Aplos
Accounting and fund management software for nonprofits and churches.
About Aplos
Aplos is built from the ground up for nonprofit and church accounting, not adapted from small-business software. Day-to-day it handles fund accounting with hard separation between restricted and unrestricted funds, processes online donations through an integrated giving portal, and tracks donor pledges and giving history inside the same system. When it comes time to file, it pulls Form 990 data directly from your books rather than forcing a manual export. It fits small to mid-size nonprofits and churches, typically those with one part-time bookkeeper or a volunteer treasurer who cannot afford to manage three separate tools for accounting, giving, and donor records. A congregation tracking a building fund separately from the general operating budget, or a 501(c)(3) that takes online gifts and needs those donations posted automatically to the correct fund, will get the most value here. The weak spots are real. The integration library is thin compared to QuickBooks Online, so organizations already embedded in tools like Salesforce or ADP will hit friction. There is no free trial, which makes evaluation a financial commitment. Reporting customization is limited, and growing organizations that need project-level cost tracking or multi-entity consolidation will outgrow Aplos before they outgrow a mid-market nonprofit ERP.
Best for
Nonprofits and churches wanting accounting with fund tracking and online giving capabilities
Key Features
- Fund accounting with restricted and unrestricted fund tracking
- Integrated online giving platform with donor portal
- IRS Form 990 automated preparation and reporting
- Donor management with giving history and pledges
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Fund accounting enforces restricted and unrestricted fund separation at the transaction level, not through workarounds or classes
- Online giving portal and donor management live inside the same system, so donations post directly to the correct fund without a manual import step
- Form 990 preparation pulls directly from recorded transactions, cutting the annual filing prep cycle significantly
- Donor pledge tracking with automatic reminders reduces the manual follow-up workload for small development teams
- Stripe and PayPal integration handles recurring gifts and one-time donations without a third-party giving platform subscription
- Designed for volunteer treasurers and part-time bookkeepers, so the learning curve is shorter than adapting QuickBooks for fund accounting
Cons
- No free trial or free tier, so evaluating the software costs at least $59 before you know if it fits
- Integration ecosystem is narrow, with fewer than ten native connectors, creating manual work for organizations using HR, CRM, or payroll tools not on that list
- Reporting customization is limited, organizations needing board-level dashboards or grant-specific cost reports will find the built-in options insufficient
- Multi-entity or multi-location organizations cannot consolidate financials across entities inside Aplos
- Payroll is not native and requires a separate service, adding cost and a data-sync step for churches with staff
- Smaller user community means fewer third-party tutorials and community answers compared to QuickBooks or Xero
Ledger Brief Take
This is purpose-built fund accounting software that actually understands nonprofit constraints, not a general ledger with nonprofit features bolted on. The integrated online giving and donor management creates a unified workflow from donation to financial reporting that most nonprofits otherwise cobble together from multiple tools. While the integration ecosystem lags behind QuickBooks, the native fund tracking and IRS compliance features are genuinely specialized for the sector.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions accountants ask about Aplos.
What does Aplos cost and what does the base plan include?
Aplos starts at $59 per month billed monthly, or less on an annual plan. The base tier includes fund accounting, online giving, and donor management. Advanced features like budgeting by fund and Form 990 support are on higher tiers. There is no free trial, so you are committing money before you can evaluate fit.
Does Aplos integrate with QuickBooks?
Aplos lists QuickBooks as an integration via Zapier, not a native two-way sync. Organizations that run their audit or tax prep in QuickBooks will need to map and test that workflow carefully. If QuickBooks is your source of truth for reporting, Aplos works better as a standalone replacement than as a companion system.
Who is Aplos actually built for, and who should look elsewhere?
Aplos fits nonprofits and churches with one bookkeeper or a volunteer treasurer managing restricted funds and online giving. Organizations with multiple entities, complex payroll, or deep CRM needs should look at Blackbaud Financial Edge or MIP Fund Accounting, which carry higher price points but handle that complexity.
How does Aplos handle IRS Form 990 preparation?
Aplos generates 990 reports from your recorded transactions rather than requiring a manual export to tax software. It covers the common 990 schedules needed by small to mid-size nonprofits. It does not replace a CPA for complex 990-PF filings or organizations with significant unrelated business income.
Is donor and financial data secure in Aplos?
Aplos is cloud-hosted and uses SSL encryption for data in transit. Online giving transactions run through Stripe or PayPal, both PCI-DSS compliant. Aplos does not publish a SOC 2 report publicly, so organizations with formal data security requirements from grantors should ask the vendor directly for documentation.
How does Aplos compare to QuickBooks Nonprofit or Xero for church accounting?
QuickBooks and Xero track fund activity using classes and tags, which requires discipline and can break down when multiple people touch the books. Aplos enforces fund separation at the account structure level. The tradeoff is a smaller integration library and no payroll module. For a church or small nonprofit, Aplos saves setup time. For a larger organization needing third-party app connections, QuickBooks Online wins on ecosystem.