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Inventory · head to head

DEAR Inventory vs Litmus Edge

DEAR Inventory logo

DEAR Inventory

Inventory

Complete inventory and order management system

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Litmus Edge logo

Litmus Edge

Manufacturing

Industrial edge platform that collects, normalises and forwards OT data to cloud and enterprise systems

From
$1500/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: DEAR Inventory starting price of $349/month is high for small businesses; Litmus Edge pricing is by site and data point, so a large tag count at one plant can cost more than a modest tag count spread over several, which is the opposite of how most manufacturers plan a rollout.
  • They diverge on capability: DEAR Inventory covers Inventory management, Litmus Edge covers Prebuilt driver library.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DEAR Inventory and Litmus Edge actually diverge.

Attributes where DEAR Inventory and Litmus Edge differ
AttributeDEAR InventoryLitmus Edge
Starting priceOn request$1500/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer site by data point count
PlatformsWeb, Mobile app, Cloud-basedLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, On-premise
CategoryInventoryManufacturing
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in DEAR Inventory

  • Inventory management
  • Manufacturing
  • Purchase orders
  • Sales orders
  • Accounting
  • Xero
  • QuickBooks
  • Shopify

Only in Litmus Edge

  • Prebuilt driver library
  • Unified data model
  • Litmus Edge Manager
  • Edge applications
  • Store and forward
  • Cloud and broker outputs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

DEAR Inventory

  • Inventory management and trackingnot Litmus Edge
  • E-commerce integration and synchronizationnot Litmus Edge
  • Multi-channel order managementnot Litmus Edge
  • Stock and supply chain managementnot Litmus Edge

Litmus Edge

  • A manufacturer with twenty plants and five PLC brands that needs one data acquisition standard rather than twenty bespoke integrationsnot DEAR Inventory
  • Feeding a cloud data warehouse or lakehouse with normalised production data without asking the controls team to write cloud connectorsnot DEAR Inventory
  • Retrofitting data collection onto old CNC machines and robots where the protocol support is the hard part, not the analyticsnot DEAR Inventory
  • Adding local buffering and computation at sites with unreliable WAN links so cloud outages do not create gaps in production historynot DEAR Inventory

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

DEAR Inventory

  • Starting price of $349/month is high for small businesses
  • Base plan limited to 6 integrations; additional integrations require separate purchase
  • No published details on integration add-on costs
  • Redirects to Cin7.com, indicating product has been acquired or rebranded

Litmus Edge

  • Pricing is by site and data point, so a large tag count at one plant can cost more than a modest tag count spread over several, which is the opposite of how most manufacturers plan a rollout.
  • The entry package sits around $1,500 per month, an awkward number for a single-site pilot given that the product is infrastructure with no visible output of its own until something downstream consumes it.
  • Litmus does no analytics, so the business case always depends on a second purchase; the platform on its own produces no result a plant manager can see.
  • Full pricing beyond the entry tier is not published and the Growth and Scale packages are quoted, so scaling costs are unknown at the point you commit to the architecture.
  • A capable controls team can approximate a single-site deployment with an open-source broker and a driver gateway for a fraction of the cost, so the value case depends entirely on how many sites you are managing centrally.

Pricing, plan by plan

DEAR Inventory

On request
  • Standard$249/month
    • Core features
    • 5 users
    • Standard support
  • Professional$449/month
    • Advanced manufacturing
    • 10 users
    • Priority support
  • Enterprise$849/month
    • Full features
    • Unlimited users
    • Dedicated support

Litmus Edge

$1500/month
  • Foundation$1500/month
    • Entry package sized by site count and data points
    • Core driver library and edge runtime
    • Store and forward to cloud and brokers
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Larger site and data point allowance
    • Litmus Edge Manager fleet management
    • Priced on application
  • Scale$undefined/month
    • Enterprise multi-site deployment
    • Higher data point ceilings and support tier
    • Priced on application

Which should you pick?

Choose DEAR Inventory if

  • You need inventory management.
  • You work on Web, Mobile app, Cloud-based.
  • You also want manufacturing.
DEAR Inventory review

Choose Litmus Edge if

  • You need prebuilt driver library.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, On-premise.
  • You also want unified data model.
Litmus Edge review

Questions people ask

Is DEAR Inventory or Litmus Edge better?
Neither clearly leads. DEAR Inventory starts at On request and Litmus Edge at $1500/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DEAR Inventory or Litmus Edge?
DEAR Inventory starts at On request and Litmus Edge at $1500/month.
Does DEAR Inventory or Litmus Edge run on more platforms?
DEAR Inventory runs on Web, Mobile app, Cloud-based. Litmus Edge runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, On-premise.
What is DEAR Inventory best used for?
DEAR Inventory is most often used for inventory management and tracking, e-commerce integration and synchronization, multi-channel order management, stock and supply chain management. Of those, inventory management and tracking and e-commerce integration and synchronization are not what Litmus Edge is typically brought in for.
What can DEAR Inventory do that Litmus Edge cannot?
DEAR Inventory covers Inventory management, Manufacturing, Purchase orders, Sales orders. Litmus Edge covers Prebuilt driver library, Unified data model, Litmus Edge Manager, Edge applications.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DEAR Inventory: How much does DEAR Inventory cost?

DEAR Inventory (now Cin7) pricing starts at $349 per month for plans that accommodate up to 6 e-commerce and app integrations. Additional integrations are available for purchase.

Source
Litmus Edge: Does Litmus Edge do analytics or dashboards?

Only lightweight edge computation and basic visualisation. It is a data acquisition and normalisation layer; the analysis happens in whatever you send the data to.

DEAR Inventory: Is there a free trial for DEAR Inventory?

Yes, Cin7 (formerly DEAR Inventory) offers a free trial option. Contact the vendor directly or visit their website to start a free trial.

Source
Litmus Edge: How is it priced?

By number of sites and number of data points, in packages. The entry package starts around $1,500 per month; larger tiers are quoted.

DEAR Inventory: What integrations does DEAR Inventory support?

DEAR Inventory base plans include up to 6 e-commerce and app integrations. Additional integrations beyond the base 6 are available but require separate purchase.

Source
Litmus Edge: Can it replace my historian?

No. It buffers and forwards but is not a long-term historian. Most deployments send data into a historian, warehouse or lakehouse.

DEAR Inventory: Is DEAR Inventory still available?

DEAR Inventory has been rebranded as Cin7. The Cin7 platform continues to provide inventory management with e-commerce integrations at $349/month starting price.

Source
Litmus Edge: Does it need Litmus hardware?

No. It runs on standard industrial PCs, virtual machines or containers; there is no proprietary appliance requirement.

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