Best Sortly Alternatives for Storage Inventory (2026)

So you’ve been using Sortly. Or you tried it, hit the 100-item free limit, and now you’re staring down a subscription page wondering if there’s a better way.

There usually is. Sortly is fine software. But it’s built for small business inventory — the kind with barcodes and SKUs and stock levels. A lot of people tracking storage items don’t need any of that. They need to know which box the winter coats are in.

I work with storage customers every day, and I’ve watched people try to solve this problem with everything from fancy apps to a Sharpie and a notebook. Here’s what I’ve actually seen work.

Start by asking what you’re tracking

Before you go hunting for alternatives, be honest about the job.

If you’re tracking business inventory — parts, products, supplies — you need real inventory software. Barcode scanning, stock counts, reorder alerts. Sortly does that, and so do others.

But if you’re tracking household stuff in a storage unit? You need a list. That’s it. A list with photos and locations. Most people overcomplicate this and quit three weeks in because they built a system too heavy to maintain.

Which one are you? Be honest, because it changes the answer completely.

BoxHero — for the business side

If you do need actual inventory management, BoxHero is the name that comes up most often as a Sortly replacement.

It’s cheaper once you get past a few hundred items. The interface is plainer. No folder trees, no visual clutter — just a list of what you have and where it is.

The trade-off is that it looks like a spreadsheet with buttons. Some people love that. Some people find Sortly’s visual style easier to stick with. If you’re the type who abandons apps after two weeks, pick the one that’s less fun to look at. Sounds backwards, but it’s true — the boring app is the one you’ll still be using in six months.

Just use a spreadsheet. Seriously.

I know. This feels like a cop-out answer. It isn’t.

For personal storage — boxes, furniture, seasonal stuff — a Google Sheet will outperform every app on this list, and here’s why: you already know how to use it. No tutorial. No subscription. No app to delete later.

Here’s a setup that actually holds up:

• One row per box, not per item.
• A column for the box number (write it on the box with a marker — physical label, digital record).
• A column for a short description of contents.
• A column for a photo link.
• A column for where in the unit it sits — front left, back wall, top of the stack.

That’s four columns. That’s the whole system.

The trick is the box number. If every box has a number and every row matches a box, you can find anything in under a minute. “Box 14, back right, photo attached.” Done.

What kills spreadsheets is people trying to log every single item. Don’t. Log the box and take a photo of what’s inside when you pack it. The photo is your item list.

Google Keep or Apple Notes — for people who won’t maintain a spreadsheet

Some people will never open a spreadsheet. Fine. Don’t force it.

Your phone’s notes app works better than you’d think. Make one note per box. Snap a photo of the contents. Add a line about which unit and which corner. Pin the notes you’ll need soon.

It falls apart past 50 or 60 boxes — searching gets ugly, and the notes app wasn’t built for this. But for a smaller unit, or a short-term storage situation during a move, it’s genuinely enough. No download, no signup, nothing to cancel.

The thing nobody tells you about these apps

Here’s what I’ve noticed after watching people do this for years: the app was never the problem.

People sign up for Sortly or BoxHero or whatever’s trending, spend a weekend scanning and categorizing, feel great — and then the unit gets sealed up and nobody opens the app again for eight months. Then they need something and can’t remember if they ever logged it properly.

The system only works if you touch it at two moments: when things go in, and when things come out.

So whatever you pick, build a habit around those two moments. Update it as you load the truck. Update it as you pull things out. A spreadsheet you actually update beats a subscription app you don’t.

One more thing — keep your list where you can find it. Not buried in an app you’ll forget the password for. Email yourself a copy. Share it with whoever else has access to the unit. If two people use the unit, two people need the list.

Where we come in

Whatever you use to track your stuff, the storage itself still matters. At Nearby Storage Rentals, we keep our units clean and accessible, which makes a real difference when you’re the one hauling boxes in and out trying to match them to a list.

If you’re about to move things into storage, tell us what you’re storing and we’ll point you to the right size unit — so you’re not paying for space you don’t need or cramming boxes into a unit that’s too small.

And when you move in, do one thing for yourself: number every box before it goes in the door. Future you, standing in front of a stack of identical cardboard, will thank you.