Reftab alternatives
Reftab alternatives for registers that have grown past the laptop cupboard
Reftab does IT hardware loans cleanly, with a free plan and a flat hardware price. People start looking when the register has to hold things IT did not buy, or when equipment is shared by the day rather than assigned by the year.
What are the best Reftab alternatives and competitors?
The Reftab competitors worth comparing are Stackroom, Snipe-IT, EZOfficeInventory, Cheqroom and AssetSonar. If the register is widening beyond IT, Stackroom fits best, adding bookings, maintenance, service cover and cycle counts with unlimited users. If it stays IT and cost is everything, Snipe-IT is free to self-host. EZOfficeInventory suits larger estates that need purchase orders.
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Why teams start looking
When Reftab stops fitting
Another department asked to join
Facilities, the lab or the AV store asks whether they can put their equipment in too. Reftab is shaped around a device estate — bought by IT, assigned to an employee, returned at offboarding — and tools or instruments sit awkwardly in that shape.
The usual outcome is a second register, which is the problem a register was meant to prevent.
Shared kit needs a calendar
A laptop belongs to a person. A thermal camera belongs to whoever booked it for this week, and needs availability and overlap checks so two people do not plan round the same item.
Servicing is not a warranty date
IT hardware is usually refreshed on a cycle; field equipment is maintained, inspected and certified. Reftab tracks warranty dates and has limited maintenance, and a repair with a status, a cost and an expected-back date is a different object entirely.
The free plan filled up
Reftab's free plan stops at 50 assets. Accessories and licences do not count against it, which is generous, but a small team's first proper tagging exercise can pass it in an afternoon — and that is when people compare.
When staying on Reftab is the right call
- The register is IT hardware and will stay that way. Reftab is sensibly priced for exactly that job.
- Loan agreements and assignment are all you need; maintenance tickets, cycle counts and a scan trail would go unused.
- You track software licences in Reftab as well. Stackroom does not do software asset management at all.
- You are under 50 assets and the free plan does everything you ask of it.
The shortlist
Alternatives to Reftab worth evaluating
Ordered by how well each fits someone leaving Reftab. Not all of these are us, and the one that is is labelled.
- 1.
Stackroom
That is usIt covers what Reftab does for IT — assignment to a named person with signatures, offboarding recovery, warranty dates — and holds the tools, instruments and AV kit IT did not buy in the same register, with departments and hierarchical locations to keep each team's equipment in order. Bookings, maintenance tickets, AMC and CMC cover and cycle counts come with it, and a departing employee's clearance produces a no-dues certificate.
- Pick it if
- The trigger is another department wanting in, or shared equipment that needs booking and servicing.
- Watch out for
- No software licence tracking and no network discovery. If Reftab is also your software asset tool, that half needs somewhere else to live.
- 2.
Snipe-IT
IT asset managementFor an IT team that is staying IT and wants the bill to shrink rather than the scope to grow, Snipe-IT is free and uncapped when self-hosted, and its hosted plans carry unlimited assets and users too.
- Pick it if
- You have infrastructure staff, and your assets are devices updated at a desk rather than on foot.
- Watch out for
- You run the server, the backups and the upgrades, there are no bookings, and it is no better than Reftab with non-IT equipment.
- 3.
EZOfficeInventory
Equipment tracking & checkoutEZOfficeInventory covers a broad estate with deep configuration, purchase orders and, from its second tier, audits and RFID, with unlimited users and locations.
- Pick it if
- You are a larger organisation where procurement and assets need to live together and someone can own the setup.
- Watch out for
- It prices on item count, so widening the register to every department raises the bill with each item — the opposite of Reftab's flat hardware plan.
- 4.
Cheqroom
Equipment tracking & checkoutIf the new requirement is a shared pool — cameras, AV, lab equipment booked by the day — Cheqroom is built around exactly that, with unlimited items and users.
- Pick it if
- Reservations for a media, events or teaching team are the gap Reftab cannot fill.
- Watch out for
- Administrators are billed per seat with a minimum of three, and servicing and cover are thin. Many teams end up running it beside their IT register rather than instead of it.
- 5.
AssetSonar
Workplace & remote ITIf you are leaving Reftab to go deeper into IT rather than wider, AssetSonar adds software and licence tracking, MDM and discovery integrations and service-desk features around the hardware register.
- Pick it if
- Your estate is IT and you want hardware, software and requests handled in one place.
- Watch out for
- It is priced per asset, per month, with service management and advanced software tracking as dearer tiers — a very different bill from Reftab's flat price.
How to choose
Three questions that separate this shortlist
Is the register getting wider, or deeper?
Wider — other departments, non-IT equipment — points to Stackroom or EZOfficeInventory. Deeper into IT — software, MDM, requests — points to AssetSonar. Neither, just cheaper, points to Snipe-IT.
Is anything shared rather than assigned?
Items booked by the day need reservations with overlap checks, which Stackroom and Cheqroom both provide. Snipe-IT has no bookings, and the other IT-shaped tools are built around assigning a device to a person.
Who will run it?
Snipe-IT self-hosted needs someone to look after a server. EZOfficeInventory rewards someone who owns its configuration. Stackroom and Cheqroom are closer to sign up, import and start issuing.
Migration
Moving your data out of Reftab
Reftab's data is IT-shaped: assets with serials and warranty dates, accessories and licences held apart from them, and loans with agreements attached. Export the asset list with custom fields and your user list, plus loan history if your plan exposes it. Accessories and licences need exports of their own.
Stackroom takes people and assets by CSV, people first. Device models become categories, offices become sites in a location hierarchy, and teams can become departments. Warranty dates belong on cover records rather than in a custom field, so that the two-stage expiry alerts fire; one contract can cover many assets, which suits a batch of laptops bought together.
Two things do not come across. Software licences have no home in Stackroom, which does not do software asset management, so keep them where they are or move them to a tool built for it. And signed loan agreements from Reftab remain Reftab documents — archive them, then capture a fresh handover signature in Stackroom when each device next changes hands.
See the Migration CenterFAQ
Reftab alternatives — common questions
Who are Reftab's main competitors?
For IT hardware, Snipe-IT and AssetSonar compete most directly: Snipe-IT on cost, since it is free to self-host, and AssetSonar on depth, with software tracking and MDM integrations. EZOfficeInventory and Cheqroom come in when the register widens to shared or non-IT equipment. Stackroom competes when custody, bookings, servicing and audits across departments matter more than software tracking.
Is there a free alternative to Reftab?
Reftab's own free plan covers 50 assets forever. Stackroom has a free plan with unlimited users, and Snipe-IT is free and uncapped if you host it yourself. Which is cheaper in practice depends on whether you would rather pay a subscription or look after a server.
Does Stackroom track software licences like Reftab?
No. Stackroom is physical-asset software: no software inventory, no licence reconciliation, no discovery agents. Reftab charges software asset management separately, per software user. If you need it, keep it there or choose a tool built for it, and use Stackroom for the equipment.
Can facilities and IT share one Stackroom register?
Yes. Departments, hierarchical locations and configurable roles let each team manage its own equipment inside one organisation, and reports break holdings and value down by department and site. Users are unlimited, so bringing the facilities team's people in does not add seats to the bill.
How does offboarding compare?
Both handle it. In Stackroom, everything a leaver holds is on their record, returns capture condition and a signature, and an asset clearance certificate is emailed once they are clear. Items lost while held are closed with a reason, so the holder stays on the record for accountability.
We are a five-person IT team. Is switching worth it?
Probably not, if assignment and loan agreements are the whole job — Reftab does that well at a fair price. The case changes when bookings, repairs, service contracts or non-IT equipment arrive, or when another department wants to use the register you already have.
Trying an alternative to Reftab?
Import your data, print a sheet of labels, and run a real checkout the same day. The free tier has unlimited users.