The world of Pokémon cards has exploded since its release in 1999. And since the pricing boom in 2021, Pokémon card value has become a hot topic for collectors and traders everywhere. Fortunately, there are a lot of apps out there to help you figure it out.
Unfortunately though, all apps are not created equal. Some are better for diverse collections, some are easier to navigate, and others just have more accurate pricing overall.
This article will cover a number of apps for identifying the value of your Pokémon card collection. It will use a number of criteria to grade each one so that you can determine which is best for you.
Let’s jump right in!
PriceCharting Pokémon Card App
PriceCharting.com, simply put, is one of the easiest and most built out apps for identifying Pokémon card collections on the market. While it’s not perfect (spoiler alert, none of them are), it is a fantastic starting point for anyone.
Let’s look into some of the particulars.
PriceCharting Ease of Use – 5/5
After creating a user profile, finding pricing for sealed, graded, or raw Pokémon card pricing is as simple as it gets. It also gets bonus points as it has both a website as well as an app.
Simply searching the card name followed by the card number will pull up every option in an easy to view and read format. If you want to add it, click + Collection. If you are adding a graded Pokémon card, click + Collection – With Details, and select the grade and grading company you have!
For sealed product, type the name of the set and what the box is called. For the Evolving Skies set, PriceCharting contains pricing for a Booster Box, Elite Trainer Box (Vaporeon and Jolteon Pokemon Center), Jolteon VMAX Premium Collection, and many others! Seriously, it doesn’t get much easier than this.
PriceCharting Correct Dollar Values – 4/5
PriceCharting pricing for sealed and graded Pokémon product is top notch. PriceCharting pulls its data directly from eBay and other websites to consolidate pricing. It does this incredibly well and is still a great starting point, even for raw cards.
The only reason PriceCharting falls short on identifying the correct dollar values is because of their raw cards data. Because it averages out the values, it doesn’t identify the outliers (Near Mint or Damaged cards) pricing very well. So if your collection is entirely Near Mint (especially if its vintage cards) or if it’s entirely damaged, the pricing will be slightly skewed one way or the other.
If your collection lies somewhere in the middle with Moderately Played to Near Mint cards, then you will be in a great spot with PriceCharting.
PriceCharting Complete Collection Availability – 5/5
As stated above, PriceCharting is one of the most complete Pokémon Card Collection apps on the market.
Regardless of if you have sealed, graded, or raw cards, Pricecharting has you covered. Pricecharting has even added the difference in price between a graded CGC 10, BGS 10, and PSA 10 price to help complete your collection even more!
Easy 5/5 for PriceCharting collection availability.
Overall PriceCharting Score – 4.5/5
To state the above again, PriceCharting is one of the best apps/websites for figuring out the values of your Pokémon card collection. It’s user friendly, has great pricing data, and allows any incredibly diverse collection to be captured nearly in it’s entirety.
The ONLY weakness in the PriceCharting app is that it averages the values for raw cards. This means that there can be variation on what your raw Pokémon card would actually sell for, depending on it’s condition. Even with that, PriceCharting is one of the best pricing apps and websites on the market.
Pricecharting Pros:
- Has both a website and an app
- Very easy search function when adding to your collection
- Has raw, sealed, and graded pricing data
Pricecharting Cons:
- Raw card data is averaged out, so it doesn’t properly price raw Near Mint or Damaged cards
| PriceCharting | -/5 Stars |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ★★★★★ |
| Correct $ Values | ★★★★ |
| Complete Collection Availability | ★★★★★ |
| Overall Rating | 4.5/5 |
eBay Collection Pokémon Card App
The eBay Collection app is not as well known as some of the others on this list. As of 6/1/2024, it is still in its “beta” phase and is still buried under a tremendous amount of other options in their menu. So it’s not exactly eBays first priority.
That being said, it’s already incredibly good. A lot of collectors would agree that eBay is the gold standard for Pokémon card pricing. So it stands to reason that their app/website would be incredibly useful as well.
Let’s get into some of the particulars of the eBay Collection app!
eBay Ease of Use – 4/5
The eBay Collection Beta for the most part is pretty easy and user friendly. Once you get to adding cards to your collection, it’s not the best, but it’s definitely not the worst.
It’s different from others because it is text based rather than card/item based. In other apps, I would search for the particular card and the app would suggest the card that I’m looking for.
With eBay Collection, you enter the text for the item and it pulls applicable search results to give you the value. It can be excellent as you can detail how played the card is and/or the grading company that was used. In getting really particular though, you will still want to check the search results to make sure it’s finding exactly what you’re looking for.
Long short then, it is easy to use but may take a little testing to get it all right.
eBay Correct Dollar Values – 5/5
As said earlier, eBay is the gold standard for Pokémon card pricing. Most other apps actually use eBay data to get their numbers. With that then, it’s really hard to not give this a 5/5.
The only caveat is what was stated in the section above. Make sure that the results show the item you are trying to price. If it doesn’t, you may need to change the wording to ensure the most accurate pricing possible.
eBay Complete Collection Availability – 5/5
This is another easy 5/5 for eBay. Regardless of what your collection has, you won’t find a more complete database of sold items that you can get pricing for.
Sealed product, graded cards, raw cards, Japanese cards, and all other variations are found here.
Overall eBay Score – 4.5/5
Despite eBay collection being in Beta, it is still one of the best. The availability, pricing, and ease of use is tough to beat across the board. While it still has its issues sorting the cards you are searching, the eBay app is still one of the best Pokémon card pricing tools out there.
eBay Pros:
- Can access and function through both a website and an app
- Pricing is considered the gold standard for many collectors
- Has raw, sealed, and graded pricing data
eBay Cons:
- The search function is not perfect and will sometimes add cards to pricing data that do not perfectly match
| eBay | -/5 Stars |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ★★★★ |
| Correct $ Values | ★★★★★ |
| Complete Collection Availability | ★★★★★ |
| Overall Rating | 4.5/5 |
TCGPlayer Collection Pokémon Card App
The TCGPlayer app has quickly become a favorite among some collectors. It’s main draw is that it allows you to input the conditions of your raw cards, where most others don’t.
TCGPlayer operates a little differently as well in the fact that they have their own pricing data from their website sales. I personally consider TCGPlayer to be one of the best places to buy Pokémon cards in some scenarios as well.
Because of this though, TCGPlayer can vary somewhat drastically in their pricing vs others on this list. Depending on whether you’re buying or selling, this could be a good thing or a bad thing.
Outside of that, TCGPlayer definitely has some shortfalls. Let’s review now.
TCGPlayer Ease of Use – 3/5
While the TCGPlayer app is highly popular, it definitely has areas it can improve in.
The main issue with TCGPlayers ease of use is that its search function is not great. Both the scanning as well as adding cards manually leave a lot to be desired.
For example, it doesn’t follow the usual card name, card number format for a lot of cards. This means you will likely find yourself having to search cards via another method.
Once you search the card you are looking for, it unfortunately gets more difficult. You will find there are no pictures to help you verify it is the card you are looking for. So you may find yourself adding and removing cards several times over as it wasn’t what you were looking for in the first place.
Does it work a good amount of the time? Yes. But could it be a lot better? Definitely.
TCGPlayer Correct Dollar Values – 4/5
As stated above, the TCGPlayer app is unique as it pulls its sold data from it’s own website rather than from a lot of other third party websites which is what most others on this list do. TCGPlayer is also unique because it allows you to assign “conditions” to your cards.
And if you weren’t aware, raw Pokémon cards absolutely differ in price because of their conditions. Cards that are considered Near Mint and are in great condition can be graded and potentially increase the value greatly. So it is nice to have an app that takes that into consideration.
That being said, there is a reason that TCGPlayer has a 4/5 rating for pricing. And that reason is that the pricing can be drastically different from all others both positively and negatively.
Near mint pricing in TCGPlayer tends to be on the HIGH end of eBay sold and Damaged tends to be on the low end, even when comparing similar cards. Add in the fact that sellers tend to lean towards the higher end of that spectrum, and you can end up paying more than you should for a card.
So while the condition pricing is nice and mostly accurate, it can be the highest and lowest of all other pricing data out there.
TCGPlayer Complete Collection Availability – 2/5
While TCGPlayer is solid in some areas, this unfortunately is not one of them. TCGPlayer at this point in time only prices raw, English Pokémon cards. No Japanese cards, no graded cards, no sealed Pokémon product.
If you only collect English modern or vintage, then you are in luck. If not, then you may be better off using a different app.
Overall TCGPlayer Score – 3/5
While the scores here don’t show incredibly well for TCGPlayer, it does remain a favorite app among a number of collectors. And despite the pricing not being perfect, TCGPlayer pricing based on conditions is largely solid. For modern English cards particularly, many would argue it is one of the best.
So as a Pokémon card valuing app for diverse collections? It’s not particularly good. For raw, English, Modern Pokémon cards? It is absolutely one worth giving a shot.
TCGPlayer App Pros:
- Has pricing based off card conditions
- Uses their own internal sold data used vs other 3rd party data
- Is the main preference for a lot of collectors for modern English Pokémon cards
TCGPlayer App Cons:
- Pricing data confined to raw English Pokémon cards
- Search function could be easier and more user friendly
- Pricing can be on the highest and lowest end of card value data
| TCGPlayer | -/5 Stars |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ★★★ |
| Correct $ Values | ★★★★ |
| Complete Collection Availability | ★★ |
| Overall Rating | 3/5 |
Collectr Collection Pokémon Card App
Collectr won’t typically be one of the main apps you hear about, but it definitely has its place among collectors. It has both a desktop version as well as an app and mostly holds up with some of the more popular Pokémon card valuing apps.
Let’s look into the particulars.
Collectr Ease of Use – 3/5
When uploading a collection, Collectr mostly holds up and works the same as the others. That said, it certainly has some shortcomings that others don’t.
With some vintage sets and for some Pokémon that have a lot of cards (Pikachu as an example), I would have to search a number of times and a number of ways to get the card I was looking for. And unfortunately it wasn’t always easy to populate the card I wanted.
Graded cards and sealed product was pretty easy to navigate and ultimately add into your collection. Once added though, the pictures are misleading. If you have anything in the Base Set card list, the picture will always show as a 1st edition Shadowless card. If your card is graded, there won’t be any detail on the front page regarding that card being graded at all.
Ultimately, the ease of use for Collectr is mostly good, but it certainly has its shortcomings.
Collectr Correct Dollar Values – 4/5
Collectr, just like most other apps, pulls its dollar values from a few outside apps. So the values of cards shouldn’t be too different from other apps. And while that is mostly true for Collectr, I did find more than a few stand-outs.
Of all of the apps I used, Collectr came out with the highest dollar value for my collection. When diving in further, I found a number of cards (almost all vintage) that were valued substantially higher than they should have been.
In most cases, Collectr lined up well. The gap in some of these cards and the ultimate overall value though brought their score down.
Collectr Complete Collection Availability – 5/5
Pretty easy 5/5 on complete collection availability for Collectr. Whether you have graded, raw, Japanese, sealed, or otherwise, Collectr had everything that you might have in your collection.
Overall Collectr Score – 4/5
Overall, Collectr is a more than adequate app for valuing your Pokémon card collection. Its simple enough to use and has function across both a desktop as well as a phone app. Despite its shortcomings, it’s still one that may be worth using. That being said, it definitely does not sit at the top of the list.
Collectr App Pros:
- Full collection storing capabilities
- Nice looking user interface
- Has both a desktop version and a phone app
Collectr App Cons:
- Pricing was inconsistent and very high for a number of vintage cards
- Search functions can be difficult and pictures are confusing
| Collectr | -/5 Stars |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ★★★ |
| Correct $ Values | ★★★★ |
| Complete Collection Availability | ★★★★★ |
| Overall Rating | 4/5 |
TCG Collector Pokémon Card Website
TCG Collector is not an app that is easy to find. With TCG Player being a bigger and more established name, you may have to do some searching before stumbling across it. I personally found it from a recommendation from a cousin as well as from a few Reddit threads.
It’s worth throwing out also that there is another website with exactly the same name, it just has a hyphen between the two words. Hopefully they can work something out.
Regardless though, TCG Collector came up enough that it was worth putting on the list. Let’s jump into the analysis.
TCG Collector Ease of Use – 4/5
TCG Collector overall has one of the easiest search functions I found across all of the tested apps. I had little to no trouble finding any cards including graded, modern, English, Japanese, or otherwise. So adding my collection was incredibly quick and easy.
The only shortcoming in the ease of use category is the collection summary. TCG Collector has a similar issue to Collectr in that the pictures are misleading and the cards don’t immediately show if they are graded. Other than those issues though, TCG Collector is very easy to use.
TCG Collector Correct Dollar Values – 3/5
While a lot of the pricing data was in-line with other apps in TCG Collector, there were a lot of gaps in the pricing as well.
Even though you are able to add cards as “graded”, the pricing for those graded cards just shows up as the raw pricing. On top of that, there are a lot of Japanese cards that don’t show any dollars despite being able to add the card.
So does a good amount of the pricing look good? Yes. Does it hold up with some of the other top apps? I’d unfortunately say no here.
TCG Collector Complete Collection Availability – 2/5
Despite seemingly having the capability to handle a lot of variation in a collection, TCG Collector is certainly lacking. While I can add a card as “graded”, the pricing doesn’t come over as anything different than just the raw card. On top of that, you can only add a few “premium” cards before they ask that you pay for their platform.
Unfortunately, a lot of Japanese cards have the same issue. I can add them into my collection, but there are no dollars for a large portion of them.
Lastly, you are not able to add any sealed product. While this is not a dealbreaker for a lot of people, it certainly is worth noting here.
Overall TCG Collector Score – 3/5
While I was initially pleased with the interface and ease of use of TCG Collector, I unfortunately stumbled across a number of gaps with the platform overall. If you only have raw, modern, and English Pokémon cards, then this website could work for you.
That being said, there are definitely better Pokémon card pricing tools on the market.
TCG Collector App Pros:
- Very easy search function
- Nice user interface
- Values for raw, English Pokémon cards seems to line up with other apps
TCG Collector App Cons:
- You have to pay for adding over a certain number of “premium” cards
- There is only a desktop version for TCG Collector
- The pictures and summary view can be confusing
| TCG Collector | -/5 Stars |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ★★★★ |
| Correct $ Values | ★★★ |
| Complete Collection Availability | ★★ |
| Overall Rating | 3/5 |
Conclusion
There are a lot of ways to find Pokémon card value and there are a number of apps that can help you get there. Hopefully this article was able to guide you to one that fits your collection and your goal.
I know there are a lot out there that I missed, so please send me an email at [email protected] if you would like me to review any more!
Thanks for reading!