Encircle Alternative for Home Inventory: Hoardo vs Encircle
Published · 4 min read
Looking for an Encircle alternative for a house full of boxes, rather than a restoration shop?
Hoardo is a free home inventory app: rooms, numbered boxes, photos, QR labels and search. Encircle (checked 8 October 2026) is restoration field documentation software. Its public site sells plans to shops, starting at $285 a month, not a consumer home inventory product.
This is Hoardo vs Encircle, from Encircle's own website.
TL;DR: why Hoardo is a free Encircle alternative for home storage
| Feature | Hoardo | Encircle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 100% free, no paid plan | Field Documentation from $285 a month (USD), on a 12-month term. Annual billing is offered. Volume above 600 jobs a year is custom. |
| Users | Free | Unlimited users and storage on every plan |
| Items | Free | Not published as a household item cap. Contents inventories are a job-site workflow. |
| Photos | Yes | Unlimited photos, video and 360 imagery, organised by room on a job |
| QR labels | Yes, you print them for your boxes | QR codes are part of contents pack-out and Scan-to-Track for restoration boxes |
| Rooms and numbered boxes | Yes | Rooms on a job, plus pack-out boxes and vault locations |
| Image recognition | Yes | AI Item Descriptions, a paid add-on sold as an annual package to restoration shops |
| Voice recognition | Yes | Not listed as a household voice-add feature |
| AI chat | Yes | AI for scopes, estimates and item descriptions, for restoration crews |
| MCP | Yes, free, for Claude and ChatGPT | Not listed |
| Platforms | Web, on phone, tablet or computer | The public site describes a field app that works offline, plus web tools for shops |
| Ideal for | Households, moving, storage rooms | Restoration shops documenting losses, pack-outs and Xactimate estimates |
What is Encircle?
On getencircle.com Encircle is "the most trusted way to document a job" for restoration: photos, moisture readings, floor plans, contents pack-outs, then an IICRC-aligned scope and a path into Xactimate. It says it is trusted by 3,000+ restoration shops.
The pricing page (checked 8 October 2026) lists:
- Field Documentation from $285 per month, billed monthly, on a 12-month contract
- Unlimited users (including sharing) and unlimited storage
- Onboarding, a dedicated account manager and help desk
- Optional Scope to Estimate, Floor Plan, AI item descriptions and Encircle Edge
- Pricing that scales with jobs per year. Above 600 jobs, they ask you to talk to sales.
Their contents product is for documenting damaged personal property on a claim: pack-out, vault, schedule of loss. That is a real inventory workflow. It is built for a shop on a job, not for a family's garage.
We did not find a consumer home inventory plan, a free household tier or a public "home inventory app" product on getencircle.com in October 2026. If you used an older Encircle household app, their current public site does not describe that product.
Meet Hoardo: the household Encircle alternative
If you searched "Encircle alternative" because you want a list of what is in your boxes, Hoardo is built for that job and it is free.
100% free (no $285 shop plan)
No contract and no per-job pricing. Rooms, boxes, items and users stay free.
AI is included. You can also ask about your boxes from Claude or ChatGPT with the free Hoardo MCP server.
Numbered boxes and QR labels at home
Pack a box, give it a number, list what went in, print a QR label. Later, search "tent" or scan the label. You do not need a claim file or an adjuster.
Share with the people in the house
Invite family to a room. History shows who moved what. There is no restoration crew, Xactimate export or moisture map.
What Hoardo does not do
Hoardo is not restoration software. It does not write scopes, talk to Xactimate, log psychrometric readings or produce a schedule of loss. If you run a contents job for a carrier, Encircle is in that category. If you live in the house, you probably want something else.
When to choose Hoardo over Encircle
| If you… | Then choose… |
|---|---|
| Want a free list of household boxes | Hoardo |
| Need pack-out, vault tracking and a schedule of loss for a claim | Encircle |
| Need Xactimate estimates from field photos | Encircle |
| Do not want a 12-month shop contract | Hoardo |
| Need photos of your own stuff, with QR labels you print | Hoardo |
| Run a restoration company | Encircle |
New to household inventory? Start with what an inventory app actually is.
Final verdict: Hoardo is the free Encircle alternative for home boxes
Encircle's own site is restoration software, from $285 a month, with unlimited shop users and serious contents tools for claims. Hoardo is the Encircle alternative for people who are not running a shop: 100% free, with rooms, numbered boxes, items, users, photos and QR labels.
If you document losses for a living, Encircle is aimed at you. If you want to find the winter coats, Hoardo is the free one.
