Cara vs Pet Friend

Cara is web-based animal shelter software for rescues, combining adoption applications, animal and medical records, and a public adoption portal. Shelters can track enquiries, move applications through stages, add notes, and approve or decline them. Animal records can include photos, medical notes, current status, foster details, and a timeline of care and applications. Cara can send adoption contracts digitally for legally binding signatures. It also provides shareable animal links for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, plus automated emails to applicants. Cara says it can import animal histories from Trackabeast and Animal Shelter Manager exports, as well as spreadsheet records while retaining unmapped columns. The Free plan supports up to five animals and includes application management, basic email notifications, and Cara branding on the portal. Pro costs $34.99 a month, billed monthly; subscriptions are billed in euro. It includes unlimited animals, e-sign contracts, advanced email workflows, a white-label portal, welfare incident reports, donation capture, and priority support. The service is intended for shelters and rescues worldwide, though Cara says most current users are Irish and some defaults lean toward Ireland.

Pet Friend is software for organizations managing animal adoption and care. Its tools cover key parts of that work: an adoption portal, intake and outcome tracking, kennel management, medical records, foster management, and volunteer management. It runs on Android, iOS, and the web. There is no free plan, but a 14-day trial is listed. Rescue costs $25 a month, billed monthly, and includes 10 GB of storage and 50 GB of monthly data usage. Shelter is $50 a month, while Shelter Plus is $100 a month; both include 10 GB of storage and 100 GB of monthly data usage. Monthly plans can be canceled anytime. Annual choices are Rescue (annual) at $300 a year, Shelter (annual) at $600 a year, and Shelter Plus (annual) at $1,200 a year. Annual billing accepts card, check, or PO. Pet Friend was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, United States.