Switching from CRIO Online? We'll move your herd for you.
Send the Excel exports CRIO Online (also sold as CRIO Equine Software) already gives you, and HorseBook loads the herd by hand: horses and registrations, sire and dam, covers, foalings, and the horses you've sold. Every load is read back to you before anything is written. Below that is an honest side-by-side, because CRIO still does some things HorseBook doesn't.
No card to start. Works on iPhone and any web browser. Hobby $4.99, Pro $9.99, Business $39.99/mo.
How the move works
CRIO Online, which its maker also sells as CRIO Equine Software, exports its records to Excel and PDF. HorseBook loads those exports by hand rather than handing you an import template to fill in. Email the files to brian@horsebook.app and the herd comes back as records: horses with their registration numbers and registry, sire and dam on each one, the cover and confirmation dates behind every mare, past foalings, and the horses CRIO had marked sold, archived on the sale rather than dropped so the pedigrees they sit in still read.
A full load usually takes four CRIO reports: the herd list, the herd breeding status, the births, and the sold horses. A herd of several dozen with years of foalings and sales behind it goes in over a week or two, most of that spent on questions the export cannot answer. CRIO records a male as male, so whether a horse is a stallion or a gelding is not in the file and someone has to say. Horses already in the account were matched on registered name and filled in, not duplicated.
One thing the export will not carry: CRIO publishes no bulk export for photos or attachments, so paper goes into HorseBook through the camera instead, which is the part it was built for. Every load is dry-run against your account and read back to you before a single record is written.
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 If anything here is out of date, we'll fix it — email support@horsebook.app.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…
- Several people on your place need their own logins, with roles, in one system. HorseBook is one login per account today.
- 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.
Choose HorseBook if…
- You want off CRIO without retyping it: send the exports and your herd comes back loaded, pedigrees and foaling history included.
- 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 mare breeding records — heat cycles, covers, pregnancies, foaling, progeny — on every plan, starting at $4.99/mo rather than a $29.90 tier.
- You run stallions and want the collection, freezing, booking and season book for $39.99/mo instead of the $49.90 Enterprise tier CRIO gates it behind.
- You want breeding billing — fee schedules, payment links, and shareable invoices — without a platform ever touching your money.
Frequently asked questions
Can I move my data from CRIO Online to HorseBook?
Yes, and HorseBook does the load by hand. CRIO Online exports its records to Excel and PDF; email the export files to brian@horsebook.app and they come back as HorseBook records: horses with their registration numbers and registry, sire and dam, the cover and confirmation dates behind every mare, past foalings, and the horses CRIO had marked sold, archived on the sale rather than dropped. A herd of several dozen with years of foalings and sales behind it takes a week or two from the first file to a loaded account. Horses already in the account are matched on registered name and filled in rather than duplicated, and every load is read back to you before anything is written. Photos and attachments are the exception: CRIO publishes no bulk export for them, so that paper goes in through the HorseBook scanner.
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?
Partly. A late-2025 CRIO update added mobile entry for breeding, health, and farrier records, so the companion apps are no longer view-only — but CRIO is still web-first software, and most of the system lives at a computer. HorseBook is built the other way around: the native iPhone app is the primary place 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.
How much does CRIO Online cost compared with HorseBook?
CRIO Online prices by how many horses and users an account has. Its own plans page on 18 September 2026 lists Basic at USD 15.90 per month for 15 active horses and 1 user, Professional at 29.90 for 100 horses and 3 users, Enterprise at 49.90 for 300 horses and 10 users, and Unlimited at 95, with 10% off paying yearly on Basic and 15% on the rest. HorseBook prices per operation instead: Hobby $4.99/month for up to 3 horses, Pro $9.99/month or $99.99/year for unlimited horses, and Business $39.99/month or $399.99/year for unlimited horses plus the stallion book. The practical difference is what happens when the herd grows. A CRIO account that passes 15, 100, or 300 horses moves up a tier; a HorseBook Pro or Business account pays the same either way. Both trials skip the card: HorseBook 14 days, CRIO Online 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. 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. Mare-side breeding — heat cycles, covers, pregnancy checks, foaling, and progeny — is on every HorseBook plan, including the $4.99/mo Hobby plan. The stallion book — collections, freezing logs, shipment records with dose counts, mare bookings, breeding seasons, and the program summary — is on the Business plan at $39.99/mo. In CRIO Online, mare breeding starts on the $29.90 Professional tier and stallion management and frozen semen on the $49.90 Enterprise tier, so both sides sit a tier lower with HorseBook.
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 Business 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.
Ready to move off CRIO?
Start a 14-day free trial with no card, then email your CRIO exports to brian@horsebook.app. Your herd comes back loaded, so you can look it over before you decide anything.