Last reviewed:
COMPARISON
Altarflow vs Aplos: daily money workflow or nonprofit fund accounting?
Aplos is genuine nonprofit fund accounting built for a board and IRS Form 990 work. Altarflow prepares donor and fund matches from connected bank activity—especially when giving arrives as Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, cash, and checks—so a person can approve the record before the books close.
What is Altarflow?
Altarflow is a church finance platform that brings bank activity, Zelle and other giving, cash, checks, expenses, funds, approvals, and financial reports into one reviewed record. It prepares the work as money moves, while a trusted person keeps control.
The short answer
Choose Aplos when a board and a Form 990-shaped report sit at the center of your finance life. Choose Altarflow when giving arrives on five rails and nobody has reconciled it in three weeks.
Choose based on the job
Aplos fits churches and nonprofits that need true fund accounting, board-facing statements, and compliance paperwork shaped for Form 990. Altarflow fits churches of about 50–300 people—often Hispanic or bilingual—whose books still live in Excel or a shoebox, with no finance department and nobody filing a 990-shaped report to a board every month.
Bottom line
We are not a cheaper Aplos. Aplos gives you a ledger to record activity in. Altarflow works earlier: a Zelle or Cash App deposit lands as a lump or a memo line, and someone still has to decide which donor and which fund it belongs to. Altarflow prepares that match from connected bank activity; a trusted person approves it.
Altarflow vs Aplos
The meaningful differences
Compared using Aplos's public product documentation for fund accounting, church accounting, reporting, and Form 990 tagging. Last reviewed August 31, 2026.
| Altarflow | Aplos | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Daily church money workflow before the books close | True nonprofit fund accounting |
| Board and Form 990 work | Operating reports and fund visibility for lean teams | Board-facing fund statements plus Form 990 tagging and tools for Form 990-N and 990-EZ preparation |
| Zelle, Cash App, and other P2P deposits | Prepares donor and fund matches from connected bank activity for human approval | Bank import and reconciliation into the ledger; public docs do not describe automatic P2P donor matching |
| Mixed giving rails | Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, cash, and checks in one reviewed record | Online giving and donation tracking; offline and P2P gifts still need someone to assign donor and fund context |
| Who the system assumes | Pastor, volunteer treasurer, or small bilingual team without a finance department | Board, treasurer, or accountant stewarding restricted funds and compliance paperwork |
| Best operational fit | Churches stuck before the ledger: deposits without donor and fund identity | Organizations whose center of gravity is the ledger, the board, and the Form 990 |
Pricing
Capability and workflow, not a price card
This page compares the job each system performs. It does not list competitor dollar amounts or fee percentages. Altarflow pricing is a custom quote shaped to the church.
Altarflow
Custom quote
One plan shaped for your church after a workflow review—custom quote only.
- Connected bank activity and transaction review
- Zelle and mixed-giving donor and fund matching for approval
- Expenses, receipts, funds, and approvals
- Financial statements for lean church teams
- Guided onboarding in English or Spanish
Aplos
Quoted by Aplos
Aplos publishes its own pricing separately. Confirm current figures directly with Aplos.
- True fund accounting for restricted and unrestricted funds
- Balance Sheet and Income Statement by fund
- Form 990 tagging and tools for Form 990-N and 990-EZ preparation
- Bank transaction import and bank reconciliation
- Donation tracking, giving statements, and online giving
We do not publish Aplos list prices or processor rates here. Confirm current pricing directly with Aplos. Altarflow is custom-quote only.
Where they are stronger
Aplos is stronger when formal nonprofit accounting and compliance sit at the center of the work.
- True fund accounting built for nonprofits and churches
- Board-ready reports by fund
- Form 990 tagging and preparation support for Form 990-N and 990-EZ
- Bank import, reconciliation, checks, and 1099 tracking as described in their public docs
- Donation tracking and giving statements tied into the accounting record
If a board and a Form 990 are the center of your finance life, Aplos is a reasonable answer.
Decision guide
When the hard problem is before the ledger
Altarflow belongs where deposits still need a donor and a fund before anyone can honestly close the week.
Match the deposit before you post the books
A Zelle or Cash App credit often arrives as one lump or a thin memo. Altarflow prepares a donor and fund suggestion from connected bank activity so a person can approve it.
Serve the church without a finance department
Built for churches of about 50–300 people—often Hispanic or bilingual—where the pastor or a volunteer treasurer still runs the books from Excel or a shoebox.
Keep the ledger honest without pretending to be Aplos
Use Altarflow for the daily money workflow. Keep or choose Aplos when you need true fund accounting and Form 990-shaped board work.
Human approval stays in the loop
Altarflow prepares the match. A trusted person still decides what is recorded—the same pastoral control small churches already expect.
Common questions
Common questions
Related reading
Compare Altarflow
Close the week before you argue about the ledger.
We will map where Aplos already does real work and show where Altarflow removes the manual matching between the bank and the books.