By the Fab ERP team. As checked 12 Nov 2026.
Fab ERP is made by us. It is listed alphabetically with the others, with its limits.
A fabrication shop does not run like a textbook factory. Jobs arrive as purchase orders by email, often with a drawing. Material goes out and comes back on a challan. The customer pays when he pays, and the owner remembers which parties are late. Most ERP comparisons are written for assembly lines and warehouses, so they measure the wrong things.
This article sets seven options against six criteria that matter in a fabrication or job-work shop. The options are in alphabetical order, not ranked. We make Fab ERP, so read our entry with that in mind. Facts about the others come from each vendor's own page, read on 12 November 2026; confirm anything you rely on.
The six criteria
1. Dues: who owes you, and for how long
For a shop with thin margins, an unpaid invoice is a loan you did not agree to. The useful view is not a total. It is a list of parties, each with the amount broken down by how late it is, so you can pick up the phone in the right order.
Ask any vendor: can I see dues by age, party by party, with the worst party first?
2. PO intake
Most orders reach a shop as an email. If someone has to read it, open a form and retype every line, the system is adding work, not removing it. The better pattern is that the system shows the incoming PO for review and a person approves it.
3. Challans and documents
Quotation, proforma, invoice and challan are the working documents. The question is whether you can make them quickly, in your format, and get them to the customer on the channel he actually reads, which in India is usually WhatsApp.
4. Ease of use on the shop floor
The person entering a challan at six in the evening is not a trained ERP user. If the screens need a manual, the data will be late and wrong.
5. Support
Who answers when something breaks? Some vendors support you directly; others sell only through partners.
6. Cost model
Per user, per organisation, a licence, or hosting only. The model matters as much as the number: per-user plans cost more as you add users.
The seven options
Busy
- Documents. GST invoicing with sharing on WhatsApp, e-way bills and e-invoicing are listed.
- Cost model. Annual plans by tier, with single-user prices on its page and a 15-day trial.
- Fits: small shops that want accounting and billing in one package.
ERPNext
- Manufacturing. Multi-level bills of materials, work orders, job cards and subcontracting are listed.
- Support. Frappe recommends its own cloud hosting, with a first-party warranty for Frappe apps.
- Cost model. No per-user pricing; you pay for hosting.
- Fits: shops with technical help who want control of the system.
Fab ERP
The product we make.
- Dues. Dues are shown by age, party by party, most overdue first, with statements and credit limits.
- PO intake. A PO that arrives by email is shown for review, and you press Accept. Anything unsure waits for a person.
- Documents. Quotation, proforma, invoice and challan are made in Fab ERP and shared on WhatsApp. Contractor jobs and payments are tracked.
- Fabio. The assistant inside Fab ERP answers questions from your own books and helps make documents.
- Cost and trial. Plans are on the pricing page; every account starts with a 14-day trial.
- Limits. Fab ERP does not make e-invoices or e-way bills, does not do payroll or file GST returns, and has no nesting, machine programming, CAD tools or machine scheduling. It is not your books; Tally or your accountant stays the record. It makes the job work challan but does not keep a job worker's stock ledger.
- Fits: fabrication and job-work businesses where the office is the bottleneck. See the fabrication page and the sheet metal page.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Manufacturing and finance. Production planning, detailed bills of materials, shop-floor visibility and cost control, plus multi-currency and consolidation.
- Support. Sold and supported through Microsoft's partner network.
- Cost model. Per user per month, paid yearly; the page lists Essentials at ₹6,655 and Premium, which adds manufacturing, at ₹9,150, GST extra.
- Fits: larger small-to-midsize shops with a budget and a partner.
Odoo
- Shop floor. Its manufacturing page describes a tablet-optimised shop-floor app, a mobile barcode app that works offline, quality checks and traceability, and says workers do not need advanced training.
- Support. The first app is free, including hosting and support.
- Cost model. Per user per month beyond the free app, shown in rupees on its pricing page.
- Fits: shops that need real production planning and will invest in setup.
TallyPrime
- Documents and compliance. GST return filing, e-invoice and e-way bill generation are listed. The receivables view on its product page shows due dates, pending amounts and days overdue.
- Cost model. Rental or lifetime licence, with a multi-user licence for several PCs on one LAN.
- Fits: businesses that want it to stay the books. Fab ERP reads Tally one way and writes nothing to it; see how Tally connects.
Zoho Books with Zoho Inventory
- Documents. Zoho Books lists e-invoices, e-way bills and delivery challans. Zoho Inventory lists purchase orders, delivery challans and e-way bills.
- PO intake. The pages we read do not describe turning an emailed PO into an order for review. Ask Zoho what is possible.
- Cost model. Plans priced per organisation per month, with a free plan on both pages.
- Fits: shops that want low-cost cloud software and are comfortable configuring it.
How they compare, in plain words
| Criterion | Where to look first |
|---|---|
| Dues by party, worst first | Fab ERP lists dues by age, most overdue first; TallyPrime's receivables view shows days overdue |
| PO from email, reviewed then accepted | Fab ERP; ask every other vendor to demonstrate it |
| Challans and documents | Zoho lists delivery challans and e-way bills; TallyPrime and Busy list e-way bills; Fab ERP makes challans and shares them on WhatsApp |
| Shop-floor ease | Odoo describes a dedicated shop-floor app |
| Support | Direct for Odoo's first app and Frappe Cloud; partner-led for Business Central |
| Cost model | Per organisation (Zoho), per user (Odoo, Business Central), hosting only (ERPNext), licence (TallyPrime) |
This table is our reading of vendor pages, not a test. Run your own.
When another ERP is the better choice
- If your shop makes assemblies with several levels of parts and you must schedule machines and work centres, Odoo, ERPNext or Business Central are built for that. Fab ERP is not where we would send you.
- If your accountant is not willing to change tools and compliance is the main need, stay with TallyPrime or Busy and fix the office workflow around it.
- If you want to own the code and have someone to maintain it, ERPNext.
- If budget is the first constraint, start with the free plans from Zoho or Odoo and see what they cover.
Questions owners ask us
What makes a fabrication shop different for ERP?
Orders come as emails with drawings, material moves on challans, and cash comes in late. The dues, PO and document workflow matters more than machine scheduling for many small shops.
Can I use two systems together?
Some businesses do: one for books and one for the office workflow. Decide which is the source of truth for each record first.
Is per-user pricing a problem?
It can be, if you want the person at the gate or on the floor to use the system. Compare the total for the number of people who will really touch it.
How should I run a trial?
Use real work: last month's POs, one overdue party, one challan. Time each task.
Where to look next
Top 10 ERP software for manufacturers in India, How to choose an ERP for a small manufacturer and Ten questions to ask before you pay. To try Fab ERP on your own books, see plans and prices or book a walkthrough.