Softwr

Inventory · head to head

Katana vs Tractian

Katana logo

Katana

Inventory

Smart manufacturing ERP for scaling businesses

From
$99/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Tractian logo

Tractian

Field Service

CMMS with published per-user pricing plus vibration sensors sold as a separate per-asset subscription

From
$60/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Katana limited BOM explosion and lead-time offset planning requiring manual work that should be automated; Tractian sensors are excluded from both published CMMS tiers and are quoted per monitored asset, so the transparent rate card covers only the part of the deployment that costs least.
  • They diverge on capability: Katana covers Production planning, Tractian covers Published per-user pricing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Katana and Tractian actually diverge.

Attributes where Katana and Tractian differ
AttributeKatanaTractian
Starting price$99/month$60/month
Pricing modelUnknownPer user per month
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryInventoryField Service
Founded2015Unknown

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 Katana

  • Production planning
  • Real-time inventory
  • BOM management
  • Shop floor control
  • Shopify
  • WooCommerce
  • QuickBooks
  • Xero

Only in Tractian

  • Published per-user pricing
  • Unlimited requesters
  • Smart Trac sensors
  • Automatic work order creation
  • Mobile execution
  • Preventive maintenance planning
  • Power BI connector
  • ERP integration

What people use each for

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

Katana

  • Production schedulingnot Tractian
  • Material planningnot Tractian
  • Work order managementnot Tractian
  • Inventory optimizationnot Tractian

Tractian

  • A mid-market plant replacing spreadsheet maintenance planning where hundreds of operators must report faults but only a dozen plan worknot Katana
  • Instrumenting critical motors and pumps and having detected faults become work orders without an integration projectnot Katana
  • A maintenance manager who needs a defensible budget figure before an approval meeting rather than a quote in three weeksnot Katana
  • A multi-site manufacturer wanting the same CMMS and sensor platform across Brazilian, Mexican and United States plantsnot Katana

Where each one falls short

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

Katana

  • Limited BOM explosion and lead-time offset planning requiring manual work that should be automated
  • No native invoicing capability, making it standalone without accounting system integration
  • Limited native integrations, with heavy reliance on Zapier for non-core tools
  • Slow performance with large datasets and high SKU counts

Tractian

  • Sensors are excluded from both published CMMS tiers and are quoted per monitored asset, so the transparent rate card covers only the part of the deployment that costs least.
  • Smart Trac hardware reports into the Tractian platform, so a plant that later changes analytics vendor writes off the installed sensor base.
  • The five-user minimum on Standard and ten-user minimum on Enterprise put a floor under the cost that small maintenance teams cannot get below.
  • ERP integration, single sign-on and the Power BI connector are Enterprise-only, so an organisation needing SAP integration pays the higher rate for every licensed user including technicians who need none of it.
  • The company is young and venture-funded with rapid product expansion, so enterprise features are newer than the core CMMS and reference sites at large industrial scale are fewer than for established EAM vendors.

Pricing, plan by plan

Katana

$99/month
  • Essential$99/month
    • Core inventory management
    • Production scheduling
    • Stock tracking
  • Pro$299/month
    • Shop floor control
    • API access
    • Advanced reporting

Tractian

$60/month
  • Standard$60/month
    • From 60 USD per user per month, billed annually
    • Minimum five users
    • Unlimited assets and unlimited requester accounts
  • Enterprise$100/month
    • From 100 USD per user per month, billed annually
    • Minimum ten users
    • Single sign-on and custom entities
  • Bundle$undefined/year
    • CMMS combined with condition monitoring sensors
    • Priced per monitored asset, quoted rather than published
    • Includes failure detection, root cause analysis and reliability support

Which should you pick?

Choose Katana if

  • You need production planning.
  • You also want real-time inventory.
Katana review

Choose Tractian if

  • You need published per-user pricing.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want unlimited requesters.
Tractian review

Questions people ask

Is Katana or Tractian better?
Neither clearly leads. Katana starts at $99/month and Tractian at $60/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Katana or Tractian?
Katana starts at $99/month and Tractian at $60/month.
Does Katana or Tractian run on more platforms?
Katana runs on Web. Tractian runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Katana best used for?
Katana is most often used for production scheduling, material planning, work order management, inventory optimization. Of those, production scheduling and material planning are not what Tractian is typically brought in for.
What can Katana do that Tractian cannot?
Katana covers Production planning, Real-time inventory, BOM management, Shop floor control. Tractian covers Published per-user pricing, Unlimited requesters, Smart Trac sensors, Automatic work order creation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Katana: What is Katana's pricing structure?

Katana starts at $99/month for the Essential plan with core MRP features. The Pro plan costs $299/month and adds shop floor control and API access. Add-ons for traceability, manufacturing, and warehouse management cost extra and can reach $747-$1,095 total.

Source
Tractian: What does the CMMS actually cost?

Standard is from 60 USD per user per month with five users minimum, Enterprise from 100 USD with ten minimum, both billed annually.

Katana: Does Katana support multi-level bills of materials?

Katana has limited BOM explosion and lead-time offset planning capabilities. Complex multi-level BOMs with sub-assemblies require manual workarounds, which becomes increasingly problematic as SKU count grows.

Source
Tractian: Are the sensors included?

No. Both CMMS tiers explicitly exclude sensors, which are priced per monitored asset under a separate bundle that is not published.

Katana: Can Katana integrate with my accounting software?

Katana has no native invoicing capability and limited integrations with accounting systems. It is essentially standalone and requires manual data export or Zapier integration for most accounting workflows.

Source
Tractian: Do fault reporters need licences?

No. Requester accounts are unlimited on both tiers, which is the main reason the per-user price is workable for large plants.

Katana: Does Katana have an offline mode?

No, Katana is a cloud-only solution requiring internet connectivity. There is no built-in offline mode for production floor access without internet.

Source
Tractian: Can I use the sensors with another platform?

No. Smart Trac hardware reports to the Tractian platform.

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