Why pick BarnHub over Stable Secretary
Stable Secretary is a respected SaaS in the barn-management space, with tiers (Essentials, Performance, Professional, Go!) that bundle scheduling, billing, multi-user access, and a client portal. The trade-off is the same one every cloud SaaS asks: a monthly bill, a cloud account for everyone in your barn, and your boarder roster sitting on someone else's servers. BarnHub is the opposite trade — a native Apple app that your barn owns outright, with data in your own iCloud.
- One-time download, no subscription. BarnHub is free on the App Store with an optional one-time Pro upgrade. No monthly bill, no annual renewal, no ramp from a "starter" tier into a "pro" tier as your barn grows.
- Your data, your iCloud. Records sync via Apple CloudKit between your own devices. Nothing lives on a third-party server, so there's no vendor outage that can lock you out of your barn's records.
- No accounts for anyone. Boarders don't need a login. You don't need a login. Apple ID is the identity. There's no "your boarder forgot their password" support burden.
- Native on every Apple device. SwiftUI on iPhone, iPad, and Mac — same UI density everywhere — versus a web-first product whose mobile and desktop experiences are inevitably different.
- Zero tracking, zero analytics. Apple's Data Not Collected label. BarnHub doesn't know what your boarders are named, doesn't run a recommendation engine, doesn't sell aggregated insights to feed manufacturers.
- Works fully offline. The barn aisle has bad WiFi. BarnHub keeps working; cloud SaaS apps need a connection to load.
What Stable Secretary actually gives you
To be fair: there are real reasons to pick a SaaS like Stable Secretary, and they're worth naming. If any of these are core to how your barn operates, BarnHub may not be the right fit yet:
- Boarder-facing client portal. Owners log in to see their horse, their balance, their next farrier visit. BarnHub does not have a logged-in client surface today.
- Built-in Stripe payouts. Stable Secretary's Professional tier collects card payments inside the app. BarnHub records payments but doesn't process them.
- Cross-platform team. Trainers and barn staff on Android phones can use Stable Secretary. BarnHub is iOS-only.
- Multi-user staff with permissions. Stable Secretary lets you scope which staff member sees what. BarnHub today is one user / one Apple ID.
How BarnHub compares to Stable Secretary
| Feature | BarnHub | Stable Secretary |
|---|---|---|
| Native iPhone, iPad & Mac apps | ✓ all three, SwiftUI | iOS, Android, web/desktop |
| Works without an account | ✓ Apple ID / iCloud only | Account required for owner & staff |
| Works offline (barn aisle WiFi dead) | ✓ local-first | Cloud-hosted; needs connection |
| Horse profiles + medical / feeding records | ✓ | ✓ |
| Client / boarder records + emergency contacts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vet / farrier scheduling + reminders | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supply / feed inventory with low-stock alerts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Income / expense ledger + categorized reports | ✓ with bar charts | ✓ Pro tier |
| PDF invoices & boarding contracts | ✓ generated locally | ✓ |
| Boarder-facing client portal (web login) | — | ✓ |
| Stripe / card payment processing | — records payments only | ✓ Professional tier |
| Multi-user / staff permissions | Planned via CloudKit sharing | ✓ |
| Breeding / foaling records | — | ✓ |
| Data lives on your devices, not a vendor server | ✓ your iCloud | — SaaS-hosted |
| Zero tracking / analytics | ✓ Data Not Collected | Standard SaaS telemetry |
| Pricing | Free, optional one-time Pro IAP | Tiered monthly subscription |
Pricing
BarnHub
Free download with an optional one-time Pro upgrade for multi-client features. No subscription, no ads, no third-party servers. Sync runs through your iCloud.
Stable Secretary
Multiple plans (Essentials, Performance, Professional, Go!) billed monthly or annually. Stripe payments and full feature set are gated to higher tiers. See stablesecretary.com for current pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Why use BarnHub instead of Stable Secretary?
Stable Secretary is a paid SaaS with monthly tiers and your barn's data hosted on their servers. BarnHub is a one-time-buy native app where your data lives in your own iCloud. If you don't need a customer-facing booking portal or built-in Stripe payouts, BarnHub does the day-to-day barn operations work without an ongoing subscription or a cloud account for your boarders.
Does BarnHub have a client portal like Stable Secretary?
Not today. BarnHub generates client-facing PDFs (invoices, boarding contracts) you can email, but it does not have a logged-in boarder portal. If your operation depends on boarders self-serving online, Stable Secretary or another SaaS will fit better.
Can BarnHub take payments through Stripe?
BarnHub is a ledger — it tracks income, expenses, and per-client payment history, but it does not process card payments. Most barns we hear from already have an existing Stripe, Square, Venmo, or check-based workflow with their boarders, and use BarnHub to record what was paid.
Will I lose data if I cancel a subscription?
BarnHub has no subscription to cancel. Your records live in your iCloud and on your devices. You can also export to CSV at any time. With a SaaS, your data lives on the vendor's servers and access ends when you stop paying.
Is there an Android version?
BarnHub is Apple-only (iPhone, iPad, Mac). Stable Secretary has Android, so if your team is mixed-platform, either run BarnHub on the iOS devices and export shared records, or pick a cross-platform tool.