Craftybase vs MadeKeeper — the honest version

Two good tools.
Built for two different makers.

Craftybase — now Stocksmith — is a mature, fifteen-year-old product that got very good at serving manufacturing-scale businesses. MadeKeeper is a young tool built for the small maker at one bench and one booth. This page lays them side by side without the sales gloss: where Craftybase wins, where MadeKeeper wins, and who each one is actually for. If it points you back to Stocksmith, that's the page doing its job.

Side by side

One column is a mature product that is genuinely good at what it now aims at. The other is a live product in an open founding pilot. Read it for who each one is for, not for a scoreboard — the honest answer is that they overlap less than the category makes it look.

 MadeKeeperCraftybase / Stocksmith
Built forSmall makers — craft fairs, farmers markets, Etsy, commissions"$100K+ in revenue, employees in the workshop" (their about page)
MaturityEarly open founding pilot — core app live, a few pieces still buildingFifteen years in — deep, edge-cases handled, well earned
Price$19/mo founding rate, locked for lifeStudio $49/mo; main plans $99–$349/mo (a $20 single-channel Pro sits in their FAQ)
Plans & tiersOne plan — everything includedStudio → Indie → Business → Growth, features spread across the ladder
Order-line metersNever — a good month never raises your billOrder-line caps by plan since 2023
Automatic cost of goodsYes — per-batch snapshot cost, labor amortized across the batchYes — weighted-average COGS is their most-loved feature, and it is earned
Reporting depthYes — best-sellers, most-profitable, channel mix, revenue over timeDeeper — a mature reporting suite is part of why makers stayed
Lot tracking & recallYes — on the one $19 planYes — a mature strength, on the higher tiers
Schedule C tax packetYes — any range, inventory at cost, CSV outYes — a genuine strength ("life saver at tax time" — a reviewer)
Per-event fair profitYes — booth fee, miles, hours → profit per fair, rankedNo event exists — a fair is just another day of sales
Full-history migration inFree — purchases→lots, makes→batches, orders→sales on original dates, previewed & undoableIts export is your way out; MadeKeeper reads it back in
Recipes / bill-of-materialsFlat product→materials recipes (rebuilt after a migration; no recipe export exists)Yes — multi-level BOMs and sub-assemblies
Production schedulingNot building it — we're not for manufacturersYes — scheduling and deadlines on the higher tiers
Wholesale operationsNot building itYes — Faire-style wholesale is core to who they serve

Stocksmith positioning, pricing, and tiers per stocksmith.io's about and pricing pages as checked in July 2026; reviewer phrasing from public Capterra reviews of Craftybase. All of it may change. Craftybase and Stocksmith are trademarks of Stocksmith Pty Ltd; MadeKeeper is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by either. MadeKeeper rows describe live features except where noted; see the full live-vs-building list.

The honest read

Stay with Craftybase / Stocksmith if…

You're grandfathered at a price that works and the software fits — don't leave working software over a name change. Or you actually run at scale: employees, wholesale through Faire, production batches, BOMs, scheduling. That's who Stocksmith builds for now, and fifteen years of product shows. MadeKeeper isn't building any of that, and won't pretend to.

Switch to MadeKeeper if…

You're a small maker who just met a $49-and-up pricing ladder for a kitchen-table business, you want per-event fair profit Craftybase never had, and you'd rather have everything on one $19 plan with no order-line meters and a rate locked for life. Bring your whole history — it migrates free. See how →

Straight about what's live

Materials and true cost per piece, batch "makes" with your labor amortized in, the suggested-price coach, product variants, sales that drain stock, the market-day quick-sale screen, lot tracking, the was-this-fair-worth-it event math, money-insight reports, multi-location consignment, the cure/best-by heads-up engine, mileage, expenses, and the Schedule C tax packet — all in the app today, with guided setup and the full Craftybase history migration to get you started. Etsy and Square sync, your own storefront, shipping labels, email to past buyers, and AI data entry are building, shaped with founding makers. Nothing above describes a feature that doesn't exist without saying so. See the full live-vs-building list →

Questions makers are asking

Is MadeKeeper better than Craftybase?

"Better" depends on your size. Craftybase (now Stocksmith) is a mature, fifteen-year-old product that is genuinely strong at what it now aims at: manufacturing-scale operations with employees, wholesale, BOMs, and production scheduling. MadeKeeper is better if you are a small maker selling at markets and on Etsy — one plan at $19/mo with everything included, per-event fair profit that Craftybase does not have, and a free full-history migration. It is not trying to out-manufacturer a manufacturing tool.

What does Craftybase do that MadeKeeper does not?

Craftybase has BOMs, multi-level sub-assemblies, production scheduling and deadlines, and wholesale-operations features — the manufacturer's half of the job. MadeKeeper is not building any of that, on purpose. Craftybase is also more mature, with fifteen years of edge cases handled and a deep reporting suite; MadeKeeper is an early open pilot. If you need the manufacturing feature set, Craftybase is the right tool and this page will happily send you there.

What does MadeKeeper do that Craftybase does not?

Per-event craft-fair profit — booth fee, miles, and hours netted to a profit-per-fair verdict — which Craftybase has no concept of. Everything on one $19/mo plan with no tiers and no order-line meters, versus a $49–$349 ladder with per-plan order caps. A free, previewed, one-click-undoable full-history migration in from a Craftybase/Stocksmith export. And a founding rate locked for life, which is a direct answer to the price creep many makers left over.

How much does each one cost?

MadeKeeper is one plan: $19/mo founding rate, locked for life, everything included, no order-line metering. Stocksmith (formerly Craftybase) as of July 2026 lists Studio $49/mo, Indie $99, Business $199, and Growth $349, with order-line caps by plan, plus a $20/mo single-channel Pro tier in their pricing FAQ.

Can I move my Craftybase data to MadeKeeper?

Yes, for free. Export your data from Stocksmith and drop the files into MadeKeeper. Purchases become material lots, production runs become batches, and orders become sales, all on their original dates. Every import previews before it writes and undoes in one click. The one thing that does not come across is recipes — no Craftybase export contains the material-to-product links — so you rebuild those, and MadeKeeper shows your old per-unit cost as a target to match. See the switch page for the full walkthrough.

Who should stay on Craftybase / Stocksmith?

Two groups. Existing customers who were grandfathered at a fair price and whose software fits — there is no fire to flee. And makers who genuinely operate at manufacturing scale: employees, wholesale through Faire, production batches with lot compliance and scheduling. That is exactly who Stocksmith says it builds for now, and it shows.

Try the one that fits you

MadeKeeper is live and free during the pilot. If it's not your size, the table above will have told you so.