BaketlyShort answer: pick for the need you actually have. For costing, Baketly is free on iPhone. For selling, an ordering platform. For compliance, your state, not software.
| Ordering platform | Baketly | |
|---|---|---|
| Sells to customers | Yes | No |
| Takes payment | Yes | No |
| Costs your recipes | Rarely | Yes |
| Counts your own hours | No | A rate set once |
| Market days and booth fees | Sometimes | Yes |
| Tells you your state's rules | No | No |
| Platform | Web | iPhone and web |
| Price | Fee or subscription — see vendor | Free |
Three problems, not one
| Need | Looks like | Solved by |
|---|---|---|
| Selling | Orders in four places, chased deposits | An ordering platform |
| Costing | Not sure any of it is profitable | A costing app or a good spreadsheet |
| Compliance | Unsure what you may legally sell | Your state — not software |
Most people searching this question buy for the first and have the second. The third is the one where buying anything is a mistake.
On compliance, bluntly
Cottage food laws are state statutes. They differ on which products qualify, where you may sell, how much you may earn in a year, what the label must carry, and whether you may ship. They also change.
No app knows your state's current rules, and the articles that confidently quote dollar caps are frequently out of date or quoting another state. Your state's department of agriculture is the authority. This page is orientation, not compliance advice, and neither is any software you might buy. More on what the category actually means.
On costing, which is the quiet one
Selling problems announce themselves — a missed order, an annoyed customer. Costing problems do not. Nothing breaks; the business simply earns less than it should, for years.
The usual causes are a price copied from someone else's stall, labour left out entirely, and a market day counted only by its booth fee. On the worked example used across this site, the baker's own time is 82% of what a loaf costs to make — so a costing that omits it is not slightly off, it is describing a different product.
What Baketly covers, and what it does not
Covers: pantry priced per gram from a photo of the label, recipes that recost themselves when a supplier price moves, your hourly rate in every product, market days charged against their booth fee, a price check against bakeries nearby, and margin per hour by product.
Does not cover:
- Selling. No storefront, no payments, no pickup scheduling.
- Compliance. Nothing about labels, permits or limits.
- Accounts. No stock valuation, no tax reporting.
A sensible order to do this in
- Check your state's rules first. Free, and it determines what you are allowed to build.
- Fix selling if it is broken. Missed orders cost immediately.
- Then cost properly. It is the one that compounds, and the one nobody notices is missing.
Related
- The best app for farmers market bakers
- Baketly vs cottage food ordering platforms
- Baketly alternatives
Questions
What software do I need for a cottage food business?
It depends which of three problems you have. Taking orders and payment is one, knowing what your products cost and should sell for is another, and complying with your state's rules is a third that software does not solve at all.
Is there an app that handles cottage food compliance?
Not in any sense you should rely on. Cottage food laws are set per state and change, covering what you may sell, where, how much you may earn and what the label must say. Your state's department of agriculture is the authority. Treat any tool implying otherwise with suspicion.
What is the best free app for a cottage food bakery?
For costing and pricing, Baketly is free on iPhone with no subscription and nothing to buy inside it. For selling, free tiers usually come with a transaction fee instead of a subscription, because payment processing has to be funded somehow.
Do I need inventory software?
Only if you carry stock worth valuing and someone needs that figure. A baker who shops for the weekend's bake and sells it by Sunday has very little inventory, and inventory platforms are built around having some.
What is the difference between cottage food and a micro bakery?
Cottage food is a legal category your state defines. Micro bakery describes how the business runs — one or two people, selling direct, no staff. Many micro bakeries operate under cottage food rules; some rent commercial kitchen time and are not cottage food operations at all.
The costing half, free
Baketly prices your pantry per gram, costs recipes with your hours in them, and tracks whether market days paid. Free on iPhone.
Download on the App Store