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Nonprofits · head to head

Bonterra vs Candid

Bonterra logo

Bonterra

Nonprofits

The rolled-up parent of EveryAction, Apricot, CyberGrants and Network for Good, sold as three product lines

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Candid logo

Candid

Nonprofits

Funder and nonprofit data subscriptions from the organisation formed by Foundation Center and GuideStar

From
$219/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Bonterra the three lines are separately acquired codebases, so buying two of them gives you two logins, two support queues and a connector rather than one system.; Candid grant records derive largely from Form 990 filings, which are published with a lag, so the database describes what a funder did up to eighteen months ago rather than what it intends to fund now.
  • They diverge on capability: Bonterra covers Case management, Candid covers Foundation Directory.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bonterra and Candid actually diverge.

Attributes where Bonterra and Candid differ
AttributeBonterraCandid
Starting priceOn request$219/month
Pricing modelquotePer user per month by tier
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, API

Identical on both: 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 Bonterra

  • Case management
  • Fundraising and engagement
  • Corporate grantmaking
  • Employee giving and volunteering
  • Outcomes reporting
  • Impact data connectors

Only in Candid

  • Foundation Directory
  • 990 based grant records
  • Nonprofit Profiles
  • Charity check
  • Data APIs and bulk feeds
  • Candid Learning
  • Funding Information Network

What people use each for

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

Bonterra

  • A human services agency that must report participant outcomes to a government funder and cannot do it in a donor CRMnot Candid
  • A national advocacy organisation needing high-volume email, action alerts and distributed organising in one donor recordnot Candid
  • A large employer running a global employee match and grant disbursement programme across many countriesnot Candid
  • A nonprofit consolidating a legacy Salsa or ETO deployment onto a supported product within the same vendornot Candid

Candid

  • A development director building a list of foundations that have actually funded organisations of your size, sector and geography in the past three yearsnot Bonterra
  • A funder verifying US tax exempt status before releasing a grant paymentnot Bonterra
  • A software vendor embedding nonprofit organisation data and charity verification into its own productnot Bonterra
  • A nonprofit maintaining a transparency seal on its public profile because institutional funders check it before givingnot Bonterra

Where each one falls short

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

Bonterra

  • The three lines are separately acquired codebases, so buying two of them gives you two logins, two support queues and a connector rather than one system.
  • Legacy products absorbed in the roll-up, notably ETO and older Salsa modules, receive limited development while investment goes to flagship products, leaving those customers on a slowly ageing platform.
  • No pricing is published for any line, and quotes vary widely by contact count and negotiation, so benchmarking against competitors requires a full sales cycle.
  • Private equity ownership has produced repeated renewal price increases reported by customers, and the portfolio structure reduces the credibility of threatening to switch since several obvious alternatives are also Bonterra products.
  • Implementation for Case Management is a configuration project measured in months, and agencies routinely underestimate the internal staff time required to define forms and outcome measures.

Candid

  • Grant records derive largely from Form 990 filings, which are published with a lag, so the database describes what a funder did up to eighteen months ago rather than what it intends to fund now.
  • Foundation Directory is a research database, not a pipeline tool: there is no proposal tracking, deadline management or task assignment, so most teams pay for a grants tracker alongside it.
  • Monthly pricing is high relative to the budget of a small nonprofit, and the same database is available free in person through partner libraries in the Funding Information Network, which makes the subscription hard to justify for occasional research.
  • Coverage is US-centric and built on the US tax filing system, so it is of limited use to organisations seeking funding from UK, EU or Commonwealth foundations.
  • Many funders do not accept unsolicited proposals at all, and the database cannot reliably tell you which, so prospect lists built from it still require manual qualification before outreach.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bonterra

On request
  • Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement$undefined/year
    • Donor CRM and email
    • Advocacy and organising tools
    • Priced by contact record count
  • Bonterra Case Management$undefined/year
    • Apricot participant records and assessments
    • Outcomes and funder reporting
    • Priced by user seats and programme count
  • Bonterra Corporate Social Responsibility$undefined/year
    • CyberGrants grant disbursement
    • Employee giving and volunteering
    • Enterprise contract, priced by programme spend

Candid

$219/month
  • Foundation Directory Essential$219/month
    • Search US grantmakers and grant records
    • Saved searches and prospect lists
    • Single user
  • Foundation Directory Professional$1499/month
    • Full grantmaker, grant and recipient search
    • Trustee and key staff search
    • Advanced filters and larger exports
  • Data licensing$undefined/year
    • API and bulk data feeds
    • Charity check and organisation verification
    • Priced by volume and use case, quoted

Which should you pick?

Choose Bonterra if

  • You need case management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want fundraising and engagement.
Bonterra review

Choose Candid if

  • You need foundation directory.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want 990 based grant records.
Candid review

Questions people ask

Is Bonterra or Candid better?
Neither clearly leads. Bonterra starts at On request and Candid at $219/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bonterra or Candid?
Bonterra starts at On request and Candid at $219/month.
Does Bonterra or Candid run on more platforms?
Bonterra runs on Web, iOS, Android. Candid runs on Web, API.
What is Bonterra best used for?
Bonterra is most often used for a human services agency that must report participant outcomes to a government funder and cannot do it in a donor crm, a national advocacy organisation needing high-volume email, action alerts and distributed organising in one donor record, a large employer running a global employee match and grant disbursement programme across many countries, a nonprofit consolidating a legacy salsa or eto deployment onto a supported product within the same vendor. Of those, a human services agency that must report participant outcomes to a government funder and cannot do it in a donor crm and a national advocacy organisation needing high-volume email, action alerts and distributed organising in one donor record are not what Candid is typically brought in for.
What can Bonterra do that Candid cannot?
Bonterra covers Case management, Fundraising and engagement, Corporate grantmaking, Employee giving and volunteering. Candid covers Foundation Directory, 990 based grant records, Nonprofit Profiles, Charity check.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bonterra: Is Bonterra a single product?

No. It is three product lines built from separately acquired software. You buy one of them, and integration between them is a connector rather than a shared database.

Candid: Is Candid the same as GuideStar?

GuideStar is now part of Candid, merged with Foundation Center in 2019. GuideStar nonprofit profiles continue under the Candid brand.

Bonterra: What happened to EveryAction and Apricot?

They still exist as the underlying products, rebranded as Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement and Bonterra Case Management respectively.

Candid: Can I use Foundation Directory for free?

Yes, in person. Hundreds of partner libraries and nonprofit resource centres in the Funding Information Network provide free access, which is a genuine alternative to a subscription for occasional research.

Bonterra: Does Bonterra publish pricing?

No line has published pricing. Fundraising is generally priced by contact record count, case management by seats and programmes.

Candid: How current is the grant data?

It is drawn largely from Form 990 filings and lags real time by roughly a year to eighteen months. Treat it as evidence of past funding behaviour, not current priorities.

Bonterra: Should a small nonprofit consider Bonterra?

Rarely. The entry price and implementation effort suit organisations with dedicated operations staff; smaller charities are better served by a single-product CRM.

Candid: Does Candid help outside the United States?

Only marginally. The data model is built on US tax filings and US registered organisations.

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