What Manufacturing Operations Need from Piece Rate Software
Manufacturing piece rate has a problem most software ignores: the gap between production tracking and pay calculation.
MRP systems track how many units came off the line. Payroll systems calculate tax withholding and cut checks. But almost nothing connects the two — taking production counts per worker, applying piece rates, handling scrap and quality deductions, and generating accurate pay. That connection is where manufacturers burn hours in spreadsheets every pay period.
I'm Tyson Faulkner. My background is in roofing, not manufacturing, but piece rate works the same way across industries. A roofer gets paid per square of shingles installed. A production worker gets paid per unit assembled, sewn, welded, or packed. Both need software that turns production counts into pay — and both need it to handle quality, scrap, and minimum wage compliance along the way.
This guide compares seven tools for manufacturing piece rate tracking. I will be honest about what each one does well and where the gaps are.
Pricing listed was accurate as of April 2026 and may change.
Quick Comparison Table
| Software | Piece Rate Pay Calculation | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piece Work Pro | Native | Free (Solo) / $8/user/mo | Piece rate pay tracking + job costing |
| Katana MRP | Production tracking only | $179/mo | Small manufacturers needing inventory + production |
| Fishbowl Manufacturing | Production tracking only | ~$349/mo | QuickBooks-based manufacturers |
| MRPeasy | Production tracking only | $49/user/mo | Small-to-mid manufacturers wanting cloud MRP |
| QuickBooks + Spreadsheets | Manual calculation | $45/mo+ | Budget-conscious shops already on QuickBooks |
| Piecework by ShopVOX | Partial | Custom pricing | Print and sign shops |
| SAP Business One | Production + configurable pay | ~$100+/user/mo | Mid-size manufacturers needing ERP |
Here is the key gap: most MRP systems track production beautifully but do not calculate pay from those counts. They tell you how many units were produced. They do not tell you what each worker earned based on those units at their individual piece rate. That last step still happens in a spreadsheet at most manufacturing operations.
1. Piece Work Pro — Best for Piece Rate Pay Calculation and Job Costing
Best for: Manufacturing operations that need to track per-worker production counts and calculate piece rate pay directly from those counts.
Piece Work Pro was built for production-based pay. In construction, that means tracking squares or linear feet. In manufacturing, it means tracking units assembled, parts welded, garments sewn, or items packed. The core workflow is the same: log what each worker produced, apply their piece rate, and calculate accurate pay.
Pricing:
- Solo (1 user): Free forever. No credit card required.
- Team: $10/user/month (monthly) or $8/user/month (annual)
A manufacturing floor with 20 production workers and 2 supervisors runs $176 to $220 per month.
Pros:
- Native piece rate tracking — log units per worker, per job or production run, per shift
- Automatic pay calculation from custom piece rates per task type
- Job costing shows actual labor cost per unit on every production run
- Handles different rates for different tasks (assembly, finishing, packing)
- Mobile and web entry for floor supervisors or workers to log production
- Payroll-ready reports for export to your payroll processor
Cons:
- Not an MRP system — does not handle inventory, bills of materials, or production scheduling
- Does not do tax filing or direct deposit — pair with a payroll processor
- No quality/scrap tracking built in (you track good units produced)
Bottom line: Piece Work Pro fills the gap between your production floor and your payroll. It takes "Maria assembled 340 units today at $0.85 per unit" and turns it into a pay figure automatically. No spreadsheet, no manual math. Pair it with your MRP system for inventory and production scheduling, and with QuickBooks Payroll or Gusto for tax filing.
For more on setting manufacturing piece rates, read our guide on how to set piece rates in manufacturing.
2. Katana MRP — Best Cloud MRP for Small Manufacturers
Best for: Small-to-mid manufacturers (under 100 employees) that need inventory management, production planning, and shop floor tracking in one platform.
Katana is a modern cloud-based MRP that has gained a strong following with smaller manufacturers. It handles bills of materials, inventory tracking, production scheduling, and shop floor operations. The interface is clean and the learning curve is manageable compared to legacy MRP systems.
Pricing: Starts at $179/month for the Starter plan. Higher plans with more features and users run $399/month and up.
Pros:
- Real-time inventory tracking with auto-reordering
- Production scheduling with visual planning tools
- Shop floor app for operators to log production and track time
- Bills of materials management with multi-level BOM support
- Integrations with Shopify, QuickBooks, and other common platforms
Cons:
- Tracks production quantities but does not calculate piece rate pay from those counts
- No per-worker piece rate setting or automatic pay calculation
- The production data is there, but you extract it and calculate pay separately
- Pricing can add up with additional users and features
Bottom line: Katana is an excellent MRP for small manufacturers. It gives you real-time production data, which is half the battle. But the pay calculation gap is real — Katana knows Maria produced 340 units today, but it does not multiply that by her $0.85 rate and generate her pay. You export the production data and run those numbers in a spreadsheet or a pay calculation tool.
3. Fishbowl Manufacturing — Best for QuickBooks-Based Manufacturers
Best for: Manufacturers that run their accounting in QuickBooks and need inventory and production management that integrates tightly with it.
Fishbowl has been a go-to for manufacturers on QuickBooks for years. It extends QuickBooks with inventory management, manufacturing orders, bills of materials, and work order tracking. If QuickBooks is your financial backbone, Fishbowl bolts on the manufacturing functionality without replacing your accounting system.
Pricing: Starts at approximately $349/month for Fishbowl Drive (cloud). On-premise pricing varies.
Pros:
- Deep QuickBooks integration for seamless accounting
- Manufacturing work orders with routing and BOM tracking
- Inventory management with multiple warehouse support
- Barcode scanning for production and inventory tracking
- Established platform with a large user base
Cons:
- Does not calculate piece rate pay — tracks production quantities only
- Per-worker production tracking is limited compared to purpose-built tools
- Interface can feel dated compared to newer cloud platforms
- Pricing is higher than lightweight alternatives
Bottom line: Fishbowl is solid for QuickBooks-based manufacturers who need production and inventory tracking integrated with their accounting. But the piece rate pay gap exists here too. Fishbowl tracks what was produced. It does not calculate what each worker earned from that production at their individual piece rate. You still need a separate step for pay calculation.
4. MRPeasy — Best Budget Cloud MRP for Small Manufacturers
Best for: Small manufacturers (under 50 employees) that want a cloud-based MRP at a lower price point than Katana or Fishbowl.
MRPeasy is a lightweight cloud MRP that covers the basics: production planning, inventory, procurement, and shop floor reporting. It is less feature-rich than Katana or Fishbowl, but the price point is lower and it gets the job done for straightforward manufacturing operations.
Pricing: $49/user/month (Starter) to $149/user/month (Enterprise). The per-user pricing means costs scale with your team.
Pros:
- Affordable cloud MRP with production planning and scheduling
- Shop floor reporting with operator-level tracking
- Inventory management with procurement
- Bill of materials with routing
- CRM and basic sales order management included
Cons:
- Does not calculate piece rate pay from production counts
- Per-user pricing gets expensive as your team grows — 20 users at $49 each is $980/month
- Less polished interface than Katana
- Reporting and analytics are more basic than larger MRP systems
Bottom line: MRPeasy is a solid entry-level MRP. It tracks production and gives you operator-level data. But like every MRP on this list, it stops at production tracking — the pay calculation from piece rates is not part of the platform. For a 20-person shop, the per-user pricing also pushes total cost higher than some alternatives.
5. QuickBooks + Spreadsheets — The Manual Approach
Best for: Budget-conscious small manufacturers who are not ready to invest in dedicated software and want to keep things simple.
This is the most common setup for small manufacturing operations running piece rate. QuickBooks handles accounting and payroll. A spreadsheet (Excel or Google Sheets) handles the piece rate math. A supervisor tracks production on a clipboard or a shared spreadsheet, calculates pay, and enters the totals into QuickBooks.
Pricing: QuickBooks Payroll starts at $45/month + $6/employee. Spreadsheets are free.
Pros:
- Low direct cost — you are paying for QuickBooks, which you may already have
- QuickBooks handles tax filing, direct deposit, and compliance
- Full flexibility in how you structure your spreadsheet
- No new software to learn for the payroll side
Cons:
- The spreadsheet IS the piece rate software, and spreadsheets break
- Manual data entry from the production floor to the spreadsheet introduces errors
- No real-time visibility into per-worker production or earnings
- Scaling beyond 10-15 workers makes the spreadsheet increasingly fragile
- No audit trail — it is hard to verify historical production when disputes arise
- Job costing is manual and easy to skip
Bottom line: This approach works for a small shop with 5-10 workers if you are disciplined about tracking. But the math errors and time cost add up. One miscounted shift per pay period across 10 workers is real money. And when a worker disputes their pay, you are digging through a spreadsheet trying to reconstruct what happened three weeks ago.
For a look at whether dedicated software pays for itself, read our analysis of is piece work tracking software worth it.
6. Piecework by ShopVOX — Best for Print and Sign Shops
Best for: Print shops, sign shops, and custom fabrication shops that use ShopVOX for job management and want piece rate tracking tied to their production orders.
ShopVOX is a shop management platform popular in the print and sign industry. Some versions include piecework tracking functionality that ties production counts to individual workers and calculates earnings based on configured rates. It is one of the few industry-specific tools that directly connects production tracking with pay.
Pricing: Custom pricing — contact ShopVOX for a quote. Plans vary based on features and users.
Pros:
- Production tracking tied directly to shop jobs and work orders
- Per-worker piece rate tracking within the broader shop management workflow
- Job costing that connects material, labor, and overhead on each order
- Industry-specific features for print and sign production
Cons:
- Built for print/sign shops — not a general manufacturing tool
- Not a standalone payroll processor — still need a separate tool for tax filing
- Pricing is not transparent
- Limited applicability outside the print and sign industry
Bottom line: If you run a print or sign shop and already use ShopVOX, the piecework functionality is a genuine advantage. It is rare to find pay calculation tied directly into job management. But if you are in general manufacturing — metal fabrication, assembly, food production, garments — ShopVOX is not built for you.
7. SAP Business One — Best for Mid-Size Manufacturers Needing Full ERP
Best for: Mid-size manufacturers (50-500 employees) that need a full ERP with production, inventory, financials, and HR in one platform.
SAP Business One is an ERP system designed for small and mid-size businesses. It covers financials, purchasing, inventory, production, and CRM. With the right configuration and add-ons, it can handle piece rate pay calculation as part of a broader manufacturing workflow. But "with the right configuration" is doing heavy lifting in that sentence.
Pricing: Approximately $100+ per user per month for the cloud version (SAP Business One Cloud). On-premise licensing is a separate cost structure. Implementation and consulting fees can be substantial.
Pros:
- Full ERP covering financials, production, inventory, and HR
- Configurable production tracking with operator-level data
- Can be customized to handle piece rate pay calculation (with implementation work)
- Robust reporting and analytics across the entire business
- Scalable for growing manufacturers
Cons:
- Piece rate pay is not native — requires configuration, customization, or add-ons
- Implementation cost and time are significant — budget months and five figures minimum
- Overkill for small operations with straightforward needs
- Requires IT support or a consulting partner for ongoing maintenance
- The learning curve is steep compared to lightweight tools
Bottom line: SAP Business One is the right tool if you are a mid-size manufacturer that needs a full ERP and has the budget and team to implement it properly. It can handle piece rate with customization. But if your primary need is "track production and calculate piece rate pay," SAP is like buying a semi truck to deliver a package. The cost and complexity far exceed the problem.
The Real Gap: Production Tracking vs Pay Calculation
Here is what most manufacturers discover when they start looking for piece rate software:
MRP systems (Katana, Fishbowl, MRPeasy) track production quantities. They know how many units were made, by which machine or work center, on which production order. This data is valuable for inventory, scheduling, and capacity planning.
Payroll systems (QuickBooks Payroll, Gusto, ADP) calculate tax withholding, process direct deposit, file W-2s and 1099s, and handle compliance. They are built for a flat dollar amount per employee per pay period.
Neither side does the piece rate math. The step that says "Worker A produced 340 units at $0.85 each, Worker B produced 290 units at $0.85 each, Worker A also did 4 hours of cleanup at $18/hour, verify both meet minimum wage, calculate overtime using the regular rate method" — that step lives in a spreadsheet at most manufacturing operations.
Piece Work Pro is built to fill that gap. It sits between your production floor and your payroll processor. Production data goes in, accurate piece rate pay comes out. You export the pay figures to your payroll processor for tax filing and direct deposit.
Use our Piece Rate Calculator to model different rate structures for your production tasks and see how they affect worker earnings and your per-unit labor cost.
How to Choose
If you just need piece rate pay calculation:
Piece Work Pro handles it natively at $8-10 per user per month. Pair with your existing payroll processor for taxes.
If you need production tracking AND piece rate pay:
Start with Piece Work Pro for pay calculation. Add an MRP (Katana, MRPeasy, or Fishbowl) if you need inventory, BOM, and production scheduling. The MRP handles what to make and when. Piece Work Pro handles what each worker earned from what they made.
If you are a small shop with 5-10 workers:
QuickBooks + Spreadsheets works short-term if you are disciplined. But plan to upgrade to Piece Work Pro before your first payroll dispute or audit. The free Solo plan lets you test the workflow at no cost.
If you are a mid-size operation wanting full ERP:
SAP Business One with piece rate configuration is the enterprise path. Budget for implementation time and consulting costs. Make sure piece rate is explicitly in scope during the implementation — it is not automatic.
Quality and scrap handling:
Every manufacturing operation needs a way to handle scrap and quality rejects. In a piece rate system, you generally only pay for good units — rejects and scrap do not count toward production. Whatever tool you use, make sure your workflow only logs accepted units to the worker's production count. Catching this at the tracking stage is far easier than trying to deduct after the fact.
For more on the pros and cons of piece rate in manufacturing environments, read our guide on piece work in manufacturing: pros and cons.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can MRP software calculate piece rate pay?
Most MRP systems track production quantities but do not calculate pay from those quantities. They know how many units were produced but not what each worker earned. The pay calculation — applying individual piece rates, handling different task rates, verifying minimum wage, and calculating overtime — is a separate function that requires either a dedicated tool or a spreadsheet.
Do piece rate manufacturing workers get overtime?
Yes. The FLSA requires overtime pay for non-exempt piece rate workers who work more than 40 hours per week. You calculate the regular rate by dividing total piece rate earnings by total hours worked, then pay an additional 0.5x that regular rate for hours over 40. For step-by-step examples, see our guide on how to calculate overtime for piece rate workers.
How do I handle scrap and quality rejects in piece rate pay?
The standard approach is to only count good units toward piece rate pay. If a worker produces 350 units but 15 are rejected during quality inspection, they are paid on 335 units. Some operations also track scrap rates per worker as a quality metric. Make sure your tracking system only logs accepted units to production counts.
What is a typical piece rate in manufacturing?
Rates vary wildly by product, task complexity, and market. Simple assembly tasks might pay $0.25 to $1.00 per unit. Skilled tasks like welding or sewing might pay $2.00 to $10.00 per unit. The rate should be set so that an average worker earning at their typical pace makes at or above market hourly wages for similar work. Use our Piece Rate Calculator to model rates for your operation.
Is Piece Work Pro built for manufacturing specifically?
Piece Work Pro is built for any business that pays by production output. In manufacturing, the "unit" might be parts assembled, garments sewn, or items packed. In construction, it is squares or linear feet. The tracking and pay calculation workflow is the same. You set rates per task type, log units per worker, and the system calculates pay.
Try Piece Work Pro free to track your production workers' piece rate pay — no credit card required.