Best AV inventory management software in 2026

For an AV rental and event production company, the inventory is a crucial part of the business. When gear goes missing between jobs, gets booked for two projects at once, or can't be found on load-out morning, the whole production is at risk.

Our latest industry research shows that 46% of AV professionals name equipment visibility and tracking as their top operational challenge, ahead of every other part of the job. This guide compares the AV inventory management platforms that production teams shortlist most often, based on key criteria, so you can choose the one that fits how your team actually works.

How live event production teams use AV inventory software

AV inventory software is where a production company keeps a single, live record of every item it owns or subrents, then uses that record to plan, pack, and account for gear across overlapping jobs. It replaces the spreadsheets, whiteboards, and printed packing slips most teams outgrow once they run more than a handful of events at a time.

In day-to-day use, it does a few specific jobs:

• Hold the full picture of your gear. Serial numbers, condition, value, photos, and current location, all in one place instead of scattered across spreadsheets and people's memory.
• Show what is actually available. Before you book equipment for a job, you can check whether the items are available on those dates across all active projects.
• Catch conflicts early. Double-bookings and shortages surface automatically, so you can resolve issues through a subrental or transfer rather than finding out on load-in day.
• Track gear in and out. Scanning items using a digital packing list at check-out and check-in means fewer forgotten, lost, or unaccounted-for pieces between jobs.
• Pack right every time. Digital packing lists give the warehouse crew the same equipment list that was included in the quote.
• See what each item earns. Usage and cost history tell you which gear pays for itself and which sits on the shelf.

What to look for in AV inventory software

Most platforms in this category cover the basics, but the differences show up in how deep each capability goes and how well the pieces connect. These are the criteria worth looking at:

Equipment database depth. Look for a platform that tracks serialized items individually and lets you build reusable kits and packages that you save once and drop into any job. A record that holds condition, value, and maintenance history is more useful than a simple item count.

Availability & conflict detection. The best platforms update availability in real time as you book and automatically surface conflicts. If you have to refresh a view manually, or the platform caps how many items it calculates, you leave room for the double-bookings you are trying to avoid.

Equipment tracking & scanning. Pick the scanning method that fits your workflow. Barcode, QR code, and RFID each suit different operations. It matters whether a platform supports the method you need and whether it caps how many items you can scan at once.

On-the-go equipment management. With the right AV inventory software, your crew should scan gear, check packing lists, and update records directly from the warehouse floor or the show site, not from a desk. A mobile app built for that keeps the record accurate in real time.

Inventory connects to your full production operations. Having every part of your production on the same platform as your inventory gives you full visibility over the whole job. That means quoting, crew scheduling, subrentals, transport, and cost control, all connected in the same place.

The platforms compared

Rentman

Rentman is an operations management platform for AV and live event production, with inventory as one connected product alongside quoting, crew scheduling, and financials. On the inventory side, it covers serialized tracking, saved kits and packages, real-time availability across every project, and barcode, QR, and RFID scanning through a mobile app built for the warehouse and the field. It also includes digital packing lists, maintenance and repair tracking, multi-warehouse transfers, and subrental workflows.

Flex Rental Solutions

Flex is an inventory and warehouse product for AV companies. It manages equipment across multiple warehouses and gives users extensive control over system setup. This suits established rental houses that want to configure the software in detail.

Lasso

Lasso is a crew-first platform, strongest at crew scheduling, availability tracking, and communication. It includes inventory functionality, though it is more basic than the dedicated inventory tools in this list, and its mobile app focuses on crew scheduling rather than equipment management.

IntelliEvent

IntelliEvent is an event and AV management system with real-time inventory availability and pricing, multiple warehouse support with transfers between sites, and RFID, barcode, and QR scanning. It handles quotes and invoices, with equipment organized into temporary kits per job.

Current RMS (Klipboard)

Current RMS is a rental management system that covers inventory, equipment kits, and multiple warehouses, with barcode and QR code scanning and native accounting integrations with Xero and QuickBooks Online.

How the AV inventory platforms compare

A few of the criteria are worth explaining, since they are where the platforms diverge most.

Equipment database depth. All five track serialized equipment and support reusable packages, so this is largely common ground. The one difference is IntelliEvent, where equipment packages are built per job rather than saved and reused for future projects, meaning you rebuild common setups more often.

Availability & conflict detection. Rentman, Lasso, IntelliEvent, and Current RMS calculate availability in real time and automatically flag conflicts. Flex does too, but on large jobs (over 300 line items), availability stops auto-loading and has to be fetched manually, which is worth checking against the size of your library.

Equipment tracking & scanning. Rentman, Flex, and IntelliEvent all support RFID alongside barcode and QR. Flex applies a per-session RFID limit, which high-volume operations will reach quickly. Lasso and Current RMS support barcode or QR scanning but not RFID, which slows high-volume check-in and check-out.

On-the-go equipment management. Rentman's mobile app is built for scanning gear, checking packing lists, and updating records from the warehouse and the field. Lasso's app focuses on crew scheduling and communication rather than equipment handling, so warehouse-floor inventory work is a weaker fit there.

Connection to full production operations. Flex and Current RMS center on inventory and rental management. Lasso centers on crew. IntelliEvent covers event and AV management with quoting. Rentman connects inventory to crew scheduling, quoting, and cost control in one platform, which is the deciding factor for teams that want to run the entire production instead of using several tools.

Choosing the right AV inventory management software

The right AV inventory software solves the pains your team runs into every day, fits how you already work, and can grow with you. Start from where it hurts most, whether that is the double-booked package, the case that goes missing between jobs, or the quote built against gear that turns out to be committed elsewhere. A tool that clears those daily problems, and keeps clearing them as you take on more projects and more inventory, is the one worth switching to.

Final thoughts

AV inventory is getting harder to keep on top of, not easier. More projects, more gear moving between more events, and shorter turnarounds all push manual methods past their limit. Spreadsheets, email, and WhatsApp threads work until they don't, and the point where they stop working is usually a missing case, a double-booked package, or a job that lost money without anyone noticing in time. Moving inventory onto a platform built for production is what keeps that visibility as you scale.