Compared honestly
We make Sparkheim, so read this page knowing that. The short version: for keeping a Magic collection on an iPhone, Sparkheim gives you the most for free, with no caps, no account and everything working offline. If you need Android, a web deck builder or a marketplace storefront, one of the others fits better, and the table says which. Every claim about the other apps comes from their own App Store listings and published pages.
Checked against the US App Store listings · August 2026
| Sparkheim | ManaBox | Dragon Shield | TCGplayer | Moxfield | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card scanner | Uncapped, offline, knows the exact printing and finish | Yes | Yes | Yes | None |
| What a scan needs | Nothing: any angle, upside down, even in someone's hand | Plain background and good lighting; sleeve glare can stop it, by its own guide | — | — | No scanner |
| Unlimited binders in the free app | Yes, and decks and lists too | No, creating binders is a PRO feature | — | — | — |
| Works without an account | Always. Accounts do not exist | Account for sync | — | No, collection needs a login | No |
| Whole app works offline | Yes, the card database ships on the phone | — | — | — | No, it is a website |
| Commander meta built in | Yes, from 824,292 crawled decks | — | — | — | — |
| Runs on | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android | iPhone, Android | Any browser |
| Paid tier | $2.99 mo · $24.99 yr. Removes ads, adds Commander deck tools, gates nothing else | $2.49 mo · $22.99 yr, and new binders need it | $3.99 mo · $39.99 yr | None | None |
— means the app's store listing and published pages do not say. Prices are the US App Store's, and the stores show local pricing elsewhere. The ManaBox binder and scanning notes are from its own published guides.
The one to pick if you need Android or sync across devices, and its CSV format is one other apps have adopted for moving collections, so Sparkheim reads and writes it unchanged. Know what the free tier holds back: by ManaBox's own guides, creating binders needs the PRO subscription, and the scanner wants a plain background and good lighting, with sleeve glare called out as something that can stop detection.
Made by Arcane Tinmen, the sleeve maker, and its scanner has a long-standing reputation for reading sleeved cards well. Folders, friends lists and shared collections are the draw if your playgroup wants to browse each other's binders.
If the goal is selling, this is the short path: scan cards straight into your TCGplayer inventory with the marketplace's own prices attached. It is a storefront tool more than a collection home, and it is free.
The deck-building standard, in a browser on anything. No scanner and collection tracking is secondary, but for building, sharing and theorycrafting decks with a community, nothing else is close. Sparkheim exports plain deck lists that Moxfield's import reads.
Built for one job done properly: the whole card database lives on the phone, so browsing, building and scanning work with no signal and nothing needs an account, ever. The scanner has no cap, reads cards at any angle without staging them on a white sheet, and names the exact printing: set, collector number and finish, foils included. Commander data from 824,292 crawled decks is built in, and the free tier holds nothing back: unlimited binders, decks and lists. The honest limits: iPhone only, no Android, no web app.
From ManaBox: export your collection as CSV, open Sparkheim, import from the Collection tab. Binders and decks are recreated in one pass, with conditions, languages and foils intact. The same file moves back out again, so trying Sparkheim costs nothing.
From anything that exports a deck list: paste the plain text list into Sparkheim and it becomes a brew. Counts, set codes and collector numbers are read when they are present.
Out to Moxfield: export any deck as a plain list and paste it into Moxfield's importer.
Yes, several. Sparkheim, ManaBox, Dragon Shield and the TCGplayer app all scan cards on iPhone without payment. Sparkheim's scanner has no scan cap, works fully offline, and identifies the exact printing: set, collector number and finish.
No. Delver Lens is Android only. On iPhone the scanning apps are Sparkheim, ManaBox, Dragon Shield and the TCGplayer app.
For most iPhone players, Sparkheim: the free tier has no caps, the scanner is uncapped and fully offline, and Commander deck data from 824,292 decks is built in. The honest exceptions: if you also need Android or cross-device sync, ManaBox or Dragon Shield fit better. If you sell into the TCGplayer marketplace, its own app scans straight into your inventory. If you build decks on the web, Moxfield is the standard.
Yes. Export the CSV from ManaBox and import it in Sparkheim: binders and decks are recreated in one pass. It works in the other direction too, since Sparkheim reads and writes ManaBox's own CSV format.
No. The usual workflow is to scan in another app and import the list. Sparkheim exports plain deck lists that Moxfield's import reads.
Free forever: unlimited binders, decks and lists, the uncapped offline scanner, market prices and deck sharing. Pro is $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year on the US App Store, removes ads and adds Commander deck tools. Scanning is never gated.
