Is there free inventory management software?

Yes. InvenTree, ERPNext, Dolibarr, Odoo Community and Part-DB are free to self-host. You pay for hosting and your time.

Can inventory software use barcodes?

Many support barcodes in some form. Check the documentation for scanner and label support before you choose.

Best Inventory Management Software for Small Business

Q: What is the best inventory management software for small business?

It depends on what you stock. InvenTree suits makers and parts, ERPNext and Dolibarr suit stock tied to sales and accounting, and Open Source POS suits shops with a till.

Short answer

Making or assembling things: InvenTree. Stock tied to sales and accounting: ERPNext or Dolibarr. A shop with a till: Open Source POS. Electronic parts: Part-DB.

The best inventory management software for small business depends less on features and more on what you stock. A candle maker, a corner shop and an electronics repair bench all “track inventory”, but in very different ways. Start with your business shape, then compare tools.

Four business shapes, four different needs

Business shape	What matters most	Good fit
Maker or light manufacturer	Parts, bills of materials, supplier orders	InvenTree, ERPNext
Shop with a counter	Fast sales, receipts, stock deducted per sale	Open Source POS, ERPNext POS
Trader or wholesaler	Purchasing, sales orders, stock levels, invoices	ERPNext, Dolibarr, Odoo Community
Workshop with components	Thousands of small parts, locations, datasheets	Part-DB, InvenTree

Free inventory tools compared

Feature comparison at a glance

Tool	Inventory	Barcodes	Purchasing	API	Multi-user	Plugins
InvenTree	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
ERPNext	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Dolibarr ERP CRM	✓	–	✓	✓	✓	✓
Odoo Community	✓	–	✓	✓	✓	✓
AureusERP	✓	–	✓	–	–	–
Open Source POS	✓	✓	–	–	✓	–
Part-DB	✓	✓	–	–	✓	–

✓ = listed in the project's documentation. – = not confirmed in the documentation we reviewed, so check the demo or docs.

InvenTree

Parts, stock and bills of materials

An open source inventory system with part tracking, stock locations and suppliers. A strong pick for makers, workshops and hardware businesses.

Part tracking with categories, parameters and stock levels
Stock control across locations with history
Bills of materials for assemblies

7,717 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026

Read the full InvenTree review

ERPNext

Stock inside a full ERP

Inventory connected to purchasing, sales and accounting. The best fit when stock levels must drive orders and financial records.

Leads, opportunities and quotations
Accounting and inventory included
Very large community

40,232 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026

Read the full ERPNext review

Dolibarr ERP CRM

Simple stock for small shops

Stock management inside a modular PHP business app. Easy to host, suitable for small catalogs.

Modular: enable only what you use
Invoicing, stock and agenda built in
Runs on cheap shared hosting

7,732 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026

Read the full Dolibarr ERP CRM review

Odoo Community

Inventory app in Community

Odoo Community includes an Inventory app with warehouses and stock moves, plus many connected apps. Some advanced features sit in Enterprise.

Huge app ecosystem
CRM linked to quotes and invoicing
Active community and partners

55,072 stars · LGPL-3.0 (Community edition) · repo updated Oct 2026

Read the full Odoo Community review

AureusERP

Newer MIT-licensed ERP with inventory

A fast-growing Laravel ERP that lists inventory among its modules. Young, so check maturity before relying on it.

Inventory and warehouse features
Modular ERP built on Laravel and Filament
Purchasing and procurement modules

12,073 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026

Read the full AureusERP review

Open Source POS

Retail stock plus point of sale

A point of sale system with stock tracking, suited to small shops that sell at a counter.

Stock management for items and kits with an extensible attribute list
Barcode generation and printing
VAT, GST, customer and multi-tier taxation

4,443 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026

Read the full Open Source POS review

Part-DB

Electronic components

Built to manage electronic parts and components. Ideal for electronics workshops, not for general retail.

Inventory of electronic parts with categories and storage locations
Barcode and label generation for parts and locations, with webcam scanning
User system with groups and fine-grained permissions

1,801 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026

Read the full Part-DB review

Data verified 16 October 2026. Each card opens our in-depth page for that tool.

Replace the spreadsheet in four steps

Give every item a unique SKU or code.

Do one full physical count and enter it as opening stock.

Set a reorder level for your top 20 items.

Record every purchase, sale and adjustment in the system, never in a side spreadsheet.

A simple monthly stock-count habit

Count a different section each week and compare the result with the system. Investigate every difference above a small threshold you set. This catches theft, breakage and data entry errors early, and it is cheaper than one huge annual count.

Think about valuation

FIFO and average cost change your profit figures and tax. Agree the method with your accountant before you start.

Example: a small online store with 300 products

An illustrative example, not a real company.

A store sells 300 products from a back room and ships daily. Stock lives in a spreadsheet that never quite matches the shelves, so they sometimes oversell.

They move to an ERP stock module. First they give every product a SKU and do a full count. Then they record every purchase and sale in the system and set reorder levels on the 20 fastest sellers. A weekly cycle count of one shelf section keeps the numbers honest.

Within a month the spreadsheet is retired, and the owner sees what to reorder without counting boxes.

Pitfalls to watch for

Keeping a side spreadsheet “just in case”.
Skipping the opening stock count.
Not recording breakage and returns.
Choosing a heavy ERP for a tiny catalog.
Never setting reorder levels.

Should you pay for this instead?

Paid inventory apps often include barcode scanning apps and marketplace integrations that are hard to replicate. Self-hosted tools shine when stock must connect to your own accounting and you want no per-user cost. Match the tool to your sales channels before you decide.

Also see warehouse management and point of sale if you outgrow plain stock tracking. The tools above are self-hosted, so budget for a server: a VPS or web hosting plan from a provider such as Hostinger covers most of them.

Need a server to host it?

Self-hosting a CRM needs a server. PHP and MySQL apps can often run on ordinary web hosting, while Docker, Node, Python or Java apps usually need a VPS. Check each project's requirements first. Hostinger offers both shared web hosting and VPS plans.

See Hostinger plans

Affiliate disclosure: this is an affiliate link. If you buy through it we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. CRMs and software are listed independently of any hosting partner. Learn more.

Official links for the tools in this guide

Every tool above has its own page on our site with the full review. These are the official sources, so you can download the latest version safely.

InvenTree: Official website · Source on GitHub
ERPNext: Official website · Source on GitHub
Dolibarr ERP CRM: Official website · Source on GitHub
Odoo Community: Official website · Source on GitHub
AureusERP: Official website · Source on GitHub
Open Source POS: Official website · Source on GitHub
Part-DB: Official website · Source on GitHub

Best Inventory Management Software for Small Business, Chosen by What You Stock