Why Merchants Say You Need a $350+/mo ERP to Replace Stocky
Every Shopify merchant who has searched for a Stocky replacement has experienced the same sticker shock. You had a free tool that handled purchase orders, receiving, stocktakes, and replenishment. Now that Stocky is being sunset on August 31, 2026, the alternatives start at $110/month and climb rapidly to $350, $500, even $1,000+ per month.
The question every small retailer is asking: do you really need to spend that much? The answer, for the vast majority of Shopify merchants, is no. Here is why the alternatives cost so much, what you are actually paying for, and why purpose-built tools offer a better path.
The pricing landscape after Stocky
Let us look at the most commonly recommended Stocky replacements and what they actually cost:
Cin7 Core (formerly Dear Inventory)
- Starting price: $349/month (billed annually)
- What it is: A full inventory management and order management platform designed for multi-channel wholesale and retail businesses.
- What you get: Inventory management, POs, sales orders, manufacturing (BOM), accounting integration, warehouse management, B2B portal.
- What you do not need: Manufacturing, B2B portal, advanced warehouse management, accounting module if you already use Xero or QuickBooks.
Katana
- Starting price: $199/month
- What it is: A manufacturing and inventory platform originally built for makers and small manufacturers.
- What you get: Manufacturing planning, inventory management, POs, sales order management, shop floor control.
- What you do not need: Manufacturing planning, shop floor control, BOM management (unless you actually manufacture products).
inFlow
- Starting price: $110/month
- What it is: An inventory management tool for small businesses, with strong PO and receiving features.
- What you get: Inventory management, POs, receiving, reporting, barcode scanning.
- What is limited: Replenishment suggestions are basic. Shopify integration requires their higher-tier plan. Stocktake features are not as mature.
Sortly, Stocky alternatives on the Shopify App Store
- Starting price: $29-79/month
- Limitations: Many of the cheaper Shopify apps handle some parts of the workflow (POs or stocktakes) but rarely all of them. You may end up stacking 2-3 apps to cover what Stocky did, and the combined cost and complexity add up.
The hidden cost tier
Beyond monthly subscriptions, many ERPs charge:
- Implementation/setup fees: $500-$5,000 for guided onboarding
- Per-user fees: $20-50/month per additional team member
- Per-integration fees: Extra charges for Shopify, accounting, or shipping integrations
- Support tiers: Basic support included, priority support costs extra
- Overage charges: Fees when you exceed order volume, SKU counts, or API call limits
A tool that advertises “$199/month” can easily cost $350-500/month in practice once you add the users, integrations, and support tier you actually need.
Why ERPs are so expensive
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. The word “enterprise” is the key. These platforms were designed to manage entire businesses — not just inventory, but manufacturing, procurement, accounting, HR, CRM, and more.
When you buy an ERP to replace Stocky, you are paying for:
Engineering breadth: Building and maintaining modules for manufacturing, accounting, warehouse management, multi-currency, multi-entity, and dozens of integrations costs a lot of money. Those development costs are spread across all customers, including ones who only need 10% of the platform.
Sales and support overhead: ERPs typically sell through sales teams, not self-service signups. The sales cycle involves demos, proposals, and negotiations. That sales infrastructure costs money and is baked into the price.
Implementation services: Complex software requires guided setup. ERPs often have professional services teams or certified partners who charge for implementation. Even when setup is “included,” it is factored into the subscription price.
Enterprise customers subsidize nothing: Unlike consumer software where millions of users share the cost, ERPs have thousands or tens of thousands of customers. The per-customer cost to build, support, and maintain the platform is inherently higher.
None of this is wrong — ERPs serve a real need for businesses that require those capabilities. The problem is that a Shopify retailer with two stores and 800 SKUs is being asked to pay the same rates as a manufacturer with three warehouses and 50,000 SKUs.
What you are paying for vs. what you need
Here is a rough breakdown of what a typical ERP’s feature set looks like, and which parts a Shopify retailer actually uses:
| Feature category | ERP includes it | You need it |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase orders | Yes | Yes |
| Receiving (partial) | Yes | Yes |
| Cost tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Replenishment suggestions | Sometimes | Yes |
| Stocktakes | Sometimes | Yes |
| Shopify inventory sync | Usually | Yes |
| Manufacturing / BOM | Yes | No (unless you manufacture) |
| Warehouse bin management | Yes | No (unless you have a warehouse) |
| Built-in accounting | Yes | No (you have Xero/QuickBooks) |
| B2B / wholesale portal | Yes | Probably not |
| Multi-entity / multi-company | Yes | No |
| HR / payroll | Sometimes | No |
| CRM | Sometimes | No |
| Advanced reporting / BI | Yes | Basic reporting is fine |
| API / developer tools | Yes | Probably not |
If you are honest with this exercise, most Shopify retailers need 5-6 of the 15+ feature categories an ERP provides. You are paying for 100% of the platform and using 30-40% of it.
The ERP implementation trap
Cost is not just about the monthly subscription. The total cost of getting an ERP running and keeping it running is significantly higher than the sticker price suggests.
Setup time
A self-serve tool might take 30-60 minutes to connect to Shopify and configure. An ERP implementation typically takes 2-6 weeks for a small retail business, involving:
- Data migration (importing products, suppliers, historical POs)
- Configuration (setting up locations, tax rules, accounting mappings)
- Integration setup (connecting to Shopify, testing sync reliability)
- User training (getting staff comfortable with the new system)
During this setup period, you are either running both systems in parallel or operating without proper inventory management. Either way, it costs time and attention.
Ongoing maintenance
ERPs require ongoing care:
- Sync monitoring: Is the Shopify integration working correctly? Are inventory levels staying accurate? Someone needs to check regularly.
- Updates and changes: When the ERP pushes updates, do they break your workflow? Do you need to re-train staff?
- Troubleshooting: When something goes wrong (a sync error, a miscounted stocktake, a receiving discrepancy), resolving it in a complex system takes longer than in a simple one.
- Feature bloat avoidance: Over time, ERPs nudge you toward using more features. Each new feature is another thing to learn, configure, and maintain.
Total cost of ownership (12-month estimate)
Here is what a typical small retailer might spend in the first year with an ERP versus a purpose-built tool:
| Cost component | ERP ($349/mo tier) | Purpose-built tool |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription (12 mo) | $4,188 | Fraction of this |
| Implementation/setup | $1,000-3,000 | $0 (self-serve) |
| Additional user seats | $480-1,200 | Usually included |
| Integration add-ons | $0-600 | $0 (Shopify-native) |
| Staff training time | 10-20 hours | 1-2 hours |
| Ongoing maintenance | 2-4 hrs/month | Minimal |
| Estimated year-one total | $5,668-$9,588+ | Significantly less |
The ERP is not just 4-10x more expensive per month. The total cost of ownership — including time, training, and maintenance — makes the gap even wider.
The case for purpose-built tools
The alternative to an ERP is a tool built specifically for the workflows you need. Instead of buying a Swiss Army knife when you need a screwdriver, you buy a good screwdriver.
Purpose-built inventory tools for Shopify retailers share several characteristics:
They do fewer things, but do them well. Purchase orders, receiving, stocktakes, replenishment. That is the scope. No manufacturing, no accounting, no B2B portal. The development team focuses 100% of its effort on the workflows you actually use.
They are Shopify-native. Instead of treating Shopify as one of 30 integrations, a purpose-built tool is designed from the ground up for the Shopify ecosystem. Inventory sync, cost updates, location management — these are core features, not afterthoughts.
They are self-serve. You install the app, connect your store, and start working. No implementation calls, no guided setup, no multi-week onboarding. The interface is designed to be intuitive for retail staff, not inventory consultants.
They cost less because they build less. A focused tool does not carry the engineering, sales, and support overhead of a full ERP. Those savings are passed through as lower pricing.
They are faster to adopt. When you are racing against the August 31 Stocky sunset, speed matters. A tool you can set up in an afternoon and be productive with by the next day beats a tool that requires a 4-week implementation project.
For small retailers with 1-5 locations, a purpose-built tool is almost always the right call. You get the workflows you need without the cost and complexity you do not.
When an ERP actually makes sense
To be fair, there are scenarios where an ERP is the right choice:
- You manufacture products and need BOM management, production scheduling, and raw material tracking.
- You sell wholesale and retail and need a B2B order portal alongside your Shopify store.
- You have a dedicated warehouse with bin locations, pick-pack-ship workflows, and shipping integrations.
- You operate across multiple countries with multi-currency purchasing and complex tax rules.
- You are doing $1M+ in revenue and need the operational infrastructure to support continued growth into more complex operations.
If any of these apply, an ERP may be worth the investment. But for the typical Shopify POS retailer with 1-5 stores, these scenarios are the exception, not the rule.
Making the right choice
Before you commit to a $350/month ERP because someone in a Shopify Community forum said it was the only way to replace Stocky, take a step back:
- List the Stocky features you actually use. Be honest. If you never used Stocky’s transfers or supplier management, you do not need to replace those features.
- Calculate the ROI. How much time does your current workflow take? What would stockouts cost you? A $50/month tool that saves 4 hours of labor per week is a clear win. A $350/month tool that provides the same time savings but adds manufacturing features you will never touch is overspending.
- Start with the simplest viable option. You can always upgrade later. Moving from a focused tool to an ERP is straightforward. Unwinding an ERP contract when you realize you are overpaying is much harder.
- Read the fine print. Check for per-user fees, overage charges, annual commitment requirements, and cancellation terms before signing up.
Understanding the true cost breakdown helps. For a detailed look at how average unit cost tracking works across different tools, see our dedicated guide.
The Stocky sunset does not mean you need to 10x your inventory management budget. You need a tool that does what Stocky did — POs, receiving, and replenishment — at a price that makes sense for your business. Purpose-built alternatives exist specifically to fill that gap.