Does Zeffy have membership management like WildApricot?

Zeffy has membership forms with auto-renewal and free scannable digital membership cards tied to the member record, which covers a lot of small clubs. WildApricot goes further: member levels and bundles, a member directory, member-only website pages, a member app, invoicing and a public API. If your membership program is the core of your organization, WildApricot is the fuller tool.

Which has the better website builder, WildApricot or Zeffy?

WildApricot. Its drag-and-drop builder, themes, widgets and member-only pages are the center of the product and are included at every tier. Zeffy has no website builder; its forms are embeds or Zeffy-hosted campaign pages. If you already have a website you like, this gap matters less.

What are the payment fees on WildApricot vs Zeffy?

Zeffy: 0% platform fee and 0% processing fee to the nonprofit. WildApricot: no platform fee when you use its integrated Personify Payments processor (processor rates are not published on the pricing page); using an outside gateway such as Stripe or PayPal triggers a Payment System Servicing Fee of 20% of your subscription price for US and Canadian accounts.

Can a US nonprofit use Zeffy?

Yes. Zeffy is available to US and Canadian nonprofits only, and its automated tax receipts handle both. Organizations outside those two countries cannot use it and should compare WildApricot with another option.

What if we also run programs or book rooms?

Neither WildApricot nor Zeffy has facility booking or volunteer shift scheduling; Zeffy handles volunteer signups through its Event form type and recommends other tools for scheduling. Communal covers memberships, program registration with waitlists, facility booking with approvals, donations with tax receipts and volunteer shifts in one member database at $75/mo to 250 members.

Head to head · 2026

WildApricot vs Zeffy: which one fits your nonprofit, and when neither does

Zeffy is free to the nonprofit, including payment processing, and covers donation forms, ticketing, basic memberships with auto-renewal and emailed digital membership cards; it is the right pick for a small US or Canadian charity that mostly needs forms.

WildApricot (from $66/mo for 100 contacts) is the better membership system: website builder, member-only pages, mature events and email, a public API and a 60-day trial. Groups that also run programs, rent rooms or schedule volunteer shifts usually need a third option.

Wild Apricot

Membership database, events, email and a website builder, priced by total contacts.

Memberships
Events
Donations
Website

Best for: Small to mid-size clubs, associations and nonprofits that want website, member database and events from one vendor and are comfortable using the in-house payment processor
Watch out for: Pricing is by total contacts (lapsed members, prospects, newsletter subscribers all count), so database growth pushes you into higher tiers; 20% subscription surcharge for using your own payment gateway instead of Personify Payments

Zeffy

Free fundraising and membership forms funded by optional donor tips.

Memberships
Events
Donations

Best for: Small US or Canadian nonprofits that want donation forms, ticketing, and basic memberships with zero software cost
Watch out for: Volunteer workaround only: volunteer signups use the Event form type; no shift scheduling or hours tracking (Zeffy itself recommends POINT or SignUpGenius); No website builder; forms are embeds or Zeffy-hosted campaign pages, and no facility or room booking

Side by side

Wild Apricot vs Zeffy, plus the option most comparisons skip.

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	Wild Apricot	Zeffy	Communal
Membership management	Included	Included	IncludedTiers, custom fields, segments
Automated renewals	Included	Included	IncludedReminders and auto-renew
Digital membership cards (Apple / Google Wallet)	Partial	Included	IncludedIncluded in every plan
Event registration & ticketing	Included	Included	Add-onPrograms & events, +$50/mo
Program & class registration	Not listed	Not listed	Add-onWaitlists, capacity, attendance, rosters
Facility booking & rentals	Not offered	Not offered	Add-onFrom +$50/mo; approvals, invoices, agreements, iCal
Volunteer shifts & hour tracking	Not offered	Partial	IncludedShifts, hours, auto volunteer discounts
Donations & fundraising	Included	Included	IncludedIncluded; donor covers fees option
Automatic tax receipts	PartialDonation receipts	Included	IncludedAutomatic
Member self-service portal	IncludedMember app	Partial	Included
Email campaigns	Included	Partial	IncludedCampaigns and segments
Website builder	Included	Not offered	Not offeredWorks beside your site
Public API	Included	Partial	IncludedREST API, Zapier webhooks, MCP server

Pricing and terms Show

Detail	Wild Apricot	Zeffy	Communal
Starting price	From $66/mo	$0 (donor tips)	$75/mo
Pricing model	Per contact, tiered	Free; funded by optional donor tips	Flat, by member band (to 250 members at the floor)
Contract	Month-to-month available; Details optional 1-year and 2-year prepay discounts; no cancellation fees	none	No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time
Payment fees	No per-transaction fee from WildApricot itself when using the integrated Personify Payments processor (processor rates not published on the pricing page). Details Using 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'.	0% platform fee and 0% processing fee to the nonprofit; Details Zeffy covers Stripe costs from optional donor tips	Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums
Free trial	60-day free trial, no credit card required; no permanently free plan	Free plan (entire product is free)	Free trial, no credit card

The detail

The short version

Pick Zeffy if you are a small US or Canadian nonprofit that needs donation forms, event tickets, a simple membership form and tax receipts, and you want to pay nothing for software. Pick WildApricot if membership is the center of your organization and you want a website, member-only pages, events, email and a member database from one vendor with a long track record. Pick neither if your week includes hall rentals, kids programs or volunteer shifts; both stop before that.

Disclosure: Communal is our product. We cover it at the end for the cases where neither of these two fits.

Where WildApricot wins

Membership depth. Member levels and bundles, automated renewals, invoicing, a member directory, member-only pages and a member app. Zeffy's membership is a form with auto-renewal and a card.
Website builder. A mature drag-and-drop builder, themes and WordPress widgets included at every tier. Zeffy has no site builder.
Events and email. Registration types, waitlists, guest registration and a full email editor. Zeffy's email marketing and member portal are partial.
Ecosystem. Public API, Zapier and Make, QuickBooks sync, admin and member mobile apps, a 60-day no-card trial and a very large user base. Zeffy's public API is read-only.

Where Zeffy wins

Price. $0 subscription, $0 platform fee, $0 processing fee. The nonprofit receives 100% of each payment. WildApricot starts at $66/mo and climbs by contact count.
Fundraising toolkit. Donation forms, ticketing, raffles, auctions, peer-to-peer, e-commerce and Tap to Pay, plus automated tax receipts in the base product. WildApricot has donations and donation receipts but none of the raffle or auction tools.
Digital membership cards. Free branded scannable cards emailed on signup. WildApricot offers cards only through its member app or a third-party PassKit integration.
No contact-tier anxiety. Zeffy does not price by contacts, so newsletter subscribers and lapsed members cost nothing.

Pricing in practice

WildApricot counts every contact in the database, not just paying members, so a 400-member club with 700 past attendees and subscribers prices at the 2,000-contact tier (around $252/mo per third-party listings), or cleans its list first. Prepaying 1 year takes 10% off, 2 years takes 15% off. Add the 20% subscription surcharge if you need to keep an outside gateway.

Zeffy's cost is paid by your supporters, not your budget: each checkout shows an optional contribution to Zeffy, and roughly 2 in 3 donors add one. Some boards are fine with that; others do not want a third-party ask on their donation page. That question, not a spreadsheet, usually decides it.

Who should pick which

If you are...	Lean towards
A small charity that mainly needs donation forms, tickets and receipts	Zeffy (free)
A club whose members want a card and auto-renewal, nothing more	Zeffy
An association that needs a website, member-only pages and a member directory	WildApricot
A group running many events with waitlists and guest registration	WildApricot
An organization outside the US and Canada	WildApricot (Zeffy is US/Canada only)
A community league, rec center or club that rents space or runs programs	Neither; see below

The third option

If you are comparing these two because your current setup no longer fits, look at what your organization does week to week. Communal was built for groups that run memberships alongside programs, facility rentals, donations and volunteers, and it prices by members rather than contacts: $75/mo to 250 members with donor, volunteer and POS software included, programs +$50/mo, facility booking from +$50/mo, no contract and free migration from either tool. It has automatic numbered tax receipts with separate CRA and US templates and Apple and Google Wallet membership cards. It does not have a website builder, raffles or auctions, which is the honest trade against both products here.

Questions people ask about Wild Apricot vs Zeffy

Short answers, with the numbers where they exist.

Yes. Zeffy charges the nonprofit no subscription, no platform fee and no processing fee; it covers Stripe costs from an optional tip that donors see at checkout, which Zeffy says roughly 2 in 3 donors pay. WildApricot starts at $66/mo for 100 contacts (about $59/mo with a 1-year prepay) and rises by contact tier, roughly $78/mo at 250 and $147/mo at 500 per third-party listings.