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ERP · head to head

Fishbowl vs Zip

Fishbowl logo

Fishbowl

ERP

Manufacturing and warehouse management for QuickBooks

From
$4395/one-time
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zip logo

Zip

ERP

Procurement intake and orchestration that sits on top of the systems you already run

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Fishbowl the $229 per month Essentials plan includes only 2 users, Growth at $429 includes 5 and Scale at $729 includes 10, all billed annually; Zip it is a layer on top of systems you already pay for, so the business case rests on adoption and cycle time rather than replacing a licence, and that is harder to defend to a finance director cutting software spend.
  • They diverge on capability: Fishbowl covers Inventory management, Zip covers Unified intake.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fishbowl and Zip actually diverge.

Attributes where Fishbowl and Zip differ
AttributeFishbowlZip
Starting price$4395/one-timeOn request
Pricing modelone-timequote
PlatformsWindows, CloudWeb, iOS
Founded2001Unknown

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

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 Fishbowl

  • Inventory management
  • Manufacturing
  • Work orders
  • Barcode scanning
  • QuickBooks integration
  • QuickBooks Desktop
  • QuickBooks Online
  • Shopify

Only in Zip

  • Unified intake
  • Approval orchestration
  • Vendor onboarding
  • Contract repository
  • ERP write-back
  • Renewal management
  • Spend visibility
  • AI request handling

What people use each for

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

Fishbowl

  • Inventory and SKU tracking for wholesale and distribution businessesnot Zip
  • Manufacturing bills of materials, MRP, work orders and job costingnot Zip
  • Warehouse fulfilment, transfer orders and automated reorderingnot Zip
  • Multichannel selling with synchronised stock levelsnot Zip

Zip

  • A company that owns a source-to-pay suite nobody uses because employees cannot navigate itnot Fishbowl
  • An organisation where every software purchase needs security, legal, privacy and finance sign-off and currently does it in email threadsnot Fishbowl
  • A finance team that keeps discovering contracts that auto-renewed because nobody owned the renewal datenot Fishbowl
  • A business needing an auditable record of who approved a third-party engagement and on what evidencenot Fishbowl

Where each one falls short

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

Fishbowl

  • The $229 per month Essentials plan includes only 2 users, Growth at $429 includes 5 and Scale at $729 includes 10, all billed annually
  • A paid implementation package is required as part of purchase and covers a 6 to 8 week training certification
  • Lot tracking, demand forecasting and compliance documentation require the Scale plan at $729 per month
  • Advanced Warehouse from $595 per month and Advanced Manufacturing from $675 per month are quoted on team size and deployment rather than sold at a fixed rate
  • Demand forecasting and custom reports are add ons carrying separate fees
  • All listed plan prices are billed annually rather than monthly

Zip

  • It is a layer on top of systems you already pay for, so the business case rests on adoption and cycle time rather than replacing a licence, and that is harder to defend to a finance director cutting software spend.
  • Value depends entirely on integration depth into your specific ERP and ticketing tools, and a shallow connector reduces it to a workflow tool that someone rekeys out of.
  • Pricing is not published and is structured around company size and integration scope, so buyers cannot benchmark without peer references.
  • If procurement policy itself is unclear, Zip encodes the confusion: the tool routes requests according to rules someone must first write, and organisations without that clarity see slow implementations.
  • It does not do sourcing, auctions or spend analysis, so organisations expecting a full procurement capability will still need a suite or specialist tools alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Fishbowl

$4395/one-time
  • Fishbowl Warehouse$4395/one-time
    • Inventory tracking
    • Order management
    • QuickBooks sync
  • Fishbowl Manufacturing$5495/one-time
    • Work orders
    • Bill of materials
    • Shop floor control

Zip

On request
  • Zip$undefined/year
    • Intake and approval orchestration
    • Vendor onboarding and diligence workflows
    • Integrations with ERP, contract and ticketing systems

Which should you pick?

Choose Fishbowl if

  • You need inventory management.
  • You work on Windows, Cloud.
  • You also want manufacturing.
Fishbowl review

Choose Zip if

  • You need unified intake.
  • You work on Web, iOS.
  • You also want approval orchestration.
Zip review

Questions people ask

Is Fishbowl or Zip better?
Neither clearly leads. Fishbowl starts at $4395/one-time and Zip at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fishbowl or Zip?
Fishbowl starts at $4395/one-time and Zip at On request.
Does Fishbowl or Zip run on more platforms?
Fishbowl runs on Windows, Cloud. Zip runs on Web, iOS.
What is Fishbowl best used for?
Fishbowl is most often used for inventory and sku tracking for wholesale and distribution businesses, manufacturing bills of materials, mrp, work orders and job costing, warehouse fulfilment, transfer orders and automated reordering, multichannel selling with synchronised stock levels. Of those, inventory and sku tracking for wholesale and distribution businesses and manufacturing bills of materials, mrp, work orders and job costing are not what Zip is typically brought in for.
What can Fishbowl do that Zip cannot?
Fishbowl covers Inventory management, Manufacturing, Work orders, Barcode scanning. Zip covers Unified intake, Approval orchestration, Vendor onboarding, Contract repository.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Fishbowl: How much does Fishbowl Inventory cost per month?

Fishbowl Inventory pricing starts at $229/month (billed annually) for the Essentials tier, $429/month for Growth, and $729/month for Scale. The Advanced Manufacturing tier starts at $675/month and Advanced Warehouse starts at $595/month, though both are quote-based and vary by user count.

Source
Zip: Is this the buy now pay later company?

No. This is Zip at ziphq.com, a procurement orchestration platform, unrelated to the payments company of the same name.

Fishbowl: How many users are included in each tier?

Essentials includes 2 users, Growth includes 5 users, and Scale includes 10 users. Advanced Manufacturing and Advanced Warehouse support teams of 2 to 200+ users with pricing confirmed by quote based on your specific deployment.

Source
Zip: Does it replace Coupa or Ariba?

No, and that is the point. It sits in front of them, providing the intake and approval experience employees actually use, and writes back into the suite.

Fishbowl: Is Fishbowl billed monthly or annually?

Fishbowl Inventory plans require annual billing. The Advanced Manufacturing and Advanced Warehouse plans have variable pricing confirmed by quote and may have different billing arrangements.

Source
Zip: What does it cost?

Not published. Quoted by company size, modules and the integrations you need. Get peer benchmarks before negotiating.

Fishbowl: What's included when I sign up for Fishbowl?

All Fishbowl plans include an implementation package with specialist support, data migration services, and 6 to 8 weeks of certification training. Cloud hosting is included with Advanced Manufacturing plans.

Source
Zip: What is the prerequisite for success?

A written procurement policy. Zip automates the routing rules you give it; if nobody can say who approves what, implementation stalls.

Fishbowl: Can I add more users if I exceed my tier's user limit?

You can upgrade to a higher tier which includes additional users. Essentials ($229/mo with 2 users) can upgrade to Growth ($429/mo with 5 users) or Scale ($729/mo with 10 users). Custom team sizes beyond 10 users require Advanced Manufacturing or Advanced Warehouse quotes.

Source
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