ItemTally vs Sortly
Sortly is the best-known name in small-business inventory, and it earned that. The honest summary is similar job, opposite pricing structure. Sortly caps unique items, user licences and custom fields per tier; ItemTally never meters items at all.
Choose Sortly if
- You want the most established product in the category, with a polished photo-first phone app.
- You need offline scanning on a phone today. Sortly has it on every plan; ours is still in testing.
- You want purchase orders, pick lists, Amazon Business ordering or QuickBooks Online on the upper tiers.
Choose ItemTally if
- Your register will grow past a few hundred items and you don't want the bill to follow it.
- Things go out to people and must come back, with due dates, signatures and reservations.
- Most of your team only borrows, returns or looks, and shouldn't need a paid licence.
Where Sortly is better
Every tool has a reason people pick it. These are Sortly's.
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A mature, polished product
Photo-first folders and years of refinement. Sortly is a comfortable tool to live in.
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Offline on every plan, today
Sortly's plan table lists offline mobile access on every plan, including Free. Ours comes with native phone apps that are still in testing; until then, ItemTally scans in the phone's browser with a connection.
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Breadth on the upper tiers
Purchase orders, pick lists and Amazon Business ordering from Ultra, and QuickBooks Online from Premium. We deliberately never build ordering, so weigh that scope difference.
The structural difference
Sortly caps unique items, user licences and custom fields per tier. As your register grows, you move up the ladder: 500 items on Advanced, 2,000 on Ultra, 5,000 on Premium. Check-out arrives on Advanced, stock counts on Ultra, the API on Enterprise. None of that is hidden.
ItemTally meters only people: how many edit the register and how many take things themselves. Items are unlimited on every plan, CSV export is never premium, and the API is on every plan. Where Sortly is ahead today is offline: it works in their app on every plan, while ours comes with phone apps that are still in testing.
Read the yearly price closely: Sortly’s 50% yearly discount applies to the first year only, then 20% applies. Ultra is $888 in year one and $1,430 a year after that, at today’s list price. Our joining price is locked in a signed pledge.
The part a price cut can't copy: ItemTally never meters items, on any plan, and that is a signed, dated promise. Read the pledge →
Side by side
The Sortly column was checked on 16 October 2026. Numbers in brackets link to the sources at the end of the page.
| Feature | Sortly | ItemTally |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | Advanced $49/mo, or $288 for the first year billed yearly [1] | €19/mo flat, monthly |
| Free tier | 100 unique items, 1 user, 1 custom field [1] | Unlimited items, 1 editor, 10 borrowers, free viewers |
| Items metered? | Yes. 100 / 500 / 2,000 / 5,000 / 10,000+ unique items by tier [1] | Never, pledged on every plan |
| Users included | 1 / 2 / 5 / 8 user licences by tier, 12+ on Enterprise [1] | 1 / 5 / unlimited editors, plus borrowers; viewers always free |
| Custom fields | 1 / 5 / 10 / 20 by tier, unlimited on Enterprise [1] | Unlimited, every plan |
| Offline mode | Every plan, including Free [1] | In the phone apps, which are in testing. Every plan once released Scanning in the phone's browser works today on every plan. |
| Check-out to people | Listed from Advanced. Their help article describes checking out as moving items to a folder [2] | Custody with due dates, signatures, reminders and self-service returns, every plan |
| Reservations | Not listed on the pricing page [1] | Every plan, with clash checks by name |
| Stock counts | Ultra and up [1] | Every plan |
| API and webhooks | Enterprise [1] | REST API on every plan, plus an MCP server for AI assistants |
What it costs at real team sizes
Sortly charges by tier, and each tier caps unique items, user licences and custom fields. Prices below are the regular monthly rate, then the yearly price in the first year. Sortly's 50% yearly discount applies to the first year only; after that it's 20%.
| Team | Sortly | ItemTally |
|---|---|---|
| 5 people 500 items | $149/mo (Ultra, 5 users); $888 for the first year billed yearly, then $1,430 a year Advanced ($49/mo) covers 500 items if only 2 people need logins. | €19/mo Stockroom: 5 editors. |
| 15 people 500 items | Enterprise, quote only (12+ users) Premium covers 8 users at $299/mo. | €19/mo Stockroom: 5 editors, 10 borrowers. Warehouse (€49/mo) if all 15 edit. |
| 40 people 500 items | Enterprise, quote only | €19/mo Stockroom: 5 editors, 35 borrowers. Warehouse (€49/mo) if all 40 edit. |
ItemTally prices exclude VAT and are billed monthly. Items are never metered, and people who only look are free on every plan. Sortly prices are in US dollars. The year-two figure is our arithmetic from Sortly's stated 20% yearly discount.
Switching from Sortly takes an afternoon
Nothing is written to your new register until you've seen the preview.
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Export from Sortly as CSV or use their bulk template. Any Sortly export works.
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Import it into ItemTally. The Sortly preset recognises the file and maps folders and subfolders, quantities, min and max levels, tags, notes, price and custom fields. Photos come across from the image links in the export.
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Preview the dry run. You see every item, folder and photo before anything is written. Re-import a later export and matching rows update in place instead of duplicating.
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Keep your labels. Sortly barcode and QR values re-attach as codes, so existing stickers keep scanning.
Questions about switching from Sortly
How do I move my data from Sortly to ItemTally?
Export a CSV from Sortly and import it. The Sortly preset keeps folders, custom fields and quantities, and fetches photos from the export's image links. The importer previews everything as a dry run and writes nothing until you confirm.
Is Sortly free?
Sortly's Free plan covers 100 unique items, 1 user and 1 custom field. ItemTally's free plan has unlimited items, 1 editor and 10 borrowers.
Do my old Sortly QR labels keep working?
Yes. The barcode and QR values in your export re-attach as codes during import, so existing stickers keep scanning. New QR identities are generated for every item as well.
What happens to my data if I leave ItemTally?
Full CSV export on every plan, any day. ItemTally's own export re-imports cleanly, and that round trip is tested.
Will the price rise on me later?
Not on you. Your joining price is locked, and items are never metered on any plan. Both are part of a signed, dated public pledge.
Sources
- Sortly pricing page and plan comparison checked 16 October 2026
- Sortly help, how to check out or move items checked 16 October 2026
Prices and plans change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll correct it with a new date.
Try it on your own list before you decide.
Import a CSV export from Sortly and see exactly what ItemTally would create before anything is saved.
Free for one editor and ten borrowers, with unlimited items. No card needed.