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Tool tracking, compared honestly
Squared Away vs the tool trackers
ShareMyToolbox, GoCodes and Milwaukee One-Key are built around tags and scans — stick something on the tool, then track the tool. Squared Away starts with a photo instead. Here is how they actually compare, with links to their own pricing pages.
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Which one should you actually pick?
Choose Squared Away if
- Most of your gear has no tag on it and never will
- You want the inventory to exist by the end of the afternoon, not after a tagging programme
- You are tracking hand tools, consumables, parts and fixings — not just the twenty expensive things
- A $500-a-year minimum is more than the problem is worth to you
Choose a tool tracker if
- You want to know where a tool is right now — One-Key does Bluetooth location and we do not do location at all
- You run a crew large enough that formal per-employee checkout and accountability is the whole point
- Your gear is mostly Milwaukee, in which case One-Key is free and the tracking is built into the tools
- You want QR tags supplied, printed and site-proof as part of the deal — GoCodes ships them with the plan
Squared Away vs tool trackers, feature by feature
| Feature | Squared Away | ShareMyToolbox | GoCodes | One-Key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI photo captureIdentifies items from a photo, without a tag or a barcode.ShareMyToolbox, GoCodes and One-Key public pages(opens in a new tab) · checked | Multiple items from one photo | |||
| Works without tags or labelsWhether you can inventory a tool you have not physically labelled.One-Key product page(opens in a new tab) · checked | Labels supported on Business, but always optional | Barcode / QR scanning workflow | Built around QR asset tags | Milwaukee tools have Bluetooth built in; anything else needs a tag |
| Real-time locationKnowing where a tool physically is, right now.One-Key product page(opens in a new tab) · checked | We record where you put it, not where it is | Bluetooth network, last-seen location | ||
| Consumables & materialsTracking fixings, fittings and supplies that get used up, not just assets. | ||||
| Crew checkoutShareMyToolbox pricing page(opens in a new tab) · checked | Business plans | Per-employee connections | ||
| Free tierShareMyToolbox pricing page(opens in a new tab) · checked | 10 items, 1 user | 14-day trial only | Free app | |
| Entry priceGoCodes pricing page(opens in a new tab) · checked | $0Paid from $7.99/mo | $100/moFirst admin user, then $10/employee in blocks of 5 | $500/yr200 assets, 3 users | $0Tags and tracking hardware sold separately |
| Cost for ~500 itemsGoCodes pricing page(opens in a new tab) · checked | $14.99/moPro — 500 items, 3 users | $100/mo+Priced by user, not by item | $1,000/yrPremium — 500 assets, 5 users | $0Plus a tag per non-Milwaukee item |
Competitor details verified against their own public pages on . Products change — if you spot something out of date, tell us and we'll correct it.
What each one costs
These four price on completely different axes — per item, per user, per year, or free-with-hardware. This is roughly what a small crew would pay.
Squared Away Pro
$14.99/mo
500 items · 3 users
GoCodes prices annually and includes custom QR tags in the higher plans; additional users come in batches of 5 for $400/year. ShareMyToolbox prices per user rather than per item, so its cost depends on crew size, not inventory size. One-Key is free but its tracking depends on Bluetooth — built into Milwaukee tools, and needing a purchased tag for anything else.
Pricing verified . See our full pricing.
Tags are the cost nobody quotes you
The sticker price on a tool tracker is not the real price. The real price is the afternoon somebody spends putting tags on things, plus the tags, plus the follow-up when a tag comes off a grinder in February.
That model earns its keep on high-value assets — a $4,000 laser level absolutely deserves a tag and a checkout trail. It falls apart on the long tail: the hand tools, the spare fittings, the case of blades, the gear that walks off precisely because it was never worth the paperwork.
Squared Away is built for that long tail. You photograph a gang box and everything in it becomes a record, tagged or not, valuable or not. There is no per-item ceremony, so there is no reason to skip the cheap stuff — which is exactly the stuff you keep re-buying.
- No tags to buy, apply, or replace — though Business plans can generate and print QR labels if you want them
- Fixings and consumables tracked alongside the expensive kit
- The inventory exists after one afternoon, not after a tagging programme
What we do not do: location
Worth being blunt about, because it is the one thing people assume every tool tracker does.
Squared Away records where you *put* something. It does not tell you where the thing physically is right now. If a tool leaves a site in the back of somebody's ute, we will tell you it was last logged on Truck 4 — we will not put a dot on a map.
Milwaukee One-Key does. It is free, the Bluetooth is built into Milwaukee tools, and its network gives you last-seen location. If live location is the problem you are solving, use One-Key — quite possibly alongside us rather than instead of us, since One-Key will not tell you how many 2-inch screws are left in the van.
Moving over, or running alongside
You do not have to pick one. Plenty of crews keep Bluetooth tracking on the twenty expensive things and use Squared Away for everything else.
- 1Export your asset list from your current tracker, if it has an export.
- 2Photograph each vehicle, gang box, and store room and let the AI catalog what it sees — including everything that was never worth tagging.
- 3Reconcile against the export so the tagged assets are represented too.
- 4Invite the crew, set permissions, and decide whether you still need the tags.
Common questions
- Do any of the tool trackers do AI photo recognition?
- Not as of August 2026, based on their own public pages. ShareMyToolbox, GoCodes and One-Key are all built on scanning and tagging — barcodes, QR asset tags, and Bluetooth. None of them describe identifying an item from a photograph. Links to the pages we checked are in the table above.
- Is Milwaukee One-Key really free?
- The app is free. The tracking is not entirely — Milwaukee tools have Bluetooth built in, but tracking anything from another manufacturer needs a One-Key Bluetooth tracking tag, which you buy. If your kit is mostly Milwaukee, it is a genuinely good free option for location.
- Can I use Squared Away alongside One-Key?
- Yes, and a lot of crews should. One-Key answers "where is this specific tool right now". Squared Away answers "what do we own, where did we put it, and what are we out of". They are different questions.
- Why is GoCodes so much more expensive?
- It is priced annually and includes physical custom QR tags with the higher plans — the tags are part of what you are buying. Premium is $1,000/year for 500 assets and 5 users, with extra users in batches of 5 for $400/year. If you want a supplied, site-proof tagging system, that is what it costs.
- Does Squared Away track consumables?
- Yes — fixings, fittings, filters, blades, tape. That is a real gap in the tool-tracker category, which is generally built around durable assets rather than the supplies that run out mid-job.
See how it works for your trade
Other comparisons
Photograph one gang box and see what comes back.
No tags, no labels, no scanning. Free to start, and you will know within ten minutes whether it works for your gear.
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