Best FFL Software of 2023

FFL Compliance is an incredibly important task – unfortunately, with all the requirements to fill out and maintain the necessary forms, it can also be cumbersome. Because of this, many FFL owners, and store owners are shifting away from physical bound books, paper 4473 forms, and looking to choose a FFL software to handle their compliance. So, this leaves the question of what is the best FFL software to use?

When looking at all the different FFL apps out there, it can be difficult to answer. What features do you truly need? How do they compare side-by-side? Well, that’s exactly what we hope to cover in today’s article.

In this side-by-side comparison of the best FFL software options on the market, we’ll not only help you to choose which one you need based on your purpose, but also help you to find the most effective and cheapest as well.

If you’re just looking for a bound book, and not all of the other features of software, make sure you see our Best FFL Bound Book article.

Because, as you will see, not all software is created equal – and some of the options out there can cause you liability problems due to their antiquated programming and failure to update the ever changing requirements for FFL owners.

Best Compliance FFL Software Compared

When it comes to compliance software, there are really two important parts to it: an electronic bound book, and 4473 file management.  It is okay for it to only have an electronic bound book, however, knowing that it also handles 4473 and how it stores that information is another level.

So, with that, let’s look at the top options and see how they compare.

FastBound Review (#1 Recommended)

FastBound is considered by many as the gold standard for Compliance software, and after checking  it out, I tend to agree. Their software’s look and operation is better than the other competitors on this list, and they hold all the necessary features required for a good FFL software.  

Also, partnered/backed by FFL Guard, a firearms compliance law firm, they have a solid team of people to support and ensure they stay compliant with the ever changing ATF mood..I mean decision. 

Furthermore, for those interested in getting a POS software as well, they integrate with the likes of Trident1 and GearFire.  This way, if you are just getting started with your FFL, then learning and using Fast Bound will allow you to expand later without having to transfer all your files over to another software, and relearn something.  

Now, one thing I want to make clear for everyone though is that on their website, they say “100% covered by a legal defense against ATF.”  This doesn’t mean that if you break the rules or have a problem, that you get free legal coverage (this isn’t like CCW insurance).  Instead it just means that they have their legal team verifying their software stays compliant, and that if their software has a problem and causes you problems, they will cover that. 

Capabilities of FFL Boss (Included in all packages): 

• Electronic Bound book
• 4473 Forms
• 4473 form filling Kiosk Capability
• FFL Search and Lookup
• Sales Reporting
• Barcode Scanning
• Digital Signature
• In network transfer System

Fast Bound Pricing: 

When it comes to pricing, they are pretty competitive.  With their pricing system, you get all the features and capabilities, but are limited by the number of transactions you make.  I prefer this pricing system because for those who have home based FFLs or only do minimal transactions, you can keep your operational costs low, while having access to everything you’d need. 

Fast Bound Pros and Cons

Final Recommendation on FastBounds: 

This is the editors choice because it has all the necessary capabilities and has one of the lowest prices. Read more about Fastbound’s software.

FFL Boss Review – 2nd with Problems

FFLBoss gets second place because I found it to not be as intuitive as FastBound, nor as aesthetic. Furthermore, depending on what level you are or what you need, it can be more expensive than FastBound without offering any reason for doing so.  

However, when you compare these two and their feature sets, they are pretty identical.  They might call certain features different names or have a different way of doing something, but they pretty much have the same capability.  

There is one more thing that needs to be brought up: While doing research on the background of the company, it seems as though they’ve had a bit of an internal problem in leadership.  You can see it all unfold in their Facebook post, and check out the comments, but the short and simple is that it seems as though one of the people who ran or was the forward facing person to the users left without a word and the specifics seem to have left a sour taste in the mouth of their customers. 

Capabilities of FFL Boss (Included in all packages): 

• Electronic Bound book
• 4473 Forms
• 4473 form filling Kiosk Capability
• FFL Search and Lookup
• Sales Reporting
• Barcode Scanning
• Digital Signature
• In network transfer System

Pricing for FFL Boss: 

This is the hard part about comparing pricing between these FFL softwares. While both FFL Boss and Fastbound do the basically the same thing, their pricing is sort of this, sort of that. There are times where one is ‘cheaper’ than the other and vice-versa. Let me try to explain.

First, Fastbound makes everything available even at the lowest level. Whereas with FFL Boss, you get limited on background checks and have to pay $25 per month for NFA modules. So, keep this in mind.

Furthermore, if you are a Home-based FFL, Fastbound’s lowest level should suffice, which is $9 per month, whereas FFL boss’s lowest is more than double that.

However, after you go beyond the lowest level of transactions, USUALLY FFL Boss is cheaper.

What I mean by usually is assuming you don’t do any NFA modules, then you can do more transactions for cheaper than using Fastbound. But if you do do NFA modules, then there are crisscrossing points where one is cheaper than the other (due to the added $25 per month for NFA).

FFL Boss Pros and Cons

Final Recommendation for FFL Boss: 

If you are new or a home-based FFL, then FastBound is better. I also think that FFL Boss’s User Experience and looks are less than that of FastBounds. However, there are some cases where it still might be a better option – such as you are doing over 5000 transactions a year or if you are doing over 10000 a year.

Read our full FFL Boss review.

Gun Store Master Review

I had a lot of hope for Gun Store Master.  However, I definitely don’t recommend this software. Not because it isn’t capable, but because of the pricing and integration. 

Let’s start by talking about their look and feel/operation.  Generally they do this well, and it is a simple program with the necessary capabilities.  It might look a bit outdated and rough around the edges.  However, it logically moves from screen to screen with just about all the necessary features and capabilities.    

However, this is where it falls off the rails.  First, it’s pricing is not the best.  For $1 more a month than Fast Bound, you get their basic package which does NOT include the necessary features you need – it’s really just an expensive bound book.  Instead, you need to pay $50/month in order to get all the FFL software features that FastBound offers you at their lowest price.  

But you may be saying, “Hey, but under that, you get unlimited which is cheaper than Fast Bound, right?” And while this is true, in order to make this a cheaper option than FastBound, you’d need to acquire over 2,500 guns in a month.  Now for some of you larger shops out there, that might be a major score.  However, hold up – there’s a bit more to this problem. 

If you are acquiring over 2,500 guns a year, you probably need a legitimate POS software.  Currently, Gun Store Master only integrates with Quickbooks and Celerant – both of which are not the best of modern options for POS software solutions. 

So, in the end, it might look appealing for larger stores, but you’ll have to limit your POS system, which with over 2,500 guns to process, that would not be the best situation.  

Pricing for Gun Store Master: 

Like I said above, I’m not a fan of this pricing.  You’re basically paying $10/month for an electronic bound book and have to pay $50/month for all the features.  So, not a good option for small FFL dealers nor large ones either.

Gun Store Master Pros and Cons

Final Recommendation for Gun Store Master: 

I do not recommend this FFL software. It is too expensive for an electronic bound book, and only would be a better option if you sold over 2,500 weapons a year.  But even then, that wouldn’t be great because you’d be limited in what POS system you could use – and the options aren’t great. 

EZ Arms Keeper Review

EZ Arms Keeper FFL software gets one of my lower grades on this list.  This is influenced mainly by the way it feels and looks and is limited to only certain types of computers.

Let’s start with the limitation on computers. Right now, it is only supported on “Microsoft 8.1, 10, and 11 systems. It claims that it runs on MacOS, however, you need to purchase something like VMWare or Parallels and partition your hard drive in order to use it. These are both expensive, and can really slow down your computer.

With regards to pricing and their packages, I’ll cover that a bit more below.

However, there is one more feature point I’d like to make on this one. Their professional package doesn’t seem like it is worth anything. Basically, all it includes is 4473 Cloud integration – which 4473 Cloud is a backup file system for 4473 forms. I believe that the ‘ability’ to integrate with 4473 Cloud should be in all levels. Second, the extra benefits, including the unlimited SQL is useless for most, unless you have a SQL professional on your team – which I wouldn’t recommend running out to get one.

EZ Arms Keeper Pricing:

Now, let’s look at the pricing. While on the surface, it’s sort of hit or miss. It is important to note that the FFL Basic Plan is basically a decent electronic bound book with labeling capability. At $19 per month (if you pay monthly instead of annual) this seems a bit much for that, and cheaper options are available.

However, the FFL Standard package might be a place to save money. It is your basic electronic A&D bound book plus the required components for electronic form 4473s. However, where this might beat out others in pricing is because it is ‘unlimited’ transactions at this price range. Just paying $29 monthly (not annual) you could save. Something like FastBound increases as your transactions increase.

So, if you’re new or a home-based FFL, or don’t have many transactions per month, then this probably isn’t the most cost effective option. However, if you have loads of transactions, then you could save money by using EZ Arms Keeper.

EZ Arms Keeper Pros and Cons

Final Recommendation for EZ Arms Keeper: 

While the interface is outdated, and it only naturally works on windows, the pricing on this could be reasonable for you if you have lots of transactions (over 500 a year).

Easy Bound Book Review

I’ll be short and simple on this one.  Easy Bound Book is down here on the list because it is incredibly confusing to figure out which product and plan you need and doesn’t feel like they serve the market as a whole like the ones above.  I tried working with it and just gave up on it – and I’m a pretty tech-savvy person. 

Recommendation on Easy Bound Book:  If you are looking for FFL-compliant software, the one listed above would suit you better than this.  I do not recommend trying them when the options above fit all needs and will do a great job – and with less headache.  

Compliance vs POS Software

As you can see, the compliance software was designed to help keep you compliant and is something that every FFL owner should have.  However, there is another type of software that gun shops might need to add for their operations: POS software.  

For most of you reading this, you may only need compliance software, and that’s it.  So, to help you understand these two types, here is a quick breakdown on what they are, and who needs what.

Compliance FFL Software: 

If you’re an FFL, regardless of the type of business you’re running, from a home-based FFL, to internet gun sales, manufacturing, or gunsmithing, you NEED a compliance solution. This solution can be pen and paper but the right compliance software makes things MUCH easier (and it keeps you out of trouble with the ATF).

Compliance requirements that can be streamlined with compliance software include your acquisition and disposition (A&D) book, electronic 4473s, multiple sales forms, manufacturing records, and more.

Who needs Compliance Software?  Every FFL owner, whether homebased or large store needs compliance software.  

POS Software: 

Point of Sale (POS) software is effectively a “cash register” software and does NOT have anything to do with compliance. If you need a method to add products to your inventory (including non-firearm products), accept credit cards, print receipts, and more, then POS software is what you’re looking for.

However, only a select few POS systems have their own compliance software inside of them. Therefore, if you choose a POS system that doesn’t have compliance (which most don’t), then you’ll need to also sign up for a compliance software as well.  

Who needs POS Software?   POS Software is really for major chains or large gun stores.  This is where inventory is large, transactions are multiple, and management of that inventory tedious and so a software solution is necessary.  If you are a home-based FFL owner, or someone who only makes a couple of transactions a month, then you do not need a POS system, and instead just need compliance software.  

So, as you can see, you might fall into the area of just needing compliance software.  Or, if you’re large enough, then you’ll need both Compliance and POS.  

Because multiple companies are just Compliance and others are POS (or both), I’ve decided that the best way to analyze the best FFL software is to break this review into two sections. In the first, I will only analyze the FFL Compliance software companies, thus giving them a side-by-side comparison.  Then in the second half, I will compare the POS systems side-by-side. 

By doing this,  you can choose which set you need, and choose the best from there.

If you need a POS software for your large gun shop or weapons operations, you should check out our breakdown on the best POS software for gun shops.  Thus, with the combination of your FFL software, and POS software, you should be able to effectively and efficiently manage your weapons transfers and sales.  

What about the Best Free Bound Book or FFL Software? 

Sadly, at the time of this writing, there are no free bound books or FFL software out there.  Instead most of the companies below require you to pay for the electronic bound book, and then upgrade for more robust FFL software features.  Some, as you will see, say that they have a free trial, but the fine print shows that it is just a dummy account, and so you can’t use it.  

What about the Best POS Gun Sales Software?

As I discussed above, the listed software on this page is for FFL compliance software.  If, however, you are a medium to large store, and you need point of sale software to help you with inventory, digital sales and more, then you need to either couple a Gun Shop POS with an FFL compliance software, or choose a POS software that includes compliance as well (which there aren’t many who do that).  

So, learn more about the POS options, which ones pair with which FFL software, or have their own, then be sure to check out my article on the best gun shop POS systems.