Neon CRM vs WildApricot

DonorPerfect

Givebutter

Bloomerang

DonorPerfect helps nonprofits of every size streamline fundraising and centralize donor data in one flexible, all-in-one platform.
A CRM that empowers teams to collaborate, stay organized, and make data-driven decisions from anywhere, so your mission keeps moving forward.

Givebutter is a cloud-based, all-in-one fundraising platform for student organizations, sports teams, companies, and nonprofits which offers a range of tools for collecting donations online, running social peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, selling tickets to fundraising events, and more

Bloomerang’s fundraising software and donor database helps nonprofits acquire, engage, and retain donors.

Neon CRM is built to help you increase your impact with a database focused on people, not transactions. Engage donors, plan events, manage memberships, and more.

Donor Management

Contact Management

Fundraising Management

Email Marketing

Event Management

Volunteer Management

Most reviewers indicate Neon CRM delivers strong value for money, with affordable, transparent pricing and robust features. Some users report that advanced options incur extra costs, and a few reviewers find price increases steep as organizations grow.

Value for money

By industry, Neon CRM reviewers are most commonly professionals in civic & social organization (25%). The most frequent use case for Neon CRM cited by reviewers is nonprofit CRM (68% of reviewers).

Neon CRM

Web-based

Windows

Bonterra Network for Good

Little Green Light

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

WildApricot

MemberClicks

Flipcause

Blackbaud eTapestry

GrowthZone

Glue Up

Blackbaud CRM

Memberships 

Events

Volunteers

Complicated and costly payment structure

Individual Giving Manager

Neon Pay has higher processing fees than many payment processors.

Board Member

The software is expensive and will cost an extra 3 months of unused service if you cancel ("90 days to stop billing cycles" - means you get billed for another 90 days after you send the cancellation form).

57% of reviewers feel negative about NeonCRM’s payment and fees. Users report frustration with high processing fees, mandatory use of Neon Pay, and additional charges for customer support or customizations. Reviewers indicate that billing practices, such as lengthy cancellation periods and extra costs for unused service, create confusion and dissatisfaction. Some users say refund handling and payment integrations are problematic, and they dislike the lack of flexibility in payment processing options. They feel that these issues can lead to unexpected expenses and administrative burdens.

Limited and outdated email functionality

51% of reviewers feel negative about NeonCRM’s email campaigns. Users think the email module lacks user-friendliness, with outdated templates and limited customization options. Reviewers say setting up campaigns is confusing, and editing system emails is awkward and time-consuming. Some users report that emails are not mobile responsive, often go to spam, and do not integrate well with popular third-party services. They find the formatting tools restrictive and believe the platform does not match the quality or ease of use found in dedicated email marketing solutions.

Non-intuitive and cumbersome user experience

35% of reviewers feel negative about NeonCRM’s user interface. Users report that the platform is not intuitive, with many functions and settings difficult to find or understand. Reviewers indicate that the system feels clunky and requires more steps than necessary for basic tasks. Some users say the learning curve is steep, and both staff and constituents struggle with navigation. They feel that the interface lacks user-friendliness compared to other software, leading to frustration and inefficiency during daily use.

Comprehensive and customizable database

94% of reviewers feel positive about NeonCRM’s database management. Users report that the system securely centralizes donor, membership, and event data, making information easily accessible and organized for nonprofit workflows. Reviewers appreciate the ability to customize fields, automate processes, and generate detailed reports. They find transitioning from legacy databases straightforward and value the robust knowledge base for support. Some users highlight that the database grows with their organization and supports efficient daily operations, reducing manual data entry and improving overall data management.

Extensive self-guided learning resources

94% of reviewers feel positive about NeonCRM’s tutorial-based training. Users think the abundance of tutorials, webinars, and step-by-step videos makes it easier to learn the system at their own pace. Reviewers appreciate having a searchable knowledge base and detailed guides, which help them quickly resolve questions without needing direct support. Some users say the variety of resources, including demo versions and live webinars, enables both beginners and experienced staff to understand features thoroughly. They indicate that the training materials are especially valuable for onboarding and mastering complex functions.

Responsive and knowledgeable support team

88% of reviewers feel positive about NeonCRM’s staff support. Users appreciate the knowledgeable and accessible support staff, who provide timely assistance during onboarding and ongoing use. Reviewers indicate that the support team is patient, professional, and willing to listen to feedback for product improvements. Some users say staff help non-technical team members feel comfortable with the system, and they value the stable help desk and collaborative approach. They find that support resources, including consultants and community forums, contribute to smoother implementation and day-to-day operations.

Tailored for nonprofit operations

Co-founder

NEON CRM allows us to fully integrate all functions of our nonprofit and create a report with all the parts of our nonprofit.

95% of reviewers feel positive about NeonCRM’s nonprofit use. Users say the platform integrates essential nonprofit functions like donations, events, volunteer management, and communications into one system. Reviewers appreciate that it consolidates data, streamlines workflows, and offers customizable features suitable for both small and growing nonprofits. They find the system cost-effective, reducing the need for multiple vendors, and note that its design supports unique nonprofit needs such as paper donations and limited staff resources. Some users report that the flexibility and automation help them focus more on their mission.

Marketing Manager

These deficits span from the more strategic functionalities like built-in donor intelligence tools to help you assess capacity-to-give and accounting tools, to practical everyday functionality like an inability to add matched company gifts to existing constituent pledges or limitations with reports and forms.

Board Advisor

We can seamlessly sync our data with other platforms such as Constant Contact and Double the Donation, as well as our NEON-based website and donation pages.

Project Coordinator

It allows me to set notifications, such as reminders when installments might be expected, and to automatically place contacts into groups based on actions like attending events.

Communications Director

Neon CRM is a multi-functional tool that helps our organization organize large amounts of data: donor contacts, event registrants, email subscribers, and more.

Membership Cooridinator

Neon One CRM is a powerful tool with a lot of functionality packed in, especially strong for managing constituent data, donations, and engagement in a nonprofit context.

Executive Director

We also wish we could (3) use the new events module, but we are "stuck" on the "legacy events" because it makes zero fiscal sense for us to switch to NeonPay (WAY more expensive than our current processor, even if without surcharging), but I feel like we are missing out on features and that Neon is trying to strong-arm or nickle-and-dime ($199 monthly 3rd-party processor fee) us into switching to NeonPay.

Manager

Neon CRM also incorporates nonprofit best practices in its reporting features, giving our donors confidence that their contributions are being used wisely and transparently.

Volunteer Exec Director

You can easily collect and query data across so many channels - events, donations, volunteers, newsletters, text, and more!

Neon is great for being able to manage all of our different use cases, including events, memberships, report building, etc.

That said, the initial setup required a significant investment of time for our organization. While the system provides many helpful features and solid value for money, the lack of a mobile app and challenges with duplicate management remain notable drawbacks.

Development Director

The reporting feature, while it can produce helpful reports, can be convoluted and challenging to configure to get the data you want at times.

Office Manager

One thing that has been a little challenging is when I am filling out a form and there is a drop down, sometimes there is nothing in the drop down, so I know I need to add things to the drop down, but I have to do some searching to find out where I can add those items.

Database Administrator

I love the endless options for system letters and emails that allows us to customize receipts, thank you letters, pledge reminders etc.

Fund Development Manager

We use it regularly for grant tracking, reporting, philanthropic support tracking, donor management, donation tracking, giving campaigns and special events.

You can build your own reports, including MANY parameters to search by and which data are included in the output.

It has been a key tool in helping us manage our donors and provide clear data that allows us to make better decisions.

We use the email campaigns function very regularly and I've been happy with the provided templates as well as options to customize and streamline.

The menu structures are convoluted and Neon CRM lacks some functionality that other more focused donation management softwares (like Blackbaud) have available.

Director of Operations

They do not include annual contract terms, nor do they remind you when renewals are upcoming. Once they have you on the hook, they refuse to make any concessions.

In practice, the system sometimes flags contacts as duplicates simply because they share an address, such as people who work at the same organization.

Box Office Manager

I do not like the text editor for creating descriptions of shows or for composing emails to patrons,

E.g, sending out an event confirmation email for example requires you to set up an email in a completely different part of the system.

Donor Advancement and Communications Administrator

We've had issues importing numbers to send text messages to our donors and the "fix" is very time consuming.

Director of Development

I love having the ability to have full donor management software that can grow with my organization as needed.

It took a while, with the help of customer service, to identify which options are best for our Foundation and how to use them effectively.

The payment/where the $$ came from reporting is not as customizable as you might like, but they do offer a lot of canned reports.

Board Treasurer

We also use NeonPay which provides a seamless link for payment processing.

Finance and Fund Development manager

We just purchased volunteer management and haven't used it, but there's a huge plus for having fundraising, events and volunteer in one place

Director

The feature that we use often is event management and the online shopping for members.

Founder and Developer

They lock you in to an annual contract (3) They log you out out every 2 hours and last month announced you would have to go through 2 factor authentication to get back in, (4) The features do not work well and they are not integrated: They have email marketing, but no way to see on a constituent profile page what subscriptions they chose; they have a store but no way to see who bought a particular product, (4) we paid them to import data, but they would not import years of one-to-one emails we had gathered and provided to their import team.

Program-Development Director

Cannot view a form completely without going into fill it out; unclear at a given time what our package includes as far as apps, integrations, and updates; and excessive data points on profiles/accounts from various forms (we need to do a lot of data cleaning).

Also, soft credit do not appear in the total giving of a donor so you have to run separate reports.

Admin

We ask for basic functionality like integration with Paypal, Square, not have our event drop off the calendar day of event, or a dynamic token for events and the answer is always the same, we do not have that functionality please put it in our suggestions portal.

Development Coordinator

I also like how Neon provides monthly webinars on product releases and updates to their platform.

Please take advantage of Neon’s support and training resources (like their help docs, webinars, or onboarding team).

Neon CRM is in a transitional moment between legacy and next generation updates that feels a bit clunky.

It seems like they really looked at the needs of many clients with many different needs and they are focused on accommodating all of them!

It has a great variety in flexibility and capabilities to meet a wide variety of demands for a wide variety of customers.

Operations Manager

It can be clunky and cumbersome to work with - not the most intuitive but once you become familiar with the platform it does what we need it to as a small non-profit.

Producing Artistic Director

Neon CRM has significantly improved our donor management and fundraising processes.

We were told that we could cancel the subscription or return to the lower level. When we tried to do that, we were told that we would be cancelled as of 12/31/2025, which is 20 months after we were fooled into upgrading to "fix" our issues.

Their support used to be marginal (a bit hard to get timely answers), but they've just heavily invested in support staff and tools so I anticipate that won't be an issue going forward.

Figuring out how to do certain platform functions has been a little challenging for me, but customer support is provides quick guidance.

Director Resource Development

We liked the general ease of use, and the ability to customize the fields that we needed to manage our volunteers and clients.

Accounting and HR Coordinator

I would like to have a sign-in kiosk future for volunteers and for it to print name tags for them that includes their names and role.  

This makes it easier to set fundraising goals and track progress over time.

Operating Director

That I can't just call someone to help me with a problem.   When you have an "urgent" problem that you need to get solved quickly there is no immediate way to get the solution.  

Development Manager

Reporting is a breeze - with many built-in reports and the ability to simply create new.

I would rather just be able to grab any and all information that I wish when creating a custom report rather than having to find one that has the information I want and customizing it.  

Education Director

We appreciated having our membership, donor, volunteer, and event registration data all in one centralized platform.

Donor and Donation Management

Reporting

Event Registration

Payment and Fees

Email Campaigns

Customer Support

Nonprofit Use

Data Management

Updates and Improvements

Large Enterprises

Freelancers

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Neon One

Daxko Operations

Complete operations software for member-based nonprofits - integrating programs, billing, and check-ins in one secure system.

StarChapter

StarChapter is an association management software for local chapters, combining membership management, website content, event registration and email marketing

Mindbody

Mindbody offers business management software for spas, salons, gyms, wellness practitioners and other class and appointment-based businesses.

WildApricot is an online membership solution for associations, non-profits, and clubs. Wild Apricot allows teams to automate all the administrative tasks that come with running an organization: membership management, event registration, online payments, emails, and the website.

Membership Management

Electronic Payments

Registration Management

Customizable Forms

Most reviewers indicate that WildApricot offers strong value for money, with affordable pricing, extensive features, and cost savings for small organizations. However, some users report frustration with frequent price increases and steep jumps between pricing tiers.

By industry, WildApricot reviewers are most commonly professionals in non-profit organization management (32%). The most frequent use case cited is membership management (72% of reviewers).

Android

iPhone

iPad

Membee

Hivebrite

100 Contacts

250 Contacts

500 Contacts

2000 Contacts

5000 Contacts

15000 Contacts

Challenging formatting and editing tools

65% of reviewers feel negative about Page and Email Formatting. Reviewers report difficulties with the platform’s page and email editors, citing issues with inconsistent formatting, limited font and style options, and problems when pasting content from external sources. They say the editing tools can be clunky, especially for users without HTML experience, and that achieving professional-looking layouts is often time-consuming. Some users mention frustration with mobile responsiveness and maintaining consistent appearance across communications.

Frequent bugs and technical issues

65% of reviewers feel negative about Bugs and Issues. Reviewers indicate they encounter various technical problems, such as system slowdowns, unresponsive features, and recurring bugs that disrupt workflow. They mention challenges with browser compatibility, error messages, and difficulties accessing support when issues arise. Some users say these problems lead to extra work, risk of errors, and frustration, especially when technical support is slow to respond or unable to resolve persistent issues.

Comprehensive association management tools

Offers everything you need to run an association and its ease of use and price.

100% of reviewers feel positive about Association Management. Reviewers indicate the platform offers essential infrastructure for running associations, including membership tracking, content management, and administrative tools. They appreciate the ease of use, time savings, and flexibility, which allow them to focus on growing their organizations and serving members. Users say the software is suitable for both small and large associations, and they value the responsive customer support and helpful documentation. Some reviewers highlight the cost-effectiveness and the ability to centralize association activities in one place.

Ongoing product enhancements

97% of reviewers feel positive about Improvements. Reviewers appreciate that the company regularly updates the software, adding new features and responding to user suggestions. They indicate that enhancements make the platform more functional and easier to use over time. Users say the development team listens to feedback and implements changes that benefit their organizations. Some reviewers note that continuous upgrades help keep their operations current and relevant, and they value the company’s commitment to ongoing improvement.

Integrated event and membership features

98% of reviewers feel positive about Event and Membership Management. Reviewers appreciate being able to manage member registrations, event listings, and communications within a single platform. They find the system streamlines processes like renewals, event sign-ups, and payment collection, reducing administrative workload. Users say the customizable member database, automated reminders, and accessible event calendars improve engagement and attendance. Many note the flexibility to tailor features to their organization’s needs and value the all-in-one solution for managing contacts, finances, and events.

Web Liason

It seems that a non-member could sign up for a newsletter, and then their email is in our system, but it kind of gets muddy when we want to only send a newsletter out for our members (member only events, get togethers at peoples houses, etc. ) and public events (come to our big pottery show).  

It has lots of great features like the forums and all the different letters you can generate and set up dates to have them automatically sent out.  

Director of The Law Enforcement Advisory Panel

The COMPLETE features to include e-mail marketing and SaaS. (Members can join and update their details and register for events.

Unfortunately, some register with an email error. If there were an email verification during registration, it would further save manhours in contacting the registrants to correct email error.

Treasurer

Ultimately the deterioration in the value of the Canadian dollar made the cost prohibitive and we switched to Canada Helps which is a Canadian charity.

Editor

WildApricot was a great membership management system for our car club.

The promises we were told that we could use our existing wordpress website with WA handling events, gating content, etc.

Emailing members and creating events was easy enough.

The platform allowed us to build our website ourselves without incurring costs for an outside web developer.

Senior Manager

Sometimes the format options for designing webpages and emails could be a little clunky.

The conversion to AUD was very, very painful for our car club.

The ability to customize the website and membership portal was a standout feature, allowing for seamless branding and personalization.

What takes 100 manhours to achieve, is literally less than 20 manhours to achieve using all features of wild apricot.

Bulk emailing was easy to do and membership due dates and renewals easy to track.

Neon CRM vs WildApricot Comparison (2026)

Neon CRM

WildApricot

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives