Inventory & stockroom
Stackroom vs Fishbowl
Fishbowl is inventory and manufacturing software — stock levels, orders, warehouses, and tight QuickBooks integration. Stackroom tracks equipment your organisation owns and issues to people. These solve genuinely different problems.
Stackroom vs Fishbowl: which should you choose?
These are different categories of product, not competing ones. Fishbowl manages stock you buy, hold, make and sell. Stackroom manages the lifecycle of equipment you own and issue to people — signed custody, service cover, audits, depreciation and retirement. If you are comparing them, one of the two is almost certainly the wrong category for you.
Side by side
Stackroom vs Fishbowl: pricing, limits and features
Grouped so you can jump to the part you care about. Our figures come from our billing API, so they match the invoice.
Pricing & plans
Free plan
- Stackroom
- Free forever — 250 assets, 500 people, unlimited users, no card
- Fishbowl
- None
Paid plans start at
- Stackroom
- $35/mo for Starter — published, self-serve
- Fishbowl
- Cloud inventory starts in the low hundreds per month billed annually; the manufacturing platform starts several times higher.
How the bill scales
- Stackroom
- Capability and capacity — never headcount, never how much you track
- Fishbowl
- Two separate products: the inventory product is tier-priced, the manufacturing and warehouse platform is priced by user count and deployment.
Limits
Asset limits
- Stackroom
- 250 free, up to 10,000 on Premium, custom on Enterprise
- Fishbowl
- Not published — this is stock-keeping, counted in SKUs and quantities rather than tracked assets
Users & seats
- Stackroom
- Unlimited on every plan, including Free — seats are never the meter
- Fishbowl
- The Advanced platform is priced by users, from 2 to 200+
Locations & sites
- Stackroom
- 1 on Free, unlimited on every paid plan
- Fishbowl
- Multi-warehouse support is a higher-tier capability
How each tool is set up
Built around
- Stackroom
- Asset lifecycle & custody
- Fishbowl
- Stock, orders & manufacturing
What each tool covers
Individually identified equipment
- Stackroom
- Yes
- Fishbowl
- Serialised items
Custody & accountability
Signed handover & return, with PDF
- Stackroom
- Yes
- Fishbowl
- No
Chain of custody history
- Stackroom
- Yes
- Fishbowl
- No
Asset clearance certificate for leavers
- Stackroom
- Yes
- Fishbowl
- No
Signed webhooks with retries
- Stackroom
- 41 events, HMAC-signed, retried
- Fishbowl
- Not stated on their pricing page
Audits & compliance
Cycle-count audits with sign-off
- Stackroom
- Yes
- Fishbowl
- Stock counts
Maintenance & service
AMC / CMC service contracts
- Stackroom
- Yes
- Fishbowl
- No
Manufacturing & work orders
- Stackroom
- No
- Fishbowl
- Its strength
Finance & lifecycle
Depreciation (SLM / WDV) & book value
- Stackroom
- Yes
- Fishbowl
- Via accounting
Sales & purchase orders
- Stackroom
- No
- Fishbowl
- Its strength
Accounting integration
- Stackroom
- Export / API
- Fishbowl
- Its strength
Platform, API & AI
REST API
- Stackroom
- Pro and up — documented, published spec
- Fishbowl
- Not stated on their pricing page
Built-in AI assistant
- Stackroom
- Stackroom AI — Starter and up
- Fishbowl
- Not stated on their pricing page
| Capability | Stackroom | Fishbowl |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & plans | ||
| Free plan | Free forever — 250 assets, 500 people, unlimited users, no card | None |
| Paid plans start at | $35/mo for Starter — published, self-serve | Cloud inventory starts in the low hundreds per month billed annually; the manufacturing platform starts several times higher. |
| How the bill scales | Capability and capacity — never headcount, never how much you track | Two separate products: the inventory product is tier-priced, the manufacturing and warehouse platform is priced by user count and deployment. |
| Limits | ||
| Asset limits | 250 free, up to 10,000 on Premium, custom on Enterprise | Not published — this is stock-keeping, counted in SKUs and quantities rather than tracked assets |
| Users & seats | Unlimited on every plan, including Free — seats are never the meter | The Advanced platform is priced by users, from 2 to 200+ |
| Locations & sites | 1 on Free, unlimited on every paid plan | Multi-warehouse support is a higher-tier capability |
| How each tool is set up | ||
| Built around | Asset lifecycle & custody | Stock, orders & manufacturing |
| What each tool covers | ||
| Individually identified equipment | Yes | Serialised items |
| Custody & accountability | ||
| Signed handover & return, with PDF | Yes | No |
| Chain of custody history | Yes | No |
| Asset clearance certificate for leavers | Yes | No |
| Signed webhooks with retries | 41 events, HMAC-signed, retried | Not stated on their pricing page |
| Audits & compliance | ||
| Cycle-count audits with sign-off | Yes | Stock counts |
| Maintenance & service | ||
| AMC / CMC service contracts | Yes | No |
| Manufacturing & work orders | No | Its strength |
| Finance & lifecycle | ||
| Depreciation (SLM / WDV) & book value | Yes | Via accounting |
| Sales & purchase orders | No | Its strength |
| Accounting integration | Export / API | Its strength |
| Platform, API & AI | ||
| REST API | Pro and up — documented, published spec | Not stated on their pricing page |
| Built-in AI assistant | Stackroom AI — Starter and up | Not stated on their pricing page |
Honest take: Fishbowl is inventory and manufacturing software. Stackroom is asset lifecycle and custody software. Neither is a substitute for the other, and we will not pretend to be an inventory system.
Fishbowl capabilities verified September 2026 · plan facts read from their pricing page , September 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Plan gating
Which tier unlocks what
What you have to be paying for before each capability is available.
- CSV / XLSX importStarter and up
- Barcode & QR scanningStarter and up
- Bookings & reservationsStarter and up
- Maintenance & serviceStarter and up
- Cycle-count auditsGrowth and up
- Report libraryGrowth and up
- Custom fieldsGrowth and up
- Stackroom AIFree and up
- REST APIGrowth and up
- Signed webhooksGrowth and up
- Custom rolesGrowth and up
- Google / Microsoft SSOFree and up
- Multi-warehouse, 3PL and EDI sit in the Advanced product
- Lot, batch and serial traceability is an Advanced capability
- Manufacturing (BOMs, work orders, MRP) is a separate, dearer product
Fishbowl is priced as business inventory software with an implementation. It is not competing for the same budget.
The difference
What Stackroom and Fishbowl are each built to do
Stock you sell versus equipment you issue
Fishbowl's world is goods: purchased, held, transformed, picked, shipped, invoiced. Quantity is the central fact, and individual units are interchangeable — that is the whole point of stock.
Stackroom's world is a lifecycle attached to one identified thing. Unit 4 of a batch of drills is not interchangeable with unit 7, because unit 4 is the one Karim signed for in March and unit 7 is the one with the cracked casing, an open repair ticket and eighteen months left on its AMC.
Everything Stackroom does follows from that identity: signed handovers, a chain of custody, condition at each return, service history with costs, warranty and contract cover with policy numbers, a cycle count that records this item verified and that one missing, and a book value that depreciates. None of those concepts exist for a quantity.
So this comparison is a category check rather than a contest. An inventory system asked to model identity and custody is fighting its own data model; an asset system asked to model reorder points and cost of goods is doing the same. We are not going to claim to be an inventory product.
Which one you need, quickly
Does anything you track get sold to a customer, or consumed in making something you sell? If yes, you need inventory software, and Fishbowl is a strong choice with an unusually mature accounting integration.
Does anything you track get handed to an employee and expected back? If yes, you need asset tracking, and quantity-on-hand will not answer any of the questions that matter.
Some organisations genuinely have both — a manufacturer with raw materials in Fishbowl and calibrated test equipment in Stackroom. That is two systems because it is two problems, and combining them would make both worse.
If you genuinely have both
Plenty of organisations do. A manufacturer has raw materials and finished goods on one side, and calibrated test equipment, tooling and IT on the other. Those are two problems and they are usually two systems, because combining them makes both worse.
The dividing line is easy to apply: if the thing is interchangeable with the one next to it and you care how many there are, it is stock. If it has a serial number, a holder, a service history and a book value, it is an asset.
Stackroom's REST API and webhooks exist partly for this, so the two systems can agree on the records that appear in both without anyone retyping them.
Why teams switch
What we hear from teams leaving Fishbowl
Quantity could not answer the question
Knowing there are four thermal cameras does not tell you which one Priya took to the Leeds site in March.
There was no concept of a holder
Inventory systems model location and quantity. Handing something to a person and getting it back is outside that model.
The equipment needed servicing, not reordering
Kit that is maintained, inspected and certified needs a service history. Stock that is replenished needs a reorder point. Different objects.
The other side
When Fishbowl is the better choice
We would rather you picked the right tool than picked ours.
- You buy, hold, manufacture or sell goods — anything with a cost of goods sold.
- You need sales orders, purchase orders and supplier management.
- Tight QuickBooks or accounting integration is central to the requirement.
- Your items are interchangeable units rather than individually identified equipment.
Switching
Moving from Fishbowl
- 1
Export from Fishbowl
Take a full CSV or XLSX export of your asset list, including serial numbers, categories, locations and any custom fields you rely on. Export your people list separately if Fishbowl keeps one.
- 2
Map the columns once
The importer previews your file and lets you map each column to a Stackroom field. Categories, locations and departments are created from the values in your file, so you do not build the hierarchy by hand first.
- 3
Import people, then assets
Loading people first means custody assignments resolve to a real person on the asset import rather than needing a second pass.
- 4
Check a sample, then go
Spot-check twenty records against the old system before you invite the team. Re-importing is safe — matching on an existing code updates rather than duplicates.
Nothing is deleted from Fishbowl by importing into Stackroom, so you can run both in parallel for a week while people get used to the change.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can Stackroom replace Fishbowl?
Only if you were using it for equipment rather than stock. Stackroom has no sales orders, purchase orders, manufacturing or accounting integration, and is not an inventory management system.
Can we track consumables in Stackroom?
Yes, as quantity per location with minimum levels and low-stock alerts. That supports an equipment operation; it is not a warehouse system.
We have both stock and equipment. What should we do?
Run both, which is the normal answer. Stock in an inventory system, equipment in Stackroom. Our REST API means the two can share data where they need to agree.
Does Stackroom integrate with QuickBooks?
Not directly. Asset value, purchase data and depreciated book value export as CSV and XLSX, and the REST API allows a custom integration. If deep accounting integration is central to the requirement, that is Fishbowl's strength.
Can we import our data from Fishbowl?
Yes. Export your inventory to CSV and import it into Stackroom. Categories, locations and custom fields map across, and our team will help with the awkward parts of a larger migration.
How long does switching actually take?
Most teams import in the morning and run a real checkout the same afternoon. There is no implementation project and no professional services fee. The longest part is usually relabelling, and that can be done gradually.
Do we have to relabel everything?
No. If your existing labels carry a code you already track, import that code and keep using them. New QR labels can be printed on standard address stock as and when you need them.
Is Fishbowl free?
No. Fishbowl has no free plan. Stackroom has a permanent free plan with unlimited users and no card required.
How is Fishbowl priced compared with Stackroom?
Two separate products: the inventory product is tier-priced, the manufacturing and warehouse platform is priced by user count and deployment. Stackroom prices on capability and capacity instead: users are unlimited on every plan, and tracking more equipment never moves the bill on its own.
What are the Fishbowl asset and user limits?
Assets: Not published — this is stock-keeping, counted in SKUs and quantities rather than tracked assets. Users: The Advanced platform is priced by users, from 2 to 200+. Locations: Multi-warehouse support is a higher-tier capability. Every Stackroom limit is published on our pricing page and served from our billing API, so it matches your invoice.
Other comparisons
Looking at something else?
Outgrowing Fishbowl?
Import your data, print a sheet of labels, and run a real checkout the same day.