8 Best MTG Collection Trackers & Deck Builders Compared (2026)
We tested every MTG app that handles both collection tracking and deck building. Free options included, with card scanning, price tracking, and CSV import.
GrimDeck
·14 min read

Most Magic players end up using two or three different apps. One for deck building. Another for tracking what they own. Maybe a third for scanning cards into their phone at 2am after cracking a booster box. This is annoying, and it shouldn't be necessary.
The best MTG collection tracker and deck builder is one app that does both. You add your cards, you see what you own, and when you go to build a deck, the app already knows your inventory. No exporting CSVs. No copy-pasting deck lists between websites. No wondering if you already have a copy of Rhystic Study or if you just imagined it.
That sounds obvious, right? You'd think every MTG app would work this way. They don't. Some of the most popular tools in the community are great at one thing and completely ignore the other. And the ones that try to do both often half-ass one side.
I've spent real time with all of these. Here's what actually works, what doesn't, and where each tool falls short.
What to look for in a combined MTG collection tracker and deck builder
Before getting into specific apps, here's what separates a good combined tool from a bad one:
Collection awareness in the deck builder. When you're building a deck, the app should tell you which cards you already own. This is the entire point. If the deck builder and collection tracker feel like separate products glued together, that's a red flag.
Scanning. Manual entry is fine for a few cards, but if you have thousands, you need a camera scanner. Some apps nail this. Others have scanners that misidentify every other card. We wrote a full breakdown of MTG collection trackers with card scanning if scanning is your top priority.
Price tracking. You want to see what your collection is worth and what a deck will cost to complete. TCGPlayer and Cardmarket prices are the standard.
Import and export. You'll want to bring in lists from Arena, MTGO, or other tools. If the app locks you in with no export, walk away.
Speed. If the deck builder takes three seconds to load every card search, you'll stop using it by Tuesday.
Moxfield
Moxfield is the deck builder most Commander players already use. The editor is fast, the UI is clean, and it has the largest community of shared decks. If you've ever googled a Commander list, you probably landed on Moxfield.
The deck builder is genuinely excellent. Drag-and-drop, multiple view modes, real-time price totals, mana curve visualization. It's the benchmark everyone else is trying to match. If you only care about building decks and don't need collection tracking, our deck builder comparison goes deeper on Moxfield vs. the competition.
The collection tracker exists, but it's secondary. Moxfield added collection features after the deck builder was already established, and it shows. You can mark cards as owned and the deck builder will flag which ones you need to buy, which is useful. But the collection management itself feels basic. No camera scanning, limited filtering, and the collection view doesn't offer the same polish as the deck building side.
Moxfield is free, with optional paid plans (around $3-5/mo) that unlock features like deck folders and advanced analytics. For pure deck building, it's hard to beat. For collection tracking, it's a bolt-on.
Best for: Players who primarily build decks and want basic "do I own this" tracking on the side.
Falls short: No scanner. Collection features feel like an afterthought. No real price history or portfolio tracking.
Archidekt
Archidekt is Moxfield's closest competitor for deck building. The visual editor is solid. You get drag-and-drop, card previews, sorting by custom categories, and price data from TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom, Cardmarket, and Cardhoarder.
Archidekt also has a collection tracker, and it's more developed than Moxfield's. You can maintain a full inventory, track set completion, and the deck builder integrates with your collection to show which cards you already own. The collection page supports sorting, filtering, and basic analytics.
The integration between collection and deck building is better than most. When you open the deck editor, cards you own get highlighted, and you can filter search results to only show cards in your collection. It's not perfect, but it's more than surface-level.
The app is free to use, with a premium tier that removes ads and adds features. No mobile app, so everything happens in the browser. No camera scanning either.
Best for: Players who want a step up from Moxfield's collection features without leaving the deck building ecosystem.
Falls short: Browser-only. No scanner. The collection UI can feel clunky with large inventories.
Deckbox
Deckbox has been around since 2008, which makes it ancient by MTG app standards. It was one of the first tools to combine collection management with deck building, and it has a community trading system that nobody else has replicated well.
The collection manager is mature and full-featured. You can track inventory, wishlists, and trade lists. The trading tools automatically match you with other users who have what you want, which is genuinely useful if you trade locally or by mail. Deckbox keeps its card database updated and lets you filter by edition, condition, language, and foil status. For a deeper look at collection-only tools, see our MTG collection tracker comparison.
The deck builder, though, is dated. It works, but it looks and feels like 2012. No drag-and-drop, limited visualization, and the UI hasn't kept pace with newer tools. If you're coming from Moxfield or Archidekt, the deck building experience will feel like a downgrade.
Free tier handles basics. Premium is about $5/year (yes, per year), which makes it one of the cheapest options. But you're paying for collection and trading tools, not a modern deck building experience.
Best for: Collectors and traders who build decks occasionally. The trading community is the real draw here.
Falls short: The deck builder hasn't been meaningfully updated in years. Feels dated. No mobile app or scanner.
EchoMTG
EchoMTG is built for collectors who think about their cards as financial assets. It tracks portfolio value over time, sends weekly email reports on your collection's worth, and has price alerts for specific cards. If you want to know that your Dockside Extortionist went up $3 this week, EchoMTG will tell you.
The collection tracking is its strongest feature. You get detailed price history charts, set completion tracking, and earnings tracking if you buy and sell. The free tier handles 360 cards. Paid plans start at $2/mo (Uncommon) and go up to $7/mo (Mythic) with more card slots and features like SMS price alerts.
There's a deck building feature ("Lists / Decks"), but it's minimal. EchoMTG is a collection tracker that added a deck builder, not the other way around. The deck editor lacks the depth of Moxfield or Archidekt. If you care more about portfolio management than brewing, EchoMTG is excellent. If you want both? You'll probably still need a second tool for deck building.
Best for: Collectors and investors who track card values like a stock portfolio.
Falls short: Deck building is barebones. Free tier caps at 360 cards, which isn't enough for anyone with more than a couple commander decks.
Manabox
Manabox is mobile-first, and it's the best phone app on this list for scanning cards. The camera recognition is fast, accurate across multiple languages, and handles foils and alternate art reasonably well. If you want to scan a box of cards into your phone at the kitchen table, Manabox is the go-to.
It does both collection tracking (they call it "binders") and deck building. The deck simulator lets you test opening hands, which is a nice touch. You can organize cards into folders, view prices from TCGPlayer, Cardmarket, Card Kingdom, and Cardhoarder, and share decks with friends.
The trade-off: Manabox is a phone app. If you want to sit at a computer and brew for an hour, the mobile-only interface gets cramped. There's no web version. Deck building on a phone works, but it's slower and more awkward than a browser-based editor with a full keyboard and screen.
Premium unlocks additional features (exact pricing varies by platform and region). The free tier is usable but has limitations.
Best for: Mobile-first players who scan a lot of cards and want everything on their phone.
Falls short: No web/desktop interface. Deck building on mobile is functional but slower than browser-based alternatives.
Dragon Shield MTG Scanner
Dragon Shield's app comes from the sleeve company, and the scanner is their selling point. It's one of the better camera-based card recognition tools available. Scan your cards, get instant pricing from TCGPlayer and Cardmarket, and organize them into folders.
The app handles collection management, deck building, wishlists, and trade lists. There's a social component where you can add friends and view their collections. Price history charts with 30-day trends help you track value over time.
The catch: it's mobile-only, like Manabox. And because Dragon Shield is primarily a sleeve and accessory company, the app sometimes feels like a companion product rather than a dedicated platform. Updates can lag behind the competition, and the deck builder isn't as polished as what you'd get from Moxfield or Archidekt.
Best for: Players who already use Dragon Shield products and want a solid scanning app with collection management.
Falls short: Deck builder is secondary to the scanning and collection features. Mobile only.
CardCastle
CardCastle markets itself as a scanning and inventory management tool, particularly for people who sell cards. The scanner is good, and the web platform lets you manage your collection, track prices, and integrate with sales platforms.
Deck building exists on CardCastle's web platform, but the focus is clearly inventory management and commerce. The app is aimed at sellers and stores as much as casual players. If you scan cards to list them for sale, CardCastle's workflow makes sense. If you're scanning cards to build Commander decks, you might find the tool optimized for a different use case than yours.
Pricing is on the steeper side. The subscription runs about $9/mo, which makes it the most expensive option on this list by a wide margin. That price makes more sense if you're a store owner or high-volume seller using the sales integrations.
Best for: Sellers and store owners who need inventory management with marketplace integrations.
Falls short: Expensive for casual players. Deck building isn't the focus. The $9/mo price only makes sense if you're selling cards.
GrimDeck
GrimDeck is the newest tool on this list, and full disclosure, it's ours. So take this section with however much salt you need.
GrimDeck was built from the start to be both a collection tracker and a deck builder in the same app, rather than adding one feature onto the other after the fact. Every other tool on this list started as one thing and bolted on the other later. We built both at the same time because the whole point is that they talk to each other.
The deck builder has real-time mana base analysis, format legality checking across Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Commander, interactive mana curve visualization, and price tracking with links to buy cards. When you're building a deck, your collection is right there telling you which cards you already own and which ones you'd need to pick up.
The collection side lets you track what you own with price data so you know what your cards are worth. Cards flow between your collection and your decks without any manual syncing. You add a card to your collection once and every deck you build knows about it.
Why GrimDeck over established tools?
The honest pitch: if you're tired of using Moxfield for decks and a spreadsheet (or Deckbox, or Manabox) for your collection, GrimDeck puts both in one place. Here's what's different:
- Built as one product. The collection tracker and deck builder share the same data layer. This isn't two separate features sharing a login. Your collection informs your deck building automatically.
- No card limits on the free tier. Unlike EchoMTG's 360-card cap, you can track your full collection without paying.
- Web-based, works everywhere. Desktop, tablet, phone. No app store download required. Unlike Manabox or Dragon Shield, you're not locked to mobile.
- TCGPlayer affiliate links. When you need to buy cards to complete a deck, you can jump straight to TCGPlayer. We earn a small commission, which helps keep the free tier generous.
- Active development. We ship updates weekly. The Commander deck building tools space moves fast, and we're keeping up.
It's $3.99/mo or $39/year for premium, with a free tier that covers the basics.
Where GrimDeck falls short: it's new. The community is small compared to Moxfield's massive user base, and there's no camera scanner yet. You won't find thousands of shared public decks to browse. If community size and scanner support matter to you, the established tools have an advantage. We're a smaller team building in public, and some features that competitors have had for years are still on our roadmap.
Best for: Players who want collection tracking and deck building actually designed as one product, and who don't mind a newer app that's still growing.
Falls short: No scanner (yet). Small community compared to established platforms.
Quick comparison: MTG collection tracker and deck builder apps
Here's how all eight apps stack up side by side:
| App | Collection tracking | Deck building | Scanner | Free tier | Platform | Price | |-----|-------------------|---------------|---------|-----------|----------|-------| | Moxfield | Basic | Excellent | No | Yes | Web | Free / $3-5/mo | | Archidekt | Good | Excellent | No | Yes | Web | Free / Premium | | Deckbox | Excellent | Dated | No | Yes | Web | Free / $5/yr | | EchoMTG | Excellent | Basic | No | Limited (360 cards) | Web + mobile | $2-7/mo | | Manabox | Good | Good | Yes (great) | Limited | Mobile only | Free / Premium | | Dragon Shield | Good | Basic | Yes (great) | Yes | Mobile only | Free | | CardCastle | Good | Basic | Yes (good) | No ($9/mo) | Mobile + web | $9/mo | | GrimDeck | Good | Good | No | Yes (no card limit) | Web | Free / $3.99/mo |
So which MTG collection tracker and deck builder should you actually use?
It depends on what you care about most:
If you only build decks: Moxfield. The deck editor is the best in the business and the community is massive. See our full deck builder site comparison for more detail.
If you only track a collection: EchoMTG for price-focused tracking, Deckbox for trading. Our collection tracker roundup covers this in depth.
If you need to scan cards: Manabox or Dragon Shield on mobile, CardCastle if you also sell. We compared the best MTG scanners separately.
If you want one app that does both without compromise: That's the gap this whole category is trying to fill. Archidekt probably gets closest among the established tools. GrimDeck is designed for exactly this use case but is still catching up on community size and scanner features.
The honest truth is that no single tool does everything perfectly. Most serious MTG players end up using a combination. If you have a preferred deck builder, adding a collection tracker on the side is less painful than switching your whole workflow. But if you're starting fresh and want to avoid juggling multiple apps, look for the tools where both features feel intentional rather than tacked on.
Frequently Asked Questions
GrimDeck is built from the ground up to be both a collection tracker and a deck builder in one tool. The free tier covers deck building with mana base math, collection tracking for up to 10,000 cards, set completion, and a browser-based card scanner. You can build decks from cards you actually own without switching between apps. Other options include Archidekt and Moxfield.
Yes. GrimDeck supports CSV import, so you can bring your collection over from any tool that exports to CSV. Most major platforms including Moxfield, Archidekt, and Deckbox support CSV export. Check the specific format each tool requires since they aren't all identical.
No. GrimDeck's free tier tracks up to 10,000 cards with price data, set completion, and card scanning included. Some other tools like EchoMTG limit free accounts to just 360 cards, which fills up fast. GrimDeck's premium tier unlocks unlimited cards.
GrimDeck's card scanner runs directly in your browser — no app download required. Point your camera at a card and it identifies the name, set, and printing. Scanned cards go straight into your collection. For dedicated mobile scanning, Manabox and Dragon Shield are also solid options.
A collection tracker catalogs the cards you own and tracks their value over time. A deck builder helps you create and test deck lists for formats like Commander, Modern, or Standard. GrimDeck combines both so your deck builder knows what you already own and can tell you which cards you still need to buy.
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