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.
While free inventory systems are more limited than their paid counterparts, we found free options with enough tools for small businesses to get started, forever-free subscriptions with options to upgrade, cloud-based functionality, and easy-to-use interfaces.
Based on my evaluation, the six best free inventory management software for small businesses are:
- Odoo: Best overall
- Square: Best for retailers and restaurants
- Zoho Inventory: Best for large inventories
- Sortly: Best free inventory app with barcoding and scanning
- SalesBinder: Best for small international businesses
- ABC Inventory: Best for manufacturing and repair shops
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)
Here is a breakdown of the other features available in each software’s free plan:
Free Inventory Management Software Compared
Our Score (out of 5) | Users | Items/Products | Low Stock Alerts | Integrations | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.60 | Unlimited | Unlimited | ✓ | ✓ | |
4.58 | Unlimited | Unlimited | ✓ | ✓ | |
4.48 | 1 | Unlimited | ✓ | ✓ | |
3.84 | 1 | 100 | Paid plans only | ✓ | |
3.69 | 1 | 100 | ✓ | Paid plans only | |
3.36 | 1 | Unlimited | ✓ | ✕ | |
Free Inventory Management Spreadsheet
Prefer to use a spreadsheet to track your inventory for free? Download our free inventory management workbook to track on-hand stock, sales, and purchase orders (POs) as well as to calculate inventory turnover and set up low stock alerts.
Why You Can Trust Us
My editorially independent evaluation included testing 13 free inventory software, evaluating each one across 25 data points.
We regularly update this article, testing and fact-checking the software each time, and building on the expertise and first-hand experience from each contributor. Brigitte Korte and Karina Fabian contributed to the most recent versions of this guide.
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
- POS, ecommerce, and other add-ons cost extra
What’s Included for Free
- 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
Paid plans start at: $31.10 per month
Odoo, a fully open-source inventory system, takes the top spot for free inventory management 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 4.38 out of 5. The biggest drawback to Odoo is 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.
New Features & Updated Interface
In November 2023, Odoo released Odoo 17, which included a complete redesign, functionality upgrades, and many new features.
This release includes improved product catalogs, picking flow, barcode scanning features, and real-time valuation and aging reports. See the full release notes for additional upgrades.
- Double-entry inventory for better tracking
- Barcode scanning
- Delivery orders
- Multiple locations
- Repair management
- Stock transfers
- Reports include scrap and waste
- Dropshipping tools
- Custom alerts (from low-stock to product or supplier notifications)
- Customer portal
- Smart scheduler to trigger operations based on product availability
- Automated POs
- Make-to-order tracking
- Real-time valuation
- Serial number tracking
- Product variants, expiry dates, measurements, unlimited custom fields
- First-in, first-out (FIFO), average cost (AVCO) method, and standard price costing
- Multiple valuation methods
- Custom reporting
- Inventory forecasting
Some features, such as multichannel management and customer relationship management (CRM), require another Odoo app, which comes with a fee.
Odoo’s Standard plan starts at $31.30 per month, per user. This plan includes access to all of Odoo’s apps, including:
- Website
- Ecommerce
- CRM
- Point of Sale
- Accounting
- Invoicing
- Maintenance
- Manufacturing
- Employees
- Email Marketing
- Field SErvice
- Appointments
- VOIP
And more
Odoo offers many business solutions in addition to inventory. In fact, Odoo makes our lists of:
- 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 & Restaurant 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
- Only integrates with Square POS and Square Payments
- Cannot create POs in free plan
What’s Included for Free
- 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
Paid plans start at: $60 per month for Restaurants, $89 per month for Retail
30-day free trial for paid plans
Square is best known for its POS capabilities for retailers and restaurants, landing it at the top of our lists of the best POS systems, leading free POS systems, best POS systems for retailers, and top-recommended free restaurant POS system. However, Square 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.
And with Square for Restaurants, you get menu management, order management, ingredient level tracking, online order and delivery management, and more.
Did you know? Every Square account comes with access to Square Online, Square’s ecommerce website builder.
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.
Launched July 2023
Previously, we highlighted Square’s lack of kitting abilities. However, last July, Square added a kitting and bundling feature to Square for Retail that allows you to create, sell, and track item bundles with multiple components.
The free version of Square’s retail POS doesn’t include advanced inventory tools like automatic POs, cost of goods sold (COGS) tracking, or smart stock forecasts. For Restaurants, the biggest things left out of the free plan are the mobile app/mobile selling and advanced reporting.
If you find yourself needing any of these tools, consider upgrading to Square for Retail Plus for $89 per month per location, or Square for Restaurants Plus for $60 per month, per location.
You can check out our Square for Retail and Square for Restaurants review to learn more, or visit Square to sign up.
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
What’s Included for Free
- 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
Paid plans start at: $39 per month with monthly billing
Discounts available with annual payment
Add-ons start at: $3 per month per user
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.
Fall 2023 Zoho Inventory Pricing Change
Sometime during the fall, Zoho quietly changed its pricing plans to introduce a new, less expensive subscription option. Previously, the first subscription tier started at $79 per month. Now, there is a $39 per month plan. However, Zoho also the number of free users from two to one. This lowered Zoho’s score slightly.
- Shipments module: Shipments have been moved from Packages for easier access
- Custom tabs in the client portal
- More customization tools
- Creating and assigning tasks
- Separate module of Purchase Receives
- Document attachment to shipments
- More shipping tools
- Ecommerce integrations with Shopify and Zoho ecommerce
- Serial and batch tracking
- Receive and make payments for orders and purchases via Stripe
- Item grouping and bundling
- Process returns
- Sales order management
- Invoicing
- Add and track customers
- Packaging and shipping
- Add credits to customer accounts and set credit limits
- Track shipments
- Create POs
- Barcode scanning
- Client portal
- Back orders and drop shipments
- Integrates with Shopify, Etsy, eBay, and Amazon
- PO templates
- Mobile app: 4.5 out of 5 on Android; 4.7 out of 5 on iOS
- SKU generator
- Set automated reorder points
Unlike Square, Zoho’s free plan limits users, locations, monthly sales orders, shipping labels, and shipment tracking.
If you need to track multiple warehouses, support multiple currencies, and perform custom views for your workflows, then you’ll need to upgrade to a paid tier.
The base plan starts at $39 a month with a 300 monthly order limit, three users, and two warehouses. Additional warehouses cost $10 per month, and additional users are priced at $3 per month. Higher tiers include batch and serial number tracking and automated workflows, in addition to more sales orders.
Sortly: Best Free Inventory App
Pros
- Built-in barcode scanning that supports quick response (QR) codes
- Can manage multiple warehouses
- Has offline mode, allowing you to scan incoming and outgoing items even without internet access
Cons
- Low stock alerts only in paid plans
- No kitting capabilities
- No integration capabilities
What’s Included for Free
- Users: One
- Location: Unlimited
- Items/products: 100
- Transactions: Unlimited
- Support: Knowledge base, tutorials, and email
- Integrations: None
Paid plans start at: $49 per month
Discounts available with annual payment
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 3.84 out of 5. The absence of low-stock alerts, POs, item limits, plus its lack of integration capabilities in the free plan prevented Sortly from earning high scores. However, Sortly user interface is cloud-based and modern, setting it apart from ABC Inventory.
- Add custom tags and notes
- In-app scanner
- File items into categorical folders
- Barcode auto lookup
- Bulk editing details
- Scan and connect third-party barcodes
- Basic comma-separated values (CSV) file and PDF reports
- Quick action scanner (check-in/out items)
- Support: help center, tutorials, and weekly onboarding seminars
- Add custom fields (limited to one)
- Attach up to eight photos per item
Sortly provides in-depth access to its barcode scanning system even on its free plan. However, upgrading to its Ultra plan ($149 per month) will allow you to have API integrations, generate custom barcodes, and use external/handheld scanners. The less expensive Advanced Plan ($49 per month) has low-stock alerts and more entries and custom fields. For already established businesses with existing systems and software, I would recommend signing up for one of Sortly’s paid plans.
SalesBinder: Best for Small International Businesses
Pros
- Available in over 130 countries
- CRM included
- Barcode documents and items
- Paid plans are affordable
Cons
- No included integrations in free plan
- Limited items
- Low-rated mobile app; iOS only
What’s Included for Free
- 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.
Paid plans start at: $9 per month
30-day free trial for paid plans
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.
- 130 countries
- Language customization for documents
- Real-time inventory tracking by location
- Barcode generation and scanning
- Five photos per item description
- Reports (additional fee for profit analysis)
- Unlimited locations
- API access
- CRM
- Kitting/bundling
- Invoicing
- Custom fields
- Place sales orders
- Item variations
- Estimates
- Inventory and sales reports
- Place PO
- Vendor management
- Stock transfers
- Create packing lists
- Shipment tracking
- iOS Mobile app: 2.7 out of 5 in the app store
- Set user permissions
- Create and manage prospective custom
SalesBinder’s free plan does not allow integrations—look at Zoho or Odoo for that. Its free plan also limits monthly records, which it counts as inventory items, accounts, or orders—no other inventory tracker on our list sets limits this way.
However, SalesBinder’s paid plans are among the most affordable we’ve seen. The paid plans range from $9 per month (for one user, 2,500 records, and no integrations) to $99 per month (for 100,000 records, 50 users, and unlimited integrations).
ABC Inventory: Best Free On-premise Inventory Software for Manufacturers & Repair Shops
Pros
- Includes repairs, leasing, and asset management
- Multiple languages and currencies
- Supports kitting
- Supports kitting Includes manufacturing functions like machine assembly orders and parts consumption
- No mobile app
Cons
- PC-only
- Older, more complex interface
- Forum customer assistance only
What’s Included for Free
- Users: One
- Location: Unlimited
- Items/products: Unlimited
- Transactions: Unlimited
- Support: Forum
- Integrations: None
Paid plans start at: $435 (one-time fee)
Although a locally installed system with an older interface, ABC Inventory by Almyta Systems offers an excellent choice for budget-conscious manufacturers or repair shops with simple needs. It has features like unlimited custom fields, 10 custom drop-down lists for extra properties, and up to 20 levels in its bill of materials (BOM).
ABC Inventory offers dozens of features specifically for manufacturing inventory, such as work orders, approvals, repair and maintenance orders, and special serials for manufacturing or engineering. Neither Zoho nor Square come equipped with these manufacturing-specific tools.
In our evaluation, ABC Inventory earned 3.36 out of 5. It did well in pricing because it lets you track unlimited products by location.
- Unlimited companies, warehouses, locations, currencies, logos
- Multiple languages with translations (pop-up or in-field)
- Export data to Microsoft Excel, Word, HTML, and text
- Warehouse appointments, invoicing, shipping
- Positive/negative adjustments
- Barcode scanning
- Inventory repairs
- Inventory leasing
- Forecasting
- Fast browse and advanced search
- Create sales and shipping orders
- Work orders
- Tangible and intangible asset management
- Create and manage warehouse appointments
- Port-to-port operations
- Manage repairs and leases
- Create and manage work orders
- Submit and manage purchase orders
ABC Inventory’s free version comes with every tool, making it a great option for a small business with a single workplace. However, you need the paid version if you want to use the software across multiple workstations.
You will also need to purchase one of Almyta Systems’ licenses if you want customer support of any kind. Purchased licenses also include free add-ons and lifetime updates.
In our evaluation, ABC Inventory took a huge hit in ease of use for its dated interface and lack of live customer support. The software can only be installed on PCs and cannot integrate with any other programs automatically. If you need an option with more included integrations, Square is your best bet.
Methodology: How I Evaluated Free Inventory Software
As I mentioned above, I evaluated 13 free inventory software across 26 data points. My colleagues, including Brigitte Hodge and Karina Fabian, have also evaluated these systems in the past, and this guide builds on their findings.
In this update, I only considered forever-free inventory systems that also offer paid versions or add-ons at a price suited for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). I 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 my evaluation criteria.
40% of Overall Score
Having a forever-free plan was a must. I 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. Sortly had the lowest score of the options that made my list, because its free plan only includes one user and products are capped at 100.
25% of Overall Score
I looked for real-time tracking, low stock alerts, multilocation and warehouse tracking, mobile apps, and granular inventory tools like kitting and assembly. I also considered whether they provide POs, vendor, 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. I 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. ABC Inventory did not perform well here, earning a 1.5 out of 5 because it is locally installed, only available on PCs, and does not offer support for its free plan. Plus, the software has a dated and complex interface.
20% of Overall Score
I reviewed the overall quality of each system’s features, any standout elements not otherwise accounted for. Then I considered my own experience testing the software, as well as the experiences and feedback from my colleagues, and those of real-world users. Zoho, Square, and Sortly all fared well here with a 4.69.
How to Choose the Best Free Inventory Management Software
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 should be able to 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 up 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 a 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 will be able to 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 setting 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, at least a little bit.
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 my review, I 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.