AlumDeck vs Vaave
Vaave is a hosted alumni management platform, headquartered in India, sold to institutions on a subscription with no published price. AlumDeck is self-hosted software you install yourself for $49 once. If you are searching for one name and finding another, Vaave rebranded to Hoopstr in March 2026.
Vaave and Hoopstr are the same company under two names. We mention it because it affects what you find when you search, and for no other reason.
What Vaave is genuinely better at
Three advantages, and the first one matters more than most comparison pages admit.
A vendor in your own country and time zone
Vaave is headquartered in India, which for an Indian institution means support in working hours you share, invoicing that fits your finance process, and a team that already understands batch years, placement cells and convocation without being taught. AlumDeck is an email address. That is a real difference and it is not in our favour.
They run it, so your college does not have to
Hosting, patching, uptime and backups sit with the vendor. With AlumDeck all of that moves to whoever looks after your college website, and if that person does not exist, it moves to nobody, which is worse.
An installed base you can check
There are institutions already running Vaave whose alumni offices can tell you what it is like a year in. AlumDeck has no customers yet, and we are not going to fill the gap with invented testimonials or logos. If references are part of your evaluation, we do not pass it today.
Side by side
One published price, one that has to be requested.
| AlumDeck | Vaave (Hoopstr) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49, one time, per installation | No public price. Quoted per institution |
| Price published openly | Yes | No |
| Members included | Unlimited, no per-record fee | Not published |
| Where alumni data sits | Your server, in whichever country you host it | 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 only, included for twelve months, renewal optional | Included for the term of the subscription |
| Local presence and time zone | None. Email, from a small team | India headquartered |
| Time to a working site | An afternoon, self-serve | A demo, a quote, then onboarding |
| Institutions you can take a reference from | No | Yes |
| Who it actually suits | Colleges, schools and associations with no software budget and someone able to look after hosting | Institutions that want a local vendor to run the platform for them |
Vaave does not publish pricing, so there is no figure to quote and we will not estimate one. Vaave rebranded to Hoopstr in March 2026. The AlumDeck column is published in full on our pricing page.
What a one-time licence changes for an institution
Three practical consequences, rather than three adjectives.
One payment, not an annual commitment
$49 once, per installation, published before you contact anybody. There is no yearly renewal to budget for, to justify to a management committee, or to renegotiate when your alumni numbers grow.
Your data stays where you put it
AlumDeck runs on hosting you choose, so alumni records sit in the country you host in. Ordinary cPanel shared hosting is enough, which in most countries costs a few dollars a month.
Batch years without a tier
Unlimited members, users and admins. Adding every batch since the institution opened, and giving the placement cell and each department their own login, does not change the price.
When you should buy Vaave instead
Four honest cases. If one of them is yours, spend the money there.
You want a supplier you can meet
A vendor in your country, in your time zone, who can join a call at a sensible hour and invoice your finance office in a familiar way, is worth paying for. We offer email support from a small team and nothing else, and no discount compensates an institution that needed a local supplier.
Nobody at the college will own the server
Self-hosted software with no owner becomes an unpatched application holding thousands of alumni records. If your IT department will not take it and no one is being paid to look after it, the hosted platform is the safer purchase.
You need onboarding, training and your data moved
There is no implementation service here, no data migration and no training programme. If your alumni records are spread across old spreadsheets and a legacy portal, somebody has to do that work, and with AlumDeck that somebody is you.
References decide your purchase
We have no customers to name. If your committee needs to speak to peer institutions already running the software, an established vendor is the correct answer and we will not try to argue you out of a reasonable rule.
Other comparisons
The rest of the market, written the same way. Full terms are on the pricing page, and every module is listed on the features page.
AlumDeck vs Almabase
Almabase positions itself as a layer on top of an existing CRM, with no public price.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs Graduway
Graduway, now part of Gravyty, quoted per institution with no published figure.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs Hivebrite
The one large platform that publishes pricing, from $895 a month billed annually.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs ToucanTech
A hosted platform for schools and universities, with third-party estimates only.
Comparison
AlumDeck vs CodeCanyon scripts
Same price class, so the argument is about add-ons, updates and security.
Comparison
AlumDeck for colleges
Mentoring, giving, events and the directory for institutions with unlimited batches.
Who it is for
Questions people ask when comparing these two
Is Vaave the same as Hoopstr?
Yes. Vaave rebranded to Hoopstr in March 2026, so searches for either name refer to the same company.
We mention it only because it changes what you find when you look for reviews and documentation.
How much does Vaave cost?
There is no published price. It is quoted per institution, which means a demo and a sales conversation before you see a number.
We have not been quoted and will not invent a range. AlumDeck publishes its own number because we think you should be able to compare without booking a call.
Does AlumDeck work for an Indian college?
It runs anywhere you can get PHP 8.2 or newer and MySQL, which includes the ordinary cPanel shared hosting most institutions already buy locally. Batch year is a first-class field in the directory, and mentoring, a job board and giving pages are all included.
The honest limits are the same everywhere: email support only, no local presence, no implementation service and no phone number.
Where would our alumni data be stored?
In a MySQL database on hosting you choose, so if you buy hosting in your own country, the data stays in your own country. Nothing is sent to us.
With any hosted platform, the answer depends on where that vendor runs its infrastructure, which is a fair question to put to them in writing.
Two ways to run an alumni network, priced differently
$49 once, unlimited members and admins, every module included, and a year of updates and support while you get it live.
Checkout is opening shortly. Email hello@alumdeck.com if you want a straight answer about whether this fits your institution.