The Katana alternative for brands that don't manufacture
Katana is built around making things. If you buy finished stock and sell it on Shopify, Amazon and wholesale, Manifold is built around that — on one published plan.
Who Katana is for
Katana describes itself as cloud inventory management for real-time production and material tracking.
katanamrp.com, checked October 2026Why businesses look elsewhere
- The Free plan is capped at 30 SKUs; past that, Advantage is custom-priced as one annual contract. katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026
Manifold and Katana, side by side
| Manifold | Katana | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $300 a month (USD) — one plan, published, every feature | Free up to 30 SKUs; Advantage custom-priced as an annual contract katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026 |
| Users | Your whole team, with no per-seat fee | Unlimited users on both plans katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026 |
| Stores and integrations | No per-integration fee: Shopify, Amazon, Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks from the App Store | Unlimited integrations; on Free, Shopify is the only e-commerce integration katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026 |
| Free trial | 60 days, run beside your current system in read-only mode | No timed trial: a Free plan, with unlimited SKUs for its first 15 days katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026 |
| Manufacturing | Kits and bundles, with stock that follows their parts; no production orders or manufacturing planning | Manufacturing included katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026 |
| AI | An MCP server: Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP client works in Manifold with your permissions | Advantage includes the Katana MCP server and the API katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026 |
Katana as its public pages described it on the day each row was read; each figure links to its page. Prices in US dollars. Manifold has no affiliation with Katana; spot something out of date? Tell us.
When Katana may suit you better
- You manufacture: manufacturing is included on Katana's plans, and Manifold has no production orders. katanamrp.com/pricing, checked October 2026
Moving from Katana
Manifold has no direct import from Katana yet. Two routes do the job instead: connect your Shopify store and the setup walk offers to copy its products, stock, customers and orders across; and anything you can get out as a spreadsheet — items and opening stock, products and variants, kits, suppliers and customers, catalog prices, purchase orders, sales orders and sales history — comes in on Import, with each column matched and every rejected row named.
What Import takes →Run both, side by side
Every new Manifold business starts read-only. Orders come in, imports run and your team works in Manifold in full — but nothing leaves it: no stock or prices to your stores, no journals to your accounts, no email to customers. Katana keeps running the business while you check Manifold against it, and an owner goes live when you're sure.
Read-only mode and going live →Questions people ask
- Can I try Manifold without switching off Katana?
- Yes. Every new Manifold business starts in read-only mode: orders come in, imports run and your team works in Manifold in full, but nothing goes out — no stock or prices to your stores, no journals to your accounts, no email to customers. Katana keeps running the business while you check Manifold against it, for the 60-day trial, and you go live when you are ready.
- Can Manifold run production?
- No. Manifold sells kits and bundles whose stock follows their parts, but it has no production orders or manufacturing planning. If you make what you sell, keep a manufacturing system for that.
- What does Manifold cost?
- One plan: $300 a month (USD) with 100 sales orders included, every feature and your whole team; each order past that costs $0.20 down to $0.015 on a published scale. No per-seat or per-integration fees.
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