What manufacturing accounting software has to do.
Stock in a factory lives in three places: raw materials, work in progress and finished goods. Good manufacturing accounting moves cost between them as the work happens. A bill of materials says what one unit should consume; a production job issues the materials, collects labour and overhead, and records the output; and whatever the job used beyond the bill is a variance, posted with the job number so someone can ask why.
General small-business accounting stops at the stock count. It can value finished goods and post a cost of sales, but it cannot see inside the job, so manufacturers end up costing products in a spreadsheet and posting one journal at month end. The products below close that gap in different ways: some are accounting systems with manufacturing built in, some are MRP tools that feed an accounting system, and some are full ERPs.
- Bills of materials with scrap allowances
- Production jobs that issue materials at actual cost
- Labour and overhead absorbed into the job
- Live work in progress and variance per job
- Cost of goods manufactured and WIP ageing reports
The seven options at a glance.
Prices are US list prices, or the figures shown on public software directories, in October 2026, before implementation. MRP tools are priced on top of the accounting system they feed.
1. QuickBooks Enterprise: assemblies on the desktop.
QuickBooks Enterprise is Intuit’s desktop product for larger small businesses. Its Platinum tier adds advanced inventory and pricing, and its assemblies let you build finished items from components with a bill of materials, inside the same books your accountant already knows.
Published one-user prices run from about $1,873 a year (Silver) to $2,717 (Platinum), with Diamond around $5,300; more users cost more. Best for: US shops already on QuickBooks Desktop. Watch out for: it is desktop software, so remote access usually means paid hosting, and work in progress per job is lighter than in a manufacturing system.
2. Katana: cloud MRP for makers, on top of your books.
Katana is a cloud MRP built for makers and brands that sell online: bills of materials, production orders, live stock of materials and products, and connections to Shopify and other stores. It is not a general ledger; it syncs cost and stock to QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Katana changed its plans in February 2026; current listings show its core plan at about $299 a month, with larger plans by quote, on top of the accounting subscription. Best for: makers selling through e-commerce who want production planning without an ERP. Watch out for: you run and pay for two systems, and the books only see what the sync sends.
3. MRPeasy: production planning for small factories.
MRPeasy is cloud MRP for manufacturers of roughly 10 to 200 people: bills of materials and routings, production planning and scheduling, purchasing from material requirements, and stock. Like Katana, it connects to QuickBooks Online or Xero for the ledger.
Plans are priced per user, from about $49 a month (Starter) to about $149 (Unlimited). Best for: plants that need scheduling and material requirements planning. Watch out for: per-user pricing climbs as more of the floor needs access, and cost accounting still lands in a separate ledger.
4. Odoo: the modular ERP, manufacturing included.
Odoo is a modular open-source ERP. Its Manufacturing app covers bills of materials, work orders and work centres, and its Standard plan includes every app for one per-user price, accounting included, so production and the ledger share one database.
In the US, Standard runs about $31 per user per month on annual billing, with Custom (Studio, multi-company, API) higher; the free Community edition has no official support. Best for: teams with an implementation partner, or the in-house skill to configure it. Watch out for: the licence is the smaller part of the cost; configuration and support usually cost more than the subscription.
5. Oracle NetSuite: cloud ERP for the growing mid-market.
NetSuite is a full cloud ERP with assemblies, work orders and advanced manufacturing modules, multi-subsidiary consolidation and deep reporting. Manufacturers usually move to it when they add entities, warehouses or a finance team.
Pricing is by quote: a base licence plus users and modules, typically five figures a year before implementation. Best for: fast-growing manufacturers with several entities. Watch out for: implementation projects and annual cost sized for the mid-market.
6. Acumatica: cloud ERP priced by resources, not users.
Acumatica’s Manufacturing Edition adds bills of materials, production orders, MRP and estimating to a full cloud ERP. It is sold through partners and priced by the resources you use rather than per user, so adding people does not raise the licence.
Pricing is by quote through a partner. Best for: mid-sized manufacturers with many people who need access. Watch out for: partner-led implementation, and a cost structure that only pays off at a certain size.
7. Nonari: manufacturing costed inside the books. (Full disclosure: ours.)
Nonari is our product, so weigh this section accordingly. Manufacturing is part of the ledger rather than a sync: bills of materials with stages and a normal scrap allowance; production jobs that issue components at their actual cost layers and collect labour and overhead per stage; work in progress as a live balance per job; variance against the bill posted with the job number; and finished goods valued at what the job actually cost. Cost of goods manufactured, WIP ageing and the manufacturing account are standard reports, and a factory that sells to its own trading arm at a markup gets the unrealised profit provision computed. More on the manufacturing setup.
It costs $29 a month for one location and $70 for up to 3, with unlimited users and a 15-day free trial, and the same system runs purchasing, inventory, POS and payroll. Best for: small manufacturers and workshops that want product costing in the books, not in a spreadsheet. Watch out for: planning is job by job, so a plant that needs capacity scheduling or forecast-driven purchasing will want an MRP tool such as MRPeasy or Katana, and multi-level products are built one level per job.
How to choose.
A workshop or small maker (one site, a handful of products): choose a system where bills of materials and jobs post to the ledger, so the cost per unit is the cost in the books. A growing plant (10 to 50 people) that schedules machines and plans purchases from demand: an MRP such as MRPeasy or Katana on top of QuickBooks Online or Xero, or Odoo with a partner. Several entities, warehouses and a finance team: NetSuite or Acumatica, at mid-market prices.
Whatever you shortlist, cost one real product in each trial: build its bill of materials, run one job, issue the materials, log the labour and record the output. Then compare the cost per unit with what you believe it is. Our free BOM cost calculator gives you a starting figure to test against.