Comparison
Katana vs a finite-capacity scheduler for process lines
Katana and RunMark solve different problems. Katana manages inventory, sales and purchase orders, and integrations, with manufacturing management available as an add-on. RunMark schedules orders onto production lines with finite capacity and generates traceability labels from those runs.
RunMark is not a replacement for Katana’s inventory, purchasing, or e-commerce integrations. It is worth a look when the hard part of your week is the line schedule itself: which line runs what, when, and around which changeovers.
Why process lines need line-level scheduling
- Each line runs a different set of products, at a different rate per product.
- Changeover time depends on what ran before—resin, color, die, or size—not just on the product being set up.
- Lines run different shift patterns, so usable hours differ line by line.
- A promise date is only real if it comes from that line’s own calendar and current load.
Side by side
Katana details below come from Katana’s public pricing page and help center as of the review date at the bottom of this page.
| RunMark | Katana | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Line scheduling and traceability labels | Inventory and order management, purchasing, integrations; manufacturing management as an add-on |
| Inventory, BOMs, purchasing | Finished-goods stock, plus a raw-material ledger (resin, packaging, pallets) adjusted by hand; no BOMs, purchasing, or automatic material consumption | Included |
| Capacity model | Each line’s own shift calendar and per-product rate; runs cannot overlap on a line | Production deadlines from planned operation time, a weekly throughput figure (total production hours available in a week), and manufacturing-order priority |
| Changeover / setup time | Minutes for each product-to-product switch on each line | Setup operations with a fixed cost regardless of quantity |
| Traceability | PDF labels from the scheduled run, with run and unit numbers | Batch or serial traceability as a paid add-on |
| Pricing | $249/month or $2,490/year, flat, with unlimited lines, orders, and SKUs (up to 5 team members on monthly, unlimited on yearly) | Free up to 30 SKUs; Core from $299/month; Manufacturing Management add-on $199/month; Traceability add-on $249/month |
Keep Katana and add RunMark when…
- Katana is working for inventory and purchasing, but the production schedule still lives in a spreadsheet.
- You need to see which line each order runs on and when, not only a deadline per manufacturing order.
- Sequence-dependent changeovers decide whether you hit a due date.
Katana alone is probably enough when…
- Production is mainly discrete assembly or batches where a workshop-level capacity figure is accurate enough.
- Changeovers are short or roughly the same regardless of sequence.
Frequently asked questions
Is RunMark a Katana alternative?
Only for production scheduling. RunMark tracks finished goods and keeps a raw-material ledger you adjust by hand, but it has no BOM-driven material consumption, purchasing, or e-commerce integrations, so most teams that use Katana for those would keep it.
Does RunMark integrate with Katana?
There is no direct integration. RunMark imports orders from Excel files and supports direct order entry.
How does RunMark decide when a run can start?
It places each order on a line that is set up to run the product, inside that line’s shift hours, after reserving the changeover time from whatever ran before it, and weighs due dates and changeover time when choosing between slots. That is how RunMark’s optimizer works. If the optimizer is unavailable, a simpler fallback scheduler drafts the schedule instead; the draft review shows which one produced it. The fallback also reserves your changeover minutes before and after every run it places, but it places orders one at a time in due-date order instead of weighing them all together.
What does RunMark cost?
$249/month or $2,490/year, flat, with unlimited lines, orders, and SKUs (up to 5 team members on monthly, unlimited on yearly). Every account starts with a 30-day free trial with no credit card.
Try RunMark on one real week of your own orders. 30 days free, no credit card required.
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