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Aplos, powered by Velora vs. Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Aplos, powered by Velora

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/AAplos is a nonprofit and church management software solution. With online fund accounting made for nonprofits and churches of any size, the software is built on a platform that also includes giving tools, people management, and reporting.

    $79

    per month

    Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

    Score6.8 out of 10
    N/AFinancial Edge NXT is a cloud accounting solution tailored for nonprofits that provides a general ledger, projects, grants, endowments, accounts payable and receivable, fixed assets, banking, and more. It offers real-time reporting, with one-click drill-down functionality and export capability.N/A
    Pricing
    Aplos, powered by VeloraBlackbaud Financial Edge NXT
    Editions & Modules
    Aplos Lite
    $79
    per month
    Core
    $129
    per month
    Advanced
    $229
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Aplos, powered by VeloraBlackbaud Financial Edge NXT
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
    Additional Details10% discount for annual pricing.Blackbaud is currently offering the first six months of Financial Edge NXT free for new customers. Limited conditions apply.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Aplos, powered by VeloraBlackbaud Financial Edge NXT
    Considered Both Products
    Velora
    No answer on this topic
    Blackbaud
    Chose Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT
    FENXT was our first choice when we switched from QB Desktop. QB no longer met our needs because its ability to accommodate fund accounting is very limited, as is its budgeting module. We use QBO for a subsidiary, but it has the same top-level limitations. We evaluated Sage, …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    78%
    Would buy again
    99 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    79%
    Delivers good value for the price
    77 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    101 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    70%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    43 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    65%
    Implementation went as expected
    51 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Aplos, powered by VeloraBlackbaud Financial Edge NXT
    Small Businesses
    MIP Fund Accounting
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    MIP Fund Accounting
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    MIP Fund Accounting
    Score8.8 out of 10
    MIP Fund Accounting
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Aplos, powered by VeloraBlackbaud Financial Edge NXT
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.7
    (164 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.2
    (18 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.6
    (15 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.9
    (17 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (8 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Aplos, powered by VeloraBlackbaud Financial Edge NXT
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Velora
    Aplos integrates with Bloomerang. It brings donations in as either individual or organization, but there is no name or account number associated with the transaction. When reconciling over 500 transactions each month, many at the same amount, it can be tedious to be sure I am reconciling the right transaction. Having the donor name associated with each transaction would be very helpful
    Incentivized
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    Blackbaud
    The look of the reports and the platform is great. It's easy to lookup vendors and find some information. I wish the flow to navigate around the system was more intuitive. We tend to do more going back and forth to move to another vendor. It must be an easier solution. But that's the learning curve piece we need.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Velora
    • Reporting by Fund
    • Ability to split transactions by fund
    • Custom reports
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    Blackbaud
    • It is integrated with our other databases enabling our business office to work easily with our fundraising and academic offices.
    • Mass email platform to contact all of our constituents.
    • Provide a starting point for any prospect research that we need to do.
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    Cons
    Velora
    • In my experience, report filters don't always work like they should.
    • Recent updates have made entering transactions more complicated for me, instead of easier.
    • No ability to delete or deactivate contacts so your list will always grow and you pay based on the number of contacts.
    • In my experience, needs better interface options with other software
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    Blackbaud
    • Queries is not fully set up yet and could use more functionality within the reporting structure
    • Recurring payments do not seem to be moving forward and we have several annuities that run quarterly
    • Queue appears to be going away and report scheduling is coming, however, you cannot send to users outside of your organization. We run so many monthly reports that we used to have emailed out via queue that now we have to run them manually and save them to a sharepoint site for our campus partners to access.
    • A little concerned with printing checks once database view goes away since the one time I tried it the printing margins were totally off.
    • Integration of papersave products and cash receipts.
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Velora
    No answers on this topic
    Blackbaud
    It is meeting our needs very well and they continue to introduce enhancements. Much of our staff is not very technical, and the ease of use is very important. Training is quick and easy. The licensing is reasonable and affordable. And, the time, effort, and cost of finding another solution and implementing it would be very substantial.
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    Usability
    Velora
    In my opinion, recent improvements have made working in Aplos more cumbersome, instead of easier. The new look seems less professional than the old look to me. I think there should be more options to have a default setting when starting some tasks, like opening a register.
    Incentivized
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    Blackbaud
    I don't have much to compare it to but if I speak of just the reporting options; sometimes there are so many options I spend more time finding the "perfect" report when a basic report with minimal columns is needed. But I know I can always add to the report if asked.
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    Reliability and Availability
    Velora
    No answers on this topic
    Blackbaud
    We've been customers for many years and it has only gone down 2 or 3 times ever. Highly available.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Velora
    No answers on this topic
    Blackbaud
    Consistently displays pages quickly without delay.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Velora
    In my experience, Aplos support used to be awesome...very quick responses and open to suggestions. I could even see my suggestions implemented from time to time. Now I get an answer, but it's usually 'that's how it is' and no solution. 'Improvements' are not improvements to me.
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    Blackbaud
    No one is perfect, but this support team is as close as it gets. They respond promptly and if the person I'm talking to doesn't have the answer they find someone that does. They also provide documentation and/or resources to support their responses to my questions. The online chat is awesome and usually all I need
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    Online Training
    Velora
    No answers on this topic
    Blackbaud
    The training is semi helpful if you have already been in the system. If you are completely new it does make it kind of hard since chart of accounts will be different among organizations. For a general idea it is helpful. One complaint on training would be that as FENXT is attempting to go fully to the web solution there were often times things that were moved or changed that even the trainer was unaware of and had to adapt on the fly.
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    Implementation Rating
    Velora
    No answers on this topic
    Blackbaud
    The implementation can be easy depending on how familiar you are with Blackbaud products. It is cloud based so there is not a need for IT involvement but you do need to know your business requirement.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Velora
    I think Aplos has better fund management.
    Incentivized
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    Blackbaud
    Prior to using Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, a financial software package offered by Sage was used. Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT is much more user friendly, and integrates with the fundraising software used by the Foundation, Raiser's Edge. The integration has eliminated duplicate entry of donor information into the financial software. In addition, the add-in tools provided by Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT make journal entries a much more efficient process.
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Velora
    No answers on this topic
    Blackbaud
    The ability to get a discount for multiple years would be nice.
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    Scalability
    Velora
    No answers on this topic
    Blackbaud
    When we've had changes or new cost centers, they are easy to add and get live quickly. Very scalable.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Velora
    • Easy so see what's in each fund at a glance
    • Fixed asset management was not easy for me
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    Blackbaud
    • Record accuracy has gone up with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT. We are able to keep everything separate using both natural accounts and projects.
    • The AP module has increased our speed in issuing checks. We are able to easily review and see where approvals may be stuck in order to get checks out promptly.
    • The approval chains and easily viewed records of approvals have helped our auditors easily track processes for internal control walkthroughs.
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    ScreenShots

    Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Screenshots

    Screenshot of Board Meeting Book BalancesScreenshot of Budget RecordScreenshot of Director of Development DashboardScreenshot of Organizational OverviewScreenshot of Project RecordScreenshot of Security