Katana Review: Overview, Features, Pricing & Alternatives in 2025

Production chaos slowing your orders again?

If you’re considering Katana, you’re probably struggling with manual inventory tracking, production bottlenecks, or order management headaches as your business grows.

The real headache is that lost orders and constant stockouts are costing you sales—and it’s wearing down your day, every day you scramble to patch the gaps.

What sets Katana apart is its visual, real-time platform designed for small manufacturers—giving you live inventory, smart production planning, and direct integration with your online sales, all in one dashboard.

In this review, I’ll walk you through how Katana can help you regain control, eliminate those daily fire drills, and give you the breathing room to actually focus on scaling.

In this Katana review, you’ll find an expert breakdown of its core features, pricing, real-world use cases, and the alternatives I’ve tested—so you can make your evaluation with total confidence.

You’ll see which features you need to finally fix your inventory and production headaches—no more guesswork.

Let’s dive into the details.

Katana Overview

Katana is all about simplifying manufacturing ERP for modern small businesses. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, they’ve been around since 2017 with a mission to help direct-to-consumer makers get control of operations.

You’ll find they don’t try to serve everyone. They target small to mid-sized makers who sell online, providing a powerful manufacturing back-office for D2C brands outgrowing spreadsheets but not ready for a complex ERP.

Recent developments focused on shop floor control and deep e-commerce integrations, a topic I’ll break down for you through this Katana review.

Unlike larger systems like NetSuite, Katana prioritizes an intuitive, visual-first user experience over an exhaustive feature list. I find this focus makes it more approachable for busy founders and their teams.

They work with thousands of growing D2C brands and modern manufacturers, from artisan coffee roasters and craft breweries to scaling electronics workshops and apparel companies.

Their strategy centers on giving you live inventory and production visibility across all sales channels. This directly addresses the biggest operational headache I see facing today’s scaling D2C brands.

Now let’s examine its core capabilities.

Katana Features

Struggling with manufacturing chaos and disconnected systems?

Katana features are designed to provide real-time control and visibility over your entire manufacturing operation. Here are the five main Katana features that streamline your production and sales processes.

1. Real-time Inventory Management

Tired of stockouts or overstocking?

Inaccurate inventory data can lead to missed orders or wasted capital. This often causes significant headaches for your production team.

Katana provides live updates on stock levels across all channels, helping you maintain optimal inventory. I found that its serial and batch tracking features provide excellent traceability, which is crucial for managing diverse products. This feature automates stock tracking and offers real-time material availability insights.

This means you can make informed decisions, preventing costly disruptions and keeping your production running smoothly.

2. Visual Production Planning & Scheduling

Is your production schedule a confusing mess?

Manual production planning can lead to inefficiencies and missed deadlines. This wastes valuable time and resources for your business.

Katana offers a visual platform to plan and prioritize production orders, reallocating materials as needed. What I love about this approach is how it provides full visibility into shop floor tasks, making optimization intuitive. This feature helps you create efficient schedules based on supply and demand.

This means your team can maximize efficiency, reduce waste, and finally get products out the door on time.

3. Omnichannel Order Management

Overwhelmed by managing orders from multiple channels?

Juggling sales orders from various platforms often leads to errors and delays. This can damage customer satisfaction and your bottom line.

Katana integrates seamlessly with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, managing all sales orders from a single location. From my testing, the automatic synchronization of sales and work orders really shines, eliminating manual data entry. This feature supports partial shipping and invoicing, simplifying your workflow.

This means you can confidently manage all your online sales, reduce administrative time, and impress your customers with faster fulfillment.

4. Shop Floor Control

Losing track of tasks on the production floor?

Without clear shop floor visibility, tasks can be mismanaged, leading to bottlenecks and lost productivity. This impacts your entire manufacturing flow.

Katana provides tools for managing production activities directly on the shop floor, assigning tasks and tracking completion times. Here’s what I found: the mobile app provides real-time visibility, allowing your team to monitor production from anywhere. This feature lets operators add notes and track their progress easily.

This means you can ensure accountability, monitor progress accurately, and keep your production lines moving without interruption.

5. Purchasing and Bill of Materials (BOM) Management

Struggling with accurate material procurement?

Managing purchase orders and BOMs manually can lead to costly errors and delays in your supply chain. This directly impacts your production schedule.

Katana enables you to manage purchase orders with flexible unit pricing and issue direct orders from the system. This is where Katana shines: its configurable Bill of Materials (BOM) support ensures accuracy in manufacturing. This feature helps in calculating automatic order requirements for faster procurement.

This means you can maintain precise control over your materials, simplify purchasing, and ensure you always have what you need for production.

You’ll appreciate how these Katana features work together to create a cohesive manufacturing management system, providing an intuitive experience for streamlining your entire operation. This allows you to manage everything from inventory to sales with confidence.

Katana Pricing

Wondering what Katana will really cost you?

Katana pricing features a clear, tiered structure with transparent monthly and annual options, designed to scale with your manufacturing needs.

Plan	Price & Features
Starter	$179/month (billed annually) or $199 quarterly • 1 inventory location • Up to 1,200 sales orders/year • Unlimited users & SKUs • Unlimited integrations
Standard	$359/month (billed annually) or $399 quarterly • All Starter features • 3 inventory locations • Up to 6,000 sales orders/year • Advanced insights, multicurrency, custom permissions, barcode scanning
Professional	$799/month (billed annually) or $899 quarterly • All Standard features • Up to 10 inventory locations • Enhanced manufacturing control
Professional Plus	Starts at $1,799/month (billed annually) or $1,999 quarterly • Customizable pricing • All large-scale manufacturer features • Personalized support & enterprise integrations

1. Value Assessment

Value for your budget.

From my cost analysis, Katana’s tiered pricing lets you choose a plan that directly aligns with your current operational scale. The value stands out because you only pay for the capacity your business requires, avoiding oversized plans. This means your budget can remain focused on essential manufacturing tools.

This approach ensures your investment directly supports growth, preventing unnecessary spending on unused features.

2. Trial/Demo Options

Evaluate before you commit.

Katana offers a free trial, allowing you to thoroughly test its features and workflow integration before purchasing. What I found valuable is how this trial period helps you assess fit for your production process, giving you confidence in your purchasing decision without any upfront Katana pricing.

This lets you confirm the software meets your operational needs, helping you make a sound budget decision.

3. Plan Comparison

Matching features to your needs.

The Starter plan is great for small operations, while Standard introduces critical features like multiple locations. For growth, the Professional tier supports larger scale, offering more inventory capacity. What stands out is how Professional Plus caters to truly large-scale manufacturers needing custom enterprise solutions.

This tiered structure helps you align Katana pricing with your exact production volume and feature requirements, optimizing your investment.

My Take: Katana’s pricing is straightforward and scales effectively, making it a strong contender for small to mid-sized manufacturers seeking predictable costs as they grow.

The overall Katana pricing reflects predictable value for growing manufacturing businesses.

Katana Reviews

What do real customers actually think?

My analysis of Katana reviews delves into what actual users experience, helping you understand the real-world performance and user satisfaction with the software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users seem overwhelmingly satisfied.

From my review analysis, Katana maintains strong overall ratings, typically averaging 4.6-4.7 stars across major platforms. What I found in user feedback is how its intuitive, visual interface simplifies complex processes, making it easy for businesses to transition from manual systems.

This indicates you can expect a smooth adoption and efficient workflow management.

2. Common Praise Points

Users consistently love its ease of use.

Katana consistently receives high praise for its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with e-commerce platforms like Shopify. What stands out in customer feedback is how it eliminates manual inventory headaches, preventing overselling and saving significant administrative time for users.

This means you can expect reduced errors and streamlined inventory management.

3. Frequent Complaints

Some users report minor frustrations.

While generally positive, some Katana reviews mention a steep learning curve for those new to MRP systems and limited customization options. What I observed in feedback is how occasional performance issues, like slow loading times, have been mentioned by a few users.

These issues seem to be minor for most, not typically deal-breakers for overall functionality.

Overall, Katana reviews reflect strong user satisfaction driven by ease of use, despite a few minor pain points.

Best Katana Alternatives

Which manufacturing software truly fits your needs?

The best Katana alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business sizes, budgets, and specific use cases.

1. MRPeasy

Seeking a more comprehensive, budget-friendly MRP?

MRPeasy offers a broader suite of manufacturing features, including CRM, purchasing, and built-in accounting modules. What I found comparing options is that MRPeasy offers a more accessible entry-level price, making it highly appealing for very price-sensitive small to mid-sized manufacturers.

Choose MRPeasy if you need more integrated functionalities and a lower initial investment than Katana.

2. Unleashed

Prioritizing robust stock control and planning?

Unleashed differentiates itself with a strong focus on advanced stock control, inventory planning, and production planning tools. From my competitive analysis, Unleashed provides comprehensive inventory and production planning, often appealing to businesses with complex inventory needs.

Consider this alternative if your primary need is detailed inventory planning alongside a user-friendly interface.

3. Fishbowl

Deeply integrated with QuickBooks for inventory?

Fishbowl excels in providing advanced inventory features that integrate directly with QuickBooks, offering multi-location tracking and bill of materials. Alternative-wise, Fishbowl delivers strong QuickBooks integration for inventory, making it ideal if your accounting heavily relies on it.

Choose Fishbowl if QuickBooks integration and detailed inventory insights are paramount for your operations.

4. Odoo Manufacturing

Need highly customizable, open-source ERP flexibility?

Odoo’s open-source nature provides high flexibility and customization options, allowing tech-savvy businesses to tailor the system. From my analysis, Odoo provides extensive modularity for growth, letting you add applications as your business scales beyond just manufacturing.

Choose Odoo if you require a highly customizable ERP solution and are comfortable with an open-source environment.

The best Katana alternatives depend on your business size, specific feature needs, and budget rather than just general comparisons.

Katana Setup

How complex is your new software implementation?

This Katana review analyzes the practicalities of deployment, helping you set realistic expectations for integrating this MRP system into your operations. It’s about preparation, not just features.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Is Katana truly easy to set up?

Katana’s onboarding, though simplified, still involves data migration, workflow alignment, and dedicated project time. From my implementation analysis, expect a structured onboarding process whether you opt for Starter or Professional plan assistance. You’ll want to plan for a smooth transition rather than expecting instant results.

You’ll need to thoroughly understand your current processes to align them with Katana for optimized inventory management.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Technical setup won’t be a major hurdle.

As a cloud-based solution, Katana requires minimal local technical setup, mainly focusing on browser access and mobile app usage. What I found about deployment is that its extensive integration capabilities are key for connecting with your e-commerce platforms like Shopify or accounting software.

Plan for data synchronization and custom workflow creation via Zapier or Katana’s API to maximize your connected ecosystem.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption is critical for success.

Katana’s intuitive, visual interface generally simplifies the learning curve, making it accessible even for non-technical staff. From my analysis, proper training and phased rollout minimize disruption, ensuring your team embraces the new system. You’ll want to leverage their online tutorials and one-on-one sessions for best results.

Invest in user champions and clear communication to overcome any resistance and ensure a smooth transition for your team.

4. Support & Success Factors

Vendor support makes a real difference.

Katana’s onboarding fees signal a commitment to guided implementation, ensuring you leverage its full capabilities from day one. What I found about deployment is that their responsive support and user-friendly design are consistently praised, contributing significantly to a positive setup experience.

You’ll need careful planning and internal buy-in as critical factors for Katana implementation success, complementing their vendor support.

Overall, Katana setup is straightforward thanks to its intuitive design and structured onboarding, but successful implementation requires proactive planning and dedicated internal effort.

Bottom Line

Is Katana the right choice for your manufacturing business?

This Katana review synthesizes my comprehensive analysis to provide a clear final recommendation, helping you understand who this software works best for and why.

1. Who This Works Best For

Growing small to mid-sized manufacturers.

Katana is ideal for businesses in apparel, electronics, or food and beverage, looking to move away from disconnected tools and spreadsheets. From my user analysis, manufacturers needing real-time visibility into inventory and production schedules will find it invaluable for streamlining operations.

You’ll particularly succeed if you sell through e-commerce channels and require seamless integration with platforms like Shopify.

2. Overall Strengths

Unmatched real-time inventory and production control.

The software excels by providing a highly intuitive and visual interface, offering real-time insights into inventory levels and production statuses. From my comprehensive analysis, its seamless e-commerce and accounting integrations eliminate manual data entry and prevent overselling, a common pain point for DTC brands.

These strengths directly translate into improved operational efficiency and confident decision-making for your manufacturing business.

3. Key Limitations

Learning curve and customization limitations exist.

While user-friendly, some users report a steeper learning curve for those new to MRP systems, potentially extending the onboarding process. Based on this review, advanced financial reporting options are less robust, and extensive customization beyond workflow templates is limited compared to some competitors.

I’d say these limitations are manageable trade-offs for its core strengths, rather than fundamental barriers for its target audience.

4. Final Recommendation

Katana receives a strong recommendation.

You should choose Katana if you’re a small to mid-sized manufacturer seeking to centralize and optimize your production, inventory, and sales. From my analysis, your business will thrive with this solution if real-time visibility and e-commerce integration are your top priorities for operational control and growth.

My confidence level is high for businesses prioritizing efficiency and moving beyond manual manufacturing processes.

This Katana review demonstrates strong value for growing manufacturers, providing robust tools to streamline operations and enhance decision-making confidence for your business.