WP Inventory

Sortly Alternative for WordPress: App vs Your Own Site (2026)

Monday, August 10th, 2026

You hit 100 items and the free plan stops. That is usually the moment people start comparing inventory tools seriously.

If you have searched for inventory software recently, Sortly probably came up first. Clean mobile app, photo-based items, QR labels and a free tier.

Then the caps arrive. Item caps, seat caps, custom field caps. The real choice is between a hosted app that charges by how much you track and how many people track it, or an inventory system that lives inside the WordPress site you already run.

Both are reasonable. They are reasonable for different businesses. This post is about telling which one you are.

Two different bets

Sortly is software as a service. You rent access, your data sits on Sortly’s servers and your bill scales with your catalogue and your team.

A WordPress inventory plugin is the opposite bet. The software runs on hosting you already pay for, your data sits in your own database and the cost does not move when your catalogue grows.

Neither model wins in the abstract. What matters is which set of constraints you can live with.

Where Sortly’s limits bite

Sortly’s pricing is built around caps. Here is what each plan allowed as of August 2026, taken from Sortly’s own pricing page.

Plan Per month Items Users Custom fields
Free $0 100 1 1
Advanced $49 500 2 5
Ultra $149 2,000 5 10
Premium $299 5,000 8 20
Enterprise Quote 10,000+ 12+ Unlimited

A 50% first-year discount applies to yearly plans for new customers, dropping to 20% after year one. Sortly’s help centre states there are no school or non-profit discounts.

Three caps cause most of the friction:

  • The item cap. Growth forces an upgrade, whether or not anything else about your operation changed.
  • The seat cap. Adding a part-time volunteer costs real money.
  • The custom field cap. The quiet one. Track five attributes today, need a sixth next year, change plans to add a text box.

Example: A community theatre catalogues costumes, props and lighting gear. It passes 500 items during its second season and needs six people updating stock during production week. On Sortly that combination pushes it to Ultra. On the WordPress site it already runs, the item count and the six staff logins cost nothing extra.

What Sortly does better

Being fair here matters, because picking the wrong tool wastes more than it saves.

  • Native mobile apps with offline access. If your team counts stock in a basement, a job site or a storage unit with no signal, WordPress does not match this.
  • In-app barcode and QR scanning. Phone camera, straight into the record.
  • Real-time sync across devices. Several people updating at once, everywhere, instantly.
  • Integrations. QuickBooks Online, Slack and Microsoft Teams on higher plans.

If your inventory work happens on a phone away from a desk, Sortly is built for that and a WordPress admin screen is not.

What WordPress does better

No item cap

WP Inventory Manager has no ceiling on item count. There is no row limit anywhere in the plugin. Catalogue size is a hosting question rather than a billing question.

Your existing users are your seats

Anyone with a WordPress login can be given inventory access. Ten staff cost the same as one. The Advanced User Control add-on narrows it further, setting each user’s view, edit and add rights to none, own items only or everything.

A public catalogue, not just a private database

This is the difference most comparisons miss. Sortly is an internal tool. WP Inventory Manager renders your inventory on the front end of your site with a shortcode, so the records your team manages can also be the catalogue your customers browse.

For a gallery, a rental yard or a parts supplier that removes an entire duplicate system. See how it plays out for equipment rental businesses.

Your data stays yours

Items live in your own database tables. Back them up, query them, export them to CSV and take them with you. Nothing goes read-only because a card expired.

Fields that match your business

Core ships with fields for number, name, description, size, manufacturer, make, model, year, serial and price. You rename or hide any of them under WP Inventory > Labels. When you need more, the Advanced Item add-on defines item types with their own text, number, dropdown and radio fields, with no cap on how many.

The three-year cost picture

Take a small organisation with 800 items and five people who need access. On Sortly that is the Ultra plan, which runs $888 for the first promotional year then renews near the standard yearly rate. Across three years you are looking at several thousand dollars. The number climbs again past 2,000 items.

The WordPress route uses hosting you already pay for. The core plugin is free. If you want the paid pieces, the All Access Pass bundles the add-on library for $199 a year. Item count and staff count do not change that figure.

The trade is real. You take on hosting, backups and updates yourself and you give up the mobile app.

Which one are you?

Five questions usually settle it:

  • Do you already run a WordPress site? If yes, the marginal cost of adding inventory to it is close to zero.
  • Does anyone need to see your inventory publicly? Customers browsing a catalogue or requesting a hold points hard toward WordPress.
  • Where does the work happen? Warehouse aisle with poor signal favours Sortly. Back office on a laptop favours WordPress.
  • How fast is your catalogue growing? Steady growth past a few hundred items makes per-item pricing expensive over time.
  • How many people touch it? Volunteers and seasonal staff get costly under seat licensing. WordPress accounts carry no per-seat fee.

Example: A construction firm tracking tools across three job sites should probably pay for Sortly. Crews scan items on their phones, often without signal. Nobody outside the company needs to see the list. The mobile app is the whole product for them.

Trying the WordPress route

Install WP Inventory Manager from the plugin repository and activate it. A WP Inventory menu appears in your admin sidebar with submenus for Status, Inventory Items, Categories, Labels, Display, Statuses, Add Ons, Settings and Support.

Go to WP Inventory > Inventory Items to add records, then WP Inventory > Categories to group them. Rename fields under WP Inventory > Labels. Then drop the shortcode on any page to publish the catalogue:

[wpinventory]

If your stock already lives in a spreadsheet, the Import Export add-on walks a CSV through a three-step upload, mapping and import wizard, so you are not retyping anything. Full steps are in the user documentation. Our roundup of the best WordPress inventory plugins covers the other options in this space.

If you’re still comparing inventory tools, see our guide to the best WordPress inventory plugins and how the main options differ by use case.

Frequently asked questions

Is WP Inventory Manager a direct Sortly replacement?

Not feature for feature. There is no native mobile app and no offline mode, so if your team works from phones in low-signal locations, Sortly still fits better. What WP Inventory Manager replaces is the item cap, the seat cap and the monthly bill. It also publishes your catalogue on the front end of your website, which Sortly does not do.

How many items can WP Inventory Manager handle?

There is no item limit in the plugin. Practical scale depends on your hosting rather than your plan. Catalogues in the thousands run fine on ordinary shared hosting.

Can I move my Sortly data across?

Yes. Export your Sortly inventory to CSV, then use the Import Export add-on to map those columns onto WP Inventory Manager fields. The importer can create categories automatically as it runs, so your existing grouping carries over.

Do I need WooCommerce for any of this?

No. WP Inventory Manager runs independently on any WordPress site, including sites with no ecommerce at all. There is no cart and no checkout unless you add a payment add-on deliberately.

What does it cost to run inventory on WordPress?

The core plugin is free from the WordPress repository with no item or user limits. Paid add-ons cover multi-location stock, reservations, advanced search, QR codes and import or export. The All Access Pass bundles the library for $199 a year. That figure does not change as your catalogue or team grows.

Load your real catalogue and see

The core plugin is free with no item cap and no seat cap, so you can import your actual inventory and judge it against your current tool before spending anything.

Download Free →  Browse Add-Ons →

Categories: How-to
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How to Track Physical Assets in WordPress

Sunday, July 26th, 2026

 

 

Inventory is what you sell. Assets are what you keep. The laptop your bookkeeper uses, the projector in the meeting room, the mowers in the shed, the folding chairs in the church basement. Nobody buys these from you, but losing track of them costs real money.

Most asset tracking software is priced for enterprises: per user, per month, forever. Spreadsheets are free but go stale the day someone forgets to update them.

There is a middle path. If your organization runs a WordPress site, you already own the platform your asset register can live on. This guide shows you how to build it, what the free version covers and where the paid add-ons earn their keep.

You can use WordPress for physical asset tracking by creating a central record for each piece of equipment, including its asset number, serial number, status and location. WP Inventory Manager adds this inventory structure directly to WordPress, while optional add-ons extend it with QR labels, multiple locations, history and user access controls.

Asset tracking vs inventory management

The two get lumped together, but they answer different questions:

  • Inventory management asks “how many do we have left?” It cares about quantities, reorder points and stock that flows in and out.
  • Asset tracking asks “where is it, what condition is it in and who has it?” It cares about individual items with serial numbers, locations and history.

A coffee shop tracks bags of beans as inventory and its espresso machines as assets. The beans get consumed. The machines get maintained, moved and eventually retired.

WP Inventory Manager handles both, because an asset register is really an inventory of things with a quantity of one and a lot of identifying detail. The item record already carries the fields asset tracking needs.

What a real asset register needs

A working asset register handles five things:

  • Identity: name, asset number, make, model, year and serial number. If it walked out the door, you could describe it to an insurer.
  • Status: in use, in repair, in storage, retired. Status tells you what portion of your equipment is actually working for you.
  • Location: which building, which room, which vehicle. Multi-site organizations need per-location counts and a record of transfers.
  • History: who changed what and when. An audit trail turns “I think we had three” into a number you can defend.
  • Access: staff need to look assets up fast while you keep control over who can see or edit which records.

Looking for the product setup rather than the broader methodology? See how WP Inventory Manager supports internal asset tracking in WordPress.

Building the register: free setup

Add your assets as items

Go to WP Inventory > Add Inventory. The item record includes fields built for asset work: item number, make, model, year and serial number, alongside name, description, quantity and an image. For most assets the quantity is simply 1.

Rename fields with Labels

Not every field name will match your vocabulary. The WP Inventory > Labels screen lets you rename any field across the whole system. “FOB” can become “Assigned To” and “Size” can become “Condition.” You shape the register around your organization without touching code.

Use categories and statuses

Build a category tree under WP Inventory > Categories (IT Equipment, Vehicles, Furniture, AV Gear). Then use WP Inventory > Statuses to define lifecycle states like In Use, In Repair and Retired. Together they answer the two most common questions: what kind of thing is it and can we use it right now.

Example: A community college media department registers 40 cameras, 25 tripods and 60 microphones. Each camera record carries its serial number, purchase year and a status. When a student reports a broken zoom ring, the tech sets that camera to In Repair. The checkout desk sees 39 available cameras instead of 40 and stops promising gear that is sitting on a workbench.

Put the register where people can see it

Add the shortcode to any page to display the register on the front end:

[wpinventory]

Show it publicly, or place it behind a login for staff only. The user documentation covers the display options in detail.

Custom fields for different asset types

A vehicle needs different fields than a laptop. The Advanced Inventory Manager add-on lets you define item types, each with its own custom fields: text, number, dropdown and more.

Define a “Vehicle” type with fields for license plate, VIN and next service date. Define a “Computer” type with fields for warranty expiry and assigned user. Each asset only shows the fields that belong to its type, which keeps data entry clean and your reports meaningful.

Locations and transfers

Once assets live in more than one place, “where is it” becomes the hard question. The Locations Manager add-on tracks quantities per location and records transfers when assets move, with an activity log that shows what went where.

  • See at a glance which office, warehouse or campus holds each asset.
  • Move assets between locations and keep the paper trail automatically.
  • Review location activity when something goes missing.

Example: A nonprofit with three offices tracks 25 donated laptops. When two laptops move from the downtown office to the shelter site for a job training program, the coordinator records the transfer. Six months later, during the grant audit, the activity log shows exactly when they moved and the auditor gets an answer in thirty seconds instead of thirty emails.

QR Code Asset Tracking in WordPress

QR code asset tracking connects each physical asset to its corresponding WordPress record. The QR Code add-on generates a QR code for each asset that points to its detail page and can bulk-print labels for your whole register in one pass.

Stick a label on each asset. Anyone with a phone camera scans it and lands on the record: what it is, what status it is in and where it belongs. No app to install, no scanner hardware to buy.

History and accountability

Knowing an asset’s current status is useful, but some organizations also need a record of how inventory changes over time.

For workflows that need a more detailed audit trail, the Inventory Ledger can help record inventory changes and associated cost information.

If different people manage different sites or inventory records, the Advanced User Control add-on provides more granular control over which inventory records users can access and manage.

Who tracks assets in WordPress

This approach fits any organization that owns more equipment than one person can remember. We have written specific playbooks for several of them: schools tracking Chromebooks and textbooks, nonprofits managing donated goods, churches and ministries and gyms tracking equipment.

The pattern is the same in each: WordPress is already there, the budget does not stretch to enterprise software and the register has to work for volunteers or part-time staff, not just IT.

Getting the full toolkit

The add-ons mentioned above are available individually on the WP Inventory Manager add-ons page. All Access combines the Pro license with all paid WP Inventory Manager add-ons.

Start with the core plugin, then add functionality such as locations, QR codes, inventory history or user controls when your asset tracking workflow requires it. See the current plans and pricing for details.

Start free, prove the register works for your team and upgrade when a specific gap shows up. That is the order that wastes the least money.

Frequently asked questions

Can WordPress really replace dedicated asset tracking software?

For small and mid-sized organizations, yes. WP Inventory Manager records identity, status, location and history for each asset, which is the core of what dedicated platforms sell. You give up telematics-style automation and gain a register with no per-user monthly fees on a site you already maintain.

Do I need WooCommerce for asset tracking in WordPress?

No. WP Inventory Manager runs independently of WooCommerce and does not require any ecommerce functionality at all.

How do I track which employee has a piece of equipment?

You can use a custom field or rename an existing field with Labels to record the employee, department or team responsible for an asset. WP Inventory Manager does not currently provide a dedicated employee check-in/check-out workflow, so organizations that require automated issue-and-return tracking may need a more specialized asset management system.

Can I print asset labels from WordPress?

Yes. The QR Code add-on generates a code per asset that links to its record and supports bulk printing, so you can label an entire room of equipment in one session.

Is there a free version I can start with?

Yes. The free version of WP Inventory Manager is on the WordPress plugin repository and covers asset records, categories, statuses and front-end display. Add locations, QR labels or history tracking later if you need them.

Start building your asset register in WordPress

If your organization already uses WordPress, you can start with a simple asset register and add capabilities such as locations, QR labels and inventory history as your requirements grow.

Download Free →  Compare Plans →

Categories: How-to
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School Inventory Management in WordPress: Track Chromebooks, Textbooks and Equipment

Thursday, July 16th, 2026

Ask any school office manager where the third cart of Chromebooks is and you will get one of three answers: a shrug, a guess or a spreadsheet last updated in September.

Schools own a surprising amount of stuff. Student devices, textbooks, science lab kits, AV equipment, musical instruments, athletic gear, furniture. Most of it moves constantly between classrooms, students and storage. And most of it is tracked in spreadsheets that drift out of date the week after inventory day.

For equipment that stays with the school over time, such as laptops, projectors and AV gear, you can also use WP Inventory Manager for asset tracking for schools.

The software built for this problem is real but priced for districts. Platforms like VIZOR, Incident IQ and Frontline are excellent at 10,000-device scale, with contracts to match. A single school, a small private school or a homeschool co-op rarely needs that. What it needs is a shared, current list of what the school owns, where it is and who has it.

If your school website runs on WordPress, you already own the platform that can do this. Here is how.

What schools actually need to track

School inventory breaks down into five groups, and each one has a slightly different tracking need:

  • Student devices. Chromebooks, tablets and chargers. These need serial numbers, condition notes and a record of who each device is assigned to.
  • Textbooks and curriculum materials. Tracked by title and quantity. The question is rarely “where is this one book” and usually “do we have 28 copies for next term”.
  • AV and lab equipment. Projectors, microscopes, cameras and kits. High value, frequently borrowed, rarely returned to the right shelf.
  • Fixed assets. Furniture, playground equipment and appliances. Mostly static, but auditors and insurers want a current list with values.
  • Consumables. Art supplies, paper, first aid stock. Here the job is simple quantity tracking with a warning before you run out.

No spreadsheet handles all five well, because spreadsheets have no concept of check-outs, alerts or per-user views. An inventory system does.

Setting it up with WP Inventory Manager

The free WP Inventory Manager plugin adds an inventory system to the WordPress admin your staff already log into. Setup for a school looks like this.

Create your categories

Go to WP Inventory > Categories and mirror the groups above: Devices, Textbooks, AV Equipment, Lab Equipment, Furniture, Supplies. Categories keep a few hundred items browsable instead of overwhelming.

Rename fields to match school language

Every item in WP Inventory Manager carries fields for name, inventory number, serial number, make, model, year, quantity and description. Under WP Inventory > Labels you can rename any of these. Turn “FOB” into “Assigned To”, or “Year” into “Purchase Year” for audit purposes. The fields fit the school, not the other way around.

Add your items

From WP Inventory > Inventory Items, add each asset or batch. Serialized items like Chromebooks get one record each with the serial number filled in. Bulk items like textbooks get one record per title with a quantity.

Example: A K-8 school with 220 students enters 240 Chromebooks as individual records with serial numbers and condition notes, 35 textbook titles with quantities, and 35 AV and lab items. Total setup time was two afternoons with a student aide doing data entry. The librarian now answers “do we have enough copies of the 6th grade science text” in ten seconds from the school’s own website admin.

Publish a staff-facing list

Add the [wpinventory] shortcode to any page to display the inventory. Put it on a page behind a staff login and teachers can check what is available without emailing the office. The user documentation covers display settings and shortcode options.

Handling device and equipment check-outs

The single most common school request is a check-out flow: a teacher reserves the projector cart for Thursday, or a student is issued a Chromebook for the year.

The Reserve Cart add-on handles this without any payment system. Staff browse the equipment list, add what they need and submit a reservation request. The office approves it, quantities update and there is a record of who has what. When the item comes back, the reservation is cleared and the quantity is restored.

For annual device assignments, the serial number plus the renamed “Assigned To” field gives you a simple issue log: which student has which device, recorded on the item itself.

Multiple buildings and campuses

If your school spans more than one building, the Locations Manager add-on tracks quantity per location. The science department can see that the main building has two microscope sets while the annex has none, before anyone walks over there with a cart.

Pair it with the Advanced User Control add-on and each building’s staff manage only their own inventory. The front office keeps the full view. Both add-ons are included in the All Access pass, along with Reserve Cart and Advanced Search.

Never run out of supplies mid-term

For consumables, WP Inventory Pro adds low-stock email alerts and minimum quantity fields. Set the art room’s paint stock to alert at 5 units and the office gets an email before the shelf is empty, not after. Pro also records quantity history, so you can see usage patterns across the school year and budget the next one accurately.

What this costs a school

The core plugin is free with no item limits. A single-building school tracking devices and supplies typically adds Pro at $79 per year. A multi-building school that wants check-outs, locations and per-staff access takes the All Access pass at $199 per year. Compare that with dedicated K-12 asset platforms, which usually start in the thousands per year and are quoted per district.

Browse the full list of add-ons to see what fits your school’s setup.

School inventory questions, answered

Can we track which student has which Chromebook?

Yes. Enter each device as its own inventory item with its serial number, then rename an unused field to “Assigned To” under WP Inventory > Labels and record the student there. The device’s full record lives on one screen.

Do teachers need special software to check equipment availability?

No. The inventory displays on a normal WordPress page via shortcode. Teachers view it in a browser like any other page on the school site, behind a login if you prefer.

Is there a limit on how many items a school can track?

No hard limit. The free plugin handles catalogs with thousands of records. A typical school inventory of a few hundred items is well within comfortable range on ordinary hosting.

Can each campus manage its own inventory separately?

Yes, with the Locations Manager and Advanced User Control add-ons, both included in All Access. Each building’s staff see and edit their own stock while administration keeps the school-wide view.

We already have a spreadsheet. Can we import it?

Yes. The Import/Export add-on brings in existing inventory from a CSV file, so the spreadsheet you have today becomes the starting point rather than wasted work.

Put your school’s inventory where your website already lives

No new logins, no district-scale contract, no sync between systems. The free plugin sets up in an afternoon and the add-ons grow with you.

Browse Add-Ons →  Download Free →

Categories: Use cases
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How Churches Track Inventory and Assets in WordPress (Without Expensive Software)

Thursday, June 18th, 2026

Most churches already run their website on WordPress. What they don’t have is a good answer to the question: “Where is that projector cable?” or “Do we still have folding chairs for the fellowship hall rental?”

Church inventory is a real operational problem. AV equipment gets borrowed and not returned. Musical instruments need maintenance tracking. Kitchen supplies run low before anyone notices. When your congregation spans multiple campuses, the problem multiplies.

Dedicated church management software exists, but most platforms bundle inventory into a much larger system built around giving, membership rolls, and event scheduling. That’s a lot of overhead if what you actually need is a simple, searchable record of what you own and where it is.

If your church already uses WordPress, you can solve this without buying another platform.

What churches actually need to track

Church inventory falls into a few predictable categories. Most congregations manage some combination of the following:

  • AV and technology equipment – projectors, microphones, cables, speakers, cameras, livestream gear that moves between rooms and services constantly
  • Musical instruments – guitars, keyboards, drum kits, brass and wind instruments often loaned to worship team members or used across multiple services
  • Furniture and fixtures – folding chairs, tables, risers, podiums rented out for community events or moved between rooms every week
  • Kitchen and hospitality supplies – coffee urns, serving dishes, coolers, linens shared across ministries and prone to going missing between uses
  • Vehicles and trailers – church vans, buses, utility trailers that need maintenance records alongside basic tracking

The common thread: these are physical assets that move, get borrowed, wear out, and need to be accounted for. A spreadsheet works until it doesn’t, and most churches hit that wall somewhere around year two of growth.

Churches that primarily need to keep track of equipment rather than consumable stock can also use the plugin to track organizational assets in WordPress.

Why WordPress is already the right platform

Your church website is already on WordPress. Your admin staff knows how to log in and update content. That familiarity matters.

A dedicated church software platform requires onboarding, training, a new login for every staff member, and a monthly subscription that competes with ministry budgets. A WordPress-native inventory plugin adds one new section to the same dashboard your team already uses.

The data advantage: With a WordPress plugin, your asset records live on your own server. You’re not locked into a vendor, not exporting data when you want to leave, and not paying per-seat fees as your volunteer base grows.

Setting up church inventory with WP Inventory Manager

WP Inventory Manager is a free WordPress plugin built specifically for this kind of asset tracking. It runs independently of WooCommerce. No shopping cart, no checkout flow, just an inventory system that lives in your WordPress admin.

Step 1: Install and activate

Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress admin, search for “WP Inventory Manager,” install, and activate. A new WP Inventory menu appears in your admin sidebar.

Step 2: Create your categories

Go to WP Inventory > Categories and build your top-level categories. For a church this might be: AV Equipment, Musical Instruments, Furniture, Kitchen Supplies, Vehicles. You can nest categories for more granularity. For example, AV Equipment > Microphones.

Step 3: Add custom fields for church-specific tracking

Generic inventory software tracks name, quantity, and a description. Church assets need more. Under WP Inventory > Settings, add custom fields specific to your needs:

Field name Field type Purpose
Serial Number Text AV equipment and instruments for warranty tracking
Condition Dropdown Excellent / Good / Needs Repair — flags items before they go out
Last Maintenance Date Date Especially useful for vehicles and sound equipment
Assigned Ministry Text Tracks which team “owns” an asset week to week
Purchase Date and Cost Date / Number Supports insurance documentation and stewardship reporting

Step 4: Add your assets

Go to WP Inventory > Add Inventory to create an item record. Each item gets a name, description, quantity, category, and optional image. Custom fields appear here too.

Real example: First Baptist Community Church enters their Shure SM58 microphones as a single inventory item with a quantity of 8 and a custom field for “last service date.” When the worship team needs to know if any mics are out for repair, they check the inventory record instead of texting three different people.

Multi-campus and multi-room tracking

A church with two campuses or even a single building with a main sanctuary, fellowship hall, and youth wing quickly runs into a location problem: which building has the portable PA system right now?

The Locations Manager add-on solves this. Each inventory item carries a quantity per location. You see total stock across all locations or filter down to a specific room or campus. When an item moves, you update its location record rather than hunting down the person who last used it.

Real example: Grace Community Church has two campuses. Their portable sound system shows 1 unit at the East Campus and 0 at the West Campus. The West Campus administrator can see at a glance that the unit is elsewhere before scheduling an event that requires it. No phone calls needed.

Staff and volunteer access without admin rights

Not every staff member or volunteer should have full WordPress admin access. A youth ministry coordinator needs to update equipment records, but they don’t need to touch your theme or plugin settings.

The Advanced User Control add-on lets you assign inventory-specific permissions to any WordPress user. You control whether a given user can view items, edit quantities, or add new records without granting them access to anything else in WordPress. You can also restrict each user to specific categories or locations, so the kitchen coordinator only sees kitchen supplies and the AV team only sees AV equipment.

Tracking equipment loans and reservations

Churches regularly lend equipment to member families, partner organizations, and community groups. A folding table goes to a school fundraiser. A projector goes to a neighborhood meeting. Without a system, tracking that is a mental load nobody wants to carry.

The Reserve Cart add-on adds a reservation layer to your front-end inventory display. Someone can browse your catalog and submit a hold request for a specific item and date range. You review and approve from the admin. No payment required, no WooCommerce, just a structured way to capture who has what and when it’s coming back.

Where to start

The free version of WP Inventory Manager covers basic item records, categories, custom fields, and a front-end display shortcode. For most churches getting started, that’s enough to replace the spreadsheet and give your team a shared, searchable record of everything you own.

When you’re ready to add locations or user permissions, the All Access plan bundles every add-on for $199/year. For a congregation, that’s less than most office supply orders and unlike a dedicated church management platform, there’s no per-seat cost as your team grows.

Frequently asked questions

Can a church use WP Inventory Manager for free?
Yes. The core plugin is free with no item limits. It covers basic asset tracking, categories, custom fields, and a front-end shortcode display. Paid add-ons add locations, user permissions, and reservation features when you need them.
Do we need WooCommerce or an online store?
No. WP Inventory Manager runs entirely independently of WooCommerce. It’s designed for organizations that want to track physical assets, not sell products online.
Can we track equipment across two campuses?
Yes. The Locations Manager add-on lets you assign stock quantities to specific locations. Each item can carry a count per campus, room, or building. You see total inventory site-wide or filter down to a single location.
Can volunteers update inventory without full WordPress admin access?
Yes. The Advanced User Control add-on lets you assign inventory-specific permissions to any WordPress user. You can restrict each user to specific categories or locations, so they only see and edit the items relevant to their ministry area.
Can we use this to track equipment loans to community groups?
Yes. The Reserve Cart add-on adds a reservation form to your front-end inventory display. Visitors submit a hold request for a specific item and time period. You review and approve from the admin — no payment or WooCommerce required.

Get started

WP Inventory Manager installs in minutes from the WordPress plugin directory. The core plugin is free. When your church needs multi-location tracking, staff access controls, or equipment reservations, the add-ons are available individually or as part of the All Access bundle.

Download Free →  Browse Add-Ons →

Categories: Use cases
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5 Best WordPress Inventory Management Plugins in 2026 (Compared)

Thursday, June 11th, 2026

Search “best WordPress inventory plugin” and you’ll find the same list repeated everywhere: ATUM, Smart Manager, WooCommerce Stock Manager. All solid tools. All built for online stores.

Quick answer:

  • Best without WooCommerce: WP Inventory Manager. Free, unlimited items, searchable front-end catalog
  • Best for WooCommerce stock control: ATUM. Purchase orders and suppliers in the free tier
  • Best for bulk editing a large WooCommerce catalog: Smart Manager
  • Best for a visual catalog with light inventory needs: Ultimate Product Catalog
  • Good enough for small stores: WooCommerce’s built-in stock management

If you run a WooCommerce store, skip to ATUM and Smart Manager below. They are the right tools for you and we say so. But if you are tracking equipment, managing a parts catalog, running an asset register, or building a browsable inventory without a shopping cart, those tools solve a different problem than the one you have. Coming from a standalone app instead? Read our Sortly alternative for WordPress.

This comparison breaks that down honestly.

There are two completely different jobs here

Before comparing plugins, it helps to name the two distinct things people mean when they say “WordPress inventory management.” They are not the same job, and the plugins built for each are not interchangeable.

Job A: Store Stock Control Job B: Catalog / Asset Inventory
Who Runs a WooCommerce shop Tracks items, may not sell online at all
Need Sync stock to orders, purchase orders, suppliers Display a searchable catalog, track quantity and status
Examples Retailer with 2,000 SKUs, dropshipper, marketplace seller Equipment rental, museum, parts catalog, asset register
Best fit ATUM, Smart Manager WP Inventory Manager

WooCommerce-based tools cannot do Job B without adding a full store engine you don’t need. WP Inventory Manager doesn’t do Job A: there’s no checkout, no order sync, no supplier purchase orders. That’s not a weakness. It’s the design.

Plugin by plugin

WP Inventory Manager: Best inventory management without WooCommerce

Model: Fully standalone. No WooCommerce dependency. Uses its own database tables and displays via the [wpinventory] shortcode on any page.

Free tier: Genuinely unlimited items, custom fields, categories, front-end search and sort, and full admin management. Most small businesses never outgrow the free tier.

Paid add-ons: Pro ($79.99/yr) unlocks support and access to add-ons such as low-stock email alerts, quantity history and min/max quantity fields. Add-ons include Advanced Search ($39.99/yr), Locations Manager ($39.99/yr), Reserve Cart ($29.99/yr), and Import/Export ($59.99/yr) among others. The All Access bundle at $199/yr includes all add-ons, unlimited sites and support.

Best for: Equipment rental, art and museum collections, parts catalogs, internal asset tracking, nonprofits, schools, gyms. Anyone who needs a searchable front-end catalog without an online store.

Honest weaknesses: No payment processing or checkout. Reserve Cart captures reservation requests, not sales. No WooCommerce stock sync. No native supplier or purchase order workflow.

Real-World Fit

A brewery tracks kegs, equipment, and ingredients across two locations. Staff update stock from the WordPress admin. Distributors browse available items on the front end. No store, no cart, no checkout. Just a clean catalog that actually works.

ATUM: Best for advanced WooCommerce inventory management

Model: WooCommerce add-on, requires WooCommerce to function. 10,000+ active installs.

Free tier: Unusually powerful. Stock Central dashboard, purchase orders, suppliers, inventory logs, and statistics are all free. Most stores never need the paid version.

Best for: WooCommerce stores that want serious inventory control without leaving WordPress. If you’re already on Woo and need supplier management or purchase orders, ATUM is the answer.

Honest weaknesses: Completely useless without WooCommerce. Installing Woo just to use ATUM adds significant weight to your site and forces a store architecture you may not need.

Smart Manager (StoreApps): Best for bulk editing large WooCommerce catalogs

Model: WooCommerce add-on. Spreadsheet-style bulk editor for products, orders, and stock. Free lite version; Pro from $149/yr (single site).

Free tier: Smart Manager Lite covers basic bulk editing of products and stock. Advanced columns, order editing and bulk update rules are in the paid version.

Best for: Stores editing hundreds or thousands of SKUs at once. Price updates, stock adjustments, attribute changes in bulk. Solves a specific operational bottleneck, not a catalog display problem.

Honest weaknesses: It is an editing tool, not an inventory system. No front-end display, no locations, no purchase orders, and nothing to offer if your items are not WooCommerce products.

Native WooCommerce Stock Management: Best free WooCommerce stock dashboard

Model: Built into WooCommerce, free. Handles per-product stock, low-stock emails and backorders.

Best for: Stores under roughly 500 SKUs that need stock counts and nothing more.

Honest weaknesses: No suppliers, no purchase orders, no multi-location stock, no bulk editing. Beyond a few hundred products most teams add ATUM or Smart Manager on top.

Ultimate Product Catalog: Best for a visual catalog with light inventory needs

Model: Standalone catalog plugin, no WooCommerce needed. Free version with a paid Premium tier.

Best for: Showcasing items with images and filters where quantity tracking is secondary. Showrooms, restaurants, brochure-style catalogs.

Honest weaknesses: Display first, inventory second. No quantity workflow, no reservations, no locations, no ledger. If you need to know how many you have and where they are, it is the wrong tool.

What about building your own with ACF? Advanced Custom Fields gives you total flexibility, but no inventory logic out of the box, and you need a developer. WP Inventory Manager sits between the two: purpose-built for tracking quantity and status, with a front-end display and no development work.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature WP Inventory Manager ATUM Smart Manager Native Woo
Requires WooCommerce No Yes Yes Yes
Front-end catalog display Yes (shortcode) No No No
Unlimited items (free) Yes Yes Lite limits Yes
Custom fields Yes Product meta only Product meta only Product meta only
Multi-location stock Add-on ($39.99/yr) Add-on (paid) No No
Purchase orders / suppliers No Yes (free) No No
Reservation / request flow Add-on ($29.99/yr) No No No
Free to start Yes Yes Lite only Yes

Is WP Inventory Manager right for you?

Choose WP Inventory Manager if you… Choose ATUM / Smart Manager / Woo if you…
Don’t run (or want) a WooCommerce store Already sell through WooCommerce
Need a browsable, searchable front-end catalog Need stock to decrement automatically on each order
Track equipment, art, vehicles, parts, or assets Manage supplier relationships and purchase orders
Want unlimited items free with custom fields Need multi-warehouse e-commerce stock control
Need reservation requests rather than online sales Take payment and check out on-site
Have stock across multiple physical locations Need to bulk-edit thousands of product SKUs at once

If you’re building an inventory without a shopping cart, ATUM and Smart Manager are the wrong category of tool entirely. You’d be installing a store engine to solve a catalog problem. On the other hand, WP Inventory Manager was built specifically for the catalog and asset tracking use case, and the free tier covers more ground than most businesses need. Still running inventory in a spreadsheet? Read spreadsheet vs inventory management software to decide when it is time to move.

Need inventory management without WooCommerce?

Track equipment, assets, collections, parts and other inventory directly inside WordPress.

Explore WP Inventory Manager

Which WordPress inventory plugin is best for your use case?

The easiest way to choose an inventory plugin is to start with what you are actually trying to track.

Use Case Recommended Solution Why
Internal asset tracking WP Inventory Manager Track equipment, ownership, location, status, serial numbers and custom fields without ecommerce.
Equipment rental WP Inventory Manager Create searchable equipment inventories and handle reservation requests without building a full online store.
Museum or art collection WP Inventory Manager Manage collection metadata and display a searchable public or private catalog without checkout.
Parts or spare-parts catalog WP Inventory Manager Organize parts by category, SKU, compatibility, location, quantity, and custom attributes.
School or nonprofit inventory WP Inventory Manager Maintain an asset register without configuring or maintaining an ecommerce platform.
WooCommerce store with advanced stock control ATUM Add suppliers, purchase orders, inventory logs, and more advanced WooCommerce stock workflows.
Large WooCommerce catalog needing frequent edits Smart Manager Bulk-edit products, prices, and inventory through a spreadsheet-style interface.
Simple WooCommerce stock management Native WooCommerce Built-in stock quantities, backorders, and low-stock alerts may already cover straightforward ecommerce needs.

Use case: Internal asset tracking

A company may need to track laptops, monitors, tools, furniture, or other equipment assigned to employees. These items are not products for sale, so creating WooCommerce products for every asset adds unnecessary ecommerce functionality.

WP Inventory Manager can store information such as serial number, location, assigned employee, condition, purchase date, and asset status using custom fields.

See our internal asset tracking example for a more detailed workflow.

Use case: Equipment rental

A rental business might maintain hundreds of cameras, power tools, event supplies, or pieces of industrial equipment. Customers need to browse what is available while staff need to manage quantities and item information internally.

In this case, the requirement is closer to an inventory catalog than a traditional ecommerce store.

Our guide to equipment rental inventory in WordPress explains how this type of system can be structured.

Use case: Art gallery or museum collection

Galleries and museums often need to catalog artworks or objects with fields such as artist, medium, dimensions, acquisition date, location, status, and collection.

They may also want visitors or staff to search the collection without showing prices or offering checkout.

See how to create a searchable online art catalog in WordPress.

Use case: Parts catalog

A manufacturer, repair company, or distributor may need a searchable catalog containing thousands of replacement parts. Customers or staff might search by SKU, category, model, manufacturer, or compatibility rather than purchasing immediately.

A standalone inventory plugin can provide that catalog without forcing every item into an ecommerce workflow.

Display your parts inventory on your website with searchable listings, custom fields, images and inquiry options.

Ready to build your inventory in WordPress?

Start with WP Inventory Manager and add advanced features as your inventory needs grow.

View Plans & Pricing

Frequently Asked Questions

Can WP Inventory Manager replace WooCommerce for inventory?

Only if you don’t need WooCommerce’s core function: processing online sales. WPIM is purpose-built for catalog and asset inventory without a store. If you need customers to check out and pay, you need WooCommerce alongside or instead of WPIM.

Is ATUM really free? What’s the catch?

ATUM’s free tier is genuinely strong – purchase orders, supplier management, stock dashboards, and inventory logs are all included at no cost. However, the catch is that it requires WooCommerce, which means you’re carrying the full weight of an e-commerce platform even if you don’t need it.

What’s the best free WordPress inventory plugin?

For WooCommerce stores: ATUM’s free tier is hard to beat. For non-WooCommerce catalog and asset tracking: WP Inventory Manager gives you unlimited items, categories, custom fields, and front-end display at no cost. Unlimited item, no trial period.

Can I show my inventory on the front end without a store?

Yes – this is exactly what WP Inventory Manager does with its shortcode display. Visitors can browse and search your catalog. You control which fields show, and no one can check out or purchase directly. On top of this, the Reserve Cart add-on handles reservation requests if you need them.

Do I need technical skills to set up WP Inventory Manager?

No. Installation is standard WordPress plugin setup: upload, activate, done. Adding items and categories works through the admin dashboard. The shortcode drops your inventory onto any page. No coding required for core setup or the majority of add-ons.

Categories: How-to
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ATUM vs WP Inventory Manager: Which to Pick in 2026

Wednesday, June 10th, 2026

If you are comparing WP Inventory Manager vs ATUM, the right choice depends on whether your inventory workflow is built around WooCommerce. ATUM is designed for WooCommerce stock management, while WP Inventory Manager is built for WordPress inventory catalogs, asset tracking, equipment rental, parts catalogs and internal inventory workflows that do not need a shopping cart.

Which WordPress inventory plugin is right for your site?

The main difference: ATUM requires WooCommerce

ATUM requires WooCommerce. Its full name is “ATUM WooCommerce Inventory Management and Stock Tracking.” Without WooCommerce installed and active on your site, ATUM will not run. It is a WooCommerce extension, not a standalone inventory tool.

WP Inventory Manager requires nothing but WordPress. It runs on any WordPress site, with WooCommerce installed, without it, or on a site that has never touched an online store. It is completely independent.

If you are not running a WooCommerce store, the decision is simple: WP Inventory Manager is the better fit because it works as a standalone WordPress inventory system.

When ATUM is the better choice

ATUM is the better choice if you already run a WooCommerce store and need deeper stock control for products, orders and suppliers. Its Stock Central dashboard gives store operators a central place to review product quantities, low-stock status, supplier details and stock value.

For example, an online retailer processing many orders each week may need purchase orders, manufacturing workflows and barcode scanning. In that case, ATUM can make sense because the inventory workflow starts inside WooCommerce.

Best for: WooCommerce store operators managing a large product catalog with an order-driven fulfillment workflow.

When WP Inventory Manager is the better choice

WP Inventory Manager is the better choice if you need inventory management in WordPress without building a full WooCommerce store. You can track items, quantities, categories and custom fields, then display a searchable catalog on the front end with a shortcode.

That distinction matters because WooCommerce ties inventory to products, carts, orders and checkout. If your inventory does not revolve around online sales, you may not need that extra ecommerce layer.

For example, a gym might track treadmills, kettlebells and resistance bands for member use. None of those items are for sale, so the site does not need product pages, carts or payments. Instead, WP Inventory Manager lets the gym create item records, organize them into categories and show a browsable front-end catalog.

Best for: Businesses tracking physical inventory outside the context of an online store: equipment, tools, assets, rental items, donated goods, or any inventory that isn’t tied to checkout.

Side-by-Side Feature Comparison

Feature WP Inventory Manager ATUM
Requires WooCommerce No Yes
Works without an online store Yes No
Free core version Yes Yes
Custom inventory fields Yes No (uses WooCommerce product fields)
Front-end inventory display Yes – shortcode No standalone display
Multi-location stock Yes – Locations Manager add-on Yes – Multi-inventory (Premium)
Low-stock email alerts Yes – Pro ($79/yr) Yes – Free tier
Purchase orders No Yes – Premium
Customer reservation system Yes – Reserve Cart add-on No
Paid tier pricing From $79 per year (Pro) or $199 per year (All Access) From ~$14.99 per month (Premium add-ons)

Who Should Choose WP Inventory Manager

  1. You don’t have WooCommerce installed. ATUM will not activate without it. WP Inventory Manager works on any WordPress site.
  2. Your inventory is not tied to online sales. Equipment, tools, assets, rental items, donated goods – if there’s no checkout involved, WPIM is built for this and ATUM is not.
  3. You need a customer-facing display. WPIM renders your catalog on the front end via shortcode. Visitors can browse and filter without a WooCommerce product page.
  4. You need custom fields. WPIM lets you add any data point to an inventory item: serial numbers, condition, supplier, last service date. ATUM uses WooCommerce’s fixed product fields.
  5. You want a lighter setup. WooCommerce adds checkout flows, payment gateways, and shipping zones. If you don’t need any of that, WPIM keeps your site clean and focused.

Who Should Choose ATUM

ATUM is the stronger choice if your primary concern is managing a large WooCommerce product catalog as part of an active ecommerce operation. Its Stock Central dashboard, purchase order support, and supplier management are genuinely valuable for an online retailer managing hundreds of SKUs with an order-driven workflow.

If WooCommerce is already the backbone of your business and you need more visibility into stock movement at the product level, ATUM extends that system well.

Getting Started With WP Inventory Manager

Install the plugin from the WordPress plugin repository or directly from wpinventory.com/downloads. Once active, the WP Inventory menu appears in your WordPress admin. From there:

  • Go to WP Inventory > Inventory Items to add and manage your stock records.
  • Go to WP Inventory > Categories to organise items into groups.
  • Add the inventory shortcode to any page to display your catalog on the front end.
  • Go to WP Inventory > Settings to configure low-stock alerts and user access (Pro required for email alerts).

The free version covers item tracking, categories, custom fields, and front-end display. Upgrade to Pro ($79 per year) for low-stock email alerts and quantity history, or to All Access ($199 per year) for multi-location tracking, a customer reservation system, and advanced search.

Comparing more than these two options? See our complete comparison of the best WordPress inventory management plugins for WooCommerce stores, standalone catalogs and asset inventory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does ATUM work without WooCommerce?

No. If you don’t have WooCommerce, you won’t be able to use ATUM. It is built as a WooCommerce extension and cannot function as a standalone inventory system.

Can WP Inventory Manager work alongside WooCommerce?

Yes, there is no technical conflict – both plugins can run on the same WordPress site simultaneously. However, they maintain completely separate catalogs with no syncing. WPIM items and WooCommerce products are two independent systems. If you need stock changes in one to reflect in the other, that would require a custom integration. Most users running WPIM are not running WooCommerce at all.

Which plugin is better for a small business with no online store?

WP Inventory Manager. It was built specifically for businesses that need to track physical inventory in WordPress without running an ecommerce store. ATUM is not an option for this use case.

How do low-stock alerts work in WP Inventory Manager?

With the Pro plan, go to WP Inventory > Settings and enable the low-quantity alert. Set the threshold quantity and the notification email address. When any item drops to or below that number, an email is sent automatically. Those items are also highlighted in red in the admin dashboard.

Can customers browse and reserve inventory without buying?

Yes, with the Reserve Cart add-on (included in All Access). Visitors can browse your catalog and submit a reservation request. You don’t have to install any payment gateway or checkout. ATUM has no equivalent feature.

Categories: How-to
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Reviews on WordPress.org

Trusted by 134,000+ businesses since 2013

★★★★★

"Created an online museum for my club. Really impressive plugin. Support was responsive and helpful."

@hackrepair

★★★★★

"Excellent, clean, simple inventory management. Well structured code — use it right away or customize it to your liking."

@techlocally

★★★★★

"We purchased the entire suite. Installation was easy, small issues were fixed immediately, and the guidance during setup was invaluable."

@design4dotcom

★★★★★

"Plugin support was helpful and rapid. Highest mark."

@drgar

★★★★★

"Great support. Very thorough when looking for a solution, and upfront with exactly how to fix it or institute a workaround."

@shoidahl

★★★★★

"I used this plugin and eventually hired the developers for all my WordPress work. Responsive, competent, and clean code. Would recommend to anyone."

@justenhong