Sortly Alternative for Contractors: Why Crews Switch

Sortly Alternative for Contractors: Why Working Crews Switch

Sortly makes you type every field by hand, brand, model, serial number, warranty terms, receipt date. For a contractor with 50 tools across two trucks, that's not an inventory system, that's a second job. Here's what to use instead.

Why Contractors Search for a Sortly Alternative

Sortly was built for small business asset tracking, think a dental office logging their equipment or a yoga studio counting foam rollers. It's not bad at that. But bring it to a jobsite and the cracks show up fast.

You've got a Milwaukee M18 FUEL bandsaw with a spec plate tucked under the blade guard. You've got a DeWalt FLEXVOLT table saw that's three years old and you can't remember if the warranty's still active. You've got receipts from the Home Depot pro desk stuffed in a folder in your truck. Sortly wants you to type all of that in, field by field, every time.

Most contractors try it for a week, inventory six or seven tools, and quit. The backlog is still sitting there.

What a Real Jobsite Inventory Needs to Do

A working contractor needs three things from a tool tracking app: fast capture so it actually gets done, automatic warranty tracking so you're not leaving money with the manufacturer, and an insurance-ready document when something goes wrong.

Sortly does none of these three particularly well. You still type the serial. There's no warranty expiration logic built in. And if your truck gets broken into, you're assembling the claim packet yourself from whatever you remembered to enter.

The Milwaukee One-Key system is worth mentioning here because contractors on a Milwaukee-heavy setup sometimes try it instead of a dedicated inventory app. The problem is obvious: it only tracks Milwaukee. The moment you pick up a Makita circular saw or a Hilti rotary hammer, you're back to managing two systems.

How Snapproof Handles What Sortly Can't

The core difference is capture speed. Snap three photos, the tool, the spec plate, the receipt if you have one, and the AI fills in brand, model, serial number, warranty terms, and estimated value in about 30 seconds. No typing. That's why contractors who quit Sortly actually finish their inventory with Snapproof instead of abandoning it.

If you don't have a receipt for an older piece of gear, that's not a dead end. Snapproof estimates value from the brand and model, so a four-year-old Bosch SDS hammer drill without a paper trail still shows up in your total and counts toward a claim. Sortly leaves that tool as a blank line.

For a contractor running $30,000 or more in tools across a rig, undocumented gear isn't a rounding error. It's a significant chunk of what you'd need to replace.

Does Sortly Track Warranty Expiration?

No. Sortly has a custom fields option, so you could technically type in a warranty date yourself. But it won't calculate the expiration from the purchase date, won't send you a reminder before it lapses, and won't tell you how to file a claim for that specific brand.

Warranty windows run from 90 days to lifetime depending on the brand, and most contractors don't know which is which for every tool in their truck. A DeWalt hand tool carries a lifetime warranty. A DeWalt battery has a two-year limited warranty from purchase. Miss the window and you're buying a replacement out of pocket.

Snapproof calculates the expiration the moment a tool is saved, sends reminders 30 and 7 days before it lapses, and pre-loads claim info for 100+ brands. One tap shows you every tool still under warranty. Another tap connects you directly to the manufacturer's claim line or registration page. You're not hunting for a number at 6 a.m. before a job.

What Happens When Your Truck Gets Hit?

This is where the difference between a good inventory app and the right one becomes a real dollar figure.

If your rig gets broken into and you've been using Sortly, you've got a list. Maybe an incomplete one. You still have to pull photos, find serial numbers, write up a description for the adjuster, and compile it into something the insurance company will accept. That process, done manually after a theft that's already wrecked your morning, takes hours. And adjusters know that contractors often can't prove ownership on older tools without documentation, 47% of stolen-tool claims get denied or underpaid because of missing serial numbers or proof of purchase.

With Snapproof, you filter by truck location, pull up every tool tagged to that rig, and generate an adjuster-ready PDF in two taps. Photos, serials, receipts, and warranty terms, assembled and ready. You're filing the same morning instead of scrambling for a week.

Can Sortly Handle Section 179 Tax Exports?

Not in any useful way for a contractor. Section 179 lets you deduct up to $1.16 million in equipment purchases in the year you buy it, but your CPA needs a clean, organized list of what you bought, when, and what you paid. Sorting that out from Sortly's export is a manual job.

Snapproof generates a one-click year-by-year PDF with subtotals, formatted for your accountant. If you're buying tools throughout the year and not tracking purchase dates properly, you're likely leaving a deduction on the table. That's real money, not a rounding error. See how Section 179 works for contractors here.

What to Do Right Now If You're Mid-Inventory on Sortly

Don't delete what you've got in Sortly yet. Export it as a CSV first. Then start Snapproof for anything new, every tool you buy from today forward gets photographed at the truck before it goes in the bag. That alone closes the gap on undocumented gear over the next few months.

For older tools you already own, spend 20 minutes at the truck on a slow morning. Snapproof can process a 50-tool inventory in that window with the photo capture system. You don't need to clear your afternoon.

Tag each tool to its location, truck, trailer, shop, so if one rig gets hit, you're not sorting through your whole inventory to figure out what was on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a free Sortly alternative for contractors?
Yes. Snapproof is free for up to 3 tools, no credit card required. Pro is $9.99/month or $79.99/year and includes unlimited tools, insurance-ready PDF export, and warranty tracking for 100+ brands. The free tier is enough to test the capture speed before you commit.

Does Snapproof work if I don't have receipts for my tools?
Yes. If you don't have a receipt, Snapproof estimates value from the brand and model. Older gear without documentation still shows up in your inventory total and can support an insurance claim or tax export.

Can I track tools across multiple trucks or job sites?
Yes. You can tag tools to any location, a specific truck, a trailer, a shop, and filter by location when you need to pull a claim or check what's where. When a rig gets hit, you filter that location and have everything you need in one view.

What brands does the automatic warranty tracking cover?
Snapproof pre-loads warranty terms and claim info for 100+ brands including Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, Bosch, Hilti, Festool, Ridgid, and Klein. The expiration is calculated from purchase date, not the date you entered the tool.

Does Sortly have a mobile app?
Yes, Sortly has a mobile app. The limitation isn't the app itself, it's that capture still requires manual data entry, there's no warranty tracking logic, and there's no insurance PDF export. For general asset management outside a jobsite, Sortly is fine. For a contractor's tool inventory, it's the wrong tool for the job.

The Bottom Line

Sortly isn't broken. It's just built for a different problem. If you're a contractor tracking tools that get stolen, wear out under warranty, and need to show up in an insurance claim, you need something that was built with that scenario in mind from the start.

Snapproof is free for up to 3 tools. Pro is $9.99/month or $79.99/year with a 7-day free trial. The first warranty claim you catch before it expires, or the first insurance packet you file the same morning instead of three days later, pays for it. Try Snapproof free and see how long your first tool actually takes to add.