GatherAMS vs Join It: the Join It alternative, priced honestly
A clean, simple membership tool that integrates with the stack a small organization already has — Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Zapier.
A small group that wants membership records to slot into tools it already uses, collects little enough online that a percentage of it does not matter, and values simplicity over breadth.
What each one costs you
Put in your own numbers. Nothing is sent anywhere — this runs in your browser.
Everyone in the database — what our plans are counted in.
Dues, tickets and donations taken by card in a year.
- Subscription, yearly
- $1,068
- Payment markup
- None
- Card processing
- $1,740
Processing is Stripe’s own 2.9% + 30¢, billed to you by Stripe. We add nothing to it.
- Subscription, yearly
- $348
- Card processing
- $1,740
Processing assumed at the same 2.9% — they do not resell it either. Plus a 3.0% service fee on online transactions on starter, 2.0% on total, 1.5% on extra — on top of your payment processor's own rate.
Join It pricing as published by them, checked July 2026. Our own price is exact. Card processing figures are estimates from published rates, not quotes, and your negotiated rate may differ. Sources: Join It pricing.
Where the two genuinely differ
Largely a lower transaction fee — 3.0% on Starter, 2.0% on Total, 1.5% on Extra. The cheapest plan is the most expensive one to collect dues on.
Plans are sized by contact count and every feature is on every plan. Nothing you pay more for reduces a fee, because there is no fee.
1.5–3% of every paid membership and paid event registration, charged by Join It on top of whatever your processor charges.
0% added at any volume. Your Stripe account at your own rate — an association collecting $200,000 pays us the same subscription as one collecting nothing.
Membership, events and payments, integrating outward to Mailchimp and QuickBooks for the rest.
Email, the public website, a store, forums and a member portal are in the same subscription, reading from the same member record.
Built around individual members.
Company memberships and unit records are first-class, which is what a chamber or an HOA actually needs.
Join It questions, answered straight
What does Join It cost?
Join It publishes $29/month for Starter, $99 for Total and $199 for Extra, with 10% off for annual billing and a further 10% for nonprofits. The number that moves with your size is not the plan — it is the service fee on transactions: 3.0% on Starter, 2.0% on Total and 1.5% on Extra, charged on paid memberships and paid event registrations on top of whatever your payment processor charges.
How much does Join It's service fee actually cost?
It is a percentage of what you collect, so it scales with your success rather than your member count. An organization collecting $50,000 a year in dues and event tickets pays $1,500 a year on Starter's 3.0%, or $750 on Extra's 1.5% — before the payment processor's own rate. GatherAMS adds 0% at any volume, so the same organization pays only its subscription and its own Stripe rate.
Is Join It cheaper than GatherAMS?
On subscription alone, Starter at $29/month is cheaper than our $45 Club plan, and if you collect little or nothing online it is genuinely the cheaper answer — we would rather say that than pretend otherwise. The comparison flips once dues run through it, because our subscription does not move with what you collect and their fee does.
What does GatherAMS include that Join It does not?
Email campaigns, a public website, a store, forums and a member portal are in the same subscription and read from the same member record. Join It covers membership, events and payments well and integrates outward — Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Zapier — for the rest, which is a legitimate way to build a stack if you already own those tools.
Do not take our word for any of this
Open a live demo and check the claims yourself. An email address, no card, no call.
The other comparisons
Same shape, same sourcing: their published prices, ours exact, and the part where they suit you better than we do.