Foodsoft is open-source software for non-profit food cooperatives, covering ordering, accounting, and job scheduling. See its features, hosting, and pricing.
Category
Productivity
Pricing
Open Source / Free, from Free (up to 5 user accounts on hosted platform)
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 18, 2026
Founded
2007
Free PlanWeb AppOpen SourceSelf-Hosted
Overview
Foodsoft is an open-source, Ruby on Rails platform for running non-profit food cooperatives, covering shared product catalogs, member ordering, accounting, and the volunteer job scheduling that work-share cooperatives depend on. Its origins trace to the German food cooperative movement of the mid-2000s, with hosting infrastructure history suggesting roots around 2007.
The project is licensed under AGPL v3 or later and is community-governed rather than run by a company, with development historically driven by contributor Benjamin Meichsner and maintained under the foodcoops GitHub organization.
Key Features
Core functionality includes a shared supplier product catalog, member-facing online ordering, cooperative accounting and bookkeeping, and job/task scheduling to coordinate the rotating volunteer labor that keeps a work-share cooperative running.
A companion project, foodsoft-shop, adds a modern React-based webshop front end on top of the core Foodsoft backend, and the platform supports multiple cooperatives running on a shared, centrally hosted instance.
Pricing
Foodsoft is free and open source to self-host under the AGPL license. A shared hosting platform at foodcoops.net, operated by the Rokoli tech collective, runs instances on behalf of many cooperatives.
On that hosted platform, every cooperative gets up to five free user accounts, with additional accounts billed at just EUR 1 net per month each, a cost-recovery model rather than a profit-driven SaaS price.
Key Features
Shared product catalog — Maintains a catalog of products synced with the cooperative's chosen suppliers for members to order from.
Member online ordering — Lets cooperative members place orders online ahead of a scheduled collection or delivery day.
Cooperative accounting and bookkeeping — Tracks shared finances, member balances, and supplier payments to keep the cooperative's books transparent.
Volunteer job and task scheduling — Coordinates the rotating volunteer labor (packing orders, deliveries, bookkeeping) that work-share cooperatives rely on to operate.
Multi-cooperative shared hosting — The foodcoops.net platform, run by the Rokoli tech collective, hosts many separate cooperative instances centrally rather than requiring each to self-host.
React-based webshop component — The companion foodsoft-shop project provides a more modern web storefront that integrates with the core Foodsoft backend.
AGPL open-source licensing — Licensed under AGPL v3 or later, ensuring that modifications run as a network service must also be released under the same open license.
Community-driven roadmap — Development priorities are shaped through monthly community calls open to users and contributors.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Purpose-built for the specific work-share, non-profit operating model of food cooperatives
Free and open source under AGPL, with a low-cost shared hosting option available
Long track record of active use and maintenance dating back to roughly the mid-2000s
Community-governed development with open monthly calls, giving user cooperatives direct influence over the roadmap
Combines catalog, ordering, accounting, and job scheduling in a single integrated platform
Cons
No formal company, support contract, or SLA behind the software, since it is entirely community-maintained
Interface and documentation may feel dated compared to modern commercial SaaS tools
Primarily documented and supported in German and English, which may limit accessibility elsewhere
Self-hosting outside the shared foodcoops.net platform requires Ruby on Rails server administration skills
Narrow focus on the non-profit cooperative model makes it less suited to commercial retail use cases than alternatives like FoodCoopShop
Pricing
Self-Hosted (Open Source) Free N/A
foodcoops.net Shared Hosting Free for up to 5 users, then EUR 1 net/month per additional user Monthly (per additional user account)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Foodsoft free to use?
Yes. Foodsoft is free and open source under the AGPL v3-or-later license. On the shared foodcoops.net hosting platform, every cooperative gets up to five free user accounts, with additional accounts billed at EUR 1 net per month each.
What is Foodsoft used for?
Foodsoft manages the core operations of a non-profit food cooperative, including a shared product catalog, member online ordering, accounting, and the volunteer job scheduling that work-share cooperatives depend on.
What technology is Foodsoft built with?
Foodsoft is built with Ruby on Rails and is maintained as an open-source project under the foodcoops GitHub organization, with a companion React-based webshop component called foodsoft-shop.
Who runs foodcoops.net?
The shared Foodsoft hosting platform at foodcoops.net is operated by Rokoli, an IT technology collective, on behalf of many individual food cooperatives across Europe.
How does Foodsoft differ from FoodCoopShop?
Both are open-source platforms for food cooperatives, but Foodsoft is built on Ruby on Rails and originates from the broader German food coop movement's community-run hosting infrastructure, while FoodCoopShop is built on CakePHP by an individual Austrian founder and has expanded further into point-of-sale retail for commercial bio-shops.
Can I influence Foodsoft's development roadmap?
Yes. Foodsoft's development is community-driven, and users can influence the roadmap by joining the project's monthly community calls.