Katana MRP alternative for plants that need the schedule, not another inventory system
ProductionPlanning.ai is a Katana MRP alternative for manufacturers who have the stock and still ship late. Katana is an inventory platform first: Core starts at 299 USD a month, manufacturing routings are a 199 USD add-on, and sales orders are billed by usage on top. We schedule every work center against its real shifts, from 149 USD per plant a month, with unlimited users and nothing added on. The comparison below is honest, including where Katana is the better buy.
Why plants go looking for a Katana MRP alternative
Katana is a well built cloud system and it is very good at what it was designed for: keeping stock right across sales channels. Most people who land on a comparison page are not unhappy with Katana's quality. They have noticed that it was built around inventory, and their problem is time on the machines.
- Manufacturing routings and operations sit in a 199 USD a month add-on, not in the Core plan
- The bill moves with sales order volume, so a good month costs more
- Katana plans by material availability and order priority, with limited finite capacity scheduling
- It does not tell you which work center is the bottleneck this week
- A plant that already runs an ERP or accounting stack does not want a second inventory ledger
If two or more of those sound familiar, the question is not which MRP system to buy next. It is whether your late orders come from missing material or from a schedule that assumes the machines have unlimited hours.
Katana MRP vs ProductionPlanning.ai, side by side
| What matters | ProductionPlanning.ai | Katana |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat per plant, unlimited users | Base plan plus add-ons plus usage, unlimited users |
| Entry price | 149 USD per plant per month | 299 USD per month for Core |
| Routings and operations | Included on every plan | Manufacturing Management add-on, 199 USD per month |
| Finite capacity scheduling | The whole product | Limited: plans by material and priority |
| Bottleneck named per week | Yes, with the orders it makes late | No |
| Setup times and changeovers | Yes, grouped automatically on Plant | Operation times on routings |
| Shop floor screens | Included on Plant | Shop Floor app, a separate add-on |
| Charges per sales order | No | Yes, billed by delivered volume |
| Inventory and multi location stock | Material shortages per order and date | Full inventory, locations, bin and barcode |
| Shopify, Amazon, QuickBooks Online, Xero | Export to your ERP or accounting system | Native integrations |
| Batch and serial traceability | No | Traceability add-on, 249 USD per month |
| Onboarding fee | None | 2,000 USD, optional |
| Best for | Plants that need the machine schedule fixed | Product brands that need stock right across channels |
Katana figures are from its published pricing page at the time of writing. Katana does not publish its per order rates or the Shop Floor app price, so ask for a quote on your own order volume before you compare.
What each one costs for a plant that schedules machines
Neither product charges per seat, so the usual per user argument does not apply here. The difference is what you have to switch on to get a production schedule, and whether the price moves with your order book.
| Setup | Katana, per month | ProductionPlanning.ai, per month |
|---|---|---|
| Base plan | 299 USD | 149 USD on Line |
| Routings and operations per work center | plus 199 USD | Included |
| Operators reporting from the floor | plus the Shop Floor app | Included on Plant at 429 USD |
| Sales order fees | Usage based, on top | None |
| Total before usage fees | 498 USD plus Shop Floor app | 149 or 429 USD |
Over a first year, a Katana account with Core and Manufacturing Management is 5,976 USD before sales order fees, the Shop Floor app and the optional 2,000 USD onboarding. Our Plant plan paid yearly is 4,290 USD with shop floor status included, and Line is 1,490 USD. Katana also notes that annual billing carries a small premium over monthly, because it absorbs usage swings, so yearly does not bring the number down there.
The honest caveat: Katana's 299 USD buys a full inventory and order system, which we do not have. If you would use all of it, the comparison is not really about price.
Why usage based pricing is awkward for a job shop
A plant that ships more orders in a strong month does not have more money to spend on software that month. It has more work to schedule. When the platform fee rises with delivered orders, the busiest weeks cost the most, and budgeting needs a forecast of your own sales. Our price is set per plant and does not move with order count; see the plans on our pricing page.
Where Katana is the better choice
We would rather you buy the right system than the wrong one from us. Pick Katana if any of these is true.
- You sell through Shopify, Amazon or WooCommerce and need stock synced to every channel
- Inventory across several locations, with bins and barcode scanning, is your daily headache
- You want sales and purchase orders, landed costs and price lists in the same system
- You need batch or serial traceability for recalls or compliance
- You want manufacturing data to flow into QuickBooks Online or Xero without an export step
- Your production is simple assembly or batch work, so material availability is the real constraint
Katana also offers a free plan capped at 30 SKUs, which is a fair way to test it on your own data. We do not run a stock ledger, we do not do purchasing and we do not sync with a web store. If those matter most, Katana wins.
Where we win
- Finite capacity on every work center and shift, including planned downtime
- Setup times per product family, with similar jobs grouped to cut changeovers
- The week's bottleneck named, with the orders it will make late and by how many days
- Alternative machines and sequencing rules you can compare before you publish a plan
- One flat price per plant: no add-ons for routings, no fee per order, no seat count
- Runs next to the inventory or ERP system you already use rather than replacing it
Plants that already keep stock in Katana, QuickBooks or an ERP and still build the week in a spreadsheet are the clearest case. See the load view on capacity planning software, or how the schedule handles changeovers on machine scheduling software.
How to add a real schedule next to Katana, or move off it
1. Export products, BOMs and operations
Katana exports items and bills of materials to CSV. Add the operation steps with their setup and run times from your routings, because that list is the part a scheduler needs.
2. Enter work centers and shifts
Add a work center per machine or cell and the shifts each one runs, with holidays and maintenance windows. This is what makes capacity finite, and it usually takes about an hour.
3. Import open manufacturing orders
Bring in open orders with quantities and due dates and run the schedule. The first run gives a projected finish date per order and names the bottleneck.
4. Decide what stays in Katana
Many plants keep Katana for stock, channels and purchasing, and move only the schedule. That is a supported setup, not a halfway house: we export the plan so dates elsewhere stay current.
Questions people ask before switching from Katana
What is the best alternative to Katana MRP?
It depends on what you use Katana for. If inventory and sales channels are the job, Cin7 or Unleashed are the like for like options, and MRPeasy adds purchasing and CRM. If your real problem is which job runs on which machine this week, a finite capacity scheduler like ProductionPlanning.ai fits better and starts at 149 USD per plant.
How much does Katana MRP cost?
Katana's Core plan starts at 299 USD a month with unlimited users and one inventory location. Manufacturing Management adds 199 USD, Traceability 249 USD and Warehouse Management 149 USD, and sales orders are billed by usage. Onboarding is 2,000 USD if you want it. The full breakdown is in our Katana MRP pricing article.
Does Katana MRP do production scheduling?
Partly. Katana prioritizes manufacturing orders and checks material availability in real time, and with the Manufacturing Management add-on it holds routings and operation times. It does not load each work center against its shift calendar the way a finite capacity scheduler does, so plants with shared machines and heavy setups often outgrow it for scheduling.
Is Katana MRP good for small manufacturers?
Yes, particularly for product brands that sell online and make in batches. Reviewers praise its interface and its Shopify and QuickBooks Online integrations. It is a weaker fit for job shops and contract manufacturers, where the constraint is machine hours rather than stock and every order follows a different routing.
Can I use a scheduler alongside Katana?
Yes. Keep stock, purchasing and sales channels in Katana, export items, BOMs, operations and open manufacturing orders, and schedule them separately. The finished plan exports back as a spreadsheet so promise dates stay consistent in both systems.
Does Katana charge per user?
No. Katana includes unlimited users on its Free, Core and Advantage plans. Its bill grows through add-ons, extra inventory locations and usage based sales order fees instead. ProductionPlanning.ai also includes unlimited users, with one flat price per plant. Compare that with MRPeasy's per seat model on our MRPeasy alternative page.
Schedule your machines for a flat price per plant
Start on the Line plan at 149 USD a month with everyone included, or run the demo on a sample week of orders first. It takes an afternoon to see your own bottleneck.
Your data stays yours. Export or delete it any time. No card to try the demo.