CollX Vs. Ludex in a Showdown of Sports Card Scanning Apps

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October 2024 Update: Both apps have made improvements since the initial test was performed. Either way, neither app is perfect. I will say, though, I’ve become a big CollX user, and love a lot about the app. Are you wondering about something in particular? Please let me know! To summarize what I like about CollX:

• Smooth and easy-to-navigate interface
• Constant app updates and improvements
• Ability to easily organize your collection
• Find great deals on the marketplace
• Get $10 in spending credits as a Pro Member
• Many chances to earn spending credits like scan back programs and more

I could go on, and it’s probably deserving of an entire new blog post, but hopefully that helps for now.

Both CollX and Ludex are great sports card scanner options for anyone trying to value and organize their collection. While – during my review – Ludex did significantly better at scanning and recognizing 90s insert cards, I do like the smoothness of the CollX experience and the different ways to visualize your collection. I was impressed that both picked up numbered parallel variations, and could even identify refractors.

Here are the 40 cards I scanned with each app: 10 vintage, 10 junk wax era rookies, 10 90s inserts, and 10 modern cards. I attempted to mix in numbered parallels and different variations to trust both apps.

• “CORRECT” means the app identified the card perfectly
• “INCORRECT” means the app misidentified the card
• “UNKNOWN” means the app wasn’t able to identify the card at all

In most cases, the “INCORRECT” card was identified as a very close parallel or “reprint.” For example, Ludex incorrectly identified the 1984 Donruss Tony Gwynn as a 1994 Donruss Anniversary “1984”—which looks exactly the same.

In other cases, the card was incorrectly identified simply because it didn’t recognize the type of parallel. For example, while Ludex mostly identified the 1996 Stadium Club Hideo Nomo Power Streak correctly, it didn’t identify that it was the “Members Only” parallel.

@ballcardgenius

Testing out the CollX app with some junk wax rookies…good stuff! #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen

♬ original sound – ballcardgenius

Of course, we always want the right card in our collection and the value between two cards can differ srasticaly. The good thing is, even when a card is identified incorrectly, you have the option to select the right card (and value) before adding to your collection.

It’s really only when either app couldn’t identify the card at all that you had to do some searching to either find or manually add.

CARD	COLLX	LUDEX
Tony Gwynn 1984 Donruss	CORRECT	INCORRECT
Dusty Baker 1975 Topps	CORRECT	CORRECT
George Brett 1984 Donruss	INCORRECT	CORRECT
Ozzie Smith 1981 Donruss	CORRECT	CORRECT
Lou Pinella 1974 Topps	INCORRECT	CORRECT
Brooks Robinson 1973 Topps	CORRECT	CORRECT
Tim Raines 1981 Topps	CORRECT	CORRECT
Rollie Fingers 1971 Topps	CORRECT	CORRECT
Johnny Bench 1969 Topps	UNKNOWN	INCORRECT
Johnny Bench 1968 Topps	CORRECT	CORRECT
Barry Bonds 1987 Donruss	CORRECT	CORRECT
Manny Ramirez 1992 Topps Gold Winner	CORRECT	INCORRECT
Larry Walker 1990 Leaf	INCORRECT	INCORRECT
Randy Johnson 1989 Topps	CORRECT	CORRECT
Juan Gonzalez 1990 Donruss Rev Neg	INCORRECT	INCORRECT
Jose Canseco 1986 Donruss The Rookies	CORRECT	CORRECT
Frank Thomas 1991 Topps Toys R’ Us	CORRECT	CORRECT
Chipper Jones 1990 Classic Yellow	CORRECT	CORRECT
Chipper Jones 1991 Classic Best	CORRECT	CORRECT
Juan Gonzalez 1990 CMC	UNKNOWN	CORRECT
Rickey Henderson 2017 Topps Update	CORRECT	CORRECT
Ronald Acuna 2020 Topps Chrome Refractor	CORRECT	INCORRECT
Josh Jung 2019 Donruss American Pride Bronze	INCORRECT	CORRECT
Bryce Harper 2015 Prizm RWB	CORRECT	INCORRECT
Rickey Henderson 2020 Allen Ginter Green Chrome /99	CORRECT	CORRECT
Ken Griffey Jr. 2022 Topps Archives	INCORRECT	CORRECT
Ramon Laureano 2021 Topps Gypsy Queen BW /50	INCORRECT	CORRECT
Mike Trout 2021 Topps National Baseball Card Day	CORRECT	CORRECT
Bryce Harper 2013 Topps Update US180 Red	CORRECT	CORRECT
Matt Olson 2016 Stars & Stripes Crusade	UNKNOWN	UNKNOWN
Barry Bonds 1999 Topps Lords of the Diamonds	UNKNOWN	CORRECT
Ivan Rodriguez 2000 Topps Hands of Gold	UNKNOWN	CORRECT
Ken Caminiti 1997 Topps Hobby Masters	UNKNOWN	CORRECT
Derek Jeter 2021 Topps Golden Anniversary	UNKNOWN	INCORRECT
Will Clark 1994 Flair Hot Gloves	UNKNOWN	CORRECT
Tim Salmon 1997 Select Tools of the Trade	UNKNOWN	CORRECT
Barry Bonds 1995 Donruss Long Ball Leaders	CORRECT	CORRECT
Frank Thomas 2001 Bowman’s Best Impact Players	UNKNOWN	CORRECT
Hideo Nomo 1996 Stadium Club Power Streak Members Only	UNKNOWN	INCORRECT
Barry Bonds 1997 Ultra Power Plus	CORRECT	CORRECT

In the end, are either of these apps perfect? Of course not, nothing is. Especially during a time where each card has seemingly one hundred different parallels, mixed in with reissues and design similarities, it’s amazing these apps are as good as they are.