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Nonprofits · head to head

Aplos vs CharityEngine

Aplos logo

Aplos

Nonprofits

Fund accounting for nonprofits and churches, with donor management and online giving attached

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
CharityEngine logo

CharityEngine

Nonprofits

Nonprofit CRM with its own in-house payment processing rather than a third-party gateway

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Aplos the donor management side is record keeping rather than fundraising software, so any organisation running segmented appeals or automation will still buy a CRM and pay twice.; CharityEngine payment processing rates are negotiated and never published, so the total cost cannot be compared to a licence-only CRM without getting a quote and modelling your own volume in basis points.
  • They diverge on capability: Aplos covers Fund accounting ledger, CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Aplos and CharityEngine actually diverge.

Attributes where Aplos and CharityEngine differ
AttributeAplosCharityEngine
Pricing modelPer month by feature tierquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Nonprofits).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Aplos

  • Fund accounting ledger
  • Nonprofit financial statements
  • Donor management
  • Online giving pages
  • Budgeting by fund
  • Church tools

Only in CharityEngine

  • In-house payment processing
  • Recurring giving recovery
  • Direct mail segmentation
  • Peer-to-peer and events
  • Advocacy and membership
  • Marketing automation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Aplos

  • A nonprofit whose auditor has raised restricted fund reporting as a findingnot CharityEngine
  • A church tracking contributions, designated funds and giving statements in one systemnot CharityEngine
  • A small organisation replacing QuickBooks plus a spreadsheet of fund balancesnot CharityEngine
  • An Aplos and Keela buyer wanting gifts to post from the CRM into the ledger without exportnot CharityEngine

CharityEngine

  • A nonprofit processing high recurring gift volume that wants card updater and dunning built into the CRM rather than bought separatelynot Aplos
  • Replacing a stack of a CRM, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliationnot Aplos
  • A direct mail heavy organisation that needs offline gift entry and mail file segmentation as first-class features, not add-onsnot Aplos
  • An organisation whose finance team wants a single settlement file that already reconciles to donor recordsnot Aplos

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Aplos

  • The donor management side is record keeping rather than fundraising software, so any organisation running segmented appeals or automation will still buy a CRM and pay twice.
  • It is not a general ledger for complex structures, so multi entity groups, consolidations and intercompany transactions push organisations back to a mainstream accounting package.
  • Higher tiers are needed for the budgeting and custom reporting many buyers assume are standard, so the entry price is rarely the real price.
  • Payroll is handled through a partner rather than natively, which adds a vendor and a reconciliation step for organisations with staff.
  • The bookkeeper ecosystem is far smaller than QuickBooks, so finding an accountant already fluent in the product is harder and handover after staff turnover takes longer.

CharityEngine

  • Payment processing rates are negotiated and never published, so the total cost cannot be compared to a licence-only CRM without getting a quote and modelling your own volume in basis points.
  • Because the vendor is both the software provider and the merchant processor, switching CRM also means re-papering merchant services and re-tokenising every recurring donor, which is a far larger project than a normal migration.
  • Subscription pricing is quote-only and reported entry points come from third parties rather than the vendor, so small organisations often discover the floor is well above what they budgeted.
  • The interface is dense and configuration-heavy, and organisations without a dedicated database administrator tend to use a fraction of what they pay for.
  • Implementation and data migration are billed on top of the subscription and are commonly the largest first-year line item, which is easy to miss when comparing monthly figures.

Pricing, plan by plan

Aplos

On request
  • Aplos$undefined/month
    • Published monthly tiers separating core accounting from the full suite
    • Advanced accounting, budgeting by fund and custom reporting sit in higher tiers
    • Card and bank processing on donations charged separately

CharityEngine

On request
  • CharityEngine$undefined/year
    • Donor CRM and gift processing
    • In-house payment processing at a negotiated rate
    • Email, SMS and direct mail tools

Which should you pick?

Choose Aplos if

  • You need fund accounting ledger.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want nonprofit financial statements.
Aplos review

Choose CharityEngine if

  • You need in-house payment processing.
  • You also want recurring giving recovery.
CharityEngine review

Questions people ask

Is Aplos or CharityEngine better?
Neither clearly leads. Aplos starts at On request and CharityEngine at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Aplos or CharityEngine?
Aplos starts at On request and CharityEngine at On request.
Does Aplos or CharityEngine run on more platforms?
Aplos runs on Web, iOS, Android. CharityEngine runs on Web.
What is Aplos best used for?
Aplos is most often used for a nonprofit whose auditor has raised restricted fund reporting as a finding, a church tracking contributions, designated funds and giving statements in one system, a small organisation replacing quickbooks plus a spreadsheet of fund balances, an aplos and keela buyer wanting gifts to post from the crm into the ledger without export. Of those, a nonprofit whose auditor has raised restricted fund reporting as a finding and a church tracking contributions, designated funds and giving statements in one system are not what CharityEngine is typically brought in for.
What can Aplos do that CharityEngine cannot?
Aplos covers Fund accounting ledger, Nonprofit financial statements, Donor management, Online giving pages. CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Recurring giving recovery, Direct mail segmentation, Peer-to-peer and events.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Aplos: Is Aplos an accounting system or a CRM?

Primarily fund accounting. The donor management is included but shallow compared with a dedicated nonprofit CRM.

CharityEngine: Does CharityEngine publish pricing?

No. Both the subscription and the payment processing rate are quoted. Third-party sites report a starter tier around 550 US dollars a month, but the vendor does not confirm this.

Aplos: What is the relationship with Keela?

Aplos acquired Keela in 2023. The two are being integrated, so a buyer comparing them is comparing products from one company.

CharityEngine: Is the payment processing optional?

In practice no. The processing is the product. Using an external gateway removes most of what distinguishes CharityEngine from cheaper CRMs.

Aplos: Can it replace QuickBooks?

For a single entity nonprofit, usually yes, and it handles restricted funds far better. For multi entity consolidation, no.

CharityEngine: Is there a nonprofit discount?

Every customer is a nonprofit, so there is no separate discount; pricing is tiered by contact count and gift volume instead.

Aplos: Does it handle payroll?

Through a partner integration rather than natively, so payroll is an extra subscription and an extra reconciliation.

CharityEngine: How long is the contract?

Annual terms are standard, and multi-year commitments are used to buy down the rate.

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