BoxTrack vs HomeBox, the self-hosted home inventory
HomeBox is a free, open-source home inventory you run on your own server, with QR labels. BoxTrack is a hosted app with photo AI. Here's who each one is for.
The BoxTrack team · Facts checked · We make BoxTrackBoxTrack
if you're comfortable running software on your own server (a NAS, a home lab, a rented box) and you want your inventory free, private and under your control.
if you don't want to run a server, or you want photos to fill in items and values for you, with insurance and moving tools built in.
At a glance
BoxTrackBoxTrack5.5We picked these rows and we make BoxTrack, so read it with that in mind. Every fact links to its source below.
Where HomeBox is stronger
Privacy and cost. Nothing about your belongings is stored on someone else's servers, there's no subscription, and if the project ever stopped, your data and the code would still be yours. It can also import CSV, which BoxTrack can't.
Where BoxTrack is stronger
No server to run, and much less typing. The photo AI fills in names, quantities and values, which is most of the work in a home inventory. And the insurance report and moving tools are built in.
Things to know about BoxTrack
It's new, it's hosted (so your inventory lives on BoxTrack's servers, not yours), and it's a web app with no App Store download. It can't import from HomeBox or other apps. The free plan is 1 box with up to 5 items, and a whole home needs a paid plan, with a 72-hour free trial.
More: how to make a home inventory for insurance and home inventory app vs a spreadsheet.
Pax is an AI. He knows BoxTrack and moving, not other apps, so check them on their own sites.
The details
Why this comparison+
HomeBox is a home inventory for people who run their own server. It's free, open source, and your data stays on your own hardware. BoxTrack is the opposite kind of product: a hosted service you sign in to. We make BoxTrack. Here's an honest comparison, and for a lot of technical readers the honest answer is HomeBox.
HomeBox+
This page is about the SysAdmins Media community fork of HomeBox, which carries the project on after the original repository was archived in 2024. It's free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. You run it yourself, and it gives you a web app that works in phone browsers. Its QR label maker prints labels, and scanning one opens the item. It imports and exports CSV.
It's actively maintained: release v0.26.2 is out, and the TrueNAS app catalog updated its HomeBox listing in June 2026. If you'd rather not run it yourself, hosts such as ElfHosted offer it as a managed app. Photo AI, barcode scanning and an insurance report were not found.
What running it yourself means in practice: you install it, keep it updated, back it up, and decide how to reach it from outside your home network. For people who enjoy that, it's a feature. For everyone else, it's a weekend project with upkeep.
BoxTrack+
BoxTrack is hosted for you. Open box-track.com in any phone's or computer's browser and sign in. You make a box for each room, bin or moving box and snap what's in it. AI fills in names, quantities and replacement values, and a photo of a whole open box can list every item at once. You can scan barcodes too.
Your inventory is stored securely online and visible only to you and the people you share it with. Each box gets a QR label on standard sticker sheets. On Plus and Unlimited, you get a PDF claim report with every photo and value, Excel and CSV export, and sharing with family. For a move, there are box weights, a moving-day check-in and Ship, Sell, Store, Donate or Toss tags.
Labels on items or on boxes+
HomeBox's labels open an item. BoxTrack's open a box, and the box shows its list. Both work; they suit different habits. Labeling each valuable item is thorough. Labeling the box is quicker when you're packing a move or filling a storage unit.
Sources, checked October 10, 2026: HomeBox (sysadminsmedia) overview, ElfHosted HomeBox docs, ElfHosted HomeBox listing, AlternativeTo, HomeBox releases, TrueNAS catalog. Features change; check the project's own pages for the latest.
About BoxTrack’s plans: the free plan is 1 box with up to 5 items, with every feature to try. On paid plans, Starter has up to 5 boxes and 10 AI photo scans a month; Plus has up to 49 boxes, unlimited AI scans (whole boxes too), the insurance PDF report, Excel and CSV export, sharing and custom fields; Unlimited adds unlimited boxes and Ask Pax, the AI assistant. New accounts get 72 hours free on any paid plan.