What is the difference between stocktake software and inventory management software?

Stocktake software makes a periodic physical count faster and more accurate — you count what is on the shelf, on a date. Inventory management tracks every movement continuously so a level is always on screen. Counting tools are cheaper and start working the same week; tracking systems only stay accurate if every delivery and sale is entered. Many businesses need the first and are sold the second.

What is the best app for tracking inventory?

There is no single answer, and the honest version is a decision rule rather than a name. If you need a level on screen on a Tuesday, you want continuous tracking and you must be willing to record every movement. If you need an accurate figure at the end of the month, you want a counting tool, and it will be cheaper, faster to set up and more likely to still be in use in six months.

Is there free stocktake software?

Free tiers exist and are usually capped on item count, on how many people can count at once, or on how long your history is kept. Read the cap before the feature list, because the one that usually bites is the number of simultaneous counters — which is the exact thing that makes a stocktake quick. A spreadsheet is also free, and for a single counter with a short list it is genuinely hard to beat.

How do you keep track of stock inventory?

With two numbers, not one. The count tells you what is physically there; expected stock — opening, plus deliveries, minus sales and wastage — tells you what should have been. The gap between them is variance, and it is the only part that tells you anything. A count that is never compared against expected stock is a night's work for a figure nobody acts on.

Do I need barcode scanning for a stocktake?

Only if your stock actually carries barcodes that match your item list. Scanning is excellent in retail and packaged goods, and close to useless behind a bar, where much of what you count is a part-full bottle or a keg. Buying a product for its scanner and then typing every number by hand is a common and expensive mistake.

How long should it take to get stocktake software working?

A counting tool should produce a real count in its first week — if it cannot, that is information about the product. Continuous inventory tracking is a different order of work, because it is only as good as the data going in and that means changing how deliveries and wastage get recorded. Budget weeks for the first and months for the second.

Stocktake7 min read

Choosing stocktake software without buying the wrong thing

Most stocktake software is bought after a bad night — a count that took until 2am, or a variance nobody could explain. That is the worst moment to choose, because everything looks like an improvement on a clipboard. The useful question is not which product is best; it is which of four quite different things you actually need.

Last updated 30 September 2026

What stocktake software is actually for

Stocktake software has one job: turn a physical count into a number you can trust, faster than paper does, and compare it to what should have been there. Everything else a vendor lists is a variation on those two things.

That is narrower than it sounds, and the narrowness is the point. A tool that counts well is not the same as a tool that tracks stock continuously, and the two get sold under the same words. Knowing which you are buying is most of the decision.

The four kinds, and who each one suits

Almost everything on the market is one of four shapes. They solve different problems, and the expensive mistake is buying the third when you needed the first.

Kind	What it does	Suits	Watch for
Counting tools	Replaces the count sheet. Several people count at once on their phones, numbers land on one sheet, export at the end.	Venues and shops that count periodically — weekly, monthly, end of year — and whose pain is the night itself.	Does not track stock between counts. If you need to know your stock level on a Tuesday, this is not it.
Inventory management	Tracks every movement continuously — deliveries in, sales out, a running level per item.	Businesses where stock moves in recorded units and someone needs a live figure.	Only as accurate as the data going in. A live level that nobody maintains is worse than an honest monthly count.
Point-of-sale add-ons	Deducts stock as items sell, through the till you already use.	Anyone whose POS offers it and whose products map cleanly to what gets sold.	Recipe-based products break it. A till knows it sold a cocktail, not 30ml of three spirits.
Full ERP or accounting suites	Stock as one module beside purchasing, ledger and payroll.	Multi-site operations that need one system of record.	Months to implement, and the stocktake module is rarely the strong part.

When a spreadsheet is still the right answer

Worth saying plainly, because nobody selling software will: if you count under about fifty lines, one person does it, and it takes under an hour, a spreadsheet is fine. Software earns its place by removing work, and there is not much to remove.

The point where a spreadsheet stops working is specific and easy to recognise. It is not the number of items — it is the number of people. One person with a sheet is tidy. Three people with three sheets is an evening of typing them back together, and every transcription is a chance to put a number in the wrong row.

One counter, under an hour — a spreadsheet is fine, and cheaper.
Two or more counting at once — the merging cost is what you are buying your way out of.
You keep finding variances you cannot explain — the problem is your records, not your count sheet, and software will not fix it on its own.
The count is transcribed from paper afterwards — that step is pure risk and pure cost.

The features that matter, and the ones that do not

Feature lists are written to be long. Most of what is on them is either table stakes or decoration; a short list decides it.

MATTERS — several people counting at the same time, into one sheet. This is the whole saving for most businesses.
MATTERS — works on the phones staff already own, with nothing to install and no licence per helper. A tool that needs an account for every casual will not be used.
MATTERS — reusable lists, so next month does not start with a blank page.
MATTERS — a plain export. Excel or CSV, so the number can go to the accountant without asking anyone's permission.
MATTERS — comparison against expected stock, or you have bought a faster way to produce a number nobody acts on.
DECORATION — barcode scanning, unless your stock genuinely carries scannable barcodes that match your list. Most hospitality stock does not.
DECORATION — dashboards and charts. Nobody makes a decision from a stock chart that they would not make from the variance figure.
DECORATION — an app store listing. A web page that opens on any phone reaches more of your staff than something they have to download and sign into.

What it should cost, and how the pricing is shaped

Pricing in this category comes in three shapes, and the shape matters more than the headline number because it decides what happens as you grow.

Per-user pricing is the one to check hardest. A stocktake is the one task where you deliberately want many people involved for twenty minutes, so a tool that charges per user is charging you for the thing that makes the count fast. Ask specifically whether a helper who only counts needs a paid seat.

Per user, per month — watch the helper question above.
Per site or per location — predictable, and usually the fairest for a single venue.
By item count or count frequency — fine until an end-of-year count trips a tier.

Questions to ask before you pay

Ask these before the demo, not after. Every one of them has an answer that rules a product in or out, and all of them are cheaper to ask than to discover.

Can four people count at once, and does each of them cost me anything?
Do my casuals need to create an account or install something?
Can I get my data out as a spreadsheet, today, without asking support?
Does it compare the count against expected stock, or only record what I counted?
What happens to my saved lists if I stop paying?
Can I count with no signal in the cellar, and will the numbers survive it?
How long until my first real count — this week, or after an implementation?

Getting it in without losing a month

The commonest failure is not choosing wrong. It is choosing well and then never finishing the setup, because the first step was building a perfect item list and nobody had a spare day.

Start with one section — the bar, the dry store, one aisle. Count it with the new tool and the old sheet on the same night, and compare. You will find your list is wrong in ways nobody predicted, which is exactly what the small first count is for. Expand once, after that count, and you will have a working list inside a fortnight instead of a perfect one never.

Or let Stocktake do it

Regentflow's Stocktake is the counting kind, built around the part that actually costs you the night: getting several people counting at once without counting the same shelf twice. You send one link, your staff open it on the phones already in their pockets, and every number lands on the same sheet as it is entered — so there is no transcription at the end, because there was never any paper. Build the list by pasting it from a spreadsheet or reading it off a photo of a supplier invoice, walk the room saying the numbers instead of typing them, and save the list so next month's count starts already written. Excel and PDF export on every count. Helpers you invite need no account and install nothing.

About Stocktake See pricing

Questions

What is the difference between stocktake software and inventory management software?: Stocktake software makes a periodic physical count faster and more accurate — you count what is on the shelf, on a date. Inventory management tracks every movement continuously so a level is always on screen. Counting tools are cheaper and start working the same week; tracking systems only stay accurate if every delivery and sale is entered. Many businesses need the first and are sold the second.
What is the best app for tracking inventory?: There is no single answer, and the honest version is a decision rule rather than a name. If you need a level on screen on a Tuesday, you want continuous tracking and you must be willing to record every movement. If you need an accurate figure at the end of the month, you want a counting tool, and it will be cheaper, faster to set up and more likely to still be in use in six months.
Is there free stocktake software?: Free tiers exist and are usually capped on item count, on how many people can count at once, or on how long your history is kept. Read the cap before the feature list, because the one that usually bites is the number of simultaneous counters — which is the exact thing that makes a stocktake quick. A spreadsheet is also free, and for a single counter with a short list it is genuinely hard to beat.
How do you keep track of stock inventory?: With two numbers, not one. The count tells you what is physically there; expected stock — opening, plus deliveries, minus sales and wastage — tells you what should have been. The gap between them is variance, and it is the only part that tells you anything. A count that is never compared against expected stock is a night's work for a figure nobody acts on.
Do I need barcode scanning for a stocktake?: Only if your stock actually carries barcodes that match your item list. Scanning is excellent in retail and packaged goods, and close to useless behind a bar, where much of what you count is a part-full bottle or a keg. Buying a product for its scanner and then typing every number by hand is a common and expensive mistake.
How long should it take to get stocktake software working?: A counting tool should produce a real count in its first week — if it cannot, that is information about the product. Continuous inventory tracking is a different order of work, because it is only as good as the data going in and that means changing how deliveries and wastage get recorded. Budget weeks for the first and months for the second.