Reftab vs Shelf

Reftab is cloud-based asset management software for tracking hardware, software, equipment, and IT spend. It supports software license and contract tracking, employee self-service, barcode scanning, and QR codes. Administrative tools include custom fields and statuses, reports, exports, and bulk actions; integrations include Intune, Jamf, Jira, Microsoft, Okta, Adobe, and 30+ more. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android. The Free plan covers up to 50 assets and includes unlimited inventory and software tracking, mobile apps, and barcode and QR-code support. Accessories and licenses can be tracked without limit at no cost, and archived assets blocked from checkout do not count against the active asset quota. Hardware Asset Management includes unlimited users. Software Asset Management includes application discovery, installed software tracking, license and user tracking, software usage and spend, access reviews, renewal visibility, and compliance visibility for ISO 27001 and SOC 2. The Software Asset Management plan is $9 per year, billed annually; Hardware Asset Management is $125 per month. Paid offerings list a 14-day free trial. Payments can be made by credit card or ACH.

Shelf is an open-source asset tracking platform that records what an organization owns, where items are, and who has custody of them. Its tools include bookings, audits, location tracking, asset pages, kits, consumables, calendars, dashboards, search, reminders, and workspaces. The free Shelf Companion app for iPhone and Android scans QR codes, supports audits and custody management, and handles booking check-ins and check-outs. The web app can be installed as a progressive web app on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. Organizations can self-host with Docker and Supabase or use managed cloud. All plans include unlimited assets; Personal is free and is limited to one user and three custom fields. Plus costs $34 a month, and Team costs $67 a month. Enterprise pricing is custom. Shelf says it uses TLS 1.3 in transit and AES-256 at rest, but is not yet SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certified. Its managed cloud stores data in Frankfurt and runs application servers in Amsterdam.