is there an app that scans pokemon cards for value?

Which one suits you depends on what you want from the scan, and on how much you can do before an app asks for money.

If you want unlimited free scans

Ludex is a scanner for sports cards and trading card games, Pokémon included. Its free plan lets you scan without a limit across all categories, and its values are based on eBay completed sales and other marketplaces.

The limit is storage. The free plan saves only 60 cards to your collection, so it suits checking a card you have just pulled or found in a drawer more than holding a full inventory. If you outgrow it, Lite is £5.49 a month or £47.99 a year and lifts the cap for one category, and Standard at £9.49 a month or £86.99 a year covers all of them. Pro is £24.99 a month or £229.99 a year. Ludex's paid plans start with a 1 week free trial. On Apple it is listed for iPhone only.

If you want a free app with no subscription

TCGplayer is the app of the TCGplayer card marketplace. It tracks the market price for every card on its marketplace for free, and neither its UK App Store nor its Google Play listing names a paid plan. Alongside Pokémon it lists dozens of other games, including Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh and One Piece, and you can organise a collection and buy from the marketplace in the same app.

What you give up is breadth. The price you see is the market price on TCGplayer's own marketplace, not a figure drawn from every place cards sell. If you want to know what a card fetched elsewhere, you need a second source.

If you want to track a big collection's value

Collectr works more like a portfolio than a scanner. It identifies the set, number and variant, then values raw, graded and sealed products daily from real sales data, shows gains and losses, and supports several currencies. Its listing names more than 20 card games.

The catch is scanning. Unlimited card scanning is a paid PRO feature, at £7.99 a month or £59.99 a year on the UK App Store, and Collectr does not say how many scans the free app allows. With a small pile of cards you may hit that limit without knowing in advance where it sits. With a large collection you plan to keep watching, the subscription buys you the unlimited scanning that the free app lacks.

If you care about condition and past sales

PriceCharting is a price guide app for cards, games, comics and more. It identifies a card by photo, shows prices for all conditions and previous sales from eBay, Heritage, PWCC and others, and covers every English and Japanese Pokémon set. It also gives grading recommendations, suggesting which ungraded cards might gain most from grading.

Its UK App Store listing describes it as completely free, with in-app purchases, and both its UK App Store and Google Play listings say it contains ads. The Collector subscription is £5.99 a month or £59.99 a year, but the listing does not say what it adds, so you cannot tell from the store page what you would be paying for.

When paying is worth it

Pay only if a free limit gets in your way. Collectr PRO at £7.99 a month adds unlimited scanning, and Ludex Lite at £5.49 a month lifts the 60 card collection cap for one category. If you are not hitting either limit, there is nothing you need to buy. TCGplayer has no paid plan listed, and PriceCharting's free version comes with an unexplained Collector tier.

Every value here is an estimate. Ludex says a portfolio value is the median of each card's estimated price, worked out from several market data points, so it is a middle figure and not a guaranteed sale price. The other three also work from recorded sales or marketplace prices, so the same caution applies.

Ludex's eBay listing allowances are marked US only. That is 5 a month on the free plan, 50 on Lite or Standard and 250 on Pro, so a UK seller cannot count on them whatever plan they choose.

Free does not mean ad free, either. The UK App Store listings for Collectr, TCGplayer, Ludex and PriceCharting all say the app contains advertising, so expect ads whichever free version you pick.

Then there is currency. Collectr's own site prices PRO in US dollars, at US$4.99 a month billed annually or US$7.99 monthly, while the UK App Store charges £7.99 a month or £59.99 a year. Check which price applies to you before you subscribe.