A Zoho Inventory alternative.
Zoho Inventory is a capable, well-established product with a large ecosystem behind it. MerchantPlay is a narrower tool that goes deeper on one thing: explaining your stock.
Where Zoho Inventory is strong
If these matter more to you than what follows, Zoho Inventory is probably the better choice — and we would rather say so.
- A free tier for very low order volumes
- A large surrounding ecosystem of Zoho business apps
- Many years of maturity and a broad integration catalogue
- Higher tiers reaching far larger order volumes than MerchantPlay
- Warehouse features such as bin locations on upper plans
Side by side
| MerchantPlay | Zoho Inventory | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat monthly plan — US$29 Starter, US$79 Growth | Tiered by monthly order volume, from a free tier up to enterprise plans |
| Users included | 2 on Starter, 5 on Growth | 1 on the free tier; most paid tiers include 2, with more available as paid add-ons |
| Locations | 2 on Starter, 5 on Growth | 2 on the free and entry tiers, rising with each higher plan |
| Serial number tracking | Included on Growth at US$79/month | Available; the plan it becomes available on depends on the tier you choose |
| Unit-level history | Unit Journey — the full life of one unit, on Growth | Serial records are held, without an equivalent single-unit lifecycle view |
| Point of sale | Browser selling included on both plans | Not part of Zoho Inventory; sold separately in the wider Zoho suite |
| Best suited to | Growing sellers who want stock traceability without an implementation project | Businesses already in the Zoho ecosystem, or needing very high order volumes |
Checked August 2026 against each vendor’s own pricing page. Vendors change pricing and packaging — verify before deciding.
Where MerchantPlay fits
If you are already running Zoho apps, staying inside that ecosystem is a reasonable call. MerchantPlay is worth a look if your real problem is that nobody can explain why a stock number is what it is — and if serial-level traceability matters more to you than breadth of modules.
- Inventory-first, with selling as one of the ways stock leaves
- Purchasing, receiving and stock movements in one connected history
- Stock Journey explains why any quantity changed
- Serial Tracking and Unit Journey included on Growth at US$79/month
- Starts at US$29/month with a 14-day free trial
- Purchase receiptGR-000118+20
- Transfer outTR-000042−5
- Transfer inTR-000042+5
- SaleR-001904−3
- Customer returnRT-000019+1
- StocktakeST-000007−2
Ready to take control of your inventory?
Start free and see where your stock came from and where it went.