Fosterling vs. PawPlacer: Which Free Rescue Software Fits?

If you're shopping for rescue software on a tight budget, you've probably found PawPlacer. It's a good tool, and it's free. So is Fosterling, for small rescues. This post is written by the Fosterling team, so read it with that in mind. We've tried to be fair, including about where PawPlacer is ahead.

PawPlacer details below come from their public website as of November 2026. Their numbers are what they report about themselves.

The short version

• PawPlacer is free with no animal or seat limits, funded by its founder. It's a strong pick if cost is the deciding factor and your needs are records, fosters and Petfinder.
• Fosterling is free forever for up to 25 animals in your care at a time, with unlimited staff seats. Adopted, transferred and deceased animals don't count. Paid plans start at $39 a month. It's a better fit if you raise money online, list on several adoption sites, or want an assistant that does admin work for you.

Pricing side by side

	PawPlacer	Fosterling
Free plan	All features, no limits	25 animals in care at a time, unlimited staff seats
Paid plans	None	Rescue $39/mo, Shelter $79/mo, Network $199/mo
Cut of donations	None, they say	None (normal card processing fees apply)
How it's funded	Founder-funded, they say	Paid plans

Whichever tool you pick, it's worth asking how it will be paid for in five years. That's a fair question for any free software you plan to run your rescue on.

What both do well

• Animal records, medical history, vaccines and documents
• Foster management and foster applications
• Volunteer shifts and hours
• Adoption applications through to placement
• A public adoption page you can embed on your website
• Petfinder listing and spreadsheet import
• Custom forms, agreements, reports and data export
• Calendar and reminders
• Matching adopters and fosters to pets

Where PawPlacer is ahead

• Price at scale. No limits at any size. If you have 200 animals and no budget, that matters.
• Size. They report more than 1,000 organizations. Fosterling is newer and smaller.
• Done-for-you data moves. They'll migrate your data. Fosterling's import is self-serve, though we're glad to help over email.
• PetLink microchip registration and a public developer API.

Where Fosterling stands out

An assistant that does the work

Fosterling's Copilot takes plain requests like "who's due for vaccines this week?" or "mark Bella adopted" and acts on them. It also connects to Claude, so a coordinator can run day-to-day tasks from their AI assistant.

More adoption sites

Ready-made feeds for Petfinder, Adopt-a-Pet and RescueGroups, so your pets show up in more places without retyping.

Fundraising built in

Online donations through Stripe or PayPal, pet sponsorships, donor records and automatic thank-you emails. See our fundraising guide for how rescues use them.

Free lost and found for your community

Public lost-pet and found-pet reports with matching, on every plan. Try it here.

Different kinds of organizations

Sanctuary workflows, welfare funds with grant intake, TNR colony tracking, plus shelter records like medication stock, cruelty cases and bite quarantine.

Which one should you pick?

PawPlacer is a good fit if cost is the only deciding factor, you have someone with time to set it up, and you mostly need records, fosters and Petfinder.

Fosterling is a better fit if you:

• raise money through donations and sponsorships,
• list on more than Petfinder,
• run a sanctuary, welfare fund or TNR program,
• want an assistant that handles admin, not just suggestions.

And if you have 25 or fewer animals in care, you don't have to choose on price at all. Fosterling is free for you, forever. You can start free and load a few example pets to see how it works before adding your own.

Comparing other tools too? See Fosterling vs. Shelterluv vs. Petstablished and our animal shelter software overview.