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SmarterSelect

SmarterSelect 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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On this page
  • Overview
  • Pricing and Plans
  • Features
  • Integrations
  • User Reviews

Overview

SmarterSelect
SmarterSelect
4.4
(227)

Pricing

Starting at $2,000.00 per year

About SmarterSelect

Award More.
Work Less.

Smarter Select is an online application management system designed to help businesses build and share application forms with their respondents. It offers tools to create and share online forms and collect, analyze and evaluate responses. Links to forms can be embedded into websites or added to custom applications or shared via emails.

Smarter Select offers rule-based customization tools that help to set application deadlines, configure evaluation criteria, design scoring methodology and more. Forms come with dynamic workflows that change the sequence of questions based on previous responses submitted by users.

Form developers can use standard maths formulas as well as design their own custom formulas to calculate respondents' scores. A wide array of reports along with custom charts are available to view and analyze results.

Smarter Select is used across various industries including education, healthcare, association and government. The solution offers an annual subscription package that includes customer support via phone, email and web.

SmarterSelect Screenshots

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SmarterSelect Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $2,000.00 per year
Free Trial
Free Version

Basic

$2,000.00

per feature, per year

No plan information available

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    SmarterSelect Features

    • Popular features found in Scholarship Management
      Applicant Portal
      Applicant Tracking
      Commenting/Notes
      Customizable Questions
      Data Import/Export
      Document Review
      Forms Management
      Grant Management
      Recommendations
      Scoring
      Status Tracking
      Web Forms
    • More features of SmarterSelect
      Activity Tracking
      Alerts/Notifications
      Application Management
      Audit Management
      Communication Management
      Compliance Management
      CRM
      Customizable Fields
      Customizable Forms
      Customizable Reports
      Customizable Templates
      Deadline Management
      Electronic Payments
      Electronic Submission
      Email Reminders
      For Grantmakers
      For Nonprofits
      For Schools
      Grant Application Management
      Grant Award Tracking
      Interview Management
      Member Database
      Multi-Currency
      Preview Functionality
      Progress Tracking
      Ratings/Reviews
      Reminders
      Reporting & Statistics
      Reviewer Management
      Role-Based Permissions
      Search/Filter
      Single Sign On
      SSL Security
      Third-Party Integrations
      White Label

    SmarterSelect Integrations

    Zapier
    Zapier

    SmarterSelect User Reviews

    Overall Rating

    4.4

    Ratings Breakdown

    5

    51%

    4

    42%

    3

    5%

    2

    2%

    1

    0%

    Secondary Ratings

    Ease of Use

    4.1

    Value for money

    4.5

    Customer support

    4.5

    Functionality

    4.2

    AH

    Ashley H.

    Non-Profit Organization Management

    2-10 employees

    Used daily for more than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed December 2018

    Smarter Select Review

    4

    We are using Smarter Select for Scholarship Applications. It is a great system for this which stores all the applications and information for us until we are ready to process them. We have also branched out a little more this last year to use this software to collect the Scholarship Acceptance Forms, too. Very easy to print them (when necessary) and collect all the information we need to process the scholarship checks!

    Ratings Breakdown

    4
    Ease of use
    Previously 3
    4
    Value for money
    Previously 3
    5
    Customer support
    4
    Functionality
    Previously 3
    icon
    Pros:
    The ease of copying a program to use again next year (with a few date changes, etc.) This is a great benefit and saves the user a lot of time!
    Cons:
    Sometimes it is difficult to find exactly where to change the wording on a section or page. I have to fumble through this every time but I eventually find the right section to click on to change the information.

    Read More

    KF

    Krista F.

    Verified reviewer

    Non-Profit Organization Management

    2-10 employees

    Used daily for less than 12 months

    Review source

    Reviewed September 2022

    Happy Client

    5

    I have had a very positive experience with SmarterSelect. It is really easy to fix something or add a question in an application and customer service and their help desk is really responsive.

    Ratings Breakdown

    5
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    5
    Customer support
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    Customer Service is extremely helpful! Anytime I had a question, they helped answer it for me and walked me through how to do that task.
    Cons:
    I think one thing that can be improved on is the custom emails template. I did a custom template and what would be helpful is if we can create a name for that template instead of it saying "Custom Template 1"

    Reasons for switching to SmarterSelect

    Not very user friendly with everyone involved with the application process. You needed a new sign in every time you were going to submit something. If a reviewer had 10 applications to review they would need to create a new login each time.

    Read More

    VR

    Victoria R.

    Education Management

    201-500 employees

    Used daily for more than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed November 2018

    Submitting a help request

    4

    Generally the product works fairly smoothly. I wish there was an easier way to find a student than clicking on applicants and ALL applicants have to appear before I can search for the one applicant I need. If there are many applicants, the process takes several minutes.

    Ratings Breakdown

    3
    Ease of use
    Previously 4
    3
    Value for money
    Previously 4
    4
    Customer support
    Previously 3
    3
    Functionality
    Previously 4
    icon
    Pros:
    I did receive an answer fairly quickly. I don't know why I can't get to the next page of this review.
    Cons:
    It was difficult to find the help feature

    Read More

    BT

    Brad T.

    Verified reviewer

    Non-Profit Organization Management

    2-10 employees

    Used weekly for less than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed September 2022

    I would reccomend SmarterSelect for organizations searching for a quality Grant Management software

    4

    SmarterSelect allowed our company to move from countless emails to a streamlined grant application process that allows for far greater efficiencies for both the grant applicant and grant reviewer.

    Ratings Breakdown

    3
    Ease of use
    4
    Value for money
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    -It's easy to learn and to navigate. -The knowledgebase is a great resource. -The setup of the application and questions is very intuitive and there are lots of options to perfect your applications.
    Cons:
    Our company logo doesn't always appear in the emails that are sent out (could be a dimensions issue?)

    Reasons for choosing SmarterSelect

    SmarterSelect was more cost efficient for us, and best suited our needs as a foundation with just a handful of grant programs.

    Read More

    HW

    Holly W.

    Verified reviewer

    Philanthropy

    2-10 employees

    Used weekly for more than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed November 2020

    You can't go wrong with SmarterSelect

    5

    Ratings Breakdown

    5
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    5
    Customer support
    4
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    I have done a lot of research into software that could improve the work we do at our Foundation, specifically our management of a 65+ scholarship fund portfolio that kicks off nearly $500k each year. SmarterSelect allowed us to take our manual paper process to an incredibly efficient, streamlined, paperless approach. Since implementation we have increased our application submissions by over 400%
    Cons:
    The ONLY reason I might consider another software is for the integration aspect. Our Foundant and Blackbaud have similar products but the edge they bring is the ability to integrate with our accounting software. That said, I am still not convinced that the integration will improve our system because I truly have been so pleased with the product, and the price, that SmarterSelect has to offer.

    Reasons for choosing SmarterSelect

    see above.

    Reasons for switching to SmarterSelect

    SmarterSelect is more cost effective, more user friendly, and more responsive. It was a no brainer.

    Read More

    SS

    Seth S.

    Verified reviewer

    Education Management

    10000+ employees

    Used daily for less than 12 months

    Review source

    Reviewed September 2022

    Using for application reviews

    5

    We are using SmarterSelect to select students for a leadership program. We have not been through one full selection cycle yet, but so far it seems to be working well!

    Ratings Breakdown

    4
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    5
    Customer support
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    It was really easy to get setup, and the customer service has been great. I've had a few questions, but they are quick to answer and give exactly the support I need.
    Cons:
    I think the email tool could use a little help. It's functional, but could be a little more customizable and easy to use.

    Reasons for switching to SmarterSelect

    SmarterSelect had all of the functions we needed, and was much cheaper.

    Read More

    AM

    Amy M.

    Verified reviewer

    Hospital & Health Care

    501-1000 employees

    Used weekly for more than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed November 2020

    Unconventional and Easy

    4

    We were able to create a pre-screening questionnaire for our volunteer application. A potential applicant would have to pass the pre-screening to be able to move onto the actual application. It has drastically reduced the # of 'casual' applicants and just led to less wasted time on our end, narrowing it down to those who are serious about serving our patients. We ALSO added references as a required part of the application. This cut down on time we spend on the phone tracking down references and writing them.

    Ratings Breakdown

    3
    Ease of use
    4
    Value for money
    4
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    The ability to create and customize applications.
    Cons:
    Sometimes it's difficult to navigate and could use more sorting options.

    Reasons for choosing SmarterSelect

    We liked the option to add the pre-screening AND include references as required parts of different applications.

    Reasons for switching to SmarterSelect

    Ease of use, ability to streamline the process, and reduced excess time on the phone, or trying to figure out the level of a candidate's interest.

    Read More

    CS

    Caroline S.

    Verified reviewer

    Higher Education

    10000+ employees

    Used monthly for less than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed September 2022

    Review

    4

    Smarter select stores all of our applications/evaluations/awards and it saves us storage and busy work and of creating places to store that information.

    Ratings Breakdown

    4
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    4
    Customer support
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    I find smarter select very easy to use. Since I've started using it I haven't had a problem with any of the functions. It is so easy to keep your awards organized and separate. We use a few home grown systems for tracking but we are trying to utilize smarter select more since it is so easy to use with so much to use.
    Cons:
    Sometimes my institution's firewall blocks the reporting emails and it was slightly difficult to fix that this year.

    Reasons for choosing SmarterSelect

    This seemed like less work to implement. It's a system already up and running we could customize.

    Read More

    BM

    Beth M.

    Verified reviewer

    Non-Profit Organization Management

    11-50 employees

    Used weekly for less than 12 months

    Review source

    Reviewed September 2022

    SmarterSelect Review

    4

    SmarterSelect has made it possible for our organization to grow our programs quickly by streamlining our application processes.

    Ratings Breakdown

    4
    Ease of use
    5
    Value for money
    4
    Customer support
    4
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    It is easy to create customized forms in SmarterSelect, to evaluate and assign students to programs, and to email students directly through SmarterSelect.
    Cons:
    It can be difficult to manage applications when you want to take into account multiple evaluations

    Reasons for switching to SmarterSelect

    SmarterSelect is a dedicated application management platform and has the tools we need to make application review and admissions more efficient and effective.

    Read More

    Paige's profile

    Paige J.

    Verified reviewer

    11-50 employees

    Used daily for less than 2 years

    Review source

    Reviewed November 2017

    The platform is easy to navigate and very helpful. I do have issues with getting responses from CS.

    5

    This has helped our program streamline our application process. It also makes it possible to contact applicants and receive documentation more efficiently. Thank to this program we are able to track metrics and properly evaluate our recruitment and program.

    Ratings Breakdown

    5
    Ease of use
    3
    Value for money
    2
    Customer support
    5
    Functionality
    icon
    Pros:
    I love the new features and how easy it is to contact/update applicants. Creating our own blast emails and having the capability to edit pre-formatted ones also helps us with our unique application process.
    Cons:
    Whenever I have an issue with the platform, or unsure about the limitations of a feature I find it difficult to contact customer service or a specialist. The "Submit form" process is not personable and difficult to explain the issues I experience. I would prefer to have an account manager to discuss how to maximize the efficiency of the platform rather than the videos, which are not helpful in our unique process. Also, I would like to have the capability to split the application into phases, and not sure if that is possible with this platform.

    Read More

    Showing 1 - 10 of 227 Reviews

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