kept vs Sustain: Which Recall-Alert Inventory App?
Sustain and kept are the closest match in the category: both are small, both check what you own against recalls, both have a real free plan. The differences are the free limits, the price, and where each runs.
table of contents
Side-by-side comparison
| kept | Sustain | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Any browser on iPhone, Android, tablet or desktop. Installs to your home screen. No account needed to start. | Native iPhone and Android apps. No web app is mentioned. |
| Free plan | 50 items, 3 photos per item, recall alerts, reminders, 5 AI questions, 3 AI Captures. | Unlimited items, barcode scanning, recall alerts, warranty alerts, budget and replacement planner, home profile. |
| Paid plan | kept+: $19.99 a year or $2.99 a month. Unlimited items and AI, family sharing, insurance report, maintenance history. | Premium: $3 a month or $35.99 a year. AI photo ID, receipt and product-page scanning, AI claim and coverage assistant, AI maintenance plans, insurance PDF export. |
| Recall sources | CPSC and FDA, daily. Catches food, drug and device recalls as well as consumer products. | CPSC, updated daily. No other agency named. |
| Recall alerts cost | Free on every plan, with push. | Free. |
| Warranty alerts | Yes, free. | Yes, at 90, 30 and 7 days before expiry. Free tracking. |
| AI chat | Ask kept answers from your own items. 5 free questions, unlimited on kept+. | AI claim and coverage assistant, answering from your inventory and coverage. Premium. |
| Insurance PDF | kept+ | Premium |
| Languages and currencies | English, USD. | 5 languages and 9 currencies. |
| Exit | Free full backup zip on every plan. 90 days notice promise if kept shuts down. | Not stated. |
Sustain details from getsustain.app, read November 9, 2026. Its premium price appears as $3 a month or $35.99 a year there; a third-party listing showed $4.99 a month, so confirm in the app. If we have anything wrong, tell us.
Recall alerts: CPSC only or CPSC and FDA
Both apps match your saved items against recall databases without you lifting a finger, and both give it away free. That is rare, and it makes this comparison closer than most.
The difference is coverage. Sustain names the CPSC. kept checks the CPSC and the FDA, so a recalled food, supplement or medical device you saved is caught too, not just appliances and kids' gear. kept also has a public recall check and a public recall log, both usable with no account.
AI: chat from the start, or a premium layer
Sustain puts most of its AI behind Premium: photo identification, receipt and product-page scanning, a claim and coverage assistant and maintenance plans.
kept gives everyone 5 free questions to Ask kept, and 3 AI Captures. kept+ makes both unlimited. The chat answers from your own items, so it can tell you the warranty date or the filter size without you opening the item.
Pricing
- kept: free for 50 items. kept+ is $19.99 a year or $2.99 a month, with a 3-day trial through Stripe checkout.
- Sustain: free with unlimited items. Premium is $3 a month or $35.99 a year.
Sustain's free plan is more generous on items: no cap against kept's 50. kept+ is cheaper per year than Sustain Premium by about $16, and adds family sharing. For most households 50 items covers the appliances, filters and paint that matter; for a full contents inventory, Sustain's free tier is the better deal. See the full kept pricing.
Where Sustain wins
An honest comparison names these plainly:
- No item cap on the free plan. Sustain lets you track every item free. kept free stops at 50.
- Native apps. Dedicated iPhone and Android apps rather than a web app on your home screen.
- Explicit warranty countdown. Alerts at 90, 30 and 7 days before a warranty expires.
- Budget and replacement planner. Included free.
- Languages and currencies. 5 languages and 9 currencies against kept English and USD.
Where kept wins
- FDA as well as CPSC. Catches food, drug and device recalls too.
- No download, no account to start. Open it in a browser and add the first item.
- Price. kept+ at $19.99 a year against $35.99.
- Chat in the free plan. 5 free Ask kept questions, with no premium needed to try it.
- Public recall tools and an exit plan. A recall check anyone can use, a public recall log, a free full backup zip and a published shutdown promise.
The verdict
Choose Sustain if…
- You want native apps and unlimited free items
- You want a budget and replacement planner
- You use the app in another language or currency
Choose kept if…
- You want food and device recalls covered as well as consumer products
- You would rather not download anything or make an account to start
- You want the lower paid price and family sharing
You will not go wrong with either. If you are inventorying everything you own on a phone, Sustain's free tier is hard to beat. If you want the broadest recall coverage, a browser-first start and a cheaper upgrade, kept. Both are free, so the real test is adding five items to each.
kept is the reference tool for everything you own: recall-checked daily, queryable by AI, free to start.
[ try kept free ]Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between kept and Sustain?
Both are small home inventory apps that check what you own against product recalls for free. Sustain has native iPhone and Android apps and unlimited free items, and checks the CPSC. kept runs in any browser with no download or account to start, checks the CPSC and FDA, and costs $19.99 a year for kept+ against $35.99 for Sustain Premium.
Is Sustain free?
Yes. Sustain's free plan has unlimited items, barcode scanning, CPSC recall alerts, warranty alerts and a budget planner. Its AI features are in Premium at $3 a month or $35.99 a year. kept's free plan holds 50 items with recall alerts, reminders, 5 AI questions and 3 AI Captures.
Does kept check the FDA as well as the CPSC?
Yes. kept checks saved items against both the CPSC and the FDA every day, so food, drug and medical device recalls are caught as well as consumer products. Sustain names only the CPSC.
Which is cheaper, kept or Sustain?
kept+ is $19.99 a year or $2.99 a month. Sustain Premium is $3 a month or $35.99 a year. Both have a free plan; Sustain's free plan has no item cap, while kept's holds 50 items.
Do kept and Sustain work on Android?
Yes. Sustain offers native iPhone and Android apps. kept is a web app that installs to the home screen on both, with no app store download.