Comparison
EZOfficeInventory vs Sortly
Two tools districts shortlist for device tracking and IT operations, compared the way a buying committee actually reads them: what each is, what each does well, and what to check before signing. We build Chalk, a third option in this space — that context is worth knowing as you read, and it is why every claim below carries its basis.
EZOfficeInventory
A capable commercial asset tracker with the deepest MDM connector list in its class — and, like the rest of that class, no roster, no student, and no write-back.
Where EZOfficeInventory is strong
- The deepest device-ingest integration list of the commercial asset trackers — Intune, Jamf Pro, Kandji, Mosyle, SCCM, Workspace ONE, JumpCloud, Meraki, Apple Business Manager, and Google Endpoint Management for ChromeOS.
- Warranty details sync automatically from manufacturers including Dell and Lenovo, and procurement data can sync from CDW — genuinely less manual data entry than most.
- Native iOS and Android apps with barcode and QR scanning, on every tier.
- Real checkout, reservation, and audit workflows, with custom fields, purchase orders, and RFID support at the middle tier.
- Unlimited users at every tier, so adding technicians or building staff does not change the bill.
- AssetSonar's ITSM tier includes genuine ticketing with SLA management, a knowledge base, and a service catalog — the only product in this asset-tracker group with native SLAs.
What to check before you buy
The base product has no ticketing at all. Native help desk with SLAs exists only in AssetSonar's ITSM tier — a different product at a higher per-asset rate — so a district gets either the asset tracker or a second contract.
Basis: EZOfficeInventory offers Jira and Zendesk connectors rather than native ticketing; SLA management appears in AssetSonar's ITSM pricing tier.
No SIS or rostering integration — no OneRoster, Clever, ClassLink, or PowerSchool anywhere in the connector catalog. Students arrive by CSV.
Basis: None appear in EZO's full published integration list, which covers MDM, identity, and procurement systems only.
No student, guardian, or family concepts, and therefore nothing that notices a transfer, a withdrawal, or grade rollover.
Basis: Absent from the product's data model, which tracks items and users.
No parent e-signature on a device agreement, no student fee assessment, and no family balances.
Basis: Absent from EZO's documented feature set.
No funding-source or grant tracking for ESSER, Title, or E-Rate reporting.
Basis: No funding-source dimension appears in the product documentation.
ChromeOS support is import only. The Google Endpoint Management connector is described as importing ChromeOS and mobile data; nothing writes back, so OU moves and disabling a stolen Chromebook stay manual in Google Admin.
Basis: EZO's integration listing describes the connector as importing ChromeOS and mobile data into AssetSonar, with no write-back claimed.
It consumes SSO but is not an identity provider — Entra ID, Okta with SCIM, OneLogin, and Ping are identity sources it reads, not identity it issues.
Basis: EZO's identity integrations are configured as a service provider against an external IdP.
Maintenance is a separate paid CMMS add-on even on the top tier, so repairs that draw parts out of stock are not simply included.
Basis: EZO CMMS is listed as an add-on alongside the Premium tier and sold as its own product.
Sortly
The friendliest inventory app in this comparison and the easiest to actually start using — built for supply closets and job sites, priced by how many items you have, which is exactly the wrong meter for a 1:1 fleet.
Where Sortly is strong
- Every price is on the page, including a genuinely free tier, with no demo gate anywhere in the funnel.
- The lowest adoption cost in this comparison by a distance: folders, tags, photos and custom fields, usable by a building secretary in an afternoon without an IT project behind it.
- Strong mobile — iOS and Android with offline access, barcode and QR scanning, and label generation from inside the same app, so counting is a phone job rather than a scanner-hardware purchase.
- Alerting that fits consumables well: low stock alerts for reordering and date-based alerts for maintenance and repair schedules, with in-app and email notification.
- More reporting than the price suggests — activity history, inventory summaries, user activity, low stock and item-flow reports, saved custom reports, and report subscriptions delivered on a schedule.
- Real integration surface for a product this simple: webhooks, an API, QuickBooks Online, and Slack and Microsoft Teams notifications, plus purchase orders, pick lists, and check-in and check-out.
What to check before you buy
Pricing meters unique items, and a 1:1 district's item count is its student count. At 5,000 items the published tier is $299 per month, and anything past 10,000 items is Enterprise quote-only — a mid-sized district is off the published ladder on device count alone.
Basis: Vendor pricing page item limits: 100 free, 500 Advanced, 2,000 Ultra, 5,000 Premium, 10,000+ Enterprise.
User licenses are metered too, and tightly: 1 user free, 2 on Advanced, 5 on Ultra, 8 on Premium. A technician team plus building staff crosses into Enterprise quickly.
Basis: Vendor pricing page user-license limits per tier.
No help desk or ticketing of any kind. A district running Sortly still buys a service desk somewhere else, and the two never see each other.
Basis: Absent from the vendor's published feature list, which covers inventory, alerts, reporting and integrations.
No MDM or device integrations at all. The published integration list is QuickBooks Online, Slack, Microsoft Teams, webhooks and an API — so ChromeOS, Intune and Jamf data is typed or imported, and serials go stale between imports.
Basis: Vendor features page lists no device-management or directory connectors.
No SIS or rostering integration and no student, guardian or enrollment concepts — nothing notices a transfer, a withdrawal or grade rollover.
Basis: Absent from the vendor's feature list and from its industry positioning, which addresses inventory rather than student records.
Check-in and check-out is item custody, not a school-year loan: no due dates on a student device agreement, no e-signature, no damage fee, no family balance and no loaner pool workflow.
Basis: Vendor documents check-in/check-out alongside pick lists and stock tracking, with no agreement or fee concepts published.
It is an inventory product rather than an IT asset lifecycle product — warranty expiry, depreciation, ChromeOS auto-update expiration and refresh planning are not in the published feature set, though generic date-based alerts can approximate some of it.
Basis: Vendor features page covers custom fields, alerts and reports; no warranty, depreciation or lifecycle module is published.
Hosted SaaS only, with no self-hosted option, and no SSO or SAML in the published feature list — so it sits outside your single sign-on estate in both directions.
Basis: No self-host or source distribution is offered on the vendor site, and SSO does not appear on the features or pricing pages.
The third option: Chalk
If you are weighing EZOfficeInventory against Sortly, Chalk belongs on the same shortlist. It is the open-source K-12 IT stack: device inventory that fills itself in from Google Admin, Intune, and Jamf against a roster synced from your SIS, a 1:1 circulation desk with agreements and fees, repairs with parts and costs, a help desk that already knows who is asking, and a built-in SAML/OIDC identity provider.
- Self-host it free forever under AGPL-3.0 — the entire feature set, one binary, your infrastructure — or use the hosted version, priced by fleet size with no per-seat or per-student fees and the price ladder published.
- Built only for K-12: students, buildings, custody, funding sources, and ChromeOS auto-update expiration are native concepts, not custom fields.
- Writes back to Google Admin as a reviewed diff — every OU move, disable, and deprovision previewed before it executes — and serves a OneRoster 1.1 API so other district systems can pull the roster from Chalk.
- Fees are assessed and tracked without touching payment cards, keeping the asset system out of your PCI scope.
See all three on your own roster.
Chalk installs to a populated inventory in about 30 minutes. Self-host free under AGPL-3.0, or let us run it — priced by fleet size, never per seat.