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Intake vs The Edge
The Edge is Windows software installed at the shop. Past one computer it needs a server, a SQL Server, and a local network, and keeping all of it patched, protected, and backed up is your job. Intake is hosted and opens in a browser, so there is nothing in the back room to look after.
What The Edge asks of you
Buy a licence, set up Windows machines, and add a local network, a SQL Server, and a 16GB server once there is more than one workstation. Then run the hardware, Windows updates, antivirus, and daily backups yourself, and renew at 20% of list every year to keep using it.
Side by side
Where the two differ
Everything in their column comes from The Edge's own public pages.
Where it runs
Intake
Hosted. It opens in a browser on a Mac, a PC, an iPad, or a phone, or inside Shopify next to your products.
The Edge
Installed on Windows computers at the shop. It is not cloud-based.
More than one counter
Intake
Open it on another device. Staff unlock it with their own PIN.
The Edge
A licence per workstation, a local network, a SQL Server, and a server with 16GB of RAM.
Who looks after the computers
Intake
Nobody at the shop. There is no server, database, or backup to run.
The Edge
You do: the hardware, Windows updates, antivirus, and daily backups. Their support does not help with any of it.
Getting started
Intake
Open a Shopify store, then add Intake to it in a click.
The Edge
Buy it, set up the machines, install it, and train on it.
What it costs
Intake
From $250 a month for one buyer at one location to $1,500 a month for unlimited staff across 4 locations, with every feature on every plan and 30 days free. No setup fee and no licence per computer. Shopify's own plan is separate, from $39 a month.
The Edge
From a 2017 quote: $4,600 for one workstation, $5,700 for three, and $12,450 for two stores with six. Hardware and training are extra.
Every year after
Intake
The same monthly price. Updates and support are included.
The Edge
20% of the list price, every year.
If you stop paying
Intake
Your products, customers, and orders stay in Shopify.
The Edge
Under their current terms, you can only keep using the software while the yearly contract is active.
Working away from the shop
Intake
Sign in from anywhere.
The Edge
Only on the Windows computers it is installed on.
Where a bought piece goes
Intake
Into one inventory, ready to sell at the counter the same day, with what you paid and its photos.
The Edge
Into their own inventory, apart from where you sell online.
Learning it
Intake
One screen: price the piece, take the ID, pay.
The Edge
Beginner, advanced, and on-site classes.
Prices and features checked against The Edge's and Shopify's published pages, September 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Why Intake
No server room, no IT job, no licence to lapse
The Edge makes the shop its own IT department. Intake is hosted, so the only thing at the counter is a browser.
The licence buys the right to keep paying
The Edge is sold as a licence, then renewed every year at 20% of the list price. Under its current terms the software only keeps working while that yearly contract is active, so the up-front licence is not something you own. Intake is a monthly price with nothing paid up front, and your products, customers, and orders stay in Shopify either way.
A second counter means a server
Past one workstation, The Edge needs a local network, a SQL Server, and a server with 16GB of RAM, plus a licence for each computer. With Intake, a second counter is another device opening the same page, and staff unlock it with their own PIN.
Their support stops at the software
The hardware, Windows updates, antivirus, and daily backups are the shop's job, and The Edge's support will not help with any of them. If the server dies overnight, getting the counter back is on you. Intake has no server, database, or backup at the shop to fail.
The quote is the start of the bill
A 2017 quote put The Edge at $4,600 for one workstation, $5,700 for three, and $12,450 for two stores with six. Hardware and training were extra, and the server, the network, and whoever keeps them running come on top. Intake has no setup fee and runs on the computers, tablets, and phones you already have.
The counter moves. A workstation does not
The Edge only runs on the Windows computers it is installed on. Intake opens in a browser, so a buy can start on the iPad at the case and finish on the Mac in the office, and the owner can read the day from home without a remote desktop.
Selling happens where people already shop
A finished buy becomes a product with what you paid, a SKU, and its photos, in the same inventory the register and the website read from. You can sell it at the counter the same day, and it goes online when its hold is up. There is no second inventory to keep in step.
One flow instead of a curriculum
The Edge sells introductory, advanced, and on-site classes, and counts total hours trained as a headline number. Twenty years of features is also twenty years of interface. Intake has one path through a buy, and a new buyer can learn it in a shift.
Compliance is part of the buy, not a separate chore
Every ID is checked against Do Not Buy as it is captured, completed buys file to LeadsOnline with item photos, and each piece carries the date it can be listed. The record is built while the buy happens.
FAQ
Questions worth asking
Keep comparing
Other systems
Anyone at your counter buys the way you would
Shopify runs the selling. Intake runs the buying. Together they are the whole shop: your rates, your counter, your record.
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