The best inventory management software, whether used on its own or with a point-of-sale (POS) system, should make it easy for businesses to track products, tools, and assets from production to sale. If you aren’t ready to invest in an inventory management system, consider the free options we explore in this guide. Based on our evaluation, the six best free inventory management software for small businesses are as follows:
- Odoo Inventory: Best overall
- Square: Best for retailers
- Zoho Inventory: Best for large inventories
- Sortly: Best free inventory mobile app
- Backbar: Best for restaurants and bars
- SalesBinder: Best for small international businesses
While free inventory control software for small businesses are more limited than their paid counterparts, the free options we found have enough tools for small businesses to get started, forever-free subscriptions with options to upgrade, cloud-based functionality, and easy-to-use interfaces.
All the products that made our list had to include the following features in their free plans:
- Real-time tracking
- Inventory counts
- Barcode scanning
- Granular inventory (variants, modifiers)
- Basic reports
- Customer shipping information
- Knowledge base
- Unlimited locations (except for Zoho, which is limited to one location and one Shopify store)
Free Inventory Management Software Compared
Our Score (out of 5) | Users | Items/Products | Low Stock Alerts | Integrations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.6 | Unlimited | Unlimited | âś“ | âś“ |
 | 4.58 | Unlimited | Unlimited | âś“ | âś“ |
 | 4.48 | 1 | Unlimited | âś“ | âś“ |
 | 3.94 | 1 | 100 | Paid plans only | âś“ |
 | 3.93 | Unlimited | Unlimited | âś“ | âś“ |
 | 3.69 | 1 | 100 | âś“ | Paid plans only |
Why You Can Trust Fit Small Business
The Fit Small Business Editorial Policy is driven by our company mission to “deliver the best answers to people’s questions.” This involves thorough research and expertise to provide accurate, clear, and authoritative information to meet our audience’s needs.
I have over five years of order and payment processing experience and have been evaluating, testing, and writing about POS and payment solutions, including inventory management software, for over two years.
You can learn more about my specific evaluation of free inventory management software in the methodology section below.
See my full methodology below
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Odoo: Best Overall Free Inventory Management Software
Pros
- Unlimited products & locations
- Automated purchase orders (POs)
- Inventory forecasting
- Custom reporting, alerts, and automations
Cons
- Limited customer support
- Limited integrations
- Extra fees for POS, ecommerce, and other add-ons
Overview
Odoo, a fully open-source inventory system, takes the top spot for free small business inventory software because it offers so much in its free plan―even automated POs and expiration date tracking. It’s also completely unlimited, making it great for small businesses with huge inventories.
Odoo earned 4.6 out of 5. The biggest drawback to Odoo is that it only has email and forum support, along with training videos. Most other systems on this list offer live support. Real-world customers like Odoo, but it does not rate as highly as Square or Zoho.
- Users: Unlimited
- Locations: Unlimited
- Items/Products: Unlimited
- Transactions: Unlimited
- Support: Community and knowledge base
- Integrations: Odoo apps, shipping apps, and application programming interface (API); will connect you to ecommerce apps
- Mobile app: 3.4 out of 5 on Android, 2.7 out of 5 on iOS
Other Free Features | |
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When to upgrade to a paid plan
- If you need to use other Odoo apps, such as those for accounting or ecommerce
- If you need customizations
Paid plans start at $31.10 per month
Paid Features | |
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Odoo offers many business solutions in addition to inventory and it makes our lists of the following:
- Best Overall Inventory Management Software
- Best Open Source POS
- Best Warehouse Inventory Software
- Best Open Source CRM
- Best Inventory Software that Integrates with QuickBooks
Square: Best Free Retail Inventory Software
Pros
- Unlimited products, including variations
- Free, industry-specific POS systems for both retailers and restaurants
- Integrated payments with Square Payments
- Syncs across online, in-store, and mobile sales
Cons
- No custom reporting
- Integration with Square POS and Square Payments only
- Unable to create POs in free plan
Overview
Square is best known for its POS system for retailers and restaurants, but it also offers incredible inventory management tools in all of its POS accounts. With every Square for Retail account, retailers get live inventory tracking as they make sales, ecommerce integrations, mobile capabilities, POS, order management, product variants, and more.
With Square for Restaurants, you get menu management, order management, ingredient level tracking, online order and delivery management, and more.
Square earned an overall score of 4.58 out of 5 on our evaluation, just below Odoo, which has more features for inventory management itself. Square, however, earned excellent scores for ease of use, pricing, and value.
Like Zoho, Square has an excellent mobile app, where you can conduct sales and also scan items and perform inventory counts.
- Users: Unlimited
- Locations: Unlimited
- Items/Products: Unlimited
- Transactions: Unlimited
- Support: Phone, knowledge base, email, and tutorials
- Integrations: Shipping, restaurant management, website builders, scheduling, marketing, health management, and service business apps
- Mobile app: 4.7 out of 5 on Android, 4.8 out of 5 on iOS
Other Free Features | |
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When to upgrade to a paid plan
- If you need to create product bundles
- To print barcode labels
- If you need stock forecasting
- For vendor management and to automate purchase orders
Paid plans start at $69 per month for Restaurants, $89 per month for Retail (30-day free trial for paid plans)
Paid Features | |
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Square POS, along with Square for Retail and Square for Restaurants, are among our most popular POS providers for small businesses. They regularly rank among our lists of:
- Best POS Systems
- Leading Free POS Systems
- Best POS Systems for Retailers
- Top-recommended Free Restaurant POS Systems
Zoho: Best Free Software for Managing Large Inventories
Pros
- Excellent mobile app
- Barcode, shipping, and PO generators
- Dropshipping tools
- Ecommerce integrations
Cons
- Sale and purchase order limits
- Lacks Bill of Material (BOM), pick lists, or bin ID support
- No forecasting, only supports FIFO costing
Overview
Zoho Inventory’s free plan came in third because it allows for unlimited products, has a strong range of integrations, and features like low stock alerts, kitting, and bundling options.
It also has shipping tools, allowing you to print packing slips and generate discounted shipping labels from major logistics providers like the United States Postal Service (USPS) and UPS right from your dashboard.
We rated Zoho Inventory 4.48 out of 5. It’s easy to use and has high real-world user ratings for its online program and its mobile apps. Plus, Zoho CRM software surpasses Odoo’s free plan.
- Users: One
- Locations: One + One Shopify Store
- Items/Products: Unlimited
- Transactions: 50 orders per month
- Support: Chat, forum, email, and knowledge base
- Integrations: Ecommerce, shipping, payment gateways, accounting, CRM, API, and others
- Mobile app: 4.7 out of 5 on Android; 4.7 out of 5 on iOS
Other Free Features | |
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When to upgrade to a paid plan
- If you have more than one user
- If you handle more than 50 invoices and 50 purchase orders per month
- To generate barcodes
Paid plans start at $39 per month with monthly billing
(Discounts available with annual payment)
Paid Features | |
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Zoho offers a suite of different products for various small business needs. Some of its software are included in our list of the following:
- Best Jewelry Inventory Software
- Best Sales Forecasting Software Tools
- Best Ecommerce CRM Software
- Best Ecommerce Accounting Software
Sortly: Best Free Inventory App
Pros
- Built-in barcode scanning that supports quick response (QR) codes
- Able to manage multiple warehouses
- Offline mode
Cons
- Low stock alerts only in paid plans
- No kitting capabilities
- No integration capabilities
Overview
Sortly is a cloud-based inventory management platform that provides activity tracking, multilocation tracking, barcoding, and audit trails. Its noteworthy feature, however, is its built-in barcode and QR scanner mobile app that works even in offline mode.
You can scan incoming and outgoing inventory even when your phone app doesn’t have a signal—Sortly will sync automatically as soon as you’re back online. Its offline abilities paired with its multilocation tracking make Sortly ideal for on-the-go inventory management across multiple locations. Note that Zoho also has an offline mode to its mobile app, but Sortly offers inventory for multiple locations.
On our inventory management evaluation, Sortly scored 3.94 out of 5. The absence of low-stock alerts, POs, and item limits, plus its lack of integration capabilities in the free plan prevented Sortly from earning high scores.
- Users: One
- Location: Unlimited
- Items/Products: 100
- Transactions: Unlimited
- Support: Knowledge base, tutorials, and email
- Integrations: None
- Mobile app: 4.1 out of 5 on Android; 4.7 out of 5 on iOS
Other Free Features | |
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When to upgrade to a paid plan
- If you have more than one user
- If you have more than 100 products to upload
- To create barcodes and QR codes
- To receive low-stock alerts
Paid plans start at $49 per month (Discounts available with annual payment)
Paid Features | |
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Backbar: Best Free Inventory Management Software for Restaurants & Bars
Pros
- Unlimited items
- Specialized features for restaurants and bars
- One-click purchasing
Cons
- More detailed reports are only available on the free plans
- No forecasting tools
- Priority support on paid plans only
Overview
Backbar’s free plan is well-suited for one-location small to midsize bars and restaurants that need a straightforward, dedicated solution for managing their inventory and menu items. The free plan offers essential inventory management tools and purchasing functionality. It comes with a preexisting database of alcohol products and beverages, and it supports offline inventory mode.
Its higher-paid plans offer more advanced tools such as unlimited recipe builder, recipe costing and pricing, cost variance alerts, priority support, specific user permissions, and detailed custom reports.
- Users: Unlimited
- Location: 1
- Items/Products: Unlimited
- Transactions: Unlimited
- Support: Knowledge base, tutorials, and email
- Integrations: Toast, Square, Clover
- Mobile app: 3.1 out of 5 on Android; 3.5 out of 5 on iOS
Other Free Features | |
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When to upgrade to a paid plan
- If you have more than one location
- If you need to store more than 10 recipes
- To compute costs per recipe
- To set specific user permissions
Paid plans start at $99 per month (Discounts available with annual payment)
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SalesBinder: Best for Small International Businesses
Pros
- Available in over 130 countries
- CRM included
- Barcode documents and items
- Affordable paid plans
Cons
- No integrations in free plan
- Limited items
- Low-rate mobile app; iOS only
Overview
SalesBinder offers excellent inventory software that works in more than 130 countries and a wide array of currencies. Its intuitive interface also includes lots of room for customization, so you can make it work how you need it to, wherever you are in the world.
Overall, SalesBinder scored 3.69 out of 5 in our evaluation. It performed well in the inventory features, expert score, and user experience categories. SalesBinder could’ve scored better if it had no product or user limits and allowed integrations in its free plan and if the mobile app scored better in user reviews. For large inventories, consider Odoo, Square, or Zoho.
- Users: One
- Location: Unlimited
- Items/Products: 100 active records (includes items, accounts, and orders)
- Transactions: Unlimited
- Support: Email and knowledge base
- Integrations: Paid plans only. QuickBooks, Xero, WooCommerce, Zapier, and more.
- Mobile app: No Android app; 2.7 out of 5 on iOS
Other Free Features | |
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When to upgrade to a paid plan
- If you have more than 100 items/products
- If you have more than one user
*Paid plans start at $9 per month (30-day free trial for paid plans)
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How to Choose the Best Free Inventory Management System
You can choose from a number of free inventory management software options—to find a solution that matches your business, assess your needs, current systems, and future plans for growth. Make sure to test the systems as well.
Step 1: Determine Your Needs
Create a list of your must-have features. This should include the number of users, products, orders, and locations the software could accommodate on its free plan.
For this list, also consider the type of inventory you’re tracking and what other information you need to track alongside it—variants, purchase orders, vendor information, individual parts, location within your warehouse, sales or use history, etc. This is where you may need to break your list into must-haves and nice-to-haves. After all, we’re looking at free software, so there will be some limitations. Just consider what you are and aren’t willing to compromise on.
If the answer is you don’t want to compromise on anything, consider choosing paid inventory software. There are many options for under $100 per month.
Step 2: Consider Any Existing Systems & Software
If you have any existing software, like QuickBooks, an online store, or an order or invoicing system, ideally, your new inventory software can work with it. Having data stored in two systems that don’t talk to each other can result in a lot of time spent manually reconciling records and opening yourself up to a lot of potential human error.
Your inventory software should at least have a one-way push or pull integration (where your inventory data will sync with your other systems, or your other systems will sync with your inventory system); even better would be a two-way sync where data is automatically pushed between both systems.
Related: Best Inventory Software that Integrates with QuickBooks
In addition to software, consider any workflows or procedural systems you may have in place. For example, your inventory receiving process, counting cycles, reporting, or restocking process. Your new software should make these workflows easier—not require you to do additional manual data collection or construct workarounds.
Step 3: Create a Shortlist & Test for Yourself
Once you know what features you need and how they should fit into your day-to-day operations, consider five to 10 systems that meet your basic requirements. Then, depending on your preference, either sign up and test-drive each software for yourself or inquire about a professional demonstration.
One of the benefits of free software is that anyone can sign up and use it, so you have nothing to lose by trying it out.
In my years of testing software, the general trend I’ve noticed is that the easier it is to use, the more limited it may be in terms of features or customization capabilities. On the other hand, incredibly feature-rich software can often have a steep learning curve. Consider which is more important to you—after all, a fancy feature is only helpful if you’re actively using it.
Step 4: Take into Account Future Growth
Finally, before settling on a software, consider where your business will be six months, a year, and three years from now. While you can always switch inventory systems, it is a giant pain to do so. Try to choose a software that can grow with you.
Methodology: How We Evaluated Free Inventory Software
We compared 15 of the best free inventory tracking software across 26 data points. The options we considered are forever-free inventory systems that also offer paid versions or add-ons at a price suited for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). We also prioritized software that is cloud-based and easy to use, and sought out software that can cater to a wide variety of industries—not just retail.
Click through the tabs below for a more detailed breakdown of our evaluation criteria.
40% of Overall Score
Having a forever-free plan was a must. We also prioritized software that includes pricing plans and add-on options to grow with your business and awarded points to systems that provide unlimited users and inventory items in their free plans.
Odoo was the only software to receive a perfect score here. SalesBinder and Sortly had the lowest scores because their free plan only includes one user and products are capped at 100.
25% of Overall Score
We looked for real-time tracking, low stock alerts, multilocation and warehouse tracking, mobile apps, and granular inventory tools like kitting and assembly. We also considered whether they provide POs, vendors, and centralized multichannel management.
Odoo and Zoho tied for the highest scores here, each earning a 4.5.
15% of Overall Score
The biggest factor for this portion of the evaluation is how easy the software is to use, from setup to day-to-day use. We looked for intuitive features and navigation, compatibility across devices, as well as the availability and quality of customer support.
Square and Zoho excelled here with 4.75 out of 5 each because of their user-friendly interface, multiple integrations, and online help documents.
20% of Overall Score
We reviewed the overall quality of each system’s features and any standout elements not otherwise accounted for. Then we considered our own experience testing the software, as well as the experiences and feedback of real-world users. Zoho, Square, and Sortly all fared well here with a 4.69.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some of the most common questions I encounter about free inventory management software.
Yes, Excel or any spreadsheet software can be used to manage inventory. However, it is best for individuals or small businesses with very simple tracking needs.
Possibly! If you’re just starting out, free inventory software is great for getting a sense of what your business needs are before investing in a software that may or may not work for your business.
Also, if you just need to do basic quantity tracking, a spreadsheet can easily fulfill this need.
Certain QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and QuickBooks Enterprise plans include inventory management features like automated stock-level tracking, cost of goods, purchase order creation, and vendor management.
Bottom Line
In our review, we found Odoo to be the best free inventory management software for small businesses. Its open-source, totally free system works great for small or large inventories and multiple locations, and it has an excellent set of features. You can even integrate it with your other software. Visit Odoo and try it for free today.