Softwr

Inventory · head to head

Katana vs Unanet

Katana logo

Katana

Inventory

Smart manufacturing ERP for scaling businesses

From
$99/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Unanet logo

Unanet

ERP

Project ERP and CRM built for government contractors and architecture and engineering firms

From
On request
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; Unanet no pricing is published for any Unanet product; every line is quoted per user per month with separate implementation fees, so a small contractor cannot budget the first year without a full sales cycle.
  • They diverge on capability: Katana covers Production planning, Unanet covers DCAA-oriented timekeeping.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Katana and Unanet actually diverge.

Attributes where Katana and Unanet differ
AttributeKatanaUnanet
Starting price$99/monthOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
PlatformsWebWeb, Cloud, iOS, Android
CategoryInventoryERP
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 Unanet

  • DCAA-oriented timekeeping
  • Indirect rate management
  • Contract type support
  • Project accounting
  • Resource planning
  • Unanet CRM
  • Compliant invoicing
  • Unanet ERP AE

What people use each for

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

Katana

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

Unanet

  • A federal contractor moving from QuickBooks and spreadsheets because it has won its first cost-reimbursable contract and needs an accounting system that survives a DCAA adequacy reviewnot Katana
  • A services firm that must calculate and true up provisional indirect rates each year and cannot do it credibly in Excel any longernot Katana
  • An architecture and engineering practice tracking utilisation and project profitability across dozens of concurrent jobsnot Katana
  • A government contractor consolidating a separate CRM, timekeeping tool and accounting package into one system so pipeline and backlog reconcilenot 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

Unanet

  • No pricing is published for any Unanet product; every line is quoted per user per month with separate implementation fees, so a small contractor cannot budget the first year without a full sales cycle.
  • Implementation is a project rather than a signup, involving chart of accounts design, indirect pool structure and data migration, and third parties report implementation fees reaching five figures for mid-sized deployments, an amount easily missed when comparing per-user rates.
  • The interface is dated compared with modern SaaS finance products, which raises training time for staff who only touch it to enter a timesheet and increases the support burden on the finance team.
  • ERP and CRM are separate products with separate contracts, so a firm that wants pipeline, backlog and actuals in one place pays twice and still deals with an integration boundary between them.
  • Its value is concentrated in United States federal and state contracting compliance, so a firm that does no public-sector work is paying for indirect rate machinery and DCAA audit behaviour it will never use, and a non-US firm gets almost nothing from the product’s main differentiator.

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

Unanet

On request
  • Unanet ERP GovCon$undefined/year
    • Project accounting with indirect rate pools
    • DCAA-oriented daily timekeeping and audit trail
    • Cost-plus, T&M and fixed price contract billing
  • Unanet ERP AE$undefined/year
    • Project accounting configured for architecture and engineering firms
    • Resource planning and utilisation reporting
    • Priced per user per month, quoted
  • Unanet CRM$undefined/year
    • Pursuit and opportunity tracking
    • Proposal content library and reuse
    • Sold separately from ERP; quoted

Which should you pick?

Choose Katana if

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

Choose Unanet if

  • You need dcaa-oriented timekeeping.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, iOS, Android.
  • You also want indirect rate management.
Unanet review

Questions people ask

Is Katana or Unanet better?
Neither clearly leads. Katana starts at $99/month and Unanet at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Katana or Unanet?
Katana starts at $99/month and Unanet at On request.
Does Katana or Unanet run on more platforms?
Katana runs on Web. Unanet runs on Web, Cloud, 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 Unanet is typically brought in for.
What can Katana do that Unanet cannot?
Katana covers Production planning, Real-time inventory, BOM management, Shop floor control. Unanet covers DCAA-oriented timekeeping, Indirect rate management, Contract type support, Project accounting.

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
Unanet: What does Unanet cost?

Nothing is published. Pricing is per user per month and quoted, with implementation fees charged separately on top of the subscription.

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
Unanet: Does Unanet make you DCAA compliant?

No software does. Unanet provides the timekeeping controls, audit trail and indirect rate accounting that an adequacy review looks for; the policies and their enforcement are still yours.

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
Unanet: Is Unanet CRM included with the ERP?

No. Unanet CRM, built on the acquired Cosential platform, is a separate product with its own contract.

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
Unanet: How does it compare with Deltek?

Unanet typically targets smaller contractors than Deltek Costpoint and is quicker to implement, but has less depth for very large multi-segment organisations.

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