Public sharing without an add-on
Sharing your collection online with PastPerfect means adding the MultiMedia Upgrade and PastPerfect Online on top of the base product. Librygo's portal is part of every plan from day one.
Librygo
vs
PastPerfect
Librygo vs PastPerfect: web-native cataloguing for museums & archives
PastPerfect has been a mainstay of museum collections management for decades, with a large installed base and deep object/loan tracking. Librygo takes a web-first approach with a public portal and custom fields built in from the start, rather than added on later.
At a glance
Where each one is the stronger fit
Choose Librygo if you want…
- Web-native access from any device — no desktop install
- A public search portal included by default, not a separate paid add-on
- Freeform custom fields per record type, instead of fixed catalogue templates
- Patron/member circulation (loans, holds, renewals) alongside collections management
PastPerfect may be the better fit if you want…
- A long-established product with a very large museum user base
- Purpose-built object loan tracking (incoming/outgoing institutional loans)
- Built-in donation, membership and mailing tools out of the box
- An offline, on-premise desktop option
Feature by feature
Librygo vs PastPerfect
A practical comparison covering access, cataloguing flexibility, public sharing, and pricing model.
| Librygo | PastPerfect | |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Web-native — any modern browser, any device | Windows desktop software by default, with a separate cloud-based Web Edition option |
| Custom metadata fields per record type | Fully freeform, defined per record type | Fixed catalogues (Objects, Photos, Archives, Library, etc.) with largely preset fields |
| Public search portal / online sharing | Included on every plan, branded to your logo/colour | Separate add-on (PastPerfect Online), requires the MultiMedia Upgrade |
| Patron/member circulation (loans, holds, renewals) | Yes | Object loan tracking for institutional loans in/out — not day-to-day patron circulation |
| Boolean & advanced search | Yes — quick boolean search plus a visual query builder | Yes — keyword & field search within each catalogue |
| Donations, memberships & mailings | Not a built-in module | Built in |
| Licence & subscription expiry tracking | Built in, with automated reports | Not a built-in module |
| Pricing model | Published flat annual plans on our pricing page | Web Edition reported from around $596/year†; public sharing priced as a separate add-on |
| Installed base | Growing — newer platform | Long-established — reported use by 12,000+ museums† |
†Figures from publicly available PastPerfect marketing and pricing pages as of September 2026; always confirm current details with PastPerfect.
Why teams move from PastPerfect to Librygo
Usually, it's about getting online without a second product
Fields that match your objects
PastPerfect's built-in catalogues cover common museum object types well, but a mixed collection — say, archive boxes alongside artefacts and a small lending library — often needs its own field shapes. Librygo lets you define those directly.
No desktop install to manage
Staff and volunteers can catalogue from a laptop, tablet, or shared reading-room computer without installing or licensing desktop software on each machine.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
PastPerfect's flagship product (PastPerfect 5.0) is Windows desktop software; a cloud-based option, PastPerfect Web Edition, is also available. Librygo is web-native from the ground up — there's no desktop install, and staff can catalogue from any device with a browser.
Yes, via PastPerfect Online, a separate add-on that requires the MultiMedia Upgrade and is priced apart from the core product. In Librygo, a public or non-public search portal is included on every plan with no separate add-on to buy.
PastPerfect organises records into a set of built-in catalogues (such as Objects, Photos, Archives, and Library) each with their own largely preset field structure. Librygo lets you define your own record types and custom fields from scratch, so you're not working within a fixed template.
Yes. Our team can help export your PastPerfect catalogue data and map it into custom record types and fields in Librygo as part of onboarding.
See how Librygo compares to Koha or Follett Destiny.
See Librygo on your own collection
Walk through custom fields, the public portal, and circulation — no desktop install required.