Fishbowl alternatives

Fishbowl alternatives: stock software or equipment software?

If you are leaving Fishbowl because you still buy, make and sell goods, you need another inventory or manufacturing system, and this page will not pretend otherwise. It is written for the other case: the part of Fishbowl that was really tracking equipment your people use.

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What is a good alternative to Fishbowl?

For stock, orders and manufacturing, the honest alternative to Fishbowl is another inventory or manufacturing system; nothing on this shortlist replaces that. Where Fishbowl was stretched over equipment, Stackroom suits kit issued to named people, EZOfficeInventory suits an equipment register with purchase orders, and Sortly suits simple photo-led stock counting.

Last reviewed 24 September 2026

Why teams start looking

Why Fishbowl stops fitting, depending on what you put in it

The equipment was never stock

Fishbowl is built around goods — bought, held, transformed, picked and shipped — with quantity as the central fact. Test gear, tooling and laptops end up in it because it was the system already open.

They sit there as serialised items with no idea who is holding one, when it is due back or what state it came back in. Nothing is wrong with Fishbowl; it is answering a question nobody asked of it.

You are paying for a business you are not

Fishbowl is two products: an inventory product priced by tier, and a manufacturing and warehouse platform priced by users and deployment, typically with an implementation. If what you actually use is a few hundred serial numbers and a count, you are funding sales orders, purchase orders and manufacturing you do not touch.

The capabilities you need are in Advanced

Multi-warehouse, 3PL and EDI sit in Fishbowl's Advanced product, as does lot, batch and serial traceability; manufacturing with BOMs and MRP is a separate, dearer product again.

If that is why you are looking, you are shopping for inventory software, and the comparison you need is between inventory systems. This page will not help much, and it would be misleading to suggest otherwise.

The instruments needed servicing, not reordering

A calibrated instrument needs a service history, a cover contract and a next-due date. A stock line needs a reorder point. Fishbowl is good at the second, and there is no reason it should be good at the first.

When staying on Fishbowl is the right call

You buy, hold, make or sell goods, and anything you track has a cost of goods sold. Fishbowl is built for exactly that.
Sales orders, purchase orders and supplier management run your week, and the QuickBooks integration is load-bearing.
What you track is interchangeable units, where how many matters more than which one.
Your equipment is a small side issue that a serialised item in Fishbowl already answers well enough.

The shortlist

Alternatives to Fishbowl worth evaluating

Ordered by how well each fits someone leaving Fishbowl. Not all of these are us, and the one that is is labelled.

1.
Sortly
Inventory & stockroom
If Fishbowl was far more system than your stock needs, Sortly is the lightweight end of inventory: a photo-led catalogue with nested folders and custom fields that counts stock properly.
Pick it if
You hold and count goods but do not sell, make or ship them, and Fishbowl's order and manufacturing modules went unused.
Watch out for
It has none of Fishbowl's sales orders, purchase orders or manufacturing. Tiers fix an item count and user licences together, and API access is Enterprise-only.
Stackroom vs Sortly
2.
EZOfficeInventory
Equipment tracking & checkout
EZOfficeInventory keeps one thing from Fishbowl that most equipment tools drop: purchase orders and procurement, next to a register of equipment with audits, contracts and depreciation.
Pick it if
You used Fishbowl partly to buy equipment and want procurement and the resulting asset record in one place.
Watch out for
It manages equipment, not goods for sale, so it replaces none of Fishbowl's stock handling. Purchase orders are second tier and above, and the price follows your item count.
Stackroom vs EZOfficeInventory
3.
Stackroom
That is us
For the part of Fishbowl that was equipment — instruments, tools and devices handed to staff — Stackroom gives each unit a holder, a signature at handover and return, a service history, cover contracts and a depreciating book value.
Pick it if
Part of what you were forcing into Fishbowl was equipment issued to people, and you want it out of the stock system.
Watch out for
No sales orders, purchase orders, manufacturing or accounting integration. If your stock leaves Fishbowl, it needs another inventory system; Stackroom only takes the equipment.
Stackroom vs Fishbowl See pricing
4.
Timly
Equipment tracking & checkout
Timly holds IT devices, machinery, tools and vehicles in one QR-based register, which suits a manufacturer whose non-stock assets look more like plant and fleet than laptops.
Pick it if
Your equipment includes vehicles, and you would rather have a guided, quoted rollout than a self-serve trial — especially in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
Watch out for
Digital signatures at handover are a paid add-on from the second tier, as is the REST API. It is an asset register, so it takes none of Fishbowl's stock.
Stackroom vs Timly
5.
Cheqroom
Equipment tracking & checkout
If the equipment you are pulling out of Fishbowl is a shared pool that teams reserve, Cheqroom is built around exactly that checkout-and-booking loop.
Pick it if
The problem is scheduling shared kit between teams, not recording what it is worth.
Watch out for
No depreciation and no AMC contracts, so book value stays with finance. Billing is per administrator with a three-admin minimum.
Stackroom vs Cheqroom

How to choose

Three questions that separate this shortlist

Does anything you track end up on a customer's invoice?

If so, that part belongs in inventory software, and your real shortlist is other inventory and manufacturing systems, not the tools on this page. Sortly covers only the simplest end of that job — counting, not ordering or making.

Of what is left, is it handed to people or pooled for booking?

Equipment issued to a named person for weeks at a time wants custody with signatures and returns, which is Stackroom's centre. A shared pool that teams reserve for a day wants a booking calendar first, which is Cheqroom's. Stackroom does bookings too; Cheqroom offers depreciation from its Business plan, but its pages describe warranty tracking rather than service contracts.

Did you also use Fishbowl to buy the equipment?

If purchasing is part of the job, EZOfficeInventory is the tool on this list known for purchase orders and procurement. Stackroom records purchase price, date and vendor but does not raise orders, so buying would happen in your accounts or procurement system.

Migration

Moving your data out of Fishbowl

Migrate only the equipment. Fishbowl holds goods as quantities and some items as serialised units; the stock should stay in Fishbowl or move to whichever inventory system replaces it. Pull out just the serialised items that are really equipment — test gear, tooling, IT — and treat them as a new, smaller register.

For those items, export what Fishbowl knows: description, serial number, location and cost where you have it. In Stackroom each becomes an individual asset with a category, a place in the site-building-room hierarchy, a serial number and a purchase price. If finance wants book value on the item, add a depreciation method, useful life and salvage value at import, since Fishbowl left that to the accounting system.

Quantities, reorder points, bills of materials and order history do not come across, and should not. Nor does anything Fishbowl never held — who has each unit, since when, and what it has cost to repair. That record starts with the first checkout. If both systems end up holding the same serial numbers, Stackroom's REST API and webhooks let them agree without retyping, though that is an integration you build rather than one that ships.

Fishbowl part labels identify a stock line, not a unit. If a unit already carries its own barcode, import that into the barcode field and scan it with a phone camera; print QR labels for everything else.

See the Migration Center

FAQ

Fishbowl alternatives — common questions

Is Stackroom an inventory system like Fishbowl?

No. Stackroom has no sales orders, purchase orders, reorder automation, manufacturing or cost of goods. It tracks individually identified equipment through its life with the organisation. If you are replacing Fishbowl's stock and order handling, look at other inventory and manufacturing systems instead of anything here.

Can we keep Fishbowl for stock and use something else for equipment?

Yes, and for manufacturers it is often the cleanest arrangement. Stock stays in Fishbowl with its orders and accounting integration; tools, instruments and devices move to an equipment system where each unit has a holder and a service history. The dividing line is simple: interchangeable and counted means stock.

Which Fishbowl alternative on this list handles purchase orders?

EZOfficeInventory, from its second tier, where purchase orders and procurement are one of its strengths. It is an equipment register rather than a goods-for-sale system, so it will not replace Fishbowl's sales side. Stackroom does not raise purchase orders at all.

We depend on Fishbowl's QuickBooks link. What happens to that?

Keep it for your stock. Stackroom has no prebuilt accounting integration: asset values, purchase data and depreciation schedules export as CSV or XLSX, and the REST API lets you build a connection. If tight accounting integration is central to the requirement, that is a reason to stay with Fishbowl or another inventory system.

We track calibrated test equipment in Fishbowl. Where should it go?

Somewhere that can hold a service history. Stackroom runs recurring maintenance plans that raise tickets ahead of the due date, records repair costs against each unit, and holds cover contracts with policy numbers and claim contacts. An item in maintenance cannot be issued, so an out-of-service instrument does not reach site by mistake.

Trying an alternative to Fishbowl?

Import your data, print a sheet of labels, and run a real checkout the same day. The free tier has unlimited users.