AltarDesk vs Better Impact Volunteer Impact
AltarDesk
altardesk.co.uk
Better Impact Volunteer Impact
betterimpact.comSide by side
| Figure | AltarDesk | Better Impact Volunteer Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | £17/mo | $24/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 13 | 7 |
| Spec score · Church Background Check Software | 9.2 (#1) | 9.2 (#2) |
| Audience | AltarDesk describes itself as built for church administrators and provides UK Gift Aid and Charity Commission governance modules. | Better Impact serves nonprofits, faith-based organizations, higher education institutions, healthcare systems, parks, and government agencies. |
| Communications | Communications supports email, SMS and push broadcasts, campaigns, templates, birthday messages and consent tracking. | The system supports bulk email, targeted SMS, scheduled announcements and profile-level message history. |
| Company legal name | The maker is Rayscent Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 17120455. | Crunchbase lists the legal name as Better Impact Inc. and identifies Tony Goodrow as founder and Houston Goodwin as CEO. |
| Documentation | The help centre exposes 169 articles across setup, members, Gift Aid, events, rooms, governance, safeguarding, communications and billing. | The help center lists sections for setup, recruitment, profiles, communications, scheduling, hours, reporting, troubleshooting, APIs, updates and training videos. |
| Founded | A Companies House data mirror records Rayscent Ltd as incorporated on 27 March 2026. | 2000 |
| Integrations | GetApp lists SMS, Google Drive, Stripe and GoCardless as AltarDesk integrations. | The product suite integrates Volunteer, Donor, Client and Member Impact modules, and has a stated Sterling Volunteers background-check integration. |
| Rating on Apple App Store | The Apple listing says there are not enough ratings or reviews to display an overview. | 2.5 out of 5 from 128 ratings |
| Rating on GetApp | 0 out of 5 from 0 reviews. | 4.8 out of 5 from 27 reviews |
| Rating on Google Play | The Google Play listing displays no user rating or review count for AltarDesk Giving. | 3.3 out of 5 from 428 reviews |
| Rating on Trustpilot | 3.5 out of 5 from 1 review. | 4.7 out of 5 from 428 reviews |
| Security | AltarDesk says connections use TLS 1.3, stored data is encrypted with AES-256, and organisation records are isolated with row-level security. | Better Impact states ISO/IEC 27001 and 27017 certification, database encryption, permissions, two-factor authentication, SSO and HIPAA compliance. |
| Support | The support centre says its team normally responds within one working day. | Volunteer Impact includes phone, chat, and email support from Better Impact team members 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. |
| What it does | AltarDesk is a church and charity management platform combining member records, Gift Aid, rotas, safeguarding, giving and communications. | Volunteer Impact manages volunteer recruitment, onboarding, scheduling, communications, hours, training and impact reporting in one hosted system. |
Plans
AltarDesk
- FreeFree
- Free (up to 15 people)Free
- Up to 75 people£17 a month
- 76–125 people£25 a month
- 76–125 people£25 a month
- 126–200 people£35 a month
- 126–200 people£35 a month
- 201–500 people£69 a month
- 201–500 people£69 a month
- 501–1,000 people£99 a month
Better Impact Volunteer Impact
- Standard$288 a year
- Standard Plus$612 a year
- Enterprise$648 a year
- Enterprise Plus$1,938 a year
- FoundationPriced on request
- GrowthPriced on request
- ImpactPriced on request
In their own words
AltarDesk
AltarDesk is a church management platform for member records, donor statements, schedules, safeguarding and giving. Its member portal and app let people update their details, view rota duties, give and access giving statements. Paid plans include Gift Aid and GASDS management, direct HMRC claim submission and contactless giving. Bank statement imports support Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Monzo; member giving uses Stripe card payments. The free plan covers up to 15 people and includes 500 MB of storage. The displayed tier for up to 75 people costs £17 a month and includes 2 GB of storage. Member and giving records are held in UK data centres, while sermon video and audio remain in the church’s own Google Drive. AltarDesk says connections use TLS 1.3, stored data is encrypted with AES-256, and organisation records are isolated with row-level security. It also says it does not sell church data, share it with advertisers or train AI models on it. At a plan’s member cap, a church must move to a higher plan before adding people.
Better Impact Volunteer Impact
Better Impact Volunteer Impact is a volunteer management platform that brings volunteer activities and records into one system. Organizations can publish customizable application forms on their websites, while volunteers use a portal or app to choose shifts, view schedules, and log hours. The platform includes eLearning and an online resource library for training, along with email and SMS communications. Reporting and analytics help track volunteer work and analyze programs. It integrates with other Better Impact products and with Sterling Volunteers for background checks; its API provides access to profile and activity data over HTTPS using HTTP Basic Authentication. Better Impact states that its processes and technical security are ISO 27001 certified, and that data is encrypted in transit and at rest with GDPR compliance and optional two-factor authentication. Phone, chat, and email support is available 24 hours a day, five days a week. Pricing is provided on request and is based on accepted and inactive volunteer profiles; applicants, in-process, and archived profiles are not charged. The platform serves nonprofits, faith-based organizations, educational institutions, healthcare systems, parks, and government agencies.