Card scanner apps compared: CollX, Ludex and more

A card scanner app photographs a card, matches it against a database and shows a price. The five compared here split along two lines: which cards they know, and what happens after the scan. CollX and Ludex lean toward sports cards, Collectr and the TCGplayer app toward Pokémon, Magic and other TCGs, and eBay’s app covers both. CollX sells cards inside its own marketplace, Ludex sends listings to eBay, and the TCGplayer and eBay apps feed their own marketplaces.

Which app covers which cards?

The pricing methods behind these figures differ more than the apps’ screens suggest. Our comparison of card price sites sets them side by side.

What does each app do after the scan?

CollX

CollX matches your photo against its database of millions of cards. When a card has several versions, such as reprints or parallels, it shows them so you can pick the right one, and you can search by hand when it finds no match. It also identifies graded cards with barcodes.

The free app limits a collection to fewer than 500 items. Pro lifts that cap and adds 500 Scan+ credits a month, which use extra recognition of a card’s text and image to improve matching. Gold includes everything in Pro, plus unlimited Scan+.

Selling happens in the CollX marketplace. CollX takes a 10% commission on the item price, with shipping and tax left out, and says it covers payment processing. Gold lowers the rate to 8% on the part of a sale up to $2,500 and 3% above it. Withdrawing your balance has a $10 minimum and a $2 fee each time, which Gold waives.

Ludex

Ludex supports eight sports (baseball, basketball, football, hockey, MMA, racing, soccer and wrestling) and three other kinds of card: Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon and VeeFriends. Each scanned card shows a Ludex Estimate, a price range from recent eBay sales, with a tab of those sales that you can filter by parallel, condition, and raw or graded.

The free plan allows unlimited scans but saves only 60 cards. The paid tiers:

• Lite: $4.99 a month, unlimited scans and storage for one sport or TCG, and 200 identified scans a month in the rest.
• Standard: $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year, every category.
• Pro: $24.99 a month or $239.99 a year, with 250 eBay listings a month instead of 50.

Each paid tier comes with a one-week free trial. Its pages disagree on Lite’s yearly price: $49.99 in the App Store description, but $44.99 in the same listing’s in-app purchase list and on Ludex’s membership page.

Ludex lists cards on eBay for you and takes no percentage of those sales, though eBay’s own seller fees still apply. You need an eBay seller account. If the account has never listed anything, eBay may block outside apps until you publish a first listing on eBay yourself.

Collectr

Collectr’s scanner reads the set, the card number and the printing (normal, foil or reverse foil), and then you set the quantity and condition. It covers One Piece, Pokémon, Lorcana, Magic, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Flesh and Blood, among others, and sports cards are coming soon to Collectr PRO.

Unlimited scanning is one of the PRO features, along with up to 5+ years of price history and exports. Collectr called its PRO price reduced for a limited time. Its price guide shows raw and graded comps with population reports, and its marketplace puts eBay and TCGplayer listings side by side.

TCGplayer app

The TCGplayer app is free, and you can scan without an account, though saving lists needs one. It scans every kind of card TCGplayer sells and shows the Market Price, Listed Median and Most Recent Sale. You can set the condition, language and printing before or after a scan to see the price for that version.

TCGplayer is frank about the app’s limits. It identifies cards mainly by their artwork, so printings that share art can be confused. Its own example is early Magic sets that look alike apart from border color, which the app does not yet tell apart. The app scans one card at a time, though advice for stores, updated in September 2026, suggests trying several at once, so test both ways on a few cards. Level 4 sellers can import scanned lists straight into their inventory.

eBay app

eBay’s app has two scanning tools. Under My eBay, Scan cards opens the Price Guide, which shows a raw or graded card’s median sold price, its sales history for up to two years, and PSA and CGC population counts. It is free with no usage limits, in the US only.

The second tool, Scan to list, builds a draft listing. In Selling, tap List an item, type the name of the game or sport, and tap the blue box to scan. eBay reminds you that you are responsible for the listing’s details. Add your own photos of the front and back, up to 24, because the match thumbnail is not added to the listing. For a foil card, pick the foil match or note it in the item specifics.

Why does the condition you enter matter so much?

An app’s price is a price for the condition it assumes. CollX doesn’t assess condition and asks you to enter it on the card’s details screen. The TCGplayer app and Collectr also have you set it. If you leave a worn card at Near Mint, the app shows a Near Mint price.

Before you trust a figure, look at the card under good light. Check the corners, the edges, the surface and the centering, then pick the matching step. Our guide to card condition explains each step from Near Mint to Damaged, and how to check a card before grading covers what graders look at. For a slab, match the grader and the grade, and look up the cert number on the grader’s site.

Which app fits which collector?

• Mostly sports cards, selling inside the app: CollX, which runs its own marketplace.
• Sports cards you sell on eBay: Ludex, which lists to eBay for no cut of the sale, or eBay’s own Scan to list.
• Pokémon, Magic or other TCG singles priced by condition: the free TCGplayer app, or Collectr for many kinds of card and sealed product.
• Graded cards: eBay’s Price Guide, which matches the grade where one is on record.
• A quick check on a raw English Pokémon card: Rip.fan’s card price lookup, which gives a dated NM market price and names the printing it applies to.

How far should you trust an app’s price?

Treat it as a starting point. Open the app’s list of recent sales, drop any that aren’t the same printing, condition or grade, and look at what is left. Our guide on how to find what a card sold for sets out that method, and market, listed and sold prices explains the labels you will see. When you are ready to sell, where to sell cards online works through what each marketplace’s fees leave you.

Frequently asked questions

Can the TCGplayer app scan cards in sleeves?

Yes, as long as each card sits centered in its sleeve and the scan avoids glare. A white background works best, with the phone about 6 to 8 inches from the card.

Which phones run the TCGplayer app?

iPhones on iOS 17 or later and Android phones on Android 9 or later. The app installs on a device without a camera, but some of its features need one.

When does a CollX seller get the money from a sale?

At CollX, sale money stays pending until the buyer marks the order complete or 72 hours pass after tracked delivery, whichever comes first, as of October 27, 2026. It then moves to the seller's balance, which goes to a bank account through Stripe.

Does CollX sell sealed product?

Yes, since mid-2026, as long as it is exactly as the maker supplied it: packs unopened and boxes fully sealed.

What eBay listings can Ludex create?

Ludex can't create eBay's 3-day auction listings, which cost sellers extra on eBay, or listings with shipping calculated from the buyer's location. Its scanned image goes on the listing automatically, and further photos are added on eBay.