Volgistics is a real volunteer database, and it has been one for a long time. Hospitals, libraries, museums, county programs — organizations that report service hours, keep records for volunteers who left years ago, give eight staff members different levels of access, and check people in at a lobby kiosk. If that is the job, stay on it. VolunteerReminder is not that and is not trying to be.
The meter is volunteer records. 50 records is $9 a month, 100 is $18, 200 is $24, 500 is $30, 1,000 is $40. That count is non-archived records at any status — Applicant, Active, and Inactive all count against it — and there is no tier between 50 and 100, so the fifty-first volunteer costs another $9 a month. Archived records are billed separately and cheaply: the first 50 are free, then 100 is $1, 200 is $5, 500 is $8, 1,000 is $10. Two system operators are included, and each operator after that is $10 a month, up to 150. That is from their price list, fetched August 18, 2026, which still carries the line "Price list effective 07-15-2020. Prices subject to change with 30 days notice."
Their floor and our floor are both $9, and they are not the same $9. Volgistics' payment options page says service fees "start at just $9 a month," which is accurate — 50 records, two operators, no modules. Text messaging is not in that $9. Their help page is direct about it: "There is not a charge for the text messaging feature. However, it does require accounts to include the VicNet module." VicNet at the 50-record level is $3, so a 50-record account that wants text reminders is $12 a month. Their $9 is a record-count meter with modules on top. Ours is a plan.
What the modules do, and what the texts look like
VicNet is the volunteer portal. Volunteers sign in to see their schedule, update their information, and — the part that matters here — opt in to text messaging. Operators cannot opt anyone in, because volunteers may be charged by their carrier for each message they receive, so the opt-in path is a volunteer signing into VicNet or checking the box on a Volgistics application form. That is worth planning for before anyone promises the board that texting is turned on. VicTouch is the on-site kiosk, priced in the same dollars as VicNet ($3 at 50 records). VicDocs stores documents inside Volgistics, $2 at 50 records.
Texting itself is outgoing only. Messages leave Volgistics for an SMS gateway, and their help pages say the reply cannot be linked back to the account it came from, so a volunteer who texts back gets a not-delivered message. Custom texts get 110 of the 160 characters; carrier-required identification takes up to the other 50. Automatic daily and monthly schedule reminders exist and go out on their own, but the wording belongs to the system: "There is not a way to customize the content for automatic messages." For a daily reminder — date, times, assignment — 110 characters is usually enough. For anything with a door code, a parking note, or a name to text if you cannot make it, it is not.
Their price calculator describes VicNet as including "unlimited text messaging." That is their wording about their module, and it lines up with their help page: the texting feature carries no separate charge, and VicNet is the thing being paid for.
Deluxe and Pro
Deluxe is $9 a month (pricing). Up to 60 volunteers, scheduled shift reminders, two texts per shift. It is not a bulk-text plan and not a per-message credit pack. It reminds people about shifts that are already on the schedule. That is the whole product. Replies come back to us rather than bouncing, and YES/NO confirm is optional on Deluxe and Pro.
Pro is $19 for up to 150 volunteers, adds a third reminder, and adds a substitute finder: when someone drops, it texts a bench batch (default 8–10, configurable), the first YES takes the shift, then it moves to the next batch rather than the whole roster. Basic is $3 for email and calendar reminders to 40 volunteers. Every plan starts with a 30-day trial and no card.
Volunteers install nothing and sign into nothing. No portal, no app, no password — a text and an email. That is a feature in some rooms and a hole in others, so here is the hole: no volunteer database, no hours tracking, no archived records, no operator permission matrix, no kiosk, no document storage. Every one of those is on Volgistics' list and none of them is on ours.
So the split is not subtle. A hospital volunteer office, a library, or any mid-size program that reports service hours for a grant or a board, keeps records for years after someone stops serving, gives different staff different access, or checks volunteers in at a kiosk should stay on Volgistics — $12 to $40 a month is a fair price for a system of record, and there is no cheaper honest way to get one. A church, a food pantry, or a thrift store running the same weekly rotation with the same thirty people, where the only broken part is that somebody forgets Saturday, is paying for a records system to get one text sent. That one text is what we sell.
Start a free trial — 30 days, no card — or email info@volunteerreminder.com and we will say plainly whether this fits.