Board Manager vs. Boardable

Boardable and Board Manager are aimed at the same buyer, small nonprofits, and diverge on two things: what the software is for, and how it's priced. Boardable centers the meeting and charges per board member. Board Manager centers the roster and charges a flat rate.

Last verified . We link our sources at the bottom of this page.

At a glance

A tilde (~) means the capability exists but with real caveats. The note explains what they are.

CapabilityBoard ManagerBoardable
Roster and terms
Member roster with contact detailsBoardable profiles include role, title, pronouns, contact, and DEI fields.YesYes
Term start and end datesBoardable profiles have no term date field. Admin-defined custom fields can be marked as expiring, but no alerting is documented.YesNo
Alerts before a term expiresYesNo
Officer positions with their own term datesYesNo
Meetings and committees
Agenda builder and board packetsBoardable's core strength. Board Manager stores board documents but does not compile packets.PartialYes
AI-assisted minutesBoardable's Minutes Maker requires the Professional+ tier.NoYes
Secure voting and motion trackingNoYes
Built-in video conferencingBoardable Video requires Professional+. It is also the most frequent complaint in their reviews.NoYes
CommitteesYesYes
Meeting RSVPs and attendance per memberYesYes
Native iOS and Android appsNoYes
Compliance and onboarding
Conflict of interest signingBoardable Forms handles COI, annual disclosure, and board agreements with e-signature. Requires the Professional tier or above.YesYes
Per-member onboarding checklistsBoardable's own guidance is to build onboarding out of generic tasks with deadlines.YesNo
Recruitment
Board candidate pipeline with stagesBoardable's own recruitment guide tells you to assemble this from a committee, tasks, and document storage.YesNo
Public recommendation formYesNo
Skills and diversity matrix in the productBoardable has DEI profile fields and a custom data report, but no matrix or gap analysis.YesNo
Access and cost
Board members access without creating an accountBoardable's magic links only work for accounts that already exist, and signing up requires a password. Per-meeting Guests need no account but are capped by tier.YesPartial
Pricing published publiclyYesYes
Cost stays flat as your board growsBoardable charges per user. Board Manager charges per organization.YesNo
Free plan (not a trial)Boardable offers a 14-day trial with no credit card.YesNo

The honest take

These are different tools for different situations. Here is when each one is the right answer.

Pick Boardable if

  • The meeting is your bottleneck, covering agendas, packets, minutes, and voting
  • You want built-in video conferencing rather than a separate Zoom link
  • Native mobile apps matter to your board members
  • You have a small board where per-user pricing still works out affordable
  • You want an established nonprofit-specific vendor with a real review history

Pick Board Manager if

  • Your board is large enough that per-user pricing has become the problem
  • Term expiry is what actually catches you out
  • You are recruiting and want a pipeline and a skills matrix
  • You want board members to participate without ever creating a password
  • You want a free plan rather than a 14-day trial

What each one costs

Where a vendor does not publish pricing, we say so rather than guessing at a number.

Board Manager
$0 or $19 / month

Published pricing. No demo required, no card to start.

  • Starter: free forever, for boards up to 25 members and candidates
  • Engage: $19/month for unlimited members, compliance signing, and onboarding checklists
  • 500 emails/month on Starter, 2,500 on Engage
  • No setup fee, no annual commitment, no sales call
Boardable
$20.99–$35.99 / user / month

Priced per user, annual billing only. Volume pricing is available, so large boards may pay less per seat than list.

  • Essentials $20.99/user/mo; Professional $29.99; Professional+ $35.99
  • At list price, a 15-person board on Essentials is about $3,778/year
  • No free plan; 14-day trial with no credit card
  • Forms (conflict of interest) requires Professional or above
  • Optional paid onboarding packages exist; prices not published

Moving from Boardable

Most boards do this in an afternoon. Nothing is deleted on the other side, so you can keep it open while you check the data.

  1. 1Export your member list from Boardable.
  2. 2Import it at /members/import: names, emails, and roles come across in one pass.
  3. 3Add term start and end dates as you go, since Boardable won't have them to export.
  4. 4Rebuild your committee structure and assign members.
  5. 5Send your conflict of interest document once to establish a signing baseline.

Common questions

How much does Boardable actually cost for a typical board?

It depends on headcount, because Boardable charges per user. At list price, a 15-person board on the Essentials tier works out to roughly $3,778 a year. Boardable does offer volume pricing, so larger boards may pay less per seat than list, so you'd need to ask them for a real number. Board Manager is $228 a year regardless of board size.

Does Boardable track board member terms?

Not as a built-in field. Boardable member profiles cover role, title, contact, and demographic information, but there's no term start and end date field. Custom data fields can be flagged as expiring, though no automatic reminders are documented.

Can board members use Boardable without a password?

Partly, and it's worth being precise. Boardable supports magic-link login, but only for accounts that already exist, and creating the account requires setting a password. There's also a Guest mode that needs no account, but it's scoped to a single meeting and capped by tier. Board Manager board members never create an account at all.

Does Boardable handle conflict of interest forms?

Yes. Boardable Forms collects conflict of interest, annual disclosure, and board agreements with e-signature, tied to the right member's profile. It requires the Professional tier or above.

Can Boardable manage a board recruitment pipeline?

Not as a feature, and Boardable is upfront about this. Their own recruitment guide advises building it from a recruitment committee, task management, and resumes stored in the Document Center. Board Manager has an actual pipeline with stages and a public recommendation form.

Which is better for meetings?

Boardable, without question. Agenda building, board packets, voting, AI minutes, and built-in video are all things Board Manager doesn't do. Worth knowing that the built-in video is the single most common complaint in Boardable's own reviews.

Try it before you decide.

The free plan covers boards up to 25 people and is not a trial. Set up your roster, see whether it fits, and switch back if it doesn't.

Start free, no card needed

Sources

Claims about Boardable on this page were verified against the following, last checked September 2, 2026. Pricing and features change, so if you spot something out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.