Nonprofits · head to head
Bonterra vs Sumac
Bonterra
Nonprofits
The rolled-up parent of EveryAction, Apricot, CyberGrants and Network for Good, sold as three product lines
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Sumac
Nonprofits
Modular nonprofit CRM that pairs donor management with client case management
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
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.; Sumac pricing is not published at all, so a small organisation cannot compare Sumac against per contact priced competitors without committing to a sales process.
- They diverge on capability: Bonterra covers Case management, Sumac covers Donor and gift management.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Bonterra and Sumac actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Sumac
- Donor and gift management
- Case management module
- Memberships and volunteers
- Grant management
- Role based permissions
- Custom fields and forms
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 Sumac
- A national advocacy organisation needing high-volume email, action alerts and distributed organising in one donor recordnot Sumac
- A large employer running a global employee match and grant disbursement programme across many countriesnot Sumac
- A nonprofit consolidating a legacy Salsa or ETO deployment onto a supported product within the same vendornot Sumac
Sumac
- A social service agency that must record client cases and donor gifts without buying two systemsnot Bonterra
- A charity that wants only donor and grant modules and refuses to pay for an events suite it will not usenot Bonterra
- A Canadian organisation wanting local support hours and receipting conventionsnot Bonterra
- An agency replacing a legacy Access or FileMaker database with something supportednot 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.
Sumac
- Pricing is not published at all, so a small organisation cannot compare Sumac against per contact priced competitors without committing to a sales process.
- The interface reflects the product's age, and staff arriving from consumer grade software find navigation and data entry slower than in newer CRMs.
- Holding client case notes and donor records in one database makes permission design a compliance obligation, and a misconfigured role can expose confidential client material to fundraising staff.
- The integration catalogue is small, so payment, email and accounting connections outside the listed few mean manual export or paid custom work.
- Modular licensing means the price rises in visible steps as programmes expand, and organisations frequently discover the module they need most was not in the original quote.
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$undefined/year
- CyberGrants grant disbursement
- Employee giving and volunteering
- Enterprise contract, priced by programme spend
Sumac
On request- Sumac$undefined/year
- Quoted by module selection and organisation size
- Case management is a separately licensed module
- Implementation and data migration quoted separately
Which should you pick?
Choose Bonterra if
- You need case management.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want fundraising and engagement.
Choose Sumac if
- You need donor and gift management.
- You work on Web, Windows.
- You also want case management module.
Questions people ask
- Is Bonterra or Sumac better?
- Neither clearly leads. Bonterra starts at On request and Sumac at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Bonterra or Sumac?
- Bonterra starts at On request and Sumac at On request.
- Does Bonterra or Sumac run on more platforms?
- Bonterra runs on Web, iOS, Android. Sumac runs on Web, Windows.
- 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 Sumac is typically brought in for.
- What can Bonterra do that Sumac cannot?
- Bonterra covers Case management, Fundraising and engagement, Corporate grantmaking, Employee giving and volunteering. Sumac covers Donor and gift management, Case management module, Memberships and volunteers, Grant management.
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.
Sumac: Is Sumac the same product as Societ?
The vendor has been moving its products under the Societ brand, so you may see both names for the same platform during a sales cycle.
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.
Sumac: Can it handle client case management?
Yes, that is its clearest differentiator among donor CRMs. It is a licensed module, not part of the base product.
Bonterra: Does Bonterra publish pricing?
No line has published pricing. Fundraising is generally priced by contact record count, case management by seats and programmes.
Sumac: Is pricing published?
No. It is quoted by module and organisation size, which makes like for like comparison harder than with published per contact products.
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.
Sumac: Does it work for US charities?
Yes, though the vendor is Canadian and its receipting and support conventions are strongest for Canadian organisations.
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