Almabase vs Gecko
Almabase
almabase.com
Gecko
geckoengage.comSide by side
| Figure | Almabase | Gecko |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · CRM for Higher Education Software | 7.6 (#4) | 7.5 (#6) |
| Audience | Almabase identifies higher education, K-12, healthcare, and nonprofits as the sectors it serves. | Gecko describes its platform as built for higher education and lists admissions, student services, international recruitment, career services, graduate admissions, community colleges and online education as audiences. |
| Company | Almabase says it helps institutions rally their communities, raise money, and open access to education. | Gecko says Matt Lanham founded the company in 2012; its careers page identifies Edinburgh as its headquarters. |
| Security | Almabase lists SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR and says it conducts periodic annual audits of its platform and internal IT processes. | Gecko reported renewing ISO 27001:2022 certification, completing an annual SOC 2 Type 2 audit and penetration testing, and updating its VPAT against WCAG 2.2 AA. |
| Support | The homepage advertises 24x7 support. | Gecko describes hands-on onboarding, on-site training, documentation, live sessions, self-serve resources, and in-platform support. |
Plans
In their own words
Almabase
Almabase is a web-based platform for digital engagement, event management, and online giving that operates on an organization’s CRM. Its programs can include mentorship, affinity groups, alumni directories, news and updates, job boards, and business directories. Teams can run online giving campaigns and manage events with self-service registration and QR check-ins. Communications include branded email templates, automation, audience segmentation, and real-time reporting. TrueSync provides two-way synchronization with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, with rules controlling data movement. Almabase also lists connections with Ellucian, Kindsight, Slate, Veracross, and DonorPerfect. Payment-related integrations include Blackbaud Merchant Services, Authorize.net, PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay. The platform supports event hosting, private spaces, custom domains, moderation tools, and permissions based on team structure. Almabase identifies higher education, K-12, healthcare, and nonprofits as sectors it serves. It lists SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, ADA, and HECVAT among its compliance items, and advertises 24x7 support. Pricing is custom and depends on needs and alumni size.
Gecko
Gecko is a student engagement CRM for higher education, bringing student conversations, data, and touchpoints together. Its platform includes chat, texting, email, calling, events, contact management, forms, workflows, student portals, AI, and reporting. A shared inbox brings email, text, chat, and social messages together, with tools to assign conversations, add internal notes, and use canned responses. Workflows can use event or scheduled triggers, conditional paths, and connections to external systems through webhooks and APIs. The AI chatbot provides automated support across web, social, and SMS, with complex queries handed to human agents. Other AI capabilities include sentiment analysis, automatic tagging, summaries, and support for over 50 languages. Reporting includes customizable reports, event metrics, communication tracking, and scheduled delivery and exports. Gecko identifies Slate, Salesforce, and Ellucian as systems it works alongside; its Salesforce integration supports two-way API data exchange. Its audience includes admissions, student services, international recruitment, career services, graduate admissions, community colleges, and online education teams. Pricing is on request, and Gecko offers a free 30-minute demo, not described as a product trial.