Wild Apricot is a mature, self-serve membership platform used by many kinds of member organizations. PartOf is a Calgary platform that launched in October 2026 for community associations, Saturday and heritage-language schools, and local clubs. They overlap on memberships, events, websites and email. They differ on almost everything else.
How we checked
Wild Apricot details come from its pricing page, read on 20 October 2026. Only the 100-contact price was shown in Canadian dollars when we checked; use Wild Apricot's own calculator for your size. If anything here is out of date, email chen@oxone.ca.
The short version
Choose Wild Apricot if you want to set things up yourself today, like building your own website with templates, want admin and member mobile apps, or are a professional association, club or society that doesn't need hall bookings or school tools.
Choose PartOf if you're a community association or weekend school and want hall bookings with door codes, volunteer hours, board minutes and decisions, or school registration through to report cards and T4s in the same system, set up for you, with a flat annual price.
Side by side
| Wild Apricot | PartOf | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | By number of contacts (100 up to 50,000). 100 contacts: CA$90/mo monthly, CA$81/mo prepaid for a year, CA$76.50/mo prepaid for two. Plus GST/HST. | Flat annual price by plan, CAD: $990, $1,990 or $2,400 a year, plus GST. |
| Payment fees | No per-transaction fee from Wild Apricot; payment provider fees apply. Other payment systems carry "an additional fee". | 0% platform fee; Stripe's standard processing fee, paid to Stripe. |
| Free trial | 60 days, no credit card. | No self-serve trial yet; we set each community up after a call. |
| Setup | Self-serve. | Done for you: $1,500 once, including migration, website and training. |
| Website | Drag-and-drop website builder with mobile-friendly templates. | Website on your domain, built and set up by us. |
| Events | Registration forms, online payments, waitlists, guest registration. | RSVPs, tickets, waivers at checkout, QR check-in, members-only events. |
| Mobile apps | Apps for admins and members (check-in, payments, directory, tickets). | Works in the phone's browser; no installable app yet. |
| Automated emails, reminders, templates and segmented campaigns. | Renewal reminders and double opt-in newsletter campaigns from the same list. | |
| Member card | Member profile and tickets in the member app. | Live card with a QR code that refreshes every two minutes, and door scanning. |
| Hall and room bookings | Not listed on the pricing page. | Half-hour slots, deposits, e-signed rental agreement, door codes emailed to the renter. |
| Volunteers | Not listed on the pricing page. | Shift sign-ups, hours ledger, free membership at a threshold. |
| Board tools | Not listed on the pricing page. | Minutes drafted from the recording, decisions register, action items. |
| School administration | Not a school system. | Registration, classes, gradebook, report cards, bilingual family portal, teacher payroll and T4s. |
| Alberta extras | Not listed. | AGLC casino licence tracking; help with Calgary and Alberta grant applications. |
| Your data | Hosted in Wild Apricot's system; export available. | Own database per community, full export any time, source code if PartOf closes. |
How the pricing models differ
Wild Apricot charges by how many contacts you store. That's predictable for a small group, but it means the price can rise as your list grows, including contacts who aren't paying members, such as past members, renters or newsletter subscribers. Check its calculator for the tier that matches your full list, not only your current members.
PartOf charges by plan: what kind of community you are and whether you run a facility. Your price doesn't depend on how many contacts are in the system. The trade-off is the $1,500 setup fee in the first year, which Wild Apricot doesn't have because you set it up yourself.
Where Wild Apricot is stronger
- Self-serve and a long trial. Sixty days free with no card, and you can build everything yourself, today.
- A website builder. Templates and a drag-and-drop editor, if your board likes doing its own site.
- Mobile apps for both admins and members.
- Breadth and maturity. It serves many kinds of membership organizations and has a large user community and help library.
- No setup fee.
Where PartOf is stronger
- Built for community associations and schools, not membership organizations in general.
- Hall bookings with deposits, e-signed agreements and door codes.
- Volunteer hours that earn a free membership automatically.
- Board tools: minutes from the recording, decisions and action items.
- School administration, including report cards and teacher payroll with T4s.
- A flat price by plan rather than by contact count.
- Done for you, by someone in Calgary, including AGLC casino tracking and grant help for Alberta groups.
- Ownership. Your own database and Stripe account, full export and the source code if we close.
Moving from Wild Apricot
If you decide to move, export your contacts and membership levels, including renewal dates, and download your payment history before your subscription ends. Tell members how they'll renew next time, and time the move between renewal waves. We handle the import as part of setup and check the export with you before anything changes.