Membes Or Member Jungle - Which Is Best For Your Association
Explore the differences between Membes and Member Jungle, two prominent membership management software solutions. Understand their core functionalities, including CRM and event management tools, alongside features like online joining and automated renewals. Consider the variations in pricing structures and the unique advantages each platform offers, such as open API versus mobile apps, to determine the best fit for your association's needs.
When it comes to Australian-made and owned association management software, there are two main choices: Membes and Member Jungle. Both companies have a lot in common, originating in the early 2000s as software development firms; Membes (initially Asset Media) in Melbourne and Telligence (now Member Jungle) in Newcastle. Recognising the growing need for specialised support and software within membership organisations, Asset Media launched Membes in 2014, followed by Telligence's introduction of Member Jungle in 2016.
In the decade since, Membes and Member Jungle have both become respected names in membership management and have become the main focus of the companies that spawned them.
Today, we will look at these two similar but different association management solutions with the goal of helping you work out which is best for your association. The key part of this is helping you work out what’s best. I work for Member Jungle, which gives me an undeniable bias here; I very much have a dog in this fight. Therefore, I am only going to include facts; I am not going to include any personal opinions, and I won’t attempt to push you one way or the other. This will be all facts, with no opinions; in other words, it will be the opposite of InfoWars.
No, that’s not a political joke, it's a joke about InfoWars being sued into oblivion for making false claims. Seriously ordered to pay $1.5 billion in damages.
Enough mucking about, let’s get into the comparison. Today, we are going to cover the following information about both Membes and Member Jungle:
- Membes & Member Jungle Overview
- Key Features Of Membes & Member Jungle
- How Much Does Membes & Member Jungle Cost?
- How To Decide Between Membes & Member Jungle
Membes & Member Jungle Overview
Before we get started properly, I have to get one thing out of the way, Membes does not make public a reasonable amount of information about itself. Including how much it costs, member limits and so forth. All this information is available on request from them, but as I can’t, for legal reasons, share it publicly, I will have to be a little bit vague at times. So, please bear with me, I am trying to give you as much information as possible.
Both Membes and Member Jungle are membership management systems with a wide range of features that can help associations run their organisations more easily and effectively. Both offer different packages at different prices depending on how many members you have and your start-up options. This means that if you have 2,000 members, both companies will charge you a lot less than if you have 20,000.
Both Membes and Member Jungle are CRMs (customer relationship management) that help you manage your members. They both have event management systems, communication systems, and reporting tools. Both are all-in-one solutions, meaning they are designed to be the only systems you need to run your association.
To begin with, these two systems look pretty similar; they do the same thing, target the same audience and provide a lot of the same features. The first notable difference between the two systems is the number of members they promote they are designed for. Member Jungle promotes themselves for small to medium associations, while Membes is more for medium to large associations.
Now that we’ve covered the broader strokes, let’s look at some of the finer details.
Key Features Of Membes & Member Jungle
Let’s take a look at the features that Membes and Member Jungle offer. The table below shows the features of both companies.
FEATURES BOTH SYSTEMS HAVE
- Membership management system
- Online join & renewal
- Automated Renewals
- Email marketing system
- Custom website
- Event management system
- Online ticket sales
- Online store
- Business directories
- CPD module
- Online course module
- Multiple membership levels
- Member Portal
- Communication Tools
- Financial Management
- Reporting & Analytics
- Community Forums/chatrooms
FEATURES ONLY MEMBES HAS
- Open API - allowing more bespoke customisation
- More integrations with third-party systems
- LMS integrations
- AI chatbot for members
FEATURES ONLY MEMBER JUNGLE HAS
- Custom mobile app
- Digital membership cards
- 30-day free trial
- 100% green-powered hosting - no fossil fuels are used to host associations' websites
- AI image generator
As you can see, both systems have the bulk of features in common; however, there are a few differences, so let's talk about them.
Chances are, most people won't really care about green hosting and trading an AI chatbot for an AI image generator. So, really, the big difference is that with Membes you get a more bespoke, customisable system with more integrations and LMS integrations, while with Member Jungle you get a 30-day free trial of the system, digital membership cards and a customisable mobile app. While Member Jungle does not have LMS integrations, it does have an inbuilt online course module. Allowing you to run courses and education via the Member Jungle system.
Member Jungle doesn’t have an open API; this is for security reasons. Not saying that an open API isn’t secure, but it has the potential to pose more security risks than a closed system.
Membes has integrations with nine different systems, including Xero, Stripe, Mailchimp, and Zoom. Member Jungle has free integration with three different systems, Stripe, Xero and Zapier.
Which of the two systems comes off better in this trade-off will depend entirely on your association's needs.
How Much Does Membes & Member Jungle Cost?
There isn’t too much comparing I can do here, as Membes doesn’t publicly list its upfront costs or monthly fees. The most they say is, “Membes AMS has a once-off set-up cost and then a monthly fee depending upon the size of your organisation and the features you need.” However, you can request their “Pricing Schedule” from their Pricing Page.
I can say that Membes has three different options on how to set-up your site:
- Membes Supported DIY
- Membes Guided
- Membes Assisted
These packages offer an increased amount of support and training with the Membes team, with Membes Assisted providing more support than Members Supported DIY. These packages are priced as you’d imagine, with the options with more support costing more than the options with less. You can find out more about these options here.
Member Jungle’s prices start at $109 AUD a month and go up to $799 AUD a month, plus a one-off onboarding fee. You can see all of Member Jungle’s prices, including optional extras and set-up options, on our Pricing Page. You can also go to our Pricing Calculator on the Pricing Page and work out exactly what Member Jungle will cost you based on your needs, member count and use case.
Member Jungle also offers different set-up options at varying prices. These options include how much help you need setting up the system, if you are going to import your member data yourself or get a member of the Member Jungle team to do so and a few other factors. You can find out more about these options, including their prices, here.
How To Decide Between Membes & Member Jungle
Well, those are the cold, hard facts of the matter. I’ve written a few of these comparisons in the past, and they usually include more facts. I usually like to compare full price breakdowns, member limits, the cost of exceeding member limits, payment fees, and the platform fees; basically, all the little add-on costs that really make a difference. However, I am unable to do that in this case. If you want to see them, you can request their Price Schedule via their website.
If you want to know any of that information about Member Jungle, check out What Are The "Hidden" Fees At Member Jungle? it covers all of those things, or just go to the Member Jungle Pricing Page.
Now, let's look at how you can decide which system is best for you. First, I’d suggest checking out reviews for both systems.
Capterra has reviews and ratings of both Membes and Member Jungle; you can find them here:
Capterra does list Membes' starting price. However, it is in USD, and I’ve only seen their prices in AUD, so I don’t know if it is accurate or not. Take it with a grain of salt.
I could not find customer reviews for Membes elsewhere, though, look for yourself, I may have missed some. Slashdot and TrustRadius have listings for Membes, but neither has any customer reviews.
You can find reviews for Member Jungle on:
You can also find reviews for the Member Jungle App on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Beyond reviews, I’d suggest trying to talk to current customers of both systems; their feedback will be worth a hundred times anything I can say. Both Membes and Member Jungle offer demonstrations of their systems, so book in for one of those via Membes Request A Demo and Member Jungle Let’s Talk. Member Jungle does offer a free trial of the system, so check that out too for a better idea of how the system works.
That’s about it, read reviews, talk to customers, have a look at the pricing, book demos and have a free trial. If you do that, I’m sure you will be able to work out which system works best for your association.
Good luck out there.
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