What are Wild Apricot users saying about the software?

Repeat Customer

Best solution for small to medium sized associations

WildApricot is an excellent solution for managing association memberships and websites. The solution includes basic eCommerce and the ability to build a website with the Wild Apricot CMS - you can also connect easily to other website tools. Members love the easy of managing their own profiles and the other features for member communications.

Pros

Easy of use, ability to customize the member database easily and the integrated content management system for a professional website.

Cons

The software does not allow you to determine the membership ID within he system. This creates a challenge for any organization that already has a member number schema.

Cost Effective Website and Database

Overall Wild Apricot is a great tool for associations and/or others who need to process dues payments, event registrations and keep up with your clients.

Pros

Wild Apricot makes it easy to process registrations for events, dues payments and store purchases in addition to being a website. It is very easy to use. There are user groups that you can join to get help from other users. Also, it is very easy to create a manual invoice for things that I might need a product for or a registration. There is also an app for administrators which is super convenient when to try to look up open invoices, etc. when away from the office.

Cons

There are several features that should be available that are not. First and foremost there should be the availability within in the software to create a pdf and email it to contacts. The store does not appear to be integrated with the mail database and there are not a lot of reports. When I have orders from my store I have to constantly watch for duplicates. There is also not an email report to run that will search for possible duplicates in the system.

Great product for membership management

I enjoy the ease of scheduling events with reminder emails going to prior participates and the ease of everything being in one single place.

Pros

Love how you can organize what gets sent to whom. reminders can be scheduled and events can be scheduled, paid and processed all through the program.

Cons

The difficultly to add pdfs to the program.

Not Customer Friendly

Our non-profit has approximately 1500 members we are managing and this was our first attempt at using a membership management tool. The implementation went well and our first year was generally positive. The features they offer are functional but pale in comparison to standalone services. For example the newsletter tool is extremely limited compared to our previous service, MailChimp, to the point where we are considering going back to MailChimp. After the company switched owners recently, the customer service quality has dropped dramatically. A recent forced change of payment systems resulted in our members' automatic subscriptions being canceled without warning, which was not expected or documented. We tried to engage customer support prior to the change but they were not helpful at all. This will likely result in a loss of members and thus income.

Pros

It offers a large selection of features and can be a one stop shop for membership tools. Although most of the features are not nearly comparable to equivalent stand-alone services, they are functional.

Cons

Customer support has been quite poor. They dropped telephone support in the last year and did not provide any guidance or assistance to us when they forced a payment system change that affected our members.

An Out of the Box Solution for Membership Management

Other than the issues described above with the payment gateway, we have been extremely pleased with our Wild Apricot experience.

Pros

Wild Apricot is a single source for nearly everything needed to manage a membership organization. It has revolutionized our database, taking it into the cloud, it has streamlined our renewal process, given us greater visibility into our email marketing, and overall allowed us to function more efficiently as an organization. Since its deployment, we've been able to replace the work of up to 2 FTE because of how Wild Apricot has allowed us to streamline our operations.

Cons

Their payment gateway, Wild Apricot Payments, does have some unique challenges that we are working through. It has errored out a number of times and there was no intuitive alert to let us know we were missing out on authorized donations. Their customer support team has been slower than we'd like to respond to these issues and have yet to provide a clear reason for them and any timeline for resolution.

The ease of use - multiple systems in one!

Over 14 migrations with three more this fall over 6 years. Love it!

Pros

We migrated over 14 different nonprofit organizations to Wild Apricot based on ease of use and a fully integrated online member management system WITH website builder, and all for an affordable fee. Wild Apricot handles "day to day operations" so you can focus on strategic initiative. One system has it all - contacts, members, events, finances, communications, and website builder!

Cons

Wild Apricot needs to update the format of the event announcements.

They have changed and not for the better

Normally does well but we had a event in which we had to send out directions to and the list of registrants disappeared - we had to be put in a que for tech support and when I got to #6 at 4:55 they said I had to e mail and they would get back to me next week. When I first started with handling this the tech support was great and personal not now, it is thru chat and they shout you off supposedly at 5. Also being Canadian, they have different holidays which is frustrating. I managed to trick the system to bring up the list but it took an afternoon of my off time

Pros

It is a powerful platform to use alskdjmka xmm mc mcmscbhjsdbjbcm mzm mxbmncm

Cons

It is Buggy to operate - not user friendly

Use with Multiple Organizations - A True Advocate

Eight years ago I went through a selection process and chose Wild Apricot and then implemented it. A HUGE step up from disparate systems on Excel, a separate website, and email. This year I led the selection and implantation process for a different organization and Wild Apricot came out on top again. Processing a new member went from one hour to minutes. Renewals from 30 minutes to zero. Sending out emails used to be a huge process. Now it's simple. One thing I've noticed is that Wild Apricot continues to add and improve features. The website builder has gotten easier to use. And adding responsive themes and an easy-to-implement app is a huge plus.

Pros

Integrated features for membership management, communications, event management, and website development. Great coaching services during implementation and then support after.

Cons

Nothing that would stop me from selecting it again. Some of the newer features like polls can use some development, and formatting is sometimes challenging. But the tradeoff for a fully integrated system is well worth it.

Repeat Customer

I have set up numerous associations with this software and still manage the website for 2. It is logical and has all of the necessary features (which are many). I know I can teach it to others and walk away when I am tired of volunteering as Web Master.

Pros

Wild Apricot is a full-feature membership management program. It handles every problem I have encountered since I stated using it in 2014. It has steady grown more powerful and they have developed solutions to almost every issue.

Cons

It is sometimes easy to skip a step in the financial part of the software, and cause trouble later - such as not settling a payment before voiding an invoice. It works great if you know what you are doing, but you use one of the functions rarely, it is important to review the steps carefully.

Best Bang For Your Buck

Wild Apricot allows us to schedule classes, have members enroll in activities, and hosts our web site simply.

Pros

It's universality, it works well on every device, giving us instant functionality. I can find members, schedule events and make adjustments instantly, anywhere.

Cons

Sometimes I get lost doing certain operations.

Wild Apricot - robust non-profit management tool

Customer Service, online support and chat are all very helpful and easy to use. Telephonic customer service hours aren't too long but the service is good. There are also great video tools for implementation and getting started.

Pros

Software has lots of features that we were not getting from our previous event management software. In addition, we get a member directory and membership management all in one program.

Cons

The learning curve for using it is somewhat steep, but once that is conquered you can see the true value of the software

ECF..."Florida's Electrical Industry Leader"

Wild Apricot is the best thing that works for our association. We have used the platform for multiple associations in the past and from day one to now, it is the best solution out there for our organization at a price that includes great 'self-help' information and multiple choices when support from WA is needed.

Pros

Wild Apricot offers ECF an opportunity to create, modify and update our online software when needed, allowing our in-house staff to make necessary adjustments without having to spend association funds to hire programmers to complete the tasks.

Cons

There is one item on our "Wish" list that we hope to see in the future. It would be nice to upgrade to a newer version of Excel or Word when exporting information. It's a small thing, but when you are trying to handle multiple lists for conversion to reports, etc., the first move is to save and rename the document based on the compatibility function. On a busy day, it's an added step that's time lost. A 2nd wish would be for a bit more friendly e-mail design module. It works but can be challenging.

Flexible Program Does the Job

Having some way to keep our membership current and use the program for communication and registrations has been wonderful. We have been satisfied with its performance of these functions. We have not explored many of the newer features which have been added since we first started using this program. Some of them probably would be helpful, but we have not had the manpower with time to explore them enough to employ them.

Pros

The database for our membership and ability to use it to communicate with those members is most important to our organization. When we were holding in person meetings, the ability to register and pay for events was also important, but since we have not been doing that recently, that part of the program has not been used recently.

Cons

We have found that we have not been able to use the renewal feature since renewals start with the local clubs and move up to the state organization instead of moving down to the clubs from the state. This means that we must manually update the database. We have explored trying a different method, but no change has been found that works for our members.

Great for member

Overall, our non-profit has had an amazing experience using Wild Apricot and would highly recommend them/

Pros

The main reason we went with Wild Apricot was for the membership database. It is great to be able to keep track of all members, and be able to search by category.

Cons

would love a more step-by-step process for setting up the webpages. This is not my area of comfort

Behind the curtain at my website

Most of my work involves setting up multiple events, with price codes for different populations. I will be redesigning my home page the 1st of the year. I'll let you know how that goes.

Pros

flexibility & ease of use, easy to set up events, easy to embed zoom so registration is one step

Cons

I'd like to be more facile in embedding graphics, so this is about me not you

Good Product for Non-Profit Management

The selection of Wild Apricot has allowed a small non-profit working with a hodge-podge of cobbled together "free" solutions to move into the 21st century. Volunteers and board members can work from a unified database rather than multiple, out-of-sync, task-specific spreadsheets. Tasks can be distributed without dis-integrating this data. Web site integration and payment processing allow members, donors and event participants to interact with the organization online, rather than the previous limitation to paper forms and checks. Implementation was straight-forward, if not exactly "simple". Years of old and inconsistent data always complicate a migration. The choice to integrate with the organization's existing WordPress web site rather than fully implement Wild Apricot's built-in CMS also provided some challenges. Support was mostly timely and helpful during the migration and implementation phases.

Pros

Product is full-featured and the least expensive for a small non-profit on a limited budget. Of particular interest were membership management features, including self-service join, renew, and update. Also critical was event management and integration with membership, since the organization's main publicity and fundraising activity is a large bike ride. Web site integration was also attractive. Good platform for communicating with members and event participants. Payment processing integration for memberships, donations, and event registrations.

Cons

Lacked QuickBooks integration, although the organization's treasurer at the time did not consider this a needed feature. Lack of volunteer management, though that was not considered an essential feature at the time of review. Web site integration works best when using the built-in CMS. Integration with WordPress, the organization's existing CMS was largely successful. However some issues did arise with the forms for things like memberships, donations, and event registrations, especially on Apple devices.

Wild Apricot, is it good for membership website builder?

Overall, the Membership Database is good, Event emails can be automated to send to registrants and managing the membership is good but there are some serious lacking features that need to be addressed by WA otherwise customers are not going to be satisfied by the $1670 (AUD) just on the system that can feel very broken. If WA could either do a large update on the Builder and start working on integration for Xero and other large Accounting packages so that it provides a simple integration instead of just having the one.

Pros

I absolutely loved setting up this software, I found it very challenging but I do enjoy a challenge. I migrated out of Associations Online (AO) to WildApricot (WA). I found that using the CSV export of the membership out of AO really easy and the upload in WA simple as well. The events system is fantastic for Zoom and events that need to have someone at the door checking people in. The admin app for WA is awesome when I'm on the go and just want to see who has checked into an event or who has registered for an event.

Cons

The biggest, and I mean this is a deal-breaker, the site builder is seriously broken and needs a massive update. I have checked about 30 other sites that use WildAprioct and they all look the same. Very Narrow, broken up into blocks of either 1/2/3. There is a basic function of having a button added but the customization of said button is the link and text. Not the colour or the size. The blogging functionality for the site is very basic which is fine but it would be nice if I could categorize it and allow for displaying the post on other pages so that it isn't locked to the single blog page. WA integrates with WordPress so I wanted to build a better-looking frontend for my site but the downside is the integration is not in full. You can have the login and some profile migrated over but things like Events, Profile Updates and even administration of membership can only be done in WA. So any changes in the profile can not be done in WordPress as it is only a one-way sync. The plugin for Wordpress is only a SSO for WildApricot. Finally, the Support/Feature request, WA is probably one of the slower ones for it. It may take years for anything to happen. They update often around the 4th of each month but its never anything that is really useful for the Admin or User. Its usually bugs in the system which is awesome, but I would really like to see some more functionality with the system like the website builder and other integration into online Accounting Packages.

Excellent Management System for All My Needs

I began using WA in 2011 for a non-profit managing 90 volunteers and various events and fundraisers. Since then, I have created WA accounts for 3 other non-profits of similar size AND, as of 2017, also created a WA software account to manage my professional association of 1,000 members with great success. I am a huge advocate for Wild Apricot software and how is can effectively manage members/volunteers and manage events/fundraisers/conferences while being a user-friendly, professional platform to market my organizations.

Pros

The simplicity yet robust nature of this software is awesome. The user-friendly setups and ease-of-use make it an effective tool to help manage various facets of the organization. Many screens are at-a-glance summary overviews while others provide sufficient detail to meet a variety of needs. Many of my volunteers are elderly and they can navigate the system just as ease as a techny-teenager. The system is user-friendly enough that, if you are in it every day, it is not cumbersome and, if you are an infrequent user, it is quite intuitive.

Cons

While I like many things about the software, I only wish there was a way to (1) track volunteer hours within member profiles and (2) have the ability to use more than one payment system (I have a 501c3 and 501c4 organization with different financial needs) so I wish I could manage both within the same software system. So, those are big wish list items that I hope come along in the future but so far those are manageable through other less than ideal means. Otherwise, on a daily basis, there is very little I have issue with within the software.

A Sinking Ship

I have been a long time client of WA (7 years), but we are unlikely to renew. 3 years they ago they had a 40% price increase, but they allowed you to renew for up to 2 years at the previous rate. That increase was somewhat understandable because they had not raised fees for the previous 4 years we were clients. 2 years later they had another 40% increase but did not offer the same renewal. Neither increase coincided with major functional additions other than normal enhancements to existing functions. Today they announced a new 20% penalty if you don't switch to their payment processing system (US/Canada only). We have no intention to switch from PayPal so this was the last straw. We will be looking for an alternate option. They were acquired by a larger company and subsequently and equity firm. These increases are obviously cash grabs from current clients without considering the impact to the organizations. My suspicion is the company has a major cash flow issue and this is a way to get money now. I would be very leary of the stability of the company as they will lose many clients over this. This is really unfortunate because their tool is excellent!

Pros

WA has a great feature set that includes a lot of the functionality we need to completely manage our membership, communication, and payment collection. I especially like that we can have bundle memberships and can create saved searches for email distribution or member management.

Cons

There are occasionally issues with some of the search fields that can only be resolved by logging off and back in. I would like to have group texting capabilities.

Wild Apricot has everything a non-profit needs

Pros

I was the Secretary for my Chapters well known organization. The Secretarial duties are vast and important to the life of the organization. Wild Apricot appears to have everything a non-profit organization needs. It allows me to do all of the required things necessary. The membership database allows for custom as well as preset categories with specified access. I can keep track of membership categories, addresses, dues due, and Quick books is a part of the application. Reports can be easily generated using the information entered into the database. My favorites are the communication sections. I can announce events that all members can quickly view, be registered for or wait listed. Reminders can also be sent to all members or those specified. Payments can be taken and recorded, invoices and receipts sent. The confirmation emails are customized and can be personalized. Documents that need to be shared can also be done. I find that Wild Apricot can complete all necessary duties assigned to an organization. While all officers can have premium access to all documents, reports and finances 24/7, it also allows for all shades of transparency to members while keeping confidential information secure. I haven't run across any application as thorough as Wild Apricot. I've only used the application a few days as they allow a 30 day trial to try it out and show off their goods to potential users.

Cons

My only concern is that the way in which things are laid out aren't as intuitive as I would have liked. I would rather have an illustrated manual on the dashboard for when a new user signs in. There is a quick 4 minute video guide that I may find usable later on the opening page. But its definitely not a deal breaker for me.

Wild Apricot helped organize our organization!

Our small, non-profit organization of internationally located English teachers needed a "home" for our members to connect. Nobody on the board was particularly tech savvy; nor were we confident enough to build our own website. So we were thrilled to discover Wild Apricot (WA). The tutorials are fabulous, thankfully using simple English and easily understood, and the structure is intuitive to even the most novice user. The Customer Service team quickly replies anytime I have a question. We initiated a small annual membership fee to cover our cost, and WA's automated system tracks our member renewals with ease. We are still able to offer free memberships to our global and student members, and the general membership fees easily cover our annual costs. Our little site hosts all of our organization's history (past conferences, journals, newsletters, etc.), and we're hoping to soon add a Resources tab where our members can share unpublished curriculum ideas for teaching English language learners. I love that we can have a members-only viewing for some things on our site, and open everything else to the public. Our annual conference registration is so much more organized now, and we love the ease of the Paypal system for payments. Of course, there are changes we'd like to see, particular to our organization's needs and goals. Three times I've made suggestions to WA for site improvement, and the follow-up was quick, respectful, and thorough. Suggestions are taken seriously and are useful to the WA team for making site improvements and upgrades. I am happy to write this recommendation and assure you that anyone, absolutely anyone can create a useful and attractive website with the help of Wild Apricot!

Pros

Ease of use for general public, ability to create an attractive, efficient website, Paypal link for easy registration for memberships and conference fees, great customer support

Cons

Some limitations for the structure of the website

Complete, Logical, Reliable, and Quick

Wild Apricot is one of four web-based systems we use, the others being Quickbooks for accounting, Brivo for physical access control of gates and doors, and Online Exam Builder. Each fulfills a specific role, with very little overlap, but without Wild Apricot at the center life would be much more complicated.

Pros

With the baseline requirement for membership management completely fulfilled by Wild Apricot, we have found considerable value in the events management features to manage training courses, and the mass emailing features for communications. Of course, solid invoicing and payment processing are also very important. Overall, the user and administrative experience with Wild Apricot is satisfying and very productive. We built or re-engineered our business processes around the capabilities in Wild Apricot, to a significant degree.

Cons

It takes quite a while to get what look like simple enhancements made to the search and select features within "saved searches". We don't seem to be getting attention, and the enhancements we've requested have been in the queue for over a year. The result of having to wait is that our saved searches are needlessly complex and hard to maintain.

Wild Apricot is perfect for recreational clubs

I would definitely recommend Wild Apricot for any organization with a membership and events that require registration. They manage this amazingly well!!. I love the fact that it is so easy for both admins and users to use. Most of my admins and membership are not technical so this is important to us. It's easy to enable blogs, forums, and photo galleries to create community pages -- somewhere that members can connect to the club and each other.

Pros

We are a recreational tennis club with 70 members. I created a great website with a customized membership application form in just one day with no coding required. Within a week, we were live, with online applications and online event registration for tennis tournaments and even electronic payment. I have ALL contact information plus player rankings available when it is time to do the draw; it is so much easier than taking paper entry forms which are not filled out completely or legibly. Thanks to customized event registration forms, I can solicit volunteers at the time that they register. No more calling people at their homes trying to find someone to help!!! I appreciate the security measures too -- I am able to provide club newsletters and photo galleries to club members only. My membership is very pleased with the functionality and everyone says that the club feels more connected this year. The Wild Apricot support team has been responsive to all questions and problems.

Cons

The finance side of Wild Apricot is a little weak as their reports do not take into account the finance fees that Google Checkout and PayPal deduct. And you can't modify the numbers manually to reflect actual amount received, either due to finance fees or if someone sent in a partial payment. They are aware of these issues and are working on them. The other enhancement request that we have is to have users be able to see who else is signed up for tournaments. That's because we are a social organization and because we make use of changing volunteers to help with every event. Wild Apricot is working on this but it was not an early priority because professional organizations that were hosting seminars, for example, had no need for participants to see who else was attending and did not necessarily use any volunteers.

Excellent Full Feature CRM, Event Management and Website platform

Prior to using Wild Apricot, we had a custom-built CRM and Website with a separate payment system for events. We wanted to change the look and feel of our website but it would have been expensive to have a company rebuild it. We switched to Wild Apricot and have since had two website refreshes using different templates. Prior to WA there was a lot of backend reconciling of events, payments, etc which only our [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] was able to do. Now WA takes care of it all seamlessly which means we don't have to rely on the knowledge of one person to keep everything working.

Pros

I like how easy it is to keep a consistent looking website using the themes.

Cons

I don't like that you don't charge in local currency. It is very had for non-profits to budget when the cost varies so much based on the US dollar. I also don't like that you can not easily change the default theme colours for a theme so that they show up at the top of the selection box. Instead, we have to constantly use the hex codes for any text etc that doesn't pick up the theme colours automatically instead of picking one of the theme colours because they remain the colours of the original theme.