Most organizations leave Hivebrite over the $895/mo entry price billed annually, which buys a community platform but little operational membership admin. Stay on Hivebrite if member-to-member community is the product and you have the budget for it.
Ordered by how well each one fits the organizations that usually outgrow Hivebrite.
Renewals, invoicing, volunteers and wallet cards for organizations that run on members
Membership tiers, automated renewals, family memberships, wallet cards, donations with tax receipts, volunteer shifts and POS on one member record, with programs, events and facility booking as modules.
Check first: No forums, groups or messaging between members, and no native mobile app; Communal is an operations platform with a member portal, not a social community.
Community first, with native branded apps, courses and live streaming
Mighty Networks gives you a member community with native iOS and Android apps, courses, events, live streaming and paid memberships, with unlimited members on every plan.
Check first: Not a membership-management system: no dues invoicing or renewal admin, no tax-receipted donations, no volunteers, and a 2% transaction fee on Launch on top of Stripe.
Event-led membership with a branded app and CRM
Glue Up combines membership, event management, CRM, email and a community with a branded My Glue app.
Check first: Annual billing, no free trial, and chapters, community and certifications are separately priced power-ups.
Website, member database and events from one vendor
Wild Apricot bundles a site builder, contacts database, events, email and store at every tier, with a 60-day no-card trial.
Check first: Priced by total contacts, a 20% surcharge for outside payment gateways, and no community forum comparable to Hivebrite.
A full AMS for staffed professional associations
MemberClicks runs MC Trade for chambers and MC Professional for professional societies, with dues automation, committees, events and a REST API, sold with implementation.
Check first: Quote-only pricing, annual contracts, and the CommUnity and member app products are paid add-ons.
Canadian AMS with community, CE tracking and an LMS
Member365 includes a member portal and community (forums, file library, directory), CE credit tracking, certificates, an LMS and a job board.
Check first: Setup fee and quote for exact pricing, PDF cards rather than wallet passes, no volunteer scheduling or facility booking.
Membership and a directory that embed in the site you already have
MembershipWorks embeds a member directory, events, donations and forms into WordPress, Squarespace, Wix or Weebly.
Check first: No public API, no community forum, no member app and no wallet cards.
| Feature | Communal | Hivebrite | Mighty Networks | Glue Up | Wild Apricot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Membership management | IncludedTiers, custom fields, segments | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Automated renewals | IncludedReminders and auto-renew | Included | IncludedSubscriptions | Included | Included |
| Digital membership cards (Apple / Google Wallet) | IncludedIncluded in every plan | Not offered | Not offered | PartialIn-app cards | Partial |
| Event registration & ticketing | Add-onPrograms & events, +$50/mo | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Program & class registration | Add-onWaitlists, capacity, attendance, rosters | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Facility booking & rentals | Add-onFrom +$50/mo; approvals, invoices, agreements, iCal | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| Volunteer shifts & hour tracking | IncludedShifts, hours, auto volunteer discounts | Partial | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| Donations & fundraising | IncludedIncluded; donor covers fees option | Included | Not offered | Included | Included |
| Automatic tax receipts | IncludedAutomatic | Not listed | Not offered | Not listed | PartialDonation receipts |
| Member self-service portal | Included | Included | IncludedNative apps | IncludedBranded app | IncludedMember app |
| Email campaigns | IncludedCampaigns and segments | Included | Partial | Included | Included |
| Website builder | Not offeredWorks beside your site | Included | Partial | Included | Included |
| Chapters & federations | IncludedFederated leagues and chapters | IncludedSub-communities | Not listed | Add-onChapter Management power-up | Not offered |
| Public API | IncludedREST API, Zapier webhooks, MCP server | Included | Partial | Included | Included |
| Detail | Communal | Hivebrite | Mighty Networks | Glue Up | Wild Apricot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $75/mo | From $895/mo | From $79/mo | From $3,000/yr | From $66/mo |
| Pricing model | Flat, by member band (to 250 members at the floor) | Flat plan, billed annually | Flat plan + 1% to 2% transaction fee | Annual plan by org size | Per contact, tiered |
| Contract | No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time | Annual | Monthly or annual (annual = 2 months free) | Annual (all contracts billed annually by default; one-off event pricing possible) | Month-to-month available;Detailsoptional 1-year and 2-year prepay discounts; no cancellation fees |
| Payment fees | Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums | Payments via integrated gateways (Stripe, Braintree, PayPal, Square, Zelle per vendor pages) at gateway rates;Detailsno Hivebrite platform transaction fee published. Fee for using external gateways: not published. | Mighty transaction fee 2% (Launch) / 1% (Scale) / 0.5% (Pro) plus Stripe processing fees (vendor cites typically 2.5-5%);Detailsno Stripe fee on iOS app purchases but Apple takes 15% | Payments run through integrated third-party gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Paygage and others) at the gateway's own rates;DetailsGlue Up does not publish a platform transaction fee. Fee for using external gateways: not published. | No per-transaction fee from WildApricot itself when using the integrated Personify Payments processor (processor rates not published on the pricing page).DetailsUsing a third-party gateway (Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.Net) triggers a Payment System Servicing Fee described in the help center as 20% of the subscription plan price, applied to US/Canada accounts; vendor pricing page calls this 'an additional fee'. |
| Free trial | Free trial, no credit card | No (demo only) | 14-day free trial, no credit card required | No (demo only) | 60-day free trial, no credit card required; no permanently free plan |
Hivebrite plans start at $895/mo on an annual contract. The native mobile app is an "available extension" and professional services are sized to the package, so the first-year figure for a mid-size association is well into five figures.
Hivebrite is a community engagement platform first. Invoicing is partial, volunteer management is limited to posting opportunities, there is no facility booking, and wallet membership cards need a third-party PassKit integration.
The Core plan includes 2 global admin seats and 5 groups; Flex moves to 5 global plus 5 group admins and 10 groups; Prime to 10 plus 10 admins and 25 groups. Organizations with many volunteer committee leads run into the limits quickly.
You cannot open an account and import members to test the renewal flow. Hivebrite sells through a demo and onboarding, which is fine for a foundation with a procurement process and slow for a club that wants to start this month.
Communal is $75/mo for up to 250 members with no contract, prorated billing and a 30-day trial that needs no card. Hivebrite starts at $895/mo billed annually and is sold through a demo.
Automated renewal reminders and member auto-renew, family and household memberships, resident vs non-resident pricing by map boundary, invoices with payment plans and overdue reminders, and Apple and Google Wallet cards are all in the Communal base plan. Hivebrite has partial invoicing and no native wallet cards.
Volunteer shifts with clock in and out hours and automatic volunteer discounts, donation forms with numbered CRA and IRS tax receipts, and facility booking with approvals and rental invoicing all land on the same member profile. Hivebrite posts volunteer opportunities and stops there.
Communal includes unlimited admin accounts with scoped roles (membership, programs, facilities, finance, donations, volunteers, communications, reporting). Hivebrite caps global admin seats at 2, 5 or 10 depending on tier.
Stay on Hivebrite if your members log in to talk to each other, your community managers use the groups and mentoring tools every week, and the annual plan is within budget. It does what it sets out to do well. The alternatives above make sense when the bill is out of proportion to how much community activity you see, or when you need dues, volunteers and bookings handled properly.
Mighty Networks if the goal is discussion, courses and a branded app. Wild Apricot or MembershipWorks if the chapter mainly needs a directory, dues and events, though neither replaces Hivebrite mentoring and sub-community tooling, so check which features your alumni actually use.
MemberClicks or Member365 for staffed bodies that need CE tracking, committees and an AMS. Communal for smaller associations and chapters that need tiers, renewals, events, invoices and wallet cards without an annual contract.
Communal. Clubs and community associations rarely need a forum; they need renewals, family memberships, program registration, hall and court rentals and volunteer shifts, which is what Communal does, and the EFCL runs 163 community leagues on it.
Communal if the charity also has members and volunteers and wants donation forms, campaign pages, recurring giving and automatic tax receipts included in the base plan. For a pure donor CRM with pipeline reporting, look at a fundraising CRM such as Neon CRM instead of a community platform.
Hivebrite exports member profiles, group memberships and event data as spreadsheets; we map them into Communal and run the import for you at no charge.
Export members, custom profile fields, membership plans, renewal dates and event attendance from Hivebrite; we map the fields, create matching custom profile fields and tags in Communal, and run a dry-run import.
Set up membership types, renewal rules, donation forms, volunteer opportunities and any programs or facilities in Communal, then import members with their existing renewal dates intact.
Switch your website and email links to the Communal portal, send members their Apple and Google Wallet cards, and run both systems briefly while the first renewals come through.
How the hall gets booked, how program pricing works, how you chase renewals. No canned tour. We walk Communal through your real process so you can see the fit before you decide.
No canned tour · No sales script
It depends on why you are leaving. If the cost is the issue and community is still the goal, Mighty Networks from $79/mo is the closest match. If you need membership operations (renewals, invoices, volunteers, donations, wallet cards) more than a forum, Communal at $75/mo is the better fit. Staffed professional associations that want an AMS should look at MemberClicks or Member365. See Communal pricing for module details.
Hivebrite starts at $895/mo, billed annually, with Core, Flex and Prime packages that differ by admin seats (2, 5 or 10 global), number of groups (5, 10 or 25) and governance features. All plans include unlimited users, email campaigns and onboarding. The native mobile app is a paid extension and professional services are priced to the package. There is no free trial.
Yes. Communal is $75/mo for up to 250 members with renewals, wallet cards, donations and volunteers included and no contract. Wild Apricot starts at $66/mo for 100 contacts, MembershipWorks is free to 50 accounts and $35/mo to 300, and Mighty Networks is $79/mo if you mainly want a community. All can be tried without a sales call.
Yes, and it is free. We import member profiles, custom fields, membership plans, renewal dates and event history from your Hivebrite export, validate the mapping with you, and keep renewal dates intact. You can test the import during the 30-day trial before paying anything.
No. Communal has a member portal for renewals, registrations, bookings, invoices, donations and volunteering, an opt-in member directory, email campaigns to saved audiences, and Apple and Google Wallet cards. It does not have forums, groups, messaging or a native app. If those are the point of your platform, Hivebrite or Mighty Networks is the right choice.
Wild Apricot for a small association that wants a website, member database and events from $66/mo with a 60-day trial; Hivebrite for a large network whose priority is member community and engagement and that can fund $895/mo. Read the full Wild Apricot vs Hivebrite comparison.