Sortly vs. Orca Scan
Sortly is published by Sortly Inc. and has been on the App Store since 2012-06-05. Orca Scan is published by Orca Scan Limited and has been available since 2016-11-03. Both scan barcodes into an inventory you can export, and both start free with a hundred-record ceiling. What separates them is what happens when you outgrow that — Sortly moves you to a bigger plan, Orca Scan sells you more of what you ran out of. This comparison is built from what each developer publishes — App Store listings and both companies’ own pricing pages — with every claim sourced and anything unverifiable listed as such.
Everything below comes from published sources, checked on 2026-08-21 — with Sortly’s pricing page re-checked on 2026-08-25 — and linked in each section. Where the sources don’t answer a question, it’s listed under What we couldn’t verify rather than guessed at.
Sortly
A mobile inventory platform organised into folders and items, with barcode scanning, label generation and tiered subscriptions.
Orca Scan
A barcode scanner that writes into spreadsheet-like sheets you design yourself, with per-unit pricing and an API.
Both free plans stop at the same size, and the bill after that is shaped differently. Sortly’s plans bundle items, users and jobs together, so growing on one axis moves you up a whole tier. Orca Scan charges separately for extra rows, sheets and users, so you pay for the thing you actually ran out of. Which is cheaper depends entirely on which limit you hit first.
At a glance
| Field | Sortly | Orca Scan |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Sortly Inc. | Orca Scan |
| Price | Free plan at $0; Advanced $49/month or $24/month billed yearly ($288/yr); Ultra $149/month or $74/month billed yearly ($888/yr). The yearly discount shown is a first-year rate — per Sortly’s pricing page on 2026-08-21 | Free forever plan at $0; Starter $49/month or $39/month billed annually; Business $99/month or $79/month billed annually; Enterprise $500/month or $400/month billed annually, per Orca Scan’s pricing page on 2026-08-21 |
| App Store rating | 4.73 from 9,466 ratings | 4.70 from 1,866 ratings |
| Current version | 10.26.1, updated 2026-08-26 | 12.7.4, updated 2026-09-01 |
| First released | 2012-06-05 | 2016-11-03 |
| Install size | 57.3 MB | 18.0 MB |
| Minimum iOS | 18.5 | 12.0 |
| iPad support | Yes | Yes |
Pulled from the App Store on 2026-09-04. Prices, versions, ratings, install sizes and OS requirements change — check the current App Store listing before relying on any of these values.
Feature comparison
| Field | Sortly | Orca Scan |
|---|---|---|
| Differs: Free plan limits | 100 unique items, 1 user licence and 2 active jobs, per Sortly’s pricing page | 100 rows per sheet, 1 sheet, 1 user and 7 days of revision history, on a plan its page calls free forever |
| Differs: How growth is priced | By tier. Advanced raises the ceiling to 500 items, 2 users and 5 active jobs; Ultra to 2,000 items, 5 users and 10 active jobs; Premium to 5,000 items, 8 user licences and 15 active jobs. Enterprise sits above those, quoted rather than published | Per unit on top of a tier. Starter adds $15 per extra user, $5 per extra sheet and $5 per 2,000 extra rows; Business adds $25 per user, $5 per sheet and $10 per 5,000 rows |
| Differs: Discount terms | Its pricing page states the 50% yearly discount applies only to the first year of a new subscription, and that a 20% discount applies to yearly plans after that | Annual billing is offered at a lower monthly rate on every paid tier, with no first-year condition stated |
| Differs: Minimum iOS | 18.5 | 12.0 |
| Paid entry price | Advanced at $49 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly at $288 | Starter at $49 a month, or $39 a month billed annually |
| Revision history | One month on the free plan, one year on Advanced, three years on Ultra, unlimited on Premium | 7 days free, 30 days on Starter, 90 days on Business, and custom on Enterprise |
| Export and integration | Inventory reporting and inventory import, per its App Store description | Export to Excel and Google Sheets, a REST API, webhooks in and out, and connections to MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle DB, per its pricing page |
| Label printing | Unlimited QR code label creation on Advanced; barcode label creation begins at Ultra. The free plan includes none | A label designer for creating and printing barcode labels, per its App Store description |
| Offline use | Offline access with automatic syncing across devices and users | Works offline and syncs to the cloud once reconnected |
Sources for this section: Sortly App Store listing, Sortly pricing page, Orca Scan App Store listing, and Orca Scan pricing page. The Orca Scan sources were checked on 2026-08-21, and the Sortly sources were re-checked on 2026-08-25. Published feature lists change — check the current pages before relying on any row above. A heavier amber rule marks a row where the two apps meaningfully differ.
Where each one fits
Sortly brings fourteen years on the App Store, folders and photos for items you handle physically, label generation included on the paid tiers, and a lower effective yearly rate at $24 a month in the first year. Against that, it requires iOS 18.5, which excludes a large number of working devices, its free plan allows one user, and the advertised yearly saving halves after the first year. Sortly vs. BoxHero sets the same tier against one carrying twice the items at the same annual price.
Orca Scan sets its floor at iOS 12.0, which runs on almost anything, prices per unit so a single tight limit doesn’t force a whole tier upgrade, exports directly to Excel and Google Sheets, and connects to databases and an API. Against that, its free plan allows one sheet of 100 rows, its revision history is capped by tier, and paying per row, sheet and user makes the eventual bill harder to predict.
What we couldn’t verify
These are questions the published sources do not answer. They are listed here unresolved rather than guessed at.
- What Orca Scan’s Enterprise plan includes beyond custom limits, since its page lists the tier as contact-for-pricing alongside a figure
- Whether Orca Scan’s in-app subscription price matches the price on its website, which its App Store listing does not show
- Why Sortly’s App Store in-app-purchase list prices its Advanced plan at $449.99 a year against the $288 on its pricing page, which nothing Sortly publishes explains
- Whether Sortly’s 100-item free limit counts quantities or only distinct items — its page says quantities of a unique item do not count, but does not define the boundary further
Ownership disclosure
AppMatchup is operated by Fogarty Holdings LLC, which publishes its own iOS apps.
Neither app on this page is one of them. Sortly and Orca Scan are published by Sortly Inc. and Orca Scan Limited respectively, and Fogarty Holdings LLC has no stake in either.
Where a comparison on this site does include an app published by Fogarty Holdings LLC, that fact is labeled on that comparison page itself, next to the app it concerns.