Fishbowl Manufacturing

The QuickBooks Power-Up That 45,000+ Companies Trust

Fishbowl has carved out a unique niche: it's the manufacturing and inventory layer that QuickBooks should have built but never did. Over 45,000 companies use Fishbowl, and the vast majority started because they hit QuickBooks' inventory ceiling. Sound familiar?

The core value proposition is simple. Keep QuickBooks for accounting. Add Fishbowl for everything else — inventory management, manufacturing, warehousing, and order fulfillment. The two-way sync between Fishbowl and QuickBooks means your bookkeeper doesn't need to learn new software.

Manufacturing Capabilities

Fishbowl's manufacturing module covers multi-level BOMs, work orders, and basic production scheduling. You define your bill of materials, issue a manufacture order, and the system deducts raw materials while adding finished goods to inventory. It tracks labor hours per work order and calculates actual vs. standard costs.

Is it as deep as Epicor or Infor? Not even close. But for companies making 50-500 different products with relatively straightforward manufacturing processes, it's more than enough. The sweet spot is light assembly, kitting, packaging operations, and simple make-to-stock production.

Barcode scanning integration speeds up receiving, picking, and production reporting. Fishbowl supports most USB and Bluetooth scanners without expensive proprietary hardware.

Where Fishbowl Hits Its Ceiling

Here's the honest truth: Fishbowl is an inventory system with manufacturing bolted on, not a manufacturing ERP with inventory. If you need MRP, finite capacity scheduling, or shop floor control, you'll outgrow Fishbowl quickly. The scheduling is basic date-based, not capacity-aware.

Multi-company support is weak. If you run multiple legal entities, you'll need separate Fishbowl databases and manual consolidation. That's a dealbreaker for some growing companies.

Pricing runs $4,395 for the Manufacturing edition (perpetual license) plus $329/month for Fishbowl Online (cloud version). Annual maintenance on the perpetual license adds about $1,100/year. Additional user licenses cost $1,795-$2,395 each.

Real Talk: Who Should Buy Fishbowl?

Companies with 10-200 employees doing $2M-$50M revenue who love QuickBooks but need real inventory and light manufacturing capabilities. The moment you need advanced production planning or MRP, start shopping for a real ERP.