Best PetPoint Alternatives for Shelters

The best PetPoint alternative for shelters is PawPlacer. It is free animal shelter and rescue management software, with no subscription, no per-adoption fee and no user limit, and it covers intake, medical care, adoptions, fosters, volunteers, reports and listings in one modern, browser-based system.

PetPoint is shelter software from 24Pet, which has also announced a newer platform, 24PetShelter, built around a $5 fee per adoption processed through its mobile checkout. For shelters weighing a migration either way, it is a natural moment to look at what a fully free system can do.

This guide from the PawPlacer team covers what shelters should check when switching and how PawPlacer handles shelter operations at no cost.

At a Glance

• The alternative: PawPlacer, free shelter management software.
• Cost: $0, with no subscription, per-adoption fee or user limit. Stripe or Square charge their standard fees on online payments, and PawPlacer takes no cut.
• Shelter workflows: intake and owner surrenders, custom statuses, medical suite, adoptions with QR checkout, fosters, volunteers, transports and events.
• Reporting: built-in dashboards for population, medical, length of stay, outcomes and financials, plus custom reports.
• Switching: free white-glove migration and full CSV exports at any time.

What Shelters Should Look For in a PetPoint Alternative

A shelter system has to handle volume and accountability. These are the points that matter most:

• Cost structure: subscriptions, per-adoption fees and payment processing.
• Intake and status tracking: custom statuses that mirror your workflow.
• Medical records: vaccines, prescriptions, procedures and reminders.
• Outcomes reporting: length of stay, intakes and outcomes for your board and funders.
• Permissions: roles for staff, counselors, volunteers and viewers.
• Migration: who moves your data and what it costs.

PawPlacer and PetPoint Compared

Competitor details are based on public vendor information at the time of writing and can change.

1. Free Shelter Software at Any Size

PawPlacer costs $0 for every animal welfare organization, from a small municipal shelter to a high-volume humane society. There are no tiers, no per-adoption fees and no per-user charges, so adding staff, counselors and volunteers never adds cost.

What you still pay for

Online adoption fees and donations run through Stripe or Square, which charge their own standard processing fees. PawPlacer adds nothing on top and takes no share.

2. Intake, Surrenders and Custom Statuses

PawPlacer's pet records start at intake and follow the animal to its outcome. Custom statuses can mirror your shelter's workflow, such as intake, stray hold, medical hold, available and adopted, with each status controlling public eligibility and care state.

Owner surrenders arrive through a public surrender form and are triaged by stage and priority. Each surrendered animal can be linked to an existing pet or converted into a new profile.

3. A Medical Suite Built for Volume

PawPlacer tracks vaccinations, exams, procedures, diagnostics, conditions, weight logs, preventatives and treatments for every animal. Prescriptions include dose schedules and compliance tracking, and recurring care creates reminders on the dashboard and calendar.

Clinics, veterinarians and a medication catalog are managed centrally, and the catalog can be imported from CSV or Excel.

4. Adoptions With Digital Checkout

Adoption applications land in an applicant inbox that keeps each person's submissions and emails together. Counselors schedule meet and greets, approve or decline, and finalize with QR checkout, where the adopter signs the contract, adds an optional donation and pays on their phone.

Fee rules can be set by species and age, with discounts for health, sex and size, plus per-pet overrides. Returns are recorded with history preserved.

5. Reports Your Board Will Use

PawPlacer includes built-in dashboards for population, medical, length of stay, outcomes and financials, plus a custom report builder with filters, grouping and charts. Reports export to CSV or Excel.

6. Roles and Permissions for Every Team Member

Six team roles control who can view or edit pets, medical records, adoptions, donors and settings, and multi-factor authentication protects accounts. PawPlacer runs in any browser on phones, tablets and computers, so staff can work from the kennel floor or an adoption event.

7. Fosters, Volunteers, Transports and Events

Foster homes have capacity limits, assignments and transfers. Volunteers have recurring schedules, one-time shifts and hours. Transports track routes, drivers, mileage and costs, and events track attendees and capacity, with a flyer designer for promotion.

8. Free Migration From PetPoint

The PawPlacer team handles white-glove migration at no cost. Shelters can also import pets, adopters, fosters, volunteers, donors and surrenders from CSV or Excel files with the Data Uploader, which previews every row before saving. Full CSV exports are available whenever you need them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is PawPlacer built for shelters or only rescues?

Both. PawPlacer is built for shelters, foster-based rescues and rescue groups, with intake, surrenders, custom statuses and outcomes reporting included.

Does PawPlacer charge per adoption?

No. PawPlacer charges nothing per adoption, per contract or per user.

Can PawPlacer list our animals on Petfinder?

Yes. Eligible pets sync to Petfinder and Adopt-a-Pet on a schedule, and adoptable pets are shared with GetBuddy automatically.

Switch to PawPlacer

PawPlacer is the PetPoint alternative that is free from day one. It brings intake, medical care, adoptions, fosters, volunteers and reporting into one modern system with no subscription and no per-adoption fee.

Migration is free. Create your free PawPlacer account today.