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OpenWater

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OpenWater - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

All user reviews are verified by in-house moderators and provider data by our software research team. Learn more

Last updated: November 2025

OpenWater overview

What is OpenWater?

OpenWater streamlines program management with its end-to-end solution for accepting and reviewing applications, awards, grants, scholarships, proposals, and abstracts. OpenWater’s secure, all-in-one platform makes navigating the review process easy with its user-friendly features. Empower your program administrators by automating time consuming administrative tasks, collecting high volume submissions, and driving data-proven decisions through custom reporting and analytics.

Key benefits of using OpenWater

Manage various use cases of submission and review management: OpenWater's powerful software can handle various use cases, including awards, grants, scholarships, abstracts, and conferences, making it a versatile solution.

User-Friendly Form Builder: The intuitive drag-and-drop form builder allows for the easy creation of branded submission forms, including large file uploads, conditional logic, and letters of recommendation.

Efficient Multi-Round Review: OpenWater's fun and user-friendly review process lets reviewers log in, view assigned submissions, and submit scores effortlessly.

Automated Email Wizard: Keep everyone informed with mobile-optimized email campaigns that look great and are easy to create.

Robust Custom Reporting & Analytics: Make smarter, data-driven decisions with powerful reporting and analytics tools in an all-in-one dashboard that provides invaluable insights, along with tracking funds distributed.

Comprehensive Learning Resources: OpenWater offers a robust online help center, as well as a Certified OpenWater Administrator course to empower clients to become experts in using the software.

Easy Integration with all major association software and payment portals.

Payment Processing.

**Conference Mobile App: A branded App in iOS and Android App store with a personalized agenda for in-person or virtual attendees. (does not come OTB with OpenWater, it is an add-on.)

Starting price

5100 /
per year

visit website

Pros & Cons

Responsiveness

Navigation

OpenWater’s user interface

Ease of use rating:

4.6

(73)

OpenWater pros, cons and reviews insights

To determine these pros and cons insights, we analyzed responses from

Overall rating

Reviews sentiment

1-2(1)

3-4(26)

5(46)

What do users say about OpenWater?

Reviewers appreciate OpenWater for its highly responsive and knowledgeable customer support, noting that assistance is prompt and staff are proactive in resolving issues. They feel the support team helps with customization, integration, and training, making the overall experience smoother and more efficient for their organizations.

Users say the interface is generally intuitive and user-friendly, allowing easy navigation and program setup, though some mention that certain features can be clunky or require training. They report occasional bugs and limitations, but indicate that most issues are quickly addressed by support, minimizing workflow disruptions.

Select to learn more

Who uses OpenWater?

Based on 73 verified user reviews.

Company size

Small Businesses

Enterprises

Midsize Businesses

Top industries

Nonprofit Organization Management

Education Management

Higher Education

Publishing

Others

Use cases

Contest

Grant Management

Scholarship Management

Virtual Event

OpenWater's key features

Most critical features, based on insights from OpenWater users:

Customizable forms

4.3

(24)

Customizable questions

4.1

(22)

Customizable fields

4.3

(19)

Data import/export

4.2

(17)

Judging management

4.4

(15)

Scoring

4.5

(15)

All OpenWater features

Features rating:

4.2

(73)

Grant application management

4.7

(3)

Email templates

4.0

(1)

Electronic Submission

5.0

(3)

Document review

5.0

(1)

Reminders

5.0

(1)

Customizable reports

5.0

(1)

Reviewer management

5.0

(1)

Approval process control

5.0

(1)

Workflow management

5.0

(1)

Activity dashboard

5.0

(1)

Administrative Reporting

4.5

(2)

Applicant portal

4.8

(4)

Application management

4.3

(3)

Entry management

4.2

(13)

SSL security

4.4

(12)

Customizable branding

4.5

(4)

Grant award tracking

4.0

(3)

Applicant tracking

4.0

(2)

Payment tracking

4.5

(2)

Grant management

(0)

Impact measurement

5.0

(1)

Interview management

(0)

Labeling

(0)

Monitoring

(0)

White label

(0)

Polls/Voting

(0)

Progress tracking

(0)

Status tracking

(0)

Promotions management

(0)

Recommendations

(0)

Web forms

(0)

Third-Party integrations

(0)

Reporting & statistics

(0)

Role-Based permissions

(0)

Search/Filter

(0)

Single sign on

(0)

Skills Contests (Photo, Essay, Design, etc)

(0)

Social media integration

(0)

Social promotion

(0)

Access controls/permissions

(0)

Activity tracking

4.0

(1)

Alerts/Notifications

(0)

API

(0)

Awards management

(0)

Blind Judging

(0)

Budget control

(0)

Categorization/Grouping

(0)

Collaboration tools

5.0

(1)

Commenting/Notes

(0)

Compliance management

4.5

(2)

Configurable workflow

(0)

Contact management

(0)

CRM

(0)

Customizable templates

(0)

Deadline management

(0)

Document management

(0)

Due date tracking

4.0

(1)

Electronic payments

(0)

Email reminders

(0)

Entrant Management

(0)

Entry Fee Processing

(0)

Financial reporting

5.0

(2)

For grantmakers

(0)

Forms management

3.0

(1)

Fraud detection

(0)

OpenWater alternatives

OpenWater

4.6

(73)

visit website

Starting from

5100

Per year

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

4.2

Features

4.2

Value for Money

4.3

Customer Support

4.9

RQ Platform

4.7

(33)

visit website

Starting from

1275

Per year

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

4.8

Features

4.6

Value for Money

4.8

Customer Support

5.0

Submit.com

4.8

(56)

visit website

Starting from

5995

Per year

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

4.9

Features

4.6

Value for Money

4.7

Customer Support

4.8

NationBuilder

3.8

(43)

visit website

Starting from

No pricing info

Free trial

Free version

Ease of Use

3.6

Features

3.8

Value for Money

3.9

Customer Support

3.8

OpenWater pricing

Value for money rating:

4.3

(73)

Starting from

5100

Per year

Pricing details

Subscription

Free trial

Free plan

Pricing range

User opinions about OpenWater price and value

Value for money rating:

4.3

(73)

To see what individual users think of OpenWater's price and value, check out the review snippets below.

“The customer service [sensitive content hidden] is AMAZING. She answers all my questions within like 5 minutes, it is impressive.”

Emma H.

Account Manager

“Their self-help guides are useful and when they're not, customer service is available (see caveat below). I have had several different dedicated service advisors; all have been uniformly excellent.”

Al B.

Editor

OpenWater integrations (23)

Integrations rated by users

We looked at 73 user reviews to identify which products are mentioned as OpenWater integrations and how users feel about them.

iMIS

Integration rating: 4.5 (2)

Fonteva for Associations

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

authorize.net

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Integration rating: 3.0 (1)

Stripe

Integration rating: 5.0 (1)

OpenWater customer support

What do users say about OpenWater customer support?

Customer support rating:

4.3

We analyzed 37 verified user reviews to identify positive and negative aspects of OpenWater customer support.

The majority of users highlight OpenWater's customer support as responsive, knowledgeable, and consistently helpful.

A significant portion of users appreciate having dedicated support reps who provide continuity and personalized assistance.

Widespread user sentiment notes fast response times, friendly staff, and expert help available whenever issues arise.

Support options

Phone support

Chat

Email/help desk

Faqs/forum

Knowledge base

Training options

Webinars

In person

Documentation

Live online

Videos

To see what individual users say about OpenWater's customer support, check out the review snippets below.

“OpenWater has hands down the best customer service we've experienced with any vendor to-date and helped us create a program that resolves these issues on the front end and manages the programs with ease throughout the event.”

Melissa G.

Membership & Marketing Manager

“The customer support is so fantastic and timely, anytime issues or questions arise they are right there to help you within minutes.”

Macy B.

Professional Learning & Marketing Coordinator

“The customer support was absolutely the best part of using OpenWater. Whenever I had a question, the rep was immediately on top of it.”

Brock R.

Chair, 2019 Design Show

OpenWater FAQs

Q. What type of pricing plans does OpenWater offer?

OpenWater has the following pricing plans:
Starting from: $5100.00/year
Pricing model: Subscription

Q. Who are the typical users of OpenWater?

OpenWater has the following typical customers:
Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Non Profit, Small Business

Q. What languages does OpenWater support?

OpenWater supports the following languages:
Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian (Bokmal), Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Q. Does OpenWater offer an API?

Yes, OpenWater has an API available for use.

Q. What other apps does OpenWater integrate with?

OpenWater integrates with the following applications:
authorize.net, MemberClicks, PayPal, Google Analytics 360, Fonteva Events, Airtable, GrowthZone, Association Anywhere, Microsoft Entra ID, Fonteva for Associations, Stripe, WildApricot, Salesforce Sales Cloud, ClearVantage, Mailchimp, PayPal Enterprise Payments, Auth0, Xero, HubSpot CRM, iMIS

Q. What level of support does OpenWater offer?

OpenWater offers the following support options:
Phone Support, Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base