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The Best Free Inventory Management Software Solutions For Inventory Tracking

Inventory tracking is one of those necessary evils of running an efficient and successful business. It’s certainly not the most glamorous part of the job, but making sure that you have the proper inventory levels and that items are getting where they need to go can be crucial to your bottom line, especially when your business is growing.

The bigger your business gets, the harder it’s going to be to track all of your inventory by hand. Luckily, there are tons of companies out there offering inventory tracking software that won’t break the bank. In fact, there are plenty of free inventory tracking software solutions that even the smallest business can take advantage of.

 

Should I opt for free software?

Before we jump into the free inventory tracking solutions we would recommend, you should decide if free software would truly be the best option for your company. Perhaps the most obvious situation in which free software would benefit a company is if you’re just starting out. If you really don’t have much wiggle room in your budget but you’re finding inventory tracking to become overwhelming, a free inventory tracking solution might just be the answer.

Free inventory tracking software is also great if you want to test the waters of a software but aren’t sure if it’s right for you yet. Maybe you are still handling inventory tracking manually and it’s working okay for right now, but you can see that your business is growing and you’ll need a new solution soon. Starting out with a free software is a great way to get used to the concept of inventory tracking digitally without wasting any money.

 

What should I look for in a good software?

You might be skeptical that a free inventory tracking system would even be of any use to you. We all know that sometimes free doesn’t equal good. However, there are a few key aspects you can consider when you’re searching for an inventory tracking system to make sure you’re not wasting your time.

Mobile Support

Choosing an inventory tracking system with mobile support is crucial to your growing business. You may not always be on site when you need to see inventory levels or view a report, so having mobile support will allow you to access your tracking information no matter where you are. This feature can also come in handy if you have more than one location, so you can make sure everything is in line in one store while you are at another.

Efficient Order Management

Being able to manage orders from your inventory tracking software can be a huge benefit. The best software will allow you to handle every aspect of order management from creating the order in the first place to fulfilling the product. Some inventory tracking softwares even allow you to provide quotes to customers, send invoices, and create custom pricing guides that are in line with your business’s exact needs.

Superior Shipping Strategies

We all know the inventory is no good if it doesn’t get to the customer, so your inventory tracking software should be able to help you ship your items efficiently. Having access to multimodal and multi-carrier shipment strategies is key, giving you as many chances as possible to make sure your customers get their products like they’re expecting to. Often, inventory management systems will be able to generate shipping labels for you or store the information for later.

Detailed Reporting and Analytics

To improve your inventory tracking strategy, having up-to-date analytics and reporting is key. Make sure that whichever free software you choose is able to create reports on data points like tax information, on-hand stock, and total sales. Not only will these criteria help you improve your business, but they can also come in handy when talking to your stockholders and updating them about your company.

Inventory Tracing Capabilities

Perhaps the most obvious feature that any good free inventory tracking software should have is the ability to trace your inventory. You should be able to see any given item at any given point in the process from warehouse to shipping. Your software should be able to track your items through either barcode scanners or stock views updated in real time. This way, you’ll always have up-to-the-minute information about how much of a certain item you have on hand, ensuring that you never buy too much or run out of a piece.

 

Our Top Picks for Free Inventory Management Software

Delivrd

Delivrd is a wonderful free inventory tracking solution for businesses both big and small. This software is a cloud-based solution that allows you to access your information from anywhere, and it’s available on all platforms including Android and iOS. Though there is a premium paid version, the free version of Delivrd allows businesses to create one user and one location, as well as craft a product catalog featuring up to 10 items.

The software also includes email support, thorough transaction histories, alerts for dipping stock levels, and more. You can use barcode scanning to get your items into the system, improving accuracy and enhancing your logistics. Deliverd has superior third-party integrations that can work with other tools like WooCommerce and Shopify, as well as profit and loss analysis that helps you see how a certain item is doing for your company.

Stockpile

Considered best for small to medium-sized businesses, Stockpile takes advantage of a tiered access model to manage the users that you input into the software. From there, you can also enter your various locations, manufacturers and vendors, and a number of preferences within the software itself. 

One major benefit to Stockpile is the ability to transfer your stock between warehouses or to various areas of storage, a feature that’s typically only found in paid software. Stockpile also has in-depth reporting features, minimum stock account alerts, and a number of convenient Inventory management features. The biggest disadvantage with Stockpile is the search function, which isn’t always accurate and can sometimes come back with results that are irrelevant. Stockpile is compatible with all major platforms like IOS and Android and offers a surprising number of features for a free inventory tracking software.

InFlow

InFlow offers an evergreen inventory tracking solution for businesses of all sizes. This software is on-premise (as opposed to cloud-based) and is available on Windows. Within the software’s free version, small companies can input up to a hundred products and access up to 15 reports.

The inventory management solutions offered through InFlow are quite vast, including barcoding, manufacturing, invoicing, reports, and many others. One of the disadvantages about InFlow is that technical support is solely included with the paid upgrade. Additionally, this is an on-premise software, so if you are looking for a cloud-based option, you’ll need to pay for InFlow Cloud.

Odoo

No matter how big or small your business is, Odoo is a great option for a free inventory tracking system. The wide variety of apps and modules available within the software allows you to tailor your experience to the specific needs of your business in a way that is typically only seen in paid programs.

The free version of Odoo allows for features like order delivery (with or without barcode scanners), inventory adjustments and forecasting, multiple-location support, receipts, and more. Perhaps the biggest downside to this platform is that, once you’ve made an inventory adjustment, it can’t be undone. Odoo goes on to prove its versatility in the fact that it is available as a self-hosted or SaaS solution and works with any platform.

Zoho Inventory

Zoho Inventory is ideal for smaller to medium-sized businesses and particularly stands out with its integrations. Users are able to connect with online sales channels they likely already use, including Etsy, Shopify, eBay, Amazon, and more. 

In addition, Zoho Inventory allows users to control their inventory in a centralized system (of course), manage their warehouse and generate valuable reports, bundle products together and to update shipping information more efficiently, and create reorder points for specific vendors to reduce the risk of selling out. Unfortunately, Zoho Inventory does not have forecasting features. The free version of Zoho Inventory allows for one Warehouse, 20 online and offline orders, 20 shipment tracking, and 20 shipping labels. The software is available on all platforms.

 

Track Your Inventory and So Much More With DEAR Systems

Inventory tracking is one of the most important aspects of your business, and even a free software can be a huge help in saving you time, money, and stress. If you’re looking for something a bit more expansive to handle all the heavy lifting of your business, consider a cloud ERP software from DEAR systems.

Not only does our software allow for inventory management, but you can also handle accounting, sales, e-commerce, manufacturing, automation, and more. Our dedicated team is proud to work with customers from around the world in a variety of fields, proving that the software is truly customizable no matter what your needs are.

For more information contact us or to start your free 14-day trial, today!

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