Aplos vs Grain Ledger

Aplos provides web-based fund accounting software for nonprofits, churches, and other faith-based organizations. It tracks designated and restricted funds, grants, and a flexible chart of accounts. Financial and donation reports can be customized, including Balance Sheet by Fund and Income Statement by Fund. Organizations can create unlimited mobile-friendly giving forms and add a donation widget to their websites. The donor database stores communication activity, notes, relationships, giving history, and custom fields. Aplos includes budgeting, an audit trail, an API enabled from settings, and integrations such as Keela, Raisely, Ramp, PEX, Gusto, DonorElf, Church Community Builder, and Bloomerang. Data is encrypted with AES 256, stored in AWS in the United States, and backed up nightly. Lite costs $79 a month, Core $129 a month, and Advanced $229 a month. A Custom plan has tailored pricing. There is a 15-day trial and no free plan.

Grain Ledger is cloud-based accounting software for churches, built around double-entry fund accounting. It tracks restricted and unrestricted funds and supports a customizable nonprofit chart of accounts. Plaid bank sync imports transactions for categorization and reconciliation; expense tools cover vendor bills, approvals, accounts-payable aging, corporate card activity, and 1099 vendor information. Reports include GAAP-compliant balance sheets, statements of activities, and cash flow statements, with drill-down to journal entries and transactions. Giving features import donations and include donor matching, giving analytics, and annual statements with IRS-compliant disclosures. Listed integrations include Planning Center, Ramp, Bill.com / Divvy, Pushpay, OnlineGiving.org, Rock RMS, and Subsplash; Tithely is marked coming soon. The free Starter plan allows up to $20k in monthly expenses, one bank connection, three users, and one active budget. Growth costs $70 a month. Optional Grain Payroll costs $50 a month base plus 10 USD per employee / month.