BarTender Label Software for Barcode, RFID, and Compliance Labels
BarTender is one of the most widely used label design and printing platforms in the world, and General Data can help you choose, deploy, and support it. It gives your team a single place to design labels, connect them to your business data, control who can change and print them, and send them to printers at one site or hundreds.
Whether you’re replacing a patchwork of hand-built label files or standardizing labeling across plants and warehouses, BarTender scales from a single desktop printer to an enterprise-wide, multi-site operation, so you don’t have to re-platform as you grow.
- Easy, No-Code Label Design: Build barcode, RFID, and text labels with a visual designer and ready-made templates, with no programming required.
- Data-Driven Printing: Connect labels to your databases, spreadsheets, ERP, and WMS so the right data prints on the right label automatically.
- Centralized Control: Manage templates, approvals, user permissions, and print activity from one place.
- Print from Anywhere: Print from desktop, browser, or connected systems to printers across your facilities.
What You Can Do with BarTender Label Design Software
Create
Design barcode and RFID labels and tags with desktop or browser-based tools. Dynamic templates change their content based on your data, so you can manage a handful of templates instead of hundreds of near-identical files.
Manage
Keep labeling consistent and compliant with controlled templates, approval workflows, and role-based access. Prevent outdated or unauthorized label versions from reaching the floor.
Send jobs to a single printer or a global fleet, from a workstation, a browser, or an automated system trigger, with the reliability to keep production moving.
On-Premises Edition
Choose On-Premises if you want BarTender running on your own servers and workstations, with full control over your printing environment. It’s also the only option for a single-workstation license, and on-premises Enterprise adds security features such as electronic signatures and document encryption.
Cloud Edition
Choose Cloud if you’d rather not install or maintain servers. You design labels in a browser from anywhere, the platform is hosted with 99.99%+ availability, and Automation and Enterprise plans can print directly to the cloud without printer drivers.
| Starter | Professional | Automation | Enterprise | |
| Best for | Quick, simple label design and printing | Data-driven labels for small businesses and departments | Automated labeling connected to business systems | Teams that need accountability, security, and audit trails |
| Label design | Core design tools, 400+ templates, 100+ barcode types | Starter features plus Intelligent Templates, template layers, and scripting | Same as Professional | Same as Professional |
| Data connections | Excel and CSV files | 20+ pre-configured data sources, database builder, SQL write-back, VB scripting | Same as Professional | Same as Professional, plus advanced global database fields and a multilingual phrase library |
| Printing | 12,000+ printer drivers, batch printing, print preview | Starter features plus RFID encoding, remote web-based printing, and driverless remote printing | Professional features plus printer code templates and 7-day label reprinting | Automation features plus full reprinting and printer failover |
| Data entry and print forms | None | Data entry forms with scanner, scale, and image capture input | Professional features plus web-based print forms and a no-code form builder (subscription licenses) | Same as Automation |
| Integrations and automation | None | None | Any business system via REST API, File Drop, email, TCP/IP, and database monitoring; 70+ actions; .NET SDK | Automation features plus Print Portal REST API |
| Centralized management | None | None | None | Centralized document storage, revision control, Workflow Designer, audit trail, on-premises and cloud sync |
| Security and monitoring | Status monitoring, email alerts | Starter features plus role-based security and password protection | Same as Professional | Professional features plus electronic signatures, document encryption, unlimited logging, and a backup licensing server |
| Licensing | Workstation license, single user | Workstation (single user) or printer-based (unlimited users) | Printer-based, unlimited users | Printer-based, unlimited users |
| Support | Standard, 1 year included | Standard, 1 year included; Premium add-on available | Standard, 1 year included; Premium add-on available | Standard, 1 year included; Premium add-on available |
| Essentials | Automation | Enterprise | |
| Best for | Printing without extra IT resources | Streamlined printing and teams without complexity | Control of global operations |
| Label design | Browser-based Cloud Designer, 400+ templates, Intelligent Templates, remote collaboration | Same as Essentials | Same as Essentials |
| Data connections | Cloud databases and local files, Excel, CSV, and text file upload, embedded database tables | Same as Essentials | Same as Essentials |
| Printing | 12,000+ printer drivers, RFID encoding, remote web-based and driverless printing | Essentials features plus direct cloud printing (no printer driver needed); ERP print connectors available as an add-on | Automation features, with pre-built ERP print connectors included |
| Data entry and print forms | Data entry forms and database record selection | Essentials features plus web-based print forms and a no-code form builder | Same as Automation |
| Integrations and automation | None | Business system integration via REST APIs and File Drop | Same as Automation |
| Centralized management | Role-based permissions, centralized document storage, revision control | Essentials features plus Workflow Designer and Cloud Spaces for users and teams | Same as Automation |
| Security and monitoring | Zero footprint, 99.99%+ availability, 2GB account storage | Zero footprint, 99.99%+ availability, 5GB account storage | Zero footprint, 99.99%+ availability, 5GB account storage |
| Licensing | Printer-based subscription, unlimited users | Printer-based subscription, unlimited users | Printer-based subscription, unlimited users |
| Support | Essential level included | Standard, 1 year included; Premium add-on available | Standard, 1 year included; Premium add-on available |
Not sure which fits? A General Data specialist can help you review your printers, systems, and IT environment and recommend the right plan.
BarTender Label Design Software Benefits
BarTender 12 introduces Hybrid Labeling, which brings on-premises and cloud labeling together so you can run labeling the way your operation actually works instead of bending to a single software model. It also connects labeling to item-level tracking, so what you print and where it ends up are part of the same workflow.
- Hybrid Labeling: Run on-premises and cloud labeling side by side. Hybrid Librarian synchronization keeps label content accurate and consistent across distributed sites, so a template updated in one environment is the same one used in the other.
- Integrated Item-Level Tracking: New integrations between BarTender Labeling and BarTender Track & Trace let you follow products and assets within and across facilities as soon as a label is printed. Track & Trace helps your team count items accurately for receiving and audits, find “missing” items fast from a mobile device, dashboard, or map, and report on inventory levels and utilization.
- Intelligent Forms: Operators enter their data once in a browser and print the right label, with no template file to open. Build forms with drag-and-drop, no coding or scripting needed.
- Direct Cloud Printing: Connect Zebra and TSC printers in seconds by weblink or auto-discovery, with no drivers or extra software to install. Support for more printer brands is planned.
- File Drop Cloud Integration: Automate printing by dropping a JSON, CSV, or XML data file into a folder. No API work and no IT project required.
- Expanded Single Sign-On: Use the new Microsoft Entra ID integration, existing PingID support, or any OIDC-compliant identity provider.
Complete Your Labeling System With The Right Hardware
BarTender is just one piece of a labeling system. General Data is an authorized reseller of leading printer and hardware brands, a label manufacturer, and an integrator with deep experience connecting labeling to ERP, WMS, and manufacturing systems, so you get the entire solution from one source:
- The right BarTender edition matched to your printers, users, and workflow
- Authorized reseller for top printer and hardware brands
- Labels, ribbons, and supplies from a company that manufactures labels, matched to your printers and applications
- Integration specialists who can connect BarTender to your ERP, WMS, MES, and other production systems
- Training, certified service, and ongoing support
From the first label template to the last roll of labels, you work with one accountable partner instead of coordinating separate vendors for software, hardware, supplies, and service.
