Covey vs. Novi AMS

Covey vs.
Novi AMS

The only AMS in the QuickBooks Online app store. Deep, real-time two-way QBO sync. Weaker mobile admin, feature velocity, and customization. Here is how Covey compares, where Novi AMS still makes sense, and where it does not.

Choose Covey if

Associations that don't want to be locked into QuickBooks Online (monthly Intuit cost), that need a usable mobile admin backend (Novi's top complaint), that want faster feature velocity, and that want a 48-hour migration rather than a 90-day implementation.

Choose Novi AMS if

Associations/chambers that run QuickBooks Online as their book of record and need real-time two-way sync on dues, invoices, and A/R. Nobody matches that integration.

01 · At a glance

The numbers, plainly.

CoveyModern platform, built 2026
Novi AMSThe only AMS in the QuickBooks Online app store
Founded
2026
2015
Headquarters
Chicago, IL
Jacksonville, FL
Ownership
Independent
Independent
Target customer
Associations, nonprofits, chambers, clubs (small clubs up to 2,000 active members; larger on request)
Professional/trade associations and chambers that run QuickBooks Online and prize accounting integration over everything else.
Pricing model
Priced by active members, not contacts: $49/mo (100), $79 (250), $139 (500), $229 (2,000). Annual is 2 months free. Every feature on every plan. Covey takes 0% of payments.
Scales with org size. Third-party reporting starts at ~$755/mo. Implementation $2,000–$5,000 for most associations, up to $20,000 for complex. 90-day average implementation. Requires a QuickBooks Online subscription (separate Intuit cost).
Free trial
30-day free trial, no card required
Demo only
Migration
48-hour human-led, included on every plan
Dedicated onboarding specialist assigned at kickoff; 90-day average implementation
Support model
Human support on every plan
Chat support (<1 hour response per reviewers), email, and phone; not tiered by plan size

02 · Feature by feature

Where each one is strong, where each is thin.

Member directory

Covey

Custom fields, tags, membership levels, audit trail, CSV import and export, household memberships (one payer, a login and directory entry per person)

Novi AMS

Members, chapters, categories, unlimited customizable directories, duplicate detection, change history

Event registration

Covey

Ticket types with member pricing, waitlists, non-member registration, coupon codes, check-in, and a cart for up to 10 events in one checkout

Novi AMS

50+ customization options, 24/7 self-service registration

Dues & payments

Covey

Recurring dues, invoicing, coupons, donations and automatic renewal reminders, with card payments through your own Stripe account. Covey takes 0% of payments. Installment plans for annual levels (monthly or quarterly)

Novi AMS

Two-way real-time QuickBooks Online sync (unique)

Email & communications

Covey

Composer with templates, segments, and open and click tracking; A/B subject lines on broadcasts; no per-email charges on any plan

Novi AMS

Email with Mailchimp + Constant Contact native integrations

Website builder

Covey

Modern drag-and-drop builder with considered typography, member-only pages, and a custom domain on every plan

Novi AMS

Templated CMS with gated content by committee/board

Community & forums

Covey

Coming soon. Forums and private groups are on the roadmap and not in Covey yet

Novi AMS

Committees and board management; limited general-community tooling

Pricing

Covey

Priced by active members, not contacts: $49 (100), $79 (250), $139 (500), $229 (2,000) a month; annual billing is 2 months free; every feature on every plan; migration included

Novi AMS

From ~$755/mo + implementation + required QBO subscription

Support

Covey

Human, every plan

Novi AMS

Chat/email/phone, <1 hr response; onboarding rep continues post-launch

03 · Pricing, in real numbers

What you'll actually pay.

Novi AMS does not publish a pricing matrix. Reported starting price is ~$755/mo. The real year-one cost is the implementation fee ($2,000–$20,000) plus a required QuickBooks Online subscription.

Novi AMS pricing tiers

  • Small association (reported) From ~$755/mo Under 500 members
  • Mid-sized ~$1,200/mo 500–2,000 members
  • Larger $2,500+/mo 2,000+ members
  • Implementation (typical) $2,000–$5,000 Most associations Up to $20,000 for complex
  • QuickBooks Online (required) From Intuit Typically $90+/mo Not included in Novi subscription

From noviams.com/pricing (contact-us) and third-party SmartThoughts / ITQlick reporting. QuickBooks Online is separate from Intuit (add ~$1,080/year minimum).

Covey pricing

  • Starter$49/moUp to 100 active membersOr $490/yr on annual billing (2 months free)
  • Community$79/moUp to 250 active membersOr $790/yr on annual billing (2 months free)
  • Association$139/moUp to 500 active membersOr $1,390/yr on annual billing (2 months free)
  • Professional$229/moUp to 2,000 active membersOr $2,290/yr on annual billing (2 months free)
  • Over 2,000 membersTalk to usA plan that fits

Priced by active members; event-only guests and prospects don't count. Every plan has every feature, including a custom domain, migration, and human support. No setup fees. Covey takes 0% of your dues and event payments, and there are no per-email charges. 30-day free trial, no card required.

04 · Year-one total cost

Sticker price isn't total cost.

Novi's real-time QuickBooks Online sync is genuinely unique. If that specific integration is load-bearing for your finance team, the premium is justified. If not, you're paying a significant premium for an integration you don't need.

Budget line
Covey
Novi AMS
Platform subscription (year)
$2,290/yr (Professional, annual billing; $2,748 billed monthly)
~$14,400/yr (~$1,200/mo)
Setup / implementation
$0
$2,000–$5,000 (typical) + QBO subscription separately
Migration
$0 (included)
Dedicated onboarding specialist; 90-day average implementation
Training & onboarding
Included
Included; in-person costs extra travel
Payment processing (est.)
~$3,000 (Stripe at typical $100k processed)
~$3,000 (Stripe via QuickBooks)
Year-one total
~$5,300
~$20,480–$23,480 (plus ~$1,080/yr QuickBooks Online)

At 1,500 members, year-one on Novi runs about 4× Covey, driven by platform subscription, implementation, and required QuickBooks Online. The tradeoff is unique real-time QBO sync.

05 · Integrations

What plugs into what.

Covey connects to

  • Payments: card payments through your own Stripe account, with no Covey surcharge and 0% of payments to Covey
  • Email: built in, with no per-email charges
  • Calendar: add-to-calendar (.ics) for events
  • Your existing website: embeddable join, events and directory widgets
  • Zapier, SSO and a public API: not available yet

Novi AMS connects to

  • Accounting: QuickBooks Online (two-way, 24/7, real-time — Intuit App Store approved)
  • Email: Mailchimp, Constant Contact (native)
  • Website/CMS: Proprietary (built in)
  • Payments: Stripe and other processors through QuickBooks Online

The QuickBooks Online integration is Novi's signature differentiator and the reason most customers choose them.

06 · What users actually say

Real sentiment, not vendor claims.

Novi earns strong praise for the QuickBooks Online integration and support team. The consistent tradeoffs: mobile admin, customization ceiling, and feature velocity.

What people praise

  • "No other platform has as direct and seamless integration with QuickBooks" (Capterra) — for accountants this is the top draw
  • "Customer service and responsiveness are the best"; chat replies within an hour (Capterra)
  • "User friendly and easy to learn" (G2)

What people complain about

  • "Lack of customization options" compared to larger enterprise AMS (Capterra)
  • "Administrative functions are less functional on mobile... You can barely use the backend from a mobile device" (G2)
  • "Requested custom features can take time to reach production" — feature velocity is slow

Sources: Capterra, G2 reviewer analysis April 2026

07 · If your organization looks like this

Concrete scenarios, clear recommendations.

If you are: A 1,000-member trade association whose CFO/treasurer runs every dues invoice through QuickBooks Online in real time

Better choice: Novi AMS

Nobody else has the Intuit-approved two-way sync. If your accounting is the bottleneck, Novi solves it.

If you are: Any association where admins work from phones (ribbon cuttings, site visits, board meetings)

Better choice: Covey

Novi's top review complaint is mobile admin. Covey's admin interface works on a phone.

08 · Where Covey is different

Four things that feel different on Covey.

Considered interface

Legacy membership platforms feel like they were designed in 2008. Covey is built by a small team that treats typography, spacing, and the quiet details as the product.

48-hour human migration

A real human moves your members, levels, and renewal dates from your existing platform and rebuilds your upcoming events and email templates. You're live on Covey inside 48 hours, not six weeks.

100% human support, every plan

No support tiers, no ticket queues that take four business days. Every plan includes a real person answering your questions, often the same person who wrote the feature.

Pricing you can read

One page, plain numbers. Plans are priced by active members, not contacts, and every plan has every feature. Migration is included, onboarding is included, support is included.

What Novi AMS does well

  • THE only AMS in the QuickBooks Online app store (Intuit-approved)
  • Two-way, real-time QBO sync for dues, invoices, payments, A/R
  • "Customer service and responsiveness are the best"; chat replies within an hour (Capterra)
  • "User friendly and easy to learn" (G2)
  • Onboarding specialists roll into ongoing support post-launch (continuity)
  • Configurable directories, 50+ event customization options

Where Novi AMS falls short

  • "Administrative functions are less functional on mobile devices... You can barely use the backend from a mobile device" (G2)
  • "Lack of customization options" compared to enterprise AMS (Capterra)
  • "Requested custom features can take time to reach production" — feature velocity is slower
  • Locked to QuickBooks Online — must maintain QBO subscription separately
  • High implementation fees ($2,000–$20,000) and 90-day typical timeline

Switching from Novi AMS?

We'll move
your data for you.

We import members, companies, membership levels, and categories.

  • What transfers: Members, companies, membership levels, renewal dates, categories and custom directory fields; upcoming events rebuilt in Covey
  • What needs rebuilding: Real-time QuickBooks Online sync; Novi-specific CMS layouts (rebuilt on Covey)
  • Typical timeline: 48 hours human-led with Covey (Novi's average implementation is 90 days)
  • Cost: Included in every Covey plan
Start your migration
  • 01 We pull a full export from Novi AMS
  • 02 You review member mapping & level translations
  • 03 We stage the whole site for your approval
  • 04 Flip DNS when you're ready. We'll be on a call.

09 · Support, when it matters

Who picks up when something goes wrong.

Channel
Covey
Novi AMS
Email
Every plan, same-business-day response
Email support
Phone
Every plan, scheduled when you need it
Phone support available
Chat
In-app, business hours
Chat <1 hour response per reviewers
Community / docs
Public docs, no paywall
Knowledge base + in-person training (extra travel fee)
Dedicated success person
Assigned during onboarding on every plan
Onboarding specialist assigned at kickoff, continues into post-launch support

10 · Frequently asked

Questions that come up.

Is Covey a good Novi AMS alternative?

Covey is designed specifically for organizations considering a move off Novi AMS. A real human moves your members, membership levels, renewal dates and custom fields, and rebuilds your upcoming events and email templates, in a single 48-hour engagement.

How much does Covey cost compared to Novi AMS?

Covey is priced by active members, with every feature on every plan: $49/month for up to 100 active members, $79 for 250, $139 for 500, and $229 for 2,000 (annual billing is 2 months free; over 2,000, talk to us). Migration is included and Covey takes 0% of your payments. Novi AMS: Scales with org size. Third-party reporting starts at ~$755/mo. Implementation $2,000–$5,000 for most associations, up to $20,000 for complex. 90-day average implementation. Requires a QuickBooks Online subscription (separate Intuit cost).

Can I migrate my data from Novi AMS to Covey?

We import members, companies, membership levels, and categories.

What are Novi AMS's main weaknesses?

"Administrative functions are less functional on mobile devices... You can barely use the backend from a mobile device" (G2) "Lack of customization options" compared to enterprise AMS (Capterra) "Requested custom features can take time to reach production" — feature velocity is slower

When would I pick Novi AMS over Covey?

Associations/chambers that run QuickBooks Online as their book of record and need real-time two-way sync on dues, invoices, and A/R. Nobody matches that integration.

Does Covey have every feature Novi AMS has?

No. Covey covers member management, events, dues, email and your website. Community forums are coming soon. Novi AMS has more breadth in niche areas accumulated over a decade-plus of product history. Covey is newer and opinionated about how those workflows should feel. If you need a specific Novi AMS feature you rely on daily, ask us before you decide.

Is Covey production-ready?

Yes. Covey is generally available: start a 30-day free trial with no card required, then plans start at $49/month. Novi AMS has the longer track record and a deeper back catalogue of niche features. Covey is the newer platform, built for 2026, with a faster release cadence and migration from Novi AMS included on every plan.

Ready when you are

Ready to see Covey side-by-side with Novi AMS?

Start today, or ask us for a live walkthrough with your own data first.

Start 30-day free trial

30 days free, no card required · Plans from $49/month · Migration from any platform included