Sortly and StockBold are both inventory tools for teams that are too big for a spreadsheet. They solve different problems. Sortly tracks what you have and where it is. StockBold tracks what you have, where it is, what it cost and what it is worth. Which one fits depends on whether your stock has a supplier and a price attached.
This comparison was checked against Sortly’s own feature and help pages on 12 October 2026. If something has changed since, tell us and we will correct it.
Where Sortly does more
Sortly is built around photos and folders, and it is very good at that. Every item has pictures, custom fields and QR labels you print yourself. Locations are folders, nested as deep as you like, which makes a van, a cupboard or a job site as easy to set up as a warehouse. Items can be checked out to a person and back. The native app scans with the phone camera and works well offline.
For teams tracking tools, equipment, consumables or supplies, where the question is “do we have one and where is it”, that is most of what is needed, and Sortly gets a team started in an afternoon.
Sortly also has a native mobile app for iOS and Android. StockBold runs in the browser, on the phone as well, with nothing to install, and has no native app.
Where StockBold does more
The difference starts the moment stock has a cost.
Costs and valuation. Sortly has one price field per item. StockBold records what each delivery cost, adds freight, duty and other landed costs per unit, and values stock under FIFO, LIFO or average cost on any past date, rebuilt from the movement history. Sortly keeps inventory snapshots for up to 13 months on its higher plans; it cannot produce a valuation for an arbitrary date.
Purchasing. Sortly’s purchase orders, on its higher plans, carry a status sequence from draft to received, with a limit of 100 lines. StockBold’s go through draft, approval and receipt, with approvers set per department, several deliveries per order, invoices checked against the order total, payment terms in instalments and a month-by-month payment forecast. Landed costs, multi-currency orders and supplier claims for faulty goods, with the replacement tracked at the original cost, have no equivalent in Sortly that we could find.
Control. StockBold refuses any movement that would take a location below zero, even backdated. Sortly’s documentation does not say what happens to a quantity below zero. StockBold records every movement with its author and reason and keeps that history for as long as the organisation exists; Sortly keeps activity history for one month on its free plan and longer on paid ones. A locked year in StockBold cannot be changed until someone with the permission removes the lock, and that removal is recorded with a name and a date. We found no equivalent in Sortly.
Assemblies and documents. Sortly has item variants but no bill of materials. StockBold builds finished products from components, with reservation, labour and overheads. Sortly attaches up to three files per item on its higher plans; StockBold attaches documents to products and orders and searches the text inside them, including scans.
Reports. Sortly’s reports cover activity, low stock, moves and snapshots. StockBold adds ageing, turnover, cost of goods sold, a twelve-month value history and the payment forecast.
Side by side
| StockBold | Sortly | |
|---|---|---|
| Locations | Per location, with shelf positions per product | Folders, nested |
| Movement history | Every movement with author and reason, kept indefinitely | Activity history, retention by plan |
| Negative stock | Refused, always | Not documented |
| Stock counts | Per location, partial by supplier, category or department | Yes, higher plans |
| Purchase orders | Draft, approval by department, receipt, invoices, payment terms | Status sequence, 100 lines, higher plans |
| Landed costs | Per unit, by value | Not found |
| Costing | FIFO, LIFO, average; valuation on any date | One price field; snapshots for 13 months |
| Year lock | Yes | Not found |
| Supplier claims | Replacement tracked at original cost | Not found |
| Assemblies | Components reserved, labour and overheads | Not found |
| Documents | On products and orders, text search inside scans | Up to 3 files per item, higher plans |
| Permissions | About 40, by role and department, values hidden if needed | Owner, admin, member per folder; one custom role |
| Phone scanning | Browser, nothing to install | Native app |
| Sales and connectors | None | Invoices to QuickBooks Online, Slack, Teams |
Which one for which business
Choose Sortly if you track assets, tools or supplies rather than stock you buy and sell, if photos and labels matter more than costs, and if a native app with offline use is a requirement. A field service team, a school, a film crew.
Choose StockBold if your stock comes from suppliers on purchase orders, if someone will one day ask what it is worth, and if more than one person records movements. A distributor, a workshop, a wholesaler, a company with a warehouse and a shop.
If you sell through an online shop and need orders to flow in from it, neither tool does that. Look at the inFlow and Zoho Inventory comparisons instead.
StockBold has a free plan with no time limit; the pricing page has the details. Read more about inventory management in StockBold.