Easy-to-use chamber of commerce software is critical to local chambers from both a financial and member service perspective. Chamber of commerce websites can be economic development tools for their communities when done right. In smaller communities, chamber websites also serve a large role in bringing tourism dollars.
We hope you’ll use this top 10 guide to gather information in the process of making an informed decision about what chamber software is the best fit. Check out our chart for comparison data at a glance.
In this guide:
- What is the best chamber of commerce membership software?
- What features should chamber of commerce websites have?
- How do you choose chamber of commerce management software?
- The top 10 chamber of commerce software
What is the best chamber of commerce membership software?
- MembershipWorks
- GrowthZone
- Chamber Nation
- WildApricot
- GlueUp
- CC-Assist
- Springly
- Hivebrite
- MemberClicks
- YourMembership
What features should chamber of commerce websites have?
Chamber websites have a number of audiences and many purposes. A chamber site serves:
- Chamber membership by helping members connect to the organization and other members.
- Local citizens by helping them find community events and chamber member businesses.
- Tourists and tourism-dependent businesses who look to the chamber to lead the promotion of the community as a tourist destination.
- The local economic development team which uses the site as a promotional tool to recruit new employers and investment in the community.
To serve these constituencies, interactive features that the best chamber of commerce websites should include are:
- Event calendars
- Online event registration
- Chamber of commerce business directory
- Forms for joining, updating, and renewing membership
- Member login
- Members only content and events
- Member announcements (for grand openings and more)
This is where chamber membership management software comes in. Some membership platforms allow you to add these features to an existing website while other systems require the chamber to rebuild their website in a custom content management system (CMS).
| MembershipWorks | GrowthZone | ChamberNation | WildApricot | GlueUp | cc-Assist | Springly | Hivebrite | Memberclicks | YourMembership | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month starts at | $0; paid plans start at $35/mo. | starts at $259/mo. | starts at $149/mo. | $0; paid plans start at $48/mo. | starts at $125/mo. | by quote | starts at $25/mo. | starts at $500/mo. | starts at $250/mo. | starts at $292/mo. |
| Setup Fee | $0 | $1500 for supported onboarding; $3500 for website build | starts at $1250 | $0 | $0 | Unknown | $0 | $0 | $3,000 | varies |
| Additional per-transaction charges (beyond payment gateway fees) | $0 | Higher monthly fees unless you use their payment gateway. | $0 | Must use their affiliated payment gateway which has higher fees for nonprofits than other choices ** | $0 | $0 | $0 | |||
| Member Only Content | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Directory | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Event Calendar / Registration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Classifieds | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Job Board | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, but with revenue sharing | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, but with revenue sharing | Yes |
| Announcement Board or Forum | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Donations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shopping Cart | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| CMS compatibility | WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace, Wix, Duda, WithoutCode, Drupal, Joomla, Spacecraft, HTML5 sites | WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Concrete5, LiveEdit, LiveCMS | Custom CMS | Custom CMS. Uses iframes to embed widgets on other platforms | Custom CMS | Custom CMS | Custom CMS | Custom CMS | Requires their custom CMS | Requires their custom CMS |
| Key Integrations | MailChimp, Quickbooks Online and Desktop, Xero | MailChimp, Quickbooks, LMS, Zoom, Go To Webinar | ChamberLife retention tool, Quickbooks Desktop and Online, LMS, ReciteMe, Zoom | Quickbooks Desktop, Make (connects WA to other apps) | Quickbooks, Xero, API | Quickbooks Desktop, Constant Contact, Authorize.net, MS Office | Quickbooks | Salesforce, Blackbaud, MS Dynamics 365, Raiser’s Edge, API | Higher Logic, Hubspot, Salesforce, Learning Management System | Quickbooks Online, LMS |
| Payment Gateways | Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal | Stripe, Authorize.net, GrowthZone Pay | A large list including Authorize.net, PayPal, Square, IATS | Affinipay (Paypal and Authorize.net at an additional cost) | Stripe, Adapay | Authorize.net | Springly’s in house solution | Stripe, PayPal | Authorize.net, Bambora, CardPointe, PayPal | Affinipay, BluePay |
| Support | Phone, email, live screen share | Phone, chat, email | Forum, chat, email | Phone, chat, email | Email, phone, live training | Chat, email, $150 per hour training | Phone, chat, email | Email, phone, forum | Phone, email | |
| # of Admin Seats on paid plans | Unlimited | 3 admin seats at lowest price | Pay per seat ($200/mo) | Unlimited | Unknown | Unknown | Unlimited | Unlimited | 2; additional admins are $15/mo. each | Unlimited |
** Wild Apricot adds 20% to its monthly/annual fees if you don’t use their affiliated payment gateway. Nonprofits can often find lower transaction fees with other payment gateways like Stripe, but the 20% fee increase comes into play if you go that route.
How do you choose chamber of commerce management software?
Chamber staff who are tasked with upgrading their chamber membership system can feel overwhelmed. There are many variations in cost, features, and support between chamber database software providers. Smaller chambers often have different needs than bigger chambers. For example, a small chamber’s website may serve as the hub for both business and tourism in their community where a chamber in a larger city may have a separate website just for tourism. Some chamber software providers offer paid services for onboarding whereas others provide training and support to help your team manage the process themselves. Some chambers like the hands-on approach of doing the integration themselves so that they learn about the system as they are setting things up.
The best approach is to first make a list of required features and then to either request a demo with a given chamber software provider or to email a list of your requirements to their support team. These features can include a list of integrations that you are seeking. Of course you’ll want to rule out any systems that are beyond your budget. The cost of ongoing support should be factored in as well. Some systems include support at no extra cost while others do not.
The Top 10 Chamber of Commerce Software
1. MembershipWorks
MembershipWorks excels at helping chambers collect dues and serve members with full-featured chamber of commerce management software. Chambers appreciate that they can often keep their existing chamber website. This saves staff resources to work on the chamber member database transition instead of learning a new membership website builder on top of that. Because MembershipWorks’ pricing varies according to the number of member accounts in the system, chambers of all sizes find it a more affordable choice. Some chambers like to use the community calendar feature that allows members to add their own events.
Cost: Pricing starts at free; first paid level is $35/mo.
Setup fee: $0
Per-Seat charges: $0; admin seats are unlimited on all paid plans
Additional transaction fees: $0
Top additional features: Event registration, member-generated events, member directory, restricted content, donations, job bank, shopping carts, classified ads, announcement boards, forms, member only content.
Key integrations: Quickbooks Desktop, Quickbooks Online, Xero, MailChimp, Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal Checkout, PayPal Pro
Support: Free and unlimited phone, email, and live screen share training.
See how MembershipWorks compares to other chamber of commerce software
2. GrowthZone / ChamberMaster
GrowthZone, formerly known as ChamberMaster, has a special focus on features for chambers of commerce. Unlike most other chamber member management software, they offer a project management tool. They also have a built in chamber of commerce crm for chambers that invest in their sales funnel module. Some other features of note include a staff app, a member app, and advertising. Their pricing structure differs from some in that not all paid plans have the same features.
Cost: Starts at $259/month
Per-Seat charges: 3 admins are included at the lowest level plan
Additional Transaction-Related Charges: Higher monthly fees unless you use their payment gateway, GrowthZone Pay.
Setup Fee: $3,500 one-time design fee for your membership website
Key Features Beyond Membership Management: Mobile staff app, events, forms, donations, job postings, chamber of commerce directory, CE tracking, marketing automation
Key Integrations: Zoom, Elevate LMS, Blue Sky ELearn, API, GoToWebinar
Support: Email, phone
See a GrowthZone/ChamberMaster comparison
3. Chamber Nation
Chamber Nation is different from other chamber platforms in that it also offers a staffed member help center that provides member onboarding, tech support, and online member meeting services. In addition, they have a service that helps collect business data for online directories. This data can help you build your chamber of commerce member list. They will port over your existing website into a new website that uses one of their themes. Additional costs apply if you want custom design. Chamber Nation also powers Chamber Organizer software.
Cost: starts at $149/month
Setup fee: starts at $1250
Top additional features: Business directory, community calendar, event registration, marketing automation, virtual conference tools, member app, event attendee app, public app (apps incur additional fees), resource reservations system
Key integrations: ChamberLife retention tool (additional fee), Quickbooks Desktop and Online, LMS, ReciteMe (accessibility), Zoom
Support: Phone, email, training
4. Wild Apricot
WildApricot is one of the oldest providers of chamber management software. Most chambers use WildApricot’s website design templates to build and host their chamber website. Some chambers praise their forum feature, but some also say it is not as capable as stand-alone forum software. WildApricot was purchased in 2017 by Personify, which also owns MemberClicks.
Cost: Pricing starts at free; first paid level is $48/mo.
Setup fee: $0
Additional transaction fees: Wild Apricot adds 20% to its monthly or annual fees if you don’t use their payment gateway. Nonprofits can often find lower transaction fees with other payment gateways like Stripe. Stripe offers a nonprofit rate of 2.2% + $.30 versus WildApricot’s gateway that charges 2.9% + $.30 per transaction. However, the 20% fee increase comes into play if you go that route.
Top additional features: Website builder, event calendar and registration, directory, member only content, forum, online store, mobile app
Key integrations: Make, Affinipay, Website Widgets, API
Support: Chat, email, forums
See a WildApricot comparison
5. GlueUp
GlueUp offers an all-in-one chamber database software. Their features include a private social network for members and built-in email marketing functions. Chambers must use GlueUp’s custom CMS for their website or have a developer bring GlueUp’s features into an existing site using GlueUp’s API.
Cost: Starts at $125/mo. Note that not all feature modules are included on each plan type.
Setup fee: $0
Additional transaction fees: $0
Top additional features: Website builder, CPE tracking, event registration, directory, LMS, member community (social network), mobile apps
Key integrations: Quickbooks, Xero, API
Support: Phone, email, chat
See a GlueUp comparison
6. CC-Assist
CC-Assist has been around for more than three decades. Features of note include referral tracking, bulk texting, and rep assignment. They offer a mobile app for staff, but the system also requires installation of desktop software to take advantage of all of its features. This can be cumbersome for remote users who may want access to the software to take care of their tasks.
Cost: By quote
Setup fee: Unknown
Additional transaction fees: Unknown
Top additional features: Text messaging, mobile app for staff, website advertising, job board
Key integrations: Quickbooks Desktop, Constant Contact, Authorize.net, MS Office
Support: Email, phone, live training
7. Springly
Springly is an all-in-one chamber platform which includes a chamber membership website. Springly offers a nonprofit management circle where customers can share ideas with each other. It has a required in house payment gateway that charges a higher transaction fee than nonprofits can access elsewhere. Springly charges for some support options that other providers include in their monthly pricing.
Cost: Starts at $25/month
Per-seat charges: unknown
Additional transaction fees: $0, but they require customers to use their payment gateway that has higher fees
Setup fee: $0
Top additional features: Multi-chapter features, member only content, events management, online store, scannable tickets
Key integrations: Quickbooks
Support: Email, chat, online training (additional fees; $150 for a hour)
8. Hivebrite
HiveBrite provides a chamber website along with features like member generated content, event management, and a built in email marketing platform. HiveBrite integrates with some of the larger and more complex database platforms. Chamber of commerce membership can take advantage of its online community features to discuss areas of common interest and create online connections.
Cost: Starts at $500/month
Per-seat charges: unknown
Additional transaction fees: $0
Setup fee: $0
Top additional features: Job board, member directory, forums
Key integrations: Salesforce, Blackbaud, MS Dynamics 365, Raiser’s Edge, API
9. MemberClicks
With MemberClicks, you have to use their website builder or pay a developer and/or MemberClicks to create your integration. They are known for having a fair number of features as well as integrations. They were founded in the 90s; some reviewers complain about an older interface. Available add on services include an online community, job board and LMS. MemberClicks is owned by Personify which is also the parent company of WildApricot.
Cost: Starts at $238/month
Setup Fee: $1,500 or $3,000
Per-Seat charges: $15/month beyond the first two designated admins (ASAs) for their MC Professional product
Key Features Beyond Membership Management: Online community, event calendar and registration, directory, member only content, online store, email marketing
Key Integrations: Higher Logic, Hubspot, Salesforce, LMS, API
Support: Email, phone, online forum
10. YourMembership
YourMembership integrates many aspects of chamber management into one tool. Along with their chamber directory, they also offer an integrated Learning Management System for an extra fee. Although their pricing is higher, their service includes a chamber website builder. Some users have complained about the age of YourMembership’s interface.
Cost: starts at $292/month
Setup fee: varies
Top additional features: Online community, job board, event calendar and registration, directory, member only content, online store, mobile event app
Key integrations: Quickbooks Online, Career center, LMS, API
Support: Email, phone
See a YourMembership comparison
Note that pricing and features may change from the information we have gathered here. Providers regularly evolve their product offerings and prices.
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