Guide

Guide

Guide

Wholesale distribution software and distribution ERPs: 12 systems compared, with prices

Wholesale distribution software, also called distribution management software or a distribution ERP, runs a distributor's orders, pricing, stock, purchasing and invoicing in one system. The right one depends on how you sell: Epicor Prophet 21 or Infor CloudSuite Distribution for industrial and multi-branch distributors, Epicor Eclipse for electrical, plumbing and HVAC counters, NetSuite or Acumatica for multi-entity growth, Business Central at $80 to $110 a user a month inside Microsoft 365, and Odoo or Zoho Inventory under 20 people. Only 4 of the 12 systems here publish a price on their own site. Whichever you choose, customer orders and supplier dates still arrive by email and PDF; Morsa, which publishes this guide, does that order entry and supplier chasing on top of the ERP.

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Wholesale distribution software, also called distribution management software or a distribution ERP, runs a distributor’s orders, pricing, stock, purchasing and invoicing in one system. The right one depends on how you sell: Epicor Prophet 21 or Infor CloudSuite Distribution for industrial and multi-branch distributors, Epicor Eclipse for electrical, plumbing and HVAC counters, NetSuite or Acumatica for multi-entity growth, Business Central at $80 to $110 a user a month inside Microsoft 365, and Odoo or Zoho Inventory under 20 people. Only 4 of the 12 systems here publish a price on their own site. Whichever you choose, customer orders and supplier dates still arrive by email and PDF; Morsa, which publishes this guide, does that order entry and supplier chasing on top of the ERP.

Morsa publishes this guide. We re-read every vendor’s site on 25 October 2026, or an Internet Archive capture where the site blocks automated reading (Epicor, NetSuite, Sage), and every partner or research price carries its source.

Quick answer: which wholesale distribution software fits your business?

Find your business in the left column, then demo the shortlist with your own ugliest orders.

If you are

Shortlist

Price, read 25 October 2026

An industrial, MRO or multi-branch distributor, 50 to 500 people

Epicor Prophet 21, Infor CloudSuite Distribution

Quote only; Prophet 21 about $1,000 a month plus $100 to $175 per user (ERP Research)

An electrical, plumbing, HVAC or PVF distributor with a busy counter

Epicor Eclipse

Quote only

Several entities or countries, finance-led

NetSuite, Sage X3, Acumatica

Quote only; NetSuite from $999 a month plus users (BrokenRubik)

A business with many occasional users: warehouse, drivers, reps

Acumatica Distribution Edition

APEX bundle from under $1,495 a month, unlimited users

A Microsoft 365 business that wants a list price

Business Central

$80 to $110 per user per month

Under 20 people, leaving spreadsheets

Odoo, Zoho Inventory

Odoo $24.90 per user a month for the first 12 months; Zoho $29 to $249 a month

A route, beverage, steel or lumber distributor

A trade-specific system

See distribution software by industry

What is wholesale distribution software?

Wholesale distribution software is the system of record for a business that buys in bulk and resells to other businesses. It holds what each customer ordered, at what price, from which warehouse, and what the business owes and is owed. Buyers also call it distribution software, distribution management software, wholesale software or a distribution ERP (enterprise resource planning system). For a distributor with 50 to 300 people, those names usually describe one purchase: an ERP that runs orders, pricing, stock, purchasing and accounting in one database.

The stakes are mostly inventory. US merchant wholesalers sold $801.3 billion in July 2026 and held $958.9 billion of inventory at the end of that month, an inventories-to-sales ratio of 1.20, down from 1.28 a year earlier [1]. A distributor carries more than a month of sales on its shelves, so the system that decides what to buy, where to stock it and what to promise also decides how much cash sits on those shelves.

The payroll side is large too. US wholesale trade employed 6,078.3 thousand people in September 2026, at average hourly earnings of $40.06, both preliminary figures [2]. The system you choose decides how much of that time goes to keying and chasing, and how much goes to customers.

What does distribution ERP software do?

A distribution ERP covers eight jobs. Most distributors buy the first six in one system and add the last two as they need them.

  1. Order management. Quotes, sales orders, backorders, drop ships, returns and counter sales.

  2. Pricing. Customer and contract prices, price matrices, rebates and margin floors.

  3. Inventory. Stock by warehouse and bin, lots and serial numbers, units of measure and kits.

  4. Purchasing and replenishment. Reorder points, demand forecasts, vendor lead times and purchase orders.

  5. Warehouse management. Receiving, putaway, picking, packing, cycle counts and shipping.

  6. Accounting. Receivables, payables, credit limits and landed cost.

  7. Customer channels. B2B ecommerce, EDI with large customers and customer portals.

  8. Field and delivery. Rep visits, van sales, routes and proof of delivery.

Which type of distribution software do you need?

Seven kinds of software sell under this label. Nearly every distributor needs the first; the rest depend on how you sell and deliver.

Type

What it runs

Examples and published prices

Distribution ERP

Orders, pricing, inventory, purchasing and accounting in one database

Prophet 21, Eclipse, Infor CloudSuite Distribution, NetSuite, Acumatica, Business Central

Trade-specific system

One trade’s details: route settlement, three-tier beverage rules, lumber tallies, metal heat numbers

eoStar, Encompass, Epicor BisTrack, ECI Spruce, Invera INVEX

Warehouse management (WMS)

Bins, directed picking, cycle counts and shipping

WMS modules from Epicor, Acumatica and NetSuite

Route, field sales and DSD app

Rep visits, van orders and route settlement

SimplyDepo, $49 to $69 a rep a month billed yearly; Orderwerks, $60 a user a month

B2B ordering portal

Customer self-service ordering at contract prices

inSitu Sales, from $200 a month for 3 users; WizCommerce, quote only

Inventory app for small wholesalers

Stock, orders and marketplace sync without a full ERP

Zoho Inventory, Odoo

Integration layer

Syncs the ERP with ecommerce, CRM, EDI and WMS

DCKAP, flat fee, quote only

The route app and portal prices in the table come from each vendor’s own pricing page [24][25]. The integration layer matters more than it looks. DCKAP connects Prophet 21, Eclipse, BisTrack, Sage, SAP, Distribution One, NetSuite, Dynamics 365 and other ERPs to ecommerce, CRM and EDI, prices every plan as a flat fee with no per-record or per-transaction charge, and publishes onboarding times of 7 weeks to 12 to 16 weeks depending on the plan [26][27].

Route sales, beverage, steel and lumber distributors often run a trade-specific system instead of, or beside, a general distribution ERP. Distribution software by industry compares those systems trade by trade, with prices.

The 12 best wholesale distribution software systems in 2026

Twelve systems, ordered by type, not scored: distribution-specialist ERPs first (Prophet 21, Eclipse, Infor), then general mid-market ERPs (NetSuite, Acumatica, Business Central, SAP Business One, Sage), then ERPs for distributors that also make or serve a few industries (SYSPRO, VAI), then small-business tools (Odoo, Zoho Inventory). We read every fact on the vendor’s own site on 25 October 2026, or on an Internet Archive capture where the site blocks automated reading. Where the vendor publishes no price, the entry says quote only and gives any partner or research figure we could read that day, with its source.

1. Epicor Prophet 21

Epicor calls Prophet 21 “the only ERP designed by distributors for distributors,” with an automatic forecast engine that uses machine learning to pick a forecast model, and a warehouse management system built for distributors [3].

  • Best for: mid-sized industrial, MRO and specialty distributors with several branches.

  • Strengths: deep distribution functions, and an ecosystem to match: integration vendors such as DCKAP list it first among the ERPs they connect [26].

  • Watch out for: an implementation project, not a subscription you switch on. Epicor has scheduled the final on-premises feature release, 2028.1, for May 2028; new features after that ship in the Epicor Cloud only [5].

  • Price: quote only. ERP Research estimates a platform fee of about $1,000 a month plus $100 to $175 per user per month, and $50,000 to $500,000 for implementation [4].

2. Epicor Eclipse

In Epicor’s words, Eclipse is “the top ERP system designed specifically for electrical, plumbing, HVAC and PVF wholesale distributors.” Epicor says it is strongest at front counter work, work queues, job management, inventory forecasting, EDI and contract pricing, and sells it as Eclipse Cloud, a private-cloud subscription [6].

  • Best for: electrical, plumbing, HVAC and PVF distributors with counter sales and job quoting.

  • Strengths: built around trade-counter and project workflows.

  • Watch out for: narrow by design; outside those trades, Prophet 21 or Infor fit better. Eclipse is not being retired; is Epicor Eclipse going away? has the release dates.

  • Price: quote only. We found no credible published figure.

3. Infor CloudSuite Distribution (SX.e and CSD)

Infor describes CloudSuite Distribution as “a comprehensive, cloud-based ERP tailored for regional, North American-based distributors” [7]. It is the cloud version of Infor Distribution SX.e, which sits at its core, so SX.e customers move to it as an upgrade [9]. A larger edition, CloudSuite Distribution Enterprise, adds multi-site, multi-company and multi-currency operations [7]. Infor says over 4,000 distribution companies run on its software, in building materials, electrical, industrial, food and beverage, janitorial, and plumbing and HVAC [8].

  • Best for: regional North American distributors that want a distribution specialist in the cloud.

  • Strengths: trade features such as supplier rebate management, plus warranty and claims management for plumbing and HVAC [8]; two editions, so a growing distributor stays with one vendor.

  • Watch out for: cloud-first; Infor sells its AI agents as a separate package, the Velocity Suite, at a flat fee [7].

  • Price: quote only.

4. Oracle NetSuite

NetSuite pitches one system for finance, inventory, orders, warehouses, suppliers and customers, built to handle “multi-entity ops, complex pricing, and high-volume fulfillment” [10].

  • Best for: finance-led distributors with several entities or countries.

  • Strengths: multi-entity accounting, with CRM included in the base platform [11] and ecommerce in the same suite.

  • Watch out for: a general ERP, less tuned to trade counters than Eclipse or Prophet 21; modules add up.

  • Price: quote only. NetSuite says customers pay an annual fee made of the core platform, optional modules and number of users, plus a one-time implementation fee [10]. NetSuite consultancy BrokenRubik puts the base platform at $999 a month and full user licenses at $129 to $199 per user per month, with implementation from $25,000 to more than $500,000 [11].

5. Acumatica Distribution Edition

Acumatica’s distribution edition covers inventory, purchasing, warehouse operations and omnichannel sales. It tracks products by lot or serial number, handles matrix items such as size and color, and assembles or breaks kits as demand changes [12].

  • Best for: distributors with many occasional users: warehouse staff, drivers, reps and managers.

  • Strengths: “Unlimited Users. One Transparent Price.” You pay for applications and usage, not seats [12].

  • Watch out for: the APEX bundle is sold as SaaS only, and Acumatica tells you before you finish its calculator if your business does not fit it [13]. Outside APEX, the price depends on applications, transaction volume and the partner.

  • Price: APEX for Distribution has a “starting price under USD 1,495 monthly” with implementation and support built in [13]. Through a partner, Cargas puts the entry General Business Edition at $6,396 a year and implementation at $60,000 to $125,000 [14].

6. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Microsoft’s ERP for small and mid-sized businesses, with Copilot included in Essentials; Premium adds service management and manufacturing. Microsoft’s Sales Order Agent and Payables Agent run on Copilot Credits, sold separately [15].

  • Best for: distributors already on Microsoft 365 that want a published price.

  • Strengths: the clearest pricing among the full ERPs here, a free 30-day trial and a large partner network [15].

  • Watch out for: Microsoft sends buyers to a partner “to purchase or to get an assessment, consulting services, or additional pricing” [15], and specialized distribution needs may require partner apps or extensions [28].

  • Price: Essentials $80, Premium $110 and Team Members $8 per user per month, paid yearly [15].

7. SAP Business One

SAP calls Business One “a single, affordable ERP solution for managing your entire company” and says over 85,000 customers run it, across wholesale distribution, light manufacturing, retail and professional services [16].

  • Best for: small and mid-sized distributors inside an SAP-run group.

  • Strengths: one vendor from subsidiary to headquarters, and a large partner network.

  • Watch out for: sold and supported through partners, so the partner matters as much as the product; B2B ecommerce and field sales usually need extra tools [28].

  • Price: quote only; SAP’s page offers “Request a quote” [16].

8. Sage X3, Sage 100 and Sage Intacct

Sage offers three routes: Sage X3, “an agile ERP solution for wholesale distributors” that need global options; Sage 100, for “medium-to-large manufacturing and distribution businesses”; and Distribution Operations for Sage Intacct, “ideal for small to mid-sized distributors” [17].

  • Best for: distributors already on Sage accounting.

  • Strengths: Sage cites over 40 years of work with distributors [17]. Kissinger Associates, a Sage and Acumatica partner, rates Sage 100 best for established distributors with one or two locations that want a lower total cost [29].

  • Watch out for: three different products; confirm which one a partner is proposing, and why.

  • Price: quote only. Rand Group gives a very rough Sage 100 starting price of $94 per user per month [18]. RKL eSolutions says a Sage X3 subscription starts at about $25,000 a year before implementation, which typically totals $200,000 to $300,000 [19].

9. SYSPRO

A distribution and manufacturing ERP with sales order management, quotations and estimates, warehouse management, lot traceability and landed cost tracking [20].

  • Best for: distributors that also assemble, kit or manufacture.

  • Strengths: manufacturing and distribution in one system.

  • Watch out for: if you only distribute, compare it with the distribution specialists above before you sign.

  • Price: quote only.

10. VAI S2K Enterprise

VAI says its S2K Enterprise ERP “is specifically designed for wholesale distributors,” with industry versions for durable goods, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical distributors [21].

  • Best for: mid-sized distributors in durable goods, food and beverage or pharmaceuticals.

  • Strengths: a distribution-only focus, with pricing, rebates, warehouse management and CRM in one system [21].

  • Watch out for: VAI’s own answers on implementation cost and timeline give no figures [21]; get both in writing.

  • Price: quote only.

11. Odoo

Odoo’s Standard and Custom plans “include all apps for a single fee,” including Sales, eCommerce, Inventory and Accounting [22].

  • Best for: small distributors that want inventory, sales, ecommerce and accounting in one low-cost system.

  • Strengths: published prices, a One App Free plan with unlimited users, and Light Users at $8.90 a month [22].

  • Watch out for: distribution depth depends on your partner and configuration, and the yearly discount lasts 12 months [22].

  • Price: Standard $24.90 per user per month billed yearly for the first 12 months, then $31.10; Custom $49.00, then $61.00 [22].

12. Zoho Inventory

Inventory and order management for small wholesalers and online sellers, with multi-location stock, backorders, drop shipments and batch tracking [23].

  • Best for: wholesalers under about 20 people.

  • Strengths: a free plan for 50 orders, 1 user and 1 location, and clear limits on every plan [23].

  • Watch out for: not a distribution ERP; the largest plan stops at 10 users and 15,000 orders a month [23].

  • Price: per organization per month, billed annually: Standard $29 (500 orders, 3 users), Premium $79 (3,000 orders, 5 users), Plus $129 (7,500 orders, 10 users), Enterprise $249 (15,000 orders, 10 users) [23].

Trade shortlists add more names: DDI Inform for fasteners, bearings and janitorial supply, Klipboard and Savance for electrical, HVAC and plumbing, Epicor BisTrack, ECI Spruce and DMSi Agility for lumber, and eoStar and Encompass for beverage. They are compared in distribution software by industry.

Wholesale distribution software compared

System

Best for

Price, read 25 October 2026

Epicor Prophet 21

Industrial and MRO, multi-branch

Quote only; about $1,000 a month plus $100 to $175 per user (ERP Research)

Epicor Eclipse

Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, PVF

Quote only

Infor CloudSuite Distribution

Regional North American distributors

Quote only

Oracle NetSuite

Multi-entity, finance-led

Quote only; $999 a month plus $129 to $199 per user (BrokenRubik)

Acumatica Distribution Edition

Many occasional users

APEX from under $1,495 a month, unlimited users

Business Central

Microsoft 365 businesses

$80 to $110 per user per month

SAP Business One

SAP-run groups

Quote only

Sage X3, 100 and Intacct

Existing Sage customers

Quote only; Sage 100 from about $94 per user (Rand Group)

SYSPRO

Distributors that also make

Quote only

VAI S2K Enterprise

Durable goods, food, pharmaceuticals

Quote only

Odoo

Small, low-cost, all-in-one

$24.90 per user per month for the first 12 months, then $31.10

Zoho Inventory

Under 20 people

$29 to $249 per month

How much does wholesale distribution software cost?

Four of the twelve systems publish a price on their own site: Business Central, Odoo, Zoho Inventory and Acumatica’s APEX bundle. For three more, Prophet 21, NetSuite and Sage, partners and research firms publish estimates. Here is the three-year subscription cost for a distributor with 25 ERP users, using only those published figures. It is an estimate of software fees, not a quote.

System and plan

How it is priced

3 years, 25 users

Odoo Standard

Published: $24.90 per user per month in year one, then $31.10

$26,130

Acumatica APEX for Distribution

Published: under $1,495 a month, unlimited users, implementation and support included

Under $53,820

Business Central Essentials

Published: $80 per user per month, paid yearly

$72,000

Business Central Premium

Published: $110 per user per month, paid yearly

$99,000

Epicor Prophet 21

Estimate by ERP Research, not an Epicor price: about $1,000 a month plus $100 to $175 per user per month

Estimate: $126,000 to $193,500

Oracle NetSuite

Estimate by BrokenRubik, not an Oracle price: $999 a month plus $129 to $199 per user per month

Estimate: $152,064 to $215,064

The arithmetic: Odoo is 25 × $24.90 × 12 plus 25 × $31.10 × 24. Business Central Essentials is 25 × $80 × 36. Prophet 21 is ($1,000 + 25 × $100) × 36 at the low end and ($1,000 + 25 × $175) × 36 at the high end; NetSuite is ($999 + 25 × $129) × 36 to ($999 + 25 × $199) × 36, before any modules. Zoho Inventory is left out because its largest plan includes 10 users.

Implementation is where budgets break. Published ranges run from $50,000 to $500,000 for Prophet 21 [4], $25,000 to more than $500,000 for NetSuite [11], $60,000 to $125,000 for Acumatica through a partner [14] and $200,000 to $300,000 for Sage X3 [19]. Kissinger Associates puts mid-market distribution projects on Acumatica, Sage 100 or Sage Intacct at $30,000 to $150,000 or more, and NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 projects often from $75,000. Its timelines run two to five months for Sage 100, three to six for Acumatica and Sage Intacct, four to eight for NetSuite and SAP Business One, and four to twelve for Business Central [29]. Panorama Consulting Group’s 2026 ERP Report found that more than a quarter of organizations went over their project budgets, with additional technology needs the leading cause [30]. Ask for the implementation quote in writing before the second demo.

Per-vendor cost breakdowns, with worked examples for 50- and 200-person companies: Epicor, NetSuite, Acumatica, Business Central, SAP Business One and Sage 100.

How do you choose wholesale distribution software?

Choose by how you sell, then by who will implement it, then by price.

If your business

Shortlist

Ask in the demo

Sells electrical, plumbing, HVAC or PVF over a counter

Eclipse

Show a counter sale with a job price and a backorder

Runs industrial or MRO branches

Prophet 21, Infor CloudSuite Distribution

Show a branch transfer and a vendor lead-time change

Lives in Microsoft 365, 10 to 100 users

Business Central with a distribution partner

Which partner app handles contract pricing and rebates?

Operates several entities or countries

NetSuite, Sage X3, Acumatica

Show intercompany orders and consolidated inventory

Assembles, kits or makes part of what it sells

SYSPRO, Acumatica

Show a kit built to order and its landed cost

Has fewer than 20 people

Zoho Inventory, Odoo

What happens when we pass the order or user limit?

Delivers on routes, or sells beverage, steel or lumber

A trade-specific system

Settle one route, or trace one heat number, on screen

Chris Devault, Senior Manager of Client Services at Panorama, names the failure mode: organizations “often discover fatal misfits late in the project” [30]. Test your three ugliest workflows in the demo, not the vendor’s script: a special-order line, a contract price change and a partial shipment. Kissinger Associates adds a red flag worth repeating: a vendor that cannot demo EDI and ecommerce working live alongside core inventory and financials [29]. If you also make products, compare with the best ERP for manufacturing.

US wholesale, July 2026

Distributors carry more than a month of sales in stock

$801.3B

sales by US merchant wholesalers in July 2026, up 13.0% from July 2025

US Census Bureau, 10 September 2026

$958.9B

of inventory held at the end of July 2026

US Census Bureau, 10 September 2026

1.20

inventories-to-sales ratio, down from 1.28 a year earlier

US Census Bureau, 10 September 2026

Monthly Wholesale Trade Report, July 2026, seasonally adjusted, merchant wholesalers except manufacturers' sales branches and offices.

What no distribution ERP does: the work between the systems

Every system above records the business. None of them notices on its own that a vendor pushed a PO two weeks, that three customer orders were promised against that PO, or that a customer emailed a 40-line order as a PDF with its own part numbers. Picture a normal Tuesday at a 150-person industrial distributor on Prophet 21 (an illustrative example, not a customer):

  • 7:30 a.m. The shared orders inbox holds 60 new emails: PDF purchase orders, a spreadsheet and a phone photo of a contractor’s handwritten list. Four customer service reps key them line by line, matching each customer’s part numbers to the item master.

  • 10:15 a.m. A bearing supplier replies on an old thread that two PO lines will ship two weeks late. The buyer reads it between calls; nobody connects it to the three customer orders promised against those lines.

  • 1:00 p.m. Three customers ask where their orders are. A rep checks Prophet 21, then the carrier’s site, then writes back.

  • 4:30 p.m. The buyer phones four suppliers for dates that never get typed back into the ERP.

Distribution Strategy Group’s survey of 233 wholesale distribution executives found that 93% consider AI a strategic priority, while 16% have deployed it across multiple business functions [31].

Morsa, the company that publishes this guide, builds an AI layer for exactly this work, on top of whichever system you pick. Morsa is the AI COO for operations at manufacturers and distributors: an AI agent that does daily operations work inside the ERP, email and phone your team already uses. Here is the same Tuesday with Morsa running:

  • 7:30 a.m. Morsa reads each emailed, PDF or photographed order, matches the customer’s part numbers to yours and enters the order in Prophet 21. When a line is ambiguous, it asks the rep instead of guessing.

  • 10:15 a.m. It reads the bearing supplier’s reply, updates the PO dates and shows which three customer orders the slip hits, with a proposed fix the buyer approves in one tap.

  • 1:00 p.m. It answers the where-is-my-order emails with the ETA and carrier tracking, and routes anything unusual to a person.

  • 4:30 p.m. The phone round is gone: Morsa has already chased the open POs from the buyer’s own mailbox, in the buyer’s words.

People still approve what matters: the order lines Morsa is unsure of, price exceptions and credit holds, and the fix for each slip. Because it reads and writes several ERPs at once, a distributor mid-migration can run it on the old and new system together. It works through email, Teams, WhatsApp and phone as well as the ERP, and can run in the cloud, a private cloud or fully on-premise.

The labor math is simple. At the wholesale average of $40.06 an hour [2], each hour a day that one person spends keying orders or chasing dates costs about $10,000 a year (1 hour × $40.06 × 250 working days = $10,015), before benefits.

J4S, a 120-person glass plant, raised on-time completion of operational commitments from about 30% to about 75% across about 900 commitments in four weeks; Morsa went live there in two days and the ERP stayed in place (the J4S story). At JRG Automotive, Morsa caught 5 of 8 production-stopping material shortages early enough to act, saving $2 million. Morsa starts with a pilot on one live problem. The pilot is free when no implementation work is needed; otherwise there is a minimal implementation cost, refunded if the pilot shows no value. After that, the fee is a share of the value created, agreed after the pilot. There are no per-seat licenses (how pricing works).

To compare order entry tools on their own, see AI order entry for distributors. To see it on your own orders, book a demo.

Bottom line

Wholesale distribution software is your system of record for orders, prices, stock and money, so choose it by how you sell. Industrial and multi-branch distributors should start with Prophet 21 or Infor CloudSuite Distribution; electrical, plumbing, HVAC and PVF counters with Eclipse; multi-entity businesses with NetSuite, Sage X3 or Acumatica; Microsoft 365 shops with Business Central at a published $80 to $110 a user; and businesses under 20 people with Odoo or Zoho Inventory. Eight of the twelve publish no price on their own site, so get the implementation price in writing before the second demo. If order entry and supplier chasing are where your team’s hours go, the setup that works is that ERP with Morsa on top: the ERP keeps the record, and Morsa does the order entry, supplier chasing and where-is-my-order work the ERP leaves to your team.

Narrower questions have their own guides: wholesale order management software, B2B ordering portals for distributors, ERP for food manufacturers and food distributors and Infor pricing.

For the selection itself, our ERP selection checklist has the scorecard, RFP template and demo script; and since warehouse management is the module distributors most often price twice, our WMS cost guide compares each ERP’s own warehouse module with standalone WMS prices.

For distributors deciding between their own warehouse and outsourced fulfillment, our 3PL pricing guide prices receiving, pallet storage, pick and pack and minimums, and says when keeping your own warehouse is the better call. Planning more warehouse space? Our warehouse construction cost guide works through a 30,000 square foot build line by line, from land and dock doors to racking and soft costs.

To keep on-hand quantities right without an annual wall-to-wall count, see our cycle count program: frequencies by ABC class, tolerance bands and a variance root-cause table.

Sources

  1. US Census Bureau, Monthly Wholesale Trade Report, July 2026 (released 10 September 2026): https://www.census.gov/wholesale/current/index.html (read 24 September 2026; census.gov returned a server error on 25 October 2026)

  2. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wholesale Trade: NAICS 42, Industries at a Glance (September 2026, preliminary): https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag42.htm (read 25 October 2026 through an Internet Archive capture of 12 October 2026)

  3. Epicor, Prophet 21 product page: https://www.epicor.com/en-us/products/enterprise-resource-planning-erp/prophet-21/ (read 25 October 2026 through an Internet Archive capture of 16 October 2026)

  4. ERP Research, Epicor Prophet 21 (P21) Pricing 2026: https://erpresearch.com/pricing/epicor-prophet-21 (read 25 October 2026)

  5. Epicor, Epicor Announces Schedule of Final On Premises Feature Releases for Kinetic, Prophet 21, and BisTrack (6 January 2026): https://www.epicor.com/en-us/newsroom/news-releases/epicor-announces-schedule-of-final-on-premises-feature-releases/ (read 25 October 2026 through an Internet Archive capture of 7 June 2026)

  6. Epicor, Eclipse product page: https://www.epicor.com/en-us/products/enterprise-resource-planning-erp/eclipse/ (read 25 October 2026 through an Internet Archive capture of 2 August 2026)

  7. Infor, Distribution ERP: https://www.infor.com/solutions/erp/distribution (read 25 October 2026)

  8. Infor, Wholesale distribution software: https://www.infor.com/industries/distribution (read 25 October 2026)

  9. Aktion Associates (Infor partner), Top 5 Reasons to Move from Infor SX.e to Infor CloudSuite Distribution: https://www.aktion.com/resources/top-5-reasons-to-move-from-sxe-to-csd/ (read 25 October 2026)

  10. Oracle NetSuite, Wholesale distribution: https://www.netsuite.com/portal/industries/wholesale.shtml (read 25 October 2026 through an Internet Archive capture of 21 May 2026)

  11. BrokenRubik (NetSuite consultancy), NetSuite Pricing: The Definitive Guide, last reviewed 21 October 2026: https://www.brokenrubik.com/blog/netsuite-pricing-the-definitive-guide (read 25 October 2026)

  12. Acumatica, Distribution management: https://www.acumatica.com/cloud-erp-software/distribution-management/ and pricing: https://www.acumatica.com/pricing/ (read 25 October 2026)

  13. Acumatica, APEX for Distribution pricing calculator: https://www.acumatica.com/apex/distribution/ (read 25 October 2026)

  14. Cargas (Acumatica partner), Acumatica pricing guide: https://cargas.com/software/acumatica/pricing/ (read 25 October 2026)

  15. Microsoft, Dynamics 365 Business Central pricing: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/products/business-central/pricing (read 25 October 2026)

  16. SAP, SAP Business One: https://www.sap.com/products/erp/business-one.html (read 25 October 2026)

  17. Sage, Wholesale distribution: https://www.sage.com/en-us/industry/wholesale-distribution/ (read 25 October 2026 through an Internet Archive capture of 13 April 2026)

  18. Rand Group (Sage partner), Sage 100 pricing guide: https://www.randgroup.com/insights/sage/sage-100/sage-100-pricing-guide/ (read 25 October 2026)

  19. RKL eSolutions (Sage partner), Sage X3 cost: https://www.rklesolutions.com/sage-x3-cost (read 25 October 2026)

  20. SYSPRO, Distribution management: https://us.syspro.com/business-software/business-management-software/distribution-management/ (read 25 October 2026)

  21. VAI, Wholesale distribution ERP: https://www.vai.net/solutions/wholesale-distribution (read 25 October 2026)

  22. Odoo, Pricing: https://www.odoo.com/pricing (read 25 October 2026)

  23. Zoho, Zoho Inventory pricing: https://www.zoho.com/us/inventory/pricing/ (read 25 October 2026)

  24. SimplyDepo, Pricing: https://simplydepo.com/pricing/ and Distribution management software: https://simplydepo.com/distribution-management-software/ (read 25 October 2026)

  25. Orderwerks, Pricing: https://www.orderwerks.com/pricing and inSitu Sales, Pricing: https://insitusales.com/en/pricing/ (read 25 October 2026)

  26. DCKAP, home page: https://www.dckap.com/ (read 25 October 2026)

  27. DCKAP, Pricing: https://www.dckap.com/pricing/ (read 25 October 2026)

  28. WizCommerce, 10 Best Wholesale Distribution Software Compared (2026), last updated 8 October 2026: https://wizcommerce.com/blog/top-wholesale-distribution-software/ (read 25 October 2026)

  29. Kissinger Associates (Acumatica and Sage partner), The Best ERP for Wholesale Distributors: A 2026 Buyer’s Guide, updated 1 September 2026: https://www.kissingerassoc.com/blog/best-erp-for-wholesale-distributors (read 25 October 2026)

  30. Panorama Consulting Group, 2026 ERP Report release (4 March 2026): https://www.panorama-consulting.com/panorama-consulting-group-releases-latest-study-of-erp-implementation-outcomes-across-the-globe/ (read 25 October 2026)

  31. Mark Brohan, AI Top 25 Reveals a Wide Execution Gap Across Wholesale Distribution, Distribution Strategy Group (9 September 2026): https://distributionstrategy.com/2026/09/ai-top-25-reveals-a-wide-execution-gap-across-wholesale-distribution/ (read 25 October 2026)

  32. Morsa, J4S customer story: https://morsa.ai/customers/j4s (read 25 October 2026)

  33. Morsa, Pricing: https://morsa.ai/pricing (read 25 October 2026)

Keep reading

Keep reading

Keep reading

Related pages

Guide

Guide

Guide

Distribution software by industry: route accounting software, DSD and six trades compared

Each trade runs its own kind of distribution software. DSD and route sales distributors run route accounting software beside QuickBooks or their ERP, priced from $49 a rep a month (SimplyDepo, billed yearly), $60 a user (Orderwerks) or $200 a month for three users (inSitu Sales). Industrial and MRO distributors run Prophet 21, Infor CloudSuite Distribution or DDI Inform, electrical, plumbing and HVAC distributors Epicor Eclipse or Infor CloudSuite Distribution, beverage distributors VIP, eoStar or Encompass, steel service centers Invera INVEX or Enmark Eniteo, and lumber yards Epicor BisTrack, ECI Spruce or DMSi Agility. Whichever system fits your trade, some orders and supplier ship dates still arrive by email, PDF and phone; Morsa, which publishes this guide, does that work on top of it.

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Guide

Guide

Guide

AI Order Entry for Distributors: The Sales Order Automation Guide

AI order entry, which the software market calls sales order automation, reads a customer's order wherever it arrives, matches each line to your item master, checks price and stock in the ERP, and creates a draft sales order for a person to approve or post. Morsa is the best choice in 2026 because it enters the order and then keeps the promise made on it.

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Guide

Guide

Guide

Epicor pricing 2026: how much Kinetic and Prophet 21 cost

Epicor does not publish list prices; every Epicor deal is quoted. Third-party sites publish ranges: Epicor Kinetic cloud at about $100 to $200 per user per month plus a platform fee of about $1,500 to $2,500 a month (ERP Research), and Prophet 21 at about $100 to $175 per user per month plus about $1,000 a month (ERP Research). Implementation adds roughly $50,000 to $500,000. No credible published price exists for Eclipse. The bigger, unbudgeted cost is the daily work around the ERP, which Morsa, the AI operations layer, takes on.

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FAQs

FAQs

FAQs

Questions people ask

Questions people ask

Still have a question? A founder will answer.

01

What is the best software for wholesale distribution?

The best wholesale distribution software is a distribution ERP built for how you sell. Industrial and multi-branch distributors should shortlist Epicor Prophet 21 or Infor CloudSuite Distribution, electrical and plumbing distributors Epicor Eclipse, multi-entity businesses NetSuite or Acumatica, and businesses under 20 people Odoo or Zoho Inventory. Route, beverage, steel and lumber distributors often run a trade-specific system.

02

Is wholesale distribution software the same as an ERP?

For most distributors with 50 or more people, yes: a distribution ERP is distribution management software with accounting built in. The term also covers narrower tools, such as warehouse management systems, route and field sales apps, B2B ordering portals and inventory apps, which sit beside or below the ERP.

03

How much does wholesale distribution software cost?

Four of the twelve systems in this guide publish a price: Business Central at $80 to $110 per user per month, Odoo at $24.90 per user per month for the first 12 months, Zoho Inventory at $29 to $249 per organization per month and Acumatica's APEX bundle from under $1,495 a month. For 25 users over three years, published subscriptions run from about $26,000 for Odoo to $99,000 for Business Central Premium before implementation, and partner estimates for Prophet 21 and NetSuite run higher.

04

What is the best ERP for a small distributor?

Under about 20 people, Odoo and Zoho Inventory are the practical starting points because both publish prices: Odoo Standard was $24.90 per user per month billed yearly in the first year, and Zoho Inventory $29 to $249 per organization per month, with a free plan for 50 orders a month. Between 20 and 100 people, Acumatica's APEX bundle and Business Central are the two with list prices.

05

What is the best CRM for wholesale distribution?

Start with the CRM inside your ERP. NetSuite includes CRM in its base platform, according to NetSuite consultancy BrokenRubik, and SAP Business One and VAI S2K cover customer relationships in the same system. A separate CRM makes sense when reps need account planning the ERP does not support; make sure it reads the ERP's prices and order history.

06

What does DMS mean in distribution?

In US wholesale, DMS usually means distribution management software: the ERP-style system that runs orders, inventory, purchasing and invoicing. Field sales vendors such as SimplyDepo also use the term for software that runs routes, rep orders and deliveries and syncs to an accounting system.

07

What is replacing ERP?

Nothing is replacing the ERP as a distributor's system of record, because orders, prices, stock and money still need one database. What is changing is the work around it. Distribution Strategy Group found that 93% of distribution executives call AI a strategic priority, though only 16% have deployed it across several functions; in our view, it lands first on the work around the ERP: reading emailed orders, chasing suppliers and answering customers, then writing the results back.

08

Do distribution ERPs include EDI?

Most handle EDI through certified integrations rather than fully native functions, according to Kissinger Associates, an Acumatica and Sage partner, and EDI is one of the most common sources of unexpected implementation cost. Ask to see EDI orders flowing live in the demo, alongside inventory and order entry.

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