We build VolunteerReminder, so this page is not written by a neutral party and there is no point pretending otherwise. What we can do is put every SignUpGenius number next to the page it came from, keep our own claims narrow enough to check, and say plainly further down who should stay where they are. Every figure below was fetched from primary sources on August 18, 2026.
Start with the thing that decides most of this. These two products do not do the same job. SignUpGenius is a signup sheet: an organizer posts a page with slots on it — nursery Sundays, a meal train, fourteen carnival stations, a Thanksgiving basket drive where sixty families each claim a dish — and people claim them, with payments, waivers, themes, and a public event page attached. VolunteerReminder is a reminder service for a roster that already exists: a coordinator enters the rotation once, and we text and email the people on it before their shifts. We do not build the schedule and we do not host a page for strangers to sign up on. Nobody "migrates" from one to the other in the strict sense, because the two products solve consecutive problems rather than the same one.
So the real question is not which is better. It is which half of the work is currently broken. If the problem is that you cannot get names onto a page, SignUpGenius is the answer and this page ends here. If the problem is that the names are already on the page and half of them forget, keep reading.
One more thing to get out of the way before the pricing, because it is the strongest argument against us on this entire page: SignUpGenius has a real free plan and we have none. Their free tier carries unlimited sign up pages, automatic confirmation and reminder emails, and 1,000 email messages a month (signupgenius.com/pricing), plus 400-plus themes, with no expiration and no credit card — their own help center puts it as "Yes, SignUpGenius is free" (support.signupgenius.com). Our plans start at $3 a month. We charge from the first dollar and show volunteers no ads at any price, which is a trade, not a win — and $0 is a legitimate budget.
Where each one hurts on volunteer texting
SignUpGenius meters messages, and the entry allowance is 150 a month. Their pricing page lists Silver at $8.99 a month billed annually — $107.89 charged up front — or $11.99 month to month; Gold at $22.49 billed annually ($269.89) or $29.99 monthly; and Platinum at $44.99 billed annually ($539.89) or $59.99 monthly. The comparison row labeled "Text invites/group updates" reads 150 a month on Silver, 500 on Gold, 1,500 on Platinum, and none at all on the free plan. Their own tooltip on that row tells you how to read it: "Choose a subscription level based on the total number of messages needed per month."
Run a normal rotation against 150. Forty volunteers across nursery, ushers, AV, and coffee, each serving about twice a month, with two reminders per serve, is 160 messages a month — past Silver's allowance before the month is out, with nobody having sent a schedule change yet. If those same forty serve weekly, it is roughly 320 a month, which needs Gold at $22.49. Email is metered on the same page, at 1,000 messages a month free, 2,500 on Silver, 10,000 on Gold, and 20,000 on Platinum, and that number matters more than it looks like it should, for a reason two paragraphs down.
One caution on that arithmetic, because being exact matters more than being dramatic: the metered row is labeled "text invites/group updates," which is organizer-composed messaging, and SignUpGenius does not publish whether a participant's own text reminders draw from the same pool. There is a hint that they are separate channels — their opt-back-in article says that if you opted out of "both reminder and organizer text messages, you'll need to re-opt in separately for each" (support.signupgenius.com) — but a separate opt-in is not a published separate allowance. Get it answered in writing before buying a tier on the strength of the number.
A SignUpGenius text only lands if the volunteer opted themselves in. The route is that the participant logs into a SignUpGenius account, opens Settings, goes to the Notifications tab, scrolls to the Reminders section, and checks Text reminders, under a note reading "Reminders, if enabled by the sign up creator, will be sent based on the following settings" (support.signupgenius.com). For organizer-sent messages the fallback is quiet rather than loud: "If a participant hasn't opted in to receive texts, the message will be emailed to them instead," and the emailed version drops the STOP/HELP language (support.signupgenius.com). That is the sentence that ties the email meter to the text meter — the messages that fail to send as texts do not fail, they become emails, and the emails are metered too. Texts are one-way, STOP and HELP language is appended automatically, and a volunteer who replies gets an auto-response beginning "Do not reply."
The sharpest limit for anyone shopping specifically for reminders is not the meter at all. Automatic reminders on SignUpGenius are tied to the sign up's format: "Automatic reminders are offered only with date-specific formats. If your sign up is using the Slots Only format, automatic reminders will not be available" (support.signupgenius.com). Customizing what those reminders say is a paid feature — the "Custom reminders/confirmations" row on their pricing page is excluded on free — and the same help article is candid about email deliverability: they have no control over recipients' spam settings, and their fix is asking volunteers to add info@signupgenius.com to their contacts.
Then the ads, which are the other meter. SignUpGenius's advertising row does not read yes or no — it reads 1 ad-free sign up on Silver and 10 on Gold, with only Platinum clearing ads off everything, and their own note explains that as one sign up ends, "you can re-apply the ad removal feature to a different sign up." A church running nursery, greeters, and a pantry shift on three separate pages buys ads off one of the three for $8.99.
Where we hurt is narrower and easier to state, because the product is narrower. Deluxe is $9 a month and covers up to 60 volunteers with scheduled shift reminders, two texts per shift. That is a shape, not an allowance: the volume is shift slots times reminders per shift, so it does not run out mid-month, and it also cannot be pointed at anything else. It is not a bulk-text plan and not a per-message credit pack. If the job is telling four hundred people at nine at night that Sunday is canceled, that is mass texting and we are the wrong tool — a real SMS product is the honest answer.
The version of that limit people actually hit is the plan ladder. Basic is $3 for up to 40 volunteers with email and calendar reminders only, so a 40-volunteer roster that wants texting does not pay $3, it pays $9 for Deluxe — and Deluxe's own ceiling is 60 volunteers, which a mid-sized rotation clears. Pro is $19 for up to 150 volunteers, a third reminder per shift, and the substitute finder: when someone drops, it texts a batch of the bench, default 8 to 10 people, and the first YES takes the shift before it moves to the next batch rather than the whole roster. Annual billing is $33, $90, and $190, every plan starts with a 30-day trial and no card, and volunteers install nothing and log into nothing.
The matrix, and what 40 volunteers costs
The two products as they are published today. The point of the table is how few rows are a genuine head-to-head:
| SignUpGenius | VolunteerReminder | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A signup sheet — post a public page with slots, people claim them; payments, waivers, fundraisers, tickets, and event pages attached | A reminder service — enter a recurring rotation once, and we text, email, and calendar-invite the roster before each shift |
| Who builds the schedule | Volunteers, by claiming slots on a page you publish | A coordinator, before we do anything; we do not build it |
| Free plan | Unlimited sign up pages, automatic confirmation and reminder emails, 1,000 email messages a month, 400+ themes, no expiration, no card; ads shown, no texts | None. Plans start at $3 a month, with a 30-day trial and no card |
| Paid price | Silver $8.99 a month billed annually ($107.89) or $11.99 monthly; Gold $22.49 ($269.89) or $29.99; Platinum $44.99 ($539.89) or $59.99 | Basic $3, Deluxe $9, Pro $19 a month; $33 / $90 / $190 annually |
| Priced by | Features, message allowances, and ad-free sign ups | Volunteers on the roster — 40 / 60 / 150 |
| Automatic reminders | Emails on date-specific sign ups; not available on the Slots Only format. Customizing the wording is paid-only | The whole product. 1 reminder per shift on Basic, 2 on Deluxe, 3 on Pro |
| Text reminders | Paid tiers only, and only to participants who opted themselves in | Deluxe and Pro. Scheduled shift reminders, two per shift on Deluxe and three on Pro — not a bulk-text plan and not a credit pack |
| Text volume | Metered by tier: 150 / 500 / 1,500 "text invites/group updates" a month; none on free | Shift slots × reminders per shift. No monthly allowance to spend down, and no charge for a reply |
| Text opt-in | The participant enables text reminders in their own SignUpGenius account settings; un-opted-in recipients get the message as email instead | The coordinator supplies mobile numbers; volunteers get STOP handling and never create an account |
| Replies | One-way; a reply gets an auto-response beginning "Do not reply" | One-way for ordinary reminders. On Pro, the substitute finder reads a YES from the bench batch it texted |
| When somebody drops | Re-open the slot on the sign up and message the group; there is no automated backfill | Pro texts a batch of the bench, default 8–10, first YES takes the shift, then the next batch |
| Public sign-up page | Yes — hosted, themed, shareable, the core of the product | No hosted event page. Deluxe and Pro can embed a widget on your own site showing which dates still need somebody |
| Collecting money | Yes — 3.95% + $0.95 per card transaction, 1.95% (minimum $1.00) per eCheck | No. Not at all, on any plan |
| Ads | Ad-supported free plan; ad removal bundled by tier — 1 sign up on Silver, 10 on Gold, everything on Platinum, re-usable as sign ups end | None on any plan at any price |
| Volunteer hours reports | Yes, on Gold and above | No |
| What volunteers install | Nothing, but a text reminder requires a SignUpGenius account and an opt-in | Nothing, and no account either |
| Trial | Free plan with no expiration and no card | 30 days, no card |
Sources: signupgenius.com/pricing, support.signupgenius.com, support.signupgenius.com, and our own pricing page, all as published on August 18, 2026.
SignUpGenius does not price by volunteer count and we do, so the only fair way to line them up is to fix the roster. Forty volunteers, reminded twice per serve:
| Setup | Monthly cost at 40 volunteers | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| SignUpGenius free | $0 | Unlimited sign up pages, automatic reminder emails on date-specific sign ups, 1,000 emails a month, 400+ themes; ads on every page, no texts, no custom reminder wording |
| VolunteerReminder Basic | $3 | 40 volunteers — exactly the cap — email and calendar reminders, one per shift; no texting |
| SignUpGenius Silver | $8.99 billed annually ($107.89 up front), or $11.99 monthly | 150 text invites/updates and 2,500 emails a month — short of the 160 this roster needs — plus ads removed from one sign up at a time |
| VolunteerReminder Deluxe | $9 | Up to 60 volunteers, scheduled shift reminders by text and email, two per shift |
| SignUpGenius Gold | $22.49 billed annually ($269.89 up front), or $29.99 monthly | 500 text invites/updates, 10,000 emails, ads off up to 10 sign ups, 10 administrators, volunteer hours reports |
| SignUpGenius Platinum | $44.99 billed annually ($539.89 up front), or $59.99 monthly | 1,500 text invites/updates, 20,000 emails, ads off everything, 20 administrators, custom URLs |
| WhenToHelp | $54 | The 31–60 helper band; a real scheduler with email and text notifications inside the band price, no published per-message rate or cap |
Four footnotes, so the table is not read as more than it is. The 160-message figure is our arithmetic on a stated roster — forty volunteers, two serves each a month, two reminders per serve — not a claim of theirs; the same forty serving weekly is about 320 a month, which puts Gold in play on volume alone. Our $3 row is a trap worth naming out loud: Basic tops out at exactly 40 volunteers and does not text at all, so a 40-volunteer roster that wants texting is a $9 decision, not a $3 one. The SignUpGenius rows buy a public sheet, payments, themes, and an event page, none of which we sell at any price — they are cheap for what they are. And WhenToHelp is on the table because it is the honest answer for anyone who needs the schedule *built* rather than remembered, and because it prices a 40-volunteer roster as 40 volunteers.
Who should stay on SignUpGenius, and where we fit
Stay on SignUpGenius if what you need is the sheet. A carnival with fourteen stations, a Thanksgiving basket drive where sixty families each claim a dish, a meal train, an auction, a parent-teacher conference schedule, a field trip — slot-style sign-ups with many kinds of slots are its home turf, and it is better at them than we are because we do not build them at all. Stay if the work is episodic rather than a rotation: a different set of people every time, recruited from a link in a bulletin, is exactly the case a public sheet was designed for and exactly the case a roster-based reminder service is worst at.
Stay if money changes hands on the sign up. Collecting for tickets, dues, supplies, or a fundraiser at the same place people claim their slot is a real feature, and their published rates are 3.95% + $0.95 per card transaction and 1.95% with a $1.00 minimum per eCheck. We do not collect payments on any plan, so there is nothing to compare — if the sign up has to take money, this is not a close call.
Stay if $0 is the budget. Their free plan has no expiration and no card, and it includes automatic confirmation and reminder emails on date-specific sign ups. Ads on volunteers' screens are the cost, and for plenty of communities that is a perfectly reasonable trade. We have no free tier and we are not going to argue someone out of a working free tool into a $9 bill.
Stay if you need the reporting or the seats. Volunteer hours reports arrive on Gold, ten administrators come with it and twenty with Platinum, and both are counted per account. We publish no hours reporting and no per-tier administrator count. If a grant report or a service-hours requirement depends on those numbers, that is a reason to stay put on its own.
And stay if the free-plan reminder emails are already doing the job. This is the case we lose most often and it deserves saying: a date-specific sign up with automatic reminder emails switched on, going to volunteers who read email, is a solved problem for $0. The reasons it stops working are specific — the volunteers who do not read email, the Slots Only sign up that gets no automatic reminders at all, the text allowance that runs short, the individual opt-in nobody completed, the rotation that is the same eight people every month and does not want a public page at all. If none of those describes you, stay.
Where we fit is that last list. The roster exists, the rotation repeats, the nursery is the same eight people it was last year, and the only broken piece is that somebody forgets. Deluxe is $9 a month for scheduled shift reminders to up to 60 volunteers, two texts per shift, sent as ordinary texts and emails with nothing for a volunteer to install, log into, or opt into on their own. Nobody has to create an account before a reminder can reach them, which is the difference that decides it for most of the churches and pantries we talk to.
And where we do not fit, stated as plainly as the five above. We do not build signup sheets — no potluck dish list, no carnival with fourteen stations, no item slots, no themes, no waivers, no participant check-in. We do not collect payments. We do not host a public event page, and the widget Deluxe and Pro can embed on your own site advertises which dates still need somebody rather than replacing a sheet. We are not a mass-texting tool: Deluxe is two scheduled reminders per shift, not a channel for texting the whole directory about a cancellation. We do not build the schedule; we assume a coordinator already did. We have no free plan, no hours reports, and no ad-free-event-page product, because we have no event pages.
Keeping both is the normal outcome rather than a compromise. SignUpGenius keeps the sheets, the payments, and the carnival; the recurring rotation lives somewhere whose only job is landing on a volunteer's phone. Nothing has to be migrated or switched off, and no volunteer notices the difference except that the reminder arrives. If you want the no-shows you already have priced out first, our volunteer no-show cost calculator does it with no email required.
Start a free trial — 30 days, no card — or email info@volunteerreminder.com and we will say plainly whether this fits. If the answer is that SignUpGenius already covers it, that is what we will say.