6 Free Inventory Software for Small Businesses


Struggling to manage inventory on a tight budget? You’re not alone—several small businesses face similar challenges.
Spreadsheets do a good job as long as you operate on a very small scale. As your operations expand, these manual methods often fall short, leading to stock errors and operational inefficiencies. And most inventory management solutions are expensive.
Here’s a Redditor listing common challenges businesses face with inventory management:
Source: Reddit
We have compiled a list of the 6 best free inventory management tools for small businesses in 2025. These solutions are designed to help you streamline operations, reduce errors, and support your business growth. All of this without breaking the bank.
Our Picks For 6 Best Inventory Software
1. Zoho Inventory: Free Online Inventory for Growing Sales Channels
Source: Zoho
Zoho Inventory is an online inventory management solution for small businesses. It lets you track stock levels in real-time and manage detailed item records across multiple warehouses.
Small businesses get basic inventory reports and low-stock alerts out of the box, helping you stay on top of inventory and orders. It integrates seamlessly with the Zoho ecosystem (Books, CRM, etc.) and popular channels like Shopify and Amazon.
Zoho Inventory’s free plan is generous for very small operations, allowing 50 online orders, 20 purchase orders, 20 bills, and 1 user per month.
You also get an excellent mobile app and built-in tools for barcode generation, shipping labels, and purchase orders on paid plans.
Here’s a Reddit user who uses Zoho Inventory for their restaurant business:
Source: Reddit
Pros:
- Zoho Inventory is very simple and easy to use, perfect for small businesses
- Integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Amazon are useful
- Offers real-time tracking
Cons:
- Integration with 3rd party apps, although useful, can be complex to achieve
- It offers limited features (limited warehouses) with the lower-tier subscriptions
To explore more IT inventory management software, check out: 15 Best IT Hardware Inventory Management Software in 2025
2. Sortly
Source: Sortly
Sortly is a user-friendly inventory app that lets you organize items with photos, categories, and custom tags. The visualization that Sortly offers makes tracking inventory easier.
It provides a clear, at-a-glance overview of the number of items in stock and their total value. And their mobile app syncs data in real-time (even when working offline) to update your counts on the go.
Sortly offers basic reports and QR/barcode scanning to make updating and auditing inventory easy. It’s a perfect replacement for pen-and-paper or spreadsheet tracking, with the bonus of using your phone’s camera as a barcode/QR scanner.
You can ditch manual tracking and quickly scan items in and out with your phone, even without an internet connection. If you’re constantly on the move, managing inventory across a shop and a storage unit, Sortly’s mobile ease of use is a lifesaver.
Pros:
- Easy to learn and use
- The ability to scan items using the mobile app is appreciated
- The search functionality makes it easy to look for items
Cons:
- Both the mobile app and web interface need improvement
- The free plan doesn’t support enough items
- The pricing difference between the tiers makes it hard for small businesses to scale
If you’re expanding in different locations around the globe, you’d need more than just free inventory software. After all, these tools can’t help you procure, deploy, and retrieve your assets globally.
That’s where Workwize comes in. Workwize is a global IT hardware management solution that lets you automate the IT asset lifecycle from procurement to retrieval.
You can procure new assets, install the required apps, deliver, retrieve, and even dispose of them globally, using a single interface. And during all these steps, from procurement to disposal, you can track your assets in real-time.
Asset management automation and inventory tracking on the same platform. Want to see Workwize in action? Book a demo now.
3. Odoo
Source: Odoo
Odoo is an open-source ERP and CRM platform that offers a powerful inventory management module. Unlike most others on this list, Odoo’s inventory management is unlimited–no limits on products, transactions, locations, or users.
You can maintain a full item catalog with support for serial numbers, handle purchase & sales orders, and manage items across multiple warehouses with complete traceability.
The interface features real-time stock tracking and advanced options, including barcode scanning and automated reordering. In a nutshell, Odoo provides small businesses with all the essentials: up-to-date inventory levels, location control, and basic reporting, all in one integrated platform.
Pros
- Affordable solution and easy to scale
- User-friendly platform with decent integration capabilities
- Powerful features even in the free plan: multi-warehouse support, barcoding, and custom reporting.
Cons
- Because of its modular nature, Odoo can be difficult to manage as you add more modules
- Reporting and dashboard functionalities can be improved
4. Square Inventory Management
Source: Square
Square is well-known as a point-of-sale system, but it also includes a free inventory management component. You get unlimited products, real-time stock tracking across online/offline sales, and an integrated eCommerce website builder (Square Online).
Square’s inventory features cover basics like low-stock alerts, inventory history, and CSV product import/export.
It’s a fantastic choice for any small business that sells products (both offline and online) and wants a one-stop solution. It handles integration issues by natively combining POS, payments, and inventory. So, no more updating a separate spreadsheet after each sale; it’s all synced.
Pros:
- Makes tracking inventory and sales easier
- Users appreciate the fact that the dashboard shows inventory levels and sends timely alerts
- The free version includes several basic inventory features—ideal for small businesses
Cons:
- Users sound frustrated about Square’s frequent outages
- Scaling can sound a little expensive for smaller businesses
- Square’s free inventory only works with Square’s own POS and payment processing
Note: If you’re looking for remote equipment management software, then check out our latest post.
5. SalesBinder
Source: SalesBinder
SalesBinder is a web-based inventory management software that includes light CRM and invoicing capabilities. It's Forever Free plan supports 1 user and up to 100 records (records include items, customers, etc)
SalesBinder lets you track stock in real-time across multiple locations and maintain detailed item records.
The system doubles as a lightweight CRM and invoicing tool. So, you can easily create purchase orders, estimates, and sales invoices all in one place.
Standout features include creating estimates and invoices, tracking customers and leads, managing suppliers, integrating with other solutions, and setting low-stock alerts.
Pros:
- Easy to customize and dead simple to use
- Offers smooth integrations
- Highly cost-effective
Cons:
- They don’t have an app for Android
- Some users say inventory management features need improvement for expanding businesses
6. ProfitBooks
Source: ProfitBooks
ProfitBooks is a 100% free inventory management and accounting tool tailored for small businesses with limited budgets. It combines stock tracking, order management, invoicing, and basic bookkeeping in one easy-to-use interface.
ProfitBooks automates daily inventory updates and generates essential reports, such as stock valuations and sales summaries. It supports multi-warehouse management and multi-currency transactions, helping businesses stay organized as they grow.
Because it’s cloud-based, you can access your data anywhere without installing software. ProfitBooks’ interface is beginner-friendly with guided menus, and the company is known for prompt support to help new users.
ProfitBooks is free for one user and allows tracking of up to 25 products, 25 invoices, and 100 customers. All core features are available on the free plan, making it an attractive starter solution for small businesses.
Pros:
- Scalable solution, ideal for smaller businesses
- Easy to use, even for technical users
- Decent features even with the free plan.
Cons:
- Reporting features could use some improvement
- While it’s available for free, the limitations make ProfitBooks ideal for very small businesses.
Top 6 Free Inventory Software for Small Businesses: Comparison
Here’s a tabular comparison of the top 6 free inventory software for easier differentiation and decision-making:
Tool |
Free Plan Limits |
Key Features |
Best For |
Zoho Inventory |
20 online orders, 20 offline orders, 12 shipments, 1 warehouse, 1 user/month |
Real-time tracking, multi-channel sync, low-stock alerts, barcode tools, integrates with Zoho suite |
Small retailers selling on Shopify/Amazon needing basic inventory + shipping tools |
Sortly |
100 items, 1 user, unlimited locations |
Mobile-first, photo cataloging, QR/barcode scanning, offline access |
Field service teams or mobile businesses needing simple, visual stock tracking |
Odoo (Community Edition) |
Unlimited products, users, warehouses (self-hosted) |
Advanced ERP-level features, multi-warehouse, serial tracking, BOM, barcode support |
Tech-savvy businesses needing scalable, customizable inventory and manufacturing tools |
Square Inventory |
Unlimited products, users, locations (with Square POS) |
POS + inventory sync, low-stock alerts, free online store, basic reporting |
Retailers/restaurants wanting integrated sales and inventory management |
SalesBinder |
100 records (items + customers), 1 user |
Multi-location support, CRM + invoicing, iOS app, API access |
Small businesses needing inventory + light CRM across multiple locations |
ProfitBooks |
25 products, 25 invoices, 1 user |
Inventory + accounting, multi-currency, multi-warehouse, beginner-friendly UI |
Startups needing integrated inventory and accounting on a tight budget |
How Workwize Supports Inventory Management for Remote Teams
Free inventory tools perform well when your team is centralized. However, as your business expands globally, these tools often fall short.
For starters, these tools won’t help you procure IT equipment and deploy it to your newly hired employees in Canada or Australia. And certainly not with managing and retrieving assets remotely.
Moreover, you’ll never get answers to these questions that are important for cost optimization:
- How much are we spending on IT equipment per employee on average?
- What’s the depreciation or remaining useful life of our laptops?
- Are there any unused devices we can reallocate instead of buying new ones?
That’s when Workwize comes into play.
Workwize is a comprehensive IT asset management platform designed for distributed teams.
It automates the entire asset lifecycle—from procurement and deployment to retrieval and disposal. In addition, Workwize lets you track all your assets in real-time.
With Workwize, you can both automate your asset lifecycle and manage your inventory (track & control all your assets) across the globe.
HighLevel uses Workwize to streamline and automate manual processes, including procurement, management, redistribution, and retrieval, saving $1.4 million annually.
About the authors:
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