June 26, 2026
Free Hunting Outfitter Software: What You Actually Get on the Starter Plan
Most hunting outfitter software starts at $50–$125 a month. Hunt Outfitter has a free tier — Starter — that runs a real guiding operation. Not a trial with a countdown clock. Not a demo mode. A free plan you can stay on, with real client records, real online payments, and real bookings.
Here's what you actually get, how the fee structure works, and when it makes sense to upgrade.
What's on the free Starter plan
- Unlimited clients and bookings. No cap on how many client records you can keep or how many bookings you can run through the system in a season. The booking limit that other platforms put at 50 or 100 per month doesn't exist here.
- Online booking payments. Hunters pay a deposit or full amount by card. Payments land in your account in full — instead of a monthly subscription, a small per-booking platform fee is added to the hunter's checkout and paid by your client, not you (more on that below). You create bookings from the admin side; the public self-serve booking widget (where hunters browse and book themselves online) is a Pro-level feature.
- E-signing with an audit trail. Send hunting agreements and liability waivers as a link. Clients sign electronically; the system generates a signing certificate with a timestamp and audit trail, attached to the booking record.
- Client portal. Every booked hunter gets a login where they see their hunt countdown, travel details, payment status, and documents waiting for their signature. It installs as a web app on their phone.
- Hunt types, seasons, and areas. Set up your species, duration, pricing, and guide areas. No cap on the number of hunt types or areas.
- Document forms and waivers. Create the intake forms you need and collect information as part of the booking flow.
- Photo gallery. Upload trophy photos and hunt images organized by booking and client.
- One guide seat. The Starter plan is built for a solo operator — the owner is the guide. You get one guide seat (your own account). Adding guides is the first reason to upgrade.
How the per-booking fee works
Instead of a monthly subscription, the Starter plan charges a small platform fee on each booking payment — and your client pays it, not you. The fee is added as a separate “Booking fee” line on the hunter's invoice at checkout, so you always receive the full deposit or balance. It's 4% of the payment, capped at $35. A few examples:
- $500 deposit on a $3,000 hunt → $20 added to the client's invoice (4% of $500); you receive the full $500
- $1,500 deposit on a $6,000 hunt → $35 added (capped — 4% of $1,500 would be $60, but the cap is $35); you receive the full $1,500
- Full $800 payment on a smaller hunt → $32 added (4% of $800); you receive the full $800
The fee applies only when a payment is collected — not on the total booking value — and it never comes out of your earnings. Pass-through items like license and tag fees are exempt. Because your hunters cover the booking fee, you keep the full payment and the Starter plan costs you nothing in platform fees to run a full season.
On paid plans, the client-facing fee drops and so does the cap: Basic ($39/mo) is 3% (cap $25), Solo ($59/mo) and Pro ($79/mo) are 2% (cap $20), and Business ($179/mo) and Elite are 1% (cap $15). You take on a monthly subscription, but your hunters see a smaller fee at checkout and you unlock more features — so upgrading makes sense once you want those features, or want to lower the fee your clients pay.
What's not on the free plan
- Automated reminders. Email reminders for upcoming payments, approaching hunt dates, and unsigned documents are a Pro-level feature. On Starter, you send reminders manually.
- Packing lists. Per-hunt-type packing lists visible in the client portal are a Pro feature.
- Multiple guide logins. Starter is one guide seat. Basic adds up to 3 guides; Pro supports up to 7.
- Offline and manual payment recording. Recording a check, cash, or wire payment against a booking is a Basic-and-above feature. Starter handles online card payments only.
- Harvest tracking and field notes. Logging harvest records (species, count, shooter, trophy details) from the field is a Pro feature.
- Payment schedules and A/R aging. Formal payment schedules with due dates and an accounts receivable view are a Pro feature. On Starter, outstanding balances are tracked in the booking records but without the automated schedule and aging report.
- Bulk data import. Importing your client list from a spreadsheet in bulk is a Solo/Pro feature. On Starter, clients are added individually.
- Expense tracking. Guide and owner expense logging with receipt capture is a Pro feature.
Who it's for
The free Starter plan works best for:
- Solo owner-operators who are the only guide. You can run the whole operation from one login — bookings, agreements, payments, client portal — without a monthly fee.
- Outfitters evaluating the platform. The 14-day trial on paid plans gives you access to the full feature set. After the trial, the Starter plan lets you stay on the platform at no monthly cost while you decide if upgrading is right for your operation.
- Light-season operations. If you run 5–15 hunts a year and can handle reminders manually, the Starter plan covers the core workflow without a subscription.
When to upgrade
Move to Basic ($39/mo) when you need more than one guide login, want to record offline payments, or want the lower 3% platform fee.
Move to Solo ($59/mo) or Pro ($79/mo) when automated reminders are worth the cost — payment due, hunt approaching, document unsigned — or when you need harvest tracking, expense management, bulk import, or more guide seats (Pro supports up to 7 guides).
You can start on the free Starter plan with no credit card, or begin a 14-day free trial of any paid tier to see the full feature set. No payment required to get your first booking running. View the full plan comparison on the pricing page.