Cardova review (2026)
Young cloud platform for shul community directory, memberships with automated renewals, fundraising, email, event ticketing and a community website, with a free tier and published per-month plans.
Quick facts
- Published price
- Starter plan ('Popular') $80/mo; Pro plan $160/mo
- Est. annual, 150 hh (billing tier)
- $864
- Est. annual, 400 hh (billing tier)
- $864
- Setup / onboarding
- None stated; 'free data transfer' on annual paid plans.
- Payment processing
- Pricing table shows 'Platform fees 0% to 5%' on all tiers; processor and card fees not stated.
- Target size
- small to large ('up to 100' free tier through unlimited Pro)
- Region
- unknown; USD pricing
- Company
- unknown (no address on site) · since unknown (domain registered 2023-01-19)
Score: 58.5/100
Jewish-specific workflows7.0/20
Membership, dues and money15.0/20
Communications and engagement10.0/15
School and events5.0/10
Data portability and migration5.5/10
Pricing transparency15/15
Independent customer evidence1/10
Computed by the published rubric from the feature evidence below. 70% of feature fields verified.
Documented strengths
- Free tier and transparent low pricing
- Modern directory with household and lifecycle modelling, Hebrew-calendar support
- Automation of renewals, receipts and reports
- Free data migration on annual plans
Documented limitations
- Very new vendor with no reviews, customer counts or published location
- No accounting, QuickBooks, school, seating, honors or cemetery features evidenced
- Platform fee of up to 5% on top of processor fees
- Boilerplate copy on pricing page suggests an early-stage site
Cardova pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annualized | Limit | Includes | Excludes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | — | — | up to 100 community members/contacts; 1 administrator | Essential features, basic reporting/analytics, basic chat and email support | data transfer, advanced reporting |
| Starter plan ('Popular') | $80 | $864 | up to 500 members/contacts; 2 administrators | $80/mo billed monthly or $72/mo billed annually ($864/yr); free data transfer to Cardova, advanced reporting/analytics, priority chat and email support | custom fields, audit log |
| Pro plan | $160 | $1,728 | unlimited members/contacts; 5 administrators | $160/mo billed monthly or $144/mo billed annually ($1,728/yr); advanced custom fields, audit log and data history, high-priority chat/email support |
Pricing model: tiered. Terms: Monthly or annual billing (annual 'save 10%'); no contract terms published.. annual_usd computed from the published per-month annual rate x12. Source: https://www.cardova.org/pricing, 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.
| Capability | Status | Notes and evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Membership & household records | Yes | Individual profiles, households/family units, lifecycle from prospect to alumni, community groups, member self-updates. source |
| Yahrzeit tracking & reminders | Partial | Directory page: tracks 'lifecycle events with native support for the Hebrew calendar'; yahrzeit lists/notices not described explicitly. source |
| Hebrew calendar integration | Yes | 'Native support for the Hebrew calendar' for lifecycle events. source |
| Dues, billing & receivables | Yes | Memberships with automated renewals, reminders, tiered access and reports; invoicing/AR ledger not described. source |
| Online payments | Yes | Donations, membership and ticket payments online; platform fee 0-5%. source |
| Donations, pledges & campaigns | Yes | One-time and recurring donations, dedicated funds, giving reports, campaigns; pledges not mentioned. source |
| General ledger / fund accounting | No | No accounting module described. source |
| QuickBooks integration | Not verified | Not mentioned. source |
| Religious school management | Not verified | Not mentioned. source |
| Events & registration | Yes | Events & ticketing with attendance and reporting. source |
| High Holiday seating | Not verified | Not mentioned. source |
| Honors, aliyot & gabbai tools | Not verified | Not mentioned. source |
| Cemetery management | Not verified | Not mentioned. source |
| Website / CMS | Yes | 'Community website' tooling. source |
| Email & newsletters | Yes | Communication hub: announcements, event updates, automated occasion messages. source |
| SMS / texting | Partial | Pricing table row 'Text individual community members' (plan-dependent); no bulk SMS described. source |
| Member self-service portal | Partial | Members can update their own profile and household information; full portal scope not described. source |
| Mobile app | Not verified | Not mentioned. source |
| API / data export | Partial | Pricing comparison table includes 'API' and 'Export' rows; details not published. source |
| Automation & workflows | Yes | Automatic receipts, renewal reminders, weekly reports; 'Automated workflows' row in plan table. source |
Migration
Assistance: Vendor performs the transfer.
Fees: Free data transfer with an annual paid subscription.
source
Support & security
Channels: email, text/chat, contact form, help centre. Hours: '5 days a week' (email and text). Training: not stated; 'book a meeting' onboarding. source
Security: No security/compliance page found.
What independent sources say
Individual experiences, not survey data. Review platforms are sparse in this niche; treat counts under 20 as anecdotes.
- Capterra / G2 / Software Advice / Reddit. No listings or reviews found as of 2026-10-12. source
- USCJ webinar listing (Sept 4, 2025). Promotional demo event; vendor framing only. source
Questions to ask Cardova before you sign
- Who runs Cardova and where
- How platform fees scale (0-5%) and which processor is used
- Whether yahrzeit notices, bulk SMS and an API are actually available
- Number of live congregations
Alternatives to Cardova
| Product | Published price | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easyshul | Standard (congregations with more than 150 families) $349/mo | 80.5/100 | compare |
| ShulCloud | Standard ('ShulCloud without Financials') $161.99/mo; Premium ('ShulCloud with Financials') $313.99/mo; Enterprise ('The Complete ShulCloud') $464.99/mo; Small-shul Premium rate (signup checkbox) $97.99/mo | 78.5/100 | compare |
| Rakefet Online | RakefetOnline-CRM Annual - NEW USERS (year 1) $149/mo; RakefetOnline-CRM Annual - EXISTING USERS $90/mo | 78.0/100 | compare |
| MyShul | Standard $179/mo; Premium $310/mo; Enterprise ('most popular') $460/mo | 75.0/100 | compare |
Sources
- https://www.cardova.org/
- https://www.cardova.org/pricing
- https://www.cardova.org/features/community-directory
- https://www.cardova.org/learn-more
- https://www.cardova.org/get-started
- https://uscj.org/ml-events/easyshul-and-cardova-demos-webinar
Spotted an error? Vendors and users can request a correction; we re-verify and note the change.