Compare · Hivebrite
Hivebrite is a hosted community platform for large, complex organisations, and it is good at that. AlumDeck is a $49-a-year alumni site that you install on your own hosting. Here is where each one wins, with a source for every claim about Hivebrite.
AlumDeck
vs$49 a year on your hosting, or from $10,740 a year hosted for you
Hivebrite
Hivebrite: Core from $895 and Flex from $1,995 a month, billed annually (checked September 2026), before paid extensions. AlumDeck: $49 a year, plus the hosting you choose. Run the cost calculator
Side by side
Click any Hivebrite answer to open the Hivebrite page it comes from.
| Feature | AlumDeck | Hivebrite |
|---|---|---|
| Price you can read before talking to sales | Yes. $49 a year, on the pricing page | Yes. Core from $895 a month, Flex from $1,995 a month, billed annually |
| What the entry price covers | Yes. Every feature, unlimited members and admins | Partly. Unlimited users; 2 admins and 5 groups on Core. App, languages, connectors and mentoring cost extra |
| Hosted and looked after for you | No. No. You install it on your own cPanel hosting and apply updates yourself | Yes. Yes, in the EU, US, Switzerland or Australia |
| Runs on your own server | Yes. Yes. Your database, on your host, in the country you choose | No. No. Hosted only; you can block Hivebrite staff access |
| Try it without a sales call | Yes. The live demo: no form, reset every night | Partly. A personal demo, booked |
| Members-only directory with privacy | Partly. Members-only, with 10 privacy fields. Search by name, city, job, employer and class year | Yes. Filters, a member map and per-field privacy |
| Groups and chapters | Partly. One private room per class year, made automatically. No other groups yet | Yes. Groups with their own admins, feeds, events and news |
| Events with RSVP and QR check-in | Yes. RSVP, capacity, free QR tickets and check-in on any phone | Yes. Yes, with QR check-in |
| Paid tickets, dues and online donations | No. Not yet. Gifts are recorded with numbered receipts; the money moves elsewhere | Yes. Paid memberships, tickets and donations through Stripe and others |
| Email to segments of your members | Partly. Segmented email with opens counted. No unsubscribe link, scheduling or click tracking yet | Yes. Email campaigns and automations in every plan |
| Mentoring | Partly. Mentor profiles, requests and a monthly limit per mentor. No matching | Yes. Programmes with matching, as a paid extension |
| Mobile app | Partly. An installable web app on any phone. Not in the app stores | Yes. White-label iOS and Android app, a paid extension |
| Single sign-on and an API | No. Not yet. Planned for release 2.0 | Yes. SAML, CAS, OAuth2 and OpenID Connect; a REST API |
| CRM connectors | No. No. CSV import and export only | Yes. HubSpot and Salesforce from $5k a year, and others |
| History, In Memoriam and hall of fame pages | Yes. History timeline, In Memoriam with family consent, hall of fame | No. Not in its feature list |
| Admin audit log | Yes. 365 days by default | Partly. The last month of events, depending on the package |
| Independent security certification | No. No. Your host runs the server; admin two-factor sign-in and an audit log are built in | Yes. ISO 27001 and PCI-DSS v4.0 |
| Setup help and migration | Partly. Six-screen installer, a CSV import wizard and email support. No migration service | Yes. Onboarding in every plan; migrations typically take 1 to 3 months |
| Interface languages | No. English interface only | Yes. 25+ languages, a paid extension |
Sources: Hivebrite pricing (checked Sep 2026); Hivebrite security and privacy (checked Sep 2026); Hivebrite integrations (checked Sep 2026); Hivebrite groups (checked Sep 2026); Hivebrite mobile app (checked Sep 2026); Hivebrite technical services (checked Sep 2026)
The fair part
Five things Hivebrite offers that AlumDeck does not, each linked to Hivebrite's own page. If you need two or more of them, Hivebrite is probably the better choice.
Where AlumDeck is different
Three things built for a school or college association, not a general community.
Remember
A history timeline, an In Memoriam page that publishes nothing until the family agrees, and a hall of fame your members nominate people for. Hivebrite does not list any of the three; AlumDeck includes them in the $49.
Run
AlumDeck installs on the cPanel hosting many associations already pay for, and member data sits in your own MySQL database. The only call home is a licence check about twice a day, carrying no member data. If a renewal slips, the public site stays up.
Good evening, Sam
Needs attention
7 registrations to reviewReview
3 archive photos waitingOpen
Give
Appeals show a running total and a donor wall. Your treasurer records each gift, by bank transfer, cheque or card elsewhere, and AlumDeck emails a numbered receipt and exports the lot for the accounts.
Decide
Proof without customer logos
We do not name customers or print testimonials. These are the things you can open and check tonight.
Check it
Sign in as an admin or a member and click anything. It puts itself back every night.
Open the demoCheck it
$49 a year, the same for every association, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
See pricingCheck it
Every release is in the changelog with its date and what changed.
Read the changelogCheck it
What is planned and in which release. Nothing on it is sold as finished.
See the roadmapCheck it
The honest list, before you find out for yourself.
Read the listCheck it
Admin two-factor sign-in, session limits, an audit log and tested backups.
See securityQuestions
For a large organisation with chapters, paid memberships and an IT department, Hivebrite does far more, and it describes itself as built for complex organisations. Its own comparison of community platforms lists this limitation: "Overpowered for solo creators or small hobby groups" (Hivebrite, 2026). For a volunteer committee that wants a members-only directory, reunions, giving records and its history on one site, AlumDeck covers that for $49 a year.
Hivebrite publishes Core from $895 a month and Flex from $1,995 a month, billed annually: $10,740 and $23,940 a year (Hivebrite pricing, checked September 2026). The app, extra languages, connectors and mentoring are paid extensions. AlumDeck is $49 a year with every feature, and you also need hosting, which many associations already pay for.
Not yet, and Hivebrite can. Today AlumDeck records each gift with a numbered receipt, and your giving page can link to wherever you already collect money. Online payments into your own account are planned for release 1.2, and dues and paid tickets for release 1.3 (see the roadmap).
If you can get your member list out as a spreadsheet (CSV), yes. The import wizard maps your columns, runs a dry run that lists every problem, then imports, using the email address to match people. Imported members are not sent an invitation yet; they sign in with "forgotten password". Events, posts and discussions do not transfer.
AlumDeck is an installable web app: members add it to their home screen from the browser, with your name, colours and icon. It is not in the App Store or Google Play and sends no push notifications. Hivebrite offers a white-label native app as a paid extension.
Your committee and your host. One cron line runs reminders, digests and the nightly backup. Updates are manual today: download the new release, swap the folders and run the migrations. Hivebrite does all of that for you, which is part of what its price pays for.
Keep reading
Six options for small associations, including AlumDeck, with prices where they exist.
AlumDeck against every rival that publishes a price, with the source for each figure.
The things AlumDeck does not do yet, in plain words, with the release that plans each one.
Six hosted alumni platforms and the marketplace scripts, side by side.
Sign in as the admin, set up a reunion, record a gift. It puts itself back every night.