ShulCloud review (2026)

Cloud-based synagogue management suite combining a member database, accounts receivable, website/CMS, scheduling, communications and a member portal, sold in three tiers.

Synagogue management platforms · Status: actively sold · Verified against www.shulcloud.com on 2026-10-12 · High confidence

Our take

ShulCloud is the incumbent, and the review question is less "is it good" than "what does it actually cost to get the version that does billing, and is the rest of the package worth it against the newer flat-rate competitors." Its published feature list is the broadest in the market: yahrzeits, a Jewish calendar with zmanim, High Holiday seating, gabbai tools, cemetery, school, campaigns and a template website on one platform. The largest claimed installed base also means consultants, bookkeepers and the administrator at the synagogue across town already know it.

The pricing page needs reading carefully. The headline $161.99 Standard tier is sold as "ShulCloud without Financials": no invoicing, batch billing, statements or online member payments. A congregation that bills dues is a Premium customer at $313.99 a month, and school and fundraising modules sit in Enterprise at $464.99. Several items are paid extras at every tier: SMS ($35 a month for 2,000 messages), the member mobile app, QuickBooks or Sage sync ($500 setup unless bundled with onboarding), and data imports. Onboarding is charged but not priced on the live site; an archived FAQ once gave a range in the hundreds to low thousands, and a competitor's "$5,000+" figure is a marketing claim we could not verify. Annual plans are about five percent cheaper and are marked non-cancelable and non-refundable. There is also a signup checkbox offering Premium at $97.99 a month to shuls under 100 accounts with email-only support, which is the best deal on the page and the least visible.

Independent evidence is thin and dated: a handful of Capterra reviews from 2019 to 2022 that rate the product well on breadth and poorly on support, and news coverage of a Yom Kippur 2020 outage that the parent company's CEO acknowledged. In a 2024 r/Judaism thread, staff at Reform congregations described the website and email modules as limited and dated, wanted bulk edit and list upload (available only through paid business services), and otherwise called it a reliable core system with responsive support; a ShulCloud employee replied that bulk upload was in development. We treat all of that as individual experience, not measurement.

ShulCloud pricing

Pricing model: tiered. Terms: Monthly, Bi-Annually and Annually toggles on /plans. Annual view states 'ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION PLANS ARE NON-CANCELABLE AND NON-REFUNDABLE'. Terms: fee changes on 60 days' notice; fees generally non-refundable; access (including content) ends at cancellation; 10-day window to request a data download after termination for breach.. Annual prices read from the Annually toggle in a live browser session on 2026-10-12 (about 5% below 12x monthly). Bi-annual prices not captured. The $97.99 small-shul rate is a checkbox in the signup form, not a listed plan. Capterra's 'US$139.99 per user/month' starting price does not match the vendor page. Shulware's ShulCloud page (verified 2026-10-12) prices two of the extras: SMS $35/month for 2,000 messages or $420/year for 24,000, $10 per additional 650; QuickBooks/Sage sync setup $500 if bought separately, included with any onboarding purchase. Source: https://www.shulcloud.com/plans, checked 2026-10-12 (vendor-page). Prices exclude payment-processing fees unless stated.

Feature coverage, with evidence

"Yes" means we found the capability described on a vendor page (linked). "Partial" means limited, add-on or third-party. "Not verified" means we could not find it documented; it may exist. Ask the vendor.

What independent sources say

Individual experiences, not survey data. Review platforms are sparse in this niche; treat counts under 20 as anecdotes.

• Capterra (Canada mirror of the US listing 192763): 3.8/5 from 5 reviews. Five reviews dated 2019-2022 (sub-scores: ease of use 4.0, value 3.0, customer service 2.3). Individual reviewers praise the synagogue-specific all-in-one member tracking, quick charges/payments and forms with payment; individual complaints: bugs that go unfixed, declining support and training after the acquisition, discontinued features (TV interface), and one 2020 review saying support 'no longer take calls or chats'. Small, dated sample. source
• Capterra (US): 3.8/5 from 5 reviews. Same listing; US page sat behind a bot-verification screen on 2026-10-12 so the Canadian mirror was read instead. source
• JTA news article. 2020-09-30 report on a website/email outage on Yom Kippur eve affecting congregations' streaming and donation pages; Togetherwork CEO acknowledged planning mistakes. Administrators quoted both criticising the response and calling it 'the best of the synagogue management software' while noting few alternatives at the time. source
• UJA-Federation NY / Idealware 'A Guide to Synagogue Management Systems' (2013, updated 2014). Table of contents of the 2014 update lists ShulCloud alongside Chaverware, MM2000, ShulSuite and Rakefet; full text is registration-gated and was not read. source
• TrustRadius. Listing exists; rating not retrieved. source
• Reddit r/Judaism thread (Aug 2024–Jan 2025), read via the pullpush.io archive from 16 reviews. Sixteen comments from synagogue staff, board members and congregants. Praise: reliable core membership and correspondence system, responsive support, online dues and event payments, yahrzeit lists included. Complaints (Reform-congregation staff): no bulk edit or list upload (requested through paid business services), website and email modules described as limited and dated, yahrzeit letters done by exporting a CSV to Word, some features felt geared to Conservative/Orthodox use, one new customer reported mixed experiences. Two staff said they pair it with BrightWheel for school and re-key payments by hand. A ShulCloud employee joined the thread in Dec 2024 saying bulk upload was in development. Individual experiences, not a survey. source

Questions to ask ShulCloud before you sign

1. The memo's claim that a ShulCloud communications/websites page says they no longer build custom websites could not be found on shulcloud.com or shulware.com; the features page still markets a 'fully customizable' template site. Ask the vendor whether custom design services are offered.
2. Current onboarding package prices (archived FAQ: $150 to $3,600+; competitor claim: $5,000+).
3. Exact feature-to-tier mapping: the /compare page uses unlabeled icons; confirm what Standard actually includes.
4. Payment processing rates and whether ACH is included in every tier.
5. Bi-annual pricing (toggle exists; not captured).
6. Whether Standard's 'email support only' language in the sub-100-account offer applies to other tiers.

Alternatives to ShulCloud

Frequently asked questions

How much does ShulCloud cost?

Three published tiers on the vendor's plans page, verified 2026-10-12: Standard $161.99 a month, Premium $313.99, Enterprise $464.99, or about $1,847, $3,579 and $5,301 a year on annual billing. Standard excludes billing and payments. SMS ($35 a month for 2,000 messages), the member app, QuickBooks sync ($500 setup) and data imports are paid extras, and onboarding is charged but not publicly priced. Shuls under 100 accounts can get Premium for $97.99 a month with email-only support.

Who owns ShulCloud?

ShulCloud is a Shulware brand alongside Mitzvah Tools, Congregation Connect and Kesef Accounting. News reporting in 2020 and 2021 identified Shulware as part of Togetherwork, a private-equity-backed software group; the vendor's own pages do not name the parent. ShulCloud was originally built by RustyBrick in New York and the footer shows Shulcloud, LLC.

Does ShulCloud Standard include billing?

No. The plans page labels Standard "without Financials" and the comparison page lists invoicing, batch billing, statements, reminder statements and online member payments as Premium features. Congregations that invoice dues should price Premium.

What are the alternatives to ShulCloud?

Temple Tools (flat $370 a month, free onboarding, a documented ShulCloud transition program), Easyshul ($349 a month over 150 families), ShulHub ($99 to $180 a month), Rakefet Online (built-in accounting) and ShalomCloud (from $36 a month by size) are the actively sold options with verified records. See the ShulCloud alternatives shortlist.

Can I export my data from ShulCloud?

The features page says data can be exported at any time. The terms give a ten-day window to request a download after termination for breach, so request a full export before giving notice and confirm what it contains.

Sources

• https://www.shulcloud.com/
• https://www.shulcloud.com/plans
• https://www.shulcloud.com/features
• https://www.shulcloud.com/compare
• https://www.shulcloud.com/about
• https://www.shulcloud.com/results
• https://www.shulcloud.com/pricing (404)
• https://www.shulcloud.com/faqs (404)
• https://shulware.com/
• https://shulware.com/website-terms
• https://hello.shulware.com/shulcloud-synagogue-management-software
• https://web-archive.nli.org.il/National_Library/mp_/https://www.shulcloud.com/faqs (via search snippet; direct fetch 403)
• https://www.capterra.ca/software/192763/shulcloud
• https://www.capterra.com/p/192763/ShulCloud/
• https://www.jta.org/?p=1699215
• https://templetools.com/pricing (competitor claims about ShulCloud)
• https://ujafedny.org/resources/information-for-synagogues/synergy-reports
• https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/?p=55530
• https://shulware.com/shulcloud
• https://shulware.com/services
• https://shulware.com/about-us
• https://shulware.com/blog/synagogue-management-software
• https://www.ujafedny.org/api/v2/assets/790731
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/comments/1es7kmu

Spotted an error? Vendors and users can request a correction; we re-verify and note the change.