5 Membership Management Tools for Nonprofits: Features, Pricing, and Fit

Software comparisons

Choosing membership software starts with understanding what your nonprofit needs to improve.

You might need to collect annual dues, automate renewals, or organize member records. You might also need to help members discover each other, participate in events, and stay involved between meetings.

Those needs overlap, but they call for different strengths. This guide compares five tools across membership administration, community engagement, and nonprofit relationship management.

Compare the five tools

Swipe across the table to compare features and starting prices.

Prices are in USD. These are starting points with different capacities and features. Compare the plan you actually need, including payment fees and implementation costs. Follow the linked vendor pages for current terms.

1. Soorse: For helping members connect and participate

Soorse is worth considering when your nonprofit wants to make its member network more useful.

Organizations can run a member directory, publish announcements, create or import events, and access engagement insights without an organization subscription. Members can search the directory, connect with people, and follow group activity. Soorse features and pricing

Imagine a nonprofit whose supporters meet at a few events each year. A shared directory gives them a place to find one another afterward, while posts and upcoming events provide reasons to return. That is the kind of member experience we would evaluate Soorse for.

Eligible verified 501(c)(3) organizations can also receive revenue through optional member subscriptions, subject to verification and payout requirements. Soorse for nonprofits

Before choosing: Review the free and paid member experiences; some member features have limits. Optional paid features and revenue transactions have separate pricing or fees. If you are replacing a dues or donor-management system, confirm those specific workflows during evaluation.

2. WildApricot: For bringing membership operations and your website together

WildApricot combines membership management with a website builder, online payments, event registration, and email tools. Its membership features include renewal automation, invoicing, recurring payments, and member self-service. Platform features; membership management.

That combination makes it a candidate for a nonprofit that wants to manage its website and membership administration in one system. For example, an organization could handle membership applications, renewals, and event registrations through the same platform.

Before choosing: Price the contact tier you expect to need as your database grows. Payment-provider selection also matters: applicable US and Canadian accounts using third-party processors such as Stripe or PayPal incur a servicing fee equal to 20% of the software subscription price. This is separate from payment processing charges. Payment-provider policy.

3. Join It: For organizing dues and renewals

Join It is a candidate for nonprofits whose immediate priority is managing membership records and keeping renewals moving.

Its Starter plan includes recurring payments, renewal reminders, automated emails, custom fields, and multiple membership types. Higher plans add capabilities such as digital membership cards, member check-in, and a member directory. Join It plans.

A nonprofit moving away from a spreadsheet could evaluate it around a straightforward workflow: someone joins, pays, receives the appropriate communications, and gets reminded when renewal is due.

Before choosing: Match the price to your required features. The directory is included in Total, starting at $99/month, rather than the $29/month Starter plan. Paid memberships and paid event registrations also carry a 1.5%–3% service fee, depending on the plan, alongside Stripe's processing fees. Subscription pricing varies with member capacity, and eligible nonprofits receive a discount. Pricing details.

4. MemberClicks Professional: For associations with more administrative requirements

MemberClicks Professional is worth evaluating when your nonprofit needs to coordinate several membership functions.

Its published offering includes member directories, flexible membership types, committee management, automated dues collection, renewal reminders, email campaigns, event registration, reporting, and a website with a member portal. It starts at $4,500 annually, with pricing based on organizational and functional requirements. MemberClicks Professional features and pricing.

That makes it a candidate for a nonprofit professional association managing committees, recurring dues, and a substantial event calendar.

Before choosing: Request a proposal that specifies implementation, required features, and any additional products. MemberClicks lists community networking, learning, job-board, and mobile-app offerings separately, so confirm what your quote includes. Product and pricing overview.

5. CiviCRM: For a customizable nonprofit relationship database

CiviCRM brings membership management into a broader constituent relationship management system.

Its features cover contacts, memberships, contributions, events, email marketing, and reporting. Organizations can customize the software and integrate it with supported website platforms. CiviCRM overview.

We would consider it for a nonprofit that wants to connect several relationships in one database—for example, someone who is simultaneously a member, donor, and event participant—and has specific requirements for how those records work together.

Before choosing: Plan who will implement and maintain the system. CiviCRM has no software license fee, but hosting, configuration, training, maintenance, and professional support can still require a budget. Hosted and partner-supported options are available. CiviCRM cost guide.

Choose around the work your nonprofit needs to do

Before booking demonstrations, write down three tasks your new system must handle. Make them specific:

• “A member can join, pay annual dues, and renew without staff reminders.”
• “Members can find each other and continue conversations after an event.”
• “Staff can see someone's membership, donations, and event participation together.”

Then ask each vendor to demonstrate those tasks using the plan you would purchase. Include both the administrator's experience and the member's experience.

For nonprofits prioritizing dues and renewals, start by evaluating WildApricot, Join It, and MemberClicks. For a configurable database covering several constituent relationships, explore CiviCRM. For directories, connections, and participation within your community, explore Soorse.