Unleashed vs Katana for Manufacturers and Distributors

Where Logistify AI fits

Logistify works alongside Unleashed. It is a managed service, not an inventory system, and it doesn't replace Unleashed, Cin7 Core, Katana or Xero. With Unleashed, the Sales Order Service enters customer orders that arrive by email, PDF, Excel, EDI, WhatsApp, SMS, voicemail or paper as sales orders, creates sales quotes for quote requests, and replies to the buyer with the quantity available on each line. The Procurement Service follows up with suppliers on open purchase orders. The Accounts Receivable Service matches payments from your bank file to open invoices and records them in Xero or QuickBooks Online, whichever you use. Logistify operates in every region where Unleashed is sold.

• It doesn't do stocktakes, stock adjustments, warehouse transfers or assemblies in Unleashed, and it doesn't create, receipt or return purchase orders.
• It doesn't choose a warehouse or set batch numbers, serial numbers, bins or units of measure on orders.
• It doesn't chase customers for payment.

Side by side

How do Unleashed and Katana price their plans?

Unleashed publishes its prices. In the UK, Core is £269 a month and Pro £499, paid monthly and excluding taxes; Australia and New Zealand pay $449 and $819 in local dollars. Production is a paid module on Core (£49, A$69 or NZ$69 a month) and included on Pro. Katana has a Free plan for up to 30 SKUs, with unlimited users and all features, and one paid plan, Advantage. Katana doesn't publish an Advantage price: it scopes your setup and quotes one annual contract that includes implementation and support.

Which handles subassemblies better?

Katana treats a subassembly as a product with its own recipe and production operations. When you create a manufacturing order for the finished product, Katana can create manufacturing orders for each subassembly automatically, up to 10 levels deep, and gives them higher priority in the schedule. In Unleashed, you can see sub-BOMs from the parent BOM, and you create Sub-Assemblies from the parent Assembly, one at a time or with Create All Auto Sub Assemblies. Each Sub-Assembly must be completed by hand before the parent Assembly can be completed, and all components must be in the Assembly's Source Warehouse.

How are production costs worked out?

Katana's manufacturing cost is the materials cost plus the cost of the production operations in the recipe. Unleashed costs an Assembly from each component's Average Landed Cost, plus wastage and any Supplier Costs, such as an outside contractor. Overheads like labor or rent can be added to an Unleashed bill of materials as Never Diminishing Products.

How does each one keep stock right in Xero?

Unleashed's Xero integration sends the accounting entries for sales, receipts and stock adjustments to Xero automatically, one way. Katana's Xero integration sends sales orders as invoices and purchase orders as bills, and imports customers and suppliers. Katana's help center says it doesn't sync stock levels to Xero automatically: if you need stock and cost of goods sold in Xero, it suggests posting manual journals periodically from Katana's figures.

Who should choose which

• Choose Katana if you make most of what you sell, use subassemblies several levels deep, and want production operations costed and scheduled.
• Choose Katana if you need many users, since both its plans include unlimited users.
• Choose Unleashed if you are mainly a wholesaler or distributor that also assembles or kits products.
• Choose Unleashed if you want published monthly prices and stock movements posted to Xero without manual journals.
• Try both: Katana's Free plan allows unlimited SKUs for the first 15 days, and Unleashed offers a 14-day free trial.