CatalogIt vs Collections Database
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CatalogIt
This platform helps individuals and organizations catalog, manage, and share the stories of their collections. It offers museum-level functionality with an intuitive interface, supporting unlimited photos, custom reports, and multi-user collaboration across devices.
- Professional classification system
- Intuitive visual cataloging
- Unlimited photo uploads
- Customizable printing and reporting
- Multi-user collaboration
- Cross-device accessibility
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Imagine Loving Your Collections More! CatalogIt is a powerful, collaborative, and intuitive software platform for all types of collectors and collections. CatalogIt empowers collectors and organizations to bring to life the story of things through the histories, creative processes, relationships, and destinies of objects and collections. Powerful enough for museum professionals, complete with numerous authoritative classifications to delight private collectors, and thoughtfully designed to be user-friendly and approachable for volunteers, docents, or family. BENEFITS: • Increase the intrinsic value of your objects • Capture their meaning, context, and connections • Preserve and share the stories of things for generations WHY CATALOGIT? • Easy & intuitive • Visual and photo-centric • Museum-level functionality • Secure and private • Multi-user for team/family use • Any device (mobile & desktop) • No hidden charges or ads ACCOUNT TYPES: • Private and Family Collectors • Museums & Historical Societies • Corporate Collections/Archives • Conservation Professionals COMPELLING FEATURES: PROFESSIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM • Precise, authoritative classification prompts • Complete plain English fields for quick, thorough data entry • Profiles (e.g. people, places, etc.) track commonalities & link objects • Easily create and enforce controlled vocabularies ACCESSIBLE & USER-FRIENDLY • Visual catalog is easier to manage than alpha-numeric lists • Available on any device; mobile and desktop • Cloud back-up and syncing helps prevent catastrophic data loss • Multiple users & permission levels to control information access • Users can work independently and teams can collaborate in real-time UNLIMITED PHOTOS • Unlimited photo uploads enable detailed visual documentation • Original photos stored and never altered or compressed • The high-quality camera in your phone or tablet makes it easy to add images PRINTING & REPORTING • Print custom and pre-formatted reports (insurance, valuation, condition, etc) • Quickly create labels and QR codes • Import/Export Excel and CSV files to share and analyze collection data Protect your institution’s collections, your family’s heirlooms, and your treasured personal possessions. Document, preserve and tell the stories of your things! ACCOLADES: CatalogIt users include museum professionals, volunteers and docents, private collectors, other collecting institutions, corporate and organizational collections, exhibiting not-for-profits, and professional conservators. Here are some CatalogIt subscriber comments: “I love the fact that I always have my complete collection with me at all times through my iPhone- I can log in any time to view or edit, or to show items to my fellow collectors.” - Private collector “I LOVE YOUR PRODUCT. My grandfather was an artist. CatalogIt is the perfect system to track pieces scattered throughout the family” - Private collector “We have been using CatalogIt for over a year and love it… much easier to use than our previous program, [competitor name withheld], and gives us more flexibility. Check it out. You will love it and be thankful you did.” - Museum Registrar “The fact you can use a smartphone to create a record is great” - Volunteer museum registrar “CatalogIt has made a world of difference in documenting the conservation process for our clients and providing accessible records to our staff. I highly recommend it!” - Professional art conservator
Collections Database
Organize anything with a personal database app. It offers over 20 field types, customizable layouts, and pre-built templates for common uses like books or expenses. Advanced features and iCloud sync are available.
- 20+ field types (text, number, picture, barcode, etc.)
- Customizable fields and display styles
- Pre-built templates (books, contacts, expenses, etc.)
- Organize with collections and subcollections
- Password, Face ID, and Touch ID protection
- iCloud synchronization across devices
- Advanced fields and calculations (Pro version)
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Collections is a personal database app to organize anything. 1. A field for every use Collections supports over 20+ field types: • Text, Number • Boolean • Picture • Select • Email, URL, Phone • Password • Date, Time • Color • Barcode And with the Pro version you can use even more advanced fields. • Document reference - Link documents together • Group - Add multiple values for a field • Formula - Create a formula for calculated values. Powerful formula editor with full support to math functions like SUM, AVG • Sources - Import documents from external APIs with Javascript 2. Customizable • Add and reorder fields • Add a separator between fields to better visualize them • Fields have different display styles like primary, secondary, thumbnail • Filter and sort data 3. Templates Collections includes basic templates to get started: • Books • Contacts • Expenses • Subscriptions • Credentials • Inventory • School 5. Advanced management Collections has different tools to help you creating the data model. SUBCOLLECTIONS Organize data into collections and subcollections. Simply said, they are like folders. LISTS A list contains items used in documents and it's very flexible. It could represent a Genre for a book or a Status like 'Available', 'Out of stock' for an object in the inventory. 6. Security • Protect collections using a password, Face ID or Touch ID • Sensitive data such as passwords are encrypted by default 7. iCloud Sync Data is synced automatically between devices through iCloud. 8. Apple's Shortcuts support Expand the app capabilities with Apple's Shortcuts support. 9. Pro version features • Add unlimited documents (free version is limited to 100 documents) • Add files to documents • Add advanced fields • Views • Grid • Use Summary to perform calculations across documents
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Collections Database at 4.6 against CatalogIt's 3.7. Collections Database also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 50%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. CatalogIt sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Collections Database sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Collections Database holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Collections Database has 187 ratings behind it against 35, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of CatalogIt's written reviews are positive against 87% of Collections Database's.
CatalogIt ships an update every 2 months, Collections Database fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 22, 2026.
| Parameter | CatalogIt | Collections Database |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (35 ratings) | 4.6 (187 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 87.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 35 | 187 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | It Unlimited, LLC | Matteo D'Ignazio |
Customer experience
CatalogIt
Collections Database
Bugs and requests
CatalogIt
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Collections Database
Reported bugs
2 issues- Keyboard issues when using search
- Inconsistent behavior between iOS and macOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Collaborative features for sharing databases
- More advanced reporting and visualization options
- Improved import/export functionality
- Ability to customize the appearance and layout
In-app purchases
CatalogIt
- Personal Small Monthly$14.991 Month
- Personal Medium Monthly$21.991 Month
- Personal Large Monthly$29.991 Month
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- Personal Small Annual$149.991 Year
- Personal Medium Annual$219.991 Year
- Personal Large Annual$299.991 Year
Collections Database
- Collections Ultra (Upgrade)$1.99
- Collections Pro$7.99
- Collections Ultra$9.99
Questions
Is CatalogIt free?
Is Collections Database free?
Which has better reviews, CatalogIt or Collections Database?
Do CatalogIt or Collections Database have ads?
Which is updated more often, CatalogIt or Collections Database?
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