Covey vs. Wild Apricot
The incumbent all-in-one membership platform. Broad feature set, 15,000+ orgs, aging interface. Here is how Covey compares, where Wild Apricot still makes sense, and where it does not.
Choose Covey if
Orgs that care how the software feels for their members, want pricing by active members rather than contacts, want to use their own Stripe account without a surcharge, and want a real human on call during migration and after. Covey's 48-hour human-led migration directly addresses the #1 barrier to leaving Wild Apricot: data export friction.
Choose Wild Apricot if
Organizations that need Wild Apricot's broader feature set today (mobile app, online store), want a longer 60-day evaluation, and don't mind a dated interface.
01 · At a glance
02 · Feature by feature
Custom fields, tags, membership levels, audit trail, CSV import and export, household memberships (one payer, a login and directory entry per person)
Contact records, single primary email per contact, custom fields, tags
Ticket types with member pricing, waitlists, non-member registration, coupon codes, check-in, and a cart for up to 10 events in one checkout
Event registration with limited cart behavior, waitlists, check-in
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)
Recurring dues, invoicing, limited payment plans, Stripe, PayPal, WePay, Authorize.net
Composer with templates, segments, and open and click tracking; A/B subject lines on broadcasts; no per-email charges on any plan
Email composer with macros, templated sends, per-contact unsubscribe; Mailchimp integration commonly used
Modern drag-and-drop builder with considered typography, member-only pages, and a custom domain on every plan
Drag-and-drop CMS with templated themes; reviewers flag limited design flexibility
Coming soon. Forums and private groups are on the roadmap and not in Covey yet
Basic forums, comments, limited moderation
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
Contact-tiered plans that escalate quickly with growth
Human support on every plan
Chat unlocked on paid plans; phone 10am–5pm EST; knowledge base + community on free
03 · Pricing, in real numbers
Wild Apricot prices by contact count, not active members. Organizations with a large alumni or prospect list often pay for thousands of inactive contacts. Covey prices by active members: $49/mo for 100, $79 for 250, $139 for 500 and $229 for 2,000, below Wild Apricot's price for the same number of people on monthly and annual billing.
Wild Apricot prices checked September 30, 2026 at wildapricot.com/pricing. No free plan is listed. Wild Apricot takes no per-transaction cut; its Personify Payments processor (US) charges 2.99% + $0.30 per card payment plus $4.99/month. US and Canadian orgs that use their own Stripe, PayPal or Authorize.Net pay a 20% Payment System Servicing Fee on top of the subscription.
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
For the same number of people, Covey is below Wild Apricot in every band up to 2,000, on monthly and on annual billing. The gap grows when your contact list is larger than your member list, and again if you want to use your own Stripe account, where Wild Apricot adds a 20% Payment System Servicing Fee.
Wild Apricot prices checked September 30, 2026 at wildapricot.com/pricing; processing estimated at $50k a year in payments. Covey counts active members, so if only 500 of your 2,000 contacts are active members, Covey's Association plan is $1,390/yr on annual billing.
05 · Integrations
Public features page does not name Zapier directly; it references "widgets, WordPress, APIs and more." The Zapier connection is real but not front-and-center.
06 · What users actually say
Wild Apricot has the largest review footprint in the category (4,000+ Capterra reviews at 4.4/5). Praise clusters around simplicity and price at the entry tier; complaints cluster around support tiering after the Personify acquisition and pricing escalation.
What people praise
What people complain about
Sources: Capterra (4.4/5, 4,000+ reviews), G2, TrustRadius, review-aggregate analysis April 2026
07 · If your organization looks like this
If you are: A small all-volunteer club that wants the longest possible free evaluation and a mobile app
Better choice: Wild Apricot
Wild Apricot's 60-day trial with no card is twice as long as Covey's 30 days, and it ships a mobile app. On price alone Covey is lower: $49/mo for 100 members against Wild Apricot's $66/mo for 100 contacts.
If you are: A 1,500-member trade association where members actually use the portal
Better choice: Covey
Member-facing UI is the daily experience for 1,500 people. Modern design, pricing by active members rather than contacts, and human support on every plan matter more than a 2-year prepay.
If you are: A chamber of commerce migrating off a legacy platform in the next 60 days
Better choice: Covey
Covey's 48-hour human-led migration is the specific, publicly-stated timeline. Wild Apricot's migration path is self-serve CSV with no vendor team doing the work.
08 · Where Covey is different
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.
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.
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.
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 Wild Apricot does well
Where Wild Apricot falls short
Switching from Wild Apricot?
We've built a dedicated Wild Apricot import. Members, contact records, membership levels, renewal dates, and custom fields come across, and we rebuild your upcoming events and email templates. Keep your Wild Apricot export of past payments for your records. One call, one shared staging site, one DNS flip.
09 · Support, when it matters
10 · Frequently asked
Covey is designed specifically for organizations considering a move off Wild Apricot. 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.
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. Wild Apricot: Contact-tiered: $66/mo for 100 contacts, $82 for 250, $154 for 500, $265 for 2,000, up to $992/mo at 50,000 contacts (checked September 30, 2026). No setup or cancellation fees, and Wild Apricot takes no cut of payments. 10% off on 1-year prepay, 15% off on 2-year prepay. US and Canadian orgs that use their own Stripe, PayPal or Authorize.Net pay a 20% Payment System Servicing Fee on top of the subscription.
We've built a dedicated Wild Apricot import. Members, contact records, membership levels, renewal dates, and custom fields come across, and we rebuild your upcoming events and email templates. Keep your Wild Apricot export of past payments for your records. One call, one shared staging site, one DNS flip.
Contact-based pricing escalates quickly; reviewers consistently flag price jumps between tiers UI is visibly dated and reviewers cite limited flexibility in the website builder Support experience reportedly degraded after the Personify acquisition; phone coverage is business-hours only
Organizations that need Wild Apricot's broader feature set today (mobile app, online store), want a longer 60-day evaluation, and don't mind a dated interface.
No. Covey covers member management, events, dues, email and your website. Community forums are coming soon. Wild Apricot 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 Wild Apricot feature you rely on daily, ask us before you decide.
Yes. Covey is generally available: start a 30-day free trial with no card required, then plans start at $49/month. Wild Apricot 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 Wild Apricot included on every plan.
Wild Apricot prices by contact count, not active members. If you track alumni, prospects, or past donors, those count toward your tier. Covey prices by active member count on flat plans, so inactive contacts do not move you up a tier.
Ready when you are
Start today, or ask us for a live walkthrough with your own data first.
Start 30-day free trial30 days free, no card required · Plans from $49/month · Migration from any platform included
