shouldiuse.io

New check

Comparison

Reftab vs Shelf

Reftab lands on Worth it, and Shelf lands on Depends.

Reftab

reftab.com

Worth it
Confidence: Medium

Buy if you're a small-to-mid IT team, school, or university needing affordable asset tracking with check-in/check-out.

Read the full report

Shelf

shelf.nu

Depends
Confidence: Medium

Buy if your team needs free, open-source tracking for shared equipment and can apply security patches promptly.

Read the full report

Add this comparison to your site

Reftab earned a Worth it check in this comparison with Shelf.

Put the badge on your site.

Visitors see the independent comparison.

The link points here, and search engines follow it.

This is the badge visitors see on your site.

Worth it Reftab Depends Shelf Independent comparison on Should I Use It

Paste one snippet. Keep the link as it is. A nofollow tag stops search engines from following it.

Reftab versus Shelf
CompareReftabShelf
VerdictWorth itDepends
Best forSmall-to-mid IT departmentsTeams lending shared equipment
Who it's not forTeams wanting a bundled help deskAnyone whose gear list fits a spreadsheet
PrivacyNo known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.⁸Two 2026 CVEs reported against Shelf-nu (SSRF and incorrect authorization); vendor also publishes a security page.
Support qualityNo direct support evidence foundNo support evidence in sources
Public sentimentIT admins on Reddit largely praise Reftab's configurability and reliability, Capterra rates it 4.7/5, with rare complaints like a boss unhappy with the tool.¹The only product-specific review source found was G2's Shelf Asset Management listing, with truncated but positive-toned snippets.15
Biggest gotchaStarter runs $37.50/mo (~$31 annual); verify asset and seat limits before committing⁶CVE-2026-54166: SSRF via asset tracking/CSV import . update before exposing imports

Pick Reftab when

  • Small-to-mid IT departments
  • Schools and universities
  • Equipment check-in/check-out fleets
  • SOC 2 / ISO 27001 access reviews

When Reftab is not a fit

  • Teams wanting a bundled help desk
  • Enterprises needing ServiceNow-class ITAM
  • Maintenance-heavy ops needing CMMS work orders
  • Teams under 50 assets . free tier or spreadsheet suffices

Pick Shelf when

  • Teams lending shared equipment
  • Booking-heavy orgs (labs, studios, makerspaces)
  • Open-source self-hosters
  • Small teams outgrowing spreadsheets

When Shelf is not a fit

  • Anyone whose gear list fits a spreadsheet
  • Security-audit-driven enterprises
  • Buyers needing proven, mature vendor support

Sources

  1. Reftab Reviews 2026 . Capterracapterra.com
    review
  2. Reftab Pricing . Capterracapterra.com
    review
  3. Tasked with bringing on new Asset Management Tool . Reddit r/sysadminreddit.com
    review
  4. Asset inventory platform . Reddit r/sysadminreddit.com
    review
  5. Inventory Management System . Reddit r/sysadminreddit.com
    review
  6. Reftab Details, Reviews, Pricing . CheckThat.aicheckthat.ai
    review
  7. Reftab Pricing Pagereftab.com
    official
  8. Reftab Security Pagereftab.com
    security
  9. Reftab & GDPRreftab.com
    security
  10. Building IT Asset Management Software Since 2013 . About Usreftab.com
    official
  11. How To Integrate JAMF With Reftabreftab.com
    official
  12. Why Choose AssetRemix over Reftabadminremix.com
    review
  13. Reftab Success Storiesreftab.com
    official
  14. Best Asset Management Software In 2021 . Reftab Blogreftab.com
    official
  15. Shelf Asset Management Reviews . G2g2.com
    review
  16. Shelf Pros and Cons . G2g2.com
    review