Questions, answered before you pay

No. You pay once. The licence is perpetual for the 1.x version line, which means you keep using what you bought for as long as you like and every 1.x update is included. A future major version may be a paid upgrade.

From the Microsoft Store — buying and installing are a single step, and the licence is the purchase itself, tied to your Microsoft account, with no key to paste. That is the only way to buy it; to look around first, use the free browser demo.

Yes, in your browser: the demo at demo.basicinventory.app is the whole application running in a tab on a sample warehouse, with nothing to install and no account. There is no separate trial of the Windows app — from the Microsoft Store you buy it and it opens ready to use — so the demo is how you see everything first.

Yes. Your data is a local database and every screen works offline. Only one thing needs a connection: the AI assistant, and only if you choose to configure one. It is not required to use the application.

The licence follows your Microsoft account: install it from the Store on your own Windows devices and sign in with the same account. It is meant for one person's use, not for equipping a team — for that, see the multi-user answer below.

No. BasicInventory runs on one computer for one person at a time. There is no server, no network mode and no shared database. If several people need to write to the same stock simultaneously, this is not the right tool.

In a single SQLite file in a per-user folder on your computer; Settings → Errors and diagnostics shows the exact path. Back it up in one click to any folder you like, restore it from inside the application, and export any list to CSV that opens in Excel. Nothing is held hostage.

No. There is no account, no telemetry and no server: the application never sends your data anywhere. The only exception is the AI assistant, and only if you set one up — then your questions and the rows needed to answer them go to the provider whose key you entered.

Only if you want the assistant. It is off until you add a key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini or OpenRouter, and the cost lands on that account, not on us. Everything else works untouched.

Four, with your own key for whichever you choose: OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google Gemini or OpenRouter. You need just one. There is no BasicInventory account in the middle — that provider bills you directly.

Whatever your provider charges — typically a fraction of a cent to a few cents per question, depending on the provider and how much data the answer needs. It is billed to your own account; we take no cut and add no subscription, and it costs nothing in the months you do not use it.

No. The assistant is read-only by design: it queries your inventory to answer a question, but it cannot create, edit, move, allocate or delete anything. A misunderstood question cannot cost you stock.

Yes — Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit. There is no macOS or Linux build, and Windows on ARM is not supported.

Windows keeps it up to date in the background, the way it does every Microsoft Store app. There is nothing to fetch or install by hand, and the application never interrupts you to update.

Removing it follows Windows' own rule for Store apps. Your backups folder, which you choose outside the application, is never touched — so a backup and a reinstall pick up exactly where you left off.

No. The licence is your Microsoft Store purchase, tied to your Microsoft account — there is no key to enter or lose. Reinstall from the Store, or install on another of your Windows devices signed in with the same account, and it is licensed again.

No. It holds no prices, no invoices and no customers, and there is no barcode scanning or label printing. It is stock control: what you have, where it is, and what moved.