Nonprofits · alternatives
Alternatives to Tendenci
21 nonprofits tools sit alongside Tendenci in this directory. Below is what separates each from Tendenci on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 21
- With a free tier
- 4
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Tendenci starts at
- Free
Why people look past Tendenci
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Tendenci has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Membership management for small associations and clubs
- No free tier, where Tendenci has one.
- Publishes an entry price of $60/month, where Tendenci does not.
- Sold on a Per month by contact count model rather than Open source, with paid hosting available.
- 4 tiers to Tendenci's 2.
Association management for professional bodies and trade associations
- No free tier, where Tendenci has one.
- Sold on a quote model rather than Open source, with paid hosting available.
Open-source ERP and CRM suite for all business needs
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Tendenci does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than Open source, with paid hosting available.
- 3 tiers to Tendenci's 2.
Fundraising software given free to nonprofits, funded by its founders rather than by fees
- Sold on a Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor model rather than Open source, with paid hosting available.
- 1 tier to Tendenci's 2.
Low-cost grant search across federal, state and private funders, with a paid consultant marketplace alongside
- Publishes an entry price of $9/month, where Tendenci does not.
- Sold on a Per user per month model rather than Open source, with paid hosting available.
Open source constituent relationship management for nonprofits, with no per contact or per donation fee
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Open source, with paid hosting available.
- 1 tier to Tendenci's 2.
Every Tendenci alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tendenci (this page) | Free | Open source, with paid hosting available | 2 | |
| Wild ApricotFar easier to run, hosted, with published pricing | $60/month | Per month by contact count | 4 | vs Tendenci |
| MemberClicksCommercial association management for professional bodies | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Tendenci |
| OdooOpen-source alternative if broader business management is also needed | Free | Subscription | 3 | vs Tendenci |
| Give Lively | Free | Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| OpenGrants | Free, then $9/month | Per user per month | 2 | vs Tendenci |
| CiviCRM | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| CommCare | $100/month | Per month by mobile user count | 4 | vs Tendenci |
| Foundant Technologies | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Tendenci |
| CharityEngine | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| Instrumentl | $299/month | Per organisation per month by seat band | 4 | vs Tendenci |
| Fluxx | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Tendenci |
| Sumac | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| Bonterra | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Tendenci |
| Blackbaud Grantmaking | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| SmartSimple Cloud | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| Submittable | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| GrantStation | $199/year | Per organisation per year | 2 | vs Tendenci |
| Keela | On request | Per month by contact count | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| Fundraise Up | On request | Percentage of each donation | 1 | vs Tendenci |
| Candid | $219/month | Per user per month by tier | 3 | vs Tendenci |
| Glue Up | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Tendenci |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Tendenci badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (4)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Odoo , Free
- Give Lively , Free
- OpenGrants , Free, then $9/month
- CiviCRM , Free
What you would be giving up
Tendenci is most often brought in for nonprofits whose boards require member and donor data to stay under their own control, organisations with data residency obligations a hosted platform cannot satisfy, groups with technical capacity wanting to avoid per-member subscription costs at scale, associations needing to customise workflows beyond what a proprietary platform allows. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Tendenci is broadly right and the question is cost, the Tendenci pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Nonprofits category lists everything the directory holds, and best nonprofits tools ranks them.
Tendenci runs on web, linux, self-hosted, cloud. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Tendenci alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Tendenci?
- 21 other nonprofits tools are listed in this directory, led by Wild Apricot, MemberClicks, Odoo, Give Lively. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Tendenci?
- 4 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Odoo, Give Lively, OpenGrants, CiviCRM.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Tendenci?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Tendenci has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Tendenci?
- Tendenci is most often brought in for nonprofits whose boards require member and donor data to stay under their own control, organisations with data residency obligations a hosted platform cannot satisfy, groups with technical capacity wanting to avoid per-member subscription costs at scale, associations needing to customise workflows beyond what a proprietary platform allows. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Tendenci?
- None of the nonprofits tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Tendenci alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Nonprofits, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Tendenci against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Tendenci covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every nonprofits tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Nonprofits category, 21 tools beside Tendenci. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.