Best MRP Software for Small Manufacturing Businesses in 2026
MRP software isn't one-size-fits-all. Handmade and small-batch manufacturers need different things than factories with 200 employees. Here's an honest breakdown of the best options.
Most MRP software is built for a factory floor with 50 staff, an IT department, and a $50,000 implementation budget. If you’re a small-batch manufacturer — making candles, soap, jewelry, food products, or anything handmade — that’s not you. And yet the search results are full of enterprise tools that’ll bury you in features you’ll never use.
This post cuts through that. We’ll cover what MRP actually does, which tools are genuinely worth considering for small manufacturers, and — honestly — where each one fits best. That includes Craftybase, which is built for makers, not factories.
What Is MRP Software and Why Does It Matter?
MRP stands for Materials Requirements Planning. The core idea: given what you need to make, do you have the materials to make it? If not, when should you order more?
A proper MRP system handles three things:
- Bill of Materials (BOM) — the recipe for each product, listing every material and how much of each you need per unit
- Inventory tracking — what you have on hand right now, including raw materials and finished goods
- Production scheduling — when to make batches, what to make next, and how much to make before you run out of stock
When it works, MRP replaces the spreadsheet juggling that kills so many small manufacturers. You stop guessing whether you have enough wax to make 200 candles this week. The system tells you.
For a deeper primer, see our guide on what MRP is and why handmade sellers need it.
What Small Manufacturers Actually Need
Here’s where things get interesting. Enterprise MRP tools are designed around procurement cycles, work orders, machine scheduling, and multi-warehouse logistics. A candle maker with a 400-square-foot studio doesn’t need any of that.
What small-batch manufacturers typically need:
- Recipe/BOM costing — not just what goes into the product, but what it costs to make one unit at today’s material prices
- Automatic material deduction — when you record a production run, your inventory updates without manual counting
- Sales channel sync — orders flowing in from Etsy, Shopify, or Amazon, automatically reducing finished goods inventory
- COGS reporting — cost of goods sold calculated correctly for tax time, not just guessed at
- Low overhead — something you can learn in an afternoon, not a system that requires a week of training
That’s the lens we’re using to evaluate each tool below.
The Best MRP Software Options for Small Manufacturers
1. Craftybase — Best for Handmade and Small-Batch Makers
Best fit: Soap, candles, cosmetics, jewelry, food, resin, textiles, and any product made from raw materials in batches under 5,000 orders/month.
Craftybase is the only tool in this list built specifically for makers and artisan manufacturers. It’s not a watered-down version of an enterprise system — it started from scratch with the small-batch manufacturing workflow in mind.
What it does well:
Recipe costing is Craftybase’s strongest feature. You build a recipe (BOM) for each product, linking it to the materials in your inventory. When material prices change — and they do — your cost per unit updates automatically. That’s how you know whether you’re pricing your candles profitably, not guessing.
Material inventory tracks by weight, volume, length, or unit count. When you record a manufacturing run, Craftybase deducts the right quantities. No manual counting. It also flags when you’re running low on something so you can reorder before you’re stuck mid-production.
Order imports connect with Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Wix, Square, and more. When a sale comes in, your finished goods inventory drops automatically. At tax time, your COGS report is already built.
Where it fits less well: Craftybase isn’t built for complex multi-stage manufacturing (e.g., a metal fabricator with six machining steps before final assembly), large warehouse operations, or businesses with dedicated purchasing and production planning teams. If you have 20+ employees and need shift scheduling, look elsewhere.
Pricing: Starts at $24/month (Pro), up to $349/month (Growth, 5,000 order lines/month). 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
2. Katana — Best for Growing Product Businesses
Best fit: Product businesses with 5–50 employees, multiple warehouse locations, and a dedicated operations or production manager.
Katana positions itself as MRP for modern manufacturers and it does a genuinely good job for businesses that have outgrown spreadsheets but aren’t ready for a full ERP. The visual production board is clean, the integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, Xero, QuickBooks) are solid, and the onboarding is better than most enterprise tools.
What it does well: Multi-location inventory, purchase order management, manufacturing order tracking, and real-time floor-level production status. If you have a team managing production and you need everyone looking at the same data, Katana handles that well.
Where it fits less well: Katana’s pricing starts around $199/month (Starter plan, billed annually) and climbs quickly as you add users and locations. For a solo maker or a two-person team, that’s a lot. The interface is also more complex than you need if you’re making products in a home studio or small workshop.
Some Craftybase customers have come from Katana, specifically citing the cost and complexity. See our Katana comparison post if you’re evaluating that switch.
3. inFlow — Best for Small Product Businesses with Physical Locations
Best fit: Small retailers or wholesalers who also do light manufacturing — assembly, kitting, or simple product builds.
inFlow is primarily an inventory management system with manufacturing features added on. It’s well-regarded for small businesses that need purchase orders, customer invoicing, and basic BOM/assembly workflows in one place.
What it does well: Clean UI, solid mobile apps for barcode scanning and receiving, good customer and supplier management. The “light manufacturing” feature handles simple assembly work: combine components A + B + C to create finished product D, deducting inventory automatically.
Where it fits less well: inFlow’s manufacturing features are designed for assembly (combining components), not recipe-based production (where you use 150g of lavender oil and 300g of soy wax to make 6 candles). For anything with weight-based or volume-based materials, Craftybase handles the math more naturally. inFlow also doesn’t have the channel integrations that Etsy/Shopify sellers rely on.
Pricing: Starts around $149/month (Entrepreneur plan) for up to 2 users and 2 locations.
4. Fishbowl — Best for Mid-Market Manufacturers Needing QuickBooks Integration
Best fit: Established manufacturers (20–100 employees) who are heavily invested in QuickBooks and need proper MRP, work orders, and warehouse management.
Fishbowl is a well-established QuickBooks-adjacent manufacturing solution. It’s been around since 2001 and has a large user base among small-to-mid manufacturers who want their production data to flow cleanly into QuickBooks for accounting.
What it does well: Full MRP, work orders, multi-location warehouse management, barcode scanning, shipping integrations. If QuickBooks is your accounting backbone and you need manufacturing features that sync with it, Fishbowl is one of the better options.
Where it fits less well: Fishbowl is overkill — and expensive — for makers and micro manufacturers. It’s a desktop-first application (though cloud options exist). Setup requires meaningful IT involvement and often a consultant. Pricing typically starts in the $4,000–$10,000 range for a perpetual licence or $200–$400/month for cloud access, depending on users and modules. It’s not the right tool unless you’re already at a point where you need what it does.
5. MRPeasy — Best for Small Manufacturers Who Need Real MRP Scheduling
Best fit: Small manufacturers with production lines, multiple employees on the floor, and a need for formal work orders and production scheduling.
MRPeasy is one of the few tools in this list that actually does traditional MRP scheduling — demand forecasting, purchase order generation based on projected demand, capacity planning. It’s designed for companies making 50–500 different products with multi-step manufacturing processes.
What it does well: Proper MRP calculations (net requirements, planned orders), production scheduling, supplier management, quality control tracking, and basic financial reporting. For a small manufacturer running a real production line, it covers the bases without requiring a $100,000 ERP implementation.
Where it fits less well: MRPeasy’s UI is functional but not pretty. The learning curve is real. More importantly, it doesn’t have the channel integrations or recipe costing focus that Etsy and Shopify sellers need. It’s built for manufacturing companies, not for individual makers selling handmade goods online.
Pricing: Starts at $49/user/month (Starter plan). Minimum 3 users at most plans, so expect $150–$200+/month minimum.
How to Choose the Right One
Here’s a plain-language decision framework:
You’re a solo maker or small team selling handmade products online → Craftybase. Recipe costing, channel integrations, COGS reporting, and a pricing model that makes sense at the volume you’re actually doing.
You’re a growing product business with 5–25 employees, multiple warehouse locations, and a production team → Katana. More complex, more expensive, but built for that coordination challenge.
You need light assembly/kitting and good inventory management → inFlow. Solid mid-market choice if you’re not doing weight/volume-based recipes.
You’re already on QuickBooks and need proper manufacturing features at the 20–100 employee level → Fishbowl. It’s built for that situation.
You run an actual production line with multi-step processes, capacity planning, and formal work orders → MRPeasy. Real MRP for small manufacturers who need real MRP.
The honest truth: most makers and small-batch manufacturers who find this post are better served by Craftybase than by any of the other four options. Not because the others are bad — they’re genuinely good at what they do — but because they’re solving different problems at a different scale. Paying $200/month for Fishbowl or Katana when you’re making 200 candles a week is paying for a lot of features you’ll never open.
For a broader comparison of inventory systems for manufacturers, see our best inventory management systems for small manufacturers post.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is MRP software used for in small manufacturing?
MRP software — Materials Requirements Planning — helps small manufacturers track what materials they have, calculate what they need to make their products, and plan production accordingly. For small-batch makers, the most practical functions are recipe/BOM costing (what does it cost to make one unit?), material inventory tracking, and automatic stock deduction when a batch is produced. Larger businesses also use MRP for purchase order generation and production scheduling.
Is Craftybase real MRP software?
Craftybase handles the core functions that matter most for small-batch makers: bill of materials, recipe costing, material inventory tracking, production recording, and COGS reporting. It doesn't do enterprise-level capacity planning or multi-step work order scheduling — but for makers and artisan manufacturers, those aren't the problems to solve. Craftybase is purpose-built for handmade production, which means it does the things you actually need without the complexity you don't.
What's the difference between MRP and ERP software?
MRP (Materials Requirements Planning) focuses specifically on production and inventory — what you need to make your products and when to order it. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a broader category that adds accounting, HR, CRM, and other business functions into one system. ERP systems typically cost significantly more and require dedicated IT resources to implement. Most small manufacturers need MRP capabilities, not a full ERP — and many ERP implementations at small businesses fail because the scope is wrong for the team's size.
How much does MRP software cost for a small manufacturer?
It varies a lot depending on the tool and your business size. Craftybase starts at $24/month for solo makers. Mid-market tools like Katana or inFlow run $150–$300/month. Fishbowl and full-featured MRP platforms can cost $200–$400/month for cloud access or several thousand dollars for a perpetual licence. The right answer depends on your order volume, team size, and which features you actually need — paying for enterprise-grade capacity planning when you're a two-person candle studio is money that could go toward more wax.
Can I use MRP software if I sell on Etsy or Shopify?
Yes — but check which tools actually integrate with your sales channels before committing. Craftybase connects directly with Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Wix, and Square, pulling in orders automatically so your finished goods inventory stays accurate without manual entry. Most traditional MRP tools (Fishbowl, MRPeasy) are built for B2B manufacturers and don't have native Etsy or Shopify connections. If you sell primarily through online marketplaces, that integration is worth prioritising.
Do I need MRP software or just inventory software?
If you make your products from raw materials, you need MRP-style functionality — even if the tool doesn't call itself MRP. Pure inventory software tracks what you have in stock. Manufacturing software (including MRP) also tracks what goes into each product, calculates your cost per unit, and deducts materials automatically when you produce a batch. If you're buying finished goods and reselling them, basic inventory software is enough. If you're making things, you need the manufacturing layer on top.
Start with What Actually Fits
The best MRP software for your manufacturing business is the one that matches where you are right now — not where you might be in five years. Enterprise tools can always wait. The cost of underpricing your products or running out of materials mid-order can’t.
If you’re a maker who manufactures in batches, tracks materials, and needs to know your true production costs, Craftybase is worth a look. The trial is free and you don’t need a credit card to start.
