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Nonprofits · head to head

CommCare vs Glue Up

CommCare logo

CommCare

Nonprofits

Offline-first case management and mobile data collection for frontline health and development programmes

From
$100/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Glue Up logo

Glue Up

Nonprofits

Membership, events and engagement software with strong Asia-Pacific presence

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CommCare pricing is by included mobile user bands with a hard step between them, so a programme at 260 mobile users pays the Pro band plus per-user overage or jumps to Advanced, and neither option matches its actual size.; Glue Up pricing is not published, and quotes vary substantially by region, which makes budgeting harder than with the published North American tools
  • They diverge on capability: CommCare covers Case management, Glue Up covers Event management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CommCare and Glue Up actually diverge.

Attributes where CommCare and Glue Up differ
AttributeCommCareGlue Up
Starting price$100/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer month by mobile user countquote
PlatformsAndroid, WebWeb, 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 CommCare

  • Case management
  • Offline-first mobile app
  • App builder
  • Multi-language support
  • Two-way SMS
  • Report builder
  • API access
  • BI integration

Only in Glue Up

  • Event management
  • Membership management
  • Member mobile app
  • Email campaigns
  • Integrated CRM
  • Regional payments

What people use each for

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

CommCare

  • A community health worker programme where each worker must see their own assigned households, what is overdue and what happened last visit, which a survey tool cannot representnot Glue Up
  • A ministry of health digitising a national frontline protocol and requiring in-region data hosting for legal reasonsnot Glue Up
  • An NGO running the same intervention in four countries that needs one application, several languages and consolidated reportingnot Glue Up
  • A research team collecting longitudinal data on the same participants over years, where linking visits to a case rather than a submission is the whole requirementnot Glue Up

Glue Up

  • Chambers of commerce and professional bodies operating across Asia-Pacificnot CommCare
  • Associations whose events are the core of member value rather than an add-onnot CommCare
  • Organisations wanting a branded member app rather than a web portalnot CommCare
  • Bodies needing local payment methods and regional data residencynot CommCare

Where each one falls short

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

CommCare

  • Pricing is by included mobile user bands with a hard step between them, so a programme at 260 mobile users pays the Pro band plus per-user overage or jumps to Advanced, and neither option matches its actual size.
  • The subscription is the small number; application design, device procurement, worker training and supervision dominate the real cost, and grant budgets that fund only the licence stall at deployment.
  • Grant funding cycles and subscription renewals rarely align, so programmes routinely face a year-four cliff where the software is embedded in a workflow and the money that paid for it has ended.
  • It is Android-only on the device side, which is usually right for the target markets but blocks iOS-issued staff and makes the platform a poor fit for programmes in higher-income settings.
  • The open source option is real but effectively theoretical: self-hosting CommCare HQ requires substantial engineering, so the licence being free does not translate into an escape from the subscription.

Glue Up

  • Pricing is not published, and quotes vary substantially by region, which makes budgeting harder than with the published North American tools
  • Membership management is less deep than the dedicated association management systems, reflecting its event-management origins
  • Smaller North American and European ecosystem, so integrations and local references are thinner outside Asia
  • Fundraising and donor management are weak, so charities whose main activity is giving should look elsewhere
  • The breadth means individual modules are good rather than excellent when compared against specialist tools

Pricing, plan by plan

CommCare

$100/month
  • Standard$100/month
    • 50 mobile users included
    • $2 per additional mobile user per month
    • Unlimited free web users
  • Pro$500/month
    • 250 mobile users included
    • Case sharing and child cases
    • Web report builder
  • Advanced$1000/month
    • 500 mobile users included
    • Power BI and Tableau integration
    • Web applications
  • Enterprise$4000/month
    • Custom mobile user count
    • Single sign-on
    • Named account management

Glue Up

On request
  • Essentials$undefined/year
    • Event management
    • Membership
    • Email campaigns
  • Professional$undefined/year
    • All Essentials features
    • Member mobile app
    • CRM
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Multi-chapter
    • API access
    • Custom integrations

Which should you pick?

Choose CommCare if

  • You need case management.
  • You work on Android, Web.
  • You also want offline-first mobile app.
CommCare review

Choose Glue Up if

  • You need event management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want membership management.
Glue Up review

Questions people ask

Is CommCare or Glue Up better?
Neither clearly leads. CommCare starts at $100/month and Glue Up at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CommCare or Glue Up?
CommCare starts at $100/month and Glue Up at On request.
Does CommCare or Glue Up run on more platforms?
CommCare runs on Android, Web. Glue Up runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is CommCare best used for?
CommCare is most often used for a community health worker programme where each worker must see their own assigned households, what is overdue and what happened last visit, which a survey tool cannot represent, a ministry of health digitising a national frontline protocol and requiring in-region data hosting for legal reasons, an ngo running the same intervention in four countries that needs one application, several languages and consolidated reporting, a research team collecting longitudinal data on the same participants over years, where linking visits to a case rather than a submission is the whole requirement. Of those, a community health worker programme where each worker must see their own assigned households, what is overdue and what happened last visit, which a survey tool cannot represent and a ministry of health digitising a national frontline protocol and requiring in-region data hosting for legal reasons are not what Glue Up is typically brought in for.
What can CommCare do that Glue Up cannot?
CommCare covers Case management, Offline-first mobile app, App builder, Multi-language support. Glue Up covers Event management, Membership management, Member mobile app, Email campaigns.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CommCare: How much does CommCare cost?

Standard is $100 a month for 50 mobile users, Pro $500 for 250, Advanced $1,000 for 500 and Enterprise from $4,000. Extra mobile users are $2 each per month; web users are unlimited and free.

Glue Up: Where is Glue Up strongest?

Asia-Pacific. Local payment methods, WeChat integration, regional data residency and in-region support are things the North American platforms cannot match there.

CommCare: Is CommCare open source?

Yes, CommCare HQ is open source, but self-hosting requires serious engineering capacity. Nearly all users take the hosted service.

Glue Up: Was it called something else?

Yes, EventBank. The rename to Glue Up reflected the shift from pure event management to membership and engagement.

CommCare: Where is our data stored?

You choose United States, European Union or India hosting, which is what makes it acceptable to ministries with data residency rules.

Glue Up: What does it cost?

Not published, and it varies by region. Expect an annual contract quoted on member count and modules.

CommCare: Who funds CommCare?

Dimagi is a for-profit B Corporation funded by customer subscriptions and services. Individual deployments are usually funded by donors such as USAID successors, the Gates Foundation or national health budgets.

Glue Up: Is the member app real?

Yes, a branded native app rather than a mobile web view. For associations whose members network at events, it is one of the strongest reasons to choose it.

CommCare: Does it do case management or just forms?

Case management. Workers hold a caseload of individuals or households and see history and due actions, which is the main reason to choose it over a form tool.

Glue Up: Should a US-only association consider it?

It can, but Wild Apricot and MemberClicks have published pricing, larger local ecosystems and more local references. The Asia-Pacific advantage is the reason to pick Glue Up.

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