G2 Customer Reviews
What do you like best about Stok.ly – Inventory-Centric Cloud ERP?
“we have been a user for the last 4 years and we cannot think of life without it for our retail business. it makes listing to shopify and other marketplaces easy, keeps inventory accurate online and the POS is easy to use. accurate inventory across all sales channels is the big win for us.”
Fishbowl vs Stok.ly: at a glance
- Why compared now: Operators running Fishbowl report that documented features — forecasting, bin management, manufacturing-to-order linkage — often require significant configuration effort or add-on purchases before they deliver reliably in practice, prompting a search for inventory management software that works end-to-end out of the box.
- Where Stok.ly leads: AI-native demand forecasting, stockout risk scoring and margin analysis computed daily per SKU; a rules engine that moves orders without manual intervention; and pre-built integrations requiring no middleware.
- Where Fishbowl leads: Established manufacturing and warehouse functionality with genuine customer praise for replenishment automation, Xero connectivity and onboarding support across a large North American install base.
- Price position: Fishbowl Advanced starts from £375/month before add-ons, implementation and hardware; a fully scoped configuration including forecasting, B2B portal and connectors costs materially more.
- Honest verdict: Fishbowl is a credible platform — the real question is whether its documented capabilities, in the edition and configuration a buyer actually purchases, deliver the specific workflows they need without sustained manual workarounds.
Trust your stock. Transfer with confidence. Control orders. Fulfill every day like clockwork.
| Capability | Why it matters | Fishbowl | Stok.ly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where Fishbowl leads | ||||
| Manufacturing work order and BOM-driven production | Links production activity to finished-goods inventory without separate tracking | Native. Manufacture orders, work orders and BOM-driven production are documented in Fishbowl Advanced. A production and logistics manager reports tracking components through to finished stock as practical operational value. | Native. Stok.ly supports Manufacturing Run Creation and Multi-Level BOM Dependencies, creating and managing production runs with component-level visibility through to finished-goods stock. | Fishbowl documentation + independent reviews, September 2026 |
| Replenishment against minimum stock levels | Prevents stockouts without manual purchase monitoring across locations | Native. Fishbowl documents min/max replenishment, Auto PO and Auto MO for finished goods and manufactured items. One reviewer describes moving away from physical stock inspections to automatic PO creation as a meaningful time saving. | Native. Stok.ly’s Supplier-Based Replenishment Logic automates supplier ordering, and Location-Specific Min/Max Replenishment Rules allow different thresholds per warehouse, store, or depot — matched to each location’s real demand profile. | Fishbowl documentation + independent reviews, September 2026 |
| Xero and QuickBooks accounting integration | Keeps inventory and financial records synchronised without manual re-entry | Native. QuickBooks and Xero connectivity are documented. Multiple reviewers report the Xero integration streamlined bookkeeping and supported a positive transition from Xero’s native stock functionality. UK/global QuickBooks scope has documented limitations — verify your specific product and country. | Native. Stok.ly’s Accounting Integration & Mapping covers Xero, QuickBooks (all versions including Enterprise self-hosted), Sage 50/200/Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, FreeAgent, iPlicit and Accounts IQ, with tree-based nominal mapping and configurable auto-sync per document type. | Fishbowl documentation + independent reviews, September 2026 |
| Where the comparison is genuinely unresolved | ||||
| Sales-Order-Driven Purchase Order and Manufacturing Run Creation | Ties new supply directly to the originating sales demand, not a stock level | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents SO-to-PO creation and sales/manufacturing linkage, but binding demand-driven creation from a specific sales order line — with priority protection — was not established in published sources. | Native. From a sales order line, users create a new purchase order, assign to an existing purchase order, or create a manufacturing run directly, keeping fulfilment planning tightly linked to the originating demand. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026; operator accounts, September 2026 |
| Scheduled Automated Fulfilment Rule Execution | Warehouse staff arrive to find work already queued — no manual processing at shift start | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents picking, packing and scheduled imports, but rules that automatically generate goods-out notes and push picks to handheld devices on a user-defined schedule were not established. Operators running Fishbowl report needing to manually review and release each backlogged sales order individually. | Native. Stok.ly’s Scheduled Automated Fulfilment Rule Execution runs fulfilment and pick rules at set times — for example, 8 am before staff arrive — automatically processing eligible orders into goods-out notes and pushing picks to handheld devices with no manual intervention. | Fishbowl documentation + operator accounts, September 2026 |
| Channel-Specific Availability Rules | Prevents OEM-reserved or restricted stock from appearing on public sales channels | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl’s WooCommerce documentation supports selected location groups and different availability calculations, but independent per-bin, per-channel visibility control — sufficient to hide OEM-segregated stock from a specific channel — was not established. Operators running Fishbowl report physically relocating stock to separate bin locations to simulate this segregation. | Native. Stok.ly’s Channel-Specific Availability Rules control stock exposure per channel, allowing OEM-reserved or restricted inventory to be hidden from specific ecommerce channels without any physical stock movement. | Fishbowl documentation + operator accounts, September 2026 |
| Multi-Entity B2C Aggregation with Separate Accounting Integration | Runs wholesale and retail legal entities on one system with separate financial reporting | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents location groups and accounting integration, but operating multiple legal entities on a single instance — with B2C channels tied to a separate entity and a separate accounting connection — was not established in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Multi-Entity B2C Aggregation with Separate Accounting Integration supports wholesale and retail entities on one instance, with B2C channels (Shopify, Amazon, eBay) linked to a separate QuickBooks or accounting system, keeping sales flows and nominal accounts financially segregated while sharing inventory visibility. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Location-Specific Min/Max Replenishment Rules | Matches replenishment thresholds to each location’s actual demand, not a single company-wide setting | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents min/max replenishment at the item level, but per-location threshold differentiation — allowing a central warehouse, a store, and a depot to each carry different reorder points — was not established as a distinct configured option. | Native. Stok.ly’s Location-Specific Min/Max Replenishment Rules set different replenishment thresholds per location, so a central warehouse, retail store, and regional depot are each managed according to their own real demand profile. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Optimised Pick Path and Pick Sequence Control | Reduces travel time and physical effort per pick run across the warehouse floor | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents grouped picking and location sorting, but configurable pick sequencing — by weight, volume, or distance from pack station — was not established as a user-selectable option in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Optimised Pick Path and Pick Sequence Control organises pick lists by heaviest item first, largest volume first, furthest-from-pack-station to pack station, or alphanumeric order, depending on the warehouse’s priorities. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Stock App Quantity Adjustment Permission Control | Enforces scan discipline on handheld devices, reducing receiving and pick count errors | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl Advanced Mobile documents barcode scanning workflows, but a permission setting that disables manual quantity adjustment buttons on the handheld — forcing staff to scan rather than type — was not established in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Stock App Quantity Adjustment Permission Control disables the plus and minus quantity buttons on the handheld Stock App, forcing staff to scan barcodes during receiving, picking, and stock-count workflows and reducing manual entry errors. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Virtual Terminal Payment Integration for Manual Sales Orders | Allows phone-based sales teams to take payment at order creation without switching systems | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents payment terms and sales order workflows, but a virtual payment terminal connected to Stripe or a standalone provider — integrated within the manual sales order creation screen — was not established in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Virtual Terminal Payment Integration for Manual Sales Orders connects Stripe or standalone payment providers within the order creation workflow, allowing staff to take payment without leaving the screen; fulfilment rules then control whether the order processes immediately or waits for payment confirmation. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Third-Party App Store & Developer Portal | Lets businesses commission custom functionality without waiting in a single vendor’s development queue | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents a REST API and SPS integration, but an open app store and accredited developer portal — where customers commission and receive custom features directly, paying the developer rather than the platform — was not established in published sources. | Native (launching October 2026). Stok.ly’s Third-Party App Store & Developer Portal lets customers commission custom features from accredited agencies or any developer, paying directly and receiving functionality immediately — independent of Stok.ly’s own development queue. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Store Replenishment Engine | Keeps retail locations stocked from a central warehouse without manual transfer decisions | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents transfer orders and min/max replenishment, but a dedicated store replenishment engine — automatically calculating and initiating transfers to retail locations — was not established as a named, distinct capability. | Native. Stok.ly’s Store Replenishment Engine manages automated stock replenishment from central warehouse to retail stores, removing the need for manual transfer calculations at the store level. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Reverse Inventory State Control | Keeps returned stock in the correct state — quarantine, resalable, or write-off — without manual intervention | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents RMA workflows covering refund, replacement, and repair options. Independent reviews describe the RMA process as involving repetitive steps; management of distinct inventory states for returned stock was not established as a separate, named control. | Native. Stok.ly’s Reverse Inventory State Control manages returned stock states — quarantine, resalable, or write-off — ensuring returned items move to the correct inventory position automatically on receipt. | Fishbowl documentation + independent reviews, September 2026 |
| Return Reason Analytics | Identifies which products or suppliers drive return volumes so root causes can be addressed | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents RMA workflows and more than 180 built-in reports, but a dedicated return reason analytics capability — tracking return causes and surfacing patterns by product, supplier, or channel — was not established in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Return Reason Analytics tracks return causes and surfaces patterns, giving buyers and operations teams the data to address root causes rather than processing returns in isolation. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Operational Intelligence Control Layer (Power BI) | Delivers trusted operational intelligence from live ERP data without a separate data warehouse build | Add-on or integration required. Fishbowl documents AI Insights (powered by ConverSight/Athena) and a BI reporting editor. Independent reviews report that some customers struggle to obtain required report outputs despite documented tools — verify specific reporting fit in a live demonstration. A dedicated Power BI layer on the ERP foundation was not established in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Operational Intelligence Control Layer places Power BI directly on the Stok.ly ERP foundation, delivering operational intelligence from the same data that drives order management and inventory — no separate data pipeline required. | Fishbowl documentation + independent reviews, September 2026 |
| Operational Reporting & Dashboards | Gives operations managers real-time visibility of order flow, stock position, and warehouse activity | Native. Fishbowl documents more than 180 built-in reports, sales and inventory dashboards, and a BI report editor. However, multiple independent reviewers report difficulty obtaining specific required outputs, with one reviewer describing an unsuccessful attempt to produce a production-list report — verify your specific reporting requirements in a live demonstration. | Native. Stok.ly’s Operational Reporting & Dashboards provide real-time visibility of order flow, stock position, and warehouse activity, built on the same transactional data that drives fulfilment — with Power BI available as an additional intelligence layer for deeper operational analysis. | Fishbowl documentation + independent reviews, September 2026 |
| Yield & Reject Tracking | Records production yield and reject quantities so true manufacturing cost per batch is visible | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents manufacture orders, work orders, and Fishbowl Time for labour tracking, but a dedicated yield and reject tracking capability — recording accepted and rejected quantities per production run — was not established as a named feature in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Yield & Reject Tracking records yield and reject quantities per manufacturing run, giving production managers accurate batch-level data to calculate true output costs and identify process loss. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Manufacturing Run Creation | Converts demand into a structured production run with component allocation and output tracking | Native. Fishbowl Advanced documents manufacture orders and work orders with BOM-driven component consumption and production output. A general manager praises the manufacturing feature set as practical and accessible for a small team. | Native. Stok.ly’s Manufacturing Run Creation generates structured production runs with component allocation and finished-goods output tracking, and can be triggered directly from a sales order line to keep production linked to confirmed demand. | Fishbowl documentation + independent reviews, September 2026 |
| Multi-Level BOM Dependencies | Ensures sub-assembly components are correctly consumed when a top-level product is manufactured | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents BOM-driven manufacture orders, but multi-level BOM dependency management — where sub-assemblies themselves carry their own component lists that cascade into a parent production run — was not explicitly established as a distinct, named capability in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Multi-Level BOM Dependencies manages parent and sub-assembly component relationships within a single production run, ensuring all downstream components are correctly allocated when the top-level finished good is manufactured. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
| Dispatch Tracking Loop Control | Closes the loop between a goods-out note and confirmed carrier dispatch, preventing lost shipments | Not found in published documentation as at 21 September 2026. Fishbowl documents shipping, carrier integration and batch shipping workflows, but a dedicated dispatch tracking loop control — automatically confirming that a goods-out note has resulted in a confirmed carrier dispatch event — was not established as a named capability in published sources. | Native. Stok.ly’s Dispatch Tracking Loop Control closes the loop between goods-out note creation and confirmed carrier dispatch, giving operations teams a definitive record that each shipment has left the building and is in carrier hands. | Fishbowl documentation, September 2026 |
Why businesses running Fishbowl start looking for a different inventory management platform
The businesses described below reached out because something specific had stopped working for them. That makes this a self-selected group: they are not representative of every Fishbowl customer, and the triggers below should be read in that light. Fishbowl carries a 4.2/5 rating across more than 1,100 Capterra reviews, and genuine customer accounts describe real operational value in manufacturing tracking, accounting integration and replenishment automation. What follows is not a verdict on the product — it is an account of the gap between what a given configuration was doing and what the operation had grown to need.
When the order backlog has to be worked manually because manufactured items block fulfilment
Fishbowl documents sales-to-manufacturing linkage, and build-to-order relationships are a genuine part of its Advanced scope. The gap that surfaces in practice is narrower and more specific: when a manufacturing completion does not automatically release the backlog of sales orders that were waiting on that stock, someone has to do it by hand — order by order, checking each one and greenlighting it individually. Operators running Fishbowl in this configuration report spending a full day each week on that release process alone, working through a queue that the system has no mechanism to resolve on its own. The root cause is not missing manufacturing capability — it is the absence of a rule that connects completion to release. Stok.ly’s rules engine closes that gap: an order meeting its conditions moves to pick without a person deciding it should, and one that does not is held with the reason attached rather than queued for someone to investigate.
Where reporting flexibility runs into its limits
Fishbowl Advanced documents more than 180 built-in reports and a BI reporting framework, and the feature’s existence is well established. What independent reviewers challenge is not the count but the ease of getting the specific output a particular operation needs. Andrew B., a general manager reviewing Fishbowl on Capterra on 14 April 2026, identifies custom reporting as a material shortcoming. Krista, reviewing on the same platform on 20 April 2026, describes an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a production-list report. For finance teams, the specific pain point is date-ranged inventory valuation: the configuration a customer needs for year-end or CPA reporting — a summary that covers a defined period rather than a current snapshot — has proven difficult to extract in practice, leading to manual reconciliation across individual sales orders. That is a reporting-fit problem, not an absence of reporting, and it is worth verifying against the exact edition and configuration in scope.
When pre-allocating stock for specific customers requires physical movement rather than a system rule
For businesses that manage OEM customers or priority accounts alongside a general e-commerce channel, the ability to reserve inbound stock against a specific sales order — before it has arrived — is a genuine operational requirement. In configurations where that binding reservation is not available, operators report physically relocating stock to separate warehouse bin locations to simulate the protection that a pre-allocation rule would otherwise provide. That is a meaningful signal about fit rather than about product quality: the question is not whether Fishbowl can track locations — it documents that clearly — but whether the specific reservation behaviour the operation needs is achievable without a physical workaround. In Stok.ly, pre-allocation ties an incoming purchase order line to the sales order it belongs to before the stock arrives, so no physical separation is needed to protect it.
When support escalation does not keep pace with operational urgency
Front-line support quality is a genuine Fishbowl strength — reviewers including Zamin B. on G2 and Nella Adamo on the Xero App Store describe knowledgeable, helpful assistance. What independent evidence also surfaces is a distinction between that front-line experience and the escalation of deeper technical problems. Timothy H., reviewing on Capterra on 20 April 2026, reports programmer-level issues remaining unresolved for over a year despite the general quality of support. Anne-Marie Rosselli, reviewing on the Xero App Store on 20 August 2026, describes repeated calls and slow troubleshooting. For a warehouse-dependent operation, the commercial cost of an unresolved technical issue is not academic: at least one independently reported incident describes a warehouse remaining inoperable for five days during a licensing or support problem. The question for any buyer is not whether support is generally good — much of the evidence says it is — but whether the escalation path is fast enough when the core system goes down.
When the total configured cost diverges significantly from the published starting price
Fishbowl’s published UK pricing starts at £150 per month for two users on the Inventory Essentials plan, and the Advanced tiers begin from £375 per month. Those figures are a starting point rather than a total cost. Forecasting is a paid add-on on the Growth plan. A B2B portal and advanced e-commerce capability appear as additional items. The implementation package migrates data excluding history. Hardware has been quoted separately at figures substantially above comparable market alternatives: one operator reports being quoted approximately $45,000 for six Zebra TC720L scanners at roughly $7,000 per unit — a figure that Fishbowl did not independently confirm but which this customer attributed directly to the implementation engagement. Independent reviewer Bryce W. on G2, reviewing on 27 October 2025, warns specifically that additional modules can make the solution expensive relative to initial expectations. A fair cost comparison requires the fully scoped figure: software edition, user count, add-ons, integration connectors, implementation, hardware and any third-party services — not the entry price.
These five triggers share a common shape: they are not about what Fishbowl cannot do as a product, but about the distance between what a given configuration was set up to handle and what the operation has since grown to require. They come from businesses that had already decided something needed to change. The broader population of Fishbowl customers — many of whom are running successful, stable implementations — is not represented here.
Order management and inventory ERP software for growing retail, wholesale and distribution businesses.
What does Stok.ly do that Fishbowl does not, for operators running mixed B2B and e-commerce inventory?
Fishbowl documents a broad set of inventory, warehouse and manufacturing capabilities. Where operators consistently run into the ceiling is not the feature list — it is whether those features, once configured, actually remove the daily decisions that slow a warehouse down. The four areas below are where Stok.ly operates structurally differently.
AI inventory management: which stock is worth reordering
Fishbowl offers a forecasting add-on, and several users report meaningful replenishment time savings when min/max levels are set up correctly. The gap is not whether forecasting exists — it is what the analysis actually covers at the moment of a buying decision.
Stok.ly is AI-native. Demand forecasting, stockout risk scoring and margin analysis are computed inside the platform for every SKU at every location, every day, and fed directly into purchasing. The Stok.ly daily snapshot carries both the inventory position and the commercial layer on top of it: gross margin recognised at fulfilment, GMROII over 30, 60 and 90 days, demand statistics and variability, days since last demand, and recorded stockout days. Looking forward, each SKU carries a demand trend ratio, a trend-adjusted forecast, statistical safety stock calculated at a 95% service level, a lead-time-aware reorder point, days of cover, and a 0–1 stockout risk score.
Because Stok.ly pre-computes this analysis rather than running it on demand, the answer already exists at the moment of the purchasing decision — no add-on to license, no external tool to query, no manual reconciliation of a forecast against a valuation report.
See how Stok.ly AI inventory management, demand forecasting and stockout risk scoring works
Product data: build it once, list it everywhere
Fishbowl Commerce documents a Product Information Manager with channel attributes and bulk catalogue workflows. The cost that operators underestimate most is not that capability’s absence — it is what happens when the ERP and each sales channel still hold their own version of a product record, because the synchronisation depends on a separately maintained integration component.
Stok.ly holds product information once. Attributes, variants, images, barcodes, dimensions, pricing and channel-specific content all live against a single product record, and listings are created and updated from it. A price change, a description update or a new attribute applied in bulk reaches every SKU and every channel in one action. For operators managing OEM-segregated stock alongside a WooCommerce storefront — where the same physical item carries different visibility rules, pricing tiers and fulfilment treatments depending on the customer — having one record that controls all of those outputs removes the duplication that creates errors.
See how Stok.ly product information management and bulk listing works across channels
Integrations that connect without a project
Fishbowl documents multiple connection paths: individual channel plugins, the Commerce layer, ShipExpress via Shippo, ShipStation, QuickBooks, Xero and a REST API. Reviewers — including a verified food-production operator and a general manager — report that the integration configuration work and ongoing maintenance create manual overhead, and that upgrade compatibility for custom plugins requires explicit verification against each release.
Stok.ly’s integrations are pre-built and maintained by Stok.ly, configured rather than developed. There is no middleware to license, no connector to commission and no integration partner to pay when something changes. Over 200 e-commerce channels and marketplaces sync stock, orders, pricing and fulfilment status in real time; more than 150 courier and freight partners handle rates, labels, manifests and tracking at dispatch; and over 20 accounting packages — including Sage, Xero, QuickBooks and Microsoft Dynamics — connect without a separate implementation engagement. The integration is not a project; it is a configuration step.
See how Stok.ly e-commerce, courier and accounting integrations connect
Orders drive execution, and rules remove the decisions
Fishbowl documents sales orders, picking, packing and build-to-order manufacturing linkage. Where operators report friction is in the gap between a documented workflow and one that runs without a person deciding at each stage what happens next — including the reported pattern of manually reviewing and releasing each backlogged sales order one at a time after manufactured items have cleared, which for at least one operator consumed an entire working day each week.
In Stok.ly, the sales order is the operational controller: allocation, reservation, routing, fulfilment priority and exception handling — including returns — all run from it. An order that meets its configured conditions moves to pick without anyone deciding it should. One that does not — a credit hold, partial stock, a pre-allocated line for an OEM customer — is held with the reason attached, rather than queued for someone to investigate. The rules engine converts analysis into action: allocation, routing, carrier selection, replenishment triggers, transfer top-ups, pricing tiers, credit holds and exceptions all run on rules you configure once. The Friday afternoon backlog review becomes a condition, not a manual task.
See how Stok.ly’s automation rules engine controls order management and warehouse execution
When does Fishbowl make more sense than Stok.ly for inventory management?
Stok.ly is an order management-led, inventory-centric ERP. It is the right fit for a specific kind of operation. There are genuine scenarios where Fishbowl is the more appropriate choice, and buyers in those situations should know it.
- QuickBooks-dependent businesses in North America. Fishbowl’s QuickBooks integration has a long track record in the North American market and is a core part of many established workflows. If your accounting team is deeply embedded in QuickBooks Desktop and your operation is US-based, Fishbowl’s native integration is a real, proven path that carries less migration risk than adopting a new platform.
- Self-hosted deployments where cloud dependency is not acceptable. Some operators — particularly those with air-gapped environments or specific data-sovereignty requirements — need a system they can run on their own infrastructure. Fishbowl Advanced has a documented self-hosting option. Stok.ly is cloud-native; that is not the right model for every buyer.
- Smaller manufacturing businesses primarily seeking BOM and work-order control. Fishbowl Advanced documents manufacture orders, work orders and BOM-driven production as mature, established capabilities. If a business runs a small discrete-manufacturing operation and needs a system centred on production scheduling rather than order management and multi-channel fulfilment, Fishbowl’s manufacturing depth may be a better match than Stok.ly’s current scope.
How does migrating from Fishbowl to Stok.ly actually work?
The first question most operators ask is whether their stock positions and order history survive the move. Stok.ly’s implementation process begins with a structured data audit before anything is switched off. Your current inventory positions, product records, supplier details, customer accounts and open purchase orders are extracted from Fishbowl and mapped against Stok.ly’s data model. Nothing goes live until the mapped data has been reconciled and signed off — so the stock count you have in Fishbowl today is the stock count Stok.ly opens with.
Historical transaction records require a separate, honest conversation. Fishbowl’s own published subscription terms note that implementation migration excludes history, and that is a real constraint to plan around. Stok.ly’s implementation team will confirm exactly which historical records — receipts, sales orders, fulfilment events — can be brought across, which will be archived externally, and which are best left in a read-only Fishbowl instance for reference. You will know the boundary before the project starts, not after go-live.
Channel and accounting connections are configured before cutover, not after. If you are running WooCommerce, Shopify or another e-commerce channel alongside Fishbowl today, Stok.ly’s pre-built connectors are set up and tested in a staging environment first. The same applies to your accounting package. Stok.ly connects natively to Sage, Xero, QuickBooks and Microsoft Dynamics, among others, so the accounting sync does not depend on building anything from scratch. Stock quantities, pricing and order flow are validated against live channel data before the old system is decommissioned.
Warehouse configuration — bin records, location groups and pick routes — is built during implementation, not assumed to exist. One of the clearest operational risks in a Fishbowl installation is that bin locations often exist only in staff memory rather than as system records. Stok.ly’s implementation team will work with your warehouse team to capture those locations formally, configure them as real system records, and validate pick routes before your first live pick runs. Staff are not expected to rethink their physical layout; the system is built around how the warehouse actually works.
Go-live is phased rather than a single hard switch. Typically, a pilot group of SKUs and orders runs through Stok.ly first, alongside a parallel Fishbowl instance, until the team is confident in the outputs. The full cutover follows once reconciliation confirms the two systems agree on stock positions and open order status. Fishbowl is not cancelled until that confirmation exists.
How Stok.ly’s pricing model works for inventory-led operations
Stok.ly is priced on a subscription model. The structure reflects the actual drivers of operational complexity in an inventory-centric business — the number of users, the number of warehouse locations or sites, and the volume of orders processed — rather than charging separately for each integration or analytical module you need to use.
Forecasting, stockout risk scoring, GMROII analysis, rules-based order automation and multi-channel sync are not sold as add-ons that inflate a base price. They are part of the platform. This matters specifically when comparing against Fishbowl, where forecasting is an add-on on Growth plans, a B2B portal carries an additional cost, and advanced ecommerce capability is a separate Commerce product. A fair cost comparison requires a fully scoped Fishbowl configuration — edition, users, forecasting add-on, B2B portal, Commerce, implementation and any third-party services such as ShipStation — set against a fully scoped Stok.ly subscription. Entry-level headline prices for either platform are not a reliable comparison basis.
Stok.ly does not charge per integration. The 200-plus e-commerce and marketplace connectors, 150-plus courier and freight connections and 20-plus accounting integrations are pre-built and maintained by Stok.ly. There is no middleware to license and no integration partner to commission for a standard connection. That is a real total-cost difference for any operation currently paying ShipStation or a similar middleware layer on top of their Fishbowl subscription.
For accurate pricing against your specific user count, warehouse structure and order volumes, speak directly with the Stok.ly team. No number on this page should be treated as a quote.
Fishbowl vs Stok.ly: which platform suits which operation?
Fishbowl is typically a better starting point for teams that:
- Run manufacturing-led operations where BOM-driven work orders and production scheduling are the primary workflow, and inventory management is secondary to production control
- Already use QuickBooks as their accounting system in the United States and want a tightly documented direct integration
- Operate from a single warehouse site with a stable product catalogue and limited channel complexity
- Have the in-house resource to configure and maintain the system over time, and are comfortable managing third-party integrations such as ShipStation for shipping and a separate Commerce product for e-commerce channels
- Need a desktop-first interface and self-hosting is a genuine requirement rather than a preference
Stok.ly is typically a better fit for teams that:
- Operate across multiple sales channels — direct B2B, e-commerce and marketplace — and need a single inventory position driving fulfilment across all of them without middleware
- Require forward-looking demand intelligence: stockout risk scoring, GMROII, trend-adjusted forecasting and lead-time-aware reorder points computed daily inside the platform rather than approximated in an external tool
- Carry OEM or customer-segregated stock that must be reserved, allocated or hidden from specific channels without physically moving it to a separate bin location
- Need order-management rules to handle credit holds, partial-stock holds, fulfilment priority and backlog release automatically — without a member of staff reviewing and releasing each order individually
- Want a single product record driving listings, pricing, barcodes and channel content across every channel, updated once rather than in every system separately
- Are running a mixed-model operation: finished goods purchasing alongside kitting or light manufacturing, with the expectation that work order completion feeds directly into sales order release without a manual intervention step
Stok.ly is built for operations like these
- Wholesale distributors and B2B merchants running mixed OEM, trade, and e-commerce channels from a single warehouse, where stock segregation and channel-specific availability rules are a daily operational requirement.
- Businesses with both a buying operation and a manufacturing or kitting function, where sales orders must drive purchase orders and production runs — not just reorder points — and where work order completion needs to automatically release waiting sales orders.
- Operations managers whose teams currently spend meaningful time each week manually releasing backlogged sales orders one at a time, physically relocating stock to simulate pre-allocation, or reconciling inventory valuation across individual transactions at year-end because no date-range filter exists.
- Multi-location or multi-entity businesses needing separate accounting connections per entity, location-specific replenishment thresholds, and a single inventory view across all sites — without maintaining parallel systems.
- Teams migrating off Fishbowl specifically because bin locations live only in staff memory, handheld workflows are absent or unreliable, and system outages have previously forced staff to stop work entirely.
Where Stok.ly is not the right answer
- Businesses whose primary requirement is deep, native manufacturing — multi-level shop-floor scheduling, capacity planning, and production routing across multiple work centres — rather than order-management-led inventory with manufacturing run support. Dedicated manufacturing ERP platforms serve that use case more completely.
- Very early-stage businesses with a single SKU range, a single sales channel, and no warehouse complexity: the operational depth Stok.ly provides is real overhead if the operation does not yet need it.
- Teams whose accounting system is not in Stok.ly’s current integration set and who are unwilling to change accounting platform — verify your specific accounting software against the confirmed integration list before proceeding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Stok.ly pre-allocate sales orders against incoming purchase orders before stock physically arrives?
How does Stok.ly handle OEM stock segregation for teams moving off Fishbowl?
Can Stok.ly release held sales orders automatically when a manufacturing run completes?
How does Stok.ly manage bin locations for warehouses where Fishbowl holds no system records?
Can Stok.ly produce a date-ranged inventory valuation report for year-end and CPA reporting?
How does Stok.ly support teams receiving multi-PO shipments from a single supplier delivery?
When is Fishbowl the better choice over Stok.ly?
Can Stok.ly handle hardware costs for warehouse handheld scanning without the scanner pricing operators report from Fishbowl?
Contact Information
All our sales, support and development team are located in Hereford and Cheltenham in the U.K. Please submit the contact form and we will contact you within the same business day.