Most organizations leave Hivebrite because it is a community platform first, with little operational membership admin behind it. Stay if member-to-member engagement is the product and a demo-led enterprise platform fits how you buy.
Ordered by how well each one fits the organizations that usually outgrow Hivebrite.
Renewals, invoicing, volunteers and wallet cards on one record
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 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 and no volunteers.
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 separate 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: It counts every contact, steers you to its own payment processor, and has 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, annual contracts, and the CommUnity and member app products are 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: Demo-led, with PDF cards rather than wallet passes and no volunteer scheduling or facility booking.
Membership and a directory embedded in your existing site
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 add-on | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Program & class registration | Add-onWaitlists, capacity, attendance, rosters | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Facility booking & rentals | Add-onApprovals, 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 |
Hivebrite sells annual contracts sized to the package, with professional services scoped to match and the native mobile app as a paid extension. The commitment is enterprise-scale for a mid-size association.
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.
Global admin seats and the number of groups are capped on each plan. 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 suits a foundation with a procurement process and slows a club that wants to start this month.
Communal has no contract, prorated billing and a 30-day trial that needs no card. Hivebrite is billed annually and sold through a demo.
Automated renewal reminders and member auto-renew, family and household memberships, resident vs non-resident rates 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, 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 for membership, programs, facilities, finance, donations, volunteers, communications and reporting. Hivebrite caps global admin seats by tier.
Stay on Hivebrite if your members log in to talk to each other and your community managers use the groups and mentoring tools every week. It does what it sets out to do well. The alternatives make sense when community activity is thin, 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 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 community is still the goal, Mighty Networks is the closest match. If you need membership operations, meaning renewals, invoices, volunteers, donations and wallet cards, more than a forum, Communal is the better fit. Staffed professional associations that want an AMS should look at MemberClicks or Member365.
Through a demo, on annual contracts, with Core, Flex and Prime packages that differ by admin seats, groups and governance features. All plans include unlimited users, email campaigns and onboarding. The native mobile app is a paid extension, and there is no free trial.
Yes. Communal has a 30-day trial with no card and no contract, with renewals, wallet cards, donations and volunteers included. Wild Apricot offers a 60-day trial, MembershipWorks is self-serve, and Mighty Networks is self-serve if you mainly want a community.
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 committing.
No. Communal has a member portal for renewals, registrations, bookings, invoices, donations and volunteering, an opt-in member directory, email campaigns and Apple and Google Wallet cards. It does not have forums, groups, messaging or a native app. If those are the point, Hivebrite or Mighty Networks is the right choice.
Wild Apricot for a small association that wants a website, member database and events with a 60-day trial; Hivebrite for a large network whose priority is member community and engagement. Read the full Wild Apricot vs Hivebrite comparison.