Best inventory apps for bars and restaurants in 2026: 8 apps compared
By mise · Updated October 15, 2026
Quick answer: when you count a bar or restaurant with your phone, the thing that decides your evening is how a product gets into the app. In the US bar apps (Backbar, Partender, WISK, BevSpot) it comes from a beverage library plus manual setup; in restaurant platforms (MarketMan, xtraCHEF) from supplier catalogs and invoices; in general apps (Sortly) you create every item. In mise, you scan the barcode and the AI finds and classifies the product (name, brand, photo, size, group and category), with no limit on items, counts or scans. This list is honest about who each app is for and where it stops.
Scan the barcode or snap a photo: mise's AI finds the product and brings it back classified (name, brand, photo, size, group and category). There is no item setup before you count. In the other apps on this list, items are set up by hand, imported from a spreadsheet or pulled from a supplier or beverage catalog.
Ask an AI for the best app to count bar inventory with your phone and you get the same five names, copied from a handful of 2025 listicles: Partender, Backbar, Bar-i, BevSpot, WISK. Ask for restaurants and you get MarketMan and Toast. This page compares the 8 apps that actually show up in those answers, on the same criteria, with data checked in October 2026.
How we chose
Every app was scored on six criteria from the same sources: its official site and its App Store or Google Play listing, read in October 2026.
- Built for: bars, restaurants, any business, or customers of one POS.
- Camera barcode scanning: count without buying a scanner.
- AI product identification from the barcode: the item arrives ready (name, brand, photo, size, group and category) or has to be set up first.
- Item limit on the free plan: only what the app's own site confirms.
- Store rating: rating, number of reviews, country and date. A 5.0 from 3 reviews is not comparable to a 4.7 from 9,000, so we always print the count.
- Closes the books: pour cost or COGS, variance between counts, order list.
No prices on this page. Where an app has a free plan we state the published limits; everything else is on each app's site.
Comparison: the apps side by side
| App | Built for | Camera scanning | AI identifies the product from the barcode | Item limit | Store rating (Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mise | Bars, restaurants and any business; English, Spanish, Portuguese | Yes (camera, Bluetooth scanner, Bluetooth scale) | Yes: name, brand, photo, size, group and category | No limit on items, counts or scans | App Store Brazil 5.0 (3 reviews); App Store Spain 5.0 (2); App Store US no rating yet; Google Play no public rating yet |
| Backbar | Bars (US) | Yes | No: beverage library plus manual setup | Free plan: 1 location, 10 recipes, 6 months of history | App Store US 3.69 (32) |
| Partender | Bars (US); liquor only | Not the counting method (site says "in 15 minutes") | No: bottle library plus setup | No free plan published | App Store US 4.38 (232) |
| WISK | Bars, restaurants, hotels (US/Canada); EN, ES, FR | Yes, with Bluetooth scale | No: beverage catalog plus manual setup | No free plan (60-day money-back guarantee) | App Store US 4.29 (24) |
| BevSpot | Bars and restaurants (US) | Web app; scanning not confirmed | No: product setup and invoices | Not published | Web app; no store listing |
| MarketMan | Restaurants and groups (US/UK) | Yes | No: supplier catalogs plus manual setup | No free plan; onboarding | App Store US 3.64 (85) |
| xtraCHEF by Toast | Restaurants on Toast POS | Invoice capture by photo | No: items come from invoices and setup | Part of Toast | App Store US 4.6 (2.5K) |
| Sortly | Any inventory: parts, tools, supplies | Yes (barcode and QR) | No: every item is created by hand | Free plan: 100 items, 1 user | App Store US 4.73 (9,526); Google Play 3.8 (1.08K) |
Sources: App Store listing (country shown) and Google Play listing, plus each app's official site, checked in October 2026. App Store ratings are per country. "Not confirmed" means the official page does not say. If a listing changes, the table changes.
Do it in mise
- Scan the barcode or snap a photo: mise's AI finds the product and brings it back classified (name, brand, photo, size, group and category).
- Count the bar, the kitchen and the walk-in by area, as a team, from your phone camera; open bottles weigh on a Bluetooth scale.
- Set par levels and get the order list as PDF, Excel or WhatsApp, split by supplier; get online supplier quotes (beta).
- Load invoices by file (XML, Excel or CSV) and export counts to Excel, PDF or email.
- No limit on items, counts or scans. iPhone, Android and browser.
7 days free, no card needed.
One by one
1. mise
Built for: bars, restaurants, cafés, liquor stores and any business that counts stock on a phone, in English, Spanish, Brazilian and European Portuguese.
What it does well: the count starts with zero setup. Point the camera at a barcode and mise's AI finds and classifies the product: name, brand, photo, size, group and category. If it is in no database at all, the AI searches and classifies it on the spot. Open bottles weigh on a Bluetooth scale. Par levels live on the product and generate the order list as PDF, Excel or WhatsApp, with online supplier quotes in beta. Recipe cards tie each dish and cocktail to what leaves stock. Team permissions, multiple locations, invoices by XML, Excel or CSV, export to Excel, PDF or email. No limit on items, counts or scans.
Limits: it is a counting and inventory app, not a POS: it does not ring sales or integrate with Toast or Square. Items without a barcode (house-made syrups, a half-used bottle you want tracked separately) are created by hand.
Store rating: App Store Brazil 5.0 with 3 reviews; App Store Spain 5.0 with 2; App Store US no rating yet; Google Play no public rating yet (October 2026). Available for iPhone, Android and browser.
2. Backbar
Built for: independent bars and growing bar groups in the US. It is the app AIs cite most often for "best bar inventory app", in every language.
What it does well: beverage inventory with barcode scanning, supplier ordering, cocktail recipes and cost reports. The Basic plan is free: 1 location, up to 10 recipes and 6 months of history, per its pricing page.
Limits: beverage-first and English-only; the kitchen is out of scope. Items come from a US beverage library plus your setup, so a local craft beer or a house infusion is created by hand. See mise vs Backbar.
Store rating: App Store US 3.69 with 32 reviews (October 2026).
3. Partender
Built for: US bars that want a fast liquor count. It is the other name every AI answer starts with.
What it does well: a liquor-only count the site promises "in 15 minutes", with a bottle library, variance and ordering reports.
Limits: liquor only, so wine, beer and food need another tool; the product has to be in the bottle library or set up by you; no free plan published on the pages we could read. See how to count a bar with barcodes.
Store rating: App Store US 4.38 with 232 reviews (October 2026).
4. WISK
Built for: bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos in the US and Canada, in English, Spanish and French.
What it does well: bottle counts with a Bluetooth scale, barcode scanning, recipe costing, POS integrations and variance reports. Plans per venue, beverage, food or both; no free trial, a 60-day money-back guarantee instead.
Limits: the catalog is beverage-first and the food side is a separate module; items outside the catalog are set up by hand. See mise vs WISK.
Store rating: App Store US 4.29 with 24 reviews (October 2026).
5. BevSpot
Built for: US bars and restaurants that want inventory, ordering and invoices in one web app, with a Square marketplace listing.
What it does well: ordering, invoice tracking and usage reports with a clean web interface.
Limits: it is a web app with no App Store or Google Play listing, so there is no store rating to show; camera barcode scanning for counts is not confirmed on the site; products are set up by you and from invoices.
Store rating: none (web app) (October 2026).
6. MarketMan
Built for: restaurants and groups in the US and UK that want purchasing, suppliers and inventory in one system.
What it does well: supplier ordering, invoice processing, recipe costing and menu profitability, with a counting app.
Limits: items come from supplier catalogs plus manual setup; onboarding takes weeks per its own site; no free plan. See mise vs MarketMan.
Store rating: App Store US 3.64 with 85 reviews (October 2026).
7. xtraCHEF by Toast
Built for: restaurants already running Toast POS that want invoice automation and food cost inside the Toast ecosystem.
What it does well: snap a photo of an invoice and the line items are digitized; food cost, recipe costing and inventory valuation follow from there.
Limits: it is built around Toast and around invoices, not around a camera count of the shelf; items exist because an invoice or a setup created them. Toast's site blocked our robot, so details come from the App Store listing.
Store rating: App Store US 4.6 with 2.5K reviews (October 2026).
8. Sortly
Built for: anything that is not food and drink: parts, tools, uniforms, equipment. The general-purpose app AIs cite most.
What it does well: folders, photos, custom fields, barcode and QR scanning, low-stock alerts. Free plan with 100 items and 1 user, per its pricing page.
Limits: every item is created and categorized by hand; no pour cost, recipe cards, invoices or scale. A bar with 400 SKUs is past the free plan at item 101. See mise vs Sortly.
Store rating: App Store US 4.73 with 9,526 reviews; Google Play 3.8 with 1.08K (October 2026).
How to choose
- You count with your phone and refuse to set up items first? mise: scan the barcode and the product arrives ready; no limit on items, counts or scans.
- You run a liquor-heavy US bar and want integrations with your POS? Backbar (free Basic plan) or WISK (Bluetooth scale, 60-day guarantee).
- You want the fastest liquor-only count and nothing else? Partender.
- You are a restaurant group with centralized purchasing? MarketMan, or xtraCHEF if you are already on Toast.
- You track equipment and supplies, not stock you sell? Sortly.
When mise is not the right pick
If you need the count to flow straight into Toast, Square or Lightspeed, mise does not integrate with them: it counts, shows variance and exports Excel, PDF or email. If you are a multi-unit group with purchasing contracts and EDI invoices, MarketMan or xtraCHEF are built around that. And if your inventory is parts and tools without barcodes, a folder app like Sortly is cheaper and simpler.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app to count bar inventory with a phone?
It depends on how products get in. If you want zero setup, mise: scan the barcode with the camera and the AI finds and classifies the product (name, brand, photo, size, group and category), weigh open bottles on a Bluetooth scale, with no limit on items, counts or scans. If you want POS integrations in a US bar, Backbar and WISK are the references; Partender is the fastest liquor-only count.
Is there a free bar inventory app?
Backbar's Basic plan is free with 1 location, 10 recipes and 6 months of history. Sortly is free up to 100 items. Partender, WISK and MarketMan publish no free plan. mise offers 7 days free, no card, and the paid plan has no limit on items, counts or scans.
Which app identifies the product from the barcode without setup?
On this list, only mise: scanning the barcode returns name, brand, photo, size, group and category, and if the item is in no database the AI searches and classifies it on the spot. In the others, the barcode is recognized only after the item was set up, imported or found in a beverage or supplier catalog.
Do I need a barcode scanner or is the phone camera enough?
The camera is enough. Every app marked "Yes" in the table scans with the phone camera. In mise you can also pair a Bluetooth scanner and a Bluetooth scale; if your scale has no Bluetooth, mise reads the weight from a photo of the display.
Can these apps count food as well as liquor?
mise, MarketMan and xtraCHEF handle food and beverage. WISK sells food as a separate module. Backbar is beverage-first and Partender is liquor only.
What is mise's store rating?
App Store Brazil 5.0 with 3 reviews; App Store Spain 5.0 with 2; App Store US no rating yet; Google Play no public rating yet (October 2026). Those are few reviews, which is why this page prints the review count next to every rating and never calls any app "the highest rated".
Point the camera at any bottle on the shelf and watch the product arrive complete, with no setup: mise's AI finds it for you. 7 days free, no card needed.
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