Compared honestly · published prices as of July 2026
ItemTally vs a spreadsheet
Around 43% of small businesses run inventory on a spreadsheet, and it’s not a dumb choice: free, yours, and it almost works. If yours is working, keep it. This page is for the day it stops.
What a spreadsheet does well
- It costs €0. Genuinely its strongest feature, and the bar every free tier in this market fails to clear - which is why ours doesn’t cap items.
- It’s completely yours. No vendor, no subscription, no terms of service between you and your data.
- It bends to anything. A column for “ask Maria”, a tab for the van, a colour code only Petra understands - no app is that flexible.
The structural difference
The spreadsheet’s limits are physical. It can’t scan a barcode in a basement or hold a signature when someone borrows the drill. It lives on one laptop, and it drifts - a cell edited is not a movement recorded.
ItemTally does the same job with a ledger underneath: every change is a signed, dated movement, made from any phone on the crew, offline included. “Who has the drill?” stops being a group text.
The numbers, side by side
| The moment | The spreadsheet | ItemTally |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | One laptop, and someone’s memory | Every phone on the crew - offline in the garage included |
| Someone takes a drill | A cell gets edited. If they remember. | A name, a due date, a signature - and a nudge if Friday passes |
| Counts drift | Nobody knows until the December panic | A 15-minute count walk posts variances to a ledger |
| “Which one is it?” | Row 214, probably. No photo. | Photographed and labelled - scan the box, see the item |
| What it costs | €0 - genuinely its strongest feature | €0 to start, flat rooms after - and your CSV comes back out free, always |
Switching is one CSV import and an afternoon - and the exit is the same door: full CSV export, free, on every plan, forever.
Switching is an afternoon, not a project
Whatever you're coming from, the move is the same three steps - and nothing is written to your new register until you've seen the preview.
- Export a CSV from a spreadsheet. Any export works - the importer maps your columns to fields, and Sortly/BoxHero exports have one-click presets that keep folders, custom fields and quantities.
- Preview the dry run. ItemTally shows exactly what will be created - items, folders, fields, photos fetched from your export's image links - before a single row is written. Fix mappings, run it again, no harm done.
- Print fresh labels, or don't. Old QR labels can re-attach as codes so existing stickers keep scanning. New QR identities are generated automatically either way - the full walkthrough is here.
Questions every switcher asks
How do I move my data from a spreadsheet to ItemTally?
Export a CSV from your current tool and import it - the importer maps columns, previews everything as a dry run, and writes nothing until you confirm. Sortly and BoxHero exports have one-click presets (folders, custom fields, quantities, and photos fetched automatically). A typical register moves in an afternoon.
Is there really a free plan, or is it a trial?
Free forever, for one writer, with unlimited items, offline, exports and API read keys - no card, no trial clock. Paid plans exist for crews: €19/month flat for up to five writers, €49/month flat for unlimited.
What happens to my data if I leave ItemTally?
Full CSV export on every plan, any day, no questions. Data freedom is mechanical, not a promise - 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 - written after watching other tools ambush their customers with re-pricing.
Try the flat-priced way
Import your CSV in minutes. One writer is free forever - unlimited items, every feature, no card, no trial clock. And your CSV exports back out any day you like.