The Conversation That Started It All

A few months ago, I was talking with a friend who runs an elementary school. She mentioned, almost as an afterthought, that their little library was still managed with spreadsheets. Not because they wanted to, but because they couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars a year on enterprise library software for a collection of a few hundred books.

That conversation stuck with me.

I started researching. I found church librarians posting in forums, frustrated that software designed for public library systems was the only option. I found small private schools duct-taping solutions together. I found community centers with dusty card catalogs because "the computer stuff" was too complicated for their volunteer staff.

These organizations weren't asking for much. They just wanted to know which books they had, who borrowed them, and when they were due back. Instead, they were being sold systems with MARC records, Z39.50 protocols, and licensing tiers that assumed a full-time IT department.

That's the gap Library Panda was built to fill.

The Problem With "Affordable" Library Software

Let's talk numbers. Here's what the market looks like today:

Alexandria starts at $499 per year. It's a solid product, designed for K-12 schools, churches, and universities. But for a small parish library run by two volunteers? That's a hard sell to the budget committee.

Follett Destiny runs $400-600 per year for a single user, scaling up to $4,500+ for larger deployments. It's the dominant player in school districts, and priced accordingly.

ResourceMate offers a one-time purchase ($495-$1,795) plus $103/year for support. It's Windows-only desktop software. One church volunteer actually wrote in a review: "All sorts of bells and whistles have been added that we don't need, adding needless complication. I really wish you had a stripped-down program for those of us with simple needs."

That review hit home. Because that's exactly who I built Library Panda for.

Competitor pricing based on publicly available information as of December 2025.

What Library Panda Actually Costs

Free for libraries with around 100 books or fewer. No credit card. No trial period. Just free.

Starter $9.99/month or $99.99/year (for smaller collections)

Volunteer $19.99/month or $199.99/year (for growing libraries)

Pro $49.99/month or $499.99/year (for larger collections)

All paid tiers come with a 30-day free trial. Tiers are based on collection size, pick the one that fits your library. And even our Pro tier, designed for larger collections, matches what competitors charge for their entry-level pricing.

Why so affordable? Because I'm not building for school districts with procurement departments and multi-year contracts. I'm building for the youth pastor who just inherited the church library. For the PTA mom who volunteered to "figure out the book situation." For the retirement community that wants residents to share their personal collections.

These people don't have budgets. They have Venmo requests and bake sale proceeds.

What I Intentionally Left Out

Library Panda doesn't support MARC records. It doesn't have Z39.50 protocol integration. It doesn't require you to understand cataloging standards or hire a consultant for setup.

These aren't missing features. They're intentional omissions.

If a volunteer is checking out books to kids after Sunday school, they don't need to know anything beyond "is this book available?" and "who's standing in front of me?" That's it. That's the job.

Every feature in Library Panda was built with one principle: self-service. I want every button, every screen, every workflow to be so intuitive that you never need to consult a "how to" article. But if you do, we have plenty of those too.

Real Results

Remember my friend with the elementary school? She tried Library Panda.

It took her 15 minutes to add her first 50 books.

Here's what getting started actually looks like: Sign up (under 5 minutes). Add a book. Add a patron. Check out a book. Total time to your first circulation? Under 10 minutes.

No onboarding calls. No implementation specialists. No waiting for someone to "provision your instance." You sign up, and you're running a library.

Why I'm the Right Person to Build This

I've been building software for a few decades now. I've worked with enterprise systems, complex integrations, billing data analysis, the kind of stuff that makes software expensive and complicated.

But here's what I've learned: simplicity isn't the absence of capability. It's the result of deeply understanding what users actually need and having the discipline to build exactly that, nothing more.

Several of my close friends are teachers. I've watched them struggle with budgets, watched them make things work with duct tape and determination. Library Panda is my way of helping, at least in this one small corner of their world.

What's Coming Next

I'm genuinely excited about what's on the roadmap. Right now, Library Panda handles the core workflows, cataloging, patron management, circulation, reporting. But I'm building toward deeper engagement between libraries and their communities.

Publicly viewable catalogs, so patrons can browse from home. The ability for patrons to place holds on books themselves, not just through the librarian. Features that turn a library from a room with books into a living, accessible community resource.

The Bottom Line

Library Panda exists because I believe small libraries deserve real software, not enterprise hand-me-downs, not complicated systems designed for organizations ten times their size.

If you're running a church library, a small school library, or a community book collection, and you're tired of spreadsheets but can't justify enterprise pricing, Library Panda was built for you.

Try it free at librarypanda.com.

Mo