Changemaker Lite vs ControlShift
Changemaker Lite
cmlite.orgControlShift
controlshiftlabs.comSide by side
| Figure | Changemaker Lite | ControlShift |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · Advocacy Software | 8.8 (#2) | 7.9 (#9) |
| API | Two JSON REST APIs are documented: Express on port 4000 for core functions and Fastify on port 4100 for media. | Developer documentation describes JSONP, webhooks, bulk data, and authenticated REST APIs for connecting ControlShift content and data to external systems. |
| Integrations | The site describes integrations including Rocket.Chat, Gancio, Listmonk, n8n, Gitea, NocoDB, and Vaultwarden. | The maker lists CRM integrations, Segment, Facebook, Matomo, Google Analytics, Freshchat, Customer.io, Slack, and data warehouse integrations. |
| Purpose | Changemaker Lite describes itself as a self-hosted campaign toolkit built for growing political movements. | ControlShift provides distributed events, local groups, and member-led petitions for organizations. |
| Security | The site lists JWT rotation, rate limiting, XSS prevention, encrypted secrets, and HSTS headers among its security measures. | The maker says it uses TLS/SSL in transit, encrypts backups, and encrypts stored data at rest where possible. |
Plans
Changemaker Lite
- Self-HostedFree
- Managed HostingPriced on request
- Pre-ConfiguredPriced on request
In their own words
Changemaker Lite
Changemaker Lite is a self-hosted campaign toolkit for growing political movements, combining advocacy, canvassing, volunteer scheduling and newsletters. Influence campaigns can look up representatives by postal code, send tracked advocacy emails and collect responses. Its mobile canvassing map supports live GPS, walking routes, visit recording and outcome tracking. Shift scheduling provides public signup, confirmation emails, cut assignment and capacity management. The Listmonk newsletter feature includes subscriber management, templates and analytics, with unlimited subscribers listed. Named integrations include Rocket.Chat, Gancio, Listmonk, n8n, Gitea, NocoDB and Vaultwarden. Deployment documentation covers Docker Compose and options including a reverse proxy, tunnel or private VPN. An included script backs up PostgreSQL databases and uploaded media, with optional S3 upload. REST endpoints cover authentication, campaigns, locations, shifts, media and more. The Self-Hosted plan is free, billed forever, and includes all 45+ campaign tools, unlimited users and data, community support and use of your own infrastructure. The homepage describes the product as beta and under active development, with possible breaking changes.
ControlShift
ControlShift is a platform for progressive organizations and campaigns to coordinate distributed events, local groups, petitions, and supporter-led campaigns. Supporters can create or attend local events from organization templates, while staff review submissions, coach hosts, track activity, and measure results. Members can find nearby groups or organize new ones, with mailing lists and directories for coordination. Petition campaigns can use distributed targets and templated content under organizational moderation and approval. Organizations can approve group leaders and give them communication, event, and campaign tools, including tactics such as petition delivery. The platform supports 15 languages, including Arabic and Hebrew, and runs through web and API access. Integrations include CRMs, Amazon Redshift, SQL databases, Segment, Facebook, Matomo, Google Analytics, Freshchat, and Customer.io. Developer tools include authenticated REST APIs, webhooks, JSONP, and bulk data. Data is stored in a selected AWS US-East or EU-Central region. Pricing is on request.