Animal shelter software pricing ranges from $0 to per-adoption fees and monthly subscriptions. PawPlacer is free for every shelter and rescue, while other systems charge anywhere from $2 to $5 per adoption, monthly tiers starting around $29, or paid add-on services.
Shelters adopt out animals at high volume, so the pricing model matters as much as the price. A small per-adoption fee becomes a meaningful line item across thousands of adoptions a year.
This guide from the PawPlacer team compares how shelter software is priced, what the totals look like at shelter volumes, and how PawPlacer keeps the cost at zero.
At a Glance
- Free: PawPlacer, with every feature included and no tiers, per-adoption fees or user limits.
- Per-adoption models: a fee for every completed adoption, often billed monthly.
- Subscriptions: monthly tiers, sometimes based on adoption volume.
- Add-on services: separate prices for websites, forms or data management.
- Payment processing: card processors charge their own fees on online payments, with any software.
Shelter Software Pricing Compared
| Software | Features | Pricing | Differences |
|---|---|---|---|
| PawPlacer | Intake and surrenders, medical suite, adoptions with QR checkout, fosters, volunteers, transports, events, donors, reports, listings and website widgets | Free for every organization | No tiers, per-adoption fees or user limits |
| Shelterluv | Shelter and rescue management with phone-based adoption checkout | $2 per adoption; 3.4% + 30 cents per checkout transaction | Other outcomes, such as transfers, are free |
| 24PetShelter | Shelter management from 24Pet, announced in 2025 | $5 per adoption processed through its mobile checkout, with minimal signup costs | No recurring monthly or annual software fee announced |
| PetPoint | Shelter management software from 24Pet | Not publicly listed | Contact vendor |
| Pawlytics | Rescue management designed for foster-based rescues | $29/month for 0 to 24 adoptions and contracts; $49/month for 25 to 49 | Tiers reviewed every six months |
| RescueGroups.org | Free adoption portal with paid services | Website Service $100/yr; Data Management $75/yr; Online Forms $59/yr | Management and forms are paid add-ons |
Competitor pricing is based on each vendor's public pricing information at the time of writing and can change.
1. What Shelter Volumes Do to Per-Adoption Pricing
Per-adoption fees scale with your outcomes. For a shelter completing 2,000 adoptions a year:
- At $2 per adoption: $4,000 a year in software fees.
- At $5 per adoption: $10,000 a year in software fees.
- With PawPlacer: $0.
Those totals come before card processing, which is charged separately by the payment processor.
2. Payment Processing Is Always Separate
Every shelter that accepts cards online pays the processor. PawPlacer uses Stripe and Square, which charge their own standard fees; PawPlacer adds nothing on top and takes no cut of adoption fees or donations. Cash, check, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and Zelle can be recorded as manual payments.
3. Hidden Costs to Check
Beyond the headline price, shelters should ask about:
- Signed contracts: whether they count toward billing.
- Add-on services: websites, forms, data management or integrations.
- Users: whether staff and volunteers add seats.
- Migration: whether moving historical records costs extra.
- Exports: whether your data is easy to take with you.
PawPlacer includes every feature, charges nothing for contracts or users, offers free white-glove migration and provides full CSV exports at any time.
4. What Shelters Get for $0
PawPlacer's free plan is the whole product:
- Intake, owner surrenders and custom statuses.
- A Medical Suite with vaccines, prescriptions, dose schedules and reminders.
- Adoption applications, meet and greets and QR checkout with digital contracts.
- Fosters, volunteers, transports and events.
- Donor records, campaigns, recurring gifts and tax receipts.
- Dashboards for population, medical, length of stay, outcomes and financials.
- Website widgets and syndication to Petfinder, Adopt-a-Pet and GetBuddy.
- Six team roles, granular permissions and multi-factor authentication.
5. How PawPlacer Stays Free
PawPlacer is self-funded, shows no ads and never sells or brokers organization data. It takes no share of adoption fees or donations. There is no trial that ends and no upgrade waiting later.
6. Switching Costs Nothing
The PawPlacer team offers white-glove migration at no cost, and the Data Uploader imports pets, adopters, fosters, volunteers, donors and surrenders from CSV or Excel with a full preview before saving.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest animal shelter software?
PawPlacer, at $0. Every feature is included for every organization.
Does PawPlacer charge more for large shelters?
No. PawPlacer has no size limits, user limits or volume tiers.
Are there any fees with PawPlacer?
Only your payment processor's standard fees when you accept payments online through Stripe or Square.
Start With PawPlacer for $0
At shelter volumes, the difference between per-adoption pricing and free software is thousands of dollars a year. PawPlacer is free shelter software with intake, medical, adoptions, fosters, volunteers and reporting included.
Create your free PawPlacer account today and put those savings back into animal care.