Most “best home inventory app” roundups read like affiliate pages. This one is not. Vorby is ours. The comparison below is built from public App Store and marketing pages plus first-hand use of Vorby. It is not a lab bake-off with staged screenshots of every rival.
Pricing was checked Aug 31, 2026 (PT) against official pages and US App Store listings. Identity traps matter: Manifest is manifestme.me (not manifestly.com). Nest Egg is App Store id 431188993 (not nesteggapp.com). Itemlist lives at getitemlist.app (itemlist.app DNS is dead). HomeZada dollars are on /homeowners/pricing, not /pricing.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Photos | AI ID | Barcode | Insurance | Price (Aug 31, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vorby | Household photo to AI catalog | Yes | Yes | QR/NFC; UPC claimed on Vorby blog, not homepage grid | Yes, reports/PDF | $7/mo or $60/yr; 14-day trial; free tier on site |
| Sortly | SMB/team stock (overkill for most homes) | Yes | No | Yes | Business CSV/reports, not claim PDF | Advanced $49/mo list; first-year yearly about $24/mo ($288/yr); Free 100 items |
| HomeZada | Whole-home OS + insurance PDF | Yes | Yes | Partial (AI can read barcode photos) | Yes, household PDF | Premium $15.95/mo or $99/yr; Essentials Free |
| Itemtopia | Cross-platform + estate reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Claim/estate PDF+CSV (Premium) | US App Store $7.99/mo or $79.99/yr; Play free up to 20 items |
| Nest Egg | One-time iOS barcode catalog | Yes | No (UPC database) | Yes | Email/print/CSV | $6.99 once; Lite Free |
| Manifest | Video/photo AI to claims PDF | Yes | Yes | Yes | One-tap claims PDF | Vault $11.99/yr or $1.99/mo; Unlimited $39/yr; 7-day trial, no card |
| Itemlist | Nested rooms/containers | Yes | No | Yes | CSV for insurance | Free 100 items; PRO about $2.99–$4.99/mo, yearly $19.99–$29.99 (App Store + vendor Aug 2026 blog) |
Prices move. Check the store listing before you buy. The shape of each product does not: Sortly is business inventory software. Nest Egg is a cheap barcode catalog. HomeZada is a home OS with an insurance PDF. Manifest and Vorby are photo-AI consumer apps. Itemtopia and Itemlist sit on the lighter, free-to-start end.
What “best” means here
A home inventory app is good if you will still open it in six months, and if the export is something you can actually hand someone when you need a record. Pretty UI is secondary. Photos, rooms, serials, and values that stay searchable are the job.
The apps that fail fail the same way. Adding an item feels like homework, so you stop after the living room. Then you have a half-finished list that feels safer than it is.
1. Vorby
Vorby is a home inventory app for the house you live in, not a warehouse tool with a consumer coat of paint. You photograph a room. The app helps turn that into items and rooms so the first stretch of the list is minutes, not a lost Saturday. Official features emphasize AI recognition, QR codes, and NFC tags. Product barcode/UPC scanning shows up on Vorby’s blog; it is not on the homepage feature grid, so we do not overclaim it here. You can attach receipts, keep serial photos with the item, and export insurer-ready reports and PDFs without rebuilding everything in a spreadsheet.
What it is not: there is no Android app. If you need Android, that is a real reason to pick Sortly, Nest Egg, Manifest, Itemtopia, or another Android option instead of waiting on us. If you want to scan SKUs in a stockroom, Sortly is the tool.
Pricing is $7/month or $60/year after a 14-day trial. The site also offers a free tier to get started. We are not pasting our own product screenshots into this roundup; the other apps use their public App Store art below.
2. Sortly
Sortly is inventory software for small businesses and teams. Photos (up to eight per item), barcode and QR scanning, folders, quantity counts, seats. It does not market photo-AI identification. Help-center language even frames the free plan as what they offer for personal or home use.
For a house, it is often the wrong shape. You do not need user seats to catalog a sofa. You need a photo of the sofa, the serial on the TV, and a report you can find later. Sortly’s exports are business CSV and activity reports, not an insurance-claim PDF product.
Public pricing (Aug 31, 2026): Free covers 100 unique items and one user. Advanced is $49/month list; the yearly toggle’s first-year intro is about $24/month billed $288/year (50% off, new subscriptions, then renews higher). Ultra and Premium are much higher. Paid plans have a 14-day trial with a card required.
Use Sortly if you already think in quantities and team seats. Skip it if you are documenting a living room, not a stockroom.
3. HomeZada
HomeZada is a whole-home OS: inventory plus maintenance, projects, and a household inventory PDF meant for insurance. Official inventory pages pitch AI photo recognition. Barcode support is partial in public copy (AI reading a barcode or nameplate photo), not a dedicated UPC-scanner SKU on pricing.
Public pricing from homezada.com/homeowners/pricing (Aug 31, 2026): Essentials is Free (inventory, docs, limited AI chats). Premium is $15.95/month or $99/year. Deluxe is $189/year for up to three properties. Confirm dollars on that homeowners pricing page; /pricing itself 404s.
Pick HomeZada if you want inventory bundled with broader home admin and an insurance PDF. Skip it if you only want a fast photo catalog and nothing else.
4. Itemtopia
Itemtopia is alive and cross-platform (iOS, Android, Mac in public listings). App Store copy covers AI image recognition, barcodes/QR, and Premium insurance claim and estate PDF/CSV exports. The website does not print dollar amounts; prices live in the stores.
Public pricing (Aug 31, 2026): US App Store Premium is $7.99/month or $79.99/year. Google Play is free to try up to about 20 items, with Premium priced in-app by country. Extra-user packs also appear as IAPs.
Pick Itemtopia if you need Android or Mac in the same product and want claim/estate exports. Skip it if you only want a one-time purchase with no subscription.
5. Nest Egg
Nest Egg (Nest Egg Labs on the App Store, id 431188993) is the honest cheap option. $6.99 once on the US iOS App Store for the full app. Barcode scanning fills from a UPC database. Photos attach to items. There is no photo-AI identification pitch. Lite is Free. Exports are email, print, CSV, and HTML, not a dedicated claims-PDF product page.
Do not confuse it with nesteggapp.com, which is a different children’s-finance product.
Pick Nest Egg if you hate subscriptions and you will do the typing and scanning. Do not pick it if typing is the reason you have been putting this off.
6. Manifest
Manifest (at manifestme.me, not manifestly.com) is the other photo-and-video AI home inventory app with a real Android story and a claims-PDF pitch. Public copy covers walk-through video, photo scans, barcode search, QR labels, and one-tap claims-ready PDFs with RCV/ACV language.
Public pricing from Manifest’s site (Aug 31, 2026): 7-day full trial with no card. Vault is $11.99/year or $1.99/month (light AI limits). Unlimited is $39/year. Boost packs at $3.99 for 14 days also appear. There is no permanent free tier after the trial.
If you want Android plus photo/video AI and a claims PDF, Manifest is in the conversation and Vorby is not. If you want Vorby’s photo-first flow on iPhone or the web, start with Vorby.
7. Itemlist
Itemlist lives at getitemlist.app (itemlist.app does not resolve). It is a nested rooms-and-containers tracker for iPhone/iPad with photos, barcode scanning, and CSV export for insurance. Public homepage has no AI language.
Public pricing (Aug 31, 2026): free up to 100 items and 20 containers. There is no dedicated pricing page. US App Store IAPs include PRO Monthly around $2.99 and $4.99, yearly around $19.99, and several lifetime SKUs including $29.99. Itemlist’s own Aug 2026 comparison page still says Pro $29.99/year or $59.99 lifetime. Those two public sources do not fully agree, so quote both and open the store.
We also have a longer Vorby vs Itemlist note if you want the head-to-head. Pick Itemlist if you want a cheap, nested list on iPhone. Skip it if you need Android or photo-AI identification.
Best home inventory app with pictures
If photos are the point, start with Vorby or Manifest. Both are built around capturing the thing, not typing a SKU. Itemtopia and HomeZada also lead with photos and AI recognition in public copy. Nest Egg, Sortly, and Itemlist can hold photos; they do not lead with room-photo AI the same way. A camera roll alone is not an inventory.
For a step-by-step on the photo habit, see How to make a home inventory with photos.
Best home inventory app with AI
Public positioning for AI-assisted recognition sits mainly with Vorby, Manifest, HomeZada, and Itemtopia. Sortly, Nest Egg, and Itemlist are stronger when you already know what you are logging (manual photos, UPC lookup, or nested lists).
Best home inventory app with a barcode scanner
Nest Egg and Sortly are the barcode-first picks in this set. Itemtopia and Itemlist also scan. Manifest supports barcode search plus QR labels. Vorby’s official grid emphasizes QR and NFC; UPC/barcode language appears on the blog. HomeZada’s public story is AI reading a barcode photo, not a classic scanner SKU. If your house is mostly boxed retail goods with UPCs, a barcode catalog feels fast. If your value is furniture, art, jewelry, and custom gear, photos and serial plates matter more.
Best free home inventory app
Free usually means limited. Vorby has a free tier on the site, then $7/month or $60/year. Sortly’s free tier tops out at 100 items. HomeZada Essentials is Free. Itemtopia’s Play listing is free up to about 20 items. Itemlist is free up to 100 items / 20 containers. Manifest is a 7-day trial with no card, then paid. Nest Egg Lite is Free; the full app is $6.99 once. A spreadsheet is free and most people will not maintain it.
Best home inventory app for insurance
Insurance is why many people finally open one of these apps. You want photos, rooms, serials, and values in one place you can export. Vorby ships insurer-ready reports and PDFs. Manifest’s core pitch is a one-tap claims PDF. HomeZada markets a household inventory PDF for an agent. Itemtopia Premium covers claim and estate PDF/CSV. Itemlist and Nest Egg lean CSV / email / print. Sortly’s reports are business inventory exports, not claim packages.
None of these replace your policy. They help you prove what you owned when you need a clean list.
Best home inventory app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Vorby runs on iPhone and the web, so a Mac browser is a real path for review and export even without a native Mac app. For the tablet angle, see best home inventory app for iPad. For the desktop angle, see best home inventory app for Mac.
Itemtopia publicly covers iOS, Android, and Mac. Sortly, Manifest, and HomeZada also cover web or multi-platform in public listings. Nest Egg and Itemlist are more Apple-centered in this roundup.
How to choose in one minute
- Photo-first on iPhone or the web: Vorby.
- Photo/video AI, claims PDF, and Android: Manifest.
- Barcodes, quantities, team seats: Sortly.
- Home inventory plus home admin and insurance PDF: HomeZada.
- Cross-platform plus estate/claim exports: Itemtopia.
- Pay once and type/scan: Nest Egg.
- Nested rooms/containers on iPhone: Itemlist.
FAQ
What is the best home inventory app in 2026?
For a household documenting belongings with photos on iPhone or the web, Vorby. If you need Android and a claims PDF, Manifest. If you are running inventory like a business, Sortly. If you want one payment and you will type, Nest Egg.
Is there a good free home inventory app?
Several have free tiers with caps (Vorby, Sortly, HomeZada Essentials, Itemtopia on Play, Itemlist, Nest Egg Lite). Manifest is a short no-card trial. Nest Egg full is a low one-time price. Free forever with no limits is rare in this category.
Do I need an app, or will photos on my phone work?
Photos help. They are not an inventory. You cannot search a camera roll for a serial number the way you can search a list. If you only do one thing, photograph rooms and serial plates and get those files off the phone. If you will do two things, put them in an app that can export a report.
Can renters use these apps?
Yes. Renters insurance covers your stuff, not the building. The inventory job is the same: name it, show it, keep a replace cost you can defend.
Try Vorby free for 14 days.
