What membership software really costs: the subscription vs the payment-processing markup
Every platform advertises its monthly price. Several also take a cut of every payment your members make, on top of what the card processor charges — and on a real dues volume, that markup is frequently larger than the software bill. The table below is each vendor's own published number, linked to the page it was published on.
| Platform | Markup on top of the processor | Their own words |
|---|---|---|
| GatherAMS | 0% | Your own Stripe or PayPal account, at its standard rate. Nothing added, no gateway fee, no minimum. Source: gatherams.com/pricing |
| Join It | 1.5–3% on top of Stripe | By tier: 3% Starter, 2% Total, 1.5% Extra — charged in addition to Stripe's own processing rate. Source: joinit.com/pricing |
| Raklet | 1–4% + $0.60 per transaction | By tier, on top of processing. The per-transaction 60¢ lands hardest on small dues amounts. Source: raklet.com/pricing |
| PayHOA | 3.5% + $0.50 per card payment | That is the whole published card rate — roughly 0.6% + 20¢ per payment above Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢. ACH is $2.45 per payment. Source: payhoa.com/pricing |
| Wild Apricot | 0% per transaction — but a 20% subscription surcharge | No per-payment markup. Instead, US and Canadian organizations that use any processor other than WildApricot Payments pay a Payment System Servicing Fee of 20% of their subscription price. Source: wildapricot.com pricing & help center |
| MembershipWorks | 0% of their own | No transaction fees of their own on top of the processor — credit where due. Source: membershipworks.com/pricing |
Rates as published on each vendor's pricing page, checked 7 August 2026. Products change their pricing; tell us if something here is out of date and we will correct it. Card processors' own rates (Stripe publishes 2.9% + 30¢ for standard online cards) apply on every platform, including ours — this page is only about what the software adds on top.
The markup, worked out on real dues volumes
Annual platform markup — not the processor's fee, just the platform's own cut — if your members pay their dues by card.
| Annual dues collected | $50,000 | $200,000 | $500,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GatherAMS | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Join It | $750–$1,500 | $3,000–$6,000 | $7,500–$15,000 |
| Raklet | $500–$2,000 + 60¢/txn | $2,000–$8,000 + 60¢/txn | $5,000–$20,000 + 60¢/txn |
| PayHOA | ≈ $300 over Stripe | ≈ $1,200 over Stripe | ≈ $3,000 over Stripe |
| Wild Apricot | 20% of subscription | 20% of subscription | 20% of subscription |
| MembershipWorks | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Run the arithmetic against a GatherAMS subscription that tops out at $329 a month and the shape is clear: for an association collecting $200,000 a year in dues, the processing markup on several platforms costs more than the software itself. Wild Apricot's surcharge works differently — 20% of the subscription, not of volume — which is smaller in dollars but pays for nothing except the right to keep the processor you already had.
Price it against your own numbers
The pricing page has a calculator that takes your contact count and dues volume and shows the whole bill — subscription and payments — side by side.