Animal shelter software
Shelter and rescue software that starts free.
Fosterling keeps intake, fosters, medical records, adoptions, donors and volunteers in one place. It's built for foster-based rescues and small shelters, and it works on the phone in your pocket.
- Free forever for up to 25 animals
- No credit card
- Export your data any time
What it does
Everything a rescue tracks, in one record
Intake from a photo and a note
Attach a photo and jot a sentence. Fosterling drafts breed, color, age, weight and medical flags for you to check and approve.
Foster homes, not just kennels
Capacity, preferences and current placements in one view. Fosters get their own portal to send updates, no staff login needed.
Medical records and reminders
Vet visits, vaccines and medications on each animal's record, with due dates that come up on their own.
Applications and adoptions
Adoption applications come in through your public page and are scored against each animal, so you review a ranked shortlist.
Your adoptable pets, everywhere
A public adoption page, plus ready-made feeds for Petfinder, Adopt-a-Pet and RescueGroups.
Donors and volunteers
Donations, donor records, volunteer shifts and reminders live next to the animals they support.
Free public lost and found
A public board that cross-matches found animals against lost reports by description, location and microchip.
A copilot that knows your rescue
Ask what's due this week, which dogs are good with cats, or have it set a reminder for you.
Coming from spreadsheets or Shelterluv? Import your animals instead of retyping them.
“We were running the whole rescue out of three spreadsheets and a group chat. It gave us our evenings back.”
Paws For Big Hearts Rescue · San Antonio, TX
Honest comparison
How Fosterling compares
None of these are bad products. They're built for different kinds of organizations. Here's a short summary of our longer comparisons, including where the others are the better choice.
| Shelterluv | Petstablished | Animal Shelter Manager | Fosterling | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Custom quote | Published tiers | Free open source; low-cost hosted option | Free up to 25 animals; published tiers |
| Who runs the servers | Hosted for you | Hosted for you | You (self-hosted) or their hosting | Hosted for you |
| Medical history | Deep | Basic | Very deep | Full, with vaccine due dates |
| Foster households | Basic | Basic | Supported | Central, with a foster portal |
| Intake drafted from photo and notes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Lost and found | No | No | Lost and found records | Public board with automatic matching |
| Publishing to adoption sites | Yes | Yes | Yes, many integrations | Petfinder, Adopt-a-Pet, RescueGroups feeds |
| Best fit | Municipal and large shelters | Adoption-heavy small rescues | Teams with technical help or tight budgets | Foster-based and volunteer-led rescues |
Where Fosterling is lighter
- Deep kennel and cage-card workflows for large buildings.
- Reports built for municipal animal-control contracts.
- Licensing and accounting depth that Animal Shelter Manager has built up over decades.
Other products change over time. Check with each company for their current features and prices.
Plans
Prices on the page, no sales call
Solo
Free
Forever-free for solo caregivers & small groups
- Up to 25 active animals
- Public adoption page
- Adoption applications
Rescue
$39/mo
One plan for rescues, sanctuaries & welfare funds
- Unlimited animals & case ledger
- Every operating mode included (Rescue, Sanctuary, Fund)
- Foster matchmaker & respite coverage
Shelter
$79/mo
For orgs running real shelter operations at scale
- Everything in Rescue
- Unlimited staff seats
- Transport coordination & relay legs
Common questions
- Is it really free?
- Yes. The Solo plan is free forever for up to 25 animals in your care, with one staff seat. No credit card and no time limit. Paid plans add unlimited animals and more seats.
- Can I move over from spreadsheets or Shelterluv?
- Yes. You can import animals from a spreadsheet, and Shelterluv users can connect a one-way import that keeps your roster in sync while you switch.
- Does it work for a shelter with a building?
- It does, and the Shelter plan adds transport, cruelty case and bite quarantine tracking. If you need deep kennel workflows or municipal contract reporting, a full-suite system like Shelterluv may fit better today.
- Do I need to install anything?
- No. Fosterling runs in the browser on a computer or phone, and we handle hosting and updates. You can export your data any time.
Try it with your own animals.
Start freeFree forever for up to 25 animals · No credit card