Lab inventory management Every reagent and pipette, and where it is.
Hoardo is free lab inventory management for small labs: reagents, consumables and equipment sit in their room, freezer and shelf, expiry dates remind you before they pass, and an email comes before the gloves run out. It runs in the browser on any phone or computer, so there's nothing to install.
100% free, no paid plan · Nothing to install · Your whole lab
Laboratory inventory management software in three steps
Rooms, freezers and shelves
Make a room for the lab and one for the cold room. In each, add a numbered box for every cabinet, shelf, drawer, freezer rack and fridge shelf, and write the number on the real one.
Reagents, consumables and equipment
Add each thing with how much there is. Give reagents a lot number and an expiry date, and equipment a serial number, model and next service date.
Label, scan and count
Print QR labels for racks and shelves and asset tags for equipment. Scan to open a shelf, count consumables once a month and let low-stock emails tell you what to order.
How to make an inventory of supplies for a lab
A lab supply inventory answers three questions: what do we have, where is it, and when does it run out or expire? Six steps get you there in an afternoon, and Hoardo keeps it up to date after that.
1. Map where things are kept
Walk the lab and the cold room and list every place supplies live: cabinets, shelves, drawers, each freezer rack and fridge shelf. In Hoardo, each room is a room and each of those places is a numbered box.
2. List what's in each place
Go shelf by shelf and add each reagent, consumable and instrument with its count. Typing is fastest for one thing; for a full shelf, take a photo and check what Hoardo lists.
3. Add the details you need
Make your own properties for what your lab tracks: a lot number as text, an expiry date as a date, a supplier or a catalogue number. Equipment gets serial number, model, status and next service from Hoardo's IT & equipment set.
4. Label racks, shelves and equipment
Print a QR label for every rack and shelf and an asset tag for every instrument. Anyone can scan one and see what should be there.
5. Set alerts on what runs out
Set a low-stock level on tips, gloves and tubes, and “Notify me?” on expiry dates, so the inventory tells you instead of you checking it.
6. Count on a schedule
Count consumables on a stocktake list once a month. What Hoardo expects sits next to what you count, and one tap writes the counts back.
From the lab to Hoardo
Hoardo is built around places, not catalogue numbers, so the list matches what you see when you open the freezer.
| In your lab | In Hoardo |
|---|---|
| The lab, the cold room, the prep room | A room |
| A cabinet, shelf, drawer, freezer rack or fridge shelf | A numbered box |
| A reagent, box of tips or instrument | An item, with its quantity |
| Lot number, catalogue number, supplier | Your own text properties |
| Expiry date | A date property with “Notify me?” |
| Serial number, model, next service | IT & equipment properties |
| The barcode on a bottle | The Barcode / SKU property, found by scanning |
Expiry dates on every reagent
Give reagents an Expires date and it shows on their row, so a look at the freezer rack tells you what's due. Tap “Notify me?” beside the date and pick when: on the day, or up to 30 days before or after. Hoardo sends an email and a notification in the app to whoever set it.
Each date property has its own reminder. A reagent with an expiry date and an opened date can remind you about both.
Lab inventory software for consumables
Tips, gloves, tubes and pipettes are items with a quantity. Set a low-stock level on the ones you can't run out of, and Hoardo emails you when the count gets there, with the count in red on the shelf's list.
Count them on a stocktake list once a month: tap + or scan as you go, short counts turn orange, and “Use counted quantities” writes the counts back.
Shared equipment: who has the multichannel
Put the pipettes and instruments people borrow on an asset list. Check one out to a name with a back-by day and a reminder, and scan its tag to check it back in. Late ones turn red, and while a thing is in, its status shows: in use, in storage or in repair.
Every instrument keeps its serial number, model and next service date, and its History shows each check-out with who did it and when.
QR labels for racks, shelves and instruments
Print QR labels for freezer racks, fridge shelves and drawers, and barcode asset tags for instruments, on A4 sticker sheets or a label printer. Scan a rack's label and its contents open, without holding the freezer door open while you read every tube.
The scanner reads the barcodes already on bottles and boxes too. Add a reagent's barcode once, and scanning the next bottle opens it. Hoardo doesn't look products up: you type the name the first time.
One inventory for the whole lab
Share the lab's rooms with your group and pick what each person can do: edit, or only view. People sign in with an email code, Google or Microsoft. Every item has a History of what was added, moved, edited and checked out, with who did it, and a way to restore a change.
Bring your lab inventory spreadsheet
Drop your spreadsheet into Hoardo's chat, as an Excel or CSV file. Hoardo plans the rooms and boxes from your location columns, turns lot and supplier columns into properties, and you check the plan before anything is added. Export any room or list as a CSV whenever you need it.
Who uses it
Research groups
Reagents, kits and consumables by bench, freezer and shelf, shared with everyone in the group.
Teaching labs
Glassware, kits and instruments counted between terms, with the shared kit checked out by name.
Equipment checkout →Small biotech teams
Supplies and instruments across a couple of rooms, without a system that takes a month to set up.
Asset management software →
What this lab inventory software is not
Hoardo keeps track of supplies and equipment: what you have, where it is, who has it and when it expires. It isn't built for regulated work:
- No SDS, hazard classes or chemical compliance reports.
- No sample or specimen tracking, no LIMS and no lab notebook.
- History shows who changed what, but it isn't a validated audit trail for GLP or 21 CFR Part 11.
- No temperature monitoring or freezer alarms.
- No ordering, purchase orders or supplier catalogues, and no product lookup from a barcode.
Free lab inventory management, every feature included
Hoardo is 100% free, with no paid plan: every feature, every room and freezer, and everyone in your lab. There's no price per seat or per item to get past a grant budget.
Your data stays yours: export any room, all rooms or a list as a CSV whenever you like.
Questions about lab inventory management
What is lab inventory management?
Lab inventory management is keeping track of a lab's reagents, consumables and equipment: how much there is, where it's kept, when it expires and who has the shared instruments. Hoardo does it with rooms, numbered boxes for every cabinet, shelf and freezer rack, and items with their quantities and dates.
Is there free lab inventory software?
Yes. Hoardo is free with every feature included: rooms and freezer racks, quantities, expiry reminders, low-stock emails, labels, scanning, stocktakes and sharing with your lab. There's no paid plan.
How do I make an inventory of supplies for a lab?
List every place supplies are kept, go through them one by one adding each item and its count, add the details you need like lot and expiry, label the shelves and racks, set low-stock alerts and count consumables on a schedule. The steps are above on this page.
Can Hoardo remind me before reagents expire?
Yes. Add an expiry date to a reagent and tap “Notify me?” beside it. Hoardo emails whoever set it, from the day itself to 30 days before, and shows a notification in the app.
Can I see what's in a freezer without opening it?
Yes. Make each freezer rack or shelf a numbered box and its contents are one tap away, or one scan of its QR label. Search finds a reagent in every freezer at once.
Can Hoardo track samples or specimens?
No. Hoardo tracks supplies and equipment, not samples, specimens or their chain of custody. For that you need a LIMS.
Can I scan the barcodes on reagent bottles?
Yes. Add a bottle's barcode to the item once and scanning it opens that reagent. Hoardo doesn't look products up from barcodes, so you type the name the first time.
Can the whole lab use one inventory?
Yes. Share the rooms with your group, each person able to edit or only view, and share lists like the equipment list on their own. History shows who changed what.
Put your first freezer rack in Hoardo today
Free, with every feature included. Add a room, a rack and what's in it, and set the first expiry reminder in a few minutes.
- 100% Free
- No Credit Card
- No Storage Shame