Shopify COGS & Inventory Cost Tools
Shopify has retired Stocky, and the question underneath it never went anywhere: how should you track cost of goods sold and inventory cost? Compare the options and find the right fit for your store.
The main options
Each has trade-offs. Here's a honest breakdown.
Spreadsheets
Excel / Google Sheets
Manual calculation using templates and formulas
Pros
- Free to use
- Fully customizable
- Works offline
Cons
- Manual data entry
- 4-6 hours/week
- Formula errors
- No audit trail
Best for: Occasional importers (1-2x/year) who enjoy spreadsheet work
Compare to LandaraDext
Receipt Bank / Lightyear
Expense capture and receipt scanning for accounting
Pros
- Good receipt OCR
- Accounting integrations
- Mobile app
Cons
- No cost allocation
- No landed cost calc
- No PO linking
- Generic expense focus
Best for: General expense capture (not import-specific)
Compare to LandaraCin7 / Katana
Full inventory management
Complete inventory platform with landed cost as a feature
Pros
- Full inventory suite
- Warehouse management
- Multi-channel
Cons
- Expensive ($349+/mo)
- Complex setup
- Overkill for costing
- Long implementation
Best for: Businesses needing full inventory management (not just costing)
Compare to LandaraQuickBooks Desktop
Enterprise edition
Desktop accounting with built-in landed cost (Enterprise only)
Pros
- Built into accounting
- Familiar interface
Cons
- Desktop only
- Enterprise tier required
- No AI extraction
- Dated UX
Best for: Existing QB Desktop Enterprise users
Manual + Bookkeeper
Outsourced calculation
Hire someone to do landed cost calculations manually
Pros
- Human judgment
- Flexible
Cons
- Labor cost
- Still manual process
- Slow turnaround
- Knowledge dependency
Best for: Those with budget for ongoing labor costs
Landara
AI-powered landed cost
Purpose-built landed cost calculator with AI document extraction
Pros
- AI extracts invoices automatically
- Per-unit landed cost calculation
- Xero, QBO, Shopify integration
- Quick setup, no training needed
Cons
- Not a full inventory system
- Newer product (less market presence)
Best for: Regular importers using Xero, QBO, or Shopify who want accurate landed costs without manual work
Try Landara FreeFeature comparison matrix
Quick feature comparison across options
| Feature | Spreadsheet | Dext | Cin7 | Landara |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI extraction | ||||
| Cost allocation | ||||
| Per-unit landed cost | ||||
| Link PO to freight | ||||
| Xero/QBO integration | ||||
| Shopify integration | ||||
| No manual data entry | ||||
| Quick to set up | ||||
| No migration off Shopify |
What only Landara does
The matrix above shows which tools cover the cost side at all. These are the finer differences, and they are the ones that decide whether the number survives contact with your accountant.
Cost layers per receipt, not one cost field
Shopify holds a single cost per variant and overwrites it whenever it changes, so last month's cost is gone. Landara keeps a dated layer for every receipt, which is what FIFO requires and what makes the figure auditable later.
A journal your accountant posts, not a number you retype
A Dr COGS / Cr Inventory journal ready for Xero or QuickBooks, alongside revaluation, write-down and shrinkage journals. You review it and you post it. Landara never writes to your ledger unasked.
Landed cost inside the layer, not on a spreadsheet beside it
Freight, duty, insurance and clearance are allocated across the units on the shipment, so the layer that depletes on a sale already carries what it truly cost to land those goods.
Recoverable import tax stays recoverable, never capitalised
Import GST and VAT are reclaimable, so they never inflate inventory value, while customs duty correctly does. Tools that treat every border charge alike overstate landed cost and leave the tax off your BAS.
Two costing bases, not one opinion
Cost at sale and cost at fulfilment, switchable whenever you need. They are two views of the same COGS and are never summed, so you can match whichever basis your accountant works from.
A ledger with no delete button, not an editable history
A correction is a reversing movement, never a deletion, so the audit trail behind a period you have already posted stays intact. That is the difference between a record and a working file.
Shopify keeps owning quantity, so there is no migration
Landara never maintains a competing stock-on-hand number and never asks you to move inventory into another system. Connect it, and it costs the movements Shopify already reports.
Built for the cost side only, and honest about it
Landara does not forecast demand or run your reorder workflow, and will tell you so. It does the one job with an accounting deadline behind it, which is why it sits beside whatever you pick for planning.
Ready to see it in action?
Try Landara free. Upload your first freight invoice and see the difference.