The six lines
| Cost | Typical shape | MaxInvent |
|---|---|---|
| Per-user licences | A monthly fee per named seat, often with a small included count | Not charged. Allowances are order-based. |
| Warehouse / WMS module | Bins, directed put-away and handheld scanning as a separate tier or product | In the platform. Bin locations and the handheld app are not an add-on. |
| Per-channel connectors | A fee for each marketplace or store beyond the included count | Not charged for the live commerce connectors. |
| Onboarding and migration | A one-off project fee, sometimes discovered after signature | Standard Starter and Growth onboarding included; complex Scale or Enterprise migration quoted after discovery. |
| Order overage | A tier jump, a negotiated rate, or an unstated one | Published: 5p per order above allowance on Starter and Growth. |
| Renewal uplift | A percentage rise at renewal, frequently absent from the quote | Standard and launch prices are both published, so the gap is visible up front. |
Why per-user pricing hurts most
Because it scales with exactly the thing you are trying to grow. Take a platform at £200 per month including three users, then £40 per user after that. With eight people across the warehouse, the counter and the office, you are at £400 — and the fifth, sixth and seventh users were hired because volume went up, so the software bill rises at the same moment your wage bill does.
The question to ask is narrower than “how much per user”: does a picker who only scans on a handheld need a paid seat? If the answer is yes, price your peak-season temporary staff into the comparison as well.
A worked three-year scenario
Same operation both ways: 3,000 orders a month rising to 6,000 by year three, eight users, bin-level warehouse work, five sales channels.
| Line | Modular vendor (illustrative) | MaxInvent (published) |
|---|---|---|
| Base subscription | £250/mo | £299.99/mo |
| Warehouse module | £150/mo | Included |
| 5 extra users at £40 | £200/mo | Included |
| 2 extra channels at £50 | £100/mo | Included |
| Year-one total | £8,400 | £3,599.88 |
| Year three at 6,000 orders, +5% renewal | £9,261 plus tier jump | £3,599.88 plus £600 overage |
The modular column uses illustrative rates to show how the lines compound; it is not a quote from any named vendor and should be replaced with your own written figures. The MaxInvent column uses published launch pricing at 1,000 orders per month of overage in year three.
Costs that are not the vendor's fault but are still yours
- Barcode hardware. If a platform needs proprietary scanners, that is capital expenditure. A handheld app that runs in a browser on an existing Android device is not free either, but it is cheaper and replaceable.
- Internal project time. Data cleansing, SKU rationalisation and rehearsal imports consume your team's weeks regardless of who is implementing.
- Parallel running. Two months of both systems is two months of two subscriptions, and it is usually worth it.
- Leaving cost. Ask, before you join, how you get your data out and in what format. The answer is much harder to obtain afterwards.
Where to go next
Our full terms are on the published-pricing page. For reading a quote-based competitor price, see how much Linnworks costs. For the per-order side of your economics rather than the subscription side, use the marketplace fee calculator.