Find manufacturing software that fits your shop.
Compare MRP, inventory, batch-production and open-source tools in plain language, with the conditions behind each price spelled out.
77 verified · 17 open source or open core · every price carries a source and a date · no pay-to-rank, ever
MRP in 60 seconds
Three questions. If you already know the answers, you may not need MRP at all.
What materials do I need?
It reads your recipe or bill of materials to work out what goes into each thing you make.
How many do I need?
It subtracts what is already on your shelf and what is already on its way from a supplier.
When do I need them?
It works backwards from your due dates using supplier and production lead times.
An inventory app tells you “you have 18 pounds of wax left”. A real MRP system tells you “order 80 pounds of wax by Friday, because the supplier needs twelve days and two batches start the week after”. We only credit a product with the second when the vendor’s own documentation shows it. Today 28 published products clear that bar.
Browse by what you make
Every industry page explains the workflow and the features that make or break it.
Browse by what it is
Classified by what the evidence shows, not by what the product is called.
- Full MRP6Verified to take dated demand, net it against stock and incoming orders, explode a bill of materials, apply lead times, and produce dated buy-or-make recommendations.
- Manufacturing ERP56A broad business system (accounting, sales, purchasing) with a substantial manufacturing or planning module attached.
- Batch / process manufacturing26Built around recipes or formulas, batch runs, and lot genealogy. May or may not include full time-phased planning.
- Light manufacturing38Has bills of materials or recipes, consumes stock when you build, and tracks production, but time-phased planning is not verified.
- BOM & inventory8Tracks product structure, parts, costs, and purchasing without a complete plan-and-execute production loop.
- Planning / APS3A forecasting, constraint-planning, or scheduling engine that normally sits on top of another system that holds your transactions.
- MES / shop floor2Runs and records what happens on the floor. Execution, not planning, usually downstream of an ERP or MRP system.
- Passes all 6 planning tests28Every product whose own documentation shows dated, lead-time-offset planning, whatever its class. The Full MRP class above counts only the ones that are mainly planning tools.
- Open source & self-hosted17Every licence read from the source, not from the marketing page.
Honest comparisons
Chosen because each one teaches something, not because anyone paid.
- Katana vs MRPeasyMRPeasy documents all six of our planning tests on its $49-per-user Starter tier. Katana documents all six on its planning add-on, but its only paid plan is now custom-priced on an annual contract, and the planning add-on's price is not confirmed.
- Stocksmith vs InventoraBoth aimed at makers. One caps order lines, the other caps your material list. Which cap bites first depends on your shop.
- ERPNext vs OdooOpen source against open core. One holds nothing back; the other keeps some features, full accounting among them, for a paid edition.
- Kerno vs WherefourBoth built for formula makers who need lot traceability. One is a young product in an open, free beta, with published prices for after it ends. The other has a longer track record and will not quote you without a conversation.
How this site works
Nobody can buy a ranking
Organic results are never sold. No vendor can pay for placement, a better match score, or a Verified badge. If we ever run sponsorship, it will be labeled and separated, and it still will not move the list.
Every important claim has a link
Verified means an editor checked the field against a first-party page. The vendor's own pricing, documentation, license file or repository. It is a statement about evidence, not an endorsement.
Unknown is a real answer
When we have not found evidence, we say Unknown rather than No. Missing evidence is our gap, not the product's failing, and we publish the list of what we still want to confirm on every record.
The real price, not the headline
Where the advertised price excludes the manufacturing capability you came for, we show both numbers and explain the gap. Stocksmith and PartsBox, for example, cost about five times their headline price once you need lots or traceability.
Read the full methodology, including the six Full MRP tests →