Compare · Stocksmith (Craftybase)
Orderline vs Stocksmith (Craftybase) for made-to-order Shopify orders
Stocksmith (Craftybase) is small-batch inventory and recipes; Orderline is the daily production queue for personalized Shopify orders. Different systems of record.
Who this is for
Makers and small-batch sellers who found Stocksmith — often by searching its old name, Craftybase — while looking for a way to run production for a Shopify store. You’re weighing manufacturing inventory software against a production queue like Orderline, and you want to know which problem you actually have.
Who this isn’t for: Teams whose main need is customer tracking pages after a parcel ships, or enterprise multi-warehouse planning. Neither product here is built for those jobs.
We build Orderline, so we’re not neutral here — read the “when Stocksmith is the right buy” section as critically as the rest.
The short answer: Stocksmith (the current home of the Craftybase product) is manufacturing inventory software: materials and recipes, batch and lot tracking, automated production runs, and the true cost of every unit you make, synced across Shopify, Amazon, and Faire. Orderline is a production queue: every open order on one list with images, customizations, internal stages, and ship-by urgency, then fulfill from the same screen. If you’re asking “do I have the materials, and what does this candle actually cost me?” — that’s Stocksmith’s job. If you’re asking “which orders do we make today, and which are late?” — that’s Orderline. Many growing makers eventually need both layers; most should start with whichever question keeps them up at night.
Orderline’s production queue: the daily list of what to make — where Stocksmith tracks what goes into making it.
Key takeaways
- Stocksmith is the live product behind the Craftybase name makers still search for — positioned as inventory and manufacturing software for small-batch product businesses (stocksmith.io, 31 July 2026).
- Its verified strengths are materials-side: bills of materials and recipes, batch/lot tracking, automated production assemblies, true unit cost, multi-channel stock sync.
- Orderline is orders-side: line-item images and customizations on one staff list, internal stages, ship-by urgency, fulfill/pack/labels in one place.
- Stocksmith starts at $83/mo (annual billing; $99 monthly) with a 14-day trial; Orderline is $9 / $19 / $39 per period with a 7-day trial (pricing, checked 31 July 2026).
- Honest layer cake: materials system below, order queue above. Shops that need both should keep the boundary clean.
What each product is optimized for
Stocksmith answers the maker’s inventory questions: what materials do I have, what can I build with them, what did each unit truly cost. Recipes and bills of materials sit behind your products; production runs draw components down automatically; batch and lot tracking keeps you covered for traceability; and stock syncs across Shopify, Amazon, and Faire so one sale updates everywhere. Its site cites 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra and over 10,000 product businesses — vendor marketing we didn’t independently re-verify, but consistent with the Craftybase name’s long history among makers.
Orderline answers the shop floor’s daily questions: what do we make today, in what stage is each job, and what ships first. It’s where the team works all day — every open order shows product images and the customer’s exact customizations on one list, stages carry your shop’s words and colors, and ship-by urgency sorts the day so late orders never surprise you. Packing slips, fulfillment, and labels happen where the work is tracked. No materials planning — deliberately.
Same search intent, different system of record
Makers land on both products with the same frustration — “Shopify can’t run my making” — while meaning two different things.
If the frustration is materials — you oversell because component stock is a guess, you can’t say what a unit costs, batches need tracking — you need a manufacturing system of record. That’s Stocksmith’s layer, and no order queue fixes it.
If the frustration is the daily list — customizations buried one click deep, no real production stages, due dates in notes, staff opening every order all morning — you need a production queue. That’s Orderline’s layer, and manufacturing inventory is heavier than the problem.
The two layers coexist fine: Stocksmith knows what you can make; Orderline runs what you are making.
Stocksmith vs Orderline, side by side
| What you need | Stocksmith | Orderline |
|---|---|---|
| See line items, images, and customizations on one staff list | No — orders import as channel line counts; not marketed as personalization scan (order management page, 1 Aug 2026) | Strong — unified orders view |
| Bills of materials / recipes | Strong | No — use manufacturing software if that is the real need |
| Batch & lot tracking, traceability | Strong | No |
| True cost per unit (COGS) | Strong — materials + production reports | No |
| Multi-channel stock sync (Shopify, Amazon, Faire) | Strong — live channel sync | No — Orderline is Shopify-focused |
| Internal production stages for staff | Production assemblies framing | Custom statuses, optional groups, colors (statuses guide) |
| Ship-by urgency on the daily list | Production scheduling (Business tier and up) | Ship-by with urgency; automatic rules or dates you set / Flow can write (ship-by guide) |
| Production scheduling | Yes — Business tier and up | The queue itself, sorted by urgency |
| Fulfill, pack, buy labels from the work list | Yes packing slips — PDF with logo, ordered vs shipped qty, optional product photos and batch codes; pick lists on Indie+ (Stocksmith, 1 Aug 2026). Not a Shopify fulfill-from-list board like Orderline | Fulfill from Orderline with sync, packing slips, optional Shippo labels |
| Quotes as draft orders before payment | No | Drafts board with its own statuses |
| Runs where | Web app + channel sync | Embedded inside Shopify Admin |
| Money cost | $83/mo annual or $99 monthly (Indie, 1,000 order lines); $166–$291 annual tiers; 14-day trial | Starter $9, Pro $19, Pro+ $39 per period; 7-day trial (pricing, 31 July 2026) |
| Time to start | Model materials, recipes, products | Install; the list works day one |
Feature reality check
Everything claimed about Stocksmith here comes from its site and pricing page, fetched 31 July 2026:
- Positioning: “Inventory & Manufacturing Software for Small-Batch Product Businesses”
- Shopify, Amazon, and Faire inventory sync (“now live” on the homepage)
- Indie tier: unlimited users and channel integrations, BOM and recipe management, automated production assemblies, batch and lot tracking, traceability and compliance reports, user roles, production reports
- Business adds hourly channel imports, automatic stock sync, production scheduling, Amazon integration, two-factor authentication
- Growth adds QuickBooks inventory sync, priority support, custom onboarding
- All plans: 14-day free trial, no credit card required
Also verified on Stocksmith’s order-management pages (1 Aug 2026): packing slips — per-order PDFs with your logo, ordered-versus-shipped quantities, optional product photos and batch codes, with pick lists from the Indie tier up. What those pages don’t market: a staff list of line-item personalization as a production queue, or carrier labels. If your pain is order-level personalization, that’s the layer Stocksmith doesn’t aim at.
Recipe / bill-of-materials UI from the Craftybase features page (public marketing asset). Stocksmith is the current brand for the same product family — this is materials/COGS work, not a Shopify personalization queue.
Pricing comparison (checked 31 July 2026 — confirm live on publish day)
| Tier | Stocksmith | Orderline |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | $83/mo billed annually ($99 monthly) — 1,000 order lines, unlimited users | $9/period — Starter |
| Mid | $166/mo annual ($199 monthly) — 5,000 order lines, scheduling, auto sync | $19/period — Pro |
| Upper | $291/mo annual ($349 monthly) — 5,000+ lines, QuickBooks, onboarding | $39/period — Pro+ |
| Trial | 14-day, no credit card | 7-day |
The entry prices are an order of magnitude apart because the products are: Stocksmith replaces a materials-and-costing system you’d otherwise build badly in spreadsheets; Orderline replaces the morning of clicking through orders. Buy the layer that’s failing.
Best for / not for
| Stocksmith | Orderline | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Makers who need materials, recipes, batches, and honest unit costs across channels; anyone overselling because component stock is invisible | Personalized-product shops whose pain is the daily queue — images, customizations, stages, ship-by, fulfill |
| Not for | A quick, cheap staff work list; order-level personalization tracking | Materials, COGS, multi-channel stock; batch traceability |
Can you use both?
Yes — they sit at different layers and don’t fight. Stocksmith tracks materials and cost; Orderline runs the order queue on Shopify. The makers who pair them cleanly keep one rule: materials questions go to Stocksmith, “what do we make today” goes to Orderline, and neither tries to do the other’s job.
When Stocksmith is the right buy
Pick Stocksmith when the business has outgrown guessing: when you need to know what a unit truly costs, when batches and lots matter for compliance or recalls, when selling on three channels makes stock a daily lie. That’s manufacturing inventory, and it’s worth the $83–$99 entry many times over. If what you actually needed was a clearer list of today’s orders, you’ll know within a week — the pain won’t move.
Common questions
Is Stocksmith the same as Craftybase?
Stocksmith is the current home of the product makers knew as Craftybase — the site and pricing now live under the Stocksmith name (checked 31 July 2026). If you searched the old name, you’re in the right place.
Does Orderline track materials or unit costs?
No — deliberately. Orderline is the production queue. For recipes, materials, batches, and COGS, Stocksmith (or Katana, or Orderkraft) is the right category.
I sell candles/soap/jewelry on Shopify and Etsy. Which first?
If overselling and costing keep you up at night, start with Stocksmith. If the team can’t see what to make today without opening every order, start with Orderline. If both, budget for both layers — they don’t overlap.
Does Stocksmith show my customers’ personalization text on orders?
Stocksmith’s order-management pages don’t market a personalization queue — orders import as channel line counts, and “what to make” derives from stock (checked 1 Aug 2026). Images, options, and customizations on the list itself are Orderline’s core job.
What does this cost compared with Orderline?
Stocksmith starts at $83/mo on annual billing ($99 monthly) for up to 1,000 order lines. Orderline runs $9 to $39 per period with a 7-day trial — pricing has the live numbers (checked 31 July 2026).
What to do next
If materials and true costs are the gap, Stocksmith’s 14-day trial answers it with your real recipes. If the gap is the production morning — try ours.
- Install Orderline (7-day trial)
- Pricing
- Who it’s for
- Related: Orderline vs Katana · Orderline vs Orderkraft · Orderline vs Google Sheets · Unified orders view
Sources (retrieved 31 July 2026)
- Stocksmith homepage (positioning, channel sync, Capterra/trusted-by claims) — https://stocksmith.io
- Stocksmith pricing (tiers, features, trial) — https://stocksmith.io/pricing
- Peer tools research packet —
apps/growth/compare/research/peer-tools-research-2026-07-31.md(§3.6) - Orderline product truth —
context/about-orderline.mdand live guides - Orderline pricing — https://orderlinehq.com/pricing