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E-Commerce · head to head

Heartland Retail vs Inventory Lab

Heartland Retail logo

Heartland Retail

E-Commerce

Cloud point of sale and inventory management sold alongside Heartland card processing

From
$150/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Inventory Lab logo

Inventory Lab

E-Commerce

FBA inventory management made simple

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Inventory Lab has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Heartland Retail the software is sold as part of a card processing relationship, so the monthly licence understates the real cost and the processing rate is the number that determines what you pay over a year.; Inventory Lab inventoryLab is no longer sold standalone and is now bundled into Three Colts' Seller 365 plans starting at $69 per month for a single user, rising to $199 per month for the Pro tier
  • They diverge on capability: Heartland Retail covers Multi-store inventory, Inventory Lab covers FBA inventory tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Heartland Retail and Inventory Lab actually diverge.

Attributes where Heartland Retail and Inventory Lab differ
AttributeHeartland RetailInventory Lab
Starting price$150/monthFree
Free tierNoYes
Founded19972011

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (E-Commerce).

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 Heartland Retail

  • Multi-store inventory
  • Cloud point of sale
  • Purchasing and receiving
  • Customer records
  • Sales and stock reporting
  • Integrated card processing
  • E-commerce integrations

Only in Inventory Lab

  • FBA inventory tracking
  • Repricing automation
  • Price monitoring
  • Sales analytics
  • Profit calculations
  • Supplier management
  • Alerts and notifications
  • Forecasting tools

What people use each for

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

Heartland Retail

  • A specialty retailer opening a third or fourth site that needs one stock position across all of themnot Inventory Lab
  • Replacing a legacy on-premise till system that requires a server in the back office of every storenot Inventory Lab
  • A retailer whose buying team needs purchase orders and receiving rather than just a cash registernot Inventory Lab
  • An existing Heartland processing customer consolidating software and payments under one suppliernot Inventory Lab

Inventory Lab

  • Amazon seller managementnot Heartland Retail
  • multi-channel resellingnot Heartland Retail
  • inventory trackingnot Heartland Retail

Where each one falls short

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

Heartland Retail

  • The software is sold as part of a card processing relationship, so the monthly licence understates the real cost and the processing rate is the number that determines what you pay over a year.
  • Leaving means changing till software and merchant account together, and since the payment terminals, the reporting history and the staff training are all tied to the same supplier, the switching cost is far higher than a software migration alone.
  • It is not an online store platform, so a merchant selling on the web still buys and maintains a separate e-commerce platform, and the stock and order integration between the two is an ongoing operational dependency rather than a one-off setup.
  • Historical sales and customer purchase history rarely migrate cleanly out of a point of sale system, so a retailer who switches typically starts with an empty history and keeps the old system read-only, paying for it, for years.
  • Heartland sits within Global Payments, a group that has repeatedly restructured its portfolio through acquisitions and divestitures, so which entity owns and invests in this specific product is not stable over a long contract term.

Inventory Lab

  • InventoryLab is no longer sold standalone and is now bundled into Three Colts' Seller 365 plans starting at $69 per month for a single user, rising to $199 per month for the Pro tier
  • Multichannel listing requires the separate UniCon add-on, priced from $49 to $449 per month depending on tier

Pricing, plan by plan

Heartland Retail

$150/month
  • Core$150/month
    • POS system
    • Inventory management
    • Customer management
  • Professional$350/month
    • All Core features
    • Omnichannel
    • Advanced analytics

Inventory Lab

Free
  • Standard$69/month
    • access to 10 tools
    • 1 user account
    • designed for independent resellers
  • Teams$129/month
    • all 10 tools
    • up to 10 users
    • shared workflows and collaboration
  • Pro$199/month
    • all pro versions of 10 tools
    • up to 10 users
    • premium support under 30-minute response time
  • Enterprise$null/custom
    • more than 10 users
    • custom terms

Which should you pick?

Choose Heartland Retail if

  • You need multi-store inventory.
  • You also want cloud point of sale.
Heartland Retail review

Choose Inventory Lab if

  • You need fba inventory tracking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want repricing automation.
Inventory Lab review

Questions people ask

Is Heartland Retail or Inventory Lab better?
Neither clearly leads. Heartland Retail starts at $150/month and Inventory Lab at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Heartland Retail or Inventory Lab?
Inventory Lab has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $150/month for Heartland Retail and Free for Inventory Lab.
Does Heartland Retail or Inventory Lab run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Inventory Lab for free?
Yes. Inventory Lab has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heartland Retail starts at $150/month.
What is Heartland Retail best used for?
Heartland Retail is most often used for a specialty retailer opening a third or fourth site that needs one stock position across all of them, replacing a legacy on-premise till system that requires a server in the back office of every store, a retailer whose buying team needs purchase orders and receiving rather than just a cash register, an existing heartland processing customer consolidating software and payments under one supplier. Of those, a specialty retailer opening a third or fourth site that needs one stock position across all of them and replacing a legacy on-premise till system that requires a server in the back office of every store are not what Inventory Lab is typically brought in for.
What can Heartland Retail do that Inventory Lab cannot?
Heartland Retail covers Multi-store inventory, Cloud point of sale, Purchasing and receiving, Customer records. Inventory Lab covers FBA inventory tracking, Repricing automation, Price monitoring, Sales analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Heartland Retail: Can I use it as my online store?

No. It manages the shop floor and stock. Selling online means a separate e-commerce platform and an integration to keep the catalogue and stock aligned.

Inventory Lab: What is the free trial period for Inventory Lab?

Inventory Lab offers a 14-day free trial, with bonus days awarded when connecting Amazon accounts.

Source
Heartland Retail: Do I have to use Heartland for card processing?

The product is sold as part of a payments relationship, and that is where the supplier's margin sits. Ask explicitly what the software costs standalone before assuming you have a choice.

Inventory Lab: Can I save money on Inventory Lab with annual billing?

Yes, annual billing saves money: Standard saves $48/year, Teams saves $120/year, and Pro saves $192/year compared to monthly billing.

Source
Heartland Retail: What should I negotiate hardest on?

The card processing rate and the contract term, not the software subscription. Ask for interchange-plus pricing in writing rather than a blended rate.

Inventory Lab: Is there an add-on to use Inventory Lab on channels beyond Amazon?

Yes, the UniCon multichannel add-on is available starting at $49/month for expanding beyond Amazon.

Source
Heartland Retail: What happens to my sales history if I leave?

Assume products and current stock export cleanly and that years of transaction history do not. Budget for keeping the old system available read-only during any transition.

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