A Simple Katana Alternative for QuickBooks Online Users

If you are looking for a Katana alternative and your accounting lives in QuickBooks Online, this guide walks you through the switch. It covers what to check before you commit to any new inventory tool, what Evenbatch actually does (and does not do), and a step-by-step migration plan with short, concrete steps. Evenbatch is web-based inventory software for small manufacturers, 1 to 10 people, built around lot tracking, bills of materials, and a QuickBooks Online sync that shows you every change before it writes anything.

What to check before you switch

Switching inventory tools is mostly about not repeating the same mistake. The tool you are leaving probably looked fine on day one. The problems showed up later: in the bill, in the sync, or on the day you tried to get your data out. So before you evaluate any alternative, write down the questions that actually bit you, and ask them up front.

Here is a checklist that works for any inventory tool, ours included:

• Does the price scale per user, per order volume, or per feature? A quote that grows with your team is a quote you cannot predict.
• Is lot tracking included in the base plan, or is it a paid add-on or a higher tier?
• Can you export all of your data, items, BOMs, lots, and stock levels, as CSV at any time, without asking support?
• Does the QuickBooks sync show you what it will write before it writes it? Does it keep a log of what was sent and when?
• Can the sync overwrite records that already exist in QuickBooks, or is it restricted to creating new ones?
• Are BOM costs rolled up per unit, so a finished good carries the real cost of its components?
• Is cancellation self-serve, or do you have to email someone and wait?

If a vendor cannot give you a straight answer to any of these, that is the answer. The rest of this page answers each of them for Evenbatch, plainly.

What you get in Evenbatch

Evenbatch is built for one specific situation: a small manufacturing team, 1 to 10 people, that runs its books in QuickBooks Online and needs the inventory features QuickBooks Online does not have. That gap is real. QuickBooks Online does not include lot or batch tracking on any plan, its "bundles" group items on sales forms but do not consume components or roll up costs, and it does not support units-of-measure conversion. Those are Desktop-era features; QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced track inventory quantities and cost using FIFO, but without them.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

• Honest QuickBooks sync. Evenbatch connects through Intuit's official API with OAuth 2.0, so we never see your QuickBooks password. A preview mode shows every 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 written silently. Item sync is create-only, so Evenbatch never overwrites an existing QuickBooks record.
• Lot tracking on every plan. Per-lot remaining quantities, expiry dates, first-expired-first-out picking, expiry alerts, and a one-click recall trace from a lot through production runs to shipments, with CSV export of the trace.
• Bills of materials that carry cost. Multi-level BOMs (1-2 levels) with scrap percentage and per-unit cost roll-up. Production orders explode the BOM, consume components FEFO, and produce output lots with rolled-up cost. Edits after transactions create a new BOM version, so your history stays intact.
• Units of measure. Buy in cases, sell in eaches. Per-item conversions apply across purchasing, BOMs, and sales.
• Purchasing and sales. Purchase orders capture lot numbers and expiry dates at receiving. Sales orders allocate stock FEFO and handle shipping.
• One price. $49.99 per month, flat. Unlimited users. Every feature included. No add-ons and no per-user fees. Run back through the checklist above with those answers and see how it scores.

How to migrate from Katana

If you are moving from Katana, the migration is a short list of steps, and the import itself is free:

1. Export your data from your current tool. Export your items, BOMs, and stock as CSV from your current tool's interface. If you can also export lot data, grab that too. Keep the files somewhere handy.
2. Start the Evenbatch 14-day free trial. No credit card is required to start, so there is nothing to cancel if you decide it is not a fit.
3. Import your CSVs. Use the free CSV import to bring in items, BOMs, lots, and stock levels. This is the same import we use for spreadsheets, so if some of your data lives in Excel instead of your old tool, that works too.
4. Connect QuickBooks Online. Authorize the connection through Intuit's OAuth flow and let Evenbatch import your items, customers, and vendors from QuickBooks. Evenbatch never sees your QuickBooks password.
5. Run the sync in preview mode first. Before anything is written to QuickBooks, preview mode shows you every change Evenbatch would make. Review the list, approve what looks right, and only then let it write. Because item sync is create-only, your existing QuickBooks records are never overwritten.

Once your lots are in, run a test recall trace on one of them to confirm the chain from lot to production run to shipment looks right. Our guide to recall traceability with QuickBooks covers what a good trace should show.

Two things worth knowing before you start. First, you can export all of your own data, items, BOMs, lots, and stock, as CSV at any time, so switching to Evenbatch does not lock you in the way switching tools sometimes does. Second, your data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest. If you want the bigger picture of how the pieces fit together, see our overview of QuickBooks inventory for manufacturers.

What Evenbatch does not do

We would rather you find this out here than two weeks into a trial. Evenbatch does not do production scheduling or capacity planning. It does not do warehouse bin locations or pick-pack workflows (WMS). It does not do EDI, point of sale, or multi-currency.

If your operation depends on any of those, a bigger manufacturing or warehouse platform is a better fit, and you should evaluate one with the same checklist from the top of this page. We built Evenbatch narrow on purpose: one flat price, every feature included, and nothing bolted on that a 1 to 10 person shop does not need.

Evenbatch is right for you if you are a small manufacturer, 1 to 10 people, running QuickBooks Online, and what you mainly need is lot tracking with expiry dates, BOMs that roll up real costs, and a QuickBooks sync you can watch before it writes. If that describes your shop, the 14-day trial with the free CSV import is the fastest way to find out, with your own data, whether the fit is real.

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.