Comparison
HerbalCounter vs Craftybase
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.
Comparison
HerbalCounter vs Practice Better: the consult or the bench?
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.
The short answer
If you consult and then hand clients products made by someone else, a practice management platform covers more of your working day than we do. Practice Better is built for that shape, with the client relationship at the center. HerbalCounter is for the herbalist who writes a formula and then makes it herself. The client record, the gram weights, the menstruum ratio, the press yield and the herb lot codes sit on one trail, so a follow up question and a traceability question are answered from the same screen. Many practitioners who blend in house end up needing that second half.
HerbalCounter and Practice Better side by side
| What you are deciding | HerbalCounter | Practice Better |
|---|---|---|
| Center of the record | The formula and the batch it becomes, tied to the client who takes it. | The client session, with charting, scheduling and program delivery arranged around it. |
| What happens after the consult | The formula moves to a batch log with weights, menstruum ratio, maceration dates and press yield. | Shaped around supporting the client between sessions with a protocol and follow up. |
| Ingredient lots | Every herb carries an intake lot code that follows it into each batch and onto the bottle. | Oriented to practitioner workflow rather than bench production records. |
| If you make what you dispense | That assumption runs through the whole tool, down to marc weight and filtration loss. | Suits practitioners who recommend and dispense products sourced from suppliers. |
| Scheduling and client contact | Consultation dates and refill prompts sit on the client formula record. | Practice management across the client relationship is the core of the product. |
| Retail shelf | Shop tier counts shelf stock in the same system as the batch it was poured from. | Built for a practice rather than a counter with walk in traffic. |
| Production records | Batch release checks, retain samples and label element checks are part of closing a batch. | Focused on clinical documentation for the practitioner side of the work. |
| Who it suits | Herbalists who blend what they recommend and carry the making risk themselves. | Nutrition and wellness practitioners running a caseload of programs and protocols. |
On the right is the kind of tool Practice Better 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 you press the tincture yourself, the batch record belongs beside the client record, not in a separate binder.
- When a supplier lot changes mid case, you want to see which clients got which lot without rebuilding a spreadsheet.
- When the dispensary shelf and the clinic draw on the same batches, one count replaces the Sunday night stock check.
- When a wholesale buyer or a regulator asks for production records, the trail should already be assembled.
Choose Practice Better when
- If your practice is mostly consultations and the products you dispense are made by other companies, a practice platform covers more of your day.
- If intake forms, group programs and client messaging are the heart of your work, that is what Practice Better is built around.
- If you carry a large caseload and never touch a press, a percolation cone or a scale, the bench half of HerbalCounter would sit idle.
The gap between the consult and the bench
The typical setup for a herbalist who makes her own formulas is a practice tool for clients and a notebook or spreadsheet for batches. It holds up until something crosses the gap. A client reacts to a blend and you need to know which lot of skullcap was in it. A supplier flags a lot of chamomile and you need every client who took it since June.
Crossing that gap by hand means opening two systems and matching dates, which is exactly the work nobody does at seven on a Friday evening. HerbalCounter closes it by making the batch the thing that connects them, so the client record points at a batch and the batch points at the lots.
Two records for the same woman
A consultation record answers questions about a person: what she came in with, what you suggested, how she responded, when she is due back. A batch record answers questions about a jar: what went in, at what ratio, in what menstruum, pressed on what date, yielding how many bottles.
You need both, and in an apothecary they overlap on one object, which is the bottle you handed her. HerbalCounter treats that bottle as the join. Practice Better is strong on the first record and assumes the second happens somewhere else, which is a fair assumption for practitioners who do not run a bench.
What keeping them apart actually costs
The cost is rarely a disaster. It is twenty minutes a week of matching, a shelf count that is always a little wrong, and a slow answer when a client calls with a question about a bottle from the spring. It also shows up when you go for a wholesale account and the buyer wants to see your batch documentation.
If you are already blending most of what you dispense, the arithmetic tends to favor one joined record. If you are mostly recommending finished supplements from a distributor, the joined record buys you very little and the practice tool is the better home.
Questions people ask before they choose
Does HerbalCounter replace my scheduling and client notes?
It holds client formula records, dose notes, refill prompts and consultation dates. Practitioners who run group programs, telehealth video and long structured intake forms usually keep a practice platform for that side and use HerbalCounter for formulas, batches and stock. Herbalists working alone with a modest caseload often find the client side here is enough.
Can I show a client the exact herbs in a blend from last year?
Yes. The formula record holds the ratio and the batch it was filled from, and the batch holds the herb lots and their suppliers. You can print that as a plain summary for the client or keep the supplier detail internal, which is what most shops do.
I dispense some bought in products as well as my own. Does that fit?
It does. Bought in bottles are stocked as items with a supplier lot recorded at intake, so they trace back to the supplier rather than to a batch of yours. Your own batches carry the full bench record. Both sit on the same shelf count so your dispensary numbers stay honest.
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.