Golden Inventory is a cloud inventory management system for small businesses, with a free plan and paid tiers from €19 to €149 per month. Here is how it compares to the three things it usually replaces: a spreadsheet, the legacy desktop app, and a big-name cloud POS suite.
A spreadsheet records what you type; Golden Inventory records what actually happens. Every purchase order, receipt, sale, transfer and adjustment updates on-hand, reserved and available stock per warehouse in real time — no formulas to break, no versions to merge.
| Spreadsheet | Golden Inventory | |
|---|---|---|
| Live stock across locations | Manual updates | Automatic, per warehouse |
| Document flow (PO → receipt → invoice) | Copy-paste | One-click conversion |
| Multiple users with roles | Shared file conflicts | Role-based team access |
| Point of sale & barcode scanning | — | Built in |
| Reorder alerts & draft POs | Manual checks | Min-stock screen, one click |
| Price | €0 | €0 to start; €19–€149/month as you grow |
Moving off a spreadsheet is one CSV or Excel import with column mapping — usually done in an afternoon.
Golden Inventory is the official cloud successor of the Golden Inventory System Windows application, used in 30+ countries since 2007. It keeps the same document workflow — purchasing, receiving, sales orders, invoices, work orders with bills of materials, payments and reports — and removes the desktop-era limits.
| Desktop (legacy) | Golden Inventory (cloud) | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Windows only | Any browser — desktop, tablet, phone (PWA) |
| Multi-location sync | Manual XML exchange | One shared real-time database |
| Works offline | Yes (local file) | Yes — offline-first with conflict-safe sync |
| Point of sale, e-commerce sync, public API | — | POS, Shopify & WooCommerce, REST API + webhooks |
| Your existing data | Invent.mdb file | Imported in one upload — items, parties, BOMs, stock |
The Invent.mdb import skips duplicates, so it is safe to run more than once.
Big-name POS suites start from the till; Golden Inventory starts from the inventory. If your business is mostly about stock — purchasing, warehouses, manufacturing, serial and lot tracking — a POS-first suite leaves you stitching together add-ons. Golden Inventory ships the full back office in every plan and adds the till on top.
Three differences to check before you choose:
1. Offline is structural, not a cache. Sales, receiving, invoicing and POS all work with no connection; changes queue on the device and merge conflict-safely when you reconnect.
2. One price covers the back office. Multi-warehouse stock, work orders with bills of materials, reorder automation, serial/lot with expiry and FEFO, and printable barcode labels are plan features, not paid add-ons. Paid plans run €19–€149 per month with VAT handled at checkout by Gumroad.
3. Verticals are built in. Repair shops get estimates with online customer acceptance and per-vehicle service history; restaurants get table service, a browser-based kitchen display and recipe back-flush; wholesalers get price tiers and receivables.
Free plan, no card. Import a spreadsheet or your Invent.mdb and compare for real.