Is Bar Cop a good Backbar alternative?

Yes. Bar Cop counts inventory just as fully as Backbar, a complete program with counts, pour cost, variance, vendors, and order sheets. The difference is that Bar Cop does not stop there. It also does labor, shift cash, profit recovery, menu pricing, cash flow, events, and the books, all in one system for one price. You get the same inventory tool without being locked into inventory only.

What does Bar Cop do that Backbar does not?

Backbar is scoped to beverage inventory, drink costing, purchasing, and reporting. Bar Cop covers that plus labor and scheduling, shift cash reconciliation, profit recovery that prices your leaks in dollars, menu engineering, a cash flow forecast, event and catering bookings, and weekly and month-end books. Backbar runs one part of the back office. Bar Cop runs all of it.

Does Backbar do labor, cash, or accounting?

Backbar is focused on beverage inventory and purchasing. It does not handle labor scheduling, shift cash reconciliation, event bookings, or the books. If you want those, you either add more apps or use a system that already covers them, which is where Bar Cop fits.

Which is cheaper, Bar Cop or Backbar?

Backbar has a free tier and paid plans for beverage inventory. Bar Cop is one flat price for a full inventory program plus seven more tools. On the sticker price of inventory alone, a free tier is cheaper. But Bar Cop replaces the inventory app, the scheduling app, and the spreadsheet you would otherwise pay for and stitch together, so for actually running the bar it is usually the cheaper way to get all of it, with nothing to add later.

Compare · Bar Cop vs Backbar

Bar Cop vs Backbar.

Backbar is a focused beverage inventory app, and a good one. Bar Cop counts inventory just as fully, then keeps going into labor, cash, profit, and the books. Here is the difference, straight.

See the Live Demo All comparisons →

The Short Version

Both count. One keeps going.

Backbar is a good beverage inventory tool, and Bar Cop counts inventory just as fully. The difference is what sits next to the count: labor, shift cash, profit, revenue, cash flow, events, and the books, all included in Bar Cop. All there the day you want them.

Side By Side

What each one actually covers.

	Backbar	Bar Cop
Beverage inventory and pour cost	Yes	Yes
How you count	Visual count, no scale	Fill sliders, no scale
Recipe and drink costing	Yes	Yes
Purchasing and vendors	Yes	Yes
Food cost and kitchen inventory	Beverage-focused	Yes
Labor, scheduling, tips, overtime	—	Yes
Shift cash, over and short, voids, comps	—	Yes
Profit recovery, leaks priced in dollars	—	Yes
On-demand audits that score and price leaks	—	Four, unlimited
Menu engineering and pricing	Drink costing	Full
13-week cash flow forecast	—	Yes
Events and catering	—	Yes
Weekly and month-end books, P&L	—	Yes
Where it runs	Web and mobile app	Any browser, nothing to install
Works with your POS	Integrations	Any POS, drop the export
Built for	Beverage inventory	The whole independent back office

Backbar's plans and features change over time. This compares the two on what each is built to do, based on Backbar's publicly listed information. Check their site for their current details.

On Inventory

You give up nothing on inventory.

Bar Cop's inventory is a complete program, not a lite version. You count with fill sliders, to the tenth, no scale to buy or calibrate, the same fast visual approach Backbar uses. Pour cost, variance, vendors, order sheets, dynamic pars. Bar Cop does it all and more.

Where Bar Cop Goes Further

The seven tools Backbar does not have.

Backbar stops at inventory. Bar Cop keeps going: labor, shift cash, profit recovery and four on-demand audits that price every leak in dollars, menu pricing, cash flow, events, and the books. Covering that with separate apps means bills and logins that never share a number.

Room To Grow

Start with inventory. Grow into the rest.

Even if inventory is all you need today, Bar Cop is a full inventory program at one flat price, with the other seven tools already there for the day you grow into them. No second app to bolt on later, no switching, no separate bill. You start where you are and expand without ever leaving.

The honest test. A dedicated inventory app can only ever be an inventory app. Bar Cop gives you the same inventory, plus room to grow into the rest, for one price.

See The Difference

See a real bar in Bar Cop.

See the Live Demo Get Started →