Craftybase Reviews

Pros

I love this software because the developers understand how a small manufacturing business works. They don't load you down with confusing features - just what you need when you need it. It has helped me get completely organized with raw materials, track all production, determine pricing and just basically keep everything straight. If you're a maker and you're not using it, you need to be.

Cons

I sometimes feel the software tries to be all things to all people. I really don't see why the accounting aspects are necessary and feel they are sometimes lacking.

Pros

Ability to integrate with other platforms and easily track sales and expenses. Actually costing out to get COGS is definitely high on the list.

Cons

There are some limits to reporting - there are some improvements that can be made in that area.

Pros

I loved the fact that it had all the categories I needed to keep up with production and material use.

Cons

What I didn't like is the 24 to 48 hours to get a response and the fact that the data base goes down. I have a small team. Having to wait 24 to 48 hours to sort something out isn't feasible. We kept just going manual and I finally decided the time required to keep it up to date just wasn't worth it if we kept having stumbling blocks.

Pros

Sales integration and inventory are the biggest winners. Put some thought into and setup the SKU's correctly across your channels and a majority of the paperwork is taken care of for you. That's worth hours after each event. If you have relatively static items building a recipe for manufacturing inventory is almost as easy. Once those are seeded correctly it's just a minute to record that you made X number of an item. COGS is updated, stocks are updated and expenses are tracked.

Cons

Learning curve was moderately steep. This wasn't unexpected as my day job is in setting up production systems so I have an idea of the complexity that is needed. Expect to spend a moderate amount of time building and then probably heavily modifying what you setup that you thought was correct. You just don't know what you don't know until you start using it and realizing how it actually goes together as an entire system.Depending on your business type some shortcuts might be needed. We do jewelry sales and a variety of categories needed to be combined for our sanity. If I tracked each and every bead, gem or finding that we used we would have nearly 2,000 unique entries in the materials tab. As an example in our case some additional thought and planning had to be devised to combine all the generic ear hook styles together and build them as a trackable unit in grams. This would be repeated for the several hundred bead styles we use. Glass, gemstone, crystal, wood, 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm etc. We aren't trying to track the 10's of thousands of beads we inventory so they are categorized by price points and then inventoried and tracked by weight.These aren't quite con's just a reality of having moved into an inventory system after a year of not having a proper one and the width of material options that we had. A business that sold soap might only have a couple dozen oil options, some jars and wicks to track. This would be much easier to directly track specific items.

Pros

The price point is excellent for the functions that you get in return. You can get technical support through email and they are quick to respond and very professional with their help.

Cons

Switching over from my previous inventory system to CraftyBase has been a HUGE learning curve. It's taken me so many hours of research and back and forth communication with their customer service team to try and set things up for my businesses particular situation. I'm still not properly set up after exchanging over 40 emails with them (wish they offered a tier where you could get direct phone support with an approved Craftybase consultant).

Alternatives Considered

Zoho One, Quickbooks Online and Stitch Labs

Reasons for Choosing Craftybase

We needed a more complex inventory management system that synced up directly to our sales platform and handled a larger variety of functions and calculations.

Switched From

Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to Craftybase

The pricing was FAR better than any of the others and seemed to offer lots of features for the price.

Pros

I can enter all my materials (in my case: various beads, wire, packaging materials, etc) and even set "recipes" for popular items so that when someone purchases an item, I can "Manufacture" it in the software and my materials are automatically deducted according to the recipe I set. I then get warnings anytime a specific material runs low. It's literally hands-off inventory management!

Cons

It's a LOT of data to input in the beginning. The time invested up front is well worth it though!

Pros

All the reports that you can pull from all the information about your inventory are fantastic

Cons

Learning how to initially set everything up. Everyone's needs are slightly different and wrapping your head around it can be daunting

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Craftybase

I have to use both. I need Craftybase for the detailed inventory counts and I need QuickBooks for my monthly bookkeeping because that is not supported very well in CB.

Pros

It's powerful and flexible. I've created some custom categories, and it enables me to search for things by color, style, etc. A really great way to keep track of inventory of materials on-hand.

I can sort things by date, supplies purchased from a specific vendor, view only certain categories, etc.

It integrates with Etsy, which is nice.

Cons

Some things I wish I could change preferences on (e.g. when/how sales tax is counted or not).

Not really a con, but I'd love to be able to create custom fields (e.g. color, fiber content) rather than putting those things in the notes box.

Pros

I love how I can keep track of all my inventory on hand, everything that has been sold, my profits, pull needed reports, automatic uploads and so much more.

Cons

It is a little confusing in the beginning but within 2 weeks, I was majorly loving this program.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to Craftybase

It was a lot more time consuming and confusing keeping track of everything on my own using excel especially when some inventory is quite large. This program does all the thinking for me when everything is entered in correctly. It's awesome! and the customer service is exceptional when help is needed.

Pros

It keeps me organized and I love that I can refer to my recipes easily. My favorite part is the automatic cost analysis and recommendations for pricing new products.

Cons

Probably the price. It does get a little pricey, so I’ve had to say no to some of the features I really wish I could utilize, like the batch # feature.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to Craftybase

Probably the promise of organization... and really it is very easy to use and store data. I just wish I could be more consistent with it. It took me forever to begin because I worried I’d set it up wrong and have to do everything all over again.

Pros

Craftybase covers all needs I have as a small business owner / craftsperson. It enables lets you track recipes, manufactures, inventory, sales and costs, which is crucial if you're going to run a craft business of any kind. It has a great selection of reports that you can pull - from expenses (for tax purposes), to material overview, to category sales and many more. It's a decent price for what you're getting and I have not found any other software with the same user friendly interface and functionalities. Support is very responsive and usually gets back to you within 24 hours.

Cons

Some minor annoyances, such as no easy option to add bulk expenses (such as 10x postage fees for 10 different orders), edit imported orders, or handle bundles. It means putting in a bit more manual effort, but I'm hoping these are things that will be added over time. I also wish they would keep backup data for longer - I went maybe half a year without renewing my membership, and had to re-enter all the data again when I decided to renew.

Pros

This software allows me to track the costs of my materials and labor to accurately price my products. It also keeps track of all my expenses, manufacturing, inventory, tax info and more. It is super detailed and useful.

Cons

It doesn't have an option for tracking sales of services in the same way that it does for physical products. As someone who often does design and printing and other services with my products as well as workshops...there isn't a good way to designate which items are manufactured products and which are just services and don't have a cost of goods sold associated with them.

Pros

-solid inventory tracking for raw materials, masterbatches, and finished product
-COGS and tracking
-pricing guidance
-recipe archive
-traceability tools for GMP compliance
-order management
-interfaces with several popular e-commerce solutions

Cons

-lacks robust accounting features
-subscription software (instead of a one-time software fee)
-requires internet connection to utilize
-lacks formulating features specific to soap and cosmetics makers
-no banking integrations
-product bundle tracking is clunky

Pros

I love that I can track materials I use and that each material can be linked to several different products. I can quickly see which materials I need to buy.
I also love that I do not have to manually enter any of my sales and my daily accounting is done automatically. I can easily compare sales this month to sales this month last year without having to do any calculations on my own.

Cons

There is a lot of set up to get the materials all entered and then assign them to the products. I sell over 100 products in my shop with each one requiring many different materials. By the time I had every material entered and connected to all my products I had already discontinued some products and added others. My shop is a little too complex to be handled by just myself. To make this software work for me I would need to hire someone to help with updating the inventory numbers, yet I am to small to afford help.
This software would be perfect for a shop with 10-30 products if the products only use a couple of materials each.
I also don't like that I have to manually attach my shipping costs to the correlating order.

Pros

Craftybase is really easy to use and integrates with Shopify. Their accounting program makes tax time really easy. I love that I can manage all of my material and manufacturing costs as well as sales in one platform. I really spend so much time looking at where my business is financially in craftybase that I don't know what I would do without it. I'd highly recommend the program.

Cons

Sometimes they'll run updates without giving much notice so it'll take a bit of getting used to but is never too difficult.

Pros

I LOVE that it allows multiple different parts of the business to be tracked. Expenses, products, materials used, and labor all in one place. I also appreciate the ability to download csv files of the data to easily sort out information.

Cons

There are a lot of buttons to press to complete one task, so it is easy to accidentally click the the wrong button and archive materials and/or change the pricing without meaning.

Pros

The best thing about working with Craftybase is the customer support. At first trying to figure the program out was rather daunting but the two owners were so very approachable and helpful in their aid they gave. They are also just two incredibly kind people who have designed great software for those of us who make things.

But maybe the thing I like most is the sheer scope of the program. It just seems to accommodate all of my needs.

Or maybe it its calculation of my COGs. I especially like that.

Get the picture? There's lots to like here.

Cons

There was one aspect of my business I was having trouble setting up in Craftybase. But then when I thought of it I had to concede that the aspect I was trying to accommodate had nothing really to do with any kind of production and therefore Craftybase wasnt even set up to accommodate this.

Pros

I like that I have live time inventory data. I load in new items, can run reports on hand qtys. And see how many orders are pending for what.

Cons

I think it could be designed with a little more click and play.

Pros

It calculates true Cost of Goods Sold based on the cost of my inventory, including pro-rated shipping/handling fees and taxes from suppliers.

Cons

Set-up for initial makes can be time consuming, but if you do a lot of production work, the time investment is well worth it.

Pros

It is very easy to use and is much cheaper than similiar software.

Cons

So far there is nothing I do not like about this software. I have had no problems and have not had to call customer service.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to Craftybase

Cheaper

Pros

Once you're set up it's so easy to use. My inventory is always on hand. I couldn't function without Crafttbase. I've made my end of the year so much easier for myself and my accountant.

Cons

I've really had no complaints about this software.

Pros

Ease of setup and customer service and inventory control

Cons

Adding inventory to a second store did not show correct quantity and shows -quantiys

Pros

It's pretty easy to use. I love that it keeps my recipes and shows when an ingredient is getting low or even the whole product so I can schedule when to restock. I am also thankful that it shows my costs in making each product along with showing recommended retail & wholesale pricing, as well as what my profits are.

Cons

Some of the features can be confusing. For me, the stocktakes have been too time consuming, so right now it's not my favorite.

Pros

I find Craftybase SUPER easy to use. I make products that require multiple levels of inventory tracking, and had been looking for software to help me accomplish this for months. When I stubbed upon Craftybase, it was almost too good to be true! The software is easy to use, is detailed enough to be incredibly useful for my business, and automatically syncs with most of my sales channels. It's awesome. I can't recommend it enough.

Cons

The product variations are useful i some situations, but tricky in others. I wish I had more control over the way things are imported from the sales channels since I don't care about some aspects of those orders and do for others.

Pros

Calculating your cost of goods and time spent to make your products. Let you figure out where is the best defend your time. Also allows you to calculate prices for multiple platforms

Cons

System doesn’t calculate cost of goods on product that was built prior to starting the software. I understand the reason, however, it makes the first year a little difficult to easily get your taxes together.