# SorrelSites vs MemberPlanet *SorrelSites vs MemberPlanet: an honest comparison. MemberPlanet adds a platform fee of 4%, 2% or 1% on top of 3% + $0.30 card processing. SorrelSites takes no cut of your dues and includes your website.* SorrelSites vs MemberPlanet ## SorrelSites vs MemberPlanet Both can run your membership. Only one keeps running when your board does, moving you in for free and updating your website for you. MemberPlanet lets you start without a monthly bill and put unlimited members in — then takes a percentage of your dues on top of card processing, and sells you the website separately. Membership management for associations, PTAs and community groups ### Is SorrelSites a better fit than MemberPlanet for a small organization? SorrelSites is the better fit for an organization that collects real money in dues, and MemberPlanet is the better fit for a group that collects very little and wants unlimited members without a monthly bill. The difference is where the money goes: MemberPlanet charges a platform fee of 4%, 2% or 1% depending on plan, on top of payment processing of 3% + $0.30 per transaction, so its cheapest plan is the one that takes the largest share of your dues. SorrelSites charges $99 a month for up to 100 active members and takes no cut at all, because dues and event payments land in your organization's own Stripe account. A website is a separate monthly plan at MemberPlanet — $0, $50 or $100 a month — while every SorrelSites plan includes the site and reimagines it when you move in, offering the closest look in the catalog to what you have now. SorrelSites is also the only side of this comparison that runs the board and keeps the event plan. | | SorrelSites | MemberPlanet | | --- | --- | --- | | Who the AI actually serves | Sprout, SorrelSites' AI, does the org's real work — it drafts board minutes, event pages, and website updates for you to approve, and it welcomes people curious about joining in your org's voice. Behind the scenes it also moves you in and reimagines your website — it asks four short questions about what the site should do and builds the new design from your answers; afterward you change your site just by describing it, preview first, then publish. | MemberPlanet's site markets no AI of its own — welcoming people curious about joining, moving you in, and rebuilding a page from a sentence all stay on your plate. | | Running the board | Your board runs here too. Sprout drafts the minutes — motions, votes, and action items on the record — from your notes, a transcript, or the recap email you forward to your organization's own Sprout address. Approved minutes lock, follow-ups chase their owners, and every new director gets a briefing built from the last year of minutes. | Nothing for the board — minutes, motions, and follow-ups live in Word, email, and shared drives. | | Planning & running events | Paste last year's planning spreadsheet and Sprout turns it into a live checklist with owners and due dates. On the day, check people in by QR from your phone — per session, on a conference day — and push announcements, run live polls, and take floor questions from one screen, with no second app. The thank-you sends itself afterward, and the plan stays with your organization, not on a volunteer's laptop. | Event registration and ticketing are there — but there is no planning checklist for the run-up. | | Fees on your dues | No fees on your dues — you pay your processor, nothing extra to us. | A platform fee of 4%, 2% or 1% by plan, charged on top of payment processing of 3% + $0.30 per transaction. | | What your website costs | Your website is part of every plan, and Sprout turns it into three new designs built from your own writing and pictures when you move in. | The website is a separate plan — free, $50 a month, or $100 a month. | | Reaching your members | Reach members by email and a notification on their phone — each member picks the channels they want. | Email is metered in credits — 100, 1,000 or 5,000 a plan — with text credits counted separately. | | Moving in | Sprout maps your member list and reimagines your website, then accounts for every page — kept, merged, left behind, or needs a photo. Free, for you to approve. And if something didn't come across the way you wanted, a real person here fixes it with you. | You export your members yourself and set the site up yourself. | | Changing your website | Type the change you want, see a preview, and publish when you're ready. | You make the edits yourself in the website plan you're paying for. | | What it costs | $99 a month for up to 100 active members, $199 for up to 300, $399 for up to 750, $699 for up to 2,000. | Priced as a share of what you collect — a 4%, 2% or 1% platform fee by plan — plus 3% + $0.30 per transaction, plus $0–$100 a month for a website. | #### Who the AI actually serves SorrelSites Sprout, SorrelSites' AI, does the org's real work — it drafts board minutes, event pages, and website updates for you to approve, and it welcomes people curious about joining in your org's voice. Behind the scenes it also moves you in and reimagines your website — it asks four short questions about what the site should do and builds the new design from your answers; afterward you change your site just by describing it, preview first, then publish. MemberPlanet MemberPlanet's site markets no AI of its own — welcoming people curious about joining, moving you in, and rebuilding a page from a sentence all stay on your plate. #### Running the board SorrelSites Your board runs here too. Sprout drafts the minutes — motions, votes, and action items on the record — from your notes, a transcript, or the recap email you forward to your organization's own Sprout address. Approved minutes lock, follow-ups chase their owners, and every new director gets a briefing built from the last year of minutes. MemberPlanet Nothing for the board — minutes, motions, and follow-ups live in Word, email, and shared drives. #### Planning & running events SorrelSites Paste last year's planning spreadsheet and Sprout turns it into a live checklist with owners and due dates. On the day, check people in by QR from your phone — per session, on a conference day — and push announcements, run live polls, and take floor questions from one screen, with no second app. The thank-you sends itself afterward, and the plan stays with your organization, not on a volunteer's laptop. MemberPlanet Event registration and ticketing are there — but there is no planning checklist for the run-up. #### Fees on your dues SorrelSites No fees on your dues — you pay your processor, nothing extra to us. MemberPlanet A platform fee of 4%, 2% or 1% by plan, charged on top of payment processing of 3% + $0.30 per transaction. #### What your website costs SorrelSites Your website is part of every plan, and Sprout turns it into three new designs built from your own writing and pictures when you move in. MemberPlanet The website is a separate plan — free, $50 a month, or $100 a month. #### Reaching your members SorrelSites Reach members by email and a notification on their phone — each member picks the channels they want. MemberPlanet Email is metered in credits — 100, 1,000 or 5,000 a plan — with text credits counted separately. #### Moving in SorrelSites Sprout maps your member list and reimagines your website, then accounts for every page — kept, merged, left behind, or needs a photo. Free, for you to approve. And if something didn't come across the way you wanted, a real person here fixes it with you. MemberPlanet You export your members yourself and set the site up yourself. #### Changing your website SorrelSites Type the change you want, see a preview, and publish when you're ready. MemberPlanet You make the edits yourself in the website plan you're paying for. #### What it costs SorrelSites $99 a month for up to 100 active members, $199 for up to 300, $399 for up to 750, $699 for up to 2,000. MemberPlanet Priced as a share of what you collect — a 4%, 2% or 1% platform fee by plan — plus 3% + $0.30 per transaction, plus $0–$100 a month for a website. SorrelSites points Sprout, its AI, at the organization's own work — drafting board minutes, event pages and website updates for a person to approve, and welcoming people curious about joining — while at MemberPlanet that work stays with your volunteers. SorrelSites runs the board itself — Sprout drafts minutes with motions, votes and action items on the record, approved minutes lock, and every new director gets a briefing built from the last year of minutes — while MemberPlanet leaves minutes, motions and follow-ups in Word, email and shared drives. SorrelSites turns last year's event-planning spreadsheet into a live checklist with owners and due dates and runs the event day from one screen, while MemberPlanet covers event registration and ticketing without a planning checklist for the run-up. MemberPlanet charges a platform fee of 4%, 2% or 1% depending on your plan on top of payment processing of 3% + $0.30 per transaction, while SorrelSites takes no cut of your dues at all, because dues and event payments land in your organization's own Stripe account and you pay your processor directly. The cheapest MemberPlanet plan carries its highest platform fee, so the less you pay monthly the more of each membership payment goes to MemberPlanet. Every SorrelSites plan includes the website and Sprout turns it into three new designs built from your own writing and pictures when you move in, while MemberPlanet sells the website as a separate plan at $0, $50 or $100 a month on top of what your dues already pay it. SorrelSites reaches members by email and by a notification on their phone with each member choosing the channels they want, while MemberPlanet meters email in credits — 100, 1,000 or 5,000 depending on the plan — and counts text credits separately. SorrelSites reimagines your website and maps your member list for you to approve at no charge, accounting for every page at the end — kept, merged, left behind, or needs a photo — with a real person at SorrelSites to fix anything that didn't come across the way you wanted, whereas moving to MemberPlanet means exporting your members and setting the site up yourself. SorrelSites lets you type the change you want, see a preview and publish when you're ready, while MemberPlanet leaves the editing to you inside whichever website plan you pay for. MemberPlanet's cost rises with what you collect, because its plans are priced as a 4%, 2% or 1% platform fee plus 3% + $0.30 per transaction, with a website plan of $0, $50 or $100 a month on top, while SorrelSites is a flat $99 a month for up to 100 active members, $199 for up to 300 and $399 for up to 750, billed month to month with no setup fee and no share of your dues. Real screenshot. Example organization, sample data. ### When is MemberPlanet the better choice? Sometimes it is, and we'd rather you land in the right place than the wrong one. MemberPlanet can be the better choice if: - You collect very little money and want unlimited members and admins without a monthly subscription — MemberPlanet's percentage model costs little when there is little to take a percentage of. - You want a free basic website bundled with your member database and are content to edit it yourself. Looking at other options too? See our [pricing](/pricing/) or the [move-in story](/switch/). ### How the move from MemberPlanet works Moving in is included — no moving fee, no setup fee — and Sprout does the carrying, so you're checking the work, not re-typing it. Every column of the old export, read and matched — the membership level enrolled on a plan, the unknown columns proposed as new fields for you to accept. Real screenshot. Example organization, sample data. - #### Export your database from MemberPlanet In your member database, choose View All Members and click Export. MemberPlanet prepares the Excel file and emails it to you. That's what Sprout brings across for you. - #### Start your free trial Fourteen days, no card. Confirm your email and your site is live right away at yourname.sorrelsites.com — nothing to install. - #### Let Sprout do the moving Hand Sprout your member file and point it at your old site. It lists every page it finds so you tick what comes with you, brings that across, and reimagines it — then shows you a preview. You're checking the work, not re-typing it. - #### Review and go live Look it over and change anything you like. If something didn't come across the way you wanted, say so — a real person here will fix it with you. Publish when you're happy, and add your own web address whenever you're ready. #### And you're not doing it alone. If something didn't come across the way you wanted, tell us while you're settling in and a real person here will get in and fix it with you — no charge, no ticket to file. Email [support@joinsorrel.com](mailto:support@joinsorrel.com). - [Will our members' automatic payments survive the move?](/guides/switch-without-losing-auto-renewing-dues/) - [When in our renewal year should we move?](/guides/when-to-switch-membership-software/) Leaving something else, or not sure yet? The [move-in story](/switch/) covers what carries over whoever you're coming from. ### SorrelSites and MemberPlanet — common questions How do we get our data out of MemberPlanet? Export your database from MemberPlanet. In your member database, choose View All Members and click Export. MemberPlanet prepares the Excel file and emails it to you. That's what Sprout brings across for you. ### See it next to MemberPlanet, with your own numbers Half an hour with the person who builds SorrelSites — your members, your dues, your events. You'll get an honest answer about fit, including when staying put is the right call. [Start your evaluation](/evaluate/)[Or start free in two minutes](/signup/)