FossickHQ
Now live in Australia & New Zealand

The shed.
The shoebox.
The story you
haven't told yet.

FossickHQ helps museums, historical societies and archives catalogue their collections — before the people who remember the stories aren't here to tell them.

First 100 items free, forever. No credit card required.

Historical societies
Community museums
Government archives
Volunteer organisations
Private collectors
Australia · New Zealand · United Kingdom · Canada · USA
Trusted by Australian collections teams
We had 1,400 items in shoeboxes and a spreadsheet that hadn't been touched in six years. FossickHQ got us catalogued and shareable in three months.
M
Margaret Ellis
President · Castlemaine Historical Society
The voice-to-catalogue feature is extraordinary. Volunteers can catalogue with the object in their hands — no typing, no desk required. That's a game-changer for a small team.
D
David Thornton
Collections Manager · Maryborough & District Museum
We print QR labels for everything now. A visitor scans any object and sees the full story on their phone. It's transformed how we engage people.
S
Susan Nakamura
Volunteer Coordinator · Ballarat Goldfields Heritage Trust
How it works

Three minutes per object —
instead of three weeks per backlog.

01

Photograph it

"It guessed the maker before I finished framing the shot."

Smart photo recognition proposes title, materials, era, condition and a draft description from a single photo. Suggestions sharpen as your collection grows.

02

Speak about it

"I described the chip on the rim while holding the vase. It typed."

Voice-to-catalogue transcribes spoken inspection notes and parses them into the right record fields. The microphone is the keyboard.

03

Print and shelve it

"One scan and the record's on screen. Anyone can do this."

One-tap Dymo or A4 QR labels. Scan to open the record on any device. Storage moves stay current as items shift between cabinets.

Built for collections teams

Every feature designed around
how you actually work

Not a generic database with a heritage skin. Built from the ground up for museums, societies and archives — from sole-charge curators to volunteer teams.

Smart Photo Recognition

Point your camera at an object. AI proposes title, era, materials and condition before you've typed a word. Improves with every record you add.

Voice-to-Catalogue

Speak condition notes and provenance details while your hands are on the object. Spoken words flow directly into the right record fields.

QR Labels & Location Tracking

Print labels in one tap. Scan any label to open the record on any device. Move items between shelves and the catalogue updates automatically.

Research Notes

Rich-text research notes with file attachments — PDFs, photographs, documents. Link research to collection items. Auto-saves as you type.

Sub-Collections

Group items by theme, donor or era, independent of physical storage location. Slice your collection any way you need.

Public Collection Website

An optional branded public website for your society. Publish selected items, add a donations page and list events — managed from within FossickHQ.

Who it's for

Built for every kind of
collection keeper.

Community Museums

Sole-charge curators and small paid teams running permanent collections with limited IT support. FossickHQ replaces the spreadsheet, the filing cabinet and the "ask Margaret — she knows where everything is."

  • No IT skills required
  • Runs on tablets and phones
  • Public-facing website included

Historical Societies

Volunteer-run organisations cataloguing donated photographs, documents, objects and ephemera. Designed for people who give their time on weekends — not database administrators.

  • Volunteer-friendly interface
  • Voice cataloguing for on-the-floor use
  • Batch scanning queue for donation days

Archives & Libraries

Organisations with sizeable, well-documented collections that need a searchable, shareable catalogue without enterprise pricing. Full export means your data is never locked in.

  • Advanced search and filtering
  • Research notes with file attachments
  • Full CSV & JSON data export

Private Collectors

Serious collectors who want to document provenance, track storage and share selected pieces with family, researchers or the public — without managing their own server.

  • Private by default, shareable on your terms
  • QR labels for home display
  • Insurance-ready condition records
Scanning queue

Scan a batch.
Process it later.

Volunteers photograph dozens of items in a single session. Each photo is analysed by Smart Identify in the background — so by the time anyone opens the queue, the hard work is already done.

Smart IdentifyAI reads the photo and pre-fills title, era and condition automatically
Add to existing itemSearch your catalogue and attach the scan to the right record
Create new itemOne click to draft a new record pre-loaded with the scan
Error surfacingUnrecognised items flag clearly with a retry option — nothing gets lost
SCANNING QUEUE · 3 items
scan_0048.jpgIdentified

Brass compass, c.1900

94%
scan_0049.jpgIdentified

Letter — 14 Apr 1943

88%
scan_0050.jpgReview needed
Sub-collections

Slice your collection
any way you like

Physical location and logical grouping are two different things. Sub-collections create named, colour-coded thematic groupings — the Guthrie donation, the railway photographs, the WW1 militaria — independent of where items live on the shelf.

Guthrie Ceramics47 items
Railway Photographs284 items
WW1 Memorabilia93 items
Goldfields Maps31 items
Mayors of Bendigo22 items
Security & data

Your collection is yours.
Always.

Heritage collections represent irreplaceable community history. We treat your data with the same care you give your artefacts.

Encrypted at rest
AES-256 encryption on all files
Australian servers
Hosted in Azure Australia East
Full data export
CSV & JSON any time — your data, always
Daily backups
Automated backups, 90-day retention
Redundant storage
Files replicated across multiple zones
Role-based access
Admin, Manager, Contributor, Read-only
SECURITY STATUS · ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL
Last backup2 minutes ago
Data residencyAustralia (Azure East)
Uptime (30 days)99.97%
EncryptionAES-256 + TLS 1.3
Malware scanningMicrosoft Defender active
Last pen testJan 2026 — passed

Full security documentation available on request. We never sell or share your data.

Pricing

Pay only for the items you have

No per-user fees. No features locked behind higher tiers. Move up a plan only when your collection outgrows it.

Starter
Freeforever
First 100 items free — no credit card
  • 100 catalogued items
  • Smart photo recognition
  • Voice-to-catalogue
  • QR label printing
  • All core features
  • 5 GB storage
Get started
Most popular
Community
$59/month
For growing collections teams
  • 2,000 catalogued items
  • All Starter features
  • Research notes & attachments
  • Sub-collections
  • Equipment management
  • Unlimited users
  • 50 GB storage
Get started
Professional
$99/month
Established collections & larger catalogues
  • 8,000 catalogued items
  • All Community features
  • Advanced reporting
  • Data export (CSV/JSON)
  • Unlimited users
  • 200 GB storage
Get started

Need more capacity?  See all plans — up to 40,000+ items →

The stories are waiting.
Start cataloguing today.

First 100 items free, forever. Contact us to get your collection started — no credit card required.

Available in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada and the USA.