Tool profile
Aplos: cost, fit and limits
Aplos is a fund accounting application made by Aplos Software, LLC that gives churches, nonprofits and associations a ledger with balance sheets and income statements by fund, bank reconciliation, bill workflows and an AI Bill Entry feature, sold on monthly plans.
What to know first
Aplos sells four plans, Lite at $79 a month, Core at $129, Advanced from $229 and a Custom tier, each described with a target organization size. Lite and Core include two users. Fund reporting starts on the cheapest plan, while budgeting by fund or grant waits for Advanced. A 15-day trial needs no credit card. The security page places hosting on AWS in the United States, and the AI Bill Entry description page was not opened.
Aplos at a glance
| Maker | Aplos Software, LLC, Not stated on the vendor pages |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | $79/month |
| API access | No |
| Category | Best AI Fund Accounting Software in 2026, rank 1 of 11 |
| Website | aplos.com |
Who Aplos is best for
Small organizations starting fund accounting
Lite already reports the balance sheet and income statement by fund, reconciles bank accounts and manages 1099s, so a congregation can leave spreadsheets without a sales call.
Growing teams that need payables and period close
Core adds accounts payable and receivable, recurring transactions, period close, roles and permissions, and third-party integrations, which matches an organization hiring its first bookkeeper.
Organizations with grants to budget
Advanced adds budgeting by fund or grant, by department or project, and dimensional reporting, aimed at organizations with at least 250K in annual revenue.
Aplos plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $79/month | Aimed at small organizations with basic needs; 2 users, balance sheet and income statement by fund, bank reconciliation, custom reports, board portal, 1099 management and unlimited customer support. |
| Core | $129/month | Adds basic budgeting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, recurring transactions, period close, third-party integrations, user roles and permissions to everything in Lite. |
| Advanced | From $229/month | Adds budgeting by fund or grant, budgeting by department or project, dimensional budgeting and dimensional reporting; the page targets organizations with 250K or more in annual revenue. |
| Custom | Custom quote | Tailored pricing for organizations with $1 million or more in revenue; may add income and expense allocations, fixed assets, bill approval and extra dimensions and users. |
Checked November 2026.
What Aplos does
- Reports by fund
- Balance sheet and income statement are produced by fund from the Lite plan upward, so restricted and unrestricted balances stay separated without a separate spreadsheet.
- AI Bill Entry
- Named in the site navigation and on the pricing page as a separate product. The vendor's description page was not opened, so the extraction method and accuracy are unverified.
- Bill approval and payables
- Accounts payable arrives on Core, and bill approval workflows appear in the Custom tier description, which lets a larger team route invoices before they post.
- Budgeting by fund, grant or project
- Basic budgeting starts on Core, while fund and grant budgets, department or project budgets and dimensional reporting belong to Advanced. Whether it applies to a pending purchase order or only to a finished bill, and what approval comes next, is unstated.
- Board portal and 1099 management
- Lite lists a board portal for sharing statements and 1099 management for vendor filings, two tasks small finance volunteers otherwise handle in separate tools. Reconciliation is on every plan, so even the two-user entry tier can match ledger lines to the bank.
How Aplos handles your data
The security page says Aplos hosts on Amazon Web Services in the United States and quotes the AWS data center certifications as SOC 2, PCI-DSS Level 1 and ISO 27001, which describe the data centers rather than Aplos itself. The vendor says it is fully PCI compliant for payments. The pages we read did not state whether customer data trains AI models, how long data is kept after cancellation, or any EU hosting option.
Where Aplos falls short in practice
- User caps on lower plans. Lite and Core include two users each, so a treasurer, bookkeeper and auditor sharing access would need a higher plan or a quote for more seats.
- Budgeting by grant is gated. Fund or grant budgeting and dimensional reporting sit in Advanced at $229 a month or more, so a charity with grant reporting duties cannot rely on the two cheapest plans.
Works with
Alternatives to Aplos
Aplos: common questions
Does Aplos offer a free trial?
Yes. The pricing page lists a 15-day free trial that needs no credit card. Fifteen days is short for a full month-end close, so load a real chart of accounts and run one reconciliation before the trial ends rather than testing with sample data.
How many users come with each Aplos plan?
Lite and Core each include two users on the pricing page. Advanced and Custom do not state a user count in the text we read, and the Custom description mentions additional users. Ask for the seat count in writing if a board treasurer and an outside accountant both need logins.
Which Aplos plan do I need to budget by grant?
Budgeting by fund or grant is listed under Advanced, which starts at $229 a month. Core offers basic budgeting only. An organization that reports against grant budgets should plan for Advanced, and one above $1 million in revenue is pointed to the Custom tier.
Where does Aplos host my data?
The security page states that Aplos is hosted on Amazon Web Services in the United States. No EU region or choice of region was stated on the pages we read, so an organization with residency rules should ask the vendor for its options in writing.
What is Aplos AI Bill Entry?
AI Bill Entry is named in the site navigation and in the Other Products section of the pricing page. We did not open its description page, so what it reads, which fields it fills and whether it carries a separate price are not confirmed here. Ask for a demonstration on your own invoices.