Sortly Pricing in 2026: Plans, Year-Two Cost and Free Plan Limits

Short answer (checked 5 October 2026): Sortly has a free plan for 1 user and 100 unique items. Paid plans cost $49, $149 or $299 a month on monthly billing. On yearly billing, new customers pay about half that in year one ($24, $74 or $149 a month). From year two, Sortly's own terms put yearly plans at 20% off the monthly rate, which works out to $39.20, $119.20 or $239.20 a month. Enterprise is quote only.

We build Shelf, which competes with Sortly. So every number below carries its source and the date we checked it. Where we calculated a number, we show the math.

Sortly pricing at a glance

Source: sortly.com/pricing and the Sortly help center, both checked 5 October 2026. All prices in USD.

How to read the table:

• Year one is the introductory price. The pricing page shows it with a footnote: "50% discount applies only to first year of new customer subscriptions." The page also carried a banner reading "Flash Sale: 50% off yearly plans!" on the day we checked.
• From year two is our calculation from two Sortly statements. The same footnote continues: "After the first year, a 20% discount applies to all yearly plans." The help center says the annual plan comes with "a discount of 20% off the monthly rate." So year two is the monthly rate times 12, minus 20%.
• Billed monthly is the price with no yearly commitment and no introductory discount. Sortly's toggle shows $49, $149 and $299.
• Unique items count kinds of things, not units. Sortly's tooltip says "quantities of a Unique Item do not count towards your Unique Item limit." A box of 500 identical screws is one unique item.
• Users are user licenses. Sortly's help center says you can add seats from the Manage Team page, within a limit per plan. The pricing page does not list a price per extra seat.

What you pay in year two

The introductory price is real, but it lasts one year. Sortly's pricing FAQ says: "If you signed up with an introductory or promotional discount, your plan will renew at the standard rate once the promotional period ends." Its help center answers "Why am I being charged more this year than last year?" the same way.

Here is the math for a 5-person team on Ultra, the plan Sortly labels "Most Popular":

1. Year one: $74 × 12 = $888. The pricing page says "Billed at $888/yr."
2. Monthly rate for a full year: $149 × 12 = $1,788.
3. Year two: $1,788 minus 20% = $1,430.40.
4. The change: $542.40 more than year one, an increase of about 61%.
5. Two years together: $888 + $1,430.40 = $2,318.40. Three years: $3,748.80.

The same math for the other plans:

One caveat, in Sortly's favor and against certainty. The help center's own answer to "What is the pricing after the first year?" is to contact the support team, "because plan pricing changes over time." The pricing page also says Sortly has "only adjusted plan prices once in the past 6 years" and will notify you before any change affects your renewal. So treat year two as what today's published terms imply, and ask Sortly to confirm your renewal price in writing before you sign.

When the team or the catalogue grows

Two limits move you up a plan, and either one is enough.

• People. Ultra includes 5 user licenses. A sixth person means an extra seat (price not published) or Premium, which includes 8. Premium is $1,788 in year one and $2,870.40 from year two.
• Items. Ultra covers 2,000 unique items. Item 2,001 means Premium, even if the team stays at 5. Sortly's help center says that when you pass the limit, "you'll need to reduce the number of items in your account or upgrade to a plan with a higher limit."

Where the free plan stops

Sortly calls Free "Best for getting started" on its pricing page, and "Best for personal use" in its help center. Here is what it includes and what it leaves out, checked 5 October 2026.

Included on Free:

• 100 unique items, 1 user license, 2 active jobs.
• In-app barcode and QR code scanning, item photos, inventory import, folders and tags.
• Offline mobile access and automatic sync.
• 1 custom field. The help center adds: no attachment-type custom fields.
• One month of activity history.

Not included on Free:

• Alerts. Sortly's quantity alerts page says: "The Free plan doesn't support alerts." Low-stock alerts start on Advanced.
• Custom units of measure. The units help page says: "Only users on paid plans can create and manage custom units." Free users get the default units.
• Label creation. QR label creation starts on Advanced. Barcode label creation starts on Ultra.
• Check-in and check-out. Starts on Advanced.
• Purchase orders, pick lists and stock counts. Start on Ultra.

Who the free plan fits: one person, fewer than 100 kinds of things, no need for alerts or labels. A home inventory or a single small stock room fits well. A team does not, because Free has one user license.

What Sortly does well

Sortly is a good product for stock. These strengths are real:

• Photo-first, easy to learn. Items live in folders with pictures. People who have never used inventory software can start without training.
• Stock and supplies. Quantities, partial quantities up to four decimal places, custom units, low-stock and date-based alerts, pick lists and stock counts. This is built for things you count and use up.
• Purchasing. Purchase orders from Ultra. Amazon Business US ordering from Ultra. QuickBooks Online on Premium, to send invoices and purchase orders to your accounting.
• Offline mobile on every plan, including Free.
• Integrations on higher plans. Slack and Microsoft Teams from Ultra. API, webhooks and SSO on Enterprise.

Two things to know before you buy. Below Enterprise, Sortly takes credit cards only. Its pricing FAQ says ACH, wire, invoices with Net 30 terms and formal quotes "are only available on our Enterprise plan." That matters for schools and public bodies that pay by invoice. And the help center says Sortly does not "currently offer additional discounts for schools or nonprofits."

Where Sortly is not built for the job: shared equipment that needs scheduling. Sortly's plan comparison lists item check-in and check-out from Advanced. It does not list reservations or a booking calendar (checked 5 October 2026). If several people compete for the same cameras, laptops or tools on different days, you need to reserve them ahead, not only log who took them.

Shelf for the same cases

Shelf publishes its prices on /pricing (checked 5 October 2026):

• Personal (Free): $0, 1 user, unlimited assets, custody, kits, locations, 3 custom fields.
• Plus: $34 a month or $190 a year, 1 user, unlimited custom fields, CSV import and export.
• Team: $67 a month or $370 a year. Unlimited users and unlimited assets. Bookings, the booking calendar and availability start on Team. 7-day free trial, no credit card.
• Add-ons on Team: Audits $37 a month; Alternative Barcodes $18.50 a month, to keep the labels already on your items.
• Enterprise: custom.

The Shelf prices above are list prices, not introductory rates. Applied to the same team sizes:

Shelf Free is for one person. Any team of two or more needs Team.

The honest trade-off. Shelf is built for equipment a team uses and passes around: who has it, where it is, when it comes back, and who has it booked next. It is not built for retail stock you sell. Shelf has no purchase orders, no QuickBooks connection and no Amazon ordering. If your work is reordering supplies and sending purchase orders to accounting, Sortly does that and Shelf does not. Shelf does track consumables by quantity, but as part of an equipment workflow.

For a feature-by-feature view, see Sortly vs Shelf.

Frequently asked questions

Is Sortly free?

Sortly has a free plan: 1 user, 100 unique items and 2 active jobs, with scanning, photos and 1 custom field. It has no alerts, no label creation, no check-in/check-out and no custom units (sortly.com/pricing and Sortly help center, checked 5 October 2026). Paid plans start at $24 a month in year one on yearly billing.

What happens when I hit 100 items on Sortly Free?

Sortly's help center says you'll need to "reduce the number of items in your account or upgrade to a plan with a higher limit." The next plan is Advanced, with 500 unique items. Quantities do not count toward the limit, so 100 kinds of items can hold any number of units.

Does Sortly charge per user?

Not directly. Each plan includes a set number of user licenses: 1 on Free, 2 on Advanced, 5 on Ultra, 8 on Premium and 12+ on Enterprise. The help center says you can add seats within a limit per plan, but the pricing page does not publish a seat price. Usually, more people means a bigger plan.

Is there a Sortly discount?

Three are published. New customers get 50% off the first year of a yearly plan. After that, yearly plans are 20% off the monthly rate. And the help center says customers who cancel a card subscription made directly with Sortly "may see a one-time discount offer." Sortly does not offer extra discounts for schools or nonprofits.

Will my Sortly price go up after the first year?

Yes, if you started on the introductory price. Sortly's pricing FAQ says the plan "will renew at the standard rate once the promotional period ends." On today's terms, Ultra goes from $888 in year one to $1,430.40 in year two. Ask Sortly to confirm your renewal price before you sign.

Does Sortly have a free trial?

Yes. Sortly offers a 14-day free trial on all paid plans, excluding promotional offers. A credit card is required, and the subscription starts automatically when the trial ends unless you cancel first (sortly.com/pricing, checked 5 October 2026).

Can I move from Sortly to Shelf?

Yes. Sortly's help center describes exporting your data via CSV. Shelf imports assets from a CSV file on the Plus, Team and Enterprise plans: see the CSV import guide. To keep the barcodes already on your items, add Alternative Barcodes on the Team plan. Industrial Artifacts moved 8,860 items off Sortly in under two weeks and kept the barcodes on their shelves.

Sources

All checked on 5 October 2026.

• Sortly pricing page (plans, limits, prices, footnote on the 50% and 20% discounts, pricing FAQ, plan comparison table): sortly.com/pricing
• Sortly help center, "Sortly Pricing & Plan Information" (20% off the monthly rate on yearly plans, pricing after the first year, no school or nonprofit discounts, adding seats): help.sortly.com/sortly-pricing-plan-information
• Sortly help center, "Manage Your Sortly Account or Subscription" (plan limits, renewal at the standard rate, item limit message, CSV export, cancellation offer): help.sortly.com/manage-your-sortly-account-or-subscription
• Sortly help center, "Quantity Alerts" (Free plan has no alerts): help.sortly.com/quantity-alerts
• Sortly help center, "Managing Units of Measure in Sortly" (custom units on paid plans only): help.sortly.com/managing-units-of-measure-in-sortly-standard-custom-and-partial-quantities
• Shelf pricing: shelf.nu/pricing

Ready to compare for yourself? Read the full Sortly vs Shelf comparison or see Shelf pricing.