5 Quartzy Alternatives for Teams That Need More Than Lab Management
5 Quartzy Alternatives for Teams That Need More Than Lab Management
Quartzy has built a strong reputation as a lab management platform that makes it easy for scientists to request, track, and order supplies in one place. For small teams with straightforward purchasing needs, it works well.
But growing companies hit a ceiling with Quartzy. And when they do, finance and operations leaders start searching for Quartzy alternatives that close the gap between the lab bench and the back office.
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Where teams outgrow Quartzy
Quartzy handles lab-side workflows well: inventory tracking, supply requests, and ordering from its catalog of over 10 million products. Where it struggles is everything downstream of the purchase.
Here's what procurement, finance, and operations teams commonly run into:
- Limited AP automation. Quartzy doesn't simplify invoice management or automate payment workflows. Finance teams still reconcile vendor bills manually, which creates bottlenecks during month-end close.
- No embedded financing. Equipment and capital purchases can run into six figures. Quartzy doesn't offer net terms or financing options to help companies manage cash flow on large orders.
- Shallow ERP integration. While Quartzy supports PunchOut connections to systems like Workday and Oracle, its integration depth for pushing financial data (invoices, GL coding, spend categorization) into ERPs like NetSuite or Sage Intacct is limited compared to full procure-to-pay platforms.
- No strategic sourcing. Quartzy's catalog is broad, but the platform doesn't offer AI-driven price comparison, vendor benchmarking, or automated sourcing recommendations. Procurement teams still comparison-shop manually.
- Manual order placement. Even after a purchase is approved in Quartzy, someone on the team still has to place the order with the vendor. That extra step adds delays and pulls people away from higher-value work.
These limitations don't make Quartzy a bad product. They make it a lab management tool that some teams outgrow when procurement complexity, spend volume, or financial controls demand more.
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5 Quartzy alternatives worth evaluating
The right Quartzy competitor depends on where the gap is. Some teams need better financial automation. Others need a deeper supply marketplace or tighter R&D data management. Here's how five alternatives compare.
1. Order.co: Best for end-to-end procure-to-pay with hands-off ordering
Order.co is a procurement and finance automation platform that centralizes purchasing, payments, and spend management in a single system. Every vendor your team buys from flows through the same controlled, automated workflow.
What makes Order.co different from Quartzy is scope. Quartzy manages the lab side of procurement. Order.co manages the financial side as well, connecting the point of purchase to AP, ERP, and cash flow management systems.
But the biggest difference is what happens after someone clicks "submit."
With most procurement tools — Quartzy included — approval is just one step. Someone on the team still has to log into a vendor portal, re-enter the order, confirm pricing, and track the shipment. That's hours of repetitive work every week, pulling people away from the projects that actually matter.
Order.co eliminates all of it. Here's how it works:
- Fully automated order fulfillment. After approval, Order.co places the order, coordinates with the vendor, tracks delivery, and processes payment. Nobody on your team has to touch the transaction again.
- Unified catalog with vendor control. All products in your centralized catalog are pre-approved to meet budgets and compliance requirements. This prevents rogue spend without requiring procurement to review every order.
- AI-powered strategic sourcing. Order.co's AI sourcing tools surface equivalent products at better prices, identify bulk purchase opportunities, and recommend alternatives with shorter lead times — delivering cost-saving suggestions right at checkout.
- Equipment financing. Companies can use Order.co's B2B Buy Now, Pay Later and flexible net terms to finance large equipment purchases, turning a six-figure capital expense into manageable monthly payments.
- ERP data sync. Order.co automatically pushes invoice data to ERPs like NetSuite and accounting systems like QuickBooks, enabling accurate reconciliation without manual data entry.
- Vendor issue resolution. When order mistakes or returns come up, Order.co handles vendor communications directly. Your team never has to chase a supplier for a correction or a refund.
Order.co is the strongest fit for companies that need to control spend across the entire purchase-to-pay lifecycle, and want their teams focused on high-value work rather than purchasing logistics.
2. ZAGENO: Best for lab supply marketplace and product comparison
ZAGENO is a lab supply marketplace built for scientific and research teams. It offers access to over 50 million products from 6,000+ brands, with AI-driven search and side-by-side product comparison tools that help buyers find the right product at the right price.
Where ZAGENO stands out versus Quartzy:
- Metasearch across suppliers. ZAGENO aggregates products from thousands of vendors into a single search experience, eliminating the need for separate logins across distributor websites.
- Scientific Score comparison. Through a partnership with Thomas Scientific, ZAGENO developed a Scientific Score algorithm to objectively compare lab products beyond basic specifications.
- Guided buying and approval workflows. Configurable approval flows steer users toward approved products and preferred suppliers without requiring procurement intervention on every order.
ZAGENO is a good Quartzy alternative for teams whose primary pain point is finding and comparing lab supplies across vendors. It's less suited for companies that need full AP automation, centralized billing, or equipment financing, as its focus is the marketplace and ordering experience rather than the downstream financial workflow.
3. Scientist.com: Best for outsourced R&D services procurement
Scientist.com is an AI-powered marketplace focused on R&D procurement for pharma and research-driven companies. While Quartzy and most alternatives on this list focus on physical lab supplies, Scientist.com specializes in helping research teams source and manage outsourced experiments, CRO services, and custom research projects.
Where it differs from Quartzy:
- CRO and services marketplace. Scientist.com connects researchers with over 5,000 pre-qualified suppliers across 100+ countries, covering everything from assay development to custom synthesis.
- Procurement CoPilot (GenAI). The platform's Procurement CoPilot uses generative AI to simplify sourcing workflows, manage suppliers outside the marketplace, and automate proposal generation.
- Competitive quoting. Scientist.com reports 15% average savings on orders where researchers receive multiple quotes, with proposals typically returned in two to three days.
- Enterprise compliance. The platform includes COMPLi, a compliance module for regulated service procurement. Pharma companies use the platform for global R&D sourcing.
Scientist.com is a solid Quartzy alternative for companies that need to outsource complex R&D work and manage CRO relationships more effectively. However, it isn't designed for day-to-day consumable purchasing or financial workflow automation.
4. ProcureDesk: Best for mid-size purchasing and AP automation
ProcureDesk is a purchasing and AP automation platform built for growing companies. It's a more general-purpose procurement tool than Quartzy, covering the full purchasing lifecycle from requisition to invoice matching.
Where ProcureDesk fits:
- Purchase-to-pay workflow. ProcureDesk covers purchase orders, approval workflows, vendor management, and invoice processing with 3-way matching.
- Punchout catalog support. The platform supports punchout connections to vendor catalogs, allowing teams to shop from supplier websites while keeping purchasing data centralized.
- AP automation. ProcureDesk automates invoice processing, matching, and payment workflows, which addresses the AP gap that Quartzy doesn't cover.
ProcureDesk is a good Quartzy alternative for mid-size companies that need a general purchasing and AP tool but don't require the embedded financing, AI sourcing, hands-off order fulfillment, or vendor issue resolution that a platform like Order.co provides.
5. Benchling: Best for R&D-focused inventory and experiment tracking
Benchling is a cloud-based R&D platform for pharma, life sciences, and research organizations. It's not a procurement tool in the traditional sense, but teams evaluating Quartzy alternatives sometimes consider Benchling because it addresses the R&D data management side: electronic lab notebooks, sample registries, inventory tracking, and workflow management.
Where Benchling fits alongside procurement:
- Electronic lab notebook (ELN). Researchers capture and format experimental data with templates, shared tables, and live collaboration.
- Registry and inventory. Benchling tracks complete sample lineage for proteins, antibodies, small molecules, and more, linking component sequences to map entity relationships.
- Workflow management. Drag-and-drop process planning with interdependencies and auto-assignment keeps research projects on track.
Benchling is a suitable choice for teams whose Quartzy frustration centers on R&D data management, sample tracking, and scientific workflow rather than procurement or finance automation. However, companies that adopt Benchling still need a separate procurement or P2P platform for purchasing and payments.
Which Quartzy alternative fits your team?
| Need | Best alternative | Why |
| End-to-end procurement, AP automation, and hands-off ordering | Order.co | Unifies purchasing, automated fulfillment, AP automation, AI sourcing, and equipment financing in one platform |
| Lab supply marketplace and product comparison | ZAGENO | Deep product catalog with AI search, scientific scoring, and guided buying |
| Outsourced R&D services and CRO management | Scientist.com | Specialized marketplace for research services with AI-powered sourcing |
| General purchasing and AP automation | ProcureDesk | Covers the purchase-to-pay cycle with transparent pricing for mid-size teams |
| R&D data management and sample tracking | Benchling | ELN, registry, and workflow tools for scientific data, not procurement |
Most companies exploring Quartzy alternatives are looking for more financial control and procure-to-pay automation, not just a different supply catalog. If that sounds familiar, Order.co is built for exactly that challenge: centralizing every vendor into one system, automatically placing and fulfilling orders after approval, automating payments, and giving finance teams the visibility they need to close the books faster.
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How to choose the best Quartzy alternative for your business
Picking the right Quartzy replacement starts with identifying the specific gap holding your team back. Not every company outgrows Quartzy for the same reason, so the best alternative depends on where the friction actually lives.
Here's a practical framework for narrowing down your options:
1. Map the pain to a category
Start by asking: where does the process break down?
- Ordering and supply discovery? If teams struggle to find the right product at the right price across multiple vendors, a marketplace-first tool like ZAGENO gives you the broadest catalog with comparison tools.
- Financial workflows and AP? If your finance team drowns in invoices and manual reconciliation every month, you need a platform with real AP automation and ERP integration, like Order.co or ProcureDesk.
- Manual order placement eating up time? If your team still has to log into vendor portals, re-enter order details, and track shipments after every approval, Order.co automates these processes. Approvals trigger automatic fulfillment, payment, and tracking, so your team can focus on other tasks.
- Outsourced R&D services? If you rely heavily on CROs and external research partners, Scientist.com is purpose-built for services procurement.
- R&D data management? If the core frustration is experiment tracking, sample registries, and scientific workflows rather than purchasing, Benchling addresses that layer directly.
2. Consider your team's growth trajectory
A tool that fits a 20-person startup won't necessarily scale with a 200-person organization managing multi-site operations and an eight-figure annual spend. Ask yourself:
- Will purchasing volume and vendor count double in the next 12–18 months?
- Are you adding locations or departments that need centralized controls?
- Does finance need real-time spend visibility across the entire company, not just one team?
If the answer to any of these is yes, prioritize platforms designed around scalability and financial control rather than point solutions built for a single team.
3. Evaluate integration depth
Your procurement tool needs to play well with your ERP (NetSuite, Sage Intacct, etc.) and accounting system (QuickBooks). Check whether the alternative you're evaluating pushes clean financial data into your existing systems automatically, or whether your team still has to bridge the gap manually.
4. Weigh total cost of ownership
Don't just compare subscription fees. Factor in the cost of manual workarounds, the time your AP team spends reconciling invoices, and the savings potential from AI-driven sourcing. A platform with a higher sticker price that eliminates five manual processes may cost less in practice than a cheaper tool that only solves one problem.
5. Test with a real purchasing scenario
Before committing, run a pilot with a real-world order. Does the platform handle your vendor mix? Can it accommodate both a $50 supply restock and a $75,000 equipment purchase? How does the approval workflow feel for end users, procurement leads, and finance? The best way to evaluate fit is to see how the tool handles your actual purchasing complexity, not a curated demo.
Why teams switch from Quartzy to Order.co
Order.co gives growing companies a single platform to manage purchasing, payments, and spend visibility across every vendor and location. For finance and operations leaders who've hit the ceiling with tools like Quartzy, it fills critical gaps: AP automation, centralized billing, AI-powered sourcing, equipment financing, and vendor issue resolution.
Think about what purchasing looks like with most tools. A request gets approved, and then… someone still has to act on it. They log into a vendor portal, re-enter the details, confirm pricing, wait for a confirmation email, and eventually follow up on delivery. Multiply that across dozens of orders a week, and the time adds up fast. It's work that keeps your team busy without moving the business forward.
Order.co removes that entire layer. A team member submits a request, and the right people approve it. From that point on, Order.co takes over — placing the order with the vendor, tracking fulfillment, and processing payment. No one has to re-key anything into a vendor site, look through emails for a shipping confirmation, or reconcile what was ordered against what showed up on the invoice.
Ready to see the difference at your business? Schedule a demo and walk through a real purchasing scenario with Order.co.
FAQs
Yes. Order.co's unified catalog supports lab supplies, consumables, capital equipment, and any other product category your team buys. All purchases flow through pre-approved catalogs with budget controls and approval workflows, keeping ordering compliant without slowing teams down.
Yes. Once a purchase is approved, Order.co places the order with the vendor, tracks fulfillment, and processes payment — all automatically. Your team doesn't need to log into vendor portals, re-enter order details, or follow up on shipments. That means fewer hours spent on transactional work and more time focused on the projects that matter.
Order.co automatically pushes consolidated invoice data into ERPs like NetSuite and accounting systems like QuickBooks. This creates a bill in your system and ensures accurate data flow for reconciliation without manual entry.
Order.co offers B2B Buy Now, Pay Later and flexible net terms that allow companies to split large equipment purchases into manageable payments. This helps preserve cash flow during capital-intensive growth phases.
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