Amilia SmartRec is the better pick for a community organization or mid-size recreation department that wants a published price (Standard $99/mo, Advanced $499/mo, plus a 1% service fee on every invoice), a free trial and modern self-serve registration.
ACTIVENet is the better pick for a large city or county that needs enterprise scale, childcare, POS and BI access and accepts a quote-only, per-transaction model with a substantial implementation. Small community centers and associations that want no percentage platform fee and no yearly contract should look at a third option.
Enterprise parks and recreation platform priced per transaction.
Modern recreation SaaS with published tiers and self-serve registration.
Communal is listed as a third column because organizations comparing these two usually need the same things it was built for: memberships, programs and facilities in one database at a flat price.
| Feature | ACTIVENet | Amilia SmartRec | Communal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership management | Included | Included | IncludedTiers, custom fields, segments |
| Automated renewals | Included | Included | IncludedReminders and auto-renew |
| Digital membership cards (Apple / Google Wallet) | Not listed | Not listed | IncludedIncluded in every plan |
| Event registration & ticketing | Included | Included | Add-onPrograms & events, +$50/mo |
| Program & class registration | Included | Included | Add-onWaitlists, capacity, attendance, rosters |
| Facility booking & rentals | Included | Included | Add-onFrom +$50/mo; approvals, invoices, agreements, iCal |
| Volunteer shifts & hour tracking | Included | Included | IncludedShifts, hours, auto volunteer discounts |
| Donations & fundraising | Not listed | Included | IncludedIncluded; donor covers fees option |
| Automatic tax receipts | Not listed | Not listed | IncludedAutomatic |
| Member self-service portal | Included | Included | Included |
| Email campaigns | Included | Included | IncludedCampaigns and segments |
| Website builder | Not listed | Not offered | Not offeredWorks beside your site |
| Public API | Included | Included | IncludedREST API, Zapier webhooks, MCP server |
| Detail | ACTIVENet | Amilia SmartRec | Communal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Quote (per transaction) | From $99/mo + 1% | $75/mo |
| Pricing model | Transaction-based + implementation | Monthly tiers + 1% service fee | Flat, by member band (to 250 members at the floor) |
| Contract | Multi-year agreements typical for municipal deals (not published) | Reviewers report a yearly contract commitment | No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time |
| Payment fees | Processing fee is a percentage plus dollar amount per registration;Detailsagency can absorb or pass to participant; exact rates via account manager | 1% service fee on every invoice;Detailscards 2.85% + $0.30 (Standard) or 2.75% + $0.30 (Advanced); eCheck 1% + $0.50; custom rates for high volume | Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums |
| Free trial | No free trial | Free trial | Free trial, no credit card |
Pick Amilia SmartRec if you are a community organization or mid-size recreation department that wants to read the price before the demo, start a free trial, and give residents a modern self-serve store. Pick ACTIVENet if you are a large city or county department that needs enterprise hosting, childcare, POS at scale and BI access, and has the budget and IT group for a per-transaction model with implementation consulting. Pick neither if you are a small community center or association that wants a flat monthly price with no percentage platform fee and no yearly contract.
Amilia's cost is knowable from its pricing page: the tier fee, plus 1% of every invoice, plus card processing at 2.85% + $0.30 (Standard) or 2.75% + $0.30 (Advanced). For a department taking $500,000 a year through the store, the 1% service fee alone is $5,000/yr before processing, which is the line item that grows with volume, and reviewers report payouts in 7 to 8 days versus 1 to 2 for competitors. ACTIVENet's cost is not knowable without a quote: a per-registration fee that is a percentage plus a dollar amount, a hosted annual minimum, and upfront implementation described by the vendor as mostly consulting. If you pass ACTIVENet's fee to participants your own budget line may be smaller than Amilia's, but your residents pay it. Price both on your real volume and decide who carries the fee.
| If you are... | Lean towards |
|---|---|
| A community organization or rec center with under 10 facilities | Amilia Standard ($99/mo + 1%) |
| A mid-size department with up to 20 facilities and 10,000 accounts | Amilia Advanced ($499/mo + 1%) |
| A department that wants to trial before buying | Amilia (free trial) |
| A large city or county with childcare, many sites and a BI team | ACTIVENet |
| A department that wants to pass the platform fee to participants | ACTIVENet |
| A small community center or association that wants no percentage fee and no yearly contract | Neither; see the third option |
If the 1% service fee, the yearly contract or the tier caps are what gave you pause about Amilia, and ACTIVENet is plainly more procurement than you need, Communal is built for small towns, community centers and associations: memberships with household accounts and resident pricing by map boundary, program registration with waitlists, facility booking with approvals and invoices, donations with tax receipts and volunteer shifts, at $75/mo flat to 250 members, programs +$50/mo, facilities from +$50/mo. There is no platform percentage (the card application fee is set in your agreement, often around 2%, paid weekly to your own Stripe account), no contract, free scoped migration and a 30-day self-serve trial. It has no website builder, no native mobile app and no childcare module, and it is not built for a large municipal procurement. Communal is our product; the comparison above rests on the two vendors' published pricing and reviews.
Short answers, with the numbers where they exist.
For a small or mid-size department, almost certainly. Amilia publishes Standard at $99/mo (1 store, up to 10 facilities, 5,000 accounts) and Advanced at $499/mo (3 stores, 20 facilities, 10,000 accounts), plus a 1% service fee on every invoice and card processing at 2.85% + $0.30 or 2.75% + $0.30. ACTIVENet publishes nothing; its model is a per-registration fee (a 2011 Costa Mesa proposal showed $3.94 on a $105 registration and a $12,000 annual hosted minimum) plus implementation estimated by third parties at $10,000 to $150,000.
Yes. Amilia adds a 1% service fee on every invoice on top of card processing (2.85% + $0.30 on Standard, 2.75% + $0.30 on Advanced, eCheck 1% + $0.50). ACTIVENet's per-registration fee is also a percentage plus a dollar amount, which the agency can absorb or pass to participants. Neither is a flat-subscription-only model.
Both handle program registration, household accounts, resident pricing, facilities, leagues, memberships and POS. Amilia's strength is the self-serve experience; the vendor says 80% of transactions are completed self-serve, and it includes donations, volunteer tracking and a REST API. ACTIVENet is broader at the enterprise end, with childcare and mobile apps, but reviewers describe its admin as dated and complicated.
Reviewers report a yearly contract commitment, and the lower tiers cap facilities (10 on Standard, 20 on Advanced) and accounts. ACTIVENet deals with municipalities are typically multi-year; terms are not published. Amilia offers a free trial; ACTIVENet does not.
For a community center, community association or small town that does not run a municipal procurement, Communal charges $75/mo flat to 250 members with programs +$50/mo and facilities from +$50/mo, no platform percentage, no contract, free migration and a 30-day trial. The card application fee is set in your agreement, often around 2%, with weekly deposits to your own Stripe account. It is not designed for a large city RFP.