You already looked at the Square Plus upgrade, didn't you? It promises inventory depth and cost of goods, right up until you notice the words "per location". The bigger problem is underneath that. Square's inventory is built to count things you bought ready to sell, and if you are reading this, you probably make what you sell. No Square tier does that job for a candle maker.
The short version: If you resell finished goods from one location, Square Plus may be all you need. If you make what you sell, you need an app that imports Square sales and uses up the materials behind them: Ardent Seller (ours; free plan, flat price per account), Inventora (the cheapest of the paid-only apps), Stocksmith, formerly Craftybase (deep costing, but stock push starts at $99 a month), or Thrive (deeply Square-integrated, priced for busier shops). inFlow and Katana fit only with caveats.
Ardent Seller is the product we make, so read its section with that in mind; its weaknesses are written down there too. Every other price and feature below was checked on the vendor's own page on October 21, 2026, and where a page did not say something, neither do we.
What Square counts on its own
Square is very good at the moment of sale. Its inventory, though, describes finished items: how many of the "Fig & Cedar 8 oz candle" you have left. It has no idea that the candle used 6.4 ounces of soy wax, a wick, a jar and a lid.
Here is what each tier adds, from Square's pricing page (opens in new tab):
- Square Free ($0) includes the item library ("Keep track of inventory and sales") and low-stock alerts, so it can hold a count for each item.
- Square Plus ($49 a month per location) adds unit costs, the cost of goods sold report, vendors and purchase orders, the counting tool, and aging and sell-through reports.
- Square Premium ($149 a month per location) adds transfer orders between locations.
The phrase that matters in that list is per location. Square states it plainly (opens in new tab): "With Square Plus and Square Premium, the monthly fee applies to each location you run."
Square does have recipes now, but read the fine print. Square Recipes (opens in new tab) is a beta for "Square for Restaurants Plus or Premium subscribers only." Items have to be the Prepared Food & Bev type ("Items set to other types (such as Physical Good) will not display recipe options"), and it has "No batch prep or recipes of recipes." For a soap maker on Square for Retail, it isn't there.
Square's pricing and inventory management (opens in new tab) pages list no lot or expiration tracking either. On Square's own community forum, a Square staff member replied in 2024 that "the tracking of expiration dates is not included as part of your Square inventory management", and that feature request (opens in new tab) was still marked open in October 2026. That is a forum reply, not documentation, but it is the most direct answer we could find.
None of this makes Square a bad register. It means the register and the workshop need different software. The Square vs. Ardent Seller head-to-head walks that line in detail. This post is about what to plug in next to Square.
The four questions that sort the field
Vendor feature grids tend to fill every column with checkmarks. These four questions are where the six options actually differ.
- Which way does the sync run? Some apps only read Square: sales come in, nothing goes back. Others also write stock counts to Square, so the register knows you sold out of the lavender bars online. A one-way sync means you still update Square by hand after every production day.
- Does a sale use up materials? This is the whole reason a maker leaves Square's inventory. When the candle sells, the wax, wick and jar have to leave stock too, and the candle's cost has to come from what they cost you.
- Can it follow a batch? If you sell food, cosmetics or anything with a shelf life, you will eventually need to answer "which jars came from the batch with the bad fragrance oil?" Lot tracking makes that a short list instead of a long afternoon.
- What does it cost at your size? The starting price is rarely what you would pay. Square bills per location. Some apps lock their Square connection or stock push behind a higher tier. Others cap transactions, materials or connected shops.
At a glance: inventory apps for Square sellers compared
Prices are the vendor's listed monthly figures as of October 21, 2026. "Annual" means billed yearly and shown per month.
| Option | Square connection | Pushes stock to Square | Materials used up per sale | Lots / expiry | Entry price for what a maker needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Plus | Built in | n/a | No (Recipes: restaurants-only beta) | None listed | $49 a month per location |
| Ardent Seller | Native | Yes, per location, every plan | Yes, every plan | Lots and expiry dates, every plan | $0 (50 transactions a month, about 25 card sales); $19 a month for 150 transactions |
| Stocksmith (formerly Craftybase) | Native | From Indie | Yes (not stated for Pro or Studio) | Lot tracking listed from Indie | $24 a month to connect; $99 a month for push and lots |
| Inventora | Native | Yes | Yes | Batch traceability; no expiry listed | $23 a month (500 materials) |
| Thrive Inventory | Native | Yes (real-time) | Recipes from Standard; full BOM from Professional | Expiry dates and lot costs; no lot tracing listed | $59 a month; $129 a month for recipes |
| inFlow | Native | Yes | Only in inFlow Manufacturing | Add-on below the Max plan | Manufacturing from $169 a month (annual) |
| Katana | Zapier only | Not described (imports sales orders) | Yes | Yes | Free to 30 SKUs; then custom price |
"Materials used up" means a real bill of materials (BOM): quantities, a yield, and a cost rolled up from what the materials cost. Some apps also call a bundle of finished SKUs a "recipe", and that is not counted here.
The six Square inventory options, one by one
Ardent Seller: best if you make what you sell and want to start free
The Square connection is included on every plan, Free included. Completed sales from the register and Square Online usually arrive within a minute or two, with each line matched to an inventory item. Square's processing fees are booked as expenses (on the Schedule C Commissions and Fees line, for US taxes), and full and partial refunds come through too. Stock counts can be pushed to each mapped Square location: every connection starts on Manual only, and you switch to Auto push once you trust it. The Ardent Seller Square setup guide walks through it.
Pros:
- Recipe costing, production runs, lot tracking and lot-level expiration dates are on every plan. A sale uses up the materials behind the item, at what they cost you.
- One flat price per account, not per location, and each Square location maps to its own stock location, so the market table and the shop counter keep separate counts.
- Register sales with no customer go to a "Square walk-in" customer. Custom-amount sales keep their revenue and are flagged under Needs attention instead of quietly disappearing.
Cons:
- The Free plan is tight for a busy register. It allows 50 transactions a month, and each card sale's processing fee comes in as its own expense alongside the sale. Both count, so Free covers about 25 card sales a month. Maker is $19 a month for 150; Artisan is $49 for 500 (Ardent Seller plans).
- Free and Maker connect one shop and hold two locations. Square and Etsy together, or a third location, needs Artisan or above.
- Square stays your catalog: Ardent Seller never creates or edits items, prices or descriptions in Square. It links your Square items by matching SKU, or by hand.
- It is younger than Stocksmith or inFlow, so it has a shorter track record.
Best for: makers on one or two Square locations who want costing, batches and labels without paying per location.
Skip if: you resell finished goods and never make anything. Square Plus is the simpler answer then.
Stocksmith (formerly Craftybase): best for deep costing, if you can pay for the top half
Craftybase announced its rename to Stocksmith (opens in new tab) in June 2026: "Same product, same team, same data." Stocksmith's Square page (opens in new tab) is the clearest in this roundup about what each plan gets.
Pros:
- Mature costing: "Materials deduct through multi-level bills of materials", so a sub-recipe (a fragrance blend, say) costs into the finished item.
- Batch and lot tracking and traceability reports are listed on Indie.
- At the top tiers, Square orders import hourly and stock pushes automatically.
Cons:
- The Square connection is tiered on import frequency and on push. Pro imports Square orders only when you run it by hand, and Studio imports daily; neither pushes counts back. Indie imports daily and lets you review pushes before they go. Business and Growth import hourly and push automatically.
- So the $24-a-month Pro plan ($20 billed annually) connects Square but never writes a count back. Two-way sync starts on Indie, at $99 a month ($83 annually), per Stocksmith's pricing page (opens in new tab).
- Stocksmith's pricing comparison covers only Indie and up, so what Pro and Studio include for bills of materials and lots is not stated. Ask before you count on it.
Best for: established makers with multi-level recipes and the volume to justify $99 or more a month.
Skip if: you need the register to stay in step with your stock and you are budgeting under $50.
Inventora: the cheapest paid-only app with two-way sync and batches
Inventora's pricing (opens in new tab) starts at $23 a month for its Starter plan, with "500 Materials 500 Product Variants … Full Batch Traceability … 2 Integrations". There is an 18% discount for paying yearly and a 7-day free trial.
Pros:
- The sync runs both ways. "When products sell through your shop, inventory levels are deducted on Inventora. When you create more products on Inventora, the linked shop Product will restock," per Inventora's help center (opens in new tab).
- Batch traceability is on the entry plan.
Cons:
- Hard caps by plan: 500 materials and 500 product variants on Starter. A candle line in three sizes and 40 scents already uses 120 of Starter's 500 variants; add gift sets, seasonal scents and a fourth size, and the cap comes quickly. The Business plan ($48) raises both caps to 2,000.
- A Square connection uses one of Starter's two integrations, so Square and Etsy together fill it.
- No expiration dates are listed, only batch traceability.
- Inventora's Square guide (opens in new tab) says "each Square product must be in a Tracked state". Check that your Square plan lets you set items to Tracked before you buy.
Best for: a one-or-two-channel maker on a tight budget whose catalog fits under the caps.
Skip if: your variant count is already in the hundreds and growing.
Thrive Inventory: deeply Square-integrated, priced for busier shops
Thrive's Square page (opens in new tab) promises to "sync your inventory in real-time across your Square POS locations."
Pros:
- Expiration dates and lot costs are on every plan. Its recipe feature (opens in new tab) deducts ingredients and adds finished stock "corresponding to your batch size."
- Strong multi-location Square handling for businesses running several registers.
Cons:
- The maker features sit in the middle tiers. Starter ($59 monthly, $55 annual) has no recipe or ingredient management. Recipes start on Standard ($129 monthly, $119 annual). A full bill of materials and assemblies need Professional ($279 monthly, $249 annual), per Thrive's pricing (opens in new tab).
- Thrive becomes your catalog. It pushes product details to Square and asks that catalog and stock edits be made in Thrive, not Square.
- Locations and integrations are capped by plan: one each on Starter, two on Standard.
Best for: a food or retail business with several Square locations and the revenue to carry a three-figure subscription.
Skip if: you are a one-person shop, since recipes start at $129 a month.
inFlow: strong general inventory, but making things is a separate product
inFlow's Square integration (opens in new tab) runs both ways: "Pull Square orders and payments into inFlow" and "inFlow can automatically update your Square inventory based on sales you've made in other channels."
Pros:
- Mature, well-documented software, with "Unlimited products, sales, purchases, and integrations" on every plan.
- Product changes push from inFlow to Square, and sales can be created in inFlow and paid on a Square Terminal.
Cons:
- inFlow Inventory has no bill of materials. inFlow's pricing comparison (opens in new tab) marks it "Not Included". That lives in inFlow Manufacturing, which "Starts at 169 USD /mo., billed annually".
- Lot numbers, batches and expiry dates are a paid add-on on every plan except Max, the top one ($699 a month billed annually, per inFlow's pricing (opens in new tab)).
- Even the cheapest inventory plan is $99 a month billed annually, before you make anything.
Best for: a wholesale-leaning operation with warehouse-style needs that has outgrown maker tools.
Skip if: you are a small maker. You would pay for warehouse depth you don't use and still need the Manufacturing product.
Katana: a real manufacturing system, wired to Square with tape
Katana is capable production software, with lots, serial numbers and expiry dates. It has also changed how it sells. Katana's pricing page (opens in new tab) now lists a Free plan "Up to 30 SKUs" and a custom-priced Advantage plan, and the older published tiers are gone.
Pros:
- Real manufacturing-order and bill-of-materials depth.
- The free tier works for a very small catalog.
Cons:
- Square is not on Katana's integration list. Katana's help article (opens in new tab) imports Square sales orders "using Zapier", and notes that "Zapier cannot create new products in Katana." Nothing there describes counts going back to Square.
- The price above 30 SKUs is now a sales conversation, and a Zapier subscription comes on top.
Best for: a maker whose main channel is something other than Square and who rings up only the odd market sale on Square.
Skip if: Square is where most of your sales happen.
When Square on its own is enough
Square Plus alone may be the right call if all of these are true:
- You sell from one location, so "per location" means $49.
- Everything you sell arrives finished: resale, supplies, or work you buy in.
- Nothing you sell is food, cosmetic or dated, so a recall would never mean tracing a batch.
- Your product cost is the invoice price, not a sum of materials.
If any of the last three isn't true for you, Square Plus will still count your stock, but it won't cost your materials or trace a batch.
Before you connect anything
Setup trouble tends to show up early. Before you start a trial of any of these:
- Give every Square item a SKU. Ardent Seller matches Square items by SKU, Katana's Zapier import needs every SKU to exist in Katana already, and the other apps import your catalog more cleanly with consistent SKUs. The SKU naming and barcode starter kit gives you a scheme in an evening.
- Decide which system owns the count, and the catalog. The other one only follows. If both edit stock, you will be correcting drift every week. Thrive and inFlow push product details into Square, so make product edits in the app rather than in Square.
- Push to one item first. Push a count to a single Square item, check that the register shows it, then switch on automatic push for the rest.
- Check last month against each plan's caps. Count last month's sales (plus card fees, where an app books them as their own transactions), your variants and materials, and your connected shops.
If you make what you sell and want to see your Square sales use up real materials, Ardent Seller's free plan connects Square in a few minutes. You approve access on Square's own page, and your first recipe can be costed before the next market.
Related reading
- Square vs. Ardent Seller for Makers: the full case for why no Square tier models the materials behind what you make, and what Square should keep doing.
- How to Sync Inventory Between Square and Etsy: a step-by-step plan for one stock count across your market register and your online shop.
- Best Inventory App for Etsy Sellers: the same buyer's-guide treatment for sellers whose main channel is Etsy.
- Payment Processing Fees for Makers: what a card sale really costs, which matters when you count fees toward an app's plan limits.
Free resources
Two free downloads that make the switch easier:
- SKU Naming & Barcode System Starter Kit: build a SKU scheme before you connect anything; every integration here goes faster with one.
- Spreadsheet vs Inventory Software: The Decision Guide: an honest check on whether you need any app yet, or whether a sheet still holds.
This article is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or business advice. Software prices, plan limits and features were checked on each vendor's website on October 21, 2026 and change often; confirm them on the vendor's site before you subscribe.