Hector is IT asset management-first: software licenses, hardware, IT reservations. A rental module exists but stays generalist. For an SME renting equipment daily — AV, events, medical, industrial — ark.stock is built around rental flow, not internal fleet management.
Strong on IT licenses. Generalist on rental — ark.stock is specialised.
Hector (Montreal, 2015) comes from the IT world: Microsoft/Adobe licence tracking, hardware fleet, internal reservation (MacBook lent to staff, meeting rooms). Extended into rental with a dedicated module but stays IT-first. For a Swiss AV rental or a hospital mobile fleet, ark.stock specialises on rental flow (5 states, public catalogs, QR-bill via ark.plan) where Hector is generalist.
Software licence tracking (Microsoft, Adobe, SaaS suites) with expiry + costs.
IT fleet management: MacBooks, PCs, monitors, cables, annual audits.
Internal booking module (room, gear lent to colleague) well done.
Native Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace integrations.
Generalist rental module — no 5-status flow, no send/return sessions, no advanced conflicts.
No native Swiss QR-bill.
Per-asset billing — predictable on small fleets, but a 5,000-item catalog inflates the bill fast; different economics vs a flat team-based tier.
Canada/US hosting — not in Switzerland.
| Feature | ark.stock | Hector |
|---|---|---|
| Software licence tracking | Partial | Yes |
| ark.stock tracks warranty dates on items but not SaaS licenses with renewal. | ||
| IT fleet management | Yes | Yes |
| rental projects in 5 statuses + conflicts | Yes | Partial |
| Batch send/return sessions | Yes | No |
| Public catalogs + request forms | Yes | No |
| Versioned quotes + signature (via ark.plan) | Yes | Partial |
| Swiss invoicing via ark.plan (SIX / ISO 20022 QR-bill) | Yes | No |
| Microsoft 365 / Workspace integration | Partial | Yes |
| ark.stock supports OAuth SSO (Google, Microsoft); Teams/Calendar deep integrations on roadmap. | ||
| Swiss hosting (Infomaniak Geneva, ISO 27001) | Yes | No |
| Swiss nFADP + GDPR compliance | Yes | Partial |
| Flat pricing (no per-user billing) | Yes | No |
| Full CSV / Excel / PDF export anytime | Yes | Yes |
What the matrix above asserts, here's how it looks inside ark.stock. Previews faithfully rebuilt from the app.
SIX QR-bill embedded on every invoice. ISO 20022 standard, native IBAN, scanned and paid by any Swiss bank.
Versioned quotes with immutable snapshots. Each send freezes prices and terms — 100 % traceability without guessing what was on the table 6 months ago.
Fast loan in three steps: QR scan, pick borrower, validate. 80 % of loans are routine — the app removes the friction on those 80 %.
If rental is marginal (<20 %), Hector covers both decently. If rental is core and IT secondary, ark.stock (rental-specialised + Base for internal IT) is more effective — and 3-5× cheaper at 10 users.
ark.stock handles warranty/maintenance dates on physical items, not auto-renewing SaaS licenses (not on roadmap). If SaaS is a blocker, keep Hector for SaaS and ark.stock for physical rental — they coexist.
Hector bills per asset, not per user. Shield $30.99/month for ~130 assets, Armor $53.99/month at $0.063/additional asset, Castle $125.99/month at $0.058/asset. One-time $29.99 setup. Works for small fleets, less predictable as your catalog grows. ark.stock Enterprise: CHF 149/month flat, unlimited users and items.
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