Comparison
BoothInventory vs Square Point of Sale
Square Point of Sale suits any seller who needs to take a card and hand over a receipt, while BoothInventory suits a maker who needs to know which fairs on the circuit are worth reapplying to.
Comparison
BoothInventory vs Craftybase: Bench Ledger or Show Ledger
Craftybase suits a maker whose hardest number is what a finished piece costs to make, while BoothInventory suits a maker whose hardest number is what a weekend at a given fair returns.
The short answer
Craftybase is inventory and bookkeeping software written for makers, organized around raw materials, batches and cost of goods, which is exactly the problem if your year ends in a scramble over what your yarn, silver or clay actually cost you. BoothInventory starts one step later, at the tote going into the van. It tracks what you carried to each named show, what came home, and what the weekend cost in fees and travel, so the season becomes a ranked list of fairs. Some makers run both, one for the bench and one for the circuit.
BoothInventory and Craftybase side by side
| What you are deciding | BoothInventory | Craftybase |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Rank shows by what they returned and rebuild the restock list | Track materials and production cost through to a finished piece |
| Starting point | The finished piece going into the tote | The raw material coming onto the shelf |
| Unit of work | One named event with its fees, travel and hours | The product and the materials that went into it |
| Who it assumes | A maker who sells face to face across a season of shows | A maker who needs production and cost records kept straight |
| Booth economics | Jury and booth fees, lodging, mileage and staffing per show | Aimed at making costs rather than the cost of standing at a fair |
| Restock signal | Built from opening and closing counts at each event | Driven by stock levels and production records |
| Setup effort | List your lines, then count in and count out at each show | Material and recipe records take real setup before payoff |
On the right is the kind of tool Craftybase is and the job it is shaped around, rather than a list of what it includes at any given price. Both keep changing, so check the current shape of each one before you choose. BoothInventory is published by MLJ, SASU and this page is written by Jimenez Julien.
Choose BoothInventory when
- You already know your unit cost and now need to know which fairs deserve it.
- Your applications go out in February and you want last season ranked first.
- You carry the same twelve lines to every show and want per show movement.
- Two fairs on the same weekend, and you have to pick one with evidence.
Choose Craftybase when
- Your real problem is materials, batches and cost of goods at year end.
- You need production records that trace a finished piece back to its lots.
- Most of your selling is online, so the show circuit is a small side of it.
The bench side and the aisle side
Craft businesses have two ledgers that rarely meet. One lives at the bench and answers what a piece costs: the silver, the leather, the glaze, the hours, the packaging. The other lives on the aisle and answers what a weekend returns: forty units out the door, a two hundred and eighty five dollar booth, a hotel because the show was three hours away, and a Sunday that died at two in the afternoon.
Software tends to be strong on one side. A maker bookkeeping tool is built to hold the bench side properly, and that work matters at tax time and whenever you set a wholesale price. BoothInventory is built for the aisle side, where the decision is which shows to apply to next year and what to load in the van.
What a per show record adds
If your records are organized by product, a strong year and a weak year look similar: the same lines sold, roughly the same totals. What that view hides is that one juried festival produced a third of the year in two days while three local markets consumed six weekends and returned gas money. You only see that when the fee, the drive, the lodging and the hours are attached to the event rather than spread across the year.
That per show shape also changes what you make. A line that empties by noon at an outdoor summer market and sits untouched at a December holiday show is not a weak line, it is a seasonal one. Counting per event tells you which it is, and the restock list follows the show you are actually packing for.
Using both without duplicating work
There is no rule that says you pick one ledger. A maker with heavy materials, several suppliers and a real cost of goods question is well served keeping that record properly, and nothing in BoothInventory asks you to move it. What we ask for is a count of finished pieces per line and the costs of being at the show.
The two records meet at unit cost. Bring the number your bench records give you, put it beside what a show returned per unit sold, and the booth fee stops being an abstract expense. That is the calculation that decides whether the fee for a big juried festival is ambition or a mistake.
Questions people ask before they choose
Does BoothInventory track raw materials and cost of goods?
No. It starts at the finished piece. If you need lot level material records, recipes and a year end cost of goods figure, a maker bookkeeping tool is the right home for that work. BoothInventory takes your unit cost as an input and answers the show level question.
Can I use both tools in the same season?
Yes, and a fair number of makers do. Keep the bench records where they are, then count in and count out at each show here. The only number you carry across is unit cost, which you enter once per line and update when material prices move.
I sell online as well as at fairs. Does that break the counts?
It does not, as long as you count the tote at load in and load out. Online orders shipped from the same stock are entered as a separate movement, so the show numbers stay clean and your booth level comparison holds.
Other comparisons on boothinventory.com
Comparison
BoothInventory vs Google Sheets
Google Sheets suits a maker doing a handful of shows a year with a setup they enjoy maintaining, while BoothInventory suits a maker whose tab count has outgrown the season.
Settle this one with a fair you know
A head to head reads cleanly on a page and differently at teardown with cold hands and a half packed van. Ask for a demo and we will run this exact comparison against one show you have worked twice, using your counts and your booth fee. Fifteen minutes is usually enough to see which side of the split your circuit sits on.