Cycling through all six. Tap any point to stop.

Measured on six things

Your business is hard enough. Your software shouldn’t be.

Accessibility

Lighthouse a11y 89/100, but three real fails: low color contrast, non-sequential heading order, and links distinguishable only by color. No WCAG statement or a11y page found in site content.

Screenshots

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Kaniva

About this app

Kaniva is one system for makers and small manufacturers who sell what they hold in stock or build to order. Instead of a store plus separate inventory, MRP, CRM and accounting apps, every plan includes every module: storefront and checkout, point of sale, advanced inventory (shop layout, Kanban cards with QR codes, purchase orders, supplier management, receiving), manufacturing (BOMs, work orders, SOPs), CRM and accounting. One order flows from the website to the shop floor to the shipping label without re-typing. Kaniva is built by manufacturers who run their own stores on it every day: DirtBound (off-road bumpers), Bulltear Industries (engine parts) and Star Lab CNC Parts take real orders on Kaniva.

Key features

1All-in-one: storefront, POS, inventory, manufacturing (BOMs, work orders), CRM and accounting on every plan.
2Quote-to-work-order flow: customer file upload → instant quote → order → work order with BOM, no re-typing.
3Advanced inventory with bin catalog, QR Kanban cards, purchase orders, supplier management and receiving.

Target customer profile

Drawn from the product itself, not from a survey.

Demographic

Custom fabricators and machine shops

Pain points

Managing quotes, orders, and production in separate systems; manual data entry; lack of integration between storefront and shop floor.

Primary needs

Unified platform to handle custom orders with file uploads, instant quoting, and work order generation without manual transfers.

Demographic

Small e-commerce businesses selling physical products

Pain points

High platform fees, complex inventory management, and disconnected sales channels.

Primary needs

Affordable all-in-one solution with built-in inventory, shipping, and POS to streamline operations.

Demographic

Digital product creators and 3D printing services

Pain points

Difficulty in selling digital files alongside physical goods; managing licenses and instant delivery.

Primary needs

A platform that supports both digital downloads and physical products with secure delivery and order management.

Scout Review

Written by AI from measured evidence, scored out of 100.

Kaniva is an all-in-one system for makers and small manufacturers — storefront, POS, inventory, manufacturing, CRM and accounting in one login, with a quote-to-work-order flow that most competitors split across four apps. The pitch is credible because the team runs their own fabrication shops on it, and three named customer stores take real orders. Pricing is aggressive: $0 + 2% pay-as-you-go, $49/mo Solo with 0% platform fee, $129/mo Shop unlimited. Speed and security headers are above average; accessibility has three fixable fails and no compliance badges. The idea is well-positioned against Shopify and Katana, but the target market is narrow and conversion will be slow.

Measure by measure

Usability

30-day trial with no card, a live demo store, three intent-based onboarding paths, and free migration from Shopify/Woo. Changelog shows weekly shipping. Docs depth not independently verified.

Design

Clear narrative — 'storefront and shop floor in one system' — with a numbered Quote→Order→Build→Ship flow and three named live customer stores. Dense, module-heavy copy and busy pricing tables keep it from feeling premium.

Speed

Lighthouse mobile 88/100 (LCP 1.7s, CLS 0, FCP 1.7s), desktop 89/100. TBT of 434ms is the one soft spot — some main-thread work on load, but the page paints fast and doesn't jump.

Security

12/13 security headers: HTTPS enforced, HSTS, CSP, frame protection, Referrer-Policy, secure cookies, SPF and DMARC. Only Permissions-Policy missing. No SOC 2/ISO/pen-test claim found — unverified, not absent.

Accessibility

Lighthouse a11y 89/100, but three real fails: low color contrast, non-sequential heading order, and links distinguishable only by color. No WCAG statement or a11y page found in site content.

Growth

Sharp wedge: fabricators who both stock and build to order, with file-upload quoting and BOM→work-order flow. All modules on every plan beats Shopify's app stack and Katana's missing storefront.

Improvement areas

No published SOC 2, ISO 27001, pen-test summary or bug bounty — buyers handling payment data need third-party assurance.
Three Lighthouse accessibility fails (contrast, heading order, color-only links) and no WCAG statement or a11y page.
Homepage and pricing copy are dense; proof (live customer stores) is buried below module lists and five tiers.

Design & Usability

Kaniva's site leads with a genuinely useful story: 'the order you sell is the order you build,' walked through as Quote → Order → Build → Ship with real screenshots implied at each step. Three named customer stores (DirtBound, Bulltear, Star Lab CNC) with 'taking orders since' dates are stronger proof than most landing pages manage. The weakness is density — module lists, five pricing tiers, and long bullet runs make it read like documentation rather than a pitch. Usability is the stronger half: a 30-day no-card trial, a clickable demo store, three intent-based onboarding paths (build-to-order, ship products, digital downloads), and free migration from Shopify/Woo up to 500 products. The changelog shipping weekly suggests the product is actively maintained, not a launch-and-abandon.

Speed & Security

Speed is solid: Lighthouse mobile 88/100 with LCP 1.7s, CLS 0, and FCP 1.7s; desktop 89/100. The one blemish is TBT at 434ms — meaningful main-thread work on load, though not enough to make the page feel sluggish. Security is the better story: 12 of 13 probed headers present, including a real CSP, HSTS, frame protection, Referrer-Policy, secure cookies, and both SPF and DMARC for email. Only Permissions-Policy is missing. What's absent is third-party assurance — no SOC 2, ISO 27001, pen-test summary, or bug bounty surfaced in the site content, so buyers handling customer payment data should ask directly rather than assume.

Accessibility & Growth

Accessibility lands at 89/100 on Lighthouse but with three concrete fails: insufficient color contrast, non-sequential heading order, and links distinguishable only by color. Those are fixable in an afternoon and the absence of an accessibility statement or WCAG claim suggests it hasn't been prioritized. Growth is the more interesting question. Kaniva targets a specific, underserved segment — fabricators and machine shops that both stock products and build to order — and its wedge is real: Shopify has no MRP or BOM-to-work-order flow, Katana has no storefront or CRM, and Kaniva puts every module on every plan starting at $0 + 2% or $49 flat. The limit is the addressable market: custom fabrication shops are a narrow, slow-to-convert audience, and the product's growth depends on winning them one at a time against entrenched spreadsheets.

Conclusion

If you run a shop that both stocks parts and builds to order, Kaniva is worth a serious trial — the free 30-day no-card window and the demo store make that low-risk, and the free migration removes the switching excuse. Go in with eyes open on two things: ask directly about SOC 2 or pen-test status before you put customer payment data through it, and expect to file accessibility feedback if you care about WCAG conformance. For everyone else — pure e-commerce, pure ERP — the specialist tools still fit better. Kaniva's bet is that the fabricator who's tired of six logins will pay for one.

Suggestions for improvement

Publish a security/compliance page with SOC 2 status or a pen-test summary — the headers are strong but buyers need third-party assurance.
Fix the three Lighthouse a11y fails: color contrast, heading order, and color-only link styling. Cheap wins.
Add Permissions-Policy to close the last header gap in the security probe.
Tighten the homepage: lead with the three live customer stores and the Quote→Build→Ship flow, move module lists below the fold.

How we score

Alternatives comparison

Named competitors, point by point. Nobody paid to appear here or to be left out.

	Kaniva	Shopify	Katana
Storefront + checkout included	Yes — built in on every plan	Yes — core product	No — no storefront
Manufacturing / BOM / work orders	Yes — BOMs, work orders, SOPs	No — requires third-party apps	Yes — core MRP feature
Built-in CRM	Yes — included on every plan	No — via apps/marketplace	No — no CRM
Instant quoting with customer file upload	Yes — DXF/STL upload, auto-quote	No — via third-party quote apps	No — not a quoting tool
Pricing model	$0 + 2% sales, or $49/$129 flat, 0% platform fee	Monthly subscription + transaction fees + app costs	Monthly subscription tiers
Point of sale (POS)	Yes — included on every plan	Yes — Shopify POS (separate app/plan)	No — no POS