For fossil collectors
A private, local catalogue for your fossil collection. Design your own labels and print them on your own printer.
ClearBench is a native desktop app built for palaeontology collectors who want their catalogue, and the localities behind it, to stay theirs alone. Common name, scientific name, geological age, formation, locality, matrix, completeness, preparation history. No cloud account. No subscription database. No published GPS coordinates.
[ Detail view of a T. rex tooth from Hell Creek + printed fossil label ]
Three things, done well.
ClearBench isn't trying to be a museum collection management system, an auction tracker, and a cloud sync product all at once. It's a focused desktop app that does the three things palaeontology collectors actually need.
Catalogue every fossil
Common name, scientific name, taxonomic group, geological age, formation, locality, GPS, matrix, dimensions, weight, completeness, preparation notes, preparator, acquisition cost, current valuation, where it sits today. Your full palaeontology record on your machine.
Design your own labels
Six starting templates from clean to ornate. Twelve bundled fonts. Full control over every field, font size, and alignment. Output a sharp PDF at exact size and print it on your own printer.
Keep your localities private
GPS coordinates and detailed formation locations never leave your computer. No upload, no telemetry, no server-side copy. The site you found that ammonite ten years ago stays your secret, not a row in someone else's database.
Selling fossils? Built for that too.
Track stock separately from your personal collection, scope to the active show, record sales as they happen, print label sheets and price tags. Same app, same privacy, no extra purchase. ClearBench is built for how fossil dealers actually work.
Track stock at every show
One inventory list across every fossil show and gem-and-mineral fair. Filter to what's on the table, scan a SKU, mark it sold. Species, age, asking price all on the table-side device.
Record sales as they happen
A sale is two clicks: pick the fossil, enter the price. ClearBench logs the date, the show, the buyer (optional), and the actual price paid. End-of-show reports show what sold, by show, by group, by margin.
Print price tags + bulk-import
The same label engine prints price tags for every piece on the table. Drop in a CSV from Excel to bulk-load a fresh table; round-trip back any time.
Built for palaeontology, not generic cataloguing.
ClearBench knows what a fossil actually carries on its label and in its record. The fields are the ones any serious collector or field worker would expect to see.
Your localities never leave your computer.
Fossil locality data has consequences. Precise GPS coordinates in a searchable database can attract cleanout crews, get a productive site stripped within a season, or expose collectors to scrutiny from regulators. ClearBench's privacy architecture isn't a marketing line. It's the only sensible default for palaeontology collection data.
Stored on your device only
Every fossil, photo, GPS reading, and valuation sits on your computer. No upload, no copy on any server, no third-party access, including ours. We literally cannot read your collection.
No analytics on your records
No telemetry on what you catalogue, photograph, or value. We don't track which sites you've worked or what you've collected from them.
Backups stay yours
Full-catalogue backups are plain .clearbench JSON files you save where you want: your hard drive, an encrypted external, your own cloud. For day-to-day work, export any collection straight out to CSV, Excel, plain text, or a vCard for contacts, then round-trip back in after a bulk edit. The format is documented and stable.
No lock-in
If we vanish tomorrow, your collection is still yours, in a format you can re-import into other tools. The .clearbench backup file is plain JSON that opens in any text editor; the CSV, Excel, and plain-text exports open in tools you already have.
Labels that earn their place beside the fossil.
Six bundled templates from clean to ornate, with full control over font, size, alignment, and prefix. All text rendered as SVG paths via opentype.js, pixel-accurate at every zoom and on every printer.
[ Fossil label sample ]
[ Fossil label sample ]
[ Fossil label sample ]
One price when it launches. Everything in.
No tiers, no upsells, no monthly billing. Every paying user gets every feature.
all in, no upsells
Pay in your local currency at checkout — we'll convert automatically.
- Six professional label templates, fully editable on a free-positioning canvas
- Build a catalogue around any collection: pick a starter or design your own field set
- Drag-and-drop photo gallery, plus add photos from your phone over local WiFi
- Type-aware fields with smart defaults per collection type
- Sharp, exact-size PDFs for printing
- Real macOS and Windows app with fast launch, native menus and keyboard shortcuts, dark mode that follows your OS, and no browser tab eating your RAM
- Local backups you control: export and restore the whole catalogue as one file
- All updates free for the licence year
30-day money-back guarantee · macOS and Windows · Your data stays on your device
First launch walks you through setting up your first collection in three short steps.
Common questions from fossil collectors.
Does it handle scientific names and taxonomic groups properly?
+
Yes. Each fossil has a separate Common name (e.g. Trilobite, Ammonite, T. rex tooth), Scientific name (Latin binomial), and Group (Trilobita, Ammonoidea, Theropoda) field. Scientific name is free text rather than a fixed taxonomy. Palaeontology nomenclature changes often enough that locking it down would do more harm than good. You can use the most specific identification you have, or leave the species blank when you only know the genus.
How do I record geological age (period, epoch, or stage)?
+
Geological age is one free-text field so you can be as specific as your identification supports. 'Cretaceous' is fine. 'Late Cretaceous' is better. 'Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)' is the gold standard. ClearBench doesn't enforce a vocabulary because the period/epoch/stage hierarchy is too deep for a single dropdown. Pair it with the Formation field (Wheeler Shale, Hell Creek, Solnhofen) for the stratigraphic context.
Can I keep GPS coordinates without them ever leaving my computer?
+
Yes, that's the entire point of how ClearBench is built. GPS goes in a dedicated field that's stored on your device's local database alongside the rest of the record. There's no cloud account, no upload, no telemetry. The coordinates physically cannot reach our servers because we don't run any. Backups you make are plain JSON files you save wherever you want.
What about field photos and prep documentation? Where do they live?
+
Drag photos from your computer straight onto a fossil: in-situ shots, before/after prep, scale references, multiple angles. iPhone HEIC photos work without any conversion step once they're on your computer. Everything's stored locally; nothing's uploaded anywhere. The first photo on each fossil becomes the cover image you see in the catalogue, and you can swap it any time.
Can I track preparation history (who prepped it, what techniques were used)?
+
Yes. Each fossil has a dedicated Preparation notes field for technique (air abrasive, acid prep, mechanical, restoration, mounting) and a separate Preparator field for who did the work. Useful for your own records and essential when reselling, because buyers care about prep provenance, particularly on high-value pieces.
What about jurisdictions where fossil collecting is regulated?
+
ClearBench is a private cataloguing tool. It doesn't transmit, share, or publish any record you create. What you collect, where, and under what permits is entirely between you and the relevant authorities. We have no view into your records and don't want one. The Acquisition source, Notes, and Permits-relevant fields are free text so you can document permits, landowner permission, or commercial purchases however your jurisdiction expects. Backups are local JSON files; you control where they go.
Also built for
ClearBench works the same way for every collection type.
For mineral collectors
IMA species names, Mindat locality + minID, crystal data
For coin collectors
Mints, grades, slab numbers
For stamp collectors
Scott / Michel / SG, condition
For dealers
Show mode, stock, sales reports, label sheets
For watch collectors
References, calibres, service history
For vinyl collectors
Pressings, matrix, Goldmine grading
For trading card collectors
Sets, parallels, PSA/BGS grades
For antiquarian book collectors
Editions, bindings, provenance
For meteorite collectors
Classification, fall vs find, weight
For vintage camera collectors
Make, format, lens, working condition
For antique map collectors
Cartographer, region, medium, colour
For whisky collectors
Distillery, age, cask, fill level
For LEGO collectors
Set number lookup, build state, box + manual condition
For households
Belongings for insurance, room by room