Which fits a nonprofit weighing Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud against CiviCRM
If your team already runs Salesforce or depends on its ecosystem, Nonprofit Cloud is usually the lower-friction choice. If you need contributions, memberships, events and CiviMail on infrastructure you control, CiviCRM is the better fit. Nonprofit Cloud suits organizations with existing Salesforce administrators, AppExchange integrations or partner relationships that would be costly to rebuild. Under the Power of Us program, an eligible nonprofit receives 10 Core licenses at no cost, so a small team may never pay for seats. Teams that have outgrown those 10 seats should price the next tier against their real headcount, using the per-user monthly figures on Salesforce's pricing page.
CiviCRM fits organizations that want donor, membership and event records to stay on their own servers, with no per-seat fee. Its core is AGPL-3.0 and the standard release is free to download and use, so recurring costs shift to hosting, a partner or in-house staff to run the host, and any extensions you need. Confirm which CiviCRM release your hosting platform supports, since Drupal 7 has reached end of support and CiviCRM 6.16 and later need MySQL or MariaDB, not PostgreSQL. Pick the CMS host (Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, Backdrop or standalone) before you pick a partner, because that choice drives upgrade effort.
The decision turns on four things: how many staff need a license, whether your team already has Salesforce skills, whether donor data must sit in a specific jurisdiction or on your own servers, and whether you have in-house or partner capacity to patch and back up a self-hosted CMS host. If the answers point mixed, for example a small Salesforce footprint with strict hosting rules, ask for a written scope that covers both options before committing to either renewal.
Which option fits which nonprofit scenario
Each row names a condition your organization may already meet and the option that usually fits it better. Read the rows as conditions to test against your own staffing, licensing and hosting rules, not as general verdicts on either product.
| Scenario | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Small team of 10 or fewer staff users who need core donor records | Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud (Power of Us Core licenses) | Power of Us provides 10 Core licenses at no cost to eligible nonprofits. Confirm eligibility and which features those Core licenses include before relying on them. |
| Staff count clearly above 10 users who need paid seats | CiviCRM | Past the free Core licenses, Nonprofit Cloud is billed per user per month at list prices from 70 US dollars (Salesforce pricing page). CiviCRM core is free to download and use, so the main costs become hosting, setup and administration. |
| Organization already runs Drupal 10 or later, Joomla 5 or later, or WordPress | CiviCRM on the existing CMS | CiviCRM supports these platforms, so it can sit beside the website and reuse its hosting and login environment. Check the CiviCRM download page for the exact supported versions before planning the install. |
| Organization runs Drupal 7 | Upgrade the CMS before choosing CiviCRM | The Drupal project has ended support for Drupal 7, and CiviCRM warns about this. Plan the CMS upgrade as a separate project with its own cost and testing. |
| Team with no Salesforce administrator and no budget for one | CiviCRM, if an in-house or partner administrator can be assigned | Both options need an administrator. Nonprofit Cloud's configuration typically relies on Salesforce-trained staff or partners, while CiviCRM's hosting and upgrades need a Linux and MySQL or MariaDB skill set. Confirm which skills you already have. |
| Donor data must stay on the organization's own servers | CiviCRM, self-hosted in your infrastructure | CiviCRM runs in infrastructure you control. Nonprofit Cloud is a Salesforce-hosted service, so residency and subprocessor terms must be reviewed in the contract instead. |
| Hosting requirement limited to PostgreSQL | Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, or another platform | CiviCRM 6.16 and later need MySQL 5.7.5 or later or MariaDB 10.2 or later. PostgreSQL is not compatible, so confirm your database standard before choosing it. |
| Organization needs a long-term stability track for production | CiviCRM Extended Security Release, or the standard monthly release with a tested upgrade plan | The standard release ships monthly and is free. The Extended Security Release is a slower, stability-focused version sold as a subscription from US$360 to US$1,440 a year, according to CiviCRM. Choose based on your change-management capacity. |
When Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud makes sense and when CiviCRM does
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud suits organizations that already run Salesforce, have admins who know its data model, and want vendor-managed hosting and support. Eligible nonprofits enrolled in the Power of Us program receive 10 Nonprofit Cloud Core licenses at no cost, with discounts available on additional licenses. Beyond those seats, Salesforce's pricing page lists Sales and Service Core at 70 US dollars, Advanced at 125 US dollars, and Max at 285 US dollars per user per month, billed annually.
- Free starting seats: The 10 Core licenses under Power of Us cover small teams, but any organization beyond that number pays per user from the first additional seat.
- Tier spread: The gap between Core and Max is large, so the tier you need for reporting or service features determines most of the recurring cost.
- Salesforce skills: Teams with certified admins and existing Apex or Flow assets can reuse them, which lowers retraining effort.
- Vendor-managed operations: Salesforce runs the platform, so your staff do not patch servers or manage database backups.
- Recurring cost model: Subscription fees continue for as long as you use the platform, and growth in seat count drives spend directly.
Before committing, ask Salesforce which features your target tier includes, how discounts beyond the free seats are calculated, and whether your eligibility under Power of Us continues year to year.
CiviCRM is open source constituent relationship management for non-profits, NGOs and advocacy organizations, and its core is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Standalone installation runs without a content management system, which suits organizations that want CRM functions without a website platform behind them. The current download is version 6.19.1, and the standard version is released monthly and is free to download and use.
- No per-seat fees: The software itself carries no license charge per user, so cost growth comes from hosting, administration and any paid services you add.
- Core nonprofit features: Contributions, memberships, events, CiviMail email, case management, contact management, reporting and peer-to-peer fundraising are part of the product.
- Monthly cadence: The standard release arrives monthly, which keeps features current but requires a regular upgrade routine.
- Stack requirements: CiviCRM 6.16 and later recommend PHP 8.3, 8.4 or 8.5 and need MySQL 5.7.5 or later or MariaDB 10.2 or later. PostgreSQL is not compatible.
- Ownership of hosting: Your team or a partner must handle servers, backups, security patches and upgrades.
Confirm that your staff or implementation partner can support a PHP and MySQL or MariaDB stack, and decide whether the monthly release or the slower Extended Security Release fits your change control.
CiviCRM also installs as a module inside Drupal, WordPress, Joomla and Backdrop. This suits organizations whose website already runs on one of these platforms and who want donation forms, event registration and member profiles to share the same login and content. The download page lists Backdrop, Drupal 10 and later, Joomla 5 and later and WordPress as supported hosts. Drupal 7 is also listed, but CiviCRM warns that the Drupal project has ended support for it.
- Shared web presence: Donation pages, event sign-ups and member areas can sit on the same site as your content.
- Platform dependency: Upgrades to CiviCRM must match the host platform's version requirements, so the two change on linked schedules.
- Drupal 7 risk: Sites still on Drupal 7 face an unsupported base, which is a reason to plan a migration before further investment.
- Admin skills: Your team needs both CMS and CiviCRM knowledge, which can increase support effort.
- Plugin and theme choices: Extensions for the host platform may affect CiviCRM behavior, so test them in staging first.
Check which host version your site runs, confirm it appears on the download page, and confirm with your developer that it can be upgraded alongside CiviCRM's monthly releases.
Organizations with experienced Salesforce staff face a real choice about how much of that knowledge carries over. Nonprofit Cloud keeps the same administrative model, so staff continue working in familiar tools. CiviCRM uses its own data model, reports and extensions, so people who know Salesforce will need retraining and a clear mapping of objects, fields and automations.
- Skill transfer: Salesforce-experienced admins can reuse process knowledge in Nonprofit Cloud but must learn CiviCRM's contact and contribution structures elsewhere.
- Custom build inventory: Heavy use of custom objects, Apex or managed packages favors staying on Salesforce unless those components can be rebuilt.
- Reporting expectations: If your board or funders rely on Salesforce dashboards, confirm what CiviCRM reporting can produce before migrating.
- Integration count: Each connected system needs a CiviCRM-side equivalent or a custom connector.
- Staff capacity: A migration pulls admins away from daily work, so plan for that time explicitly.
Before deciding, list your custom objects, automations and integrations, then ask a CiviCRM implementation partner which of them map directly and which need custom work.
CiviCRM suits organizations that have, or can contract, people comfortable operating a PHP and MySQL or MariaDB application. Self-hosting gives full control of donor and member records and avoids per-user subscriptions, but it moves patching, backups, monitoring and upgrades into your organization. The Extended Security Release, sold as a subscription priced by organization budget from US$360 to US$1,440 a year, offers a slower, stability-focused alternative to the monthly standard release.
- Hosting control: Donor data stays on infrastructure you choose, which can matter for privacy commitments and data residency.
- Release choice: The monthly standard release suits teams that can test and deploy often; the Extended Security Release suits teams that need slower change control.
- Database constraints: PostgreSQL is not compatible, so a PostgreSQL-only hosting standard will need an exception.
- Operational ownership: Someone must own backups, restore tests, TLS certificates and security updates.
- Recurring costs: Hosting, administration time and any Extended Security Release subscription continue each year.
Confirm which PHP and database versions your hosting team supports, whether your release policy needs the Extended Security Release, and who is responsible for upgrades.
How contributions, memberships, events and CiviMail compare
This table sets Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud against CiviCRM across the fundraising, membership, event, email and reporting work most nonprofits run. Read each row as a fit question: the Salesforce column covers what the commercial product is sold to do, while the CiviCRM column names the built-in feature and the points to confirm in a sandbox against your own gift processing, membership rules and mail volumes.
| Capability | Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud | Self-hosted CiviCRM |
|---|---|---|
| Contributions and gift processing | Sold as part of Sales and Service licenses at the listed Core, Advanced and Max tiers. Confirm which gift, pledge and soft-credit features your edition includes. | Built-in contributions module. Confirm recurring gift handling, payment processor connectors and receipt templates against your gateway. |
| Memberships | Membership handling depends on the Nonprofit Cloud configuration and any add-ons. Confirm renewal cycles, tiers and lapse rules in a sandbox. | Built-in memberships feature covering membership types, renewals and status changes. Confirm grace periods and auto-renewal behavior for your bylaws. |
| Events | Event management is available through the platform, with configuration and any third-party tools to be confirmed for registration, ticketing and check-in. | Built-in events feature with registration, participant records and fees. Confirm waitlists, check-in workflows and paid event payments. |
| Email marketing | Email runs through Salesforce email tools and connected marketing products, which are licensed separately. Confirm what is included and what needs an add-on. | CiviMail is built in and sends from your own mail infrastructure. Confirm deliverability setup, bounce handling and volume limits with your mail provider. |
| Case management | Case management is part of the Service side of the platform. Confirm whether your Core licenses cover the case features you need. | Built-in case management for tracking constituent issues. Confirm the workflow depth you need, since it is simpler than dedicated service desks. |
| Contact management | Contact and household records are standard CRM objects. Confirm how household and relationship models map to your data. | Core contact management with households, relationships and custom fields. Confirm duplicate detection and merge rules with a test import. |
| Reporting | Reports and dashboards are part of the platform. Confirm which report types and grant-reporting templates your edition provides. | Built-in reporting plus extensible report templates. Confirm that the reports your funders require can be produced without custom development. |
| Peer-to-peer fundraising | Peer-to-peer campaigns usually depend on a separate product or a partner integration. Confirm availability and cost for your configuration. | Peer-to-peer fundraising is listed as a CiviCRM feature. Confirm the specific pages, extensions and payment flows you plan to use. |
| Ecosystem and AppExchange | Large AppExchange catalog of commercial and nonprofit apps. Confirm each app's licensing and whether it runs on your edition. | Extensions are community and vendor-built, and the CiviCRM site on Drupal, WordPress or standalone hosts the modules. Confirm extension support and maintenance before you depend on one. |
Where donor data lives and who controls the hosting
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud keeps donor records in a vendor-run cloud, while CiviCRM places them on infrastructure you choose. The cards below cover where the data sits, which license governs the code, how sign-in and privacy duties apply, and who carries backup and patching work under each model.
Salesforce-hosted donor data
Nonprofit Cloud runs as a multi-tenant service operated by Salesforce, so donor records, gift histories and communications sit in Salesforce-managed environments. Your team controls access through roles and permission sets, not the server itself. Ask Salesforce which regional hosting options apply to your organization, where backups are kept, and how data is returned if you leave.
Self-hosted CiviCRM infrastructure
CiviCRM runs on a server you control, either in your own data center, a cloud account you own, or with a hosting provider under contract with you. Donor data stays where you place it, which simplifies answering questions about physical location. Confirm the provider's data center locations, admin access, and whether the provider holds a copy of your database.
AGPL-3.0 license for CiviCRM core
CiviCRM core is licensed under AGPL-3.0, which allows you to use, modify and host it without per-seat fees. The license's network clause matters if you modify CiviCRM and make it available to users over a network, because those changes may need to be shared. Have counsel confirm how this applies to any custom extensions you commission.
Sign-in and single sign-on choices
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud offers its own identity features and integrations with enterprise identity providers under its licensing. CiviCRM runs on Drupal, WordPress or standalone, and each host platform has its own login options. Confirm which single sign-on methods your chosen CMS supports with CiviCRM, how staff accounts are provisioned and removed, and how multi-factor sign-in is enforced.
Donor privacy and residency duties
Donor data often includes financial details, health-related program information and minors' data, so privacy obligations apply whichever platform you choose. Under self-hosting, you must document where data is stored, who can access it, and how deletion requests are fulfilled across backups. Ask Salesforce for its subprocessor list and data processing terms, and confirm internally which privacy laws apply to your donors.
Backup and patch responsibility
With Salesforce, the vendor operates the platform, applies platform updates and manages infrastructure backups, while your team manages configuration and data exports. With CiviCRM, your team or your provider owns the CMS, PHP, database and CiviCRM upgrades, plus backup testing and restore drills. Put patch cadence, backup frequency and restore responsibilities into the written scope before go-live.
What happens to cost past the 10 free Salesforce seats
The 10 free Core licenses from Power of Us cover only the first ten seats, so recurring cost starts with the seat that falls outside that allowance. Salesforce's Nonprofit Cloud pricing page lists Sales and Service Core at 70 US dollars, Advanced at 125 dollars, and Max at 285 dollars per user per month, billed annually. Each additional seat is charged at the tier you choose, and discounts on extra licenses change the effective rate. Before you model a budget, confirm with Salesforce which discount applies to your organization, whether the free licenses can be split across Sales and Service, and whether the 10 licenses are a one-time grant or renew each year. Ask for these answers in writing, since they determine the multiplier on every later seat.
Seat count and tier choice drive the recurring line, and they compound. A staff of 25 users on Core would pay for 15 seats, while moving the same 15 seats to Advanced or Max raises the per-seat figure by a wide margin. Map each role to a tier before you buy, because fundraising staff who only log gifts and events may not need the features that justify a higher tier. Add-ons, data storage and implementation partner fees are separate from these list rates, so request a quote that itemizes them rather than relying on the per-user figure alone. Treat the ten free seats as a starting point, not a permanent exemption.
CiviCRM removes the per-seat line entirely. The software is free to download and use, and its contributions, memberships, events and CiviMail features sit in the core release. Cost shifts to hosting on a server or cloud account you control, the database and PHP stack, implementation and data migration, and staff or partner time for administration and upgrades. If you want a longer-term stability cycle, the optional Extended Security Release is a subscription priced by organization budget, from US$360 to US$1,440 a year, according to the CiviCRM Extended Security Release page. Compare that range against your Salesforce seat count, and confirm current ESR pricing directly with CiviCRM before you commit.
Cost components on each side and what drives them
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud and CiviCRM cost money in different places. One side bills per user and the other bills mainly for hosting, setup and people, so the comparison depends on seat count, eligibility and how much of the work your team absorbs.
Salesforce licenses and free seat eligibility
Salesforce bills recurring per-user subscriptions, and the Power of Us program provides 10 Nonprofit Cloud Core licenses at no cost to eligible nonprofits. Confirm with Salesforce whether your organization qualifies and which edition the free licenses cover, since Core is priced below the Advanced and Max tiers. Every seat beyond the free allocation is a recurring line item that scales with headcount and volunteer access.
Salesforce add-ons and discounts
Discounts on licenses beyond the free allocation and any add-on products are negotiated and recurring, so they belong in a multi-year model. Ask for the discount on each tier in writing, the renewal uplift, and whether add-ons such as extra storage or advanced features are billed separately. Requests for discounts are a procurement item, and the final figure is only known from a quote.
CiviCRM software and extensions
The core CiviCRM software is free to download and use under AGPL-3.0, and the standard release arrives monthly. Costs come from extensions you choose to install, which may be free or paid from third-party developers, and from any custom work. Check each extension's license and maintenance status before you rely on it for contributions, memberships or CiviMail.
Hosting and the CMS host
Recurring hosting covers a server or cloud account, backups and a CMS such as Drupal, WordPress or Backdrop, plus PHP and MySQL or MariaDB. CiviCRM does not run on PostgreSQL, so budget for the database engine your host supports. Your hosting provider or internal IT team is paid, and costs rise with donor record volume, mail sending and availability requirements.
Implementation, migration and configuration
Setting up contributions, memberships, events, CiviMail and custom fields is one-time work done by an internal team or an implementation partner under a written scope. Migrating donor history from Salesforce adds field mapping, deduplication and reconciliation effort. Ask for fixed deliverables and a clear list of what is excluded, such as custom reports or payment gateway integration.
Support, ESR subscription and internal admin time
Salesforce support is bundled into the subscription, while CiviCRM support comes from the community, a commercial partner, or an Extended Security Release subscription. The ESR is a six-monthly, stability-focused release priced by organization budget, so confirm its current price with CiviCRM before comparing. Internal admin time for upgrades, backups, user management and extension testing is recurring and usually the largest hidden cost on the self-hosted side.
What a move from Nonprofit Cloud to CiviCRM involves
The sequence moves donor, gift, membership and event history into CiviCRM without losing constituent records, and ends with the Salesforce licenses retired on a planned date rather than a rushed one.
Scope the data model and reports
Your fundraising lead and an administrator list which Nonprofit Cloud objects matter: accounts and households, contacts, gifts or donations, memberships, campaigns, events, attendance and the reports staff run each month. Map each to a CiviCRM concept such as contacts, contributions, memberships, events and custom fields, and note any Salesforce automation (flows, approval steps, scheduled jobs) that must be rebuilt. Done means a signed-off mapping sheet that the finance and development teams both accept.
Export contacts, gifts, memberships and events
An administrator extracts records using the Data Export Service, which delivers CSV files in a compressed archive on a weekly cadence in Enterprise, Performance and Unlimited editions and every 29 days in Professional and Developer editions. For scripted, repeatable extracts that you can rerun before cutover, use Data Loader, a separately installed client that runs from a graphical interface or the command line. Confirm with your Salesforce admin which edition you hold, because the cadence determines how far in advance you need to start. Done means row counts per object match Salesforce reports and each file has been opened and spot-checked.
Choose the CMS host and PHP version
Decide whether CiviCRM runs standalone or inside Drupal, WordPress, Backdrop or Joomla, based on the websites and donation pages you already operate. CiviCRM 6.16 and later recommend PHP 8.3, 8.4 or 8.5 and require MySQL 5.7.5 or later or MariaDB 10.2 or later, and PostgreSQL is not compatible. Avoid Drupal 7 for a new build because the Drupal project has ended support for it. Your developer confirms the hosting stack in your own cloud account or data center. Done means a documented environment that passes the CiviCRM requirements check on a test server.
Map custom fields and event types
Recreate Nonprofit Cloud custom fields as CiviCRM custom field groups, and translate fund designations, campaign codes, membership levels and event types into the CiviCRM option lists and financial types your bookkeeping relies on. Confirm how recurring gifts, soft credits and pledges were modeled in Salesforce, because they need explicit handling on import. Done means every field in the mapping sheet exists in the test instance with a matching data type and a named owner.
Import data into a test instance
Load the exported files into a staging CiviCRM with a deduplication rule set agreed by your data steward, then import contributions and memberships after their contacts so the relationships resolve. Keep a log of rejected rows and why they were rejected. Done means an import report that accounts for every source row, with each rejected or merged record reviewed and either corrected or accepted in writing.
Rebuild CiviMail templates and donation pages
Recreate your recurring appeals, thank-you messages and receipts as CiviMail templates, and rebuild donation and event registration pages on the chosen CMS. Test the payment processor connection in a sandbox with your finance team, and confirm that receipts, tax acknowledgments and unsubscribe handling match your current wording. Done means each template and form has been sent or submitted in test mode and the outputs have been approved by the communications and finance leads.
Run parallel testing with a sample donor set
Select a representative sample of donors, including recurring givers, lapsed members, multi-household contacts and event attendees with several registrations. Enter a month of normal activity in both systems, then compare balances, membership statuses, event counts and report totals line by line. Done means the sample reconciles with no unexplained differences, and staff have completed a documented walkthrough of their daily tasks in CiviCRM.
Cut over and retire Salesforce licenses
Freeze Salesforce edits, run a final export, load the delta into production CiviCRM, and switch donation pages and email sending to the new system. Keep the Salesforce org read-only for an agreed period so that staff can look up history. Retire the Nonprofit Cloud licenses on the renewal date in your contract, after confirming with Salesforce whether any Power of Us allocation or discounted seats change when you remove users. Done means a signed cutover record, an archived export and a written retirement notice to the vendor.
Which CMS host and database versions to confirm before choosing
Before you choose a hosting model for CiviCRM, confirm that your web platform and database meet the current requirements. The current standard download is CiviCRM 6.19.1, and it runs standalone or on Backdrop, Drupal 10 and later, Drupal 7, Joomla 5 and later, or WordPress. Those options are not interchangeable in practice, so the CMS choice should be settled before you size servers or sign a implementation scope. If your organization already runs a Drupal or WordPress site for donations or events, check whether that site can carry the CiviCRM version you intend to deploy.
The most urgent check is Drupal 7. CiviCRM warns that the Drupal project has ended support for Drupal 7, so a new deployment on that base carries a long-term security risk and needs a funded upgrade path. For CiviCRM 6.16 and later, the documented requirements call for PHP 8.3, 8.4 or 8.5, and for MySQL 5.7.5 or later or MariaDB 10.2 or later. PostgreSQL is not compatible. If your hosting provider or internal standard is PostgreSQL, that is a decision to surface now, because it affects the database team, backup tooling and any existing reporting connections.
Confirm these versions against the CiviCRM requirements page before procurement, and ask the implementation partner to certify them in the written scope. Check the PHP and database versions on the staging host, not only the production plan, and confirm that the CMS version, CiviCRM release and extensions you need all support the same stack. Record the result in the architecture document, since an unsupported component found after contract signature usually changes the timeline and the hosting bill.
Questions nonprofits ask before choosing CiviCRM over Nonprofit Cloud
Do the 10 free Nonprofit Cloud Core licenses cover my whole team?
They cover your team only if the people who need a license fit within 10 Core seats. Salesforce's Power of Us program gives an eligible nonprofit 10 Core licenses at no cost, and discounts apply to additional licenses. Count every user who logs in to enter gifts, manage members, run events or send mail, not just the fundraising staff. Then check which Core, Advanced or Max tier each role needs, because the list prices on Salesforce's pricing page rise from Core to Advanced to Max. Confirm eligibility and the current discount terms with Salesforce before you plan around them, since the free seats do not change the cost of any seat above 10.
What does CiviCRM cost in hiring or partner time?
CiviCRM's standard version is free to download and use, so the cost sits in people and hosting. The main components are a hosting environment, an administrator who maintains the site and upgrades, a developer for custom forms or integrations, and a partner if you hire one to plan, migrate and train. Your costs rise with the number of custom fields, payment gateways, membership rules and integrations with your website or accounting system. Ask any partner for a fixed-scope written quote that lists the migration, configuration, training and first-year support separately, and ask who pays for the upgrades after go-live. Compare that quote against your current Nonprofit Cloud licenses over several years, not one.
How long does a CiviCRM migration usually take?
The duration depends mostly on data quality, the number of custom objects and how many processes you rebuild. Contacts, contributions, memberships and events each need a clean mapping, and duplicate contacts take the most time to resolve. Other drivers are the number of payment processors, whether you migrate email history and whether your website forms need new connections. Start with a data inventory and a written scope so the timeline reflects your actual records. Ask for milestones for data mapping, a test import, parallel running and cutover, and confirm that your own staff hours for review are included in the plan.
Can a non-technical administrator run CiviCRM alone?
A non-technical administrator can handle day-to-day work such as adding contacts, recording contributions, managing memberships, running events and sending CiviMail campaigns, once the system is configured. Routine tasks like these do not require code. Ongoing work that usually needs a technical person includes installing upgrades, managing the CMS and PHP environment, handling backups and restores, and troubleshooting email delivery or payment gateway errors. Plan for a named technical owner, either an in-house staff member or a support arrangement, and make sure at least two people can perform the admin tasks. Confirm the training scope in your written proposal.
What does my staff need to contribute during the project?
Your staff must provide decisions and data knowledge, which are the parts a vendor cannot supply alone. Expect to name a project owner, supply exports from your current system, confirm which records are authoritative, and sign off on field mappings, membership rules and reporting needs. Staff who run gift processing, events and membership renewals should test their normal workflows before go-live. Ask the provider to list each review point in the scope so your team knows how many hours to reserve. Without these inputs, the project will stall at the first mapping decision.
Does CiviCRM run on WordPress or standalone?
Yes. CiviCRM's current download is available standalone and as a plugin or module for Backdrop, Drupal 10 and later, Drupal 7, Joomla 5 and later, and WordPress. Choose the option that matches the website you already run, because the CMS shapes the hosting, the update process and the staff skills you need. Standalone gives you the most control over the stack, while WordPress suits organizations that already manage a WordPress site. Drupal 7 is a risk, since CiviCRM warns that the Drupal project has ended support for it. Confirm the PHP and database versions for your chosen option against the CiviCRM requirements before you pick hosting.
Is the Extended Security Release subscription required?
No. The standard CiviCRM version is released monthly and is free to download and use. The Extended Security Release is a slightly older, stability-focused version released every six months, sold as a subscription priced by organization budget from US$360 to US$1,440 a year. Choose it if your change control favors fewer, slower upgrades and you want a supported release cycle for a long-running site. If you can apply monthly updates through your own testing process or a support arrangement, the standard version may suit you. Decide this with your administrator, and check the current terms on CiviCRM's Extended Security Release page before budgeting.
Which database does CiviCRM need to run?
CiviCRM 6.16 and later need MySQL 5.7.5 or later, or MariaDB 10.2 or later, and they recommend PHP 8.3, 8.4 or 8.5. PostgreSQL is not compatible, so an existing PostgreSQL-only environment cannot host CiviCRM without a separate database server. Check these requirements before you size hosting, because the database and PHP versions limit which CMS options and server images you can use. Confirm them against the current installation requirements page for the version you plan to deploy.
How DeployOpen helps nonprofits evaluate and move to CiviCRM
DeployOpen is a Chainscore Labs company that plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure, including cloud accounts, data centers and air-gapped networks. For nonprofits weighing Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud against CiviCRM, we can run a fixed-scope evaluation that tests the decision against your own records: contributions, memberships, events, CiviMail and the reports your board and funders actually request. The scope, deliverables and timeline are agreed in writing before work starts, and a quote follows from that written scope.
Migration and configuration work typically covers the Drupal, WordPress or standalone hosting choice, the database engine (CiviCRM requires MySQL or MariaDB, not PostgreSQL), contact deduplication, custom fields, contribution and membership types, payment processor setup and the CiviMail sending domain. Ask for a written inventory of your Salesforce objects, flows and integrations before estimating effort, and confirm which Drupal version and PHP version your chosen CiviCRM release supports. Where your team has Drupal 7 sites, plan that upgrade as a separate decision because Drupal 7 support has ended.
Ongoing support, upgrades and security testing are available as retainers, which suit organizations that want someone accountable for monthly CiviCRM releases or for the Extended Security Release subscription. DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, but we do not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications; independent auditors and certification bodies do that work. Confirm with your auditor or funder which evidence they expect before the cutover date is set.
