Direct-sales software for farmers: orders, AMAP baskets, delivery routes

Short-supply-chain marketplaces take a percentage of sales; generic software charges a subscription. Between them, weekly orders, basket contracts, routes, and food-safety exemption counters still live in spreadsheets and text messages.

Cagette.net charges no subscription but a sales commission: 6% on Flexible and 2% on Engagée, falling to 0% above €23,400 including tax in annual sales (page consulted September 2, 2026). Socleo advertises subscriptions from €30 per month. Agreste counted 90,000 short-supply-chain farms in 2020, 23% of mainland French farms.

A percentage, a subscription, or a server to maintain

Three models share short supply chains. Cagette.net takes commission with an annual cap and a reduction to 2% in exchange for mandatory training priced at €208 for a farmer. Socleo charges a subscription with only the starting price public. Then there is free software: AmapJ, free of charge, announces 485 AMAP users and a release dated May 15, 2026, but warns that it requires a server rented and administered by you or a regional group. clic'AMAP, supported by AMAP networks, says the same: software needs hosting and maintenance, requiring human and financial resources. Free software moves spending to hosting and someone to maintain it.

A market with no public reviews, and what that tells us

Research on September 2, 2026 found no corpus of farmer complaints about these tools. Trustpilot has no Socleo listing, and Cagette.net's is populated by consumers rather than farms. That absence is informative: the market is fragmented, often regional or association-based, and nobody compares themselves publicly. A producer chooses through a network's word of mouth, without comparable pricing or dated usage feedback.

A farmer's week, task by task

Weekly orders need automatic opening and closing of windows per collection point, a catalogue with actual availability entered from the field in thirty seconds, reminders for customers who have not ordered, and printable preparation summaries per route. Basket and AMAP contracts need duration, basket count, advance cheques, delivery calendars with deferred weeks, absences, each member's balance, and a sign-off list for each distribution. Routes need stop order based on orders, crates per drop-off point, discrepancies entered on site, and a summary of what remains at the farm. Compliance counters need weekly cumulative quantities supplied to nearby retailers by category, with warnings before exceeding food-safety approval exemption thresholds. Finally come pesticide treatment and batch traceability records.

What remains official, with dates

Four components cannot be rewritten. Aid declarations go through the state's Telepac portal, and no third-party tool files on your behalf. For payments, a VAT-taxable producer recording consumer payments with till software falls under Article 286-I-3° bis of the French General Tax Code, and tax guidance rules out self-development: software written for one's own needs can be justified only by an accredited body's certificate, under penalty of €7,500 per system. The resulting rule is simple: the tool does not touch payment. Invoices to business customers, restaurants, grocers, canteens, will go through an approved platform from September 1, 2027 for very small businesses; consumer sales remain outside that scope. The pesticide treatment register required for at least three years by Article 67 of EU Regulation 1107/2009 may be kept in your own tool if its content corresponds to actual actions. Check your VAT regime with your management centre.

Where your data lives, and what never goes online

A direct-selling farm handles three different kinds of information. Families' names, addresses, and buying habits are personal data in the full sense, requiring processing records and access rights honoured within thirty days. Quantities produced, supplied, and sold affect margins and your position against food-safety thresholds. Regulatory readings must be presentable at inspection without passing through anyone else. A marketplace sees all three. Scoping therefore begins with a division: Margaux has you decide item by item what the order page needs to know, the catalogue and collection slots, and what has no reason to leave the farm, the registers, margins, and member file. The customer-facing part is hosted somewhere, chosen on day one; the rest stays on your machine, with online backup only if requested. Salomé displays only authorised information. The AI budget depends on the assistant, its plan and the work requested. Our measured AI spending covers specific tests and does not set this tool's price. Also budget for your approval time, any hosting, external services and maintenance. Who answers for your data is settled before features, alongside where the tool stores what it creates.

Where to start

Answer one question yes or no: without opening a spreadsheet, do you know how many kilos you supplied to nearby shops this week and their distance from the farm? A no moves the issue from management convenience to compliance. Describe that gap, read the specification an agent team proposes, and keep payments where they are. Drawing a boundary around what cannot be replaced also applies to a holiday cottage or campsite, and the details of what we can and cannot see take five minutes to read.