Compare

Aourix vs Katana for process plants.

Q: Does Katana track lots and expiry?

Yes, through the Traceability add-on at US$249 a month as of September 2026. Batch numbers are unique per variant and tracked globally rather than per location; its FEFO logic sorts expired batches last and blocks batches expired over a month.

Q: Can Katana produce invoices or a Certificate of Analysis?

Neither natively. Sales orders sync to Xero or QuickBooks Online, which raise the invoice. Quality is an inspection task in the Shop Floor App with no Certificate of Analysis.

Q: What does Katana cost?

Published in US dollars as of September 2026: a free plan up to 30 SKUs, Core from US$299 a month scaling with sales orders delivered, and Advantage on quote. Traceability, Manufacturing Management and Warehouse Management are add-ons at US$249, US$199 and US$149 a month.

Q: Does Katana operate in Australia or Indonesia?

No local office, localisation or Indonesian presence was found. Australian GST is handled by the connected accounting system; MYOB is not a native integration. Support is 24/7 in English without regional desks.

Katana describes itself as the operating system for multi-channel commerce, with strong e-commerce and accounting connectors. This page looks at how it handles the weekly work of a soap, food or chemical plant, and where a specialist lead-to-cash system fits instead.

See the platform

Facts about Katana come from its public documentation and pricing pages, checked on 16 September 2026. Tell us if something has changed.

Katana is a good fit for a maker selling finished goods through Shopify, Amazon or WooCommerce who needs stock by location and a simple make-to-order flow. It is not built for process plants: recipes are discrete bills of materials with no by-products, lot and expiry tracking costs an extra US$249 a month, scheduling is a drag-to-reorder list without capacity, there is no Certificate of Analysis, no native invoicing, no three-way match and no multi-company. Aourix covers all of those and is built around the batch, the lot and the dispatch, with Genie doing the planning.

Who each one is for

Different plants, different answers.

Choose Aourix if

You run a plant with formulas, batches, expiry dates, QC release and export paperwork, sell business to business on signed quotes, and want a scheduling board that knows each line's capacity.

Choose Katana if

You make finished consumer goods, sell mostly online through Shopify, Amazon or WooCommerce, want stock synced across channels with a free tier to pilot, and invoice from Xero or QuickBooks.

Side by side

Thirteen things a process plant actually needs.

Numbered references point to Katana's own documentation, listed at the bottom of the page. The Aourix column describes what is live today.

What a process plant needs	Aourix	Katana
Built for process manufacturingFormulas, batches, by-products; not discrete assembly	Only serves process plants: soap and oleochemicals, food and FMCG, chemicals, oil and gas. Industry templates set up products, families and pack sizes on day one.	A recipe is a list of materials and subassemblies; no percentage formulation, batch-size scaling, yield factors or versioning documented. By-products and co-products were not found. Industries listed include food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals; chemicals are absent.^{[2] [3] [1]}
Lots, expiry and first-expiry-firstLot tracking, shelf life, FEFO picking	Every receipt carries a lot, expiry and retest date. Picking is first-expiry-first by default; semi-finished goods tracked between lines.	Batch numbers with optional expiry, unique per variant and tracked globally rather than per location, in the Traceability add-on at US$249 a month. FEFO amounts to sorting expired batches last and blocking batches expired over a month.^{[4] [5] [18]}
QC release with certificate of analysisTest results per batch, release gate, CoA document	QC release per batch with a Certificate of Analysis generated from the results, attached to the dispatch.	Quality is a Shop Floor App task to plan and conduct inspections; there is no specification and result model. Certificates of Analysis were not found.^[6]
Live batch scheduling boardDrag a batch onto a line and a day; capacity per line	Drag-and-drop board by line and day, capacity counted in tonnes and batches. Genie places or re-plans a batch on request.	A priority list: drag an order up and reservations recalculate. Finite capacity, changeovers and Gantt or calendar views were not found; reviewers note the missing calendar.^{[7] [21]}
Branded quotes to signed contractQuote PDF, client accept online, contract locks the bill of quantities	Quotation designer produces the branded PDF; the client accepts or rejects online; the signed quote locks the bill of quantities and becomes the contract.	Quotes as PDF that convert to sales orders, with a template editor. No native CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce or Pipedrive connectors) and no native invoicing: sales orders sync to Xero or QuickBooks Online as invoices.^{[8] [9] [10]}
Purchasing with three-way matchRFQ, PO, goods receipt, invoice matched; approved supplier list	Material request to RFQ to purchase order to goods receipt, matched three ways against the supplier invoice. Approved supplier list enforced.	Purchase orders in the supplier's currency, RFQs, partial receipts and subcontract POs. Three-way match was not found as a feature; invoice matching happens in the accounting system.^{[11] [12]}
Dispatch paperwork from the orderPacking list, gate pass, VGM, certificate of origin	Dispatch wizard records weights and VGM and prints the packing list, gate pass and CoA from the order.	Mobile picking, packing and receiving with barcode scanning, and shipping connectors such as ShipStation. Packing list with weights, gate pass and verified gross mass documents were not found.^{[20] [18]}
Multi-company and multi-currencyOne login across group companies; quotes and POs in any currency	One login across group companies with the right role in each; quotes, POs and invoices natively multi-currency.	Multi-company or multi-entity was not found. Multi-currency buying and selling works, but the base currency is locked once set and all costing stays in it. Core includes one location; extras are billed per location.^{[13] [14] [18]}
AI that does work, with approvalAsk by voice, plan batches, raise requests; a person approves	Genie answers by text or voice with a chart, creates leads and plans, resolves schedule clashes and runs Meeting Mode. Every action waits for approval.	AI Replenishment, announced July 2026, forecasts twelve months and drafts a purchase or manufacturing order; an MCP connector answers plain-language questions. Nothing for scheduling, quality or dispatch.^{[15] [16]}
Works with your accounting systemOwn ledger vs hand-off to Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, SAP	No general ledger by design. Map your chart of accounts once and export journals as a file your accountant imports into Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks or SAP.	Native Xero and QuickBooks Online connectors for invoices and bills. MYOB is not a native integration. Australian GST and BAS fall to the connected accounting system.^[20]
Time to go liveFrom signed order to first real order in the system	Most plants are live in 4 to 8 weeks: industry template, products and stock loaded, one real order walked through before switch-over.	Self-serve onboarding included, expert-led at US$2,000 or partner-delivered at US$2,300 to US$7,500, with a stated target of going live in under six weeks.^[17]
Pricing modelPublished or quoted; per user, per module, per site	Quoted per plant after a conversation: Quick Start, Multi-Plant or Bespoke. No public price list yet.	Published in US dollars: Free up to 30 SKUs, Core from US$299 a month scaling with orders delivered, Advantage on quote. Add-ons: Traceability US$249, Manufacturing Management US$199, Warehouse Management US$149 a month. No per-seat charge.^{[18] [19]}
Presence in Australia and IndonesiaLocal support hours, currency, tax localisation	Melbourne-based, customers in Indonesia and Australia, support in AEST business hours.	No Australian or Indonesian office, localisation or country edition found. One Australian implementation partner. English-only interface; 24/7 chat and email without regional desks. Rupiah works only as a foreign currency.^{[20] [13]}

Built inPartialAdd-on or partnerNot available

Where Katana is stronger

A real inventory ledger for multi-channel sellers: stock by location, reorder points, transfers and automatic ingredient deduction on completion.
Native e-commerce sync with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Amazon FBA and FBM, importing orders in the buyer's currency.
Bidirectional lot traceability for recalls once the Traceability add-on is on.
Shop-floor execution with operator tasks, barcode scanning and mobile picking, packing and receiving.
AI Replenishment that turns a forecast into a draft purchase or manufacturing order.
A free tier that supports a real pilot, packaged onboarding at published prices, and an open API on every plan.

Where Aourix is stronger

Built for process plants: formulas, batches, semi-finished goods and by-products, with lots, expiry and first-expiry-first picking included rather than sold as an add-on.
QC release with a Certificate of Analysis generated from the results and attached to the dispatch.
A scheduling board that counts capacity per line in tonnes and batches, and Genie to place or re-plan a batch.
Business-to-business selling: CRM, branded quotes accepted online, a signed contract that locks the bill of quantities, and the invoice raised from it.
Purchasing with an approved supplier list and three-way match, and dispatch paperwork with packing list, gate pass, verified gross mass and CoA.
Group companies under one login with multi-currency throughout, and support from Melbourne in Australian business hours with customers in Indonesia.

Running both

Katana customers keep Xero or QuickBooks as the ledger; so do Aourix customers. Aourix exports journals with your chart of accounts mapped once and never writes into the accounting system.

Questions

What plants ask when comparing Aourix and Katana.

Is Katana built for process manufacturing?

No. Its recipe is a discrete bill of materials of materials and subassemblies; by-products, formulation by percentage and batch scaling were not found in its documentation. It is designed for product businesses selling across online channels.

Does Katana track lots and expiry?

Can Katana produce invoices or a Certificate of Analysis?

What does Katana cost?

Does Katana operate in Australia or Indonesia?

Sources for Katana (checked 16 September 2026)

Katana and its logo are trademarks of their owner. Aourix is not affiliated with Katana. See other comparisons on the compare page.

Bring us one real order. We'll run it through Aourix on the call.

A 45-minute working session with someone who knows process plants. Melbourne-based, working across APAC.

See pricing