Best Inventory Management Software for Retail Stores in 2026: POS-Linked, Open-Source and Grocery Options

The best inventory management software for a retail store depends on whether stock lives inside your register or beside it. Square Point of Sale and Lightspeed track inventory as part of a hosted POS, Zoho Inventory is a stock-first app with a free plan, and Open Source POS and Odoo are the options to host yourself. Grocery shops get their own section below.

This guide is for shop owners who count stock by SKU, scan barcodes and order from suppliers. It groups 12 tools by job: POS systems with inventory built in, open-source tools, stock-first apps, grocery and larger chains, and resale shops with one-of-a-kind stock. The table and cards show live pricing and GitHub activity, and a few vendors publish no prices.

How we picked

Each product either connects stock to sales in a retail setting or is an inventory tool that retailers use beside a POS, based on the vendor's own pages and Enlisted's data. Open-source tools are checked for licence, GitHub activity and self-hosting, and hosted tools for their published pricing model. Restaurant-only systems such as Nine are left out, because restaurant stock works differently and has its own guide to inventory software for restaurants. For how listings are ranked, see how Enlisted ranks tools.

Stock inside the POS or stock beside it?

Most small shops start by asking whether the register should hold the inventory. A POS with inventory built in keeps sales and stock in one place, so a sale lowers the count straight away. A stock-first app goes deeper on purchasing, warehouses and channels, but you then connect it to a register. Enlisted's guide to POS systems for retail covers the register side, and the ERP category lists more stock tools.

If you also sell online, the guide to inventory management software for ecommerce covers channel sync, and the ecommerce category has the store platforms.

Best retail inventory software built into a POS

1. Square Point of Sale: best POS with a free plan and retail inventory

Square Point of Sale is the register and payments product from Square that adds inventory tracking to in-person selling, with setups for retail, food and beverage, beauty and services. Beyond payments it covers order management, invoices, an online store, staff scheduling and pay, and Square sells card readers, registers and other hardware to go with it.

Square Free has no monthly fee, paid plans are priced per location, and card processing fees apply on every plan. Enlisted's data lists inventory tracking for retail but not its depth, so read Square's retail inventory pages for variants, purchase orders and multi-location features.

• Best for: small shops that want payments, register and stock tracking from one vendor.
• Watch out for: processing fees come on top of any plan, and the depth of inventory features should be confirmed for your catalogue.

2. Lightspeed: best for multi-location retail with purchasing built in

Lightspeed is point-of-sale and commerce software whose retail suite covers POS, payments, ecommerce, wholesale and inventory management. Its inventory page lists purchase orders from the POS, reorder points or minimum and maximum stock levels, barcode scanning with its scanner, product variants for sizes and colours, and tracking across locations and online sales.

It also lists a built-in NuORDER catalog for buying from suppliers. Retail plans have no free tier, include one register, and charge extra for further registers and locations, with multi-location setups quoted by sales.

• Best for: apparel, electronics, sporting goods and other retailers with variants and more than one location.
• Watch out for: extra registers and locations are charged separately, so price your full setup rather than the entry plan.

3. Zettle: best for pop-ups and small shops taking card payments

Zettle is PayPal's point-of-sale and card reader system that lets small businesses take card, contactless and mobile payments, organize inventory and analyze sales. It has country-specific sites for markets including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Brazil, each with its own readers and terminals.

There is no subscription or contract: Enlisted's data shows you pay per card transaction plus any hardware, and the POS app adds no extra cost. Inventory features are described as organizing stock rather than managing purchasing or warehouses.

• Best for: market stalls, pop-up shops and small stores with simple stock.
• Watch out for: the inventory tools are light, and readers and terms depend on your country, so check your local Zettle site.

4. TinyPOS: best offline mobile POS for market stalls and tiny shops

TinyPOS is an offline-first point-of-sale app for iPhone, iPad and Android that turns a phone or tablet into a register with inventory. It scans barcodes and QR codes with the phone camera, tracks prices, photos, product codes, stock quantities and low-stock items, records cash, card or transfer payments, and prints or shares receipts.

Selling, inventory and reporting run on the device without a required account or constant internet connection. An end-of-day report summarizes totals, payment methods and top-selling products, and a free plan exists.

• Best for: solo sellers, kiosks and coffee carts that need stock counts and daily sales on a phone.
• Watch out for: Enlisted's data describes no purchasing, warehouse or multi-store features.

Best open-source and self-hosted options

5. Open Source POS: best self-hosted register with stock, invoices and reports

Open Source POS is a web-based point of sale application written in PHP, storing data in MySQL or MariaDB, with stock management for items and kits. Its feature list adds a sale register with transaction logging, quotations and invoicing, expenses, cash-up, receipt printing and emailing, barcode generation, customer and supplier databases, gift cards, rewards and reports on sales and inventory.

It supports VAT, GST and multi-tier taxation and has multi-user permissions. GitHub shows its licence as "Other", so read the terms, and the 3.4 release moved the project to CodeIgniter 4.

• Best for: small shops with someone who can run a PHP and MySQL server.
• Watch out for: you manage hosting, backups and updates yourself.

6. Odoo: best open-source suite that joins inventory and point of sale

Odoo is a family of open-source business apps in which inventory, point of sale, eCommerce and accounting can run alone or together on one database. For stock, Odoo's page names a scanner app that reads barcode, QR and GS1 codes, reordering rules, picking strategies, lots and serial numbers, and stock held across several warehouses.

Its point of sale page says the register works offline and syncs when reconnected, pairs with barcode scanners and scales, and supports multiple stores. One app is free, and paid plans are priced per user, so using inventory and point of sale together means more than one app. The GitHub licence shows as "Other".

• Best for: shops that want stock, register and accounting in one self-hostable system.
• Watch out for: running several apps raises the per-user cost on a paid plan, and the licence needs reading before you modify it.

Best stock-first apps to pair with your POS

7. Zoho Inventory: best stock-first app with a free plan

Zoho Inventory is cloud inventory software from Zoho that retailers can use to hold stock for several shops or warehouses and to run purchasing from the same screen. Zoho lists transfer orders between warehouses, picklists and bin locations, purchase orders, price lists, composite items, serial and batch tracking, and barcode generation and scanning.

The free plan limits orders, users and locations, and paid plans are billed per organization instead of per seat. Accounting links include Xero, QuickBooks Online and Zoho Books, and online channels such as Shopify and WooCommerce are named on the site.

• Best for: retailers that manage several locations and want a free starting point.
• Watch out for: it is not a register, so you need a POS or an online store to take sales.

8. Sortly: best visual inventory for small teams that count by location

Sortly is a hosted inventory tracker where each item has photos and sits in folders that mirror physical locations. Its site lists an in-app barcode and QR code scanner, low-stock and date-based alerts, folders organized by location or type, and a mobile app for iOS and Android that works offline.

It is aimed at small businesses, contractors and facilities that need to know what they have and where without a heavy ERP. Enlisted's data lists a free plan limited by item count and users, while the site promotes a free trial, so confirm which applies on Sortly's pricing page.

• Best for: small shops and stockrooms that count by shelf or bin and want a simple mobile app.
• Watch out for: it is a tracker rather than a full purchasing and order system, so check how far its purchasing features go.

9. Cin7: best for retailers that also sell wholesale across several channels

Cin7 describes itself as a small-business ERP built around inventory, and it targets retailers that also supply wholesale customers. Stock control, purchasing, warehouse management, EDI and links to 3PL warehouses sit in one cloud product, and add-ons cover demand forecasting and a portal where B2B buyers place orders.

A shop that adds a wholesale arm would use the accounting links to QuickBooks Online and Xero and the channel links to Shopify, WooCommerce and Amazon. Monthly plans include a fixed number of users, the Omni product is priced by quote, and there is a free trial.

• Best for: retailers adding a wholesale arm or several warehouses to their shops.
• Watch out for: it is built around inventory and orders rather than a counter, so you pair it with a register.

10. Brightpearl: best for omnichannel retailers that want accounting included

Brightpearl calls itself a retail operating system: one back office that handles inventory, orders, shipping, customer records and accounting for retailers and wholesalers. Inventory forecasting and purchasing, warehouse tools, an automation engine and retail analytics are part of the same product.

On the payments side it lists Stripe and Square, and for accounting Xero, QuickBooks and Sage, alongside storefront and marketplace links such as Shopify, Amazon, eBay and Walmart. Quotes are tailored after a demo, and unlimited users are included.

• Best for: retailers replacing a patchwork of apps with one back office.
• Watch out for: no published prices, and the scope is wide for a single small shop.

Inventory management software for grocery stores

Grocery stock has needs a clothing shop does not: weighed items, products that expire and thin margins on fresh food. Enlisted's catalogue has few tools aimed at small grocery stores, so this section says what the data does and does not show.

Odoo's point of sale page lists barcode scanner and scale support, and both Odoo and Zoho Inventory list lot or batch tracking, though neither page says expiry dates are recorded. Ask each vendor whether it records expiry dates against batches and handles items sold by weight. Open Source POS lists items, kits and barcode generation, and Enlisted's data does not mention weighed items for it.

11. RELEX Solutions: best planning platform for larger grocery and fresh-food retailers

RELEX Solutions is a supply chain and retail planning platform for demand forecasting, replenishment, assortment and pricing, aimed at retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. It stresses fresh food categories where products expire, and lists demand sensing, automatic replenishment, fresh expiration and markdown management and promotion planning.

This is a planning layer for chains rather than a stock-counting app for one shop, and pricing is by contact.

• Best for: grocery chains that need forecasting and replenishment for fresh categories.
• Watch out for: it is built for large retailers and quoted by the vendor, so it is more than a single store needs.

Another enterprise option is Manhattan Associates, whose Manhattan Active suite lists point of sale, store inventory and fulfilment, order management and demand forecasting for retailers and grocers. Mid-sized chains can also look at Priority Software, an ERP with retail and POS lines.

Best for resale, vintage and one-of-a-kind stock

12. Pallet: best for shops whose stock has no barcodes

Pallet is an inventory tracker for resellers whose stock is thousands of unique pieces with no barcodes. Each item gets a record with a photo, size, condition, cost and price, plus a printable QR code to stick on the bag, hanger or bin, which a phone camera scans without special hardware.

A Telegram bot answers stock lookups, items can be organized in folders and shelf locations, and teammates can share a workspace. It is free to start, and you upgrade when you outgrow the free plan.

• Best for: vintage clothing and thrift shops that need to find individual items fast.
• Watch out for: it is made for unique items, so a shop with barcoded catalogue stock and supplier orders will want a different tool.

If you do need to create barcodes for your own products, UPCgen makes UPC, EAN, ISBN and Code 128 barcodes online, with bulk export and a REST API on paid plans.

What to check before you buy retail inventory software

Two requirements decide most shortlists.

Do you need purchasing and variants, or just counts? A shop selling sizes and colours, ordering from suppliers or running two locations needs more than a count. Lightspeed lists variants, purchase orders, reorder points and multi-location tracking, and Zoho Inventory lists purchase orders and multi-warehouse stock. TinyPOS and Zettle describe lighter inventory features, so confirm they cover your catalogue before you commit.

Does the stock tool talk to your register? If you keep your POS, the inventory app has to connect to it. Brightpearl lists Square among its payment tools, while Lightspeed, Square and Odoo keep stock and sales in one product. Ask any stock-first vendor which POS systems it connects to, and how often counts sync.

Also compare how the price is metered: Square charges per location, Lightspeed per register and location, Zoho Inventory per organization, Brightpearl includes unlimited users, and Odoo charges per user. For a view across vendors, use the live pricing section at the end of this page and read the inventory management guide for small business.

Which inventory management software should a retailer choose?