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Best Free Inventory Management Software of 2024

Free inventory software and apps can keep track of stock, but watch out for limits on features like user access and integrations.
By Hillary Crawford, Tina Orem, Karrin Sehmbi
Last updated on July 22, 2024
Edited by Sally Lauckner
Fact checked and reviewed

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Free inventory software can offer small businesses a cost-effective way to manage their stock. But you also get what you pay for. These trackers are typically light on features, so when looking for the right software, make sure it at least supports your current operations — whether you need a mobile inventory app with a barcode scanner, access for multiple employees or low stock alerts.
The best free inventory software provides some combination of these basics, with additional capabilities like multiple sales channel management and point-of-sale (POS) and e-commerce integrations. Most also offer paid inventory management software. Check those plans as well, because as your business scales, you’ll want the ability to upgrade without having to switch providers or break your budget.
Here are some of the best free inventory software products and their standout features.

Best Free Inventory Management Software

Product
Promotion
Learn more

Zoho Inventory

on Zoho Inventory's secure website

Best for Overall free inventory software

$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $39, $99, $159, $299.

14-day free trial

on Zoho Inventory's secure website

Square Inventory

on Square Inventory's secure website

Best for Free retail inventory software

$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $89 per location, custom.

30-day free trial

on Square Inventory's secure website

Sortly

Best for Free inventory app

$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $49, $149, $299, custom.

14-day free trial

SalesBinder

Best for Tracking inventory across multiple locations

$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $9, $19, $49, $99, $199, $299.

30-day free trial

Stockpile by Canvus

Best for Free inventory tracker with unlimited items and users

$0

Free.

N/A

Backbar

Best for Free bar and restaurant inventory management

$0

Additional pricing tiers per location (per month): $99, $149.

One-month free trial

of the Essential or Professional plan.

Odoo

4.0/5

Best for Free warehouse inventory management

$0

For use of a single app. Additional pricing tiers per user (per month): $31.10, $46.70.

Monthly discount

for the first 12 months.

Our pick for

Overall free inventory software

Zoho Inventory’s free plan lets you access all the core inventory management features it offers in its paid plans, just with lower limits on the number of users and things like the number of invoices, purchase orders and bills you can process. And when you outgrow the capabilities of the free plan, you have several upgrade options available.

Zoho Inventory

on Zoho Inventory's secure website

Starting at
$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $39, $99, $159, $299.

Promotion
14-day free trial

Our pick for

Free retail inventory software

Square’s retail point-of-sale (POS) system is intentionally designed for retail business owners, quick to set up, easy to navigate and packed with useful inventory features — even its free plan. Retailers can trial Square’s paid Plus plan free for 30 days and easily downgrade to the free version if preferred.

Square Inventory

on Square Inventory's secure website

Starting at
$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $89 per location, custom.

Promotion
30-day free trial

Our pick for

Free inventory app

Sortly’s highly rated free inventory app is available on iOS and Android and includes a QR and barcode scanner along with an offline mode so you can keep working within the app even without an internet connection. The free version has limits on the number of items you can manage, users who can access the account and fields you can customize for your items, but you can upgrade to one of Sortly’s paid plans as your business needs evolve.

Sortly

Starting at
$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $49, $149, $299, custom.

Promotion
14-day free trial

Our pick for

Tracking inventory across multiple locations

SalesBinder’s free inventory management software stands out for including the ability to manage inventory across multiple locations, a feature that is not always included in a free plan. The free plan also gives you access to a mobile inventory app for iOS, barcode scanning, reports and more features.

SalesBinder

Starting at
$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $9, $19, $49, $99, $199, $299.

Promotion
30-day free trial

Our pick for

Free inventory tracker with unlimited items and users

Stockpile stands out among competition in the free inventory management software space by offering not only unlimited items but also unlimited users with its “forever free” software. The software isn’t flashy by any means, but it’s a fair tradeoff for the generous lack of item, location and user limits.

Stockpile by Canvus

Starting at
$0

Free.

Promotion
N/A

Our pick for

Free bar and restaurant inventory management

If you run a single bar or restaurant location, Backbar offers a solid inventory management solution for free. It includes the ability to manage your inventory from a mobile device, integrate with popular restaurant POS systems like Toast and Square, generate vendor purchase orders and basic reports along with additional features.

Backbar

Starting at
$0

Additional pricing tiers per location (per month): $99, $149.

Promotion
One-month free trial

of the Essential or Professional plan.

Our pick for

Free warehouse inventory management

For small businesses that need to track and store inventory within a warehouse, Odoo’s inventory management software may be a good fit. The free version of the app doesn’t include the full list of features (and there are many!), but it serves as a good trial ground to test and get comfortable with using the software. You can later upgrade to a paid plan to access not only the complete set of inventory features but also Odoo’s entire library of business software applications.

Odoo

4.0
NerdWallet rating 
Starting at
$0

For use of a single app. Additional pricing tiers per user (per month): $31.10, $46.70.

Promotion
Monthly discount

for the first 12 months.

A closer look at the best free inventory management software

Zoho Inventory

Best for overall free inventory software
Why we picked it: Zoho Inventory’s free plan supports up to 50 sales orders and shipping labels per month, 20 purchase orders per month, one warehouse and one user. These limits scale as you subscribe to higher-tier plans, but the cost of its entry-level paid plan is greater than other providers. The software also integrates with a variety of online marketplaces including Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

Square Inventory

Best for retail inventory software
Why we picked it: Square for Retail’s POS software includes a wealth of inventory management features. Square’s free plan comes with an e-commerce store, and its inventory management features automatically sync stock in store and online. You need to use the Square POS and Square’s in-house payment processing, but the POS is top-rated and known for being intuitive, simple to use and affordable. If your business already uses Square POS, there’s no need to look for other inventory management options.

Sortly

Best for free inventory app
Why we picked it: Sortly’s inventory management app is easy to navigate and provides a clear overview of how many items you have in stock and their value. Inventory lists incorporate photos to make scrolling less tedious, too. You’ll have to upgrade to the most expensive plan, however, if you want to generate your own barcodes.

SalesBinder

Best for tracking inventory across multiple locations
Why we picked it: The free version of SalesBinder lets you manage inventory at an unlimited number of locations, but that’s not the only reason it’s a good solution for businesses with multiple storefronts or warehouses. The product also doubles as an invoicing software and CRM tool, centralizing other tasks adjacent to inventory management. Aside from running inventory reports, you can generate reports on aged receivables, taxes and revenue, too.

Stockpile by Canvus

Best for free inventory tracker with unlimited items and users
Why we picked it: With Stockpile’s free inventory management software, you'll be able to import and add inventory, track stock counts, accept returns and more. The software also supports images and labels for inventory items, as well as transferring inventory from one location to another. Stockpile isn’t ideal for businesses that need advanced reporting or have an online store since it doesn’t include any built-in integrations, but it can be a solid fit if you just want to keep track of a large number of items across physical locations.

Backbar

Best for free bar and restaurant inventory management
Why we picked it: In addition to enabling you to manage your inventory from a variety of iOS and Android devices and access up to six months of audit histories, Backbar’s inventory management software integrates with some of the top restaurant POS systems: Toast, Square and Clover. The free version of the software also handles purchase orders, stores digital copies of your invoices and allows you to set reminders for placing orders. Reporting is limited to the basics, just inventory and purchase reports, with the free plan.

Odoo

Best for free warehouse inventory management
Why we picked it: Odoo’s inventory app is specifically designed for warehouse inventory management and includes double-entry inventory, which enables you to easily track your stock through the full supply chain. The app allows for real-time reporting and offers a host of capabilities, including barcode scanning, inventory adjusting, dropshipping, expiration date tracking and more. The free version of the app has limited functionality and doesn’t include, for example, barcode scanning.
If you have a need for the full suite of inventory management features and/or any of Odoo’s dozens of other business apps (for finance, sales, marketing, HR and more), then you can choose a paid plan to open your access to the full library of apps that integrate seamlessly.

Best free inventory management software features comparison

Supported sales channels
Integrations
Barcode scanning
Mobile app
Zoho Inventory
Online sales, plus one physical warehouse.
Accounting and e-commerce.
Yes.
Yes.
Square for Retail
Online and in-store sales across multiple locations.
Accounting, e-commerce and POS.
Yes, but must subscribe to paid plan to print barcodes.
Yes.
Sortly
Supports multiple physical locations, but there are no built-in e-commerce integrations.
No.
Yes, but must subscribe to Ultra plan or higher to generate custom barcodes.
Yes.
SalesBinder
Supports unlimited physical locations, but must subscribe to Bronze plan or higher for e-commerce integration.
Must subscribe to Bronze plan or higher to access integrations for QuickBooks Online, Xero or WooCommerce.
Yes.
Yes, but only for iOS.
Stockpile by Canvus
Supports unlimited physical locations, but there are no built-in e-commerce integrations.
No.
No.
No.
Backbar
In-store sales; paid plan required for multiple locations.
POS.
Yes.
Yes.
Odoo
Supports multiple physical locations, though paid plan may be required; paid plan is required to access e-commerce integrations.
Odoo's Sales app and Purchase app.
Yes, but must subscribe to paid plan.
Yes.

What is free inventory software?

At a minimum, free inventory software allows you to track how much stock you have on hand at no cost. Some products also track the raw materials or parts needed to produce the finished goods. This is important because inventory is considered an asset that businesses, especially retail ones, trade it for payment. Simple inventory tracking software should let you know which items are running low and help you predict how much stock to buy, so that you can keep up with demand.
Typically, you download free inventory software online, enter your business’s details and import a list of items to get started. From there, you may be able to send purchase orders to vendors and keep track of sales orders from within the software. Integrating the free inventory app with your existing accounting software can help reduce manual data entry.

Learn more about managing inventory

Read about the different types of inventory, along with the common strategies small businesses use to efficiently track them.

How to choose free inventory management software

Consider the following factors and weigh them in the context of your business to determine which free inventory software is the right fit for your company’s needs.

Features

Free inventory trackers typically come with fewer features than paid options but typically include a combination of the following: basic reporting, low stock alerts, some digital labeling and scanning capabilities and mobile functionality.
Some free inventory products go above and beyond the basics by offering purchase order management, dropshipping options and item bundling. Make a list of the features that are most important to your business and find simple inventory software that offers at least a majority of them. However, don't expect to get everything you need for free.
Even plans with many free features come with some limitations. Zoho Inventory’s free plan, for example, puts caps on purchase orders and sales orders. If you know your business will surpass those limits, it’s probably worth subscribing to a paid plan or searching for an alternative.

Cost

Free inventory management software can fit into any business’s budget. But if a slightly more expensive inventory tracker saves you time that would otherwise be spent manually tracking your inventory — or prevents costly mistakes in ordering or tracking items — it may be worth the price in the long run.

Multichannel management

If you run a retail brick-and-mortar store along with an accompanying online shop, you’ll want a free inventory tracker that syncs inventory from both sources. To achieve that, it should integrate with your POS software and e-commerce software. Square is a good free inventory solution for this, while Stockpile by Canvus, for example, is not.

Number of users

How many people will need access to your inventory management app? Simple inventory tracking software will often have a small cap, sometimes allowing only a single user.
Be sure to include yourself and anyone filling or counting inventory, and maybe even your accountant. Any inventory management system — free or not — can be useless if the right people don’t have access. Additional users typically come at a cost and might require you to upgrade plans. While Stockpile by Canvus is rudimentary compared with some other free options, the fact that it allows an unlimited number of users is unique.

Other integrations

If your accounting software comes with its own inventory reports, it might be worth selecting a free inventory app that integrates with it. That way, you don’t have to worry about subscribing to a paid inventory management plan to access advanced reporting. There are other reasons your accounting software should be synced up with your inventory software, too: Inventory is an asset and appears on your balance sheet.
Last updated on July 22, 2024

Methodology

All of NerdWallet’s picks for best free inventory management software track inventory counts, offer basic reporting and include at least two of the following features at no cost:
• The ability to sync inventory from multiple sales channels, whether online, offline or both. • A mobile app. • Unlimited users. • Third-party integrations. • Barcode scanning. • Low stock alerts. • Purchase orders.
Some products, like Stockpile by Canvus, have an especially limited feature set but stand out for supporting things its free competitors typically do not, like unlimited items, users and locations.

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