Katana vs MRPeasy (2026): Which MRP Fits Your Manufacturing Business?

Short answer: choose Katana if you are a small brand that makes products in batches and sells them through Shopify, other ecommerce channels and wholesale, and you want a visual, quick-to-learn system that shows at a glance whether each order can be made and shipped. Choose MRPeasy if production planning is the hard part: multi-step routings, shared work centres, capacity-aware scheduling and make-to-order jobs with quotes, where you need a true MRP engine more than ecommerce polish. Both are cloud tools for small manufacturers, both connect to QuickBooks Online and Xero, and both are sold by subscription tier, so the decision comes down to how you sell and how complex your shop floor is.

This comparison covers who each product is built for, feature-by-feature differences in planning, inventory, shop floor, purchasing, integrations and reporting, how each is priced, and a checklist for deciding. We do not list prices or plan limits, which both vendors change; links go to their pricing pages so you can check current pricing.

Katana vs MRPeasy at a Glance

Area	Katana	MRPeasy
Positioning	Cloud manufacturing ERP for small product brands	Cloud MRP and light ERP for small manufacturers
Typical buyer	D2C and wholesale makers: cosmetics, food and beverage, apparel, furniture, consumer goods	Discrete and make-to-order manufacturers: machinery, metal and plastic parts, electronics, assemblies
Planning approach	Live stock-driven view of which orders can be made, with manufacturing orders prioritized by drag and drop	MRP runs with routings, work centres and capacity scheduling on a Gantt-style planner
Bills of materials	Multi-level BOMs, product recipes and operations	Multi-level BOMs with routings, alternative materials and operations per work centre
Make-to-order	Supported; strongest for make-to-stock and short lead times	Core strength, including quotes linked to production
Inventory	Real-time stock, multi-location, batch tracking, purchase orders	Stock with lot and serial tracking, multi-site, procurement driven by MRP
Shop floor	Operator app for tasks and time on manufacturing orders	Shop floor reporting per operation, labour and machine time capture
Sales side	Sales orders from connected ecommerce and B2B channels	Built-in CRM, quoting and customer orders
Ecommerce	Native connections to major platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Amazon	Ecommerce connections available, but fewer and less central
Accounting	Integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero	Integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero, with basic accounting options in-app
Extensibility	Open API and integration platform connectors	API and integration platform connectors
Learning curve	Short; visual and simple	Moderate; more screens and settings
Pricing model	Tiered subscription	Per user tiers

What Is the Difference Between Katana and MRPeasy?

The difference is where each product starts. Katana starts from inventory and sales: it keeps a live picture of raw materials, work in progress and finished goods, and for every incoming order it tells you whether you can ship now, need to make it, or are short on materials. That model suits brands with a product catalog, repeat batches and demand flowing in from online stores and wholesale customers.

MRPeasy starts from production planning. It models how products are made: routings with ordered operations, the work centres each operation uses, setup and cycle times, and the capacity of each work centre. An MRP run then proposes purchase orders and manufacturing orders and schedules them against available capacity. That model suits manufacturers whose bottleneck is the shop floor, not the storefront.

Production Planning and Scheduling

This is the widest gap. In Katana, manufacturing orders are ranked in a priority list, materials are allocated automatically in that order, and you can re-prioritize by dragging orders; operations and resources exist, but scheduling is about sequence more than detailed capacity. For a team making batches of a few dozen products, that is often exactly enough.

MRPeasy schedules each operation on specific work centres, respects their available hours and shows the plan on a timeline, so you can see when a job will actually finish and what else it will push out. If several products compete for the same machines, if you quote delivery dates to customers, or if jobs have many steps, MRPeasy’s approach will give more reliable promise dates. Manufacturers with even heavier scheduling needs should compare dedicated production scheduling software.

Inventory, Purchasing and Traceability

Both track raw materials and finished goods across locations, reserve stock for orders, and create purchase orders with supplier lead times. Katana’s strength is visibility: its dashboards make it obvious which materials are running short for upcoming orders, and batch tracking covers the needs of most food, cosmetics and supplement brands. MRPeasy handles lot and serial numbers and ties procurement directly to MRP runs, so purchasing follows the production plan automatically.

If you are regulated (food, cosmetics, medical components), run a mock recall in both trials: pick one raw material lot and trace it to every finished batch and customer. The better answer for your products is the one you should buy. If inventory is your main problem and manufacturing is light, our guide to the best inventory management software covers simpler options.

Sales Channels, CRM and Ecommerce

Katana is the stronger choice for ecommerce-led makers. Its native storefront and marketplace connections bring orders in automatically and push stock levels back, and it handles a mix of D2C and wholesale orders in one place. Many Katana customers run Shopify as the front end and Katana as the production and inventory back end.

MRPeasy is the stronger choice when sales happen through quotes and customer orders. It includes a CRM with quoting, so a quote can become a customer order and then a manufacturing order with a delivery date based on capacity. Ecommerce connections exist but are not the center of the product.

Accounting and Integrations

Both products integrate with QuickBooks Online and Xero, posting invoices, bills and inventory values so your accountant sees consistent numbers; test how each handles cost of goods sold and work in progress with your accountant before you commit. Both offer APIs and connectors through integration platforms for tools that lack a native link. Katana’s integration catalog leans toward ecommerce, shipping and accounting; MRPeasy’s leans toward accounting and business systems. If you are still choosing an accounting system, see Xero vs QuickBooks.

Costing and Reporting

Knowing what a product really costs to make is often the reason small manufacturers buy either tool. Katana calculates manufacturing cost from the materials in the recipe and the operations with their resource costs, and shows the margin against the sales price, updating as material costs change. That gives D2C brands a quick, reliable view of product margin.

MRPeasy goes further on the production side: it tracks actual time and materials per operation as the shop floor reports them, so you can compare planned against actual cost per manufacturing order and see which jobs lost money. Its reporting also covers capacity utilisation and on-time delivery, which matter to make-to-order shops. If your pricing depends on quoting jobs accurately, that feedback loop is valuable.

Implementation and Support

Both are self-serve cloud products with guided onboarding, so there is no traditional ERP project. Katana is usually the quicker start: import products and materials, build recipes, connect the store and accounting, and begin planning. MRPeasy takes longer because routings, work centres and their capacities have to be modelled accurately before scheduling means anything. Budget a few weeks of part-time effort from a production lead for either, and more if your BOMs live in people’s heads or scattered spreadsheets.

Whichever you choose, start with a pilot product line, run the old and new processes side by side for a short period, and only then move everything across. Most failed rollouts of small manufacturing systems fail on data (wrong units of measure, missing components, stale lead times), not on software.

Two Typical Buyers

A skincare brand making a few dozen products in batches, selling on Shopify and to a handful of stockists, with a small production team. Its questions are “what can we make this week with what we have?” and “what do we need to order?” Katana answers those with less setup, and its Shopify link removes manual order entry. This is Katana’s home ground.

A machine shop or equipment assembler that quotes custom orders, runs parts through cutting, machining, welding and assembly on shared machines, and needs to promise realistic delivery dates. Its question is “when will this job actually be finished, and what does it do to everything else?” MRPeasy’s routings and capacity scheduling answer that; Katana’s simpler model would not.

Katana vs MRPeasy Pricing

Both are subscriptions with tiers, but they meter differently:

• Katana sells tiered plans where features, integrations and usage grow with the plan, with add-ons for some capabilities. Check current Katana pricing or read our Katana pricing breakdown.
• MRPeasy prices by user within tiers, with higher tiers unlocking functions such as advanced planning or accounting features. Check current MRPeasy pricing.

Because the meters differ, compare them on your own numbers: count the people who need to log in (including shop floor operators), the integrations you need on day one, and the features you need in year two. A per user model favors small teams; a feature-tiered model favors teams with many occasional users. Either way, budget for onboarding time and data preparation: clean item codes, BOMs and opening stock are what make the first month work.

Which Is Better: Katana or MRPeasy?

If this describes you	Lean toward
You sell mainly through Shopify or other ecommerce channels, plus some wholesale	Katana
You make to stock in batches and want the team trained in days	Katana
Products have multi-step routings on shared machines	MRPeasy
You quote jobs and promise delivery dates to customers	MRPeasy
You want CRM and quoting in the same system as production	MRPeasy
Visibility of stock and material shortages is your main pain	Katana
You expect to need full ERP with multiple entities soon	Neither; look at manufacturing ERP options

Katana and MRPeasy Alternatives

If neither fits, the usual next looks are Fishbowl (QuickBooks-centric manufacturing and warehouse), Odoo MRP (modular and low cost, partner-dependent), Dynamics 365 Business Central (Microsoft-centric SMB ERP) and, for job shops, Global Shop Solutions or JobBOSS. Our best manufacturing ERP software guide compares 12 options, and Spotsaas also lists Katana alternatives and MRPeasy alternatives.

How to Choose Between Katana and MRPeasy

1. Pick your three most complex products and load their real BOMs and routings into both trials.
2. Enter a week of real orders and see which system gives you believable completion dates.
3. Have an operator record work on a phone or tablet in each system.
4. Connect your accounting system and check that inventory value matches.
5. Price both at your size in 18 months, including users and integrations.

Frequently Asked Questions