How much does warehouse management software cost in 2024?

How much does a warehouse management software system cost?

According to the latest stats from Software Path, the average cost of a warehouse management system is around $10,000 (£8,286) per user. This has been calculated by analysing the budget per user across companies varying in size over a five year period. 

The average cost per month works out at $167 (£138.70) per user per month

When calculating costs per user, however, it does not reflect the total cost when taking into account the number of users which need to access the software. It’s likely that your WMS system will cost anywhere from £10,000 to £25,000, depending on the size of the warehouse and whether you require mobile barcode scanning.

The cost of a WMS is mostly determined by the size of the business along with the features available within the software.

At Mintsoft, we're transparent with our WMS pricing. We don't limit your number of users, and instead offer pricing that grows with your order volume, with three different plans: 

• Medium - Pricing for our medium WMS software starts from £325 per month. This is suitable for businesses completing up to 5000 orders and includes inventory management.
• Large - Pricing for our large WMS software starts from £629 per month, includes all the features of the medium plan and is for businesses fulfilling up to 15,000 orders and can accommodate multiple warehouse sites and brands.
• Custom - Our custom WMS software is costed on a POA basis and it includes all of the features on the large plan, and can be customised with additional features such as the mobile barcode scanning app to suit the needs of your organisation.

Interestingly, the study also found that a number of companies specifically considering a cloud-based WMS solution was over 90%, with small to medium sized businesses more likely to request this hosting method. 

Contact us to discuss your warehouse management software requirements needs and find the best package to suit your business needs.

Hidden costs to plan for in your budget

Be aware that with a WMS, there may be hidden costs that aren’t included in the monthly subscription cost with a provider.

Training staff

You should factor in around 3-5 days of training your staff on a new warehouse management system. This will allow for you to run training sessions in shifts and give teams time to practise and come back with questions or feedback while training teams and services are available.

Adopting a new WMS might coincide with a period of growth, so be sure to budget for training new team members, as well as providing additional training each year to existing staff.

Improving infrastructure

It is worth assessing whether your existing equipment is suitable for use with a new WMS. Old IT infrastructure may cause issues or not allow you to use your warehouse management software to its full potential. This is especially true for old scanning and barcode equipment.

On-premise solutions could require a full upgrade of database servers, networking hardware, and the PCs running the WMS. The newer the software, the higher level of equipment requirements you can expect it to have.

Hosted models such as cloud-based solutions may not require additional server hardware, but will require at least mid-level spec computers as well as a reliable, fast internet connection. Large additional costs can be incurred from backup systems that are layered on top of cloud storage. Most warehouse operators want to have a local copy of data to make sure operations aren’t ground to a halt if connection is lost.

IT staff resource

Much like infrastructure, the additional cost of IT staff and maintenance is hard to predict as it is largely dependent on the system you are using, the scope of your licensing or use, as well as the capabilities of your IT team.

IT staff will need time to maintain and update the system periodically which can include consulting fees and additional business costs to educate the team on proper maintenance.

The key thing to remember here is that your IT staff will have new responsibilities with your WMS and require adequate time and resources to see to these duties.

Using data

Storing and analysing data is essential for businesses looking to operate more efficiently. It is a big part of many warehouse management software systems, from optimising inventory and picking, to choosing shipping lanes and consolidating shipments. However, some WMS users employ additional software or staff resources to run advanced analytics and generate reports and insights.

Typically, you will need to increase your budget for analytics capabilities, either as an add on to your WMS service or as a separate system.

How to determine ROI when using warehouse management software

Like any business decision, the ROI is mainly based on how much time and money the software saves you. If your warehouse is operating inefficiently and the flow of products through the warehouse is inefficient, leading to disruptions and delays in the process, costs are inevitably incurred. Not to mention, this will lead to dissatisfaction on the customer end, which will almost certainly impact future purchases.

By investing in a WMS that identifies and irons out inefficiencies, your warehouse can operate as efficiently and as accurately as possible, reducing costs from instances of mistakes such as picking errors and wrongly accounted for stock.