Most industries rely on barcodes in one form or another, and most barcode generator software is sold through direct marketing resellers. Professional barcode software is for companies that produce dozens, or hundreds, of barcodes daily. Barcodes help businesses track products, inventory, packages, production, documents, transactions, shipping and more.
Advanced labeling through barcode generator software lets you design and print simple barcode labels and complex labels with intricate designs. You can place product and marketing information on barcode labels. You can create QR codes to relay information to anyone who scans the code with a smartphone. You can also generate RFIDs, or radio frequency identification, which track products through a radio transponder. RFIDs cost much more than barcodes, however.
Barcode label software is a great value if you need to design compliance labels and satisfy industry-standard barcode requirements. You can generate barcodes that integrate seamlessly with your office systems, support native printer languages and provide database support. The best three products on our lineup are BarTender Professional, NiceLabel Designer Pro and Label Flow. You can find more information about barcodes in our articles on professional barcode software.
Professional Barcode Software: What to Look For
When you search for barcode generator software, it's important to know the type of barcodes you need, the compliance requirements you must follow and the printers you plan to use. You should look at design tools and customer support. We used the following criteria to evaluate professional barcode software to help you find the best product for your needs.
Barcodes
Barcodes and barcode labels come in all shapes and sizes. We evaluated barcode label software that produces linear and 2D barcodes, as well as GS1 DataBars and QR Codes. A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag is not the same as a barcode, but like a barcode, it tracks and relays data. The majority of professional barcode software we reviewed can create RFIDs.
Compliance & Other Tools
Professional barcode software should provide barcodes that are compatible with the needs of your company. A large library of compliance-label templates and symbols is a great feature in barcode label software. The best barcode software offers serialization, predefined stock labels, label locking and password protection.
Connectivity & Communication
This criterion relates to printing barcodes the way in which data can be imported or linked into the application. The best barcode generator applications can print with any printer, support Unicode, work with popular databases and can print double-sided labels. It's important that the advanced labeling software you choose integrate with your company's systems.
Design Tools
The design category evaluates the tools that are specific to designing barcodes. These include features such as rich text support, the ability to add rectangles, squares, ellipses and circles to your barcode labels, as well as tools for positioning objects and images on labels. The best barcode generator software should let you change the color of lines and backgrounds and group varied components into one object.
Help & Support
Professional barcode software can be complex. Customer support should be easily accessible and include product training. The best professional barcode software companies offer free support through a variety of methods such as email, telephone and live chat. Some go beyond basic support and offer paid services like onsite training, priority care and web training.
The best barcode labeling systems offer all standard barcode formats and compliance features as well as QR Codes and RFID. They integrate with most printers and provide tools and an interface to design custom barcodes that fully utilize white space for marketing and product information. Support options should be plentiful and free. By scrutinizing our matrix and individual product reviews, you should be able to find the best professional barcode software for your business.