A Craftybase Alternative for Makers Who Use QuickBooks Online

If you are searching for a Craftybase alternative that keeps lot-level tracking front and center and syncs cleanly with QuickBooks Online, this guide walks you through the switch. Evenbatch is web-based inventory software built for small manufacturers - makers, small-batch producers, and workshops of one to ten people - who need batch traceability, real bills of materials, and an accounting sync they can see and approve before it touches their books. Below: what to check before you switch to any tool, what Evenbatch actually does, how to migrate in an afternoon, and what we deliberately do not do.

What to check before you switch

Plenty of makers and small-batch producers are re-evaluating their inventory tools right now. Whatever prompted your search, remember that the switch itself is the expensive part: exporting data, re-entering recipes, retraining yourself and anyone who helps you. So before you commit to any tool - including Evenbatch - run it through the same short checklist. The answers should be plain yes or no, and a vendor that dodges any of these questions is telling you something.

• Does the price scale per user, or does it stay flat as you add people?
• Is lot tracking included on every plan, or is it a paid add-on or a higher tier?
• Does it sync with QuickBooks Online through Intuit's official API, and can you preview every change before it posts to your books?
• Can you export all of your data as CSV, anytime, without asking support?
• Does it handle unit conversions, so you can buy in cases and sell in eaches?
• Does BOM history survive edits, or does changing a recipe today rewrite the cost of everything you built last year?
• Can you cancel self-serve, from inside the app, without a phone call?

A craftybase alternative that passes all seven questions is rarer than it should be. Each one exists because of a real failure mode: per-user pricing that punishes growth, traceability sold as an upsell, sync tools that write to the ledger silently, and data held hostage at cancellation time. Ask the questions up front and the rest of the evaluation gets much shorter.

What you get in Evenbatch

Evenbatch is web-based inventory software for small manufacturers - one to ten people - who run their accounting on QuickBooks Online. It covers the manufacturing gap that QuickBooks Online leaves open, and it is honest about where that gap ends.

Lot tracking on every plan. Every batch you make or receive gets a lot number with its own remaining quantity and expiry date. Picking follows FEFO - first expired, first out - so the oldest dated stock ships first, and expiry alerts warn you before product dies on the shelf. If something goes wrong, a one-click recall trace follows a lot through production runs and out to shipments, and you can export the whole trace as CSV for a customer or an inspector. There is no traceability add-on because there is no add-on pricing at all. Read more in our guides to lot tracking with QuickBooks Online and recall traceability.

Bills of materials that keep their history. BOMs go one to two levels deep, carry a scrap percentage, and roll up a per-unit cost from components. When you edit a BOM after it has been used in transactions, Evenbatch creates a new version instead of overwriting the old one, so the cost of past builds stays intact. Production orders explode the BOM, consume components FEFO, and produce output lots with the rolled-up cost attached. Details in the bill of materials guide.

Units of measure. Buy in one unit, sell in another. Per-item conversions - cases to eaches, kilograms to grams - carry through purchasing, BOMs, and sales, so you stop doing division in the margin of a purchase order. See the units of measure guide.

A QuickBooks sync you can watch. Evenbatch connects to QuickBooks Online through Intuit's official API using OAuth 2.0, so we never see your QuickBooks password. It pushes invoices, bills, and production journal entries, and imports items, customers, and vendors from QuickBooks. The design is deliberately cautious: a preview, or shadow, mode shows every proposed change before anything is written; a full sync log records what was sent and when; held changes wait for your explicit approval; and nothing is ever written silently. Item sync is create-only, which means Evenbatch never overwrites an existing QuickBooks record.

Why does any of this matter if you already have QuickBooks Online? Because QuickBooks Online does not include lot or batch tracking on any plan - lot and serial tracking exist only in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Advanced Inventory. QuickBooks Online also does not include assemblies or bills of materials; its "bundles" group items on a sales form but do not consume components, track builds, or roll up costs. Units-of-measure conversion is a Desktop feature too. What QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced do give you is inventory quantity and cost tracking using FIFO, which is a solid accounting foundation - it just is not manufacturing software.

Pricing is one number: $49.99 per month, flat. Unlimited users, every feature included, no add-ons, no per-user fees. The trial is 14 days and does not ask for a credit card. Full details are on the pricing section.

How to migrate from Craftybase in an afternoon

If you are moving from Craftybase, the migration is mostly a CSV exercise, and the CSV import in Evenbatch is free. Here is the sequence we recommend.

1. Export your data from your current tool. Pull your items or materials list, your recipes or BOMs, and your current stock levels as CSV files. Keep the raw exports somewhere safe - they are your backup regardless of what you do next.
2. Start the Evenbatch free trial. The trial runs 14 days and requires no credit card, so you can run the whole migration before you pay anything.
3. Connect QuickBooks Online. The connection uses OAuth through Intuit's official API - you authorize it on Intuit's own screen, and Evenbatch never sees your password. Your items, customers, and vendors import from QuickBooks automatically, which usually covers a large share of your catalog before you touch a spreadsheet.
4. Import the rest by CSV. Use the free CSV import to bring in items, BOMs, lots, and stock levels from your Craftybase export. You may need to reshape a few columns to match the import format, but that is spreadsheet work, not a project.
5. Enter lot numbers and expiry dates for on-hand stock. This is the step that makes the switch worth it. Once your current inventory carries lot numbers and expiry dates, FEFO picking and the one-click recall trace work from day one instead of only for future batches.
6. Run the sync in preview mode first. Before anything posts to QuickBooks, shadow mode shows you every proposed change. Review the list, approve what looks right, and hold anything you are unsure about. Nothing is written until you say so, and the sync log records everything that was sent.

One more thing worth knowing before you start: you can take a full CSV export of your own data out of Evenbatch anytime, and cancellation is self-serve. If Evenbatch turns out to be the wrong fit, leaving is as simple as arriving. We think that is how the exit door should work everywhere, and it is why "can you export everything?" sits on the checklist above.

What Evenbatch does not do

An honest migration guide should include the reasons not to migrate. Evenbatch does not do production scheduling or capacity planning. It does not do warehouse bin locations or pick-pack workflows - it is not a WMS. It does not do EDI, point of sale, or multi-currency.

If you run multiple warehouses with bin-level picking, trade through EDI with large retailers, or sell in several currencies, you have outgrown what we build, and a bigger manufacturing or WMS platform will serve you better. We would rather tell you that now than after you have moved your data.

Evenbatch is for the shop we built it for: makers and small-batch producers with one to ten people, running their books on QuickBooks Online, who need lot tracking, real BOMs, unit conversions, and a sync that shows its work - all at one flat price with no per-user math. If that describes your operation, start with our overview of QuickBooks inventory for manufacturers and see whether the fit is right before you commit to anything.

See something outdated or incorrect on this page? Email support@evenbatch.com and we will correct it within 48 hours. Last updated: July 16, 2026.