Most tools track stock. Very few plan it.

The three kinds of stock management software

Trackers (Unleashed, Cin7, Linnworks, inFlow and dozens more) count stock, scan barcodes, sync marketplaces and raise the paperwork. They are good at it, and if your problem is knowing what you have, buy one of those.

ERP and accounting modules (Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, Business Central) keep the stock ledger accurate for the accounts. Their reorder logic, where it exists, applies one crude rule to every product.

Planning platforms answer the questions the first two cannot: how much of each product should you hold, what should the next purchase order contain, and what happens to your cash and service level if you change the plan? This is the category Optimal Chain competes in, against Netstock, EazyStock and Slim4. It is where stock stops being an admin problem and becomes a money problem: the average mid-sized catalogue carries 20 to 30% more stock than its sales justify, while its best sellers still run out.

What planning looks like when it is done properly

One analysis of your sales export produces three complete stocking strategies at once, plus a fourth you can build yourself. Switching between them re-renders every reorder point, every purchase order and every £ figure in under a second, so you can watch millions of pounds of working capital move between risk and cash before choosing a posture (demo data):

Behind those numbers: every product gets its own 12 month forecast from a tournament of 18 methods, blind-tested against that product's own history, with the scores on screen. Buffer stock is sized from each product's real forecast track record rather than a 1960s textbook formula. Then the Replenishment Budget Planner turns the plan into purchase orders that fit the budget you actually have, respecting every supplier's MOQ, and the Deal Optimiser checks any supplier offer against the full cost of holding it, break-even price included.

The honest comparison

Read that table honestly and the buying advice writes itself. If you only need counting, buy a tracker and keep the change. If your stock records live happily in your accounts package, leave them there. The moment the question becomes what to buy, when, and with what money, you are shopping for planning, and in that category we are the only option with a published price list and the only one at any price with budget-first purchase orders.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best stock management software in the UK?

It depends on the job. For counting and syncing channels, trackers like Unleashed or Cin7 are solid. For accounts-led records, Sage, Xero and QuickBooks modules are fine. For deciding what to buy and with what budget, you need a planning platform: Netstock, EazyStock, Slim4 or Optimal Chain. We are the only one in that group with budget-first PO planning, deal analysis with a break-even price, and a published price list.

What is the difference between stock tracking and stock planning?

Tracking records what happened. Planning decides what happens next: how much to hold and order, based on a demand forecast. Trackers are cheap and plentiful. Planning has historically been enterprise-priced, which is the gap we built Optimal Chain to close.

Do I need to replace my current system?

No. We work from CSV or Excel exports of whatever you run today and the recommended purchase orders export back in ERP-ready format. Keep the system your team knows; add the planning layer on top.

How much does stock management software cost?

Trackers run roughly £30 to £300 a month. ERP modules are bundled. Planning platforms are typically quote-only, with Netstock starting around £8,500 a year. Optimal Chain runs from £199 a month for up to 500 products to £2,499 for 50,000, every capability on every plan, setup included, full list public.