $65 billed annually. A separate parts stock at each location takes its custom-priced Enterprise plan (MaintainX pricing).
- Auto repair shops. Tekmetric includes inventory and vendor management on its Start plan, $199 a month per shop billed monthly or $179 billed annually, with unlimited users. Running two shops in one account adds Multi-shop, at $70 a month per shop (Tekmetric pricing). Shopmonkey includes inventory management from its Clever plan, $399 a month, or $359 on annual pricing (Shopmonkey pricing).
Whichever tool you use, keep these for each part:
- Part number, and the maker’s part number
- Description
- Where it’s kept: shelf or bin, which van or site
- On hand, reorder point and most to keep
- What it fits: machine, unit or vehicle
- Supplier, supplier’s part number, cost and lead time
- The job or work order it went to
Contractors with parts in vans fall in between: shop software expects a repair bay, and a CMMS expects machines you maintain. An app of your own often fits better.
When should you build your own inventory app?
When your stock moves in a way packaged software doesn’t expect: parts across a warehouse and three vans, stock tied to job numbers, or a reorder rule only your business has. Or when you’d rather change the system yourself than wait on a vendor.
That used to mean hiring a developer. Now an AI app builder such as GoodTaco turns a description or your stock spreadsheet into inventory management software for small business. You change it by chatting.
How much does inventory software cost for a small business?
Each price is the cheapest plan that covers 3 people at one location, or 8 people at two, on the vendor’s US pricing page in October 2026, per month, billed monthly. Tax, card fees, hardware and setup are extra.
| Option and plan | 3 users, 1 location / 8 users, 2 locations |
|---|---|
| Spreadsheet (Excel or Google Sheets) | $0 extra / $0 extra |
| Zoho Inventory: Standard, plus 5 users at 8 | $39 / $84 |
| Square: Plus, per location | $49 / $98 |
| GoodTaco | Free to start; Pro $49 a month includes 10 users |
| QuickBooks Online: Essentials with the $40 inventory add-on at 3, Advanced at 8 | $125 / $340 |
| Sortly: Ultra at 3, Premium at 8 | $149 / $299 |
| inFlow Inventory: Lite plus extra users, and a location at 8 | $158 / $342 |
| Tekmetric: Start, per shop | $199 / $398, or $538 with Multi-shop to run both in one account |
| MaintainX: Premium, $75 a user | $225 / custom: stock by location takes Enterprise |
Two things change the totals:
- Yearly billing is cheaper. Zoho Inventory Standard is $29 a month billed yearly, inFlow Lite $99 plus add-ons, Tekmetric Start $179 and MaintainX Premium $65 a user. Sortly’s yearly plans were half price for the first year in an October 2026 sale.
- Watch the limits. Sortly counts items (2,000 on Ultra). Zoho Inventory counts orders (500 a month on Standard). Moving stock between Square locations with transfer orders takes Premium, at $149 a month per location. QuickBooks Online’s purchase orders need Plus, and Intuit’s inventory help doesn’t describe a separate stock count for each location, so check that before you run two stockrooms on it.
How do small businesses manage inventory day to day?
Whichever system you choose, five habits keep the count right:
- Record every move when it happens: deliveries, take-outs, returns and stock loaded onto a van.
- Give every item a reorder point. Take what you use in a working day, multiply by the days your supplier takes to deliver, and add a few spare to cover a late delivery. That spare is your safety stock.
- Count the items that matter most more often. Rank items by what you spend on them in a year, count the top few weekly and the rest every month or two. This is ABC analysis. Where the shelf and the system disagree, record a count.
- Use the oldest stock first for anything that ages, such as sealants. This is first in, first out (FIFO).
- Check each delivery against the purchase order and record what’s short.
How do you switch to a new inventory system?
The switch goes the same way whatever you pick, over about a week:
- Clean up your item list. One row per item, with a part number (SKU), name, unit, cost, supplier and the supplier’s part number. Merge duplicates such as “Ball valve 1/2” and “1/2 brass valve”.
- Count everything on one day, before opening or over a weekend, place by place. One person counts and one writes.
- Set a reorder point for each item, as in the habits above.
- Move your list in. Most inventory software imports a CSV file; check the vendor’s import guide for the columns it expects. With GoodTaco, upload the workbook or CSV as it is.
- Enter what’s already on order. Add each open purchase order, such as PO-1153 for 50 couplings, so the new system shows it on the way and nobody orders it twice. For the paperwork side, see our guide to purchase order tracking.
- Pick a start day. From then on, every delivery, pick, move and count goes into the new system, not onto paper first. Keep the old sheet for reference only.
Run your stock on a GoodTaco inventory app
Picture a contractor with a warehouse and two vans. A tech takes two couplings from Van 1 and taps Take out on his phone. The coupling drops to its reorder point and shows up under Needs reordering for Metro Pipe Supply, where the office starts the order. No clipboard, and no typing it in at the end of the day.
GoodTaco builds that kind of app in minutes, and your team uses it in a phone’s browser. There are two ways to start.
Upload the list you have. Drop your stock workbook or CSV file on the upload page and say what the app is for, such as “Log parts in and out of the warehouse and our three vans, and show what to reorder.” GoodTaco brings your items in, rebuilds the formulas it can reproduce exactly and turns columns of repeated choices into dropdowns. Macros, charts and pivot tables don’t come across.
Or start from the inventory management template. Your copy comes with sample records from a plumbing and heating contractor with a warehouse and two vans. Rename the items, suppliers and locations, or clear the sample and start empty. It has:
- Items with SKU, category, unit, cost, price, reorder point, most to keep and the supplier’s part number, and the count at each location.
- Four buttons on every item: Take out, Receive, Move and Count, sized for a phone held in one hand, and an Undo straight after each. Every stock change goes into the item’s history with who made it, from their sign-in, and when.
- An overview of low stock, out of stock and stock value at cost, and a Needs reordering list grouped by supplier. Start an order fills in an order for that supplier with suggested quantities.
- Purchase orders you receive in full or in part, into the location you pick. Until then, each item shows what’s on the way.
- Suppliers with contacts, account numbers and lead times, and a list of your locations.
GoodTaco apps don’t scan barcodes or QR codes; people find an item by searching its name, SKU, part number or category. If scanning matters to you, compare the tools above that make barcode labels, such as Sortly and Square Plus.
Add your team to your GoodTaco workspace. Each person signs in to use the app, so every take-out and delivery is tied to a person. Then change the app by asking in plain words:
Add a job number to every take-out, and show parts used by job this month.
Every version is saved, with one-click rollback.
GoodTaco is free to start. Paid plans start at $9 a month, and Pro at $49 a month includes 10 users; bigger teams talk to us about Enterprise.
See what to reorder before you run out, from any phone. Start free, no credit card needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best inventory system for a small business?
The one that matches how your stock leaves. Shops that sell at a counter or online should start with the inventory in their point of sale, such as Square or Shopify. Repair shops get parts inventory inside shop software such as Tekmetric. Stockrooms and distributors with several people and purchase orders fit inventory software such as Sortly, Zoho Inventory or inFlow. One stockroom and one or two people can stay on a spreadsheet, and stock that rides in vans or goes out on jobs often fits an app you build.
Is there free inventory software for small business?
Yes, with limits. In October 2026, Odoo's One App Free plan covered one app, such as Inventory, with unlimited users, Sortly's free plan covered 100 items and 1 user, Zoho Inventory's free plan covered 1 user, 1 location and 50 orders, and Square's free plan included low-stock alerts for what you sell. Excel or Google Sheets is free if you already have it. Free plans suit one person; a team that logs stock all day usually needs a paid plan.
How much does inventory software cost for a small business?
For one location and 3 users, billed monthly in October 2026: Zoho Inventory $39 a month, Square Plus $49, QuickBooks Online Essentials with the inventory add-on $125, Sortly Ultra $149, inFlow Lite with one extra user $158 and Tekmetric $199 per shop. For two locations and 8 users, the same tools ran from $84 to $398 a month, or $538 for Tekmetric with its Multi-shop add-on. Yearly billing is cheaper with most of them, and card fees, hardware and setup are extra.
How do I choose an inventory system for my small business?
Start with how stock leaves and who handles it. If you sell at a counter or online, use your point of sale's inventory. If parts go onto repair orders or work orders, look at shop or maintenance software. If several people log stock in more than one place and order on purchase orders, compare inventory software or build your own app. Count your items first, since some plans cap them.
What is parts inventory software?
Software that tracks the parts a repair shop or maintenance team keeps and ties them to the jobs they're used on. It usually comes inside shop management software, such as Tekmetric or Shopmonkey for auto repair, or inside a CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) such as MaintainX for maintenance teams.
How do I set a reorder point?
Take what you use in a working day, multiply by the days your supplier takes to deliver, and add a few spare. If you use 5 couplings a day, the supplier delivers in 3 days and you keep 10 spare, the reorder point is 25: order more when stock falls to 25.
How do I switch to a new inventory system?
Clean up your item list, count everything on one day, set a reorder point for each item, then import the list. Add the purchase orders already open, pick a start day after which every delivery, pick and count goes into the new system, and count a few items every week.
Start from the inventory template
Get your own copy of a working inventory app with sample records, ready to make yours. Free to start.
Use the template, free