HorseBook vs CRIO Online
CRIO Online is farm-and-business software for breeding farms, training centers, and boarding barns — role-based multi-user access, inventory, and business invoicing. HorseBook is a whole-horse record-keeping app with AI document scanning and a native iPhone app, built for owners and breeders. Both are solid — here's an honest side-by-side so you can pick the one that fits your operation.
No card to start. Works on iPhone and any web browser. Plans from $4.99/mo.
Side by side
CRIO Online positions itself as a leader in equine and barn management for professional operations, with multi-user roles, inventory, and business invoicing. HorseBook covers the whole horse from your phone — health, expenses, documents, and a full breeding suite — with AI that reads your paperwork into records. Where each one is stronger is called out plainly below.
CRIO Online details are drawn from its own public website and App Store listing. HorseBook details reflect features shipped and available today. If anything here is out of date, we'll fix it — email support@horsebook.app.
There's no wrong answer
These are different tools built for different jobs. Here's the honest way to pick.
Choose CRIO Online if…
- You run a horse business — a breeding farm, training center, or boarding barn — with staff, clients, and money moving through it.
- You need role-based multi-user access so your team, and sometimes your vet, work in the same system.
- You want farm-operations tooling: inventory with auto-deduction, cost centers, recurring charges, and Excel/PDF reports.
- You want business invoicing with online payment processing built in.
- You are managing a larger herd — CRIO Online tiers scale to 300+ horses.
Choose HorseBook if…
- You want AI document scanning: snap a registration paper, a Coggins, or a vet invoice and it files the record for you.
- You do your record-keeping from your phone — HorseBook has a native iPhone app where you create records, not just view them.
- You want care reminders and a morning digest by email and phone notification so nothing due slips.
- You are an individual owner or breeder and want simple pricing that starts at $4.99/mo for 3 horses, unlimited at $9.99.
- You want a full mare and stallion breeding suite without stepping up to a $29.90–$49.90 business tier to unlock it.
- You want breeding billing — fee schedules, payment links, and shareable invoices — without a platform ever touching your money.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main difference between HorseBook and CRIO Online?
CRIO Online is farm-and-business software for professional operations — breeding farms, training centers, and boarding barns. It has role-based multi-user access, inventory with auto-deduction, cost centers, business invoicing, and online payments, with its breeding modules gated on the higher tiers. HorseBook is a whole-horse record-keeping app for owners and breeders: it keeps health, farrier, dental, expenses, and documents for every horse, has a native iPhone app where you create records, and reads your paperwork into records with AI. If you run a business with staff and client billing, CRIO Online fits; if you want to log records from your phone without the business overhead, HorseBook fits.
Can you enter records from your phone in CRIO Online?
Not fully. CRIO Online has mobile apps, but its own App Store listing describes them as read-only companions — you view records on the phone and do your data entry on the web. HorseBook is built the other way around: the native iPhone app is where you create records, including snapping a photo of a document to fill one in, and it syncs to the web dashboard.
Does CRIO Online have AI document scanning?
Not that its website advertises. CRIO Online supports manual record entry, and its barcode scanner is for inventory tagging — not AI photo-to-record extraction. HorseBook is built around AI extraction: photograph a registration paper, a Coggins, or a vet invoice and it reads the details and fills in the record for you.
Which is cheaper, HorseBook or CRIO Online?
HorseBook is lower-priced for an individual owner. HorseBook starts at $4.99/month (Hobby, up to 3 horses) and $9.99/month for unlimited horses (Pro). CRIO Online, from its own site, starts around $15.90/month for its Basic tier (up to 15 horses) and climbs with users and horses — roughly $29.90, $49.90, and $95.90/month for higher tiers, with 10–15% off annual plans. Both offer a free trial with no card: HorseBook is 14 days, CRIO Online is 30 days.
Which is better for a breeding or boarding business with staff?
CRIO Online, if you need multi-user access, inventory, business invoicing, and online payment processing in one system. Its higher tiers add stallion management and frozen semen, and it scales to 300+ horses. HorseBook is single-user and does not process payments or run boarding billing, so for a commercial operation with staff and clients today, CRIO Online is the deeper business tool.
Does HorseBook handle breeding and stallion management?
Yes, and it is included rather than gated behind a business tier. HorseBook has a full reproduction suite: mare heat cycles, breeding, pregnancy checks, foaling, and progeny, plus stallion collections, freezing logs, and shipment records with dose counts. In CRIO Online, mare breeding starts on the Professional tier and stallion management and frozen semen on the Enterprise tier.
Does HorseBook process payments like CRIO Online?
No. CRIO Online offers online payment processing and business invoicing on its higher tiers. HorseBook never processes funds. Its Breeder tier gives stallion owners a billing toolkit — fee schedules, your own payment links, and read-only shareable invoices — that you route through your own processor. If in-app payment processing and boarding billing are central to how you run, that is a genuine reason to choose CRIO Online.
Try HorseBook free for 14 days
No card to start. Keep every horse's records — health, breeding, expenses, and documents — in one book on your phone and the web, with AI that reads your paperwork for you.