AlumDeck vs Almabase
Almabase is a hosted alumni engagement platform that sits on top of an institution's existing CRM. AlumDeck is self-hosted software you install yourself for $49 once. They are different products for different institutions, and this page is written on the assumption you can tell which one you are.
We sell one of these two products, so read the section on when to buy Almabase instead. It is there because it is sometimes the right answer.
What Almabase is genuinely better at
Starting with the honest part, because if any of this describes your institution the rest of the page does not matter.
It works with the CRM you have already committed to
Almabase positions itself as a layer on top of an existing CRM rather than a replacement for one. If your advancement operation's system of record is already chosen, populated and integrated with finance, a platform that reads from it and writes back to it is doing something AlumDeck does not attempt. We have no CRM connector, and we are not going to promise one to win a comparison.
Somebody else runs the infrastructure
With a hosted subscription, patching, uptime, backups and capacity are the vendor's problem. That is a genuine part of what the fee buys, and it is worth real money to an institution whose IT department is already oversubscribed.
There is a company on the other end of the contract
A subscription comes with a commercial relationship: an agreement, an implementation, somebody to escalate to. AlumDeck comes with a support email address and a licence. For some procurement departments that difference alone decides the purchase, and they are not being unreasonable.
Side by side
Published figures where a figure is published, and labelled estimates where it is not.
| AlumDeck | Almabase | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49, one time, per installation | No public price. Third-party estimates put a year at $3,000 to $8,000 |
| Price published openly | Yes | No |
| Members included | Unlimited, no per-record fee | Not published |
| Where alumni data sits | Your server, your jurisdiction | The vendor's cloud |
| Who runs the hosting | You do | The vendor does |
| Who applies security patches | You do | The vendor does |
| Support model | Email, included for twelve months, renewal optional | Included for the term of the subscription |
| Time to a working site | An afternoon, self-serve, no sales call | A demo, a quote, then an implementation |
| Integrates with an existing CRM | No | Yes |
| Keeps working if the vendor goes away | Yes | No |
| Who it actually suits | Schools, colleges and associations with no software budget and someone who can look after hosting | Institutions with an advancement team, a CRM and a budget line for software |
Almabase does not publish pricing. The range shown is an estimate reported by third-party software review sites, not a quote given to us, and your quote could sit outside it. Everything in the AlumDeck column is published on our pricing page.
What you get for choosing the harder path
Self-hosting costs you effort. These are the three things it buys back.
A price you can read before you talk to anyone
$49, once, per installation, published on the site. No discovery call, no proposal, no annual negotiation in which your renewal price depends on how well you argue.
No number that grows with your success
Unlimited members, users and admins. Tracing another four thousand alumni is a good day for your programme rather than a conversation about moving up a tier.
Data that never leaves your jurisdiction
Your alumni records sit in a MySQL database on hosting you control. There is no sub-processor list, no transfer agreement and no export request if you ever want to leave.
When you should buy Almabase instead
Four situations where we would tell you to look at Almabase, or another hosted platform, rather than at us.
Your CRM is the system of record and has to stay that way
If gift records, constituent data and engagement history must live in one system that other departments already query, then an alumni platform that integrates with it is not a nice-to-have. AlumDeck would leave you maintaining two databases by hand, which is worse than paying a subscription.
Nobody will take responsibility for a server
Self-hosted software with no owner turns into an unpatched site holding thousands of personal records. If your IT department will not adopt another application and no supplier is being paid to look after it, buy the hosted product. This is the single most common reason to choose a subscription and it is a good one.
Procurement needs a supplier, not a licence
We publish a support email address. There is no phone number, no postal address and no company registration number to put on a vendor form yet, because we do not have those to publish. Institutions that cannot buy under those conditions should not try to make an exception for $49.
The budget exists and the staff time does not
If your constraint is people rather than money, buy the product that comes with people. Every hour your one alumni officer spends on a server is an hour not spent on the phone to a donor, and at that point the subscription is cheaper than we are.
Other comparisons
The same treatment, applied to the rest of the market. Prices and terms are on the pricing page and the modules are listed on the features page.
AlumDeck vs Graduway
Graduway, now part of Gravyty, sells a hosted engagement platform without a public price.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs Hivebrite
The one large platform that does publish its pricing, starting at $895 a month billed annually.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs ToucanTech
A hosted platform aimed at schools and universities, quoted per institution.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs Vaave
An India headquartered alumni platform, rebranded to Hoopstr in March 2026.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs CodeCanyon scripts
The same price class as AlumDeck, so the comparison is about add-ons, support and security.
Comparison
What $49 includes
Every module, unlimited members, twelve months of updates and support, and what happens after that.
Pricing
Questions people ask when comparing these two
How much does Almabase cost?
Almabase does not publish a price. Third-party software review sites estimate somewhere between $3,000 and $8,000 a year, and that is the only figure we are willing to repeat.
The only reliable number is the one they quote you. We have not been quoted, so we cannot tell you what your institution would pay, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing.
Is AlumDeck a realistic Almabase alternative for a university?
It depends on two questions. If you need CRM integration or single sign-on with your institutional identity provider, no, and no amount of price difference changes that.
If what you actually need is a directory, events, giving pages, mentoring and news for tens of thousands of alumni, on your own server, then yes, and the cost difference is very large.
Can we move from Almabase to AlumDeck?
You would start by getting a full export of your data out of your current platform, which is a question for them rather than for us.
We are not going to promise a one-click migration we have not built. Email hello@alumdeck.com with what your export looks like and you will get a straight answer about what is realistic.
Why is AlumDeck so much cheaper?
Because you are buying software rather than a service. There is no hosting to pay for, no support organisation on standby, no sales team and no implementation project, and those are most of what a subscription funds.
Some of that work does not disappear; it moves to you. That is the trade, stated plainly rather than hidden in the price.
If the CRM question does not apply to you, the maths is simple
$49 once, unlimited members, every module included, and a year of updates and support while you get it live.
Checkout is opening shortly. Email hello@alumdeck.com with your requirements and you will be told honestly whether AlumDeck covers them.