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Nonprofits · head to head

CharityEngine vs Wild Apricot

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
Wild Apricot logo

Wild Apricot

Nonprofits

Membership management for small associations and clubs

From
$60/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Wild Apricot the website builder is dated and constrained, and organisations that care about their public site usually end up running a separate site alongside it
  • They diverge on capability: CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Wild Apricot covers Member database.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CharityEngine and Wild Apricot actually diverge.

Attributes where CharityEngine and Wild Apricot differ
AttributeCharityEngineWild Apricot
Starting priceOn request$60/month
Pricing modelquotePer month by contact count
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android

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 CharityEngine

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

Only in Wild Apricot

  • Member database
  • Automated renewals
  • Event registration
  • Website builder
  • Online payments
  • Email and newsletters

What people use each for

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

CharityEngine

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

Wild Apricot

  • Small associations and clubs replacing a spreadsheet and a separate websitenot CharityEngine
  • Volunteer-run organisations needing unlimited administrators without per-seat costnot CharityEngine
  • Professional bodies handling dues renewals and a member directorynot CharityEngine
  • Groups running paid events for members alongside membership subscriptionsnot CharityEngine

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Wild Apricot

  • The website builder is dated and constrained, and organisations that care about their public site usually end up running a separate site alongside it
  • Pricing by contact count means lapsed members and non-member contacts push you into a higher tier unless the database is actively pruned
  • Every module is adequate rather than good, so any organisation with a serious need in one area will outgrow that part first
  • Reporting is basic, and detailed membership analysis generally means exporting to a spreadsheet
  • Migration away is painful once the website, database and event history all live inside it

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Wild Apricot

$60/month
  • Group$60/month
    • Up to 100 contacts
    • Member database
    • Website
  • Community$150/month
    • Up to 500 contacts
    • All Group features
    • More storage
  • Association$290/month
    • Up to 2,000 contacts
    • All Community features
    • Priority support
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • 5,000 contacts and above
    • Dedicated support
    • Custom arrangements

Which should you pick?

Choose CharityEngine if

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

Choose Wild Apricot if

  • You need member database.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want automated renewals.
Wild Apricot review

Questions people ask

Is CharityEngine or Wild Apricot better?
Neither clearly leads. CharityEngine starts at On request and Wild Apricot at $60/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CharityEngine or Wild Apricot?
CharityEngine starts at On request and Wild Apricot at $60/month.
Does CharityEngine or Wild Apricot run on more platforms?
CharityEngine runs on Web. Wild Apricot runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is CharityEngine best used for?
CharityEngine is most often used for a nonprofit processing high recurring gift volume that wants card updater and dunning built into the crm rather than bought separately, replacing a stack of a crm, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliation, a direct mail heavy organisation that needs offline gift entry and mail file segmentation as first-class features, not add-ons, an organisation whose finance team wants a single settlement file that already reconciles to donor records. Of those, a nonprofit processing high recurring gift volume that wants card updater and dunning built into the crm rather than bought separately and replacing a stack of a crm, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliation are not what Wild Apricot is typically brought in for.
What can CharityEngine do that Wild Apricot cannot?
CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Recurring giving recovery, Direct mail segmentation, Peer-to-peer and events. Wild Apricot covers Member database, Automated renewals, Event registration, Website builder.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Wild Apricot: How is Wild Apricot priced?

By contact count, not by staff seat, starting at 60 USD a month for up to 100 contacts. Unlimited administrators is the practical benefit for volunteer-run organisations.

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.

Wild Apricot: Do lapsed members count toward the limit?

Contacts count, which includes records beyond current paying members. Pruning the database matters, because tier boundaries are the main cause of unexpected cost increases.

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.

Wild Apricot: Is the website builder any good?

It is functional and dated. Organisations that care about their public web presence commonly run a separate site and use Wild Apricot for the member-only area.

CharityEngine: How long is the contract?

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

Wild Apricot: Can it handle fundraising?

Basic donation collection, yes. Organisations whose main activity is fundraising rather than membership are better served by a donor management platform.

Wild Apricot: When do organisations outgrow it?

Usually at a few thousand members, or earlier if one area — events, fundraising or the website — becomes central to the organisation rather than incidental.

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