How do I choose an inventory app?

Start with whether your stock is serialised and whether items leave the building. Those two answers rule out most general apps immediately.

Is Music Shop Suite right for every small business?

No. It is built for shops handling serialised, high-value goods that get rented, repaired or taken on consignment — music shops above all.

$49/month flat, whatever your stock count or team size. No per-user pricing and no free tier.

Buyer's guide

Best Inventory App for a Small Business: What Actually Matters

Most inventory apps assume interchangeable boxes on a shelf. If your stock has serial numbers, goes out on hire, comes in on consignment or passes through a workshop, the shortlist gets much shorter. Here is how to judge one.

Serial-level records, not just quantities per SKU
A holder and due date for anything that leaves the building
Costs after refurb included in the margin figure
Audit trail of who changed what, and when
Flat pricing that does not punish growth

Start your shop — $49/month See the dashboard

Question one: is your stock identifiable?

If two units of the same model can have different conditions, histories and prices, you need one record per unit. Quantity-based apps will always disagree with your shelf.

Question two: does stock leave and come back?

Rentals, loans, approvals and consignment all need a holder, a due date and a condition at return. Very few general apps model any of that.

Question three: does the app know your real margin?

A trade-in that needed a setup and new strings did not earn what the invoice says. If workshop cost cannot attach to the unit, the margin report is fiction.

Purchase, refurb and selling cost on one record
Stock ageing so slow lines are visible
Rental and repair income reported beside retail

Question four: how does pricing scale?

Per-user or per-item pricing turns a good year into a bigger bill. Music Shop Suite is $49/month flat — the price at 200 units is the price at 5,000.

Honest scope

This is a back-office system, not a POS terminal. Keep your till and card reader; run stock, rentals, repairs, lessons and reporting here.

See the workbench before you sign up

Inventory, pricing, lesson bookings, and instrument lending all live in the same back-office dashboard — no separate apps, no re-keying between them.

Music shop inventory dashboard listing instruments with SKU, serial number, condition, cost, price and status — InventoryEvery instrument tracked by SKU and serial with condition, cost, retail price, and live status — for sale, on hold, in repair, or sold.

Pricing and margin report showing revenue, cost of goods, gross profit and per-product markup — Pricing & marginRevenue, cost of goods, gross profit, and markup per product so you price from real numbers instead of gut feel.

Instrument lending and rental tracker with borrowers, due dates, overdue badges and deposits — Instrument lendingLoans and rentals by unit: who has it, when it is due, what deposit is held, and which agreements are overdue.

Frequently asked

How do I choose an inventory app?: Start with whether your stock is serialised and whether items leave the building. Those two answers rule out most general apps immediately.
Is Music Shop Suite right for every small business?: No. It is built for shops handling serialised, high-value goods that get rented, repaired or taken on consignment — music shops above all.
What does it cost?: $49/month flat, whatever your stock count or team size. No per-user pricing and no free tier.

Keep exploring the workbench

Every part of the shop lives in one system. Follow the workflow closest to what you are trying to fix first.

Run your shop on one workbench — starting today.

$49/month, no contracts, no trial. Import your spreadsheet, invite your team, and have inventory, repairs, rentals, and lessons in one place tonight.