If you make what you sell on Shopify, an "inventory app" is probably the wrong thing to shop for. Shopify already counts finished stock well, and in 2026 it took over the jobs a separate app used to do. What you need is a costing app: something that knows a candle is 6.4 ounces of soy wax, a wick, a jar and a lid, and uses those up when you make or sell the candle. The two kinds of app look identical in the Shopify App Store. Pick the wrong kind and you pay a monthly fee to count candles twice.
The short version: If you buy everything you sell finished, Shopify's built-in inventory is probably enough, and a planner like Fabrikatör adds forecasting on top. If you make what you sell, you need an app with a bill of materials, the list of materials behind each product: Ardent Seller (ours; free plan, flat price per account), Inventora (the cheapest paid-only option that pushes stock back to Shopify), Stocksmith, formerly Craftybase (deep costing; automatic stock push starts at $199 a month), or Katana (free under 30 SKUs, custom-priced above that).
Ardent Seller is the product we make, so weigh its section with that in mind; its weaknesses are listed there too. Every other price and feature here was checked on the vendor's own page on October 27, 2026. Where a page didn't say something, we don't either.
What Shopify does on its own now that Stocky is gone
For years the standard answer to "Shopify inventory app" was Stocky, Shopify's own inventory add-on. That answer has expired. Shopify's migration guide (opens in new tab) says Stocky was delisted from the App Store on February 2, 2026 and "is no longer available as of August 31, 2026". Its data stays exportable, read-only, for at least 90 days after that.
What replaced it is built into the Shopify admin. Per Shopify's inventory help (opens in new tab), you can now:
- keep separate quantities at each location (the Basic plan includes 10 inventory locations, per Shopify's pricing (opens in new tab));
- run stock counts (opens in new tab) that a manager approves before quantities change;
- move stock between locations with transfers;
- raise purchase orders (opens in new tab) to suppliers and receive against them;
- record a cost per item on each product, for margin reporting (product pricing (opens in new tab)).
That covers a reseller, so Stocky's shutdown alone is not a reason to buy anything. For a maker, the gap is in the last item: Shopify's cost per item is a number you type in, not one built up from what your materials cost, and Shopify's inventory pages don't describe raw materials, recipes, batches or expiry dates. Sell forty candles and Shopify knows you have forty fewer candles. It doesn't know you just used about 16 pounds of wax. The Shopify inventory limitations for makers post traces each of those gaps in Shopify's own documentation; this one is about what to add.
Counting apps vs. costing apps
The Shopify App Store files both kinds under "inventory", so it helps to sort them before comparing prices.
Counting and planning apps work on finished SKUs. They forecast demand, suggest reorder quantities and draft purchase orders to the supplier who sends you finished goods. That is what Stocky did, and it is the kind of app "Stocky alternative" lists tend to recommend. They suit a brand that buys finished product from a manufacturer.
Costing and production apps start one level down. Each product has a bill of materials (BOM): the ingredients or parts, in quantities, with a yield (how many units one batch makes). When you make a batch, or in some apps when an order comes in, the app uses up those materials, works out the product's cost from what you paid for them, and tells you when you're about to run short of wick. That is the job a maker actually needs done.
Everything below except Fabrikatör is a costing app. Fabrikatör is included because it is the kind most likely to be recommended to you by mistake.
Five Shopify inventory apps compared
Shopify's built-in tools are in the first row as the baseline. Prices are each vendor's listed monthly figure on October 27, 2026. "Annual" means billed yearly, shown per month.
| App | Kind | When materials are used up | Pushes stock to Shopify | Lots / expiry | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify (built in) | Counting | Never (no materials) | Not needed (it is the store) | None described | Included in your Shopify plan |
| Ardent Seller | Costing | At each production run, or at the sale for Made to order items; every plan | Yes, per location, every plan | Lots and expiry dates, every plan | $0 (50 transactions a month); $19 a month for 150 |
| Stocksmith (formerly Craftybase) | Costing | At each order and production run, through multi-level BOMs | Reviewed push from Indie; automatic from Business | Batch and lot tracking from Indie | $99 a month for lots and push; $199 for automatic push |
| Inventora | Costing | When you make products, or at the sale for made-to-order products if you turn that on | Yes (restocks linked products) | Batch traceability; no expiry listed | $23 a month (500 materials) |
| Katana | Costing | Through manufacturing orders (timing not stated) | Yes, automatic | Lots, serials and expiry | Free up to 30 SKUs, materials counted in the 30; then custom price |
| Fabrikatör | Planning | Not described on its site | Not its job (it plans purchases) | None listed | $79 a month (annual, under $500K revenue); doesn't cost materials |
The five Shopify inventory apps, one by one
Ardent Seller: costing on every plan, starting free
Ardent Seller is in the Shopify App Store. You install it from there, approve access on Shopify's own page, and land in Ardent Seller with your store already filled in. Once a store is connected, your Ardent Seller plan is billed through Shopify, on your Shopify bill. The Shopify setup guide walks through it.
How the sync works:
- Paid orders, cancellations and refunds usually arrive within a minute or two, with a scheduled sync every 15 minutes as a safety net. Partial refunds are booked for exactly the amount Shopify refunded.
- Each Shopify location maps to an Ardent Seller location.
- Stock push is set per connection: Manual only until you click Push now, or Auto push whenever stock changes.
Pros:
- Recipes, production runs, lot tracking and lot expiry dates are on every plan, Free included. A production run uses up the materials behind a batch at what they cost you; an item set to Made to order uses them up at the sale instead.
- One flat price per account, not per location.
- Products link by SKU automatically; a variant without a SKU can be linked by hand.
Cons:
- The Free plan allows 50 transactions a month. Maker is $19 a month for 150, Artisan $49 for 500 (Ardent Seller's plans).
- Orders aren't the only thing counted. Each order, purchase, adjustment and opening count for a new item with stock is one transaction, and a production run counts twice (its output and its ingredient use). Productions made for a Made to order sale don't count.
- Free and Maker hold two locations and connect one shop. Shopify Basic allows ten locations; if you stock more than two, or also sell on Etsy, you need Artisan or above. Unmapped Shopify locations fall back to your primary one.
- It doesn't read Shopify Payments payouts or fees yet. Record processing fees as an expense yourself.
- It is younger than Stocksmith or Katana, with a shorter track record.
Recap: Kind: costing · Sync: orders in within minutes, stock out per location · Materials: recipes and production runs, every plan · Lots and expiry: every plan · From: $0 for 50 transactions a month · Best for: a solo maker or small team on one store, plus maybe Etsy.
Stocksmith (formerly Craftybase): multi-level costing, priced in tiers
Stocksmith's Shopify page (opens in new tab) is written for exactly this reader: "Shopify tracks what you sell. Stocksmith tracks what it costs to make." Materials "deduct through multi-level bills of materials", so a sub-recipe such as a fragrance blend costs into the finished product.
Pros:
- Multi-level BOMs: a Shopify order uses up every material down the tree, with a cost of goods figure on each synced order.
- Unlimited materials, products and users from Indie up.
Cons:
- Pushing counts back to Shopify is plan-gated. Stocksmith's pricing (opens in new tab) lists stock sync as Manual on Indie ($99 a month, $83 annually) and Automatic on Business ($199, $166 annually). Its Square page (opens in new tab) describes the Indie mode as "Review before pushing".
- Indie imports once a day, which is long enough to oversell a one-of-a-kind. Hourly imports start on Business, per the same pricing page.
- Plans are capped in order lines, and "Each product within an order counts as one order line": 1,000 a month on Indie.
- Cheaper Pro ("starts at $20/mo") and Studio ($49) plans exist, but Pro connects one sales channel, and Stocksmith's Square page (opens in new tab) lists stock push as "Not included" on Pro and Studio.
Recap: Kind: costing · Sync: daily on Indie, hourly from Business · Materials: multi-level BOMs · Lots and expiry: lot tracking from Indie, expiry not listed · From: $99 a month for the version that keeps Shopify in step · Best for: an established maker with nested recipes and the volume to justify it.
Inventora: two-way sync on a small budget
Inventora's pricing (opens in new tab) starts at $23 a month for Starter (18% off yearly, 7-day free trial). Shopify is one of its five shop integrations.
Pros:
- The sync runs both ways. Per Inventora's help center (opens in new tab), when products sell, "inventory levels are deducted on Inventora", and "When you create more products on Inventora, the linked shop Product will restock." Returns restock too.
- Full batch traceability on the entry plan.
Cons:
- Starter caps you at 500 materials and 500 product variants. A candle line in three sizes and 40 scents uses 120 variants before gift sets. Business ($48) raises both caps to 2,000.
- Starter allows two integrations, so Shopify and Etsy together fill it.
- No expiration dates are listed, only batch traceability.
Recap: Kind: costing · Sync: both ways, speed not stated · Materials: used up when you make products, or at the sale for made-to-order products if you turn that on (Inventora's made-to-order guide (opens in new tab)) · Lots and expiry: batch traceability, no expiry listed · From: $23 a month · Best for: a one- or two-channel maker whose catalog fits under 500 variants.
Katana: a manufacturing system with a strong Shopify link
Katana's Shopify integration is native, and Katana's Shopify integration page (opens in new tab) is direct about stock: Katana "pushes accurate stock levels to Shopify automatically". It imports orders from your online store and Shopify POS, and several stores can feed one account.
Pros:
- Real manufacturing depth: work orders, production scheduling, lots, serial numbers and expiry dates.
- Free plan with unlimited users, integrations and inventory locations, per Katana's pricing (opens in new tab).
Cons:
- The free plan is "Up to 30 SKUs", and Katana's pricing table (opens in new tab) defines SKUs as identifiers "for your product or material variants". Your materials count toward the 30. A small soap line with a dozen oils, butters and fragrances is near the cap before its first bar.
- Above that, the only plan is Advantage, a custom-priced annual contract that starts with a call to Katana's sales team.
Recap: Kind: costing (manufacturing) · Sync: orders in and stock out automatically, speed not stated · Materials: tracked through manufacturing orders · Lots and expiry: lots, serials and expiry dates · From: free to 30 SKUs including materials, then a quote · Best for: a maker growing into a production team who wants a scoped setup.
Fabrikatör: a Stocky replacement, not a costing app
Fabrikatör is a Shopify planning app that often comes up as a Stocky replacement. Fabrikatör's pricing page (opens in new tab) lists stock replenishment, unlimited SKUs and users, bundle planning and demand forecasting for $79 a month billed yearly ($950), for stores doing up to $500K a year. Backorders cost $0.75 an order.
Pros:
- Strong forecasting and purchase-order drafting for finished goods.
- Unlimited SKUs at the entry price.
Cons:
- Its pricing page and Fabrikatör's home page (opens in new tab) describe forecasting, purchase orders, backorders and bundles. Neither describes a bill of materials or a production feature; the one raw-material mention is a link to a free calculator. It answers "how many should I order?", not "what did this cost to make?"
- At $79 a month, it is a lot for a maker who still has to cost recipes somewhere else.
Recap: Kind: planning · Sync: not a stock-sync app · Materials: not described · Lots and expiry: none listed · From: $79 a month, annual · Best for: a brand that buys finished stock and lost Stocky's forecasting.
A worked example: one candle shop, five price tags
Take a candle maker on Shopify Basic with one studio location, 40 orders a month, about 2 products per order, 60 materials (waxes, wicks, jars, lids, 40 fragrance oils, labels) and 120 variants. They pour ahead in about 8 batches a month, buy supplies about 4 times a month, and want materials costed and Shopify kept in step automatically. Here is what each app costs for that, from the prices above:
- Ardent Seller: $19 a month on Maker. A typical month is about 60 transactions: 40 orders, 4 purchases and 8 production runs, each counted twice. That is over Free's 50 and inside Maker's 150. Setup adds one opening count for each material entered with stock on hand and each linked Shopify variant that has stock, up to about 180 here, which Maker's one-time 300-transaction signup bonus covers. A shop that makes each piece to order, with its items set to Made to order, skips the production entries and needs only Free's 50 transactions a month after setup. Setup fits on Free too if the products are linked with no stock on hand: the opening counts are then just the 60 materials, inside Free's 50 plus its 75-transaction signup bonus, used within the first month.
- Inventora: $23 a month. 60 materials and 120 variants fit inside Starter.
- Katana: a custom quote. 60 materials plus 120 variants is six times the free plan's 30 SKUs.
- Stocksmith: $199 a month for automatic push. Indie at $99 covers the 80 or so order lines, but its push waits for your review.
- Fabrikatör: $79 a month, and the materials still aren't costed.
Change one fact and the order changes. Past about 150 transactions a month, Ardent Seller moves to Artisan at $49. Add Etsy and Inventora needs both its integrations, while Ardent Seller needs Artisan for a second shop. The guide to stopping overselling across Etsy and Shopify covers the timing problems that come with two channels.
How to choose an inventory app for your Shopify store
- Do you make anything you sell? If not, stay on Shopify's built-in tools and add a planner like Fabrikatör only if forecasting is the job.
- Count your materials and your variants. Katana's free plan caps the two combined at 30 SKUs. Inventora Starter caps each one separately at 500.
- Decide how fast Shopify must hear about stock. One-of-a-kind or small-batch items need a push within minutes, not a daily import. Each app's recap gives its sync speed where the vendor states one.
- Check last month against each plan's cap. Ardent Seller counts transactions: orders, purchases, adjustments and production runs, plus an opening count for each new item added with stock (most of them in your first month). Stocksmith counts order lines, which is every product in an order. Inventora caps materials and variants instead.
- Give every Shopify variant a SKU before you connect. Each app matches on it.
If you make what you sell and want your Shopify products costed from real materials, start on Ardent Seller's free plan, then connect your store from the Shopify App Store in a few minutes. You can have your first recipe costed before the next order comes in.
Related reading
- Shopify Inventory Limitations for Makers: the four places Shopify stops counting for a maker, each sourced to Shopify's own help pages, if you're still deciding whether you need an app at all.
- Best Inventory App for Etsy Sellers: the same buyer's-guide treatment for sellers whose main shop is on Etsy.
- Best Inventory App for Square Sellers: for makers whose register is Square, where Square Plus is billed per location.
- How to Stop Overselling on Etsy and Shopify: five ways one item sells twice across two shops, and the buffer that fixes each.
Free resources
Two free downloads for the week before you connect anything:
- SKU Naming & Barcode System Starter Kit: every app here links Shopify variants by SKU, so a consistent scheme makes the first sync clean.
- Spreadsheet vs Inventory Software: The Decision Guide: an honest check on whether you need an app at all yet.
This article is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or business advice. Software prices, plan limits and features were checked on each vendor's website on October 27, 2026 and change often; confirm them on the vendor's site before you subscribe.