Katana Cloud Inventory Reviews

The best for small manufacturing

Pros:

KatanaMRP has really helped me know what to order, and when to order it, as well as plan what comes next in manufacturing. It even lets me add time to tasks in production so I can monetarily make sure employees are being efficient enough for my company to remain profitable. Definitely recommend. I wish I would have found them sooner.

Cons:

Sometimes the app logs me out and I have to put the information in twice.

First Impression KATANA - perfect fit for smaller companies which do not need a complex ERP-system

Comments: For our requirements, set-up and company size the best we could find and test!
We will manage inventory/warehouse with 5000+ items, handle products with ingredients & operations, edit quotes, generate sales orders and mark received orders as shipped for automated invoice generation in Quickbooks. The cloud-based concept and the reduced complexity combined with an intuitivbe operatzion makes this SW easy to install and to work with if you have a team in different geographic locatioopns (as we have).
Set-up of KATANA is absolutely simple, mostl yself-explanatory and can be done by any "power-user" without need of (expensive) external ERP-consultants.

Pros:

Handling of inventory, items, products, ingredients, sales orders - all this is handled in a very efficient, clear and easy to use way. Makes the difference compared to many alternative MRP-/ERP-systems. Connector to QuickBooks with automatic trigger for invoices in QB once the products are marked as shipped in KATANA. Connector to Shopify for on-line sale of spare parts. 100% helpful and open minded customer service - very helpful in helping to understand all features and finding the best workflow for specific situations.

Cons:

There are some functions/features which need improvement, e.g. the customization of documents such as Quotations so every company can generate a set of individual template to serve different areas (machines, spare parts, service,..). 3-5 custom fields for Quotes/Sales Orders/Products would be helpful. Althoug KATANA is intended to be a MRP-system it would be helpful to integrate SERVICE-articles (not only MAKE or BUY articles). This would allow to add a possible service portion to a spare parts quote. Dedicated Delivery Notes (with partial shipments) would be a great feature.

Started off good, but pricing has outpaced quality.

Comments: I started out paying $128/month for this software in 2019, and that jumped to $388 in 2021. Now in 2024, that price has increased to $399, BUT they took away several features we had become reliant upon and put them into separate "add-on" packages at $199 EACH—bringing my monthly all the way to $797! Something as simple as being able to label a part number with a bin number for easy retrieval was taken out and put into a "warehouse" bundle with other features that we don't use, so now all that work that was put into cataloging our parts has been erased. I was considering keeping these add-ons, but their serial number system doesn't work very well at all. I continually had to reach out to support to get them to fix things, but that often involved a lot of head scratching on their part and then instructing me to basically undo a redo completion of certain tasks to get a desired outcome (which didn't always work). I think these add-ons are overpriced—you can get serial number tracking from Zoho for $80/month, but they expect us to pay $199/month for just an add-on. If their add-on features worked reliably I might have continued paying. I am currently trying other platforms, and I will be ditching this vendor as soon as I am able.

Pros:

Before using Katana, I was doing everything manually. I can't express how reliant I have become on MRP software.

Cons:

They have increased prices by 523% since we started using this service. Bugs are ever-present, and they take existing features away to put behind a behind a paywall.

Great choice for small manufacturer

Comments: I tried several different MRPs before settling with Katana. Some were too clunky, others too expensive, complicated and elaborate. I felt a bit like Goldilocks. Katana was just right. Reasonably priced. Integrating with Quickbooks and Shopify was simple and efficient. The set up was fast. I no longer have to duplicate data entry onto multiple systems. This saves me times and I don't lose track of orders or inventory. I especially like the instant chat feature with their customer service reps. I can leave a quick message or screenshot of a problem and within a day or so, I have a response back and my problem resolved. No need to hire an expensive consultant, anyone could set up Katana and run it.

Pros:

Very simple user-interface Was able to set it up quickly and efficiently Continual feature upgrades Simple integration with Shopify & QuickBooks Very responsive customer service Detailed, but not overwhelming

Cons:

The upload from Excel was clunky and not helpful. It was faster to just enter in the data directly. There are features I look forward to having but that are not currently available. I know their team will be releasing them in the next year.

Katana is great!

Pros:

The set up and use of Katana is super easy and user friendly! The online resources they provide are incredibly helpful. I found the Katana Academy videos the most helpful.

Cons:

Katana does not provide a way to "waste" products, however I know that Katana is currently working on implementing a program to do this. The only true complaint is that it doesn't support fractions. Our products are divided into 12 and when inputting the "recipes and boms" 1 is not divisible by 12 evenly. This makes us have to stock adjust to get proper inventory counts.

Exactly What Our Growing Business Needed.

Comments: So far, we are really liking hoe easy it was to setup and get running. The inventory management has improved the flow and processes in our company for the better.

Pros:

Ease of use, support, inventory management features, able to create builds/recipes for products (BOM), ability to upload data using Excel, integration with Quickbooks Online

Cons:

Cost, certain features do not make sense in the implementation.

Highly Recommend!

Comments: We love it. We use this app to help with our growing business. It has made it so easy to keep up with reordering and be able to manage inventory between two stores! The Katana team makes it so easy to use and offer a lot of help! Highly recommend!

Pros:

Ease of Use Easy Implementation Customer Service Reorder Options

Cons:

I wouldn't say this is a con- but we are really excited for the bar code scanning option they plan to roll out in 2021!

Working with Katana

Comments: Ive tried lots of other systems - ugly ones, expensive ones, and completely confusing ones. Katana wins hands down. And without charging you lots of extra fees to do things like multiple locations.

Pros:

Its very very easy to use. Having used other systems, like inFlow, it has refreshing clean visually cued interface. Its very satisfying to use.

Cons:

Very little - I would ask why they dont allow non-stock items to be a thing (we cant be the only ones!) - we have to make up that we have 1000s of imaginary non-stock items to keep the system happy. But its a tiny weeny gripe and has very little bearing on anything.

The best app ever!

Pros:

I love the simplicity of Katana and the ease of inventory management. This software has saved us so much time and offers way more than other products we looked into. For a small business with lots of moving parts and inventory to manage, Katana makes everything a breeze.

Cons:

N/a, Katana meets and exceeds all our needs!

The simplest mrp system.

Comments: We can easy to get COGS, quickly in make decision for make or buy.
Implement is simple and quickly .

Pros:

Clear process: Order fulfillment, Purchasing, Manufacturing and Inventory Control.

Cons:

Don't have kitting BOM (Combo product). Format of Currency is bad, it's difficult to read.

Love the functionality!

Pros:

This software is very user friendly compared to some other, more detailed programs.

Cons:

I had some issue with the conversions during the product builds, so I am not sure if you could have multiple conversions for a product.

Love it!

Comments: We LOVE this app! We had to work out some kinks the in the beginning based on our needs but Katana's representatives were very helpful and we got it all figured out.

Pros:

It's helped us streamline inventory management, manufacturing orders and inventory orders. Highly recommend!

Cons:

It was a significantly more money than what we were paying with our old system but the extra money has been so worth it for us.

Best MRP/inventory manager for small business

Comments: Overall, I'm very happy with Katana. Even though I run a small business and the price is relatively high for me, it's still well worth it. Adding new orders is quick and simple, but more importantly, I can instantly see if I have all the required resources at hand. Even if I have a few dozen pending orders, their coloured chart makes it so easy to quickly see if there are any issues.

Pros:

Very easy to use without cluttered interface. This was my biggest selling point when comparing Katana to other similar products. Everything is so well organised and easy to glance over, while still offering nearly everything that I need for myself. I also like that any changes in the inventory are immediately reflected in open orders. This is true for everything that I've used so far; as soon as I make a change in one area, it instantly reflects in all others as well.

Cons:

I'm missing one feature, but it's more due to the specific nature of my business. It would be great if I could organize my inventory not just by total combined weight, but broken down into individual units as well. For example, if my order requires 500g of plastic in one piece, but I have two separate pieces of 250g each, Katana will show that I have enough resources, even though I can't fill my order since I need one unbroken piece. I've already got in touch with their support about this and they've said my request was put on their wish list, so I'm fairly confident it will eventually get implemented.

Katana boosted our confidence as new business owners!

Comments: Great! Service has been very helpful, and we’ve been able to do everything we need to do. Looking forward to seeing Katana grow and deploy more functions!

Pros:

Inventory and order management systems were relatively new to us when we started with our company. We evaluated and tested several web-based tools and Katana was by far the most user friendly. The interface is clean and initiative, which helped us to get up and running quickly and confidently.

Cons:

There are some features and reporting that we would like to have that haven’t been rolled out yet (particularly around customer information) and we spent time tinkering around and then ultimately asking customer support about it. They have been very helpful and we are waiting for the enhancements.

Food Manufacturing ERP system

Comments: So far the experience has been very good. I have had a few issues with the initial implementation fee which is mandatory and in my opinion expensive for what you get. I do receive some feedback, but sometimes it takes a while to receive it.

Pros:

I loved the user interface and the ease of working with the system. The system is very intuitive and with the instructional videos you can pretty much pick up the basics very quickly. I love the way that you can upload information through Excel and the system is flexible with the upload. Also the seamless integration with Quickbooks online is very nice.

Cons:

One of the features that is missing, but they are working on it, is sales forecasting by SKU. This would be a great feature to add as it will allow us to add our expected sales for each SKU and have the system forecast demand. Another issue is when you have a price rule for a client in QuickBooks Katana has no way to see this, so when the invoice is pushed to QuickBooks you have to go through each individual line to accept the price rule. Not a game changer, but a bit of a hassle.

Great MRP tool, some flaws but very responsive and receptive customer service and dev team

Comments: Great MRP for small manufacturers. I find that Katana saves a lot of time and makes it easy to track inventory. Saves me many "counting" trips to different locations.

Pros:

Super easy to use, pricing is more clear and streamlined than when we started. Support is great; not always the quickest but 1-2 days usually gets us a thorough and well covered answer to our questions. You can send them suggestions and they will tally in to their dev schedule. Saves a lot of time and nice to be able to access it from any computer.

Cons:

There currently (2020) is no option to add fixed costs to POs. This makes tracking cost of inventory a little tougher. I also cannot edit PO templates. Having these features would make cost tracking and insurance claims easier. There is also no support for contractor per unit manufacturing but a simple way to get around this would be to set contractor tasks and payment by the hour and make each unit take 1 hour to finish. This does though make it difficult to track time if you need to track how long production will take. Fortunately we have a good idea of how long something will take without the help of Katana.

Great for small but growing handmade biz!

Pros:

Just completed the free 14 day trial of Katana and have now begun a paid subscription. It took a few days and a bit of frustration to manually add all our products, ingredients, recipes, and current pending wholesale orders from outside of shopify, but having the shopify integration helped a lot. We use three different wholesale platforms (Faire, tundra & Abound), none of which offer automated third party integrations, so we knew we’d have to manually input orders and Katana serves that purpose as our centralized dashboard to see what needs to go out, when, from which platform, if we have it in stock, when we can make it, etc. In two weeks, we’ve already seen an increase in production efficiency and decrease in wholesale turnaround times now that EVERYTHING is being tracked in one place. Highly recommend Katana if you’re a maker, it’s never too early to implement automated systems in your biz!

Cons:

Glitches with accurate purchase prices showing up in overall product list. Described it to customer service and they denied it being a problem. That’s the only problem I’ve encountered so far. Tbh on customer support quality.

First time Katana user

Comments: Overall, we have been very happy with the product. There are some features we would like to see implemented, and those have been passed onto to their support team. But the value has far exceeded the cost and we are excited to get completely rolled out soon!

Pros:

The setup is quick and easy and the customer service is nothing short of excellent. We love the simple interface which makes it easy to train others on,. The Excel templates allow for bulk uploads of all of the required data categories which doesn't need to be uploaded manually.

Cons:

It could be more circular in that you sometimes have to jump back and forth within the system to complete a task. The production operation feature should allow you to set a default number of labor hours per task so that it isn't required with each manufacturing order setup.

Katana for a small manufacturer

Comments: We're still in the implementation stage, but Katana has met the majority of our business requirements with ease. It's been easy to transfer and upload data into Katana and we're feeling very confident about go live. Customer support is outstanding and they pass all improvement suggestions up to their development team for review. They embrace continuous improvement similarly to our manufacturing floor.

Pros:

The ease of building products and variants. Our products have a lot of variants, and Katana makes it very easy to manage them all simultaneously. The previous MRP system used required us to build a unique BOM for every variant, which took significant time.

Cons:

Minimum order quantity feature. Ability to reject/second quality part of a manufacturing lot. Develop an easy way to see product list not broken down into variants. Have the ability to only show certain BOM items on the shop floor app. Consumables like glue and tape don't need to be shown.

Most Intuitive MRP Ever

Comments: Overall it's simple to setup, simple to use, and while not quite polished, does everything we need in a hugely user friendly way.

Pros:

I was looking for a solution for seasonal manufacturing workers that we don't have time to get up to speed with some complex MRP - Kanata's UI is the most intuitive interface out of any MRP I was able to find. The ease of re-prioritising jobs, and the automatic stock refactoring is awesome, and the team are really, really responsive to feature ideas and issues. Seamless integrations with WooCommerce makes supplying orders to customers super easy.

Cons:

It doesn't quite have everything we need, some of which I though we're quite base (Bin Locations, Supplier Product Codes, Purchase Orders that email directly to suppliers), but all of those have work arounds, and I'm assured are planned for future development.

Inventory and Sales Simplified

Comments: Excellent. Everything about using Katana has been great. The team there walked me through the product and helped me set it up. They answer questions quickly and personally. The product is as-described and thoroughly game-changing for my business. There is strong value, we have much less waste and mistakes in our ordering now.

Pros:

I love the deep inventory tracking and that it feels like a modern app. Inventory software is typically painful to use, and Katana is a breeze. I love that Shopify sales are automatically imported and function live with Shopify, so when you fulfil an order in Shopify it automatically fulfils it in Katana. The Quickbooks integration makes generating invoices simple. You only have to do things once when you use Katana, there's no need to fill in the same info in different services over and over. Tracking inventory in Katana in multiple locations, and being able to include the ingredients of each product in the tracking is also a plus.

Cons:

When creating purchase orders, it can generate a Bill in Quickbooks. This is helpful, however I'd love to be able to create a Purchase Order in QB so that I can simply track them all.

Great for sales and quotes, not so much for inventory.

Pros:

Great user interface, very easily operable.

Cons:

Pricing is getting worse. Basic functions disappear and appear later as a paid add on for hefty monthly fee.

It's a good start

Pros:

We like having the ability to make manufacture orders so everyone involved can see what's been planned and when it's due. The ability to prioritize orders is very helpful for assigning inventory.

Cons:

Identifying products that are ready to ship on each order is cumbersome. Our customer service team has to click individually into each order to see if any items are ready to ship. There's no way to easily flip to the next order. You have to close that window & click on the next order. It would be nice if you could at least toggle between orders within an order window. We'd also love to see some kind of drop down or hover-over feature that would quickly show you if partial shipments are available.

I learned this product by using it; few hints from the online help. I decided on day one to keep it

Comments: I can now run my business without spreadsheet hell. I can actually make more product. This is not an exaggeration. I was stressed before using this software. I actually could not work out what I needed to order to satisfy our production demands.

Pros:

It answers my questions easily, what purchase orders do I need to make to satisfy the orders I have coming in. What should I work on next and when will it be ready for the customer! I can see delays in deliveries and the effect on production. It manages very complex bill of materials for our vast number of products. and it does so with a user experience that is simple and easy.

Cons:

Where there has been anything I didn't like about the software, I chat instantly to the development team and they listen, they come back to me with an instant work around; then in the longer term they have provided updates that fix the problem. They are an adorable bunch of people and really want to make this work for our busy little workshop.

MKUltra Corporation

Comments: Invaluable to the maker+vendor. No more guessing, no more surprises when material stock runs out or inventory levels are low - Katana is the second set of eyes I didn't know I needed. Worth every minute of setup, this app has not only saved my business money and time - it has saved my business, period.

Pros:

Integrates flawlessly with my Shopify store and makes managing materials and stock levels incredibly easy once everything is setup. The ability to prioritize jobs based on different criteria and rearrange them on the fly if necessary is critical for my business and Katana handles this with ease.

Cons:

Setup was a chore BUT that is really more of a good thing, because there is a LOT of data that people might not take into account when initially considering software like this. If you want to use it properly, each and every little detail needs to be accounted for and when you have hundreds of SKUs like me, it can seem like a mountain. Climb it, you'll be glad you did.