About Fishbowl









Fishbowl pricing
Fishbowl does not have a free version but does offer a free trial.
Alternatives to Fishbowl
Fishbowl Reviews
Feature rating
All Fishbowl Reviews

- Industry: Mining & Metals
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
After using for 5 years, we are implementing the newest FB Software, seems great
We are still too early in the installation of the new FB so there is nothing to comment on yet
Pros
The manufacturing module lets us build parts and put in inventory, which is what we needed (and did not have) in the past
Cons
Price was a bit high but if it all works the way we have been promised, it will pay for itself. There has been alot of changes in the past 5 years from the old FB, so we are hoping it is all going to work and help us all to be more proficient.
- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Fishbowl Review
Overall, Fishbowl has been able to help answer questions. I think some of the reports that we have to pay for should be included and are necessary for most companies to view.
Pros
Inventory and parts/products are easy to access.
Cons
The accounting/integration process. Customer statements don’t accurately reflect their account status. Credits not included and can’t be applied per remittance.
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks DesktopReasons for Choosing Fishbowl
For a more robust inventory system and reporting availabilitySwitched From
QuickBooks OnlineReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
Reporting seemed better. Inventory seemed easily tracked/historical movement.- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Less than Optimal
Excruciating, it took over a year to implement and almost two years in and only two months of actually using the product there are still an abundance of not well-fitting pieces to this overall puzzle. My company and I have had to make a ton of compromises to achieve what we were (in my opinion) sold on in reference to the capabilities of the program.
Pros
The support staff are very patient with me and my concerns.
Cons
The lack of customization and flexibility to fit the needs of customers.
Alternatives Considered
SAP Business OneReasons for Choosing Fishbowl
I accepted a new role with a different company that had already purchased FB license.Switched From
SAP Business ByDesignReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
I did not have any choice in the matter the contract was signed so to speak at the time of my hiring.Response from Fishbowl
Thank you for sharing these concerns. I'm sorry that your experience has been so difficult. I appreciate that you were able to reach out to our Support team for help, and I'm sorry they weren't able to guide you through all of them. You're kind to recognize their efforts to assist you as exemplary.
It's very hard when things aren't a perfect fit, and I thank you for your graciousness in providing constructive criticism.
You are a good man, and that really comes across in your words. I wish you nothing but the best, and I hope that things will turn around soon and we'll be able to help you find the right degree of customization if at all possible. We do have a new AI tool that may help you with generating custom reports. Perhaps you can ask your account manager about that.
Please know that your wise words have the power to propel positive change. You are wonderful.
- Industry: Industrial Automation
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
popular inventory management system / better for manufacturing lines
Good experience but price makes you think that for value of 2 applications, one for accounting and one for inventory you could have just one integer ERP system. You should consider Manufacturing edition, that will work more properly rather integrate Inventory Management to 3D party tool.
Pros
It is in core SAP focused for integration and QuickBooks which are popular in Texas. Fishbowl has good design and user interface. Good estimate creation capabilities. Reliable bar code processing and UPS connectivity. Excellent support. Is best for manyfacturing less applicable for trading with large number of items.
Cons
We used it in connection with QB Desktop and had errors and data dumps. Geo fencing needs set up. Custom report needs additional payments and drive space to be considered cautionusly with data is fully acceseible for requesting on server only in full module, so that limits integrations and migration if you choosed it. Good to have more invoice receiving automations for data recognition from email (AI?).
Response from Fishbowl
Thank you for your review of Fishbowl. That's very helpful information to know. You'll see dramatic improvements in our QuickBooks integration soon, and you may want to check out our Fishbowl AI Insights plugin to help with custom reports and more. Please talk to your account manager if that sounds interesting. You are great!
- Industry: Medical Devices
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Excited for Inventory Management
Looking forward to using Fishbowl, the tools that Fishbowl provides will reduce our tasks and allow us to do more work.
Pros
Having just begun using Fishbowl we are just getting started in appreciating all the functionality that it provides. A major factor is the ability to track lot numbers as well as serial numbers of our products. The implementation process was smooth and the training provided was excellent.
Cons
The addition of items to sales orders and purchase orders is different than previous experiences.
Alternatives Considered
NetSuiteReasons for Choosing Fishbowl
To meet a request of our accountants, Fishbowl integrates with QuickBooks Online which was essentialSwitched From
OdooReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
Fishbowl was more affordable and met our needs, where the other products had more features than we would use.Response from Fishbowl
Welcome, friend! We're excited to grow with you as your business expands. It's wonderful to hear that Fishbowl's tracking methods are coming in so handy for you, and hopefully you'll soon get used to the new process for adding items to sales orders and purchase orders. Our Support team is happy to help you in any way they can, as you've already seen through the implementation and training process. We're glad that it went smoothly for you.
It sure is nice to know that there are robust inventory management options that meet your specific requirements better and more affordably than an ERP. We're excited to keep meeting your needs as you grow. Thank you for your kind review!
- Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Good technical support team
Generally, works great. Some little glitches have cause problems but the technical team has been super at getting us up and running again.
Pros
Fishbowl is easy to use and works well for a small business.
Cons
Because Fishbowl is easy to use, it is not as flexible as we would prefer at times.
Alternatives Considered
NetSuiteReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
Fishbowl is more user friendly and allows us to work with Quickbooks.Response from Fishbowl
You are awesome. Thank you for your glowing review. As you noted, our technical team is happy to help whenever challenges arise. And we're making efforts to improve our software's flexibility by introducing new AI tools, custom reports, dashboards, and more.
We'll aim to keep it simple, too, though you can get more flexible and complex if you like.
- Industry: Chemicals
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Fishbowl Review
Pros
I love that support is getting much faster and response times are lessening significantly. Support has been very beneficial.
Cons
Sometimes support personnel are not the "subject matter expert" or things that are suggested that would seem logical are missing. When you submit something to ideas@fishbowl, you do not hear back on a direction or response.
Alternatives Considered
SAP ConcurReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
Ease of integration with Quickbooks. All other reasons, I am uncertain.Response from Fishbowl
Thank you so much. You are very kind. We've been making dramatic changes in Support to lessen response times and make sure you get the answers you need in a timely manner.
I'll check with those in charge of that email address to see if your requests are being received properly. I'm certain that they're eager to learn what features requests you are sending to make our software the best it can be for your needs.
- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Decent software with room for growth
So far I would give it about a seven and a half out of 10
Pros
I like the convenience of moving inventory from the main screen. I was a former box storm customer and I was pleased with the easiness of transferring our information over as well. It was quick and efficient.
Cons
Coming from boxstorm, there were a few features that I really appreciate having that Fishbowl does not yet have. One feature is not being able to see reorder points on the mobile app. I wish also that the pictures of the items I transferred over would have been implemented as well.
Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl
Because we were sort of forced to. They were Sun setting the softwareSwitched From
BoxstormReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
Mainly price and ease of transfer from box stormResponse from Fishbowl
Thank you for your feedback on how we can improve our software and make it more like what you're used to with Boxstorm. Those are excellent ideas, and I'll make sure our developers hear about them. You are great!
- Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
- Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Great Experience
Our experience was great, the team walked us through the systems capabilities, and showed us the in's and out's before we committed, and it has worked great for us! Thank Fishbowl!
Pros
Helpful Integration Team, we are using the system primarily for manufacturing inventory management, and were able to find ways to use functions in various ways to give the outcome we were looking for.
Cons
Time: the whole process took about a month, which is about what i had expected, but wish we weren't down without a system for such an extended period, but that is partially because we had some hiccups on our end!
Alternatives Considered
Zoho InventoryReasons for Choosing Fishbowl
System was not designed for inventory for manufacturingReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
Functionality, cost, and reviews/qualityResponse from Fishbowl
We're so glad to hear about your positive experience getting started with our software and making use of it in your business. Thank you, too!

- Industry: Maritime
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Fishbowl is Not ready for medium to larger companies
Customer support is pretty good for getting you on your feet if you have a database crash or simple problem, but they are often hard to get a hold of, long wait times, and again there is no flexibility with this program whatsoever. You WILL find many annoying things that they just refuse to address in development.
Pros
As a basic inventory and locationing system, and for simple shipping and sales orders it works okay. Would be great for a small startup.
Cons
Complete lack of flexibility. There are a lot of workarounds that even our Onboarding expert had to use and setup for us. They do not make even the most obvious and simple improvements. You cannot update pricing from Woo to Fishbowl, and the Quickbooks integration is horrible.
- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Fishbowl is a workhorse
Again, Fishbowl does the job. User friendly and detailed. Lot's of options and ability to add different tools as needed, plugins. Customer service has stayed above bar throughout.
Pros
Fishbowl is great inventory management software. We have very large BOMs where we need to be able to track A to Z, inventory to the production line and this does the job. It is as good as you use it and then some. Easy for people to go in and track down information according to their needs, duties and positions. Helpful reports for tracking. Vendor information and history. Customer job tracking. Costing. Great customer service.
Cons
Closing jobs. Once a job or sales is closed, it's pretty much closed. Once it transfers to QB, forget it! It's nice to have the option to be able to go back a little, but Disassembling is not fun. Would like some form of CRM, integration?
Alternatives Considered
First Rate VantageReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
To be honest, at the starting stage, price was very good and doable.- Industry: Consumer Goods
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
I truly don't know how we functioned without it
It's been great. Anytime I've had an issue, the support team has been incredibly helpful in helping me out (shoutout [sensitive content hidden]).
Pros
Fishbowl has been an absolute lifesaver as our business has grown. Our processes before were incredibly manual and analog, and therefore susceptible to a lot more human error. The time we're saving not having to manually comb through printed sales estimates to and then walk around the warehouse to see if we have the inventory on hand to fulfill it them is absolutely immeasurable. So many processes are automated which has drastically improved our accuracy and efficiency, and therefore our bottom line. If we weren't using Fishbowl, I'm certain our business would not have been able to grow at the rate it has, so I firmly believe the investment has more than paid for itself, and as far as I'm aware, we're barely even scratching the surface with its capabilities.
Cons
It's software, so it's going to have its bugs now and then. Fortunately any I've noticed have been a minor inconvenience at worst; nothing has caused our data to be inaccurate in any way. Otherwise, I wish modifying reports was a little more user-friendly. If I could easily add a specific filter to a report, I could be substantially more efficient.
- Industry: Airlines/Aviation
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Review after 7 years
Overall has been good, as long as willing to spend significant time learning thier system without any help
Pros
Migration to SQL database allowing integration with other systems.
Cons
After selling to a larger company, support is almost non existant, if your small thet dont seem to care. Have tried to book many support sessions and never any availability unless you want to wait 2+ months. Good luck getting them on the phone, the chat works and will waste an entire day trying to explain any issues
- Industry: Food Production
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Easy to Use
Pros
Fishbowl works for our business and is easy to leanr to use.
Cons
Sometimes response time can be longer being in EST time zone
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Fishbowl Changed Our Business
The training experience was excellent and once we were fully up and running and felt comfortable, it's been such a game-changer for us.
Pros
It's extremely helpful to track our inventory at multiple warehouses and for planning our future inventory needs. The wide array of reports is super helpful for a growing business such as ours. It's extremely helpful for us to be able to track what's been ordered by a customer, what is left in stock, and if we have anymore stock coming in. It's truly changed the way we do our business.
Cons
It was definitely a learning curve for a lot of people on our team and some processes can be a little tricky until you fully understand exactly how it works.
- Industry: Industrial Automation
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
New to Fishbowl - Love it
So far, so good. We have only been "active" for a few weeks but Fishbowl is already helping us track our inventory and sales orders.
Pros
The training was thorough and we felt well prepared to start using Fishbowl. The interface is very intuitive and easy to work with.
Cons
I would love to be able to have more customization features....like reporting; customizing the packing slips/invoices
Alternatives Considered
Zoho CRMReasons for Switching to Fishbowl
cost and ability to have the services that we needed.- Industry: Sporting Goods
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Awesome customer support
We have been very pleased with our Fishbowl experience.
Pros
Our implementation Specialist was absolutely incredible. When you has this level of customer support, implementing was a breeze. I don't know that we ever had a question that he could not answer.
Cons
There are some reporting barrier on canned reports that is a bit frustrating, but I am sure there are work arounds for those.
- Industry: Machinery
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Inventory module good, but other modules cumbersome to use
The inventory side is good, but the manufacturing side and the RMAs for repairs are cumbersome.
Pros
Inventory system is intuitive. Ability to assign access right to users.
Cons
Manufacturing module is cumbersome
Sometimes product updates disable features that were available before, such as a couple of years ago, we could be looking at a part and hit the "To Inventory" button and be able to adjust quantities. Now only those who are able to create parts have the "To Inventory" button available. I want almost everyone to be able to adjust inventory levels, but next to no one able to create parts. The "To Inventory" button should have its own permission access right.
- Industry: Mining & Metals
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Fishbowl is a great program if you need help with your inventory
I've truly enjoyed working the system and have gone into multiple companies to program their inventory systems.
Pros
I found it easy to understand and program
Cons
I found in the beginning, years ago when I started working with the customer support teams, I was able to figure out the answer and programming before the support worker and I taught them something. We were all learning together.
- Industry: Consumer Goods
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Wonderful Inventory Experienc
I appreciate using Fishbowl for our inventory needs. Overall a great experience.
Pros
Easy to use, amazing customer service with efficient and helpful assistance.
Cons
Sometimes difficult situations arise, but customer service helps walk you through those difficult situations
- Industry: Industrial Automation
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Excelent option
Everithing good so far, and the tech support support us a lot to solve all the issues
Pros
It is a very new concept as a data base manager with many options to grow up
Cons
Sometimes we found limitations and they have to find the way to have options for all the companies
Response from Fishbowl
Thank you! You're quite right that there are plenty of ways to improve. One way is our new Fishbowl AI Insights plugin. That makes it possible to generate custom reports, create dashboards, and forecast inventory needs.
This might just provide a lot of the flexibility you've been seeking. Feel free to reach out to your account manager about it. Or learn more on this page on our website: https://www.fishbowlinventory.com/fishbowl-ai-insights
Thanks again for your great review. Merry Christmas!
- Industry: Medical Devices
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Fishbowl Review
Pros
Fishbowl has sped up our process from ordering to sending out invoices to our customers. We used to do it by hand, and now Fishbowl automatically does it for me. It then sends it over to Quickbooks with a push of a button. It saves us so much time.
Cons
When Fishbowl goes down (doesn't happen often) it takes a long time to get help to get everything back up and running. I was recently on a phone call for 3 hours to get Fishbowl back up and running. I also wish Fishbowl could take the tracking numbers and push them over to QuickBooks. I also wish Fishbowl could use 2 or 3 email addresses instead of just 1 email. You can log more than 1 email address but not use it when sending emails or pushing over to QuickBooks. They still haven't figured out why one of my license's won't work on one of my computers. They told me after a long time I have to look into it on my end.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Fishbowl Review
Overall, the system is a great tool. It does take some time to get used to navigating and understanding how to successfully fulfill each step in the operation cycle. After spending a month in the system, I am confident navigating and working in it. The system could use a new skin.
Pros
Flexibility of the platform to account for many different obstacles that can occur in operations.
Cons
Navigating through the different boards in the program. There are no Tool Tips available to help the user understand what each button's function is. Also, after a user sets the what their screen preference is, the screen will default back so the next time the user goes into a specific board, they need to readjust the frame.
- Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Will Fishbowl Survive in the coming years?
Like many ERP systems, it has been overhyped and falls short of expectations. We initially implemented it alongside QuickBooks 2022. Interestingly, QuickBooks 2023 and subsequently QuickBooks 2024 have incorporated nearly all the features and functionalities that initially prompted us to integrate FishBowl. With the enhanced capabilities of QuickBooks 2024 and the shift towards cloud-based solutions, it's doubtful that FishBowl will sustain its business for more than a few years.
Pros
Onboarding was smooth and responsive. The team was responsive and helpful, although be prepared to do all the work yourself. while it seems crazy at some point its worth starting from scratch on your inventory and negating Quickbooks inventory all together.
Cons
Once your system is operational, support becomes a distant concern. Seeking assistance entails potentially shelling out thousands for even the most straightforward requests, if and when you manage to get a response. The scheduling for a simple fix or question may drag on for up to two weeks.
- Industry: Research
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Fishbowl, Wish we could switch over to something that works better!
Pros
Not a whole lot. Tracking the location of items: For us many items come and go in inventory; they go from the warehouse to staging, to deployment to return from deployment to RMA and back to inventory. We are currently looking at asset management programs rather than inventory management programs. This program probably works ok if you are stocking 20 of this and 10 of that and then using them in different work orders. For us this is not really working well at all.
Cons
It Freezes, which got blamed on it being on our server, we checked into it, it was on theirs. Some days reports don't run, this was blamed on our server space but we could not get a quick answer on how much we have and how much we used. If you put a picture (you can only put one) on the parts side you cannot see it on the inventory side - neither can you see any notes that are made on the parts side on the inventory side. You can switch from parts to inventory but not from inventory to parts. You cannot edit a title of an item in inventory, you have to go back to parts. You will end up using more and more space on the server because deleting an item or deleting a location is not possible. This is a program that probably was state of the art when we started using it but has not grown with the time. We tried using Fishbowl Go: not a fan. I can find an item using it but moving it works much better on the computer. You cannot search for an item by serial number of extension ID. I could go on but what is the point!
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