Comparison
HerbalCounter vs Practice Better
Practice Better is built around the practitioner and her caseload, while HerbalCounter joins that client record to the batch you actually weigh, macerate and press.
Comparison
HerbalCounter vs Craftybase: which fits a custom formula bench?
Craftybase suits a maker running a repeatable product line through material costing, while HerbalCounter suits a herbalist whose next batch is a one off blend for a named client.
The short answer
Both tools take materials seriously and both will tell you what a batch cost. The difference is where the record starts. Craftybase starts from a product and its material list, which fits a maker who pours the same salve twelve times a year. HerbalCounter starts from a client formula, carries it into a batch log, and reads back out to the herb lots that went in. If your catalog is stable and your question is cost of goods, look hard at Craftybase. If half your production is written fresh at a consultation, HerbalCounter sits closer to your bench.
HerbalCounter and Craftybase side by side
| What you are deciding | HerbalCounter | Craftybase |
|---|---|---|
| Where a record starts | The client formula, written at the consultation, which then becomes a batch log. | The product and its material list, framed for a catalog item you make again. |
| One off custom blends | Ordinary work. A fresh nervine blend gets its own record and lot code without becoming a catalog item. | Oriented toward recipes you repeat rather than a new ratio for every client. |
| Ingredient lot traceability | Each incoming herb gets an intake lot code that follows it into every batch and onto the label. | Material tracking is central, framed around maker supplies across many handmade trades. |
| Client records | Named client files holding formula history, dose notes and follow up prompts. | Built around products, orders and channels rather than a clinical caseload. |
| Reorder signals | Prompts driven by herb weight consumed at the bench, so a heavy tincture month moves the reorder date. | Stock levels held as maker materials, in the general vocabulary of handmade production. |
| Shelf and wholesale | Shop adds counter stock tied to the batch it came from, Shop and Wholesale adds batch history by buyer account. | Shaped for makers selling through their own storefronts and craft marketplaces. |
| Vocabulary | Menstruum ratio, maceration window, press yield, marc, retain sample, lot code. | General handmade manufacturing terms that apply to soap, candle and craft lines alike. |
| Who it is built for | Clinical herbalists and apothecary owners blending to order and selling from a shelf. | Handmade product businesses running a defined line of finished goods. |
On the right is the kind of tool Craftybase is and the job it is shaped around, rather than a list of what it includes at any given price. Both keep changing, so check the current shape of each one before you choose. HerbalCounter is published by MLJ, SASU and this page is written by Jimenez Julien.
Choose HerbalCounter when
- When most of what you pour was written for one client last Tuesday, the record has to start at the formula.
- When a client asks what was in the blend she took in March, that answer should take a minute, not a folder search.
- When a supplier lot has to trace forward to every bottle it touched, the link is already made at intake.
- When your consultation notes and your batch sheets keep drifting apart, one joined record ends the weekly reconciliation.
Choose Craftybase when
- If you make a settled line of salves, soaps and syrups and rarely blend to order, a maker inventory tool fits your shape better.
- If your sharpest question is cost of goods across several product lines and sales channels, that is the ground Craftybase is built on.
- If herbal formulas are a side of a broader craft business, a tool for handmade manufacturing generally will cover more of your shelf.
Two different starting points for the same bottle
A maker inventory tool models a product first. You define the item, list its materials, and each batch is an instance of that item. That is exactly right when you pour the same arnica salve every quarter. It gets awkward the week you write a sleep blend for one client with skullcap, milky oat and a pinch of California poppy at a ratio you will never repeat in that exact form.
HerbalCounter models the formula first. The record opens at the consultation, holds the ratio and the reason for each herb, and spawns a batch log when you take it to the bench. A catalog is a by product of that, not the frame. Formulas you do repeat get promoted to shelf items and behave like a normal product line, so you are not forced to pick one shape and live with it.
Cost of goods versus clinical continuity
Craftybase belongs to the family of tools built to answer what a finished unit cost and what your material stock is worth, across handmade trades in general. Those are real questions for an apothecary too. If you are pricing a case of elderberry syrup for a co op order, a maker tool answers them cleanly for a catalog business.
The question a clinical herbalist asks more often is a different one: what did this client take in the spring, did the digestive picture change, and can I rebuild that blend from a new supplier lot without changing the result. That is continuity, and it needs the client file and the batch record joined. HerbalCounter keeps dose notes, follow up dates and the exact gram weights on the same trail as the lot codes.
Traceability read from the bottle backward
Both approaches log materials. The test is how fast you can run the trace in the direction trouble actually arrives. Someone calls about a bottle of cramp bark tincture, you have a lot code on the label, and you need the batch, the herb lots, the supplier and the certificate of analysis in front of you before you call her back.
In HerbalCounter that is one lookup, because the lot code printed on the label is the key to the batch record, and the batch record carries the intake code for every herb that went into the jar. Whichever tool you choose, run that test with your own numbering before you commit. A trace is only as quick as the link between the printed label and the shelf jar it came out of.
Questions people ask before they choose
Can I move my existing herb list and recipes into HerbalCounter?
Yes. Most shops load the herb list with supplier and current stock weight first, then add formulas as they come up at the bench rather than all in one sitting. Starting with your ten most repeated blends is usually enough to make the second week faster than the first. Older paper batch sheets can stay in the binder as history.
Do I have to pick one tool, or can I run both?
Some shops keep a maker inventory tool for a candle or soap line and run HerbalCounter for tinctures, salves and the consultation side. It works, but you will be counting alcohol and beeswax in two places. If extracts and custom blends are the bulk of your production, one system means one number for each jar.
Which HerbalCounter tier matches a one person apothecary?
Solo Practice at $35 a month covers client formulas, batch logs and lot traceability for a practitioner working alone. Shop at $79 adds counter stock and staff access for a storefront. Shop and Wholesale at $159 adds batch history by account for the buyers who ask for it before they will place a standing order.
Other comparisons on herbalcounter.com
Comparison
HerbalCounter vs Square for Retail
Square for Retail is built to sell units and take payment at the counter, while HerbalCounter is built to know where each of those units came from.
Settle it with a batch you already ran
A head to head only ends on your own bench. Pick a batch from the last few months, herb lots and supplier codes included, and we will rebuild it on a shared screen in about twenty minutes. You will see for yourself how quickly a finished bottle reads back to the jars it came out of before you move anything off paper.