Partender vs PourIQ: Visual Tenthing, Compared

Partender invented visual tenthing for bar inventory. PourIQ uses the same method. The difference is what each one charges and what else they offer beyond the core count. Here is how the two products compare.

What is Partender?

Partender is a bar inventory app built around visual tenthing. Users see a photo of a bottle on a phone screen, tap where the liquor level sits, and swipe to the next bottle. The company claims up to 99.2% accuracy and a 15 minute full-bar inventory on a typical venue.

Partender launched in the mid 2010s and is credited as the pioneer of the tap-and-slide tenthing method now common across the category. The app runs on iOS, covers beer, wine, liquor, and kegs, and offers a 14 day free trial.

Per third party listings like SoftwareSuggest and WISK’s competitive breakdowns, Partender does not publicly document first-party POS integrations, barcode scanning, or deep recipe costing. SoftwareSuggest lists Partender at 3.4 out of 5 as of September 2025.

What is PourIQ?

PourIQ is a newer bar inventory platform that uses the same visual tenthing workflow Partender originated. Tap the level, swipe, next bottle. Around that core count, PourIQ adds recipe costing, menu engineering, BTG (by the glass) tracking, barcode scanning, par levels, and variance reports.

PourIQ lists POS integrations with Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, and Aloha. Pricing is $75 per month, flat, month to month, with no hardware required.

How does visual tenthing actually work?

Tenthing is the bar manager practice of estimating a bottle’s fill level in tenths. Done by hand on a clipboard, it is slow and two counters often disagree on the same bottle.

Visual tenthing moves that estimate onto a phone. A photo of the bottle appears on screen, the user drags a line to the liquor level, and the app converts that line to ounces based on the bottle’s shape. It removes most of the human disagreement, does not need a scale or a barcode reader, and is fast enough for a full bar count in well under an hour.

Partender is generally credited with bringing this method to market. Both apps use it today because it works.

Is Partender’s pricing transparent?

Partender publishes prices on appdemo.partender.com/pricing.html. The Pro Monthly plan is listed at $399 per month regular with a $249 per month promotional rate. The Pro Annual plan is $299 per month regular with a $165 per month promotional rate, billed annually upfront. An Enterprise plan is labeled “contact sales.”

The split between regular and promotional pricing is worth noting. A buyer comparing budgets can land anywhere from $1,980 per year (annual promo) to $4,788 per year (monthly regular) depending on which rate applies at signup. Operators who want a fixed budget line item may find the spread hard to plan against.

PourIQ lists a single price of $75 per month on its pricing page. No promotional rate, no annual-only discount, no sales call required.

How do the feature sets compare?

Feature	Partender	PourIQ
Visual tenthing	Yes (pioneer)	Yes
Keg tracking	Yes	Yes
Variance reports	Yes	Yes
Par levels	Yes	Yes
Unlimited staff logins	Yes	Yes
Free trial	14 days	Yes
Barcode scanning	Not documented	Yes
POS integration	Not documented	Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, Aloha
Recipe costing	Limited	Yes
Menu engineering	No	Yes
BTG tracking	No	Yes
Starting price	$165 to $399/month	$75/month flat
Contract	Annual for best rate	Month to month

Sources: appdemo.partender.com/pricing.html, WISK competitive breakdown, SoftwareSuggest product listing.

What does each one cost per year?

PourIQ runs $900 per year on its published rate.

Partender Pro Annual at the promotional rate runs $1,980 per year, billed upfront. Pro Monthly at the promotional rate runs $2,988 per year. At the regular (non-promo) Pro Monthly rate of $399, the annual spend is $3,588. The Enterprise tier is quote-based and not listed publicly.

For a single location, the gap between PourIQ’s flat rate and Partender’s promotional annual rate is roughly $1,380 per year. Against Partender’s regular monthly rate, the gap is closer to $2,988 per year.

Does an annual commitment matter?

For some operators, yes. Partender’s lowest monthly rate ($165) requires an annual commitment billed upfront. A bar that opens, closes, or changes ownership mid-year carries that commitment regardless.

PourIQ’s $75 rate is month to month with no upfront annual charge. A bar can cancel between counts without a penalty.

Whether that flexibility matters depends on the operator. Established multi-year venues may prefer the annual lock-in for the lower monthly rate. Newer bars or group operators testing software across locations may prefer the monthly option.

Where does Partender win?

It pioneered visual tenthing. The tap-and-slide method that most bar inventory apps now use started with Partender. That history shows up in a polished core workflow and a user base that learned inventory on the Partender screen.

The iOS app is mature. Years of iteration on a single core task. For bars that primarily need to count beer and liquor quickly, the app is fast and familiar.

It has an established customer base. Thousands of bars have run Partender for years. That translates to community knowledge, trained staff, and a known quantity for beer-heavy operations.

Keg tracking is proven. Partender’s draft workflow is tested at scale in beer-forward venues.

Where does PourIQ win?

Flat, transparent pricing. $75 per month, published on the pricing page, no promotional rate, no sales call. Over a year, that is $900 versus $1,980 to $3,588 for Partender.

POS integration. PourIQ documents connections to Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, and Aloha. Partender does not publicly document first-party POS integrations, which means sales-versus-usage variance reports require manual data work.

Recipe costing and menu engineering. PourIQ supports per-drink cost calculation and menu engineering reports that flag high and low performers. Partender’s recipe costing is limited per third party listings.

BTG tracking. Wine by the glass is handled natively in PourIQ. That matters for programs running half bottles and partial pours.

Barcode scanning. PourIQ supports scan-to-receive workflows. Partender does not document barcode scanning.

Month to month terms. No annual commitment at the base rate.

Which fits a craft beer bar with 40+ taps?

This is the scenario where Partender’s history is strongest. Beer-heavy programs lean on the core tenthing and keg workflow Partender has shipped and polished for years. Operators who only need to count kegs, generate reorders, and track draft inventory get a known quantity.

PourIQ also supports keg tracking with partial kegs and rotations, and adds POS integration for draft sales data. For a pure draft bar with no food or cocktail program, the functional gap is narrower. The price gap still applies.

Which fits a bar with cocktails and a wine program?

Recipe costing and BTG tracking are the deciding features here. A cocktail program needs per-drink costs that move with vendor price changes. A wine program with by-the-glass pours needs partial bottle math. PourIQ documents both. Partender’s documented feature set does not include deep recipe costing or BTG tracking.

For this use case, the feature gap favors PourIQ on a practical level regardless of price.

Final take

Partender is a proven tool for bars focused on liquor and beer tenthing. PourIQ offers the same tenthing approach plus a broader feature set at a flat price. The right choice depends on whether a bar needs just the core count or the fuller beverage program. More details at partender.com and mypouriq.com.