Keela Alternative
Looking for a Keela alternative? Communal provides purpose-built tools for community organizations without the CRM complexity.
Key Differences of Keela vs Communal
Memberships + Donors Together
Keela focuses on donor CRM. Communal includes memberships with member pricing, digital cards, and resident rules alongside donor tools.
Facilities & Programs
Manage facilities, program sessions and waitlists beyond typical nonprofit CRM functionality.
All-in-one Operations
One system for members, donors, volunteers, facilities and events reduces manual work and data fragmentation.
Keela Pros & Cons
Keela Strengths
- Strong donor CRM and contact management
- Good fundraising and campaign tools
- Smart ask amounts powered by AI
- Grant tracking and management features
- Canadian-focused with excellent local support
Keela Limitations
- No facility booking or rental management
- No program registration capabilities
- Limited membership management features
- No volunteer scheduling or hour tracking
- Primarily donor-focused rather than all-in-one
Why Communal
Operate from one platform
Bring members, donors, programs, events, volunteers, and facilities under one roof to save time and improve reporting.
- Unified data model
- Member-aware events & pricing
- Integrated donation receipting
- Facility agreements & deposits
- Self-serve member portal
Purpose-built for community orgs
We focus on the realities of community operations—volunteers, facilities and events—alongside donor management.
- Volunteer-friendly workflows
- Resident-based pricing
- Modern UI and fast onboarding
- No per-admin fees
- Responsive support
Detailed Feature Comparison
| Feature | Communal | Keela |
|---|---|---|
| Memberships | ||
| Membership types & add-ons | ||
| Auto-renewals & digital cards | ||
| Member pricing & resident rules | ||
| Donations & CRM | ||
| Online donations + receipting | ||
| Donor CRM & campaigns | ||
| Integrated with memberships/events | ||
| Programs & Facilities | ||
| Program registration & waitlists | ||
| Facility booking & rentals | ||
| Agreements, deposits, invoicing | ||
| Volunteers | ||
| Volunteer scheduling | ||
| Hour tracking & discounts | ||
| Interest tagging | ||
See How Communal Works for Your Organization
Get a personalized walkthrough of the features that matter most to you. We'll answer your questions and help you understand if Communal is the right fit.
Most demos are scheduled within 24 hours
Powering 500+ community organizations
We love hearing from our customers and are proud to have helped 500+ organizations drive more impact and grow their communities.
We are finally able to communicate with our members, run booking software and a program payment platform all in one application. The cost to our Community is very reasonable and the team is fantastic to work with.
My experience with the software and the team has been overwhelmingly positive. We switched from another provider and the difference was night-and-day!
Revenue from membership sales and renewals increased, and we save a significant amount of staff time and paperwork. The customer service is outstanding and the team at Communal continues to add helpful features.
Frequently asked questions
Yes! Our team provides full migration support to transfer your donor records, giving history, and contact information from Keela to Communal. We ensure your donor relationships and historical data are preserved during the transition.
While Keela focuses on donor CRM, Communal provides comprehensive membership management including multiple membership types, auto-renewals, digital membership cards for Apple and Google Wallet, member pricing rules, and automated resident vs non-resident pricing.
Yes! Communal includes facility booking with calendars, rental agreements, and deposit collection, plus program registration with sessions and waitlists—capabilities Keela doesn't offer.
Keela doesn't include volunteer management. Communal offers comprehensive volunteer scheduling with shift management, hour tracking, interest tagging, and automated volunteer discounts for events and programs.
If your organization needs more than donor management—like memberships, facility rentals, programs, or volunteer coordination—Communal's all-in-one platform eliminates the need for multiple tools. Your donor data integrates seamlessly with member records, event participation, and volunteer contributions.
Most organizations complete the transition within 2-4 weeks. Our team handles donor data migration, helps configure your membership and facility settings, and provides training. You'll gain significant new capabilities while retaining your donor management foundation.
Your data is stored in a secure database that is not accessible to anyone. Users' credit card information is not stored on our platform. We utilize Stripe to process payments, learn more about how they store their data here.
You can! Our team is happy to help migrate data from an excel spreadsheet or an existing platform you utilize today. Contact us for more questions.
Communal directly deposits into your bank account. We do not hold any funds on our platform.
Yes, Communal is fully PCI-DSS compliant as we partner with Stripe as our payment processor. Stripe has been audited by an independent PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and is certified as a PCI Level 1 Service Provider. Communal does not have access to see or store any credit card data as all transactions are sent directly to Stripe.