Avela Apply vs Gecko
Avela Apply
avela.org
Gecko
geckoengage.comSide by side
| Figure | Avela Apply | Gecko |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 0 |
| Spec score · Admissions Software | 7.6 (#9) | 7.6 (#10) |
| Audience | Avela says it serves school districts, charter networks, and early childhood programs. | 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. |
| Data exports | Administrators can export application data from the admin portal, and the page says customers retain full ownership of their data. | Users with the right permissions can export data as CSV or through the Open API, and schedule recurring exports to FTP or SFTP. |
| Founded | 2019 | 2012 |
| Intended users | Avela describes its enrollment software as serving districts, charter networks, and early childhood programs. | Gecko presents the platform for higher education teams including admissions, student services, international recruitment, career services, graduate admissions, community colleges, and online education. |
| Pricing | The Apply page directs prospective customers to request a demo and does not state a price. | The pages reviewed invite institutions to request a demo and do not state product prices. |
| Privacy | Avela says its enrollment solutions are designed with data privacy and security in mind and are intended to support schools and districts in maintaining FERPA compliance. | Gecko Labs Ltd identifies itself as a company registered in England and Wales and says its privacy policy is designed around the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. |
| Reporting | The staff dashboard provides application funnel metrics, quick filters, and custom reporting. | Gecko offers cross-module analytics, customizable reports, event metrics, communication tracking, and scheduled report delivery and exports. |
| Security | Avela says it has SOC 2 Type II compliance and encrypts data in transit with TLS and at rest with AES 256-bit encryption. | 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 | Avela provides separate support routes for families using the Family Portal and administrators using the Provider Portal. | Gecko describes hands-on onboarding, on-site training, documentation, live sessions, self-serve resources, and in-platform support. |
In their own words
Avela Apply
Avela Apply is web-based software for managing applications and enrollment for school districts, charter networks, and early childhood programs. Staff can build forms with short answers, validated fields, dropdowns, toggles, and document uploads, then use conditional questions that appear according to earlier responses. Configurable tags and review workflows organize submissions, while capacity settings support open enrollment, waitlists, and offers by school, site, grade, program, or another group. Families receive a mobile-friendly application experience in more than 100 languages and can track application status. Login options include email and password, passwordless mobile access, and single sign-on through common standards. Staff dashboards provide funnel metrics, quick filters, and custom reports, and administrators can export data while retaining ownership. Avela states SOC 2 Type II compliance and encryption using TLS in transit and AES 256-bit at rest. Pricing is on request.
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.