The 2025 Guide to Choosing Alumni Management Software + 10 Options

Keeping alumni engaged shouldn’t feel overwhelming. If managing your alumni network involves chasing people across multiple spreadsheets, forgotten social media accounts and clunky email newsletters, then you need an alumni management software.

Imagine all your communication, events and data in one place. Alumni software eliminates most of the manual, tedious admin work, so you can focus on what’s important — your alumni (and letting you go support your school’s team at a game for once!).

In this post, we’ll go over:

What exactly is alumni management software
How to choose the right alumni software for you
10 of the top alumni management software options on the market today

Ready to streamline your operations and increase your alumni engagement? Let’s dive in.

What is Alumni Management Software?

Alumni management software enables organizations (typically universities and colleges) to stay in touch with their alumni, engage them through communications and events, and solicit donations.

Although most CRM (customer relationship management) systems can be used for this purpose, some options were created specifically with alumni in mind or are customizable to fit the specific needs of alumni managers.

Many of the alumni software options we list below are celebrated for their online network, not unlike a social media platform. This is a priority for many alumni associations, as an online community allows alumni to connect and interact with one another, share information and resources, and offer professional opportunities.

Additionally, a great alumni management platform should eliminate the need for your organization to invest in any third-party tools to manage your members. When choosing a platform, look for something that includes a website builder, an email marketing system, a contact database, an event registration module and payment processing capabilities. An all-in-one system makes the user experience better for everyone – centralizing admin tasks while giving members one location for everything.

That being said, most programs are highly customizable. When speaking with a software rep during a demo or pricing inquiry, discuss which features are a must-have for your alumni management.

Click through to claim your 60-day trial of WildApricot to create effective QR codes that will speed up event check-in.

The Most-Used Alumni Management Software

WildApricot is the #1 rated alumni association software used by hundreds of alumni organizations worldwide. You can try a free, 60-day trial of WildApricot and set up a professional-looking website with online event registration in just an afternoon.

Beyond its breezy set-up process, alumni programs rely on WildApricot for its comprehensive features:

Member database: attract, renew, search and manage alumni with ease in one central cloud-based database.
Event management: create and promote alumni events with simple online registration and calendars.
Online store: generate more revenue by selling physical merchandise or digital content online.
Automated communication tools: craft professional emails, send personalized text messages and track results.
Website builder: create a professional online alumni community with a simple drag-and-drop website editor.
Payment processing: securely accept dues and donations directly from your website, share progress toward your goals and generate financial records.
Integrations: connect hundreds of tools your alumni already love seamlessly with your WildApricot account

Sound like what you’re looking for? Start your free 60-day trial of WildApricot right now.

How to Choose the Right Alumni Software

Every school and university has unique needs for building and maintaining their alumni program, but there are a few things every team should keep in mind when choosing the right alumni management software.

WildApricot helps our all-volunteer alumni association share responsibilities for finances, membership, donations, communications, and website. Thank you for continuing to roll out features that make it easier for us to get it all done.

– Terry, Cornell Club of Washington D.C.

No matter what your goals are for your alumni program, you’ll want a system that brings security, convenience and simplified community engagement. When going through the software selection process, keep these strategies and tools in mind:

Create Seamless Alumni Experiences

Alumni programs include members of all kinds, from recurring donors and event champions to occasional participants. No matter how members like to interact with your alumni program, you’ll need an efficient system to keep operations running smoothly.

To save time and encourage every type of alumni engagement, look for alumni tracking software that offers both automation for your team and self-service options for your alumni. A strong alumni database management system, like ours here at WildApricot, will keep your program humming and provide a great user experience, allowing you to:

Customize member application forms – to seamlessly gather alumni contact info
Create multiple membership levels or types – to track different alumni types
Self-service member portals – alums can update contact info, register for events, pay dues and much more
Access your online alumni database – a digital member directory stored in the cloud and updated in real time
Provide exclusive content on members-only pages – so only your alumni are able to access it
Add a searchable alumni directory – so your alumni can reach out to each other

Connect and Engage Your Alumni Easily

Staying engaged with friends and maintaining connections with their community are among the main reasons students join alumni programs. Online communities have become and will continue to be important ways people find and interact with friends, job opportunities and more.

You may think – why not just use social media to manage your alumni relations? Well, Facebook groups may be an easy way to start your alumni network, but they can lack the security, scalability and capabilities of tech like an alumni CRM.

Be on the lookout for software that truly grows digital engagement amongst your alumni. With an exclusive online space, they’re encouraged to build strong relationships with one another and with your institution.

How WildApricot Helps Create an Alumni Community:

WildApricot allows you to add a discussion forum gadget to your site, so that members can post original messages and reply to other messages. This gives your alumni a place to congregate, collaborate and discuss ideas. It’s easy to set up as many discussion forums as you want and control access so that forums can be public or exclusive to members.

And if you and your alumni love the forums, you can add on the CommUnity product for even more tools that will encourage alumni connections.

Case Study: Building a Thriving, Engaged Community: How CommUnity Powers Member Connection and Action

Keep Email Communications Timely and Relevant

88% of email users check their inbox multiple times a day. It’s no wonder that email marketing is one of the most popular alumni engagement channels! But these days, it’s easy for alumni to unsubscribe or for your emails to get lost in the noise. That’s why it’s important to choose an alumni engagement platform with an email and contact database.

Being able to schedule and automate email blasts, newsletters, event promotions and fundraising campaigns allows you to save admin time and ensures your alumni get the right message at the right time.

How WildApricot Can Boost Email Engagement:

WildApricot’s email and communication tools help eliminate staff burnout and keep alumni opening your emails using features such as:

Detailed, filterable database searches that are easy to use and save
Customizable newsletter sign-up form you can publish on your website
Recipient lists that can be based on any criteria in your alumni database
Updated stats on email delivery, opens and clicked links
Automated email responses, reminders and confirmations

Make Giving a Breeze

“Easy” is the name of the game when it comes to encouraging alumni financial support. Even people who want to donate to their alumni programs can be deterred if your payment systems are outdated and hard to use.

You can increase alumni giving by choosing alumni donor management software that offers mobile-friendly payment options, automated and recurring payments, customizable invoices and receipts and best-in-class security.

How WildApricot Helps Alumni Give Seamlessly:

WildApricot empowers alumni to donate through their favorite channels, whether that’s via the mobile app, mobile site or website. It also helps your team manage donations more easily by:

Quickly and easily adding donation pages, in the same branding and style as the rest of your alumni website
Enabling recurring payments, so your team doesn’t have to worry about needing to do multiple campaigns
Creating automatic, customizable invoices and receipts for online transactions
Counting on WildApricot’s security to keep your alumni safe: Level 1 PCI DSS compliant
Tracking finances with built-in reporting and/or export to Excel and QuickBooks

Simplify Website Management

Even though 93% of higher education marketing and website specialists believe that improving the website experience would positively impact student success metrics like enrollment, engagement and retention — only 19% say their current experience is great.

This seems like a big contradiction, but it’s easy to see how it can happen to the best of alumni programs. Digital teams can be short-staffed. Budgets can be limiting. Plus, it can simply be hard knowing where to start. But these things can be overcome by finding a partner and platform with a website builder that allows you to easily connect your domain and add blogs and articles.

How WildApricot Builds Functional, Thoughtful Websites:

One of the best things about WildApricot?

You can build a website from scratch or embed WildApricot widgets on your existing site — without any coding!

Not only that, but you can easily make website building easy and effective by:

Adding blogs and news articles to keep your alumni informed
Utilizing drag-and-drop branded templates or accessing the HTML and CSS code so it’s easy for your team to build (even if they’re not technical)
Creating a mobile-friendly site,so alumni can access it from any device

Plan Events Alumni Can’t Miss

Events are always a major effort for alumni management teams, but the payoff is so worth it. After all, 64% of Fortune 500 executives credit alumni events as pivotal moments in their career trajectory.

Events often bring out the best in our teams. They are powerful ways for alumni to see how their connections and contributions impact your institution and their own lives. So it’s crucial to choose software that lets you easily handle everything from registration to follow-up communications — then all you have to do is plan the fun!

How WildApricot Offers Holistic Event Management

With WildApricot, you get event management that’s easy and drives engagement from the very beginning of planning through post-event communication and surveys.

Create detailed event listings with images, which automatically sync with your WildApricot events calendar and can be embedded on any webpage
Build online event registration forms to easily capture all the information you need, and include discounts and add-ons
Customize and schedule promotional and reminder emails to increase registrations
View registration payments in your database automatically to make bookkeeping a breeze
Boost event participation with our mobile conference app – actively engage alums during events with live O&A, polls, surveys, gamification and networking

Build Trust by Protecting Your Alumni’s Data

One of the simplest, yet most essential, ways to build trust in the digital world is to be able to securely store and access data. Using cloud-based software has many advantages for digital teams, including time-saving automation, real-time collaboration and cost savings.

And for your alumni, they’ll rest easy knowing that using a cloud-based, centralized software leads to fewer data breaches and greater privacy and security.

How WildApricot Helps Protect Your Data:

WildApricot is committed to being a partner in both membership engagement and security and compliance. We take privacy seriously – prioritizing the security of not only your website and its data, but your members as well.

Here are some of the highlights of WildApricot’s privacy and security policies:

Level 1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification
Traffic encryption (https) capability for online forms and data transferring
Secure hosting from Amazon Web Services (AWS)
24/7 infrastructure monitoring for all customer sites
Two-factor authentication (2FA) for administrative access
Configurable member privacy settings

Looking for a detailed breakdown? Check out this help article.

The Top 10 Alumni Management Software Options

Want to learn more about other alumni management systems? We’ve compiled a list of the most popular here so you can review your options.

1. Almabase

Pricing: quote available upon request

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

Almabase is a complete solution for managing alumni programs. It combines features like email marketing, event registrations, branded website, online alumni directory and donation pages. Designed specifically with alumni in mind, Almabase creates an online network where alumni can find, connect and network with each other. The software does not have its own CRM database, but integrates with most database programs like Raiser’s Edge, Ellucian and Salesforce.

What we like: The network integrates with Facebook and LinkedIn and automatically updates when alumni change jobs or move cities, making it easier for them to stay up to date with each other’s news.

2. Alumni Channel

Pricing: one-time $350 setup fee, then an annual fee starting at $850/year, depending on the number of records (see details here)

Free Trial/Demo: free demo and 60-day trial

Alumni Channel combines a database and a website builder to help organizations manage and communicate with their alumni. It boasts all the standard features like an online directory, email marketing and payment or donation processing.

What we like: Alumni Channel also offers unique features like message boards where alumni can communicate with each other, a missing directory that lists alumni who are not yet on the platform and a social network integration, which allows members to embed their social profiles into their member profile.

3. Disciple

Pricing: quote available upon request

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

Disciple is a mobile-first social platform designed for community building and is accessible on web, iOS and Android. It operates much like the social networks that alumni are already familiar with. The app’s Community Hub allows administrators to manage members in a database, publish scheduled content, analyze data and more.

What we like: From the perspective of alumni, Disciple looks and feels like a social network app and has all the features they are already used to. They can access an events calendar, watch live-streamed videos and get push notifications on their mobile device when the administrator publishes new content It’s also great if you want to offer additional content, like courses, to your alumni.

4. e2s Connect

Pricing: quote available upon request

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

e2s Connect from Engage2Serve is a complete alumni management solution that combines all the features of a CRM system with a social network where alumni can engage with each other. Alumni can join Communities based on graduation years or interests and form discussion forums, share knowledge and network professionally. On the CRM side, administrators have everything they need to fundraise, organize events, analyze data and share information with members.

What we like: e2s Connect has a Job Board where alumni can post jobs to share with fellow members and their networks. The module is complete with other tools that members might need to find a job, such as resume preparation help, market information, a searchable database of current postings and the ability to apply straight from the app.

5. Graduway

Pricing: quote available upon request

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

Graduway is an alumni platform software designed to engage alumni at every step of the way, from mentoring them as students to connecting with them after they graduate and cultivating them as donors. It features a customized platform for alumni to engage with the organization and each other, complete with all standard capabilities such as an online directory, event management and analytics.

To note: Graduway does not include a member database, but integrates with most CRMs, including their preferred partners Raiser’s Edge NXT and Salesforce.

What we like: Graduway is focused on building connections, with features like integrated video and mentoring options.

6. Hivebrite

Pricing: quote available upon request

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

Hivebrite’s value as an alumni engagement platform is in its focus on community. Administrators can design how alumni join and engage with their community, add customized content, manage events, send communications through email or app push notifications and help members network with each other and find professional opportunities.

What we like: Organization managers can create groups within their alumni community and enable group admins to lead, manage and moderate their respective groups — building an even stronger feeling of connection!

7. Raklet

Pricing: free basic plan; other plans start at $49/month (details here)

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

Raklet is a membership management software used by a variety of organizations, which can also be used for alumni management. It creates an exclusive network where alumni can engage with your organization and with each other, while giving administrators all the capabilities of a comprehensive CRM system. Some of the features include donation processing, event management and targeted communications through various channels.

What we like: Raklet’s alumni network is designed to make it easy for members to mentor each other, share professional opportunities such as jobs and internships and form social connections through events, groups and discussions.

8. Vaave

Pricing: quote available upon request

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

Vaave is an alumni management solution that boasts all the standard features alumni managers may need: member database, event management, donation processing, targeted communications and alumni networking resources. They also focus on providing corporate alumni management software, for organizations looking to connect their past employees.

What we like: Vaave enables alumni managers to easily identify alumni who are interested in helping the development of current students, as well as identify and acknowledge highly engaged or accomplished alumni.

9. Gradnet

Pricing: quote available upon request

Free Trial/Demo: free demo available

Gradnet bills themselves as an alumni engagement and fundraising platform, focusing on providing one place where alumni can connect as well as give back! They offer alumni management solutions like a member database and event registration along with a job board so that organizations can post opportunities that are specific to their alumni.

What we like: Another unique functionality they offer is an online voting tool, which makes it easy for alumni to have their say in your community.

10. WildApricot

Pricing: Plans start at $63/month, and are based on the number of contacts (more details here)

Free Trial/Demo: free 60-day trial

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention WildApricot again! In case you missed it earlier, WildApricot is alumni membership management software used by thousands of membership organizations. WildApricot’s most-loved features include a drag and drop website builder, a built-in emailing system, a mobile app, a member directory, a member-only area, and automated member payments and donations. WildApricot also has an open API, which allows you to customize the software to your specific needs.

What we like: WildApricot also includes an online store, so your organization can easily sell branded merchandise to help your alumni show their school pride.

We hope this run-through of the best alumni management software has helped you determine which option is right for you! Start your free 60-day trial of WildApricot now, or reach out to let us know if you have any questions about getting started.