Best Purchase Order Software Compared

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If your purchase order software is obsolete, kiss your growth and efficiency goodbye. That’s why we’ve thoroughly researched the top 20 providers. Narrowed it down to seven and listed dozens of features that will help you improve your business ordering. Our researched revealed PurchaseControl is the best for most users. They have extremely easy automation for orders, payroll and everything you need for your entire PO workflow.

Best Purchase Order Software For Most Users

PO software eliminates tedious manual tasks. It makes tasks like tracking supplies with pen and paper automated. Clearly adding an advantage to your time-saving efforts.

These tools from PurchaseControl make accounts payables more efficient and automates sales purchases. They speed up approvals making things run smooth like silk. You can use PurchaseControl to tailor-make your PO workflow and delete manual errors from your business for good.

The Best Purchase Order Software Options to Consider:

1. PurchaseControl — Best For Most
2. Tradogram — Best For Purchase Order Tracking
3. Procurify — Best For Custom Approval Workflows
4. WorkflowMax — Best PO Software Accounting Features
5. Zycus — Best Industry-Specific Procurement Solutions
6. Brightpearl — Best Supplier Management Tool For Retailers
7. Ecomdash — Best For Omnichannel Ecommerce Sites

When it Makes Sense to Invest Into Purchase Order Software

If your business uses purchase orders for supplies, inventory, or services you can benefit from PO software. This is especially true for businesses using POs at scale throughout multiple departments.

If your bookkeeping department has challenges tracking your current purchase order process, upgrading to purchase order software will make things easier on them and more accurate overall. 

Many businesses struggle to order more supplies at the right time. This can lead to late orders, running out of stock, and slowing down operations due to lack of materials. Purchase order software helps eliminate these problems. 

Purchase order software can become a single source of truth for all vendor records, purchase details, tax information, and more. 

PO software empowers employees to submit purchase order requests through a simple requisition and approval process. An employee can submit a request, which is then sent to the appropriate decision-maker for approval. This process is much easier than verbal or paper requests that can be lost, forgotten, or have errors.

Overall, purchase order software is truly the only modern and efficient way to manage purchase orders from multiple suppliers and vendors, and businesses of any size will benefit from it. 

#1 – PurchaseControl — Best For Most

PurchaseControl software makes it easy to create new purchase orders and manage approvals from anywhere.

You will benefit from a deeper understanding of your spending with just a few clicks. 

PurchaseControl improves the entire procure-to-pay process. From PO requests to approvals, purchasing, tracking, reporting, and accounts payable. 

PurchaseControl really stands with its automation features. Using an automated PO process, companies improve workflows while eliminating manual errors. It’s easy to define unique purchasing workflows for each department.

Plus these automation features are really helpful for approval routing as well. 

Some of the other top features and benefits of PurchaseControl include:

• Supplier management, item catalogs, and inventory tools
• Documents are automatically uploaded and stored to the cloud
• Purchase tracking
• Spend management solutions
• Ensure purchases are placed with preferred suppliers
• 3-way and 2-way matching for accounts payable
• Full audit trail and complete visibility for each purchase order
• Integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and other popular accounting solutions

PurchaseControl supports every type of purchase order, including standard POs, contract POs, blanket POs, and planned POs. It’s trusted across a wide range of industries, like retail, logistics, healthcare, education, hospitality, and more.

Schedule a demo to get started. 

#2 – Tradogram — The Best For Purchase Order Tracking

Tradogram is a simple web-based procurement management solution. 

Businesses use the software in 80+ countries around the world. Companies have spent billions of dollars using Tradogram to facilitate those purchases. 

Tradogram simplifies purchase order management. It’s easy to create new purchase orders from scratch or duplicate previous POs for repeat purchases. The purchase order creation and management process can be facilitated from any device. You can create customized approval workflows as well. 

One unique standout of Tradogram is the ability to track the status of purchase orders. These capabilities are crucial for organizations with lots of departments and suppliers.

Tracking statuses include:

• Pending
• Approved
• Issued
• In-delivery
• Fully received
• Closed

You can filter POs by category, status, date, project, department, and more to gain full visibility into company spending. Tradogram supports three-way matching to reconcile purchase orders with invoices and delivery slips, making things easier for bookkeepers and accountants. 

Tradogram is free for single users and up to ten purchase orders per month. Plans start at $18 per user for unlimited purchase orders and other advanced features. 

#3 – Procurify — Best For Custom Approval Workflows

Procurify is a trusted solution for procurement and spend management. More than $7.1 billion in purchase order spending is managed through Procurify’s software.

It’s an all-in-one solution for end-to-end purchasing and expense management. 

The ability to customize PO workflows makes Procurify unique. You’ll have the option to create custom workflows based on users, departments, locations, dollar thresholds, and more. Decision-makers can set up desktop and mobile notifications to quickly approve new PO requests and avoid delays. 

Procurify even shows the real-time budget impacts of new purchase order requests so that management can make more informed decisions for approvals. 

Other key features and highlights of Procurify include:

• Vendor management tools
• Track vendor performance, quality, and price
• Spend analytics and reporting
• Purchase order mobile app
• Audit logs
• Customizable user permissions
• Accounting integrations
• Real-time budget tracking
• Expense management tools

Procurify eliminates the headaches associated with complex PO workflows. By setting up custom rules for different users and departments, the entire procurement process can flow with ease. Employees will have an easier time creating new POs while managers can approve those POs faster with more information at their fingertips. 

From the front lines to the back office, Procurify is truly an end-to-end solution for managing purchase orders and vendors. Book a demo to get started. 

#4 – WorkflowMax — Best PO Software Accounting Features

WorkflowMax is a bit unique compared to some of the other tools on our list. It’s actually branded as an all-in-one project management software. But purchase order management is included with a WorkflowMax subscription. 

WorkflowMax is a Xero product. For those of you who don’t know, Xero is an industry leader in the accounting software space. So, it should come as no surprise that WorkflowMax puts such a strong emphasis on the bookkeeping side of purchase orders.

The software makes it easy for accounting teams to track what’s being ordered, where it’s coming from, the cost of those orders, and the delivery status. All of this is crucial for accurate bookkeeping. 

The purchase order management module automatically pushes supplier invoices into Xero, so they won’t have to be manually entered again. Then payments can be approved directly from your Xero dashboard. 

With WorkflowMax, businesses have the ability to:

• Manage bulk purchase orders
• Separate items in a purchase order for multiple jobs
• View accurate job costing
• Eliminate double entries
• Manage future financial commitments
• Manage partial deliveries and outstanding orders
• Make partial payments for invoices with outstanding items

As an all-in-one solution, WorkflowMax also comes with tools for document management, job management, reporting, timesheets, quoting, client management, and more. 

The software is definitely designed for current Xero users or businesses interested in switching to Xero. If you’re happy with your existing accounting software and just want a standalone purchase order solution, WorkflowMax probably isn’t the best option for your business.

Pricing starts at $20 per month for a single user and $45 per month for up to three users. Try it free for 14 days. 

#5 – Zycus — Best Industry-Specific Procurement Solutions

Zycus is an AI-powered procurement suite with a wide range of applications and modules. They have solutions for invoicing, sourcing, contract management, supplier management, and more.

Using artificial intelligence, Zycus can automate procurement tasks and even offer predictive suggestions. 

Zycus works with organizations across the globe. One unique standout of this software provider is its industry-specific solutions. They have purchase order software for businesses in healthcare, retail, government, oil and gas, energy, utilities, electronics, automotive, and more. 

The purchase order software is designed to improve workflow efficiencies and reduce catalog-based order cycle times. 

Some of the key highlights and advantages of Zycus include:

• Add comments to POs for internal or supplier use
• Create custom PO templates and customized orders
• Automatic versioning to amend released orders
• Detailed audit trails
• Real-time spend visibility
• Set up workflow conditions and approval limits

With Zycus, companies can set up touchless PO generation with rules-based conditions. Zycus lives and breathes everything procurement. Whether you have advanced or basic needs, they definitely have a solution for your company.

Schedule a demo to get started.

#6 – Brightpearl — Best Supplier Management Tool For Retailers

Brightpearl is built specifically for retailers. It’s an all-in-one solution for managing purchase orders, inventory, and suppliers. 

With Brightpearl’s fully integrated purchasing and replenishing software, retail businesses can manage current inventory and sales performance to ensure demands are met. 

Brightpearl is built to scale. So, growing businesses have full control over their suppliers. It keeps a detailed audit log of all supplier contact records, including emails and call notes. The software makes it easy to manage supplier payments, orders, and other obligations.

Purchasing and merchandising teams will always know when orders are coming and when payments are due. 

Other key features of Brightpearl include:

• Automated purchasing (based on rules for quantity, inventory levels, etc.)
• Low inventory reporting
• Calculate actual landed costs of products (including insurance, tariffs, taxes, freight, etc.)
• Unit cost tracking
• FIFO inventory costing
• Batch invoice management

Overall, Brightpearl allows retailers to manage every action of a purchase order. It integrates with tools like Shopify, Xero, QuickBooks, ShipStation, eBay, Walmart, BigCommerce, Magento, and more. 

Brightpearl has additional tools for payments, CRM, warehouse management, shipping, fulfillment, and everything else a successful retail business needs to grow.

Book a demo to get started. 

#7 – Ecomdash — Best For Omnichannel Ecommerce Sites

As the name implies, Ecomdash is designed for ecommerce retailers. The software syncs with your sales channels to track inventory levels, so you can replenish inventory when stock is running low. 

Ecommerce sites of all sizes can benefit from Ecomdash.

Ecomdash connects with all the major ecommerce platforms, which is perfect for omnichannel retailers. It syncs with Shopify, eBay, Amazon, Magento, Walmart, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and more. 

Top features, benefits, and noteworthy highlights of Ecomdash include:

• Connect to an unlimited number of sales channels
• Create purchase orders from low inventory notifications
• Manage partial order deliveries
• Track average landed costs
• Set up custom alerts
• Manage suppliers
• Track shipments
• Export purchase orders to QuickBooks
• Unlimited users with eight different role permissions

Ecomdash has an intuitive restock forecast report, making it easy to figure out how often products should be reordered. They offer unlimited support via phone, email, and live chat. 

Plans start at $60 per month. Pricing is based on monthly sales order volume. You can try Ecomdash for free with a 15-day trial.

Methodology For Choosing The Best Purchase Order Software

With so many options to choose from, finding the best purchase order software for your business can be tough. But certain factors can help ease the buying process. Take the following methodology into consideration as you’re shopping around and evaluating different solutions.

Automated Purchase Orders

Automated POs are generated when certain conditions are met. For example, low inventory could automatically trigger a new purchase order. 

This is an important feature for businesses that want to eliminate manual dependencies and reduce the risk of user error. But this is reliant on software that can facilitate your needs with automated workflows and complex rules management. For example, you’d want to ensure that the right suppliers are being used for automated POs.

Approvals and Requisitions

The best purchase order software will allow employees to create new purchase orders. But most businesses want those POs approved by a manager before sending them off to a vendor. 

Look for a solution that can support your approval process. Make sure the right decision-maker can see a new request. Those decision-makers can even set up desktop or mobile notifications for all new requests. This feature allows POs to get approved as quickly as possible. 

Accounting

Purchase orders can be challenging for bookkeepers and accountants to manage. But the best PO software eliminates these common issues with various methods, like invoice matching.

Look for a solution that automatically matches purchase orders to invoices. Some software even supports billing so that invoices can be paid with a single click. Lots of purchase order software has built-in accounting features. Other solutions integrate with popular accounting tools, like QuickBooks, Xero, and more. 

Reporting

The best purchase order software provides detailed insights into purchasing. You can see reports related to job costing, landed costs, unit costs, and more. Some tools will even provide real-time budget tracking insights for decision-makers to see before approving PO requests. 

These reports can also be helpful for retailers using PO software to manage inventory. The right report can help you determine when it’s appropriate to order stock based on inventory levels and sales history. 

Summary

What’s the best purchase order software? It depends on what you’re looking for. 

PurchaseControl has the best automation features. And is our top recommendation for most users.

But for specifics like setting up custom workflows, Procurify is our top pick. Try Tradogram to simplify purchase order management.

Regardless of your needs, the recommendations in this guide will steer you in the right direction.