Food Bank Software Comparison: Features, Pricing & Use Cases

There is no single best food bank software. The right choice depends on how your food bank works:

•         You take referrals from partner agencies, build parcels and track stock → look at specialist food bank software such as FoodBank360 or FoodBank Manager.

•         You need casework, wrap-around support and outcome reporting more than stock → a charity CRM such as Plinth, Charitylog or Lamplight is likely to fit better.

•         You run one small site with a handful of volunteers and no referral partners → a well-organised spreadsheet may still be enough.

•         You run several sites → compare per-site pricing first, because it changes the total cost more than anything else.

Below you'll find a side-by-side table, a profile of each product, real published prices, and seven common food bank set-ups with the options that suit each.

What is food bank management software?

Food bank management software is a system that records who your food bank helps, how they reached you, what food you hold and what you give out. It replaces the paper vouchers, spreadsheets and email chains many food banks start with, so the same information doesn't have to be typed in several places.

Not every tool described as "food bank software" does the same job. In practice there are four types:

Type	What it's built for	Examples in this guide
Specialist food bank and pantry systems	Day-to-day distribution: client or household records, stock, parcels or orders, visits and reporting	FoodBank360, FoodBank Manager, PantrySoft
Charity CRM and case-management systems	Casework, support plans, outcomes and impact reporting across many kinds of charity service	Plinth, Charitylog, Lamplight, Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud
Supply and donation platforms	Getting food or funds into the food bank, not running it day to day	Bankuet
Spreadsheets	Anything, if someone builds and maintains it	Excel, Google Sheets

Comparing a specialist system with a charity CRM feature by feature can be misleading, because they solve different problems. This guide compares them side by side, but it always says which type each one is.

Does your food bank need dedicated software?

Not always. A small food bank with one site, a few volunteers and no referral partners can run well on a carefully kept spreadsheet. Dedicated software starts to pay for itself when the same information has to be shared between several people or several steps.

These signs suggest you've outgrown a spreadsheet:

•         Referrals come from several partner agencies by email, phone or paper, and someone re-types them.

•         More than one person edits the same file and you've lost changes or worked from an old copy.

•         Stock is counted by hand, and you only find short or expired items on distribution day.

•         Parcels are built from memory rather than from a set list linked to what's on the shelves.

•         You run deliveries and the driver list is rebuilt each week.

•         You claim Gift Aid (UK) and the donor declarations live in a separate file.

•         You open a second site and now have two of everything.

•         Funders ask for figures that take a day to pull together.

A spreadsheet is still a reasonable choice if:

•         one person owns it;

•         you serve a small, stable group of households;

•         you don't take outside referrals;

•         you keep it backed up and restrict access to personal data.

How did we compare the software?

We compared each product against its own public website: feature pages, pricing pages and help documents, all checked on 16 October 2026. We did not use review sites or other comparison articles as evidence. We haven't used the other products ourselves, so this is a comparison of what each vendor documents, not a hands-on test.

What each capability means

Capability	What we looked for
Referral management	Partner agencies can submit referrals that the food bank reviews, and see what happened to them
Household records	One record per household, with checks that stop duplicate records or duplicate visits
Stock and expiry	Stock levels that update when food comes in and goes out, with warnings for low stock or approaching expiry dates
Parcel management	Set parcel contents that deduct items from stock when a parcel is given out
Delivery scheduling	Planning who gets a delivery, when, and by which driver
Donations	Recording food and money donations and donors; for UK food banks, Gift Aid
Volunteers	Rotas, sign-up, hours, and safeguarding checks
Multi-site	Separate stock and records per site, with combined reporting

How we label what we found

•         Shown publicly: the vendor's own website describes it.

•         Partly shown: the vendor mentions it, but not in enough detail to tell exactly what it does.

•         Not shown publicly: we couldn't find it on the vendor's website. This doesn't mean the product can't do it, so ask the vendor.

We haven't given scores or picked an overall winner. Scores hide the fact that a feature essential to one food bank is irrelevant to another. Instead, the scenarios section matches products to common ways of working.

We apply the same standard to FoodBank360: its rows are based on what foodbank360.com shows, and its limitations are listed alongside everyone else's. Vendors can ask us to correct their entries, and every correction is logged in the changelog at the end of this page.

Food bank software compared at a glance

The table shows what each vendor's own website says, checked on 16 October 2026. "Not shown" means we couldn't find it publicly, not that the product can't do it.

Capability	FoodBank360	FoodBank Manager	Plinth	Charitylog	Lamplight	PantrySoft
Type	Specialist food bank	Specialist food bank / pantry	Charity CRM	Charity CRM	Charity CRM	Specialist pantry
Referrals from partner agencies	Shown: partners submit online and track status	Not shown	Partly: partner CRM	Shown: referrals via your website	Shown: referral tracking, web referrals	Not shown
Household records and duplicate checks	Shown: duplicate detection	Shown: address standardisation, duplicate-visit prevention	Shown: case management	Shown: contact and case management	Shown: profiles and case notes	Shown: client search, visit tracking
Stock and expiry	Shown: live stock, expiry and low-stock alerts (Full plan)	Shown as paid add-on; expiry not shown	Shown: AI photo-based stock tracking	Not shown	Not shown	Shown: inventory; expiry not shown
Parcels deducted from stock	Shown: parcel management (Full plan)	Partly: "packages" and POS checkout	Not shown	Not shown	Not shown	Partly: choice ordering
Delivery scheduling	Shown: route planning, packing and delivery lists, collection slots	Not shown	Not shown	Not shown	Not shown	Not shown
Donations	Shown: cash and food, with UK Gift Aid	Shown: donation tool	Shown: Fundraising product with Gift Aid	Not shown	Not shown	Shown: donations and inventory
Volunteers	Shown: rota, DBS tracking, check-in and check-out	Partly: time tracker	Shown: volunteering module	Partly: volunteer records	Partly: volunteer profiles	Shown: sign-up and shifts (add-on)
Multiple sites	Shown: per-site stock and transfers; extra sites £25/mo	Shown: extra location US$25/mo	Not shown	Shown: "Multiple Branches" (top plan)	Not shown	Shown: extra location +50%
Client self-booking	Partly: collection slot booking	Shown: guest portal (add-on)	Partly: booking product	Not shown	Shown: online session booking	Shown: client portal (add-on)
Integrations	Payment processing (Stripe) only; no API	Not shown	Not shown	Not shown	Mailchimp; custom API at extra cost	Enterprise: SSO and eligibility integrations
Try before buying	Free demo (no self-serve trial)	30-day free trial, no card	Free Community plans for some products	Ask vendor	Ask vendor	Demo

Sources: each vendor's website, linked in each profile below and in the sources list at the end.

Food bank software profiles

Each profile follows the same structure: what the product is, who it's built for, what its website shows, what to check, and what it costs.

FoodBank360 (our product)

What it is: cloud-based food bank management software, built in the UK around the referral model, and sold to food banks, pantries, churches and charities in the UK and elsewhere.

Built for: food banks that take referrals from partner agencies, build parcels from stock, and run collections or deliveries. That includes multi-site organisations.

What it does:

•         Referrals: partner agencies register themselves (the food bank approves them), submit referrals online and see the status of their own referrals. The food bank can set household visit limits, reschedule missed referrals and suspend a partner.

•         Households: duplicate detection when records are created, including across sites.

•         Parcels and stock: parcel templates (including extra-adult, extra-child and kettle parcels) deduct items from stock when issued. Live stock levels, low-stock alerts and expiry alerts with a timing you set.

•         Deliveries: delivery scheduling, packing and driver lists (on a phone or printed), collection slots, and missed or redelivery tracking. Drivers see only their own run.

•         Donations: cash and food donations, including UK Gift Aid declarations that can be exported for HMRC claims.

•         Volunteers: a rota with shifts and sign-up, check-in and check-out with hours reporting, and DBS renewal dates.

•         Pantry: choice-based and points-based pantry shopping.

•         Multiple sites: each site has its own stock, with transfers between sites, per-site reports and network-wide reports for admins.

Limitations (what to know before you book a demo):

•         No API, and no integrations apart from payment processing (Stripe).

•         Delivery route planning, but no automatic route optimisation.

•         No self-serve free trial; we offer a free guided demo instead.

•         £100 one-off setup fee per site.

•         Billed in pounds sterling, wherever you are.

•         DBS renewal dates are stored, but no automatic reminders are sent.

•         No reporting for US government food programmes (TEFAP, CSFP, USDA).

•         Support hours are Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm UK time.

Pricing (excluding VAT):

Plan	Monthly	Includes
Referrer	£34.99	Referrals and household records
Scheduler	£74.99	Plus deliveries, collections and volunteer rota
Full	£114.99	Plus stock, parcels, donations with Gift Aid, pantry, DBS tracking
Enterprise	Custom	Network-level management and dedicated support

Optional add-ons are Extra Location (£25/month) and Inventory & POS (£25 per location per month, only if you need point-of-sale). Paying yearly saves 20%, including on add-ons. FoodBank360 pricing

FoodBank Manager

What it is: cloud-based food bank and pantry software from Sox Box Software, based in Arizona, USA (foodbankmanager.com).

Built for: food banks and pantries, particularly US organisations running government food programmes.

What its website shows (features):

•         Guest (client) records with address standardisation to prevent duplicate accounts.

•         Barcode lookup for returning clients.

•         "Hunger Justice" checks that prevent repeat visits across pantries sharing a database.

•         A donation tool included at no extra cost.

•         A volunteer time tracker.

•         Prebuilt and custom reports.

•         Support for TEFAP, CSFP and SNAP, including electronic signatures.

•         Paid add-ons: inventory with items, packages, zones and barcode scanning, plus a point-of-sale checkout; and a guest portal for online booking and ordering.

Not shown publicly: a workflow for partner agencies to refer clients, parcel templates, delivery scheduling, volunteer rotas, and UK-specific features such as Gift Aid. Ask about these in a demo or during the trial.

Pricing (pricing page):

•         Base plan: US$34.95/month for one location, with unlimited logins, clients, volunteers, visits, donors and donations.

•         Add-ons, each US$25/month: Additional Location; Inventory & POS (per location); Guest Portal (per location).

•         Included: no setup fees; training and support.

•         Trial and contract: a 30-day free trial with no credit card needed, and no contract.

Worth noting: it's the lowest entry price of the specialist systems here, and it's the only one with a self-serve free trial.

Plinth

What it is: a UK charity CRM and operations platform (plinth.org.uk).

Built for: charities delivering frontline services, including food banks that also offer casework or wrap-around support.

What its website shows:

•         AI stock tracking: staff photograph items, and the system suggests names and categories.

•         Case management.

•         Volunteering.

•         A partner CRM.

•         Surveys and impact reporting.

•         A separate Fundraising product with Gift Aid tracking.

Plinth's own guide notes that "smaller operations that only need parcel tracking may find a specialist tool more appropriate."

Not shown publicly: parcel templates, delivery scheduling, multi-site stock.

Pricing (pricing page):

•         The food bank set-up is quote-based.

•         Fundraising has a free Community plan, then £30 per user per month (minimum three users) or £100 per user per month.

•         Case management has a free Community plan; the paid tier isn't priced publicly.

Charitylog

What it is: a UK case-management system for charities (charitylog.co.uk).

What its website shows:

•         Contact and case management for clients, volunteers and referrers.

•         Referrals received through your website.

•         Assessment and impact reporting.

•         "Multiple Branches" on its top plan.

•         Optional rostering and a mobile app.

Not shown publicly: stock, parcels, deliveries, donations.

Pricing (pricing page):

•         Priced in bands by organisation income, with up to 50 concurrent users per band.

•         A one-off licence includes 3–5 days of on-site implementation and training.

•         Figures aren't published, so ask for a quote.

Lamplight

What it is: a UK charity database focused on casework and outcomes (lamplightdb.co.uk).

What its website shows:

•         Profiles and case notes.

•         Referral tracking, including referrals submitted through your website.

•         Group and one-to-one session recording with online self-booking.

•         Outcome measures.

•         Accessibility features.

•         Reporting with Excel export.

Not shown publicly: stock, parcels, deliveries, donations.

Pricing (pricing page, excluding VAT):

•         0.25% of annual income per month, with a minimum of £15 and a maximum of £1,000; all modules included.

•         Setup and training from £0 (income under £75k) to £7,155 (income over £3m).

•         Rolling monthly contract.

PantrySoft

What it is: US pantry management software (pantrysoft.com).

What its website shows:

•         Client records and visit tracking.

•         Inventory and donations.

•         Volunteer sign-up and shifts.

•         A client self-service portal.

•         Reporting.

•         Smart-locker integrations.

Not shown publicly: referrals, deliveries, expiry tracking.

Pricing (pricing page):

•         Light US$50, Standard US$75 and Deluxe US$125 per month, capped by active households and concurrent logins.

•         Implementation fees from US$500 to US$5,000.

•         Each extra location adds 50% to the monthly fee.

•         Add-ons for the client portal, advanced inventory and volunteers.

Spreadsheets

What it is: Excel or Google Sheets, set up by the food bank.

Strengths: free, familiar and flexible.

Limitations:

•         No referral tracking for partners.

•         No automatic stock deduction or expiry alerts.

•         Version conflicts when several people edit the same file.

•         Personal data that's hard to control under GDPR.

The real cost is staff and volunteer time. See [moving your food bank off Excel] [LINK WHEN PUBLISHED].

Other options you may come across

•         Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud: a highly configurable global CRM. Food bank workflows need to be configured, often with a specialist partner. Salesforce offers donated licences to eligible nonprofits.

•         Bankuet: a UK platform that turns public donations into bulk food orders for food banks. It complements management software rather than replacing it.

•         Link2Feed: client intake, inventory and reporting software used in North America.

 

How much does food bank software cost?

Published prices for specialist food bank software start at about US$35 or £35 a month for a single site. With stock tracking, the first year typically costs from about US$720 to £1,480. Charity CRMs are usually priced by income or number of users, and several are quote-only.

The headline monthly price is rarely the whole story. Check four things:

1.       Setup or implementation fees. These range from nothing to several thousand pounds.

2.       Add-ons. Stock, extra sites and client portals are often charged separately.

3.       How the price scales. It may be per site, per user, by households served, or by your income.

4.       VAT and currency. US vendors price in dollars, and UK prices are often quoted without VAT.

The tables below use only each vendor's published prices, checked on 16 October 2026. Each price is shown in its own currency and has not been converted. The first-year figure is 12 months of the monthly price plus any one-off fees.

One site, with stock tracking

Option	Monthly	One-off fees	First year
FoodBank360 Full	£114.99 + VAT	£100 setup	£1,479.88 (£1,203.90 if paid yearly)
FoodBank Manager + Inventory & POS	US$59.95	None	US$719.40
PantrySoft Light (limited inventory, 500 households)	US$50	US$500 implementation	US$1,100
PantrySoft Standard (2,500 households)	US$75	US$1,000 implementation	US$1,900
Plinth	Quote	Quote	Quote

Charity CRMs without stock tracking cost:

•         Lamplight: 0.25% of income a month (£15–£1,000) plus setup from £0 to £7,155. Lamplight's own example is a £264,000 income at £55 a month.

•         Charitylog: a quote based on your income band.

One site, referrals and deliveries only (no stock)

Option	Monthly	One-off fees	First year
FoodBank360 Referrer (referrals only)	£34.99 + VAT	£100	£519.88
FoodBank360 Scheduler (adds deliveries and volunteer rota)	£74.99 + VAT	£100	£999.88
FoodBank Manager base plan	US$34.95	None	US$419.40

The FoodBank Manager base plan is not a like-for-like match. Its public pages don't show a partner-referral workflow or delivery scheduling.

Three sites, with stock at each

Option	Monthly	One-off fees	First year
FoodBank360 Full + 2 Extra Locations	£164.99 + VAT	£300 (£100 per site)	£2,279.88 (£1,883.90 if paid yearly)
FoodBank Manager: base + 2 locations + inventory at 3 sites	US$159.95	None	US$1,919.40
PantrySoft Standard + 2 locations (+50% each)	US$150	US$1,000	US$2,800

What the numbers show:

•         FoodBank Manager has the lowest published price for a stock-tracking system, and it charges no setup fee.

•         FoodBank360 costs more but includes more in the plan. Partner referrals, parcel templates, delivery scheduling, Gift Aid and DBS tracking are all in the plan price. These don't appear on FoodBank Manager's public pages.

•         Ask every vendor for a written quote that covers your number of sites, the add-ons you actually need, and any data-import charges.

Which software suits your food bank?

Find the set-up closest to yours. For each one we list what matters most, the options that fit based on what vendors publish, and what to ask before you choose.

1. A small community food bank on a tight budget

What matters most: a low monthly cost, a quick start and little training.

Options that fit:

•         A well-kept spreadsheet, if you have one site and no referral partners.

•         FoodBank Manager's base plan (US$34.95/month, no setup fee, free trial).

•         FoodBank360 Referrer (£34.99/month plus £100 setup), if partner referrals are your main need.

Ask: Is there a setup fee? What happens to our data if we cancel? Can we export everything?

2. A food bank taking referrals from many partner agencies

What matters most: partners can submit referrals online, track what happened to them, and be managed without your team chasing emails.

Options that fit:

•         FoodBank360: built around this model. Partners register themselves for your approval, submit referrals, see the status of their own referrals, and can be suspended.

•         Charitylog and Lamplight: both take referrals through your website and suit organisations that also do casework.

•         Plinth: offers a partner CRM.

Ask: Can partners see only their own referrals? Can we set visit limits per household? What happens to a missed appointment?

3. A food bank with high stock volumes and regular parcels

What matters most: stock that updates automatically, parcels built from a set list, and warnings before food expires.

Options that fit:

•         FoodBank360 Full: parcel templates deduct stock when issued, with expiry and low-stock alerts.

•         FoodBank Manager with Inventory & POS: packages, zones and barcode scanning.

•         Plinth: photo-based AI stock tracking.

Ask: Does giving out a parcel reduce stock automatically? Can we set how far ahead expiry alerts appear? Can we record damaged or expired stock?

4. A food bank running deliveries and collections

What matters most: knowing who gets a delivery and when, giving drivers a clear list, and tracking missed deliveries.

Options that fit:

•         FoodBank360 Scheduler or Full: delivery scheduling, driver lists on a phone or printed, collection slots, and redelivery tracking.

•         We couldn't find delivery scheduling on the other vendors' public pages. Ask them directly.

FoodBank360 plans routes, but doesn't calculate the optimal order of stops automatically.

Ask: Can drivers see only their own run? Can clients book a collection slot?

5. A charity running several food bank sites

What matters most: separate stock for each site, combined reporting, stopping the same household registering at two sites, and a cost that scales sensibly.

Options that fit:

•         FoodBank360: each site has its own stock, with transfers between sites, duplicate checks across sites, and per-site and network reports. Extra sites cost £25/month plus £100 setup each.

•         FoodBank Manager: US$25/month per extra location, a shared client pool, and checks against repeat visits across locations.

•         PantrySoft: each extra location adds 50% to the monthly fee.

•         Charitylog: "Multiple Branches" on its top plan.

Ask: Can a site manager see only their own site? Can stock move between sites? How is each extra site charged?

6. A food bank that wants referrals, stock, donations and volunteers in one place

What matters most: one system instead of four. The same household, donor and volunteer records are used everywhere, with reports from a single source.

Options that fit:

•         FoodBank360 Full: referrals, parcels and stock, deliveries, donations with Gift Aid, volunteer rota and DBS dates in one plan.

•         Plinth: if casework and wrap-around support matter more to you than parcels and deliveries.

Ask: Is it all one login and one database, or separate products? Which features cost extra?

7. A food bank moving off spreadsheets

What matters most: getting existing records in cleanly, keeping volunteers on board, and not running two systems for months.

Options that fit:

•         Any of the specialist systems above.

•         FoodBank Manager offers data import help and a free trial.

•         FoodBank360's £100 setup covers getting each site started. Ask us what's included for your data.

Ask: Who imports our data, and at what cost? How long does training take? Can we run a trial or pilot on one site first?

Should you choose dedicated food bank software or a charity CRM?

Choose dedicated food bank software if your daily work is about food: referrals, parcels, stock and deliveries. Choose a charity CRM if your daily work is about people over time: casework, support plans and outcomes. Some organisations need both.

	Dedicated food bank software	Charity CRM / case management
Built around	Households, visits, stock and parcels	People, cases, sessions and outcomes
Typical strengths	Referral vouchers, stock deduction, parcel templates, delivery lists, visit limits	Case notes, support plans, outcome measures, safeguarding, funder reporting
Typical gaps	Deep casework and outcome tools	Stock, parcels and deliveries
Pricing model	Usually per site or per plan	Often by income or per user
Examples	FoodBank360, FoodBank Manager, PantrySoft	Plinth, Charitylog, Lamplight, Salesforce

When to use both: a food bank that also runs debt advice, housing support or a community hub may keep casework in a charity CRM and run distribution in a specialist system. If you do this, ask both vendors how you'd avoid keeping two copies of the same household record. FoodBank360 doesn't offer an API, and integrations vary between vendors, so sharing data between two systems may mean exporting and importing files rather than an automatic link.

What should you ask in a software demo?

Take this list to every demo or trial. Ask the vendor to show you each answer rather than just tell you.

Referrals and households

1.       Can partner agencies submit referrals online, and can they see only their own?

2.       How does the system stop the same household registering twice, or visiting two of our sites in the same week?

3.       Can we set visit limits, and what happens when someone misses an appointment?

Stock and parcels

4.       Does issuing a parcel reduce stock automatically?

5.       Can we set parcel templates for different household sizes?

6.       How do expiry and low-stock warnings work, and can we change the timing?

7.       How do we record food that's damaged, expired or thrown away?

Data protection

8.       Where is our data hosted, and who can access it?

9.       Is two-factor sign-in available? How often are backups taken?

10.   If we leave, can we export all our data, and in what format?

Costs

11.   What is the full first-year cost for our number of sites, including setup, add-ons and VAT?

12.   What would make the price go up: more users, more households, more sites?

13.   What currency will we be billed in?

Support and getting started

14.   Who imports our existing records, and is there a charge?

15.   What training is included, and what are your support hours?

A printable version of these questions is available as a free download [LINK WHEN PUBLISHED].

How do you check data protection, support and implementation?

Food banks hold sensitive personal information: names, addresses, household make-up and the reasons people need help. Before you sign up, check these points with every vendor, including us.

Data protection

•         Where the data is hosted. For UK and EU organisations, this affects your GDPR obligations.

•         Who can see what. Look for role-based access, so a referral partner, a driver or a volunteer sees only what they need.

•         Sign-in security. Two-factor sign-in should be available for staff accounts.

•         Backups and exit. Ask how often data is backed up, and confirm you can export everything if you leave.

•         Your own policies. Software helps, but your food bank still needs its own privacy notice, retention rules and data protection lead. No software makes you compliant by itself.

Support and implementation

•         What support hours are offered, and in which time zone?

•         Is training included, or charged by the session?

•         Who imports existing records, and what does it cost?

•         How long does a typical set-up take for an organisation of your size?

For transparency, here are FoodBank360's answers:

•         We host data in the UK, offer two-factor sign-in and take regular backups.

•         Referral partners see only their own referrals, and drivers see only their own run.

•         Support runs Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm UK time.

•         Setup is a one-off £100 per site. Setup fee includes, such as data import, template setup and training.

Switching systems: a checklist

Most switches go wrong because data or people aren't ready, not because the software is. Work through this list before you commit.

•         ☐ Write down how you work now. Note how referrals arrive, how parcels are built, how stock is counted and who does what. Use it as your checklist in demos.

•         ☐ Clean your existing records. Merge duplicate households, remove records you no longer need to keep, and standardise addresses.

•         ☐ Decide what to bring across. Current households, active referral partners and current stock usually matter more than years of history.

•         ☐ Agree who imports the data. Find out whether the vendor charges for it.

•         ☐ Pilot on one site or one distribution day before moving everyone.

•         ☐ Train your key volunteers first. They'll train the others.

•         ☐ Tell your referral partners what will change and when, and give them their logins in advance.

•         ☐ Set a cut-off date for the old system, so you're not running two systems for months.

•         ☐ Check your privacy notice still describes where data is held.

For a step-by-step version, see [moving your food bank off Excel] [LINK WHEN PUBLISHED].

Frequently asked questions

How much does food bank software cost?

Among the vendors that publish prices, a single site starts at about US$35 or £35 a month. A system with stock tracking costs roughly US$720 to £1,480 in the first year, including setup fees. Several charity CRMs price by income or by quote. See the cost tables above.

Is there free food bank software?

None of the specialist food bank systems we compared is free. FoodBank Manager offers a 30-day free trial, and Plinth has free Community plans for some of its products. A spreadsheet costs nothing in software, but it costs staff and volunteer time.

What software do Trussell food banks use?

Food banks in the Trussell network use a shared data system that the Trussell Trust provides. This guide is mainly for independent food banks, pantries and community organisations that choose their own software.

Can I use a charity CRM to manage food bank stock?

Most charity CRMs aren't built for stock. Charitylog and Lamplight don't show stock features on their websites. Plinth is the exception among those we reviewed: it offers AI stock tracking. If parcels and stock are central to your work, compare specialist systems too.

Is a free trial or a demo better?

A trial lets you test the system yourself. A guided demo lets you put your own questions to someone who knows the system. FoodBank Manager offers a free trial; FoodBank360 offers a free guided demo. Either way, test it with your real workflow and the questions above.

Does FoodBank360 work outside the UK?

Yes. FoodBank360 is sold to food banks and pantries in the UK and other countries. Billing is in pounds sterling. Gift Aid is a UK-only feature, and FoodBank360 doesn't report on US government food programmes such as TEFAP. US organisations that rely on those programmes may be better served by a US-focused system.