Best for
Best for midsize manufacturers of 50 to 500 employees that build to order and want production, projects and financials in one system.
- Small and mid-sized
ERP Comparison
abas ERP vs. Fishbowl
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for smaller manufacturers and distributors that want inventory, warehousing and production without replacing QuickBooks or Xero.
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | abas ERP | Fishbowl |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Price on request abas does not publish a price list; the website directs interested companies to a demo tour and a contact form. | From $229 / month Billed annually, for the Essentials plan of Fishbowl Inventory, which includes 2 users. The Fishbowl Advanced platform is a separate product starting at $595 per month for Advanced Warehouse and $675 for Advanced Manufacturing, quoted by user count and deployment. An implementation package is required with every purchase and is not included in these figures. |
| Team size | Midmarket, positioned for companies with 50 to 500 employees | Not stated |
| Users | Around 4,000 customer installations and more than 120,000 users in over 25 countries | From 2 users on the entry plan, and teams from 2 to over 200 users on Fishbowl Advanced |
| API | Yes, a REST web interface for real-time read and write access, plus the abas Connect integration tool | Yes, an open API on Fishbowl Advanced |
| Hosting | On-premise or cloud | Cloud-native for Fishbowl Inventory; cloud-hosted or on-premise for Fishbowl Advanced |
| Made in | Germany | Not stated |
| Project costing | Yes, via abas PM with budgets, preliminary costing and project cost accounting, plus graphical project and resource planning | Yes, job, labour and landed costing on the Fishbowl Advanced plans |
| Invoicing | Yes, through sales and accounts receivable, with outstanding items and settlement of payments in financial accounting | Yes, from the order: in Fishbowl Drive an invoice appears in the Invoice Module once a sales order has been partially or fully shipped and carries a direct link to the matching invoice in QuickBooks Online, and in Fishbowl Advanced the Invoice button prints the invoice report for a sales order. Card processing runs through Fishbowl Payments |
| Digital receipt capture | Via the DMS connector, which links third-party document management systems to abas ERP | No OCR capture of supplier bills or receipts is described; scanning in Fishbowl is barcode scanning for receiving, picking, packing and cycle counts, and incoming documents are handled in the connected accounting system |
| Reporting and controlling | Yes, controlling dashboards with key performance indicators, standard reports such as profit and loss, balance sheet and outstanding items, business intelligence integration and Excel export | Custom reports are an add-on on every plan; AI Insights is included from the Growth plan upwards |
| Time tracking | Yes, plant data collection on mobile devices, recording order, material and machine data on the shop floor in real time | Yes, time tracking and labour costing in the manufacturing module |
| Integrations and API | Yes, a REST web interface plus the low-code abas Connect tool and DMS, MS SQL and PDM connectors in the standard scope | Open API on Fishbowl Advanced, plus two-way sync with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop and Enterprise, and Xero |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), On-premise | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise |
| Support | Email helpdesk, Phone | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars, Personal consulting, On-site training | Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding, Personal consulting |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized | Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | Microsoft SQL Server, TARGIT, PRO.FILE, keytech PLM | QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Enterprise, Xero |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price abas ERP Price on request Fishbowl From $229 / month
- Deployment abas ERP Cloud (SaaS), On-premise Fishbowl Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Hosting abas ERP On-premise or cloud Fishbowl Cloud-native for Fishbowl Inventory; cloud-hosted or on-premise for Fishbowl Advanced
- Support abas ERP Email helpdesk, Phone Fishbowl Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat
- AI features abas ERP No Fishbowl Yes
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
abas ERP
Strengths
- Purpose-built for midsize make-to-order manufacturing
- Low-code adaptation without changing the standard range of functions
- REST API, abas Connect and three connectors included in the standard scope
- Runs on-premise or on cloud infrastructure
Limitations
- No published pricing
- Narrow fit outside manufacturing
- Document management comes through a connector to a third-party system
Fishbowl
Strengths
- Two-way sync with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop and Enterprise, and with Xero
- Published starting prices for both product lines rather than quote-only
- Lot and batch traceability with compliance documents on the higher plans
- Cloud-hosted or on-premise deployment on the Advanced platform
Limitations
- An implementation package is required with every purchase, on top of the subscription
- Manufacturing, meaning bills of materials, work orders and MRP, is not part of the Inventory plans
- Custom reports, the B2B portal and advanced ecommerce integrations are add-ons on every plan
- Final pricing for the Advanced platform is quoted by user count and deployment
Plans
Pricing
abas ERP
- Custom Not stated Not published; contact abas or a partner for a quote.
Fishbowl
- Essentials (Fishbowl Inventory) $229 Per month, billed annually. Includes 2 users, QuickBooks Online and Xero sync, real-time inventory and SKU tracking, reorder points and mobile barcode scanning.
- Growth (Fishbowl Inventory) $429 Per month, billed annually. Includes 5 users and adds fulfilment, automated reordering, multichannel ecommerce, sales tax automation, AI insights and unlimited warehouses.
- Scale (Fishbowl Inventory) $729 Per month, billed annually. Includes 10 users and adds demand forecasting and planning plus lot and food traceability.
- Advanced Warehouse (Fishbowl Advanced) From $595 Per month, quoted by user count and deployment. Multi-warehouse, 3PL workflows, EDI and audit-grade control, with cloud hosting included and flexible deployment available.
- Advanced Manufacturing (Fishbowl Advanced) From $675 Per month, quoted by user count and deployment. Bills of materials, MRP, work orders and made-to-order builds, lot and batch traceability and an open API.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
abas ERP
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Fishbowl
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
abas ERP https://abas-erp.com · no check date recorded yet
Fishbowl https://www.fishbowlinventory.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-13
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.