Wild Apricot Alternative
Looking for a Wild Apricot alternative? Communal offers purpose-built membership management for community associations and recreation centers—without the website builder complexity.
Key Differences of Wild Apricot vs Communal
Built for NPOs
Communal is built for non-profits and community organizations. We understand the unique needs of your organization and have built a platform that is tailored to your specific requirements.
No Website Builder Needed
Unlike Wild Apricot, we focus on core features rather than website building. This means a simpler, more focused platform that integrates seamlessly with your existing website.
Facility Management
Easily manage and book your facilities, halls, and spaces with our intuitive facility management system. Track availability, handle bookings, and automate rental processes all in one place.
Wild Apricot Pros & Cons
Wild Apricot Strengths
- Established platform with large user base
- Built-in website builder for organizations without existing websites
- Strong event management and online payment processing
- Good member database and reporting capabilities
- Active community forums and support resources
Wild Apricot Limitations
- No native facility booking or rental management
- Limited volunteer management capabilities
- Website builder can add complexity if you already have a site
- No automated resident vs non-resident membership pricing
- Fundraising features are more limited than dedicated solutions
Why Communal
A complete all-in-one solution
Communal is a complete all-in-one solution for your non-profit or community organization. We offer a wide range of features to help you manage your organization, including membership management, event management, facility management, and more.
- Membership management
- Event registration and management
- Facility management
- Donor CRM
- Volunteer management
Software built by and for non-profits
Communal was developed in close partnership with non-profits and community organizations. We understand your unique needs because we work directly with organizations like yours to build features that actually solve your problems.
- Designed based on direct feedback from NPO administrators and staff
- Features prioritized based on real community organization needs
- Regular updates driven by our non-profit partners' requests
- Intuitive interface tested with actual NPO users
- Flexible tools that adapt to different organization structures
Detailed Feature Comparison
| Feature | Communal | Wild Apricot |
|---|---|---|
| Membership Features | ||
| Robust and configurable membership types | ||
| Online member payments including auto-renewal | ||
| Digital membership cards (Apple Wallet, Google Wallet) | ? | |
| Targeted member emails | ||
| Membership lists and reports | ||
| Automated renewal reminders | ||
| Automated resident vs non-resident memberships | ||
| Custom questions asked during registration | ||
| Family information | ||
| Waiver agreement collection | ? | |
| Event Management | ||
| Event ticketing and management | ||
| Collect custom information during event purchase | ||
| Member pricing for events | ||
| Event signup lists | ||
| Facility Management | ||
| Online facility calendars | ? | |
| Member pricing for facility rentals | ? | |
| Instant or admin approved rental requests | ? | |
| Online payment for instant rentals | ? | |
| Member only rentals for courts | ? | |
| Online rental agreement forms | ? | |
| Custom invoicing and damage deposit collection | ? | |
| Volunteer Management | ||
| Highlight & collect volunteers signups during event registration | ||
| Online volunteer management | ||
| Tracking volunteer hours | ||
| Recurring volunteer shifts | ||
| Ability to tag accounts by volunteer interests | ||
| Donor Management | ||
| Online tax receipting | ||
| Donor CRM | ||
| Fundraisers | ||
| Other Features | ||
| Unlimited admin accounts | ||
| Admin Roles | ||
| Website builder | ||
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 member data, event history, and other records from Wild Apricot to Communal. We handle the technical details so you can focus on your organization. Contact us for a personalized migration plan.
Communal offers several features not available in Wild Apricot, including: native facility booking and rental management, comprehensive volunteer scheduling with hour tracking, automated resident vs non-resident membership pricing, digital membership cards for Apple and Google Wallet, and integrated volunteer discounts for events and programs.
No, Communal does not include a website builder by design. Most organizations already have a website they're happy with. Communal provides a member portal that works alongside your existing site, giving you the operational tools you need without forcing you to rebuild your web presence.
Communal offers transparent, straightforward pricing without per-contact fees or hidden costs. Unlike Wild Apricot's tiered pricing based on contact limits, Communal includes unlimited contacts on all plans. Visit our pricing page for current rates.
Communal includes robust facility management that Wild Apricot lacks. You can manage multiple facilities, set member and non-member pricing, handle rental agreements online, collect damage deposits, and allow instant or admin-approved bookings—all from one platform.
Most organizations complete their transition within 2-4 weeks, depending on data complexity. Our team guides you through every step: data migration, staff training, and go-live support. Many clients run both systems briefly during the transition to ensure a smooth switchover.
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.