Fishbowl review
Bottom line
Fishbowl is inventory, warehousing, and manufacturing software that treats QuickBooks and Xero as the books of record. Its clearest strength is that shipments, receipts, adjustments, and payments post to the accounting system automatically, which removes a large share of double entry. The main cost to watch is that pricing is not published, so a demo is required before a buyer knows what the platform will cost. It suits small and midsize manufacturers and distributors that already run QuickBooks or Xero.
What is Fishbowl?
Fishbowl is inventory, warehousing, and manufacturing software built around QuickBooks and Xero. It is aimed at small and midsize manufacturers and distributors that have outgrown QuickBooks, Xero, or spreadsheets for tracking stock. Its core job is keeping physical inventory, production, purchasing, and accounting records in agreement without retyping the same data into several systems.
Day to day, shipments, receipts, and adjustments post to QuickBooks or Xero on their own, so the books match the shelf. Purchasing can set reorder points, draft purchase orders against vendor lead times, and calculate landed costs. On the production side, bills of material feed work orders that pull from live stock, and the floor records builds with a barcode scan. Sales orders commit stock, generate pick lists, and create invoices. Fishbowl Time handles clock-in, scheduling, timecards, and PTO, and sends labor costs to the accounting system.
Fishbowl serves small, midsize, and enterprise businesses, and its categories include manufacturing, distribution, third-party logistics, eCommerce, and aerospace. Pricing is not published. Prospects book a demo to receive a custom quote, and a free trial is available. Fishbowl Payments is built into the platform and included in the subscription, with ACH processing, volume-based quarterly rebates, and automatic posting of payments to the matching invoice.
What sets Fishbowl apart is that its accounting integration is the foundation of the product rather than an add-on. Inventory, manufacturing, warehouse operations, eCommerce sync, and payment processing run in one platform. The company's history reflects that focus: it joined forces with QuickBooks in 2002, added a manufacturing module in 2010, and enabled automated ecommerce inventory syncing in 2014. Its stated mission centers on small to midsize businesses.
Who it's for
- Small and midsize manufacturers
- Distributors running QuickBooks or Xero
- Businesses managing multi-level bills of material
Who should look elsewhere
- Businesses that need published prices before any sales contact
- Companies not using QuickBooks or Xero as their accounting system
Typical uses
- Tracking stock across several warehouse locations
- Building finished goods from configurable bills of material
- Fulfilling orders and printing pick lists from sales orders
- Syncing Shopify and Amazon sales to a single inventory count
- Tracking labor hours against manufacturing projects
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