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Nonprofits · head to head

CharityEngine vs Sumac

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
Sumac logo

Sumac

Nonprofits

Modular nonprofit CRM that pairs donor management with client case management

From
On request
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.; 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: CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, 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 CharityEngine and Sumac actually diverge.

Attributes where CharityEngine and Sumac differ
AttributeCharityEngineSumac
PlatformsWebWeb, Windows

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 CharityEngine

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

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.

CharityEngine

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

Sumac

  • A social service agency that must record client cases and donor gifts without buying two systemsnot CharityEngine
  • A charity that wants only donor and grant modules and refuses to pay for an events suite it will not usenot CharityEngine
  • A Canadian organisation wanting local support hours and receipting conventionsnot CharityEngine
  • An agency replacing a legacy Access or FileMaker database with something supportednot 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.

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

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

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 CharityEngine if

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

Choose Sumac if

  • You need donor and gift management.
  • You work on Web, Windows.
  • You also want case management module.
Sumac review

Questions people ask

Is CharityEngine or Sumac better?
Neither clearly leads. CharityEngine 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, CharityEngine or Sumac?
CharityEngine starts at On request and Sumac at On request.
Does CharityEngine or Sumac run on more platforms?
CharityEngine runs on Web. Sumac runs on Web, Windows.
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 Sumac is typically brought in for.
What can CharityEngine do that Sumac cannot?
CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Recurring giving recovery, Direct mail segmentation, Peer-to-peer and events. Sumac covers Donor and gift management, Case management module, Memberships and volunteers, Grant management.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

CharityEngine: How long is the contract?

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

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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