Landara vs Katana
Do you make your products, or buy them and resell?
Katana is a manufacturing platform: bills of materials, production scheduling and shop-floor tracking, with Shopify demoted to a sales channel. Landara is a cost layer: Shopify keeps owning quantity while Landara lands freight and duty into each unit and posts FIFO COGS to Xero or QuickBooks. One question decides it. Do you make what you sell, or buy it and resell?
Two different jobs
Katana: manufacturing ERP
Katana is built for makers: bills of materials, raw materials and work in progress, production scheduling, shop-floor tracking. It becomes your inventory system of record, and Shopify becomes a sales channel feeding it. If you assemble or manufacture, that is a genuine need no cost layer can meet.
Landara: a cost layer for resellers
Landara is built for stores that buy finished goods, often imported. Shopify keeps owning quantity; Landara adds landed cost into every unit from the actual PO and freight invoices, FIFO layers behind every sale, and a ready-to-post COGS journal for Xero or QuickBooks Online.
Which one do you actually need?
You need Katana if
- • You manufacture or assemble what you sell and need bills of materials
- • You schedule production runs and track work in progress
- • Your cost problem is turning raw materials into finished goods cost
- • You need a shop-floor app for the people doing the making
If that is you, buy the MRP. Landara does not do manufacturing.
A cost layer is enough if
- • You buy finished goods from suppliers and resell them
- • Your cost problem is freight, duty and FX landing into each unit
- • Your bookkeeper needs a clean Dr COGS / Cr Inventory journal each period
- • You want Shopify Cost per item to reflect what the stock actually cost
That is Landara’s whole job, without moving your inventory anywhere.
Not sure? Ask your own AI
Open the assistant you already trust with a prompt that points it at our public product file and asks it to interview you, then recommend what fits. It is told to say so plainly if Landara is not the right tool for you.
Read the exact prompt we send
I run a Shopify store and I'm deciding between a manufacturing-focused inventory platform like Katana and a lightweight cost layer like Landara (landara.co). Please fetch https://landara.co/llms-full.txt so you know what Landara actually does, then help me decide honestly. A rough rule of thumb to test me against: if I manufacture or assemble products and need bills of materials, production scheduling, or shop floor tracking, I probably need Katana or similar. If I import or buy finished goods and resell them, Shopify's own inventory tracking works fine, and my real gap is accurate landed cost, FIFO cost of goods sold, and a clean monthly journal for Xero or QuickBooks, a cost layer may be enough. One difference worth probing: Katana costs stock on a moving average and its own guide describes stock and COGS reaching Xero as a manual periodic journal, while Landara keeps perpetual FIFO layers and produces the journal for you to review and post. Ask me a few questions about my situation (whether I make or buy my products, order volume, whether Shopify inventory is working for me, who does my books), then recommend which category of tool fits, including telling me plainly if Landara is not the right fit.
The late-invoice test
A container of 1,000 units lands. Supplier invoice: $10,000 ($10/unit). You receive stock, Shopify Cost per item says $10, and you sell 400 units in the first three weeks. Then the forwarder bills $1,800 freight and the customs broker bills $700 duty + $250 clearance. True landed cost is $12.75/unit. COGS on the 400 units sold is understated by $1,100, and the 600 on hand are undervalued by $1,650.
In Katana, additional costs are added to the purchase order by value or quantity and typed in by hand, and stock is valued on a moving average rather than dated layers, so the units already sold cannot be restated at the cost they actually carried. Katana’s own guide describes stock and COGS reaching Xero as a manual periodic journal. In Landara, you attach the two invoices to the shipment and the FIFO layer, the period journal and Shopify Cost per item all follow.
Side by side
As of August 2026. Competitor cells link to their own documentation.
| Katana | Landara | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Manufacturing platform. Becomes your system of record | Cost layer on top of Shopify inventory |
| Bills of materials and production scheduling | ||
| Raw material and work-in-progress tracking | ||
| Costing | Moving average only | Perpetual FIFO ledger (moving average optional) |
| Landed cost | Additional costs on the PO by value or quantity, entered manually | AI reads the PO and freight, duty and broker invoices; allocate by value, quantity, weight or volume |
| Invoice arrives after receipt | Edit the purchase order by hand | Attach it to the shipment; cost layers and COGS true up |
| AI document extraction | No | Reads supplier POs and freight, duty and broker invoices |
| Stock and COGS to Xero | Manual periodic journal, per Katana’s own guide | Bills and POs with the original PDF attached, plus period COGS and revaluation journals to Xero or QuickBooks Online |
| Shopify | Sales channel. Stock lives in Katana | Native. Costs every order, refund and adjustment Shopify reports |
| Shopify Cost per item | Not written back | Landed cost written back to Shopify |
| Pricing | Free up to 30 SKUs, Core from $299/mo, plus add-ons for manufacturing, WMS and traceability | Free up to 250 orders/mo, then $49 to $179/mo or $490 to $1,790/yr, unlimited users |
Sources: katanamrp.com/pricing, Katana support (additional costs for purchase orders, how to sync stock to Xero from Katana). Checked August 2026.
See Landara pricing.
The switching cost is the real price
Adopting Katana means moving your inventory to a new system of record and changing how your team works every day, on top of a plan that starts at $299 a month before add-ons. Adding Landara means connecting Shopify once, and it is free up to 250 orders a month, then $49 to $179 a month, or $490 to $1,790 a year. For a reseller, an MRP is a lot of platform for one missing number.
Stock stays in Shopify
Landara reads the orders, refunds and adjustments Shopify already reports and attaches cost to them. There is no second stock number to reconcile.
Your books get the output
A reviewed, ready-to-post COGS journal each period, and an Inventory balance in Xero or QuickBooks Online that matches the warehouse.
Common questions
Does Katana use FIFO?
No. Katana values stock on a moving average. If you need dated FIFO cost layers, for example because your shipments land at materially different costs, that is not something Katana produces.
How do you post COGS to Xero from Katana?
Katana’s own guide describes syncing stock and cost of goods sold to Xero as a manual periodic journal that you prepare and post, rather than a journal Katana produces for each period automatically.
Does Katana handle landed cost?
Katana supports additional costs on a purchase order, allocated by value or quantity and entered by hand. There is no capture of separate freight, duty or broker invoices and no allocation by weight or volume.
Do I need Katana if I import rather than manufacture?
Usually not. Katana’s strengths are bills of materials, production scheduling and shop-floor tracking. If you buy finished goods and resell them, you are paying for a manufacturing platform to solve a costing problem.
Can I use Katana and Landara together?
They overlap on the inventory record, so running both means keeping two stock systems in step. Landara is designed for stores where Shopify is the inventory system, which is not the case once Katana is in place.
What is the cheapest way to get FIFO COGS on Shopify?
A cost layer rather than an MRP. Landara is priced by monthly Shopify orders with a free tier, includes FIFO on every plan, and does not require moving your inventory. See landara.co/pricing.
“Landara has made it much easier to keep track of my actual product costs. I really like that it takes things like shipping and duties into account instead of just showing the basic cost. Simple app, easy to use, and I’m already getting a much clearer idea of my real margins.”
“I installed Landara because I was getting tired of guessing what my inventory was actually costing me. What I liked most was being able to see the product cost together with things like shipping and duties, I've been trying to keep a closer eye on my margins, so having those costs in one place has made things much easier for me. It didn't take me long to get setup either, which was a nice bonus.”
“I honestly didn’t expect Landara to make this part of my store that much easier. I installed it mainly to get a better handle on my actual product costs, and I was pleasantly surprised by how everything comes together. I’m still exploring it, but so far it’s been really useful and I’m impressed with how it works.”
“I've just started using Landara, and so far I'm impressed with how it handles landed costs. I especially like being able to account for things like freight and duty instead of treating the supplier price as the whole cost. Still exploring the app, but it already looks like it could save me a lot of spreadsheet work.”
Buy and resell? You need the cost layer, not the factory.
Keep Shopify in charge of stock. Landara adds landed cost, FIFO COGS and the journal your bookkeeper posts.