ItemTally vs Zoho Inventory
Zoho Inventory is a good product for a different job. The honest summary is Zoho manages orders; ItemTally keeps a register of what you own. If you sell across channels and ship parcels, you likely want Zoho. If you want to know what you have, where it is and who's holding it, order machinery is overhead.
Choose Zoho Inventory if
- You sell what you stock, and need sales orders, purchase orders, backorders and dropshipping.
- You already run Zoho Books or Zoho CRM and want inventory in the same suite.
- You need serial and batch tracking tied to sales, with bins per warehouse.
Choose ItemTally if
- Your things are used, lent and returned, not sold.
- You need custody, meaning who has it, when it's due back and their signature.
- You want a large team on a flat price, with borrowers and viewers who don't count as paid users.
Where Zoho Inventory is better
Every tool has a reason people pick it. These are Zoho Inventory's.
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A real commerce stack
Sales orders, purchase orders, backordering, dropshipment, composite items and a customer portal. If the job is selling, Zoho covers it end to end.
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The Zoho suite around it
Books, CRM and the rest of Zoho are first-party integrations, and Zoho Analytics comes with Enterprise.
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Warehouse depth
Bins per location from Premium, unit-of-measure conversion and profit margins. That's the warehouse side of inventory, which ItemTally doesn't attempt.
The structural difference
Zoho Inventory is priced and shaped per organisation and per order: each plan includes a monthly order allowance, a few users and a few locations, and you buy more of each. Its world is SKUs, warehouses and shipments.
ItemTally has no orders at all, by design. No invoices, no purchasing, no carts. What it has instead is the register Zoho doesn’t: check-outs to people with due dates and signatures, self-service take and return with a scan, stock counts, location folders, possession checks, and a movement ledger anyone on the team can read. €19/mo flat, items and movements never metered.
The boundary is the point: the moment a tool adds sales orders it starts serving the seller. We keep that door closed so the app stays fast and the price stays flat, and it’s written into a signed pledge.
The part a price cut can't copy: ItemTally never meters items, on any plan, and that is a signed, dated promise. Read the pledge →
Side by side
The Zoho Inventory column was checked on 16 October 2026. Numbers in brackets link to the sources at the end of the page.
| Feature | Zoho Inventory | ItemTally |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Selling and shipping across channels | Knowing what you own and who has it |
| Pricing model | Per organisation, by plan, with orders, users and locations capped and sold as add-ons [1] | €19/mo flat for 5 editors and 50 borrowers. Orders don't exist here |
| Free plan | 50 orders a month, 1 user, 2 locations [1] | Unlimited items, 1 editor, 10 borrowers, every feature |
| Users | 2 users on Standard to Premium, 7 on Enterprise, then €7.50 per user a month (billed yearly) [1] | Editors and borrowers by plan; viewers always free |
| Sales and purchase orders | Yes, the core of the product [1] | None, by design |
| Check-out to people | Not in their plan list [1] | Yes: due dates, signatures, reminders, returns from a link |
| Stock counting | Premium (€129/mo) and up [1] | Every plan, by scanning a shelf |
| Serial numbers | Professional (€79/mo) and up [1] | Unique items with serials, every plan |
What it costs at real team sizes
Zoho Inventory charges per organisation. Each plan includes a number of orders, users and locations, and extra users are €7.50 each a month, billed yearly. Prices below are what Zoho's plan builder showed to an EU visitor.
| Team | Zoho Inventory | ItemTally |
|---|---|---|
| 5 people 500 items | €51.50/mo billed yearly (Standard €29 + 3 users at €7.50) | €19/mo Stockroom: 5 editors. |
| 15 people 500 items | €126.50/mo billed yearly (Standard + 13 users) | €19/mo Stockroom: 5 editors, 10 borrowers. Warehouse (€49/mo) if all 15 edit. |
| 40 people 500 items | €314/mo billed yearly (Standard + 38 users) Assumes everyone needs a Zoho login. | €19/mo Stockroom: 5 editors, 35 borrowers. Warehouse (€49/mo) if all 40 edit. |
ItemTally prices exclude VAT and are billed monthly. Items are never metered, and people who only look are free on every plan. Zoho prices exclude local taxes. Standard includes 500 orders a month and 2 locations.
Switching from Zoho Inventory takes an afternoon
Nothing is written to your new register until you've seen the preview.
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Export your items from Zoho Inventory as CSV.
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Import into ItemTally. Map the columns your export has, typically name, SKU, unit, quantity and reorder level. Map the reorder level to the low-stock minimum.
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Preview the dry run. Nothing is written until you confirm. Re-import later and matching rows update instead of duplicating.
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Keep the barcodes. Map any barcode column (UPC, EAN or SKU) to codes and items scan with the codes already on them.
Questions about switching from Zoho Inventory
How do I move my data from Zoho Inventory to ItemTally?
Export your items as CSV and import it. The importer maps your columns, previews everything as a dry run and writes nothing until you confirm.
Can ItemTally replace Zoho Inventory for an online shop?
No. ItemTally has no sales orders, invoices, purchasing or shipping, and never will. For selling, keep Zoho.
Is there really a free plan, or is it a trial?
Free forever: the Shelf plan covers one editor and ten borrowers, with unlimited items and every feature. No card, no trial clock.
Will the price rise on me later?
Your joining price is locked, and items are never metered on any plan. Both are part of a signed, dated public pledge.
Sources
- Zoho Inventory pricing page and plan builder checked 16 October 2026
Prices and plans change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll correct it with a new date.
Try it on your own list before you decide.
Import a CSV export from Zoho Inventory and see exactly what ItemTally would create before anything is saved.
Free for one editor and ten borrowers, with unlimited items. No card needed.