Brightpearl vs Katana (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Brightpearl if

• Fits if you sell through several channels and can plan a months-long rollout
• Works for retailers of about £2m revenue or more

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you are small, as it aims at roughly £2m revenue and up
• Skip it if you want a price, because a quote after a demo is the only way to buy
• Tight if you need to start this month, since implementation averages about 120 days
• Skip it if you want a free trial, as none is listed

Pick Katana if

• Fits if you make your own products and need bills of materials and work orders
• Works for food and cosmetics makers who must trace batches for recalls

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to see a price before booking a sales call
• Tight if you're staying free, as the 30 SKUs count every variant and material
• Not for you if your team wants native phone apps rather than a browser app
• Watch out: the paid plan is sold as one yearly contract, with no monthly option on record
• Watch out: the free plan has no live support, only the AI assistant and knowledge base

Brightpearl

• No prices are published; the pricing page says cost is tailored and quoted after a demo.
• Unlimited users are included in the quote, per the vendor's pricing page.
• Implementation averages about 120 days, so it suits planned migrations more than quick starts.
• The vendor aims at businesses of roughly £2m in revenue and up, and a quote is the only way to buy.

Katana

• No price is published beyond the free plan: Advantage is quoted after a scoping call and sold as one annual contract.
• The free plan stops at 30 SKUs, counting each product or material variant, and has no live support.
• There are no native phone apps; the warehouse app runs in a mobile browser at wh.katanamrp.com.

Brightpearl

Inventory and order management

Keeps one stock count across online stores, physical locations, wholesale channels and marketplaces, and routes orders between locations.

Automation Engine

Business rules for routing, allocation, fulfillment and invoicing run without custom development.

Forecasting and purchasing

Seasonal demand forecasting and suggested purchase orders come from Inventory Planner, which Brightpearl has acquired.

Retail accounting and analytics

Includes its own accounting and reporting, or connects to Xero, Sage Intacct or QuickBooks.

Warehouse and shipping

Covers warehouse management and shipping, with carrier integrations such as USPS, FedEx, DPD and Royal Mail.

Expert-led implementation

Setup runs through discovery, configuration, data migration and training. The vendor gives an average go-live of 120 days.

Katana

Production planning

Multi-level bills of materials, routings and work orders, with materials assigned to orders and finished goods returned to stock when production ends.

Live inventory across locations

Stock for products and materials across warehouses, production sites and partner locations, with transfers and a real-time availability planner.

Batch and serial traceability

Track lot numbers, serial numbers and expiry dates from supplier to customer to answer recalls and audits.

Sales and purchase orders

Orders from Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce and wholesale in one list, purchase orders with landed costs, price lists and multiple currencies.

Warehouse app and barcode scanning

A browser-based warehouse app for receiving, picking, packing and stocktakes with a phone camera or a rugged scanner.

AI replenishment and MCP

AI purchase-order suggestions based on demand history, and an MCP connection to query and update Katana from Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.

Brightpearl

Pricing could not be confirmed. See brightpearl.com.

Katana

• Free$0

  Up to 30 SKUs, unlimited users, integrations and inventory locations, all features and API access, with self-serve setup.

• AdvantageCustom

  Unlimited SKUs on one annual contract that includes guided setup, custom integrations and reports, a success manager and 24/7 live support.