Comparison
Stockroom vs Lightspeed: a leaner inventory back office
Lightspeed is a capable retail POS with solid catalog tools. But its inventory depth lives in higher tiers and add-ons, and the price climbs fast. Stockroom gives you the costed back office: purchasing, landed cost, reservations, audits and multi-location, all at small-business pricing, and plugs into the POS you already run.
Where Lightspeed shines
Lightspeed shines as an all-in-one retail and restaurant POS with strong hardware, payments and a large app marketplace.
Where it stops
The inventory features growing shops actually need, like landed cost, demand-based reordering, reservations and cycle-count audits, are gated behind pricier tiers or paid add-ons, and you're locked into Lightspeed Payments to get the best rate.
Side by side
Stockroom vs Lightspeed, capability by capability
A fair look at what each tool covers. Plan-dependent items are noted rather than dismissed.
| Capability | Lightspeed | Stockroom |
|---|---|---|
| Point-of-sale & payments | Via Square / your POS | |
| Item catalog & variants | ||
| Purchase orders & receiving | Higher tier | |
| Weighted-average cost ledger | Limited | |
| Landed cost (freight allocation) | ||
| Demand-based reorder (velocity) | Add-on | |
| Reservations / available-to-promise | ||
| Cycle-count audits + variance | Basic | |
| Kits / bundles + units of measure | Limited | |
| Lot / expiry traceability | ||
| Rentals (out-and-back) | ||
| Per-warehouse roles & permissions | Limited | |
| Small-business pricing | $$$ | From free |
Point-of-sale & payments
- Lightspeed
- Stockroom
- Via Square / your POS
Item catalog & variants
- Lightspeed
- Stockroom
Purchase orders & receiving
- Lightspeed
- Higher tier
- Stockroom
Weighted-average cost ledger
- Lightspeed
- Limited
- Stockroom
Landed cost (freight allocation)
- Lightspeed
- Stockroom
Demand-based reorder (velocity)
- Lightspeed
- Add-on
- Stockroom
Reservations / available-to-promise
- Lightspeed
- Stockroom
Cycle-count audits + variance
- Lightspeed
- Basic
- Stockroom
Kits / bundles + units of measure
- Lightspeed
- Limited
- Stockroom
Lot / expiry traceability
- Lightspeed
- Stockroom
Rentals (out-and-back)
- Lightspeed
- Stockroom
Per-warehouse roles & permissions
- Lightspeed
- Limited
- Stockroom
Small-business pricing
- Lightspeed
- $$$
- Stockroom
- From free
Why teams switch
What you gain moving to Stockroom
Shops that like their current POS but need serious inventory, costing and multi-location control without Lightspeed's tier climb.
The back-office depth you unlock
- A true weighted-average cost ledger: every movement is signed and costed, so on hand, COGS and margin are always reconciled.
- Landed cost: freight allocates across received lines so your unit cost reflects reality, not just the invoice.
- Reservations / available to promise and backorders derived from confirmed orders. You never oversell.
- Real cycle-count audits with live shrink, overage and accuracy metrics, not just a manual stock adjustment.
- Per-location truth with a request/ship/receive transfer workflow; stock only moves on receipt.
- Two-way Square sync so you can keep selling on Square while Stockroom owns your inventory truth.
Ready to outgrow Lightspeed?
Start free, import your catalog in minutes, and keep selling on the tools you already use.