inFlow is valued for B2B/B2C stock management (in/out, supplier orders, picking) — selling, not renting. For a Swiss AV/event rental, ark.stock provides the full rental workflow (5 states, conflicts, quotes and QR-bill via ark.plan) that inFlow does not.
Good for small shops / workshops. Not designed for pro rental.
inFlow (Toronto, 2007) is a popular inventory tool for small shops, workshops, SMEs with stock to sell or transform. Available Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Cloud. Not a rental tool: no projects tracked in 5 statuses, no send/return sessions, no signed versioned quotes. ark.stock covers the other half — gear that ships out and comes back, not that gets sold.
Solid desktop (Windows/macOS) — usable even offline.
Full supplier orders + picking / packing slips.
Native barcodes + scanners (CipherLab, Zebra).
Per-org pricing (not per-user, except Enterprise tier).
No rental mode — only sales + classic stock.
No Swiss QR-bill. Generic US/CA invoicing.
No hierarchical containers or flight cases.
Cloud hosting outside Switzerland (a self-hosted Windows version also exists).
| Feature | ark.stock | inFlow Inventory |
|---|---|---|
| Items + barcodes | Yes | Yes |
| Supplier orders + picking | Partial | Yes |
| Rental mode (projects, conflicts, 5 states) | Yes | No |
| Flight cases + hierarchical containers | Yes | No |
| Versioned quotes + signature (via ark.plan) | Yes | No |
| Swiss invoicing via ark.plan (SIX / ISO 20022 QR-bill) | Yes | No |
| Desktop app (offline capable) | No | Yes |
| ark.stock is web + PWA (offline scanner), no dedicated desktop app. | ||
| Planned maintenance | Yes | No |
| Swiss hosting (Infomaniak Geneva, ISO 27001) | Yes | No |
| Swiss nFADP + GDPR compliance | Yes | Partial |
| Flat pricing (no per-user billing) | Yes | Yes |
| 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 %.
ark.stock installs like an app from the browser: the scanner and read-only views work offline on iPhone and Android and sync automatically on reconnect. The full admin interface (editing records, projects, movements) requires connectivity. inFlow Desktop runs fully offline — a clear advantage for isolated warehouses.
Technically yes — with custom statuses and per-period price lists — but not natively. No multi-line project, no availability conflict detection, no signed quotes. You end up hacking every edge case. ark.stock is built for rental from the ground up.
inFlow exports to CSV or Excel (items, customers, vendors, stock levels). The ark.stock mapping tool reads these files directly. Typical migration: 1 to 3 days for 2 000 items, with photo re-import.
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