Communal is a Canadian membership platform used by community associations in Calgary, Edmonton and elsewhere. PartOf is a newer Calgary platform that launched in October 2026, grown out of systems that run a Calgary community association and a Saturday school. This page sets out the differences as fairly as we can. Where Communal is stronger, we say so.
How we checked
Communal's prices and features come from its pricing page and home page, read on 20 October 2026. Vendors change prices and features, so check their site before you decide. If anything here is out of date, email chen@oxone.ca and we'll correct it.
The short version
Choose Communal if you want a proven membership platform with month-to-month billing, Apple and Google Wallet cards, a card reader for the door, donor tax receipts, and integrations with tools like Mailchimp and QuickBooks, and you're happy keeping a separate website.
Choose PartOf if you want your website, memberships, hall bookings, volunteers, newsletter and board papers in one system on your own domain, with payments in your own Stripe account and 0% taken from them, and you'd like us to set it all up for you.
Side by side
| Communal | PartOf | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Monthly. Membership platform $75/mo, scaling with active members; Programs & Events +$50/mo; Facilities & Bookings from +$65/mo. Currency isn't stated on the page. | Annual, CAD. Community $990/yr; Community + Facility $1,990/yr; School $2,400/yr. Payroll add-on $1,200/yr. |
| Payment fees | "A card-processing application fee applies, often 2%, per your agreement," plus card processing. | 0% platform fee. Stripe's standard processing fee only, paid to Stripe. |
| Setup and migration | Free migration of members, renewals, history and donations. | $1,500 once, including migration, website setup and training. |
| Contract | No contracts, cancel anytime, prorated billing. | Annual plan. |
| Free trial | Yes (length not stated). | No self-serve trial yet; we set up each community by hand after a call. |
| Your own website | Branded sign-up and member portal. No general website builder listed. | Your full website on your own domain, with join, renew, book and donate built in. |
| Member cards | Apple and Google Wallet digital member cards. | Live card in the phone's browser with a QR code that refreshes every two minutes, plus door scanning. Wallet passes not yet available. |
| Point of sale | Included in every plan; card reader $300 USD or $50/mo. | Not yet. Cash and cheques can be recorded by hand. |
| Facility bookings | Instant or staff-approved bookings, invoices and deposits. | Half-hour slots, deposits, invoices, e-signed rental agreement and waiver, door code emailed to the renter. |
| Programs and events | Online registration, waitlists and attendance (add-on). | RSVPs, tickets, waivers and check-in; school classes with waitlists and attendance on the School plan. |
| Volunteers | Self-serve shift sign-ups and hour tracking, in the base plan. | Shift sign-ups, hours ledger, and an automatic free membership at a threshold you set. |
| Newsletters | Email newsletters and targeted blasts. | Double opt-in newsletter and campaigns from the same list. |
| Donations | Compliant tax receipts listed. | Donate page, supporters wall, QR signs, sponsors. No official tax receipts yet. |
| Board tools | Not listed on its site. | Minutes drafted from the recording, decisions register, action items, agenda help. |
| Treasurer tools | Lists QuickBooks among the tools it works with. | Expense claims with receipt reading, approvals, vendor invoices. No QuickBooks export yet. |
| Integrations | Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Stripe, HubSpot, Slack, Google Sheets; developer API. | Stripe and a built-in newsletter. CSV export of everything. No public API yet. |
| School features | Not listed. | Registration, gradebook, report cards, family portal, teacher contracts, payroll and T4s. |
| Alberta extras | Not listed. | AGLC casino licence tracking; help with City of Calgary and Alberta grant applications. |
| Your data | Export available; check what fields it includes before you commit. | Own database per community, full export any time, source code if PartOf closes. |
| Track record | "Powering 500+ community organizations." | Launched October 2026. Underlying systems run daily at a Calgary association (200+ member households) and a Saturday school (22 teachers). |
What it costs for a typical association
Take an association with about 250 active members, a hall, and programs or events. Using Communal's listed prices, the membership platform ($75/mo), Programs & Events (+$50/mo) and Facilities & Bookings (from +$65/mo) come to $190 a month, or about $2,280 a year. On top of that is the application fee on card payments, which Communal describes as "often 2%, per your agreement". On $15,000 a year of memberships and rentals paid by card, 2% would be about $300.
PartOf's Community + Facility plan is $1,990 a year with no fee on payments, plus $1,500 setup in the first year. So in year one PartOf usually costs more; from year two it usually costs less. In both cases Stripe's own processing fee applies.
Honestly, the fee difference is a few hundred dollars a year, so it shouldn't be the reason you switch. The bigger cost question is how many other tools you're paying for alongside your membership app: a website vendor, a newsletter service, a booking calendar. PartOf is built to replace those; Communal is built to work alongside them.
Where Communal is stronger
- Track record. Communal says it powers more than 500 community organizations. PartOf launched in October 2026.
- Apple and Google Wallet cards. Members can carry their card in their phone's wallet. PartOf's card works in the browser; Wallet passes are on our roadmap.
- Point of sale. A card reader for memberships sold at the door. We don't have this yet.
- Donor tax receipts for organizations that issue them.
- Integrations and an API, including QuickBooks and Mailchimp.
- Month-to-month billing, free migration and a free trial, which suit boards that want to try before committing.
Where PartOf is stronger
- One system instead of several. Your website, memberships, bookings, newsletter and board papers share one member list.
- Board tools. Minutes drafted from the meeting recording, a decisions register and action items. Communal doesn't list these.
- Hall bookings with door codes and e-signed agreements, in half-hour slots.
- 0% of your payments. Money goes straight to your own Stripe account.
- Ownership. Your own database, full export at any time, and the source code if we ever close.
- Schools. If you also run a Saturday or heritage-language school, it's the same platform.
- Done for you. We set it up, build the website and move your members, so nobody on the board has to.
If you're thinking of switching
Whatever you choose, do these before you move from any membership platform:
- Ask for a full export and check it includes expiry or renewal dates, not just join dates and status.
- Confirm which Stripe account your payments go through, and that your association can log in to it.
- Download your payment history for the treasurer and auditor.
- Time the move between renewal waves, not in the middle of one.
- Tell members what's changing and how they'll renew next time.
We learned the first one the hard way: when a Calgary association we work with left its old membership app, the export had join dates but no expiry dates, and dozens of households had to be asked when they'd last paid.