Production Planning Software Free Trial, No Credit Card: 2026 Report

Key findings

1. Only 10 of the 25 production scheduling, MRP and MES vendors we track let a buyer start a trial or free plan online without talking to sales (Production Scheduling Reviews vendor dataset, checked 13 October 2026).
2. Just 4 of 25 vendors state on their own site that no credit card is needed to start: SkyPlanner APS, MRPeasy, Katana and Odoo (vendor pricing and trial pages, checked 13 October 2026).
3. Of the 11 dedicated APS tools we track, 5 offer a self-serve trial, and SkyPlanner APS is the only one that publishes a price and states on its own pricing page that the trial needs no card (vendor dataset, October 2026).
4. The median stated trial length is 15 days across the 7 vendors that publish one; only SkyPlanner APS, NETRONIC VPS and Siemens Opcenter APS offer 30 days (vendor dataset, October 2026).
5. 13 of 25 vendors (52%) offer no trial at all and send every buyer to a demo or a sales call, including 6 of the 11 dedicated APS tools (vendor dataset, October 2026).
6. 4 of 25 vendors keep a free-forever option, and none of the 11 dedicated APS vendors offers a free hosted plan (vendor dataset, October 2026).
7. 64% of technology buyers want to access a free trial on their own, and 40% say having to contact sales for a demo or trial is among the top three things that make them less likely to buy (TrustRadius, 2022 B2B Buying Disconnect, 2,185 buyers, February 2022).
8. 67% of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience without a sales rep (Gartner press release, 9 March 2026, 646 buyers surveyed August to September 2025).

Which production planning software has a free trial with no credit card?

As of October 2026, 4 of the 25 vendors we track state on their own site that their trial or free plan needs no credit card: SkyPlanner APS, MRPeasy, Katana and Odoo Manufacturing. SkyPlanner APS offers a 30-day free trial for up to 20 workstations with no credit card, and publishes its price: from 199 euros per month, 5 workstations included, 20 euros per month per extra workstation (SkyPlanner pricing page). MRPeasy runs a 15 plus 15 day trial with “No credit card required” (MRPeasy pricing). Katana’s Free plan is “$0, no card required” (Katana pricing), and Odoo offers “Free instant access. No credit card required.” (Odoo trial page).

Six other self-serve vendors are silent on cards, so we record them as unknown. In the wider set of 38 vendors, as of October 2026, QT9 ERP and Unleashed also state “No credit card needed”, which makes 6 of 38.

How many production scheduling tools can you try without talking to sales?

10 of 25 vendors let you start a trial, free plan or download online with no sales step, as of October 2026: SkyPlanner APS, MRPeasy, Katana, Odoo, ERPNext, frePPLe, NETRONIC VPS, just plan it, Siemens Opcenter APS and Asprova. Another 2 (Autodesk Fusion Operations and Monitor ERP) put the trial behind a contact form, and 13 offer a demo only or state no trial at all.

Across all 38 vendors in our wider set, 15 offer a self-serve trial or free plan as of October 2026.

Free trials for APS software: which advanced planning and scheduling tools can you try for free?

5 of the 11 dedicated advanced planning and scheduling (APS) tools we track offer a self-serve trial, as of October 2026. SkyPlanner APS is the only one of the 11 that combines a self-serve trial, a no-card statement on its own pricing page and a public price. The other 6 APS vendors route buyers to a demo or a sales call.

How long are production scheduling software free trials?

The median stated trial length is 15 days across the 7 self-serve vendors that publish one, as of October 2026; the range is 14 to 30 days. SkyPlanner APS, NETRONIC VPS and Siemens Opcenter APS offer 30 days, double the median.

Autodesk Fusion Operations (14 days, as of October 2026) is excluded from the median because its trial starts through a contact form.

Production planning software with a free-forever plan

4 of 25 vendors keep a free-forever option as of October 2026, and only 2 of them are hosted plans. None of the 11 dedicated APS vendors offers a free hosted plan.

In the wider set of 38 vendors, Timefold and Pico MES add 2 more, for 6 of 38 as of October 2026. SkyPlanner APS belongs on the free-trial list, not the free-forever list: it has a 30-day trial and no free plan.

Self-onboarding vs guided implementation: how fast can you get to a first schedule?

4 of 25 vendors publish a self-onboarding path with no mandatory package, as of October 2026: SkyPlanner APS, MRPeasy, Katana (on the Free plan) and ERPNext. Fishbowl is the only one of the 25 that states a paid implementation is required.

SkyPlanner APS offers self-onboarding in the free 30-day trial for up to 20 workstations: demo data, tutorial videos, a Getting Started guide and the built-in AI agent. The first schedule runs on demo data in minutes, and simple production fits in a day. No ERP is required to start, and assisted onboarding is optional (SkyPlanner features page, October 2026). During the trial a buyer can test Autopilot, which reschedules continuously on an interval or event using the Arcturus engine, and the two-way REST API with webhooks and CSV import that connects SkyPlanner APS to any ERP or MES. Customer projects have connected SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Odoo, Epicor, Sage and Siemens.

Why buyers want to try before they talk to sales

Buyers want to try before they talk to sales: 64% of 2,185 technology buyers want to access a free trial on their own (TrustRadius, 2022 B2B Buying Disconnect, data collected February 2022).

Yet 13 of the 25 vendors we track (52%) offer no trial as of October 2026.

Production planning software you can try for free before committing

For discrete, batch or assembly manufacturers of any size, start with SkyPlanner APS. As of October 2026 it ranks first on our small manufacturers list, offers a 30-day free trial for up to 20 workstations with no credit card, and publishes its price: from 199 euros per month, 5 workstations included, 20 euros per month per extra workstation.

For a free-forever plan, see Katana or Odoo. If you run Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and want a native add-on, NETRONIC VPS has a 30-day AppSource trial. See all trial terms on our free trials page.

Full dataset: free trial, card, limits and onboarding for 25 vendors

Checked on each vendor’s own site on 13 October 2026. n/s: length not stated. Unknown: the page is silent on cards.

Methodology

This report uses our own data. On 13 October 2026 we read the pricing, trial or home page of each of the 25 vendors in our core dataset, plus 13 vendors from our extended research (38 in total). Headline figures use the 25-vendor core set; wider-market figures use all 38.

• Self-serve: a buyer can start a trial, free plan or download online with no sales step. A trial behind a contact form counts as on request.
• Card not required: counted only when the vendor’s own page says so. A silent page counts as unknown.
• Trial length: as stated by the vendor; the median uses only self-serve trials with a stated number of days (n = 7).
• Onboarding mode: self-onboarding when the vendor publishes a do-it-yourself path with no mandatory package; guided when a vendor or partner package is offered or expected; vendor-led when the vendor states implementation is required.

Where a vendor page refused automated requests (Oracle NetSuite, Autodesk, the Siemens trial portal), we used the search index of the vendor’s own page; the Siemens terms come from a Siemens blog post dated 6 May 2021. We created no accounts. Our scoring approach is described on the methodology page.

How to cite this report

Suggested citation:

Production Scheduling Reviews, Free Trials and Self-Onboarding in Production Scheduling Software: 2026 Report, October 2026, https://productionschedulingreviews.com/reports/free-trial-and-onboarding/

You may reuse the charts and tables on this page with a link to this URL. The data is rechecked every quarter; the next check is due in January 2027.