// wild apricot vs memberplanet
Wild Apricot vs MemberPlanet: one charges for members, the other for money.
This is the comparison that matters and almost nobody makes it plainly. Wild Apricot prices by how many contacts you hold. MemberPlanet gives you unlimited members and instead takes a percentage of what you collect - a platform fee plus a per-transaction fee, both published. Which is cheaper depends entirely on your dues revenue, so below are both rate cards as read from their own pricing pages on 12 September 2026, the arithmetic worked through, and then the option that is on neither list.
// what each one publishes
The published rates, dated
Read from each vendor's own pricing page on 12 September 2026. Software pricing moves, so check before you budget.
MemberPlanet
| Plan | Subscription | Platform fee | Payment processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $50/month | 2% | 3% + $0.30 per transaction |
| Pro | $100/month | 1% | 3% + $0.30 per transaction |
| Premium | $175/month | 1% | 3% + $0.30 per transaction |
Unlimited admins and unlimited members on every plan. Email and text credits are not published - the rate card points you at their sales team. One-off charges are published though, and they are worth knowing before you commit:
| Add-on | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Website migration | $1,500 | Up to 25 pages moved for you |
| Customized theme | $500 | Fonts and colours applied site-wide |
| Design kits | $100 | Logo, banner and hero image, 3 iterations |
| Additional training | $100 | Custom materials and a webinar session |
| Additional text messages | $100 | Per 5,000 credits |
| Additional emails | $25 | Per 10,000 credits |
Wild Apricot
| Billing | Price | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing | $66.00/month | At the 100-contact tier |
| Prepay 1 year | $59.40/month | Saves $79.20/year |
| Prepay 2 years | $56.10/month | Saves $118.80/year |
Wild Apricot prices by contact tier - 100, 250, 500, 2,000, 5,000, 15,000 and 50,000 - and states that all packages carry the same features, so the tier only changes how many contacts you may hold. The figures above are its 100-contact tier, the only one the page actually prices. Its own payment processing rate is not on the pricing page: there is a collapsed question titled "Are there any additional transaction fees?" and a note that payment systems other than its integrated Personify Payments carry an additional fee, but no percentage. That gap is the reason the comparison below cannot be finished for you.
// do the arithmetic
A $50 plan is not a $600 year
Take a group collecting $20,000 a year across 400 payments on MemberPlanet's Essentials plan. Every figure here is from their published rate card, so you can redo it with your own numbers.
| Subscription, $50 x 12 | $600 |
| Payment processing, 3% of $20,000 | $600 |
| Per-transaction, $0.30 x 400 | $120 |
| Before the platform fee | $1,320 |
| Plus a 2% platform fee on Essentials, charged on top | see their tooltip |
So the honest number is at least $1,320 a year against a $600 headline, and more once the platform fee lands. I have deliberately not computed the platform fee, because MemberPlanet defines what it applies to in a tooltip on its own page and I would rather you read that than trust my guess. This is not a knock on MemberPlanet - it publishes a fuller rate card than most of this category, which is exactly why the sum can be done at all. Wild Apricot's equivalent sum cannot be finished from its website.
// the axis that matters
Headcount or revenue, pick your meter
| Wild Apricot | MemberPlanet | |
|---|---|---|
| What the price scales with | Your contact count. Tiers at 100, 250, 500, 2,000, 5,000, 15,000 and 50,000. | Money you collect. Members and admins are unlimited on every plan. |
| Fees on payments | States no per-transaction fees. Its own processing rate is not published on the pricing page. | Published in full: a platform fee of 2% (Essentials) or 1% (Pro, Premium), plus 3% + $0.30 per transaction. |
| Features by tier | Identical at every tier. It states all packages offer the same features. | Advanced directory search and smart lists start at Pro ($100/month). |
| Can you total it from the website? | No. The contact tier you need and the processing rate are both off-page. | Yes, for the recurring cost. The rate card is complete enough to do the arithmetic. |
| If you run chapters | Multi-chapter volume discounts and customized pricing. Quote only - you book a call. | Not addressed as a separate tier on the pricing page. |
| Who each one says it serves | Member-based organisations; it cites over 15,000 of them. | A broad group list: associations, nonprofits, PTAs, HOAs, booster clubs, fraternal and sorority orgs, schools, faith-based and political campaigns. |
| Try before you buy | 60-day free trial, no credit card, $0 setup. | Free tier to try it. |
Comparing other platforms in this category? I keep the same kind of honest page on Springly vs Wild Apricot, on leaving Wild Apricot, and on MemberClicks, Rhythm and YourMembership.
// rent vs own
The third option
Both platforms above are rentals, and one of them is metered on your own fundraising. That is not a criticism - renting is the right call for plenty of organisations. But it is a different thing from owning, and the trade is worth seeing plainly before you commit to years of it.
| Renting a platform | Owning one | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup speed | Fast - configure and go | Slower - it's built for you, over weeks |
| Upfront cost | Low | Higher - it's a real build |
| Cost over time | Recurring, and it rises with either your headcount or your revenue | You own the asset; hosting + care, with no cut of your dues |
| Cut of your dues | A percentage, on some platforms, for as long as you stay | None. Your payment processor's fee, and nothing on top |
| Capability ceiling | Whatever the tier you're paying for includes | Whatever you need built, when you need it |
| Your data & content | Lives inside their platform | Yours - export it, move it, own it |
| Integrations | Their ecosystem, and whatever the tier unlocks | Anything with an API - Stripe, your CRM, email, events |
| If you outgrow or leave | Migration and lock-in to untangle | You already own it - nothing to escape |
| Who maintains it | They do - you're a tenant | I do, on a Care Plan - or your team. Either way it's yours |
// own it if
- You collect real money in dues, events and donations, and a percentage of it is going to your platform every year.
- Your chapters or committees keep landing you in a sales call instead of a price.
- You want the member experience and brand to be yours, not a template inside someone's platform.
- You want to own the member database, the content, and the platform itself.
// stay on a subscription if
- You're small and standard. Either of these will serve you well, and I'll say so.
- You collect little or nothing online, which makes a revenue-based fee cheap for you.
- Nobody (me included) is lined up to maintain a custom platform long term.
// platforms I've shipped
HAULYP
A Houston chapter moved off Wild Apricot onto Circle for community management, then run on systems built to keep working when volunteers, deadlines, and live members depend on them. This is what leaving actually looks like, not a theory about it.
Read the case study
Urban League of Greater Atlanta YP
A chapter site rebuilt around the membership platform it already ran on, with events pulled in automatically and the member portal still authenticating against it. Every existing member credential carried across intact - nobody had to re-register or reset a password to keep access.
Read the case study
AAMA
A live membership platform for a marketing association: member portal, admin dashboard, payments, events, and automated communications - owned by the org, not rented.
Read the case study
Pulse Awards
A full platform from zero: submissions, Stripe payments, judge scoring, and a multi-section admin dashboard. Proof that custom association tooling ships.
Read the case study// common questions
Wild Apricot or MemberPlanet - which is cheaper?
It depends on one number: how much money you collect online. Wild Apricot charges by contact count and states it has no per-transaction fees. MemberPlanet gives you unlimited members but publishes a platform fee of 2% on Essentials, or 1% on Pro and Premium, plus 3% + $0.30 per transaction. So a large, low-revenue group tends to favour MemberPlanet, and a small group collecting substantial dues online tends to favour Wild Apricot. The honest catch is that you cannot finish the Wild Apricot side of that sum from its website - the contact tier you actually need is behind a slider and its own processing rate is not on the pricing page.
So what does MemberPlanet actually cost per year?
More than the sticker, and you can prove it from their own rate card. Take a group collecting $20,000 a year across 400 payments on the Essentials plan: the subscription is $50 x 12 = $600, and payment processing at 3% + $0.30 per transaction is $600 + $120 = $720. That is $1,320 a year before the platform fee, against a $600 headline. The 2% platform fee is charged on top of that; MemberPlanet defines what it applies to in a tooltip on its pricing page, so check that against your own numbers rather than taking mine. None of this is a criticism - publishing the rate card at all is more transparent than most of this category manages.
Where does a custom platform fit in this comparison?
It is not a third subscription. It is the option where nobody takes a percentage of your dues and nobody prices you by headcount, because you own the platform - modelled on your chapters, committees, dues and programs. That is worth it when the software has started shaping how your organisation runs rather than the other way round. Below that, an off-the-shelf tool is the right answer and I will tell you so.
We're already on Wild Apricot. What does moving off actually involve?
A tiered migration: members, committees, content and history mapped and moved, with a redirect plan so you do not lose data, donors or search rankings in the switch. It is a Migration Strategy engagement, and it has been done - a Houston Urban League chapter moved off Wild Apricot onto Circle, and on a separate rebuild every existing member credential carried across intact so nobody had to reset a password.
Are these prices current?
Every figure on this page was read from Wild Apricot's and MemberPlanet's own pricing pages on 12 September 2026, and both are linked so you can check them. Software pricing moves, so verify before you budget. Where a vendor does not publish something, this page says so - and each of those gaps was checked by reading the vendor's full pricing page, not assumed.
// start the conversation
Want the sum done on your numbers?
Tell me your member count and roughly what you collect online in a year, and I'll tell you which of the two is cheaper for you - or that a build is. You'll hear back within one business day, and I have no reason to talk you out of a subscription that works. Prefer to talk? book a call instead.