Questions before you buy | Made with Pepper

What does Pepper do?

Pepper connects leads, customers, projects, tasks, tracked time, quotes, invoices and business records in one application you host and own. Keep your team, files and conversations with the work. Collect enquiries through forms on an existing website or a public link, then follow them into customer work. See the product overview.

A widget is a small customer service you put on an existing website or share through a link in a newsletter or message. For example, someone fills in your project enquiry form and their answers arrive in Pepper. Embedded forms and public form links are available now.

One website button can offer several published services through a widget launcher. Each service keeps its own access and consent. Single-widget buttons and floating launchers, business cards, team pages, price lists, offers, stamp cards, listings and bookings are included. Named QR placements connect printed codes to published widgets. Staff confirm counter actions, and customer workspaces keep each business’s widgets separate.

Keep your existing website and connect the services you need. See the three presentations and all widget journeys.

Is it a hosted service?

Pepper is software you install on hosting you choose. You or a technical partner maintain the server, email, updates and backups. A normal installation requires PHP 8.4+ and supported SQLite, MySQL or MariaDB. See self-hosting. For custom development and ongoing maintenance, see tailored platforms.

Does Pepper send data to NowSquare?

No. Pepper has no license check and no usage reporting. It connects to outside services only when you set them up, such as single sign-on, an MCP client, your mail service or browser push notifications. See what Pepper connects to.

Where is my data stored?

On the server and database you choose. Your records and files stay in your installation, and backups go where you put them. Ask your hosting provider where its servers and backups are, and which country's law applies.

Can you build a platform for my business?

Yes, as a separate paid service. We design, build and run a platform on Made with Pepper around your processes, from €4,000 or US$4,000 a month, excluding VAT. Read about tailored platforms.

Can I run it with Docker or a PaaS?

The downloaded ZIP includes a Docker Compose recipe with PHP, Apache and the scheduler. Keep the whole installation on one persistent volume, including its key, data and updated code. Use dashboard updates for the application and rebuild the runtime for PHP patches.

Coolify, Dokploy, CapRover, Railway, Render and Fly.io provide storage options that make them candidates. Each needs a platform-specific trial; we do not claim completed deployments on these providers. Heroku dynos, DigitalOcean App Platform and AWS App Runner do not meet this recipe's persistence requirement. Read installation, updating and the provider matrix.

Which languages are supported?

English, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.

The interface, document PDFs and emails support 14 variants of these 13 languages. Portuguese has separate European and Brazilian variants. Work in one language and send each customer's documents in another. Arabic includes right-to-left layouts.

Choose from 26 regional options for company defaults or save your own preference on your profile. A language explicitly selected in a browser remains first in that browser. Spanish uses Spain's tax terms. The website, manual and email support are in English. Your own content stays in the language you enter. Read the language and localization details.

Does Pepper work internationally and with multiple currencies?

Yes. Pepper supports international business records and 23 currencies: AED, AUD, BHD, BRL, CAD, CHF, CNY, DKK, EUR, GBP, IDR, INR, JPY, MXN, MYR, NOK, NZD, PLN, SAR, SEK, TRY, USD and ZAR. The USD purchase price does not restrict your document currencies.

Choose the currency for each document. Balances and reports keep currencies separate instead of converting them into one total. You can also choose date and number formats, your business timezone and the start of the week. See localization and company settings.

Addresses use the selected country's fields and printed order. Foreign addresses do not need a local postcode or region format. See country addresses.

You configure tax rates, classes and rules. Choose manual tax, no tax or your configured rules for each sales line. Prices can include or exclude tax. Saved choices and issued originals keep their amounts after setup changes. Pepper does not determine a jurisdiction from an address or postal code. See tax setup and what Pepper calculates.

Item CSV files retain currency, price basis and tax class. Amounts stay exact, including zero-decimal and three-decimal currencies. Read catalog imports and exports.

Currency and language support do not establish compliance with every country's tax or e-invoicing rules. Check the UBL export scope for its supported standards and limits.

What does the license cost?

$199/year includes your copy, full source code and a licence that never expires. Updates and product support last one year from purchase. One licence covers one production installation. Hosting, email and maintenance cost extra.

Gumroad renews updates and support automatically at $199/year unless you cancel. Cancel at any time and keep your full paid year. After access ends, return whenever you want the latest version and another year for $199. You do not pay for skipped years. Read pricing and terms.

Yes. One licence allows you to sell widget access to multiple customer businesses on your production installation. Each additional production installation needs its own licence. You may not redistribute the application source or installable package.

You can sell widget access to customer businesses through customer workspaces and plans. Read the licence terms.

How do I install an update?

Upload the release ZIP in Settings > Update, or put it in storage/app/private/updates with SFTP and click Refresh list. Then click Check package and Install update in the dashboard. Made with Pepper backs up the installation first and rolls back a failed update. Read the update guide.

Does it replace my accountant’s software?

It has no bookkeeping ledger, bank feeds or tax filing. You can record purchases and export invoices, purchase evidence and period summaries for your accountant. A tax period is not a tax return.

Can clients pay online?

The current download records money received outside Pepper. Invoices can show bank details and an EPC QR code on eligible EUR documents. Stripe payment links let customers pay an issued invoice, with partial payments, confirmed credit-note refunds and separate fees. Read online payment setup and recovery.

Does it manage projects and time?

Yes. Projects hold tasks, fixed-price milestones and tracked time. Use a timer or weekly timesheet, then prepare approved milestones and billable time in one invoice draft. Budgets and margin use the recorded work and invoices. Moving a board card does not change billing. Read Manage a project and Bill tracked time.

Can I write proposals and procedures?

Yes. Docs holds private proposals, procedures and work notes linked to permitted business records. Reuse templates, insert exact record values and keep saved versions. One editing session writes at a time. If a save conflicts, review the current version before saving your retained draft.

Share internally with named people and teams. Approve a controlled edition to freeze its content and PDF, then create an expiring recipient link. Recipients need no account. A folder, mention or board card grants no Doc access. Writing a Doc does not issue an invoice or quote. Read Write and share Docs or the Doc tools.

Can I plan meetings beside work deadlines?

Yes. Calendar shows personal or shared events beside permitted task dates, milestone deadlines, invoice due dates, quote expiries, bookings, Sales follow-ups and Doc reviews. Choose month, week, day or agenda and filter by source, project or calendar. Shared readers cannot edit the owner's events. Repeating events keep their local clock, including daylight-saving rules. Saving sends no mail; invitations need a separate exact review. Read Calendar.

Can an event start the next piece of work?

Yes. Automations connects registered work events or schedules to tasks, projects and approved actions. Edit in Flow or List, save inactive and activate after review. Each run keeps the creator's current access. Issuing, sending and signed webhooks require exact human approval. Check run history before retrying failed work. An unknown webhook outcome needs another review because the receiver may already have processed it. Read Automations or the HTTP and MCP reference.

Can I use Calendar with another calendar app?

Import and export ICS files, or create a private subscription feed. Import checks the whole file before saving and never sends invitations. Reimporting the same UID updates that imported event in the chosen calendar. A selected repeating event exports its complete series. A private feed address appears once and follows your current access. Revocation stops it permanently. Calendar provides no CalDAV or outside-provider synchronization. Read files and feeds.

Can I track leads and deals?

Yes. Sales > Leads collects enquiries by hand, from a CSV file or from a form or website widget. Qualifying a lead creates or links the customer and opens a deal. Deals move through the stages you set up, with Won and Lost as outcomes and a reason for each lost deal. A linked quote is the deal's value; accepting it marks the deal won. Home lists the leads and deals that need a follow-up. Read Leads and Deals and the pipeline.

What is the difference between Boards and Board access?

Boards shows boards you can open and work on. My cards gathers your assigned, due and watched cards. Board access lets installation owners and admins find every board, including private and archived boards, to recover access. It shows names and admins without revealing private cards. Join as admin requires confirmation, records the action and notifies the board admins.

Can I bring a Trello board?

Yes. Upload a Trello JSON export and review the preview before importing it as a private board. Lists, cards, labels, checklists, dates and comments are retained. People match by permitted email addresses. Attachments stay as external links; Pepper does not download them. See Trello import.

Will I see changes and mentions without reloading?

Open boards, conversations and the inbox refresh through one shared live connection. Mentions and assignments can show an in-app alert or optional browser push. You control the channels and Do not disturb. If alerts are blocked or disabled, the inbox item can remain unread. Presence shows who has the app open, not attendance or productivity. Read notification settings.

Does it include AI or MCP?

Explore the AI tools for example requests, available capabilities, access controls and setup.

AI is optional. The owner can connect MCP and HTTP clients with expiring access to permitted records. Clients can edit drafts, update sales and work records, log time, comment and handle files as their delegated person. Sensitive actions require that person's exact approval. Other permitted changes can save immediately. Only an approved online refund moves money. Read Use Pepper from your AI client for access rules, example requests and tested clients. MCP Inspector 2.10.1 and FastMCP CLI 4.1.0 completed scripted HTTPS jobs with synthetic data and no model calls.

You can also use the built-in Assistant after the owner connects Anthropic, OpenAI or an OpenAI-compatible provider. Each person selects an expiring tool grant and confirms every write, including saving a draft. Sensitive actions keep their separate human approval. Without a configured provider, the panel is absent and makes no generation requests. Your ordinary work and external clients need no embedded model account.

Provider charges and retention terms are separate. Local conversation history starts off; the owner can choose a maximum of 7 or 30 days. People can delete their own local history from their profile, including with the provider disabled. Business records, charged usage and provider-held copies remain. See Assistant setup and privacy.

How can I check what happened?

The audit log records actions and sampled reads. Browse it by person, record or period, verify its stored chain and export signed evidence. Personal-field erasure preserves issued originals and financial figures. A valid chain does not certify legal compliance or prove that an original entry was true.

Installation health explains failed checks and links to the next useful action. Audit chain integrity is one of those checks. Home shows a current health problem once.

Does XML export send an invoice over Peppol?

No. The supported UBL export downloads a local file. Pepper does not provide Peppol network delivery or government portal submission. Read the export guide.

Can my team use it?

People and teams provide a staff directory, working hours and offboarding. Four built-in roles, custom roles and guest scopes determine access. Employees manage permitted records they created; accountants can inspect records and export data without changing billing work. Read roles and permissions. These roles govern the platform business. Separate customer widget workspaces have their own owners and staff.

What support and refunds are included?

Product support is included while your subscription is active. We investigate bugs and built-in features that do not work as documented. Email support runs in English without an urgent-response commitment. You may request a full refund within 14 days for any reason. Defective products also have the fix-or-refund provision in the terms.

Can I set up my own demo?

Create a separate disposable installation with Add demo data enabled. Create your own owner login. Publish any sample public form you want visitors to open, then set DEMO_MODE=true and MAIL_MAILER=log. Set APP_URL to your demo's address.

You can also create a separate disposable MySQL 8.4 demo from your deployment script, without the web installer. It creates four public demo logins and sample records in the database selected by your environment. The marked demo seeds Pulse Studio with six months of relative history: customers, leads and deals, documents, projects, boards, a published public inquiry and its responses. Project tasks, team assignments and logged time show how the work connects to invoices. Samples include upcoming and completed bookings, spaces and equipment, a workshop vacancy and loyalty histories. Open House adds three active customer businesses: Canal Coffee on Venue, Harbour Homes on Listings and Northwind Studio on Showcase. Each has published widgets, recent analytics, visitor records, a team and service invoices. Fresh buyer samples stay closed. The marked demo publishes fictional forms, cards, price lists, bookings, listings and offers. Expired promotions stay closed. Workspace invitations are cancelled, and payment providers remain unconfigured. Visitors can inspect those public examples, but cannot save new responses, requests, bookings or offer claims. Later rebuilds replace business records and preserve logins. Use your own demo address. Read the demo deployment instructions before running a rebuild.

Pulse Studio’s opening-day story connects a proposal to version history, controlled handover editions and stored PDFs. Stopped rules retain completed, skipped and cancelled run histories without live approvals. Customer businesses show service bills across actual monthly dates. An inclusive-price draft uses the studio’s configured design tax class. The hosted Assistant stays unconfigured and makes no generation requests.

Can I see Pepper before buying?

Yes. Open the demo to explore the product with example records. The changelog records release history, and what Pepper includes describes the current product.

Can I collect information through forms?

Public forms collect responses and private files at a direct address. They keep consent when requested and never update existing records.

Internal forms create or update response records and customers with the submitter's permissions. Custom fields add exact values to registered records.

Available widgets embed forms on an existing website, and published platform forms can route responses to a chosen board.

The widget programme includes business cards, team pages, price lists and counter offers. Its presentations work at their own address, inline on your website or in a panel opened by a button. Each presentation uses the same settings and permissions. Named placements provide links and printable QR codes. Visitors can save vouchers, deals and coupons, or collect stamps towards rewards. Staff confirm each counter action. Card messages and quote requests become separate requests linked to leads. A published platform form can also create a linked card in a chosen board. Use booking widgets for appointments, stays, group capacity and events. Stripe payment links collect against staff-issued invoices. Read Forms and custom fields, website widgets and offers and stamp cards for setup and limits.

Can I publish properties, vehicles, rentals or vacancies?

Pepper supports single listings and searchable collections with photos, documents, exact prices and a chosen level of address detail. Visitors can compare up to four listings, ask questions, request appointments or submit a private vacancy application. Staff confirm appointments and review applications. Verified visitors can opt into email alerts for new matching listings and unsubscribe from each alert. Booking widgets support self-service viewings, test drives and rental dates. Read listings and requests.

The business enters allergens, dietary marks, descriptions, language variants and availability. Pepper checks none of these claims. Items without marks say Ask us about allergens. Changes apply across live menus. A dated menu PDF includes the published details and a QR link; replace prints after changes. Visitors can send catering requests with items, a date, headcount and dietary questions. A request confirms no order or booking. Read menus and catering.

Can visitors estimate a job or check their postal code?

An estimator maps typed answers to exact catalogue quantities and prices. A sent request keeps the answers, rule version and estimate. It is not a quote. Service-area checks use your country-specific postal codes and prefixes, without an outside mapping service. Anonymous checks retain no postal code; a sent request keeps it for follow-up. Read estimators and service areas.

Can visitors book an appointment or place?

Bookings cover staff appointments, nightly resources, group capacity and free event registrations. Visitors choose availability, review the exact price and accept the policy. Email-code sign-in lets them change or cancel within the accepted deadline. Waitlists offer freed capacity for explicit acceptance. Confirmed or completed platform bookings can prepare an ordinary invoice draft. Staff review and issue it before collecting a deposit or ticket price through the Stripe workflow. Keep the booking confirmation and invoice payment status separate. Read booking setup and recovery.

Which timezone do booking dates use?

In the booking workflow, visitors choose timed bookings in one timezone for both the date and time. The widget starts with their browser's timezone. Changing the timezone keeps their selected booking time and updates its displayed date and time. Saved booking changes use the visitor's saved timezone; staff use the business timezone. Nightly resources use the business timezone for arrival and departure. Read the visitor booking steps.

Can bookings avoid times in my other calendar?

The booking workflow accepts private HTTPS calendar feeds. The business owner chooses a refresh interval and whether failures pause affected bookings. By default, bookings stay open with the last known busy times. A recent outside event can be missed until the next refresh. Pepper imports busy intervals and keeps feed addresses private. Read outside calendars.

Widgets with visitor email have optional Sender name and Reply-to email fields. An empty field uses the owning workspace's default, then the installation default. Each widget has one sender identity across its placements. The sending address stays in Settings > Email, where it must match your mail provider's requirements. Customer billing addresses are separate. Read widget email senders.

Can I hide what I do not use?

Yes. Choose a desk from the top bar: Money, Accounting, Sales, Work, Venue, Listings, Showcase or Bookings. Each starts with pages for that job. Everything groups the full menu as Money, Sales, Work and Customer services. Scan, Bookings, Analytics, Forms and Widgets are in Customer services.

During installation, choose your desk first, then an optional business type that fits it. The business type arranges that desk without switching your start choice. Every module stays installed. Owners and admins can rename and arrange desks, then assign them to roles or people. Below Admin, assigned desks also limit access through direct links, MCP and HTTP clients. Your role must still permit each action. Read Choose and arrange your desks.

Can customers manage their own widgets and staff?

The widget tours use four labels. Visitor uses the public service. Staff helps visitors at the business's venue. Business manages its own widgets and records in a limited account. Platform is the operator running MwP, with access to permitted platform tools and records. A Business account cannot access the platform's invoice or revenue ledger.

The platform operator assigns a plan and invites the owner to a separate customer workspace. The owner manages its permitted widgets and invites individual counter staff. The plan summary lists the included widget types and account tools. The plan also chooses a Venue, Listings or Showcase desk. Its family pages contain only that business’s permitted widgets. Customer accounts have no desk menu; Accounts switches businesses. Each staff member can serve all or selected widgets in that business. Visitors do not become staff or workspace members by claiming an offer. Read customer workspace setup and the owner's guide.

Does a plan collect subscription payments?

No. In a customer widget workspace, a plan defines price terms, features and limits. The platform issues invoices through its existing invoice tools. The customer owner can read issued service invoices and credit notes in Billing, including after the plan ends. Staff cannot access them.

Which address do published forms use?

Published forms use the installation's configured public address. Named placement links keep their address and QR code when you change their destination, so a printed QR code can keep working.

Analytics in either widget row menu opens that widget’s purpose, results and next actions. Sales > Analytics compares placements, approved campaigns and share channels, then opens the permitted records behind exact results. The publishing kit generates newsletter and WhatsApp links, website snippets and optional campaign QR codes for the same service. Counted views, measured loads and accepted requests have separate definitions. Collection starts off. Browser activity needs permission on each page load; Pepper sets no visitor cookie and uses no browser storage. It cannot report unique visitors or anonymous returns. Content results group exact records by case, tag, topic, guide step and published version. Unsubscribes use their withdrawal date. Read widget results and privacy.

Can I see which placements brought paid work?

Platform analytics follows explicitly linked requests through leads, accepted quotes, invoices and recorded payments. It shows first and last touch over a 30-day window, keeps unknown sources visible and separates currencies. Invoiced revenue excludes tax and subtracts credit notes; cash collected uses payments minus refunds. You need access to the documents and See balances and figures. Customer workspaces have their own widget results, without the platform's revenue ledger. Pepper does not identify anonymous visitors or establish that a placement caused a sale. Read revenue attribution.

Can public forms use my business identity?

Published public forms show your company name and uploaded logo. The confirmation page keeps that identity. Owners and Admins can hide the small Powered by Made with Pepper link in Settings > Company > Logo. It starts on. Public forms have no product slogan and need no respondent account. See public forms.

Can I install without a database server?

Yes. Choose SQLite during setup. It uses a private local file and needs no database account. MySQL and MariaDB remain available. See requirements.

Can I export and move my whole installation?

Yes. Open Settings > Backups, enter a recovery password and click Export and download. On a fresh destination, choose Import a backup. Select the ZIP, enter its password and choose SQLite, MySQL or MariaDB. Import verifies the records and files before activation.

Use the same version or a newer release that supports the backup’s version. Import applies supported updates before activation. Existing installations are never overwritten. Read the full steps.

Can I import an older backup into a newer version?

Yes, when the newer release supports the backup’s starting version. Fresh browser setup restores the older data, applies updates and verifies the result. You do not need to install intermediate versions.

Each release imports authenticated backups from earlier releases, from version 1.0.0 onward. Older SQL backups need their original database family and application key. Import requires an empty destination. It never merges or overwrites existing records. Read the compatibility and recovery steps.

Do backups need cron or command-line access?

Manual browser export and import need neither. Larger archives can use your hosting file manager and the import page’s private-file selector. Scheduled backups require one cron job every minute. The Backups page provides the entry, shows the last scheduler report and names the last backup result. Set up scheduled backups.

Can I publish links, opening hours or downloadable files?

A link page gathers published Pepper widgets and outside HTTPS addresses. Locations show business hours and dated closures without loading a map service. Download widgets publish a chosen file version and can ask for an email before creating a lead and delivering the file. See links and hours and download widgets.

Can I collect testimonials, private feedback, surveys or polls?

A customer writes and consents to a testimonial through a personal link; staff can approve or hide it, and the customer can withdraw publication consent. Private feedback refers to completed work and stays private. Surveys retain the questions each answer used. Anonymous polls count submissions; an email code can limit a poll to one vote per address. See testimonials and feedback and surveys and polls. An AI client can send requests and show or hide a testimonial only after the person approves each step.

Can I show case studies or send customers a guide?

Cases show finished work with photo galleries and before-and-after comparisons. Portfolios gather published cases by tag. Structured client details stay hidden until the addressed client verifies their email and consents to that version. The original link still permits withdrawal after expiry; it does not reopen private reading. Guides retain their published steps and selected file versions. A recipient can ask about a step and acknowledge the version they read. This is a reading record, not a signature or treatment consent. See cases and portfolios and guides and acknowledgements.

Visitors verify their email, choose topics and accept your subscription statement. Scheduled posts can also appear as temporary notices on your other widgets. Each eligible post queues one email per address, with an unsubscribe link. Editing or republishing it does not send another copy. Withdrawal stops pending messages; a message already being sent may still arrive. See business updates.

Yes. Leave Allowed websites empty to allow any domain. To restrict embedding, list one website address per line. You must still publish the widget. See website settings.

Can I change what a printed QR code opens?

Reusable links & QR codes creates a named link, such as Front window. Its address and QR code stay the same when you choose another published widget. For example, the same window code can open your business card first and your booking page later. After saving a link, choose its name from Link to share in Publish & share, then click Copy link. This selector appears only when this widget has a reusable link. See reusable links and printing.

See which campaign brings visits and requests. Use one labelled link in your newsletter and another on Instagram. Both open the same widget. Analytics shows their results separately.

Open Publish & share, then Track this link (UTM). Choose a preset or enter your own source, medium and campaign labels. Click Use these labels and copy the generated link. Adding labels requires analytics settings permission; you can share an ordinary link without them. See campaign links.

Can customers approve proofs or answer questions during a job?

Staff invite named customer contacts to a proof set or job page. An email code checks access to the invited inbox. Proof approvals retain the selected files, exact version, statement and time. A revised version needs a new decision. Job pages show stages and collect choices, yes/no answers, short text, dates or collection windows. A linked quote opens its ordinary review page; the job never accepts it automatically. Read proofs and approvals and job progress.

Does forwarding a job link give someone access?

No. In customer decision pages, only contacts with an explicit live invitation can read the private work after an email code. Removing or deactivating a contact ends access. A reused address does not inherit another contact's invitation. A printed QR code and an embedded page use the same checks. These project services belong to the Platform and are unavailable in customer workspace accounts.

Can I compare revenue, costs and cash with last month?

Money overview compares the selected month, quarter or year with the preceding calendar period. It separates invoiced revenue excluding tax, selected purchase costs, their result and recorded cash. You can choose payment dates for revenue and costs and include purchase tax for selected categories. Each currency and source record follows your access. The result is not accounting profit; net cash movement is not a bank balance. Read Money overview.