Zoho Inventory or LightInventory for small-team inventory
A cloud inventory and order app or a ready inventory system on your own Google Sheet? Approvals, locations, history, data export and price, compared with sources.
Last updated October 30, 2026
Zoho Inventory is a cloud inventory and order management app from Zoho. LightInventory is a ready-made inventory system that keeps your stock data in a Google Sheet you own. Both have built-in approvals and can limit users to locations. The differences are where your data lives, what the history can do, and how the price is set. This page compares the two as of 30 October 2026, with a link to the source for every claim about Zoho Inventory.
The short answer
- Choose Zoho Inventory if you also want sales orders, invoices and purchase orders in the same app, need bins and location hierarchies, or already use Zoho Books.
- Choose LightInventory if you want inventory control with approvals, location-scoped roles and a tamper-evident history, with your data in your own Sheet and a price per user.
Side by side
| Zoho Inventory | LightInventory | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A cloud inventory and order management app, sold per organisation with plans capped by orders, users and locations (Zoho pricing) | A finished inventory system that uses your Sheet as its data layer |
| Setup | Self-serve sign-up and a 14-day free trial (Zoho pricing) | Connect a Sheet; items, locations, movements and history tabs are created for you |
| Approvals | Built in for transfer orders, inventory adjustments and purchase receives, as well as sales and purchasing documents, with multi-level approval (Zoho help) | Built in: receipts, transfers and count adjustments can wait for an approver |
| Roles | Admin and custom roles; users can be restricted to the locations they are assigned to (Zoho help, Zoho) | Owner, Admin, Approver, Editor and Viewer, each limited to the locations you choose, on every paid plan |
| History | An Activity Logs & Audit Trail report shows who did what, when and on which record, filtered by user, date or activity (Zoho) | Every change with who, what, when and why, kept in your Sheet, tamper-evident, and any change can be reverted |
| Locations | 1 location on Free, 2 on Standard, 4 on Premium, 6 on Plus and 10 on Enterprise, with extra locations at $10 per organisation per month; location hierarchy up to five levels (Zoho pricing, Zoho) | Locations you define, with transfers between them and roles scoped to them |
| Your data | Admins can download a backup as CSV files; after a backup, the next one can start after 15 days, and the download link expires after 30 days (Zoho help) | In a Google Sheet in your own account, open to you at any time |
| Price | Free $0 (1 user, 1 location, 50 orders a month). Standard $29, Premium $79, Plus $129 and Enterprise $249 per organisation per month billed annually, including 3, 5, 10 and 10 users; extra users $7.50 each (Zoho pricing) | Free for 1 person and 1 Sheet; Team $2.49 per user per month billed annually ($2.99 monthly) |
Comparing the price. Zoho Inventory charges per organisation, with users, locations and orders included up to each plan's limits. LightInventory charges per user. For 3 people on annual billing, Zoho Standard is $29 a month for the organisation, including 2 locations and 500 orders a month (Zoho pricing). LightInventory Team is 3 × $2.49 = $7.47 a month. Zoho's price also covers order management. Google Sheets' own size limits apply to LightInventory.
Where Zoho Inventory is better
- Orders in the same app. Quotes, sales orders, invoices, purchase orders and bills sit next to your stock, with up to 15,000 orders a month on Enterprise (Zoho pricing).
- Approvals across sales and purchasing, not only stock movements, with multi-level, bulk and criteria-based approvals; criteria-based approvals are available on certain plans (Zoho help, Zoho help).
- Warehouse detail. Bins per location, a location hierarchy up to five levels, and an advanced warehousing add-on (Zoho pricing, Zoho).
- Part of the Zoho suite, with a combined backup alongside Zoho Books (Zoho help).
- Data kept after the trial. If you do not subscribe after the trial, your data stays on the free plan with limited features (Zoho).
- It is available now. LightInventory is still in development.
Where LightInventory is better
- Your data is your Sheet. There is no backup to request or download link to watch; the Sheet in your Google account is the data, open at any time.
- Per-user pricing for small teams. You pay for the people who use it. There are no location or order allowances; Team covers up to 10 Sheets.
- Revert from the history. Any change can be undone from LightInventory's history. Zoho's audit trail page does not describe reverting changes (Zoho).
- A history that shows tampering, kept in your Sheet. If someone types into the Sheet instead of using the app, the change is detected and recorded.
- Security on every plan. Passkeys and multi-factor sign-in are included, not an add-on.
Questions
How much does an extra user cost in Zoho Inventory?
$7.50 per user per month, billed annually, added to your organisation's plan (Zoho pricing).
Can Zoho Inventory limit a user to certain locations?
Yes. Admins can turn on warehouse restrictions, and users assigned to locations can only view or create transactions for those locations (Zoho help, Zoho).
What happens to my Zoho data if I do not subscribe after the trial?
It is kept on the free plan, which has limited features and allows 1 user, 1 location and 50 orders a month (Zoho, Zoho pricing).
Facts about Zoho Inventory were checked on 30 October 2026 on the pages linked above and are reviewed every quarter. Zoho and Zoho Inventory are trademarks of Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd. LightInventory is not affiliated with or endorsed by Zoho. If anything here is out of date, write to support@lightinventory.com and we will correct it.
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