GatherAMS vs ClubExpress: the ClubExpress alternative, priced honestly

ClubExpress publishes its whole ladder, which is unusual in this category and to its credit: 42¢ per member per month up to 200 members, 38¢ from 201–300, 34¢ from 301–500 and 30¢ from 501–1,000, with a $24 minimum monthly hosting fee throughout and secondary members at 14–20¢. So a 300-member club is $114/month and a 1,000-member club is $300/month. A one-time setup fee applies, and merchant processing is charged separately.

It is more predictable and it punishes growth. Every member you recruit raises the bill by the per-member rate that month, and above 1,000 members the rate keeps falling but is not published. GatherAMS bands by contact count instead, so recruiting inside a band costs nothing — a 400-member and a 900-member club sit on the same $89 plan.

Feature depth. It has been built for a long time and covers an enormous amount of ground, and reviews say so consistently — alongside consistently describing the interface as dated. If you want the longest feature list in the category and have someone willing to learn it, that is a real argument. We are built for the opposite reader: a volunteer treasurer with a day job and no appetite for training.

ClubExpress arranges merchant processing separately and charges it separately. GatherAMS never sits between you and your money: you connect your own Stripe account, your members pay you directly at your own negotiated rate, and there is no application fee anywhere in the platform at any volume.