---
description: Compare Fishbowl vs ALERE regarding their features, reviews, pricing, specifications, screenshots & more.
image: https://gdm-localsites-assets-gfprod.imgix.net/images/software_advice/og_logo-55146305bbe7b450bea05c18e9be9c9a.png
title: Fishbowl vs ALERE Comparison
---

Breadcrumb: [Home](/) > [Online Inventory Management Software](/directory/1592/online/software) > [Fishbowl \<span\>vs\</span\> ALERE](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp)

# Compare Fishbowl vs ALERE

Canonical: https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp

> Detailed comparison between Fishbowl and ALERE. Check ratings, reviews, pricing, and features to make the best decision for your business.

-----

## At a Glance

| Metric | Fishbowl | ALERE |
| **Overall rating** | 4.2/5 | 4.7/5 |
| **Total Reviews** | 1124 | 18 |
| **Starting Price** | - | USD 16,250.00 |
| **Free Trial** | Yes | Yes |
| **Free Version** | No | No |
| **Deployment** | Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, Mac (Desktop), Windows (Desktop), Linux (Desktop), Windows (On-Premise), Linux (On-Premise), Android (Mobile), iPhone (Mobile), iPad (Mobile) | Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, Windows (Desktop), Windows (On-Premise), Android (Mobile) |
| **Support** | Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support, Chat | Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
| **Training** | In Person, Live Online, Webinars, Documentation, Videos | In Person, Live Online, Webinars, Documentation, Videos |

## Key features

### Fishbowl

- Accounting
- Custom Pricing Rules
- Customizable Reports
- Discount Management
- Inventory Optimization
- Inventory Replenishment
- MES
- Monitoring
- Order Processing
- Pricing Management
- Project Management
- Real-Time Data
- Reorder Management
- Requirements Management
- Sales Management
- Shipping Labels
- Status Tracking
- Stock Management
- Vendor Managed Inventory
- Vendor Management

### ALERE

- Accounting
- Custom Pricing Rules
- Customizable Reports
- Discount Management
- Inventory Optimization
- Inventory Replenishment
- MES
- Monitoring
- Order Processing
- Pricing Management
- Project Management
- Real-Time Data
- Reorder Management
- Requirements Management
- Sales Management
- Shipping Labels
- Status Tracking
- Stock Management
- Vendor Managed Inventory
- Vendor Management

## Links

- [View Fishbowl Profile](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/1700/fishbowl-inventory-scm)
- [View ALERE Profile](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/104964/alere-erp)
- [View Original Comparison](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp)

-----

## Structured Data

<script type="application/ld+json">
  {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"name":"Fishbowl vs ALERE Comparison","description":"Compare Fishbowl vs ALERE regarding their features, reviews, pricing, specifications, screenshots & more.","url":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp","about":[{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/1700/fishbowl-inventory-scm#software"},{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/104964/alere-erp#software"}],"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp#breadcrumblist"},"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp#webpage","@type":["WebPage","CollectionPage"],"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/#website"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/#organization"}},{"name":"Fishbowl","description":"Fishbowl’s powerful inventory management software is designed to help businesses streamline operations, improve accuracy, and scale efficiently. It is widely known for its seamless integration with QuickBooks and Xero, making it an ideal solution for small and medium-sized businesses that need advanced inventory control without switching accounting platforms. \n\nFishbowl offers a comprehensive suite of tools that enable businesses to track inventory levels, locations, and movements in real time. It also supports manufacturing and work order management, allowing companies to automate production processes using bill of materials (BOM) and work order tracking. For warehouses, Fishbowl optimizes operations with barcode scanning, cycle counting, and multi-location tracking, ensuring efficient stock management. Additionally, businesses can manage their sales and purchase orders while synchronizing with major ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Amazon, and eBay. \n\nThe Fishbowl product suite includes Fishbowl Advanced for inventory management with manufacturing and warehousing capabilities, Fishbowl Drive for cloud-based inventory solutions, Fishbowl Commerce Suite for multichannel ecommerce management capabilities, and Fishbowl AI Insights for data analytics and custom reports. \n\nFishbowl Advanced: Powerful manufacturing and inventory tools to simplify your operations. \n\nSmall and midsize businesses face plenty of inventory and manufacturing challenges—but Fishbowl Advanced makes them easier to manage. \n\n•\tComplicated manufacturing workflows? Fishbowl streamlines production planning, inventory tracking, and order management, all in one system. \n\n•\tStruggling with inventory visibility? Get real-time tracking across multiple locations, so you can make informed decisions and avoid costly errors. \n\n•\tMaking mistakes with your inventory? Automate inventory management to reduce errors and free up time for more important work. \n\nFishbowl Drive: Cloud-based inventory management—anytime, anywhere. \n\nLooking for an inventory solution you can access from anywhere? Fishbowl Drive is designed to tackle the complex challenges of growing businesses. \n\n•\tHigh carrying costs? Optimize stock levels to reduce expenses and improve cash flow. \n\n•\tRegulatory compliance concerns? Track serial numbers, lot numbers, and expiration dates to meet industry standards. \n\n•\tInconsistent reordering? Automate reorder points to maintain optimal inventory levels without constant oversight. \n\nFishbowl Commerce Suite: Multichannel product listings and order fulfillment. \n\nManaging an ecommerce business can be overwhelming, but Fishbowl Commerce Suite takes the stress out of inventory management and order fulfillment. \n\n•\tInventory discrepancies? Real-time updates keep stock levels accurate across all your ecommerce platforms and accounting software. \n\n•\tSlow order fulfillment? Automated tools streamline picking, packing, and shipping so you can deliver items to your customers faster. \n\n•\tToo much manual work? Integrations with Amazon, BigCommerce, eBay, Shopify, Walmart, WooCommerce, QuickBooks Online and more; keep product listings and inventory in sync—without the extra effort. \n\nFishbowl AI Insights: Smarter decisions, faster results with AI-powered tools. \n\nWant to improve your business with smarter data? Fishbowl AI Insights gives you: \n\n•\tCustom reports—without the hassle of extra time or costs. \n\n•\tIntuitive dashboards that provide a clear snapshot of your business. \n\n•\tAI-powered forecasting to prevent overstocks and shortages before they happen. \n\nWith advanced AI tools, your data assistant Athena, and fully customizable reports, Fishbowl AI Insights helps you make informed, strategic decisions—effortlessly.","image":"https://gdm-catalog-fmapi-prod.imgix.net/ProductScreenshot/a8a27d6d-47b9-4c45-9efa-c47fc727bf1f.png","url":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/1700/fishbowl-inventory-scm","@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/1700/fishbowl-inventory-scm#software","@type":"SoftwareApplication","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/#organization"},"applicationCategory":"BusinessApplication","aggregateRating":{"@type":"AggregateRating","bestRating":5,"ratingCount":1124,"ratingValue":4.2},"operatingSystem":"Cloud, Apple, Windows, Linux, Windows on premise, Linux on premise, Android, Platform ios, Platform ipad"},{"name":"ALERE","description":"ALERE is a vertically integrated ERP that unifies accounting, manufacturing, inventory, sales, and real-time reporting in one system. Unlike most ERPs, which began as accounting packages with manufacturing bolted on later, ALERE started life as a manufacturing system in 1983. That origin shapes everything about it: ALERE was built to handle the real-world exceptions that happen on actual production floors, such as over-issued material, scrapped WIP, changed yields, and rework, rather than forcing users to account for them outside the system. Developed in-house entirely by a US-based team, ALERE serves discrete make-to-order, make-to-stock, and mixed-mode manufacturers and distributors, typically $5 million and up.\n\nOn the manufacturing side, work orders carry editable routes and material lists that capture every cost, variance, and revision. Routes detail up to 998 operation steps with setup times, cycle times, work centers, and labor grades, and finite-capacity scheduling with forward and backward logic keeps bottleneck resources loaded, and promise dates honest. Intelligent BOMs support up to 25 indented levels and single, indented, modular, variable, and phantom bill types. Bills drive the sales order configurator, manage engineering changes, and push revisions directly to in-process work orders, so the floor always builds to the current revision. A bucketless, time-phased MRP engine plans material continuously against true available-to-promise, automatically generating work, transfer, and purchase orders, and rescheduling existing PO and WO inventory when demand shifts instead of simply ordering more. Companies running MRP well often cut inventory 20 to 40 percent while improving on-time delivery.\n\nInventory management includes lot, serial, and trait traceability with real-time movement logs, including lot costing, degradation, and expiration for regulated goods, with enough detail out of the box to satisfy the most stringent industries. Multiple locations, bins, and stores are supported, with transfer orders across plants and cells. Integrated barcoding captures labor, material issues, and work order activity once, at the source, with no re-keying. Standard, average, FIFO, LIFO, and lot costing are all built in.\n\nFinancially, every transaction posts to a real-time, transaction-driven general ledger as it happens, and as-of reporting lets you view your position for any date you choose. Your books reflect your floor as it actually runs, not as it looked at last month's close. AP, AR, budgeting, and what-if scenario analysis are included, along with quote-to-cash and requisition-through-payment document traceability, mass payments, and automatic commission calculation against revenue, unit, or margin goals. Multi-company functionality handles inventory and GL transfers. ALERE's InTouch CRM manages customer, prospect, and supplier relationships, and integrations with Microsoft Outlook, Shopify, TaxJar, and Authorize.net connect your storefront and back office.\n\nALERE is perpetually licensed and deploys cloud-hosted or on-premise. Your data stays entirely within your control, to access, manage, or port as you see fit, so your relationship with TIW rests on the merits of the product and support rather than access to your data. Modules can be added as your organization grows, without a costly re-implementation, and ALERE's modification structure lets customizations, reports, and workflow changes carry forward version to version, keeping upgrades faster and total cost of ownership low.\n\nThousands of organizations have chosen ALERE since 1983, with more than 2,000 installations and 15,000 users, and many customers have relied on it for a decade or more, backed by responsive support from the team that develops the product.","image":"https://gdm-catalog-fmapi-prod.imgix.net/ProductScreenshot/3cf22dab-3868-4378-bed1-40fdf8fd1502.png","url":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/104964/alere-erp","@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/104964/alere-erp#software","@type":"SoftwareApplication","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/#organization"},"applicationCategory":"BusinessApplication","aggregateRating":{"@type":"AggregateRating","bestRating":5,"ratingCount":18,"ratingValue":4.7},"offers":{"price":"16250","@type":"Offer","priceCurrency":"USD"},"operatingSystem":"Cloud, Windows, Windows on premise, Android"},{"@id":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp#breadcrumblist","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"name":"Home","position":1,"item":"/","@type":"ListItem"},{"name":"Online Inventory Management Software","position":2,"item":"/directory/1592/online/software","@type":"ListItem"},{"name":"Fishbowl vs ALERE","position":3,"item":"https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/compare/1700/104964/fishbowl-inventory-scm/vs/alere-erp","@type":"ListItem"}]}]}
</script>