Most Accurate LEGO Parts Scanner: 100-Part Test

Bulk lots are cheap for one reason: nobody knows what is in them. A 20-pound tub might hold $40 of common brick or a handful of printed pieces worth more than the whole lot. The seller does not know. The other bidders do not know. The person who can identify parts fastest wins the spread.

Identifying parts by hand is brutal. LEGO has produced tens of thousands of distinct molds, and telling a 1x2 plate from a 1x2 tile from across a table is easy, but nailing the exact part number of an obscure bracket from 2004 means scrolling BrickLink categories until your eyes give out.

Scanner apps promise to fix this. So we tested whether they actually do. Same 100 parts, four apps: brick'em, BrickScan, Brickit, and OMG Bricks. One photo per part, one attempt per app. Here are the results.

What is the most accurate LEGO parts scanner?

brick'em is the most accurate LEGO parts scanner in our July 2026 benchmark, identifying 99 of 100 parts correctly. BrickScan scored 87%, Brickit 79%, and OMG Bricks 64%. Every app scanned the same 100 parts, and a scan only counted as correct when the top result was the exact part.

Parts are a harder problem than minifigures, and the scores show it at the bottom of the table. A minifigure gives a camera a face, a torso print, and a color combination to work with. A part is often just gray plastic in a slightly unusual shape.

How we ran the test

The 100 parts came out of real bulk-lot inventory, picked to look like an actual sorting session:

• Common elements: standard bricks, plates, and slopes, the pieces every lot is 80% made of
• Near-twin molds: pieces that differ by a stud, a lip, or a millimeter, where exact part numbers matter
• Printed and specialty pieces: the parts that carry most of a lot's hidden value
• Technic and older molds: axles, connectors, and discontinued pieces that trip up thin databases

Same rules as our minifigure benchmark: identical part set for every app, one attempt each, and the top result had to be the exact part. Returning a lookalike mold counted as a miss, because on BrickLink a lookalike mold is a wrong listing.

The full results: LEGO parts scanner accuracy compared

Scanner	Correct IDs (of 100)	Accuracy
brick'em	99	99%
BrickScan	87	87%
Brickit	79	79%
OMG Bricks	64	64%

The same fairness note applies as in our minifigure test: every app in this list identifies a standard 2x4 brick without breaking a sweat. The separation happened on the parts that actually matter to a reseller, the printed pieces, the near-twin molds, and the older elements.

brick'em missed 1 of 100, an older specialty mold. BrickScan turned in a solid 87% but slipped on printed pieces. Brickit read common bricks well and lost points on exact part numbers for specialty elements. OMG Bricks struggled once parts left common-element territory.

Is brick'em better than Brickit for identifying parts?

For exact part identification, yes. On the same 100 parts, brick'em identified 99 correctly and Brickit identified 79. The two apps are built for different jobs: Brickit points a camera at a pile and suggests builds, while brick'em returns exact part IDs with live BrickLink pricing for cataloging and resale.

That difference matters more than the score. If you want to entertain kids with a pile of bricks on a rainy day, Brickit is genuinely fun. If you are listing inventory and a wrong part number means a wrong listing and a return request, the 20-point accuracy gap is the whole game.

Why are LEGO parts harder to identify than minifigures?

Parts are harder because LEGO has produced tens of thousands of molds that often differ by a single stud, lip, or millimeter of geometry. Many parts are unprinted single-color plastic, giving cameras less to work with than a minifigure's face and torso print. Exact mold identification matters because marketplaces list by part number.

Color adds a second layer of pain. Light bluish gray and old light gray look nearly identical on camera and command different prices from collectors restoring older sets. From what we have seen across the community, no scanner fully solves close-shade color matching yet. The mold is the scanner's job. For the closest shades, the final color call is still often a human one.

What does 99% accuracy mean for a bulk lot?

Run the math on a 1,000-part lot. At 99% accuracy, 10 parts need a manual lookup. At 87%, that is 130 parts. At 79%, it is 210. At 64%, you are manually identifying 360 parts, and each manual part ID is its own small nightmare of category scrolling.

Manual part identification runs a minute or two when you know roughly what you are looking at, and much longer when you do not. The gap between the top and bottom of our table is not a percentage. It is entire evenings of your life.

Parts are half the picture. We ran this same benchmark on minifigures first, where prices swing harder on variants. The full LEGO minifigure scanner accuracy test has those results.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate are LEGO part scanner apps?

In our July 2026 benchmark of 100 identical parts, accuracy ranged from 64% to 99% depending on the app. Common bricks and plates scan reliably everywhere. The spread comes from printed pieces, near-identical molds, and older elements, which are also the parts most likely to carry real resale value.

Is brick'em better than BrickScan for parts?

In our test, yes. brick'em identified 99 of 100 parts and BrickScan identified 87. BrickScan performed well on common and mid-tier elements but slipped on printed pieces. A 12-point gap means roughly 120 extra manual lookups across a 1,000-part bulk lot.

What app tells you what LEGO part you have?

brick'em identifies LEGO parts from a photo and returns the exact part with live BrickLink pricing pulled from the 6-month sold average. It handles parts and minifigures in the same scanning session, which matters when you are sorting mixed bulk lots.

Can a scanner identify LEGO part colors?

Scanners identify the mold first and estimate color second. Distinct colors are generally reliable, but close shades like light bluish gray versus old light gray remain hard for every app on camera. From what we have seen in the community, sellers still confirm the closest shades by eye before listing.

Sort smarter, not longer

The next bulk lot you buy is a bet. Accuracy is what decides whether you priced the bet right. Test the apps on your own weirdest parts and see who gets them right.