Netstock alternatives: when you actually need PO automation, not planning
"Purchase order automation" means two opposite things, and the search that brought you here sits right on the fault line. Netstock automates POs you send: supplier replenishment, driven by demand forecasts. A distributor drowning in POs customers email them has the other problem entirely. Sort which one you have; both lists follow.
Two problems wearing one name
| Buying side (Netstock's lane) | Selling side (intake) | |
|---|---|---|
| The PO | One you send a supplier to restock | One a customer emails you to order |
| The work automated | Forecasting demand, sizing the order, generating the PO into your ERP | Reading the PDF, matching part numbers to your catalog, drafting the sales document |
| Tool category | Demand planning / inventory optimization | PO intake / sales order automation |
| Examples | Netstock, EazyStock, StockIQ, Deposco | SideQuest (QuickBooks), Conexiom and Canals (ERP) |
If you want Netstock's job done differently
Netstock's pitch is real: it connects to a long list of ERPs, picks forecasting models per item, recommends stock levels, and generates the replenishment POs into your system. Quote-based pricing, mid-market center of gravity. The planning alternatives, roughly by size: EazyStock for smaller operations layering optimization on an existing ERP, StockIQ aimed squarely at distributors and manufacturers, Deposco for mid-market companies with a dedicated planning function, and Kinaxis or Blue Yonder when you're an enterprise with a network to optimize. Evaluate all of them on forecast quality against your own history, ERP fit, and whether your team will actually work the recommendations queue.
If your real problem is the inbox
Plenty of "Netstock alternative" searches are distributors who bought planning software and still watch a CSR retype customer POs into QuickBooks every morning. No forecasting engine touches that, because it's not a forecasting problem. It's parsing and matching: the customer's PDF, their part numbers, your catalog, your prices.
That's SideQuest's lane: it reads PO emails from Gmail, matches every line against your QuickBooks catalog (exact SKU, learned cross-references, fuzzy description), flags price variances, and drafts the Estimate for your review. Published pricing, free for 25 POs a month, 30-minute install. And it coexists with a planning tool without overlap: planning decides what you buy; intake handles what customers order.
The pairing most distributors actually need
Sell-side intake plus buy-side planning is a coherent stack, not a choice. Clean, fast order capture feeds better sales history; better history feeds better forecasts. If budget forces sequencing, automate the side that burns staff hours today, and for most QuickBooks distributors under $30M, that's the inbox.
FAQ
What is Netstock?
Demand planning and inventory optimization on top of your ERP: forecasts, stock recommendations, and generated supplier POs. Quote-priced.
Main Netstock alternatives?
EazyStock (SMB), StockIQ (distribution/manufacturing), Deposco (mid-market), Kinaxis and Blue Yonder (enterprise). All planning-side.
Does any of this read the POs customers email me?
No. That's intake, a different category. On QuickBooks Online it's SideQuest's job: parse, match, draft, you approve.
SideQuest automates the selling side: emailed POs become matched QuickBooks Estimates. Free for 25 POs a month.
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