Hours you don't have to chase volunteers for
Zelos logs the start and end of every shift and reports planned against actual, so your numbers don't depend on someone remembering to submit them.
Recruitment, onboarding, missions, e-learning, and client records
Hours come from volunteers reporting them.
Open shifts, task dispatch, notice board, and team chat
Hours come from the shift itself.
No credit card · Unlimited members on every plan · Set up in under 5 minutes
How signup works in each app
A recruitment pipeline, then missions
Applicants move through your pipeline first: application form, interview, references, training, and reach the mission board once they've completed it. From then on the app looks familiar: claim a mission, submit a report, chat, earn badges.
A private team space with shift signup and chats
Members join your workspace once, fill in their own profile, then browse and claim what fits their skills and schedule, with a chat channel attached to every task.
What Volunteero is better at
If your workflow depends on the things below, Volunteero is the right pick.
Records for the people you serve
Clients are first-class records alongside volunteers: taggable, groupable and searchable on attributes like skills, so a mission can pair a specific volunteer with a specific person. That's the shape of befriending, advocacy and home visiting, and it's why Age UK branches and Citizens Advice run on it. Volunteero claims to be the only VMS offering a client database. Zelos has members and tasks and no concept of a service user, and that gap decides the choice on its own for one-to-one support services.
An AI assistant answering volunteers
Volunteers ask routine questions in the app and get an instant answer instead of emailing the coordinator. Volunteero reports early results of two to five hours a week saved per manager. Nothing in this category does this, Zelos included.
A marketplace that brings applicants
Clients post roles to Volunteero's own marketplace, which their app feeds, and they report applicant increases for charities using it. Zelos workspaces are invite-only with no public listing, so recruitment is a job you do elsewhere. Note the marketplace is currently offered to UK clients.
A recruitment and training pipeline
Application tracking, interviews, reference and recommendation collection, custom forms and onboarding journeys that a volunteer completes before reaching the mission board. Volunteers also claim expenses in the app with costs and evidence attached, ready for your finance process to reimburse. The claim and the receipt live in the platform, the payment doesn't. Zelos assumes people arrive already cleared, and handles no expenses at all.
If these bullet points are non-negotiable, you're a Volunteero customer.
What Zelos is sharper at
If your reporting can't depend on volunteers filing it, Zelos is a better fit.
Hours from the shift, not from a form
Zelos records the start and end of every task and shift, calculates the hours and reports planned against actual with the difference. Volunteero customers describe hour logging as heavily reliant on volunteers submitting it, which one reviewer said made KPI and impact conversations harder.
One price, however many volunteers
Zelos is a flat fee whatever the roster size, and free for unlimited members and admins. Volunteero is listed on Capterra as priced per user, and their quote form asks for both your volunteer count and your staff count. So the two numbers most likely to grow are the two that set your cost.
Free to start, no quote form
Create a workspace, post a task, invite your team. Same afternoon, no card, no call. Volunteero starts with a demo and a tailored quote, then an implementation their team describes as averaging under three weeks.
Any team, not just charities
Zelos doesn't ask what kind of organisation you are, and is used by events agencies, contractor pools and unincorporated groups alongside charities. Volunteero is built in direct partnership with UK charities and shaped around that work.
If you're drawn to this kind of simplicity, you should spin up a free project in Zelos right away.
per volunteer, per year
Volunteero is listed at $20 per user per year. Zelos doesn't count volunteers at all.
What you'll pay as the roster grows
Volunteero charges per volunteer. Zelos charges once, or nothing.
| Volunteers | Zelos | Zelos Pro | Volunteero* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Free | $1,188/yr | $1,000/yr |
| 100 | Free | $1,188/yr | $2,000/yr |
| 250 | Free | $1,188/yr | $5,000/yr |
| 500 | Free | $1,188/yr | $10,000/yr |
| 1,000 | Free | $1,188/yr | $20,000/yr |
* Volunteero doesn't publish pricing. Their pricing page is a quote form asking for active volunteer count, staff count, organisation and email. Capterra and SourceForge both list a starting price of $20 per user per year.
Nonprofits and education teams get additional discounts on Zelos Pro and Enterprise.
Seen enough?
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Teams that pick Zelos over Volunteero
Programmes not ready for a sales conversation
Sometimes you want to try the thing before you explain your organisation to someone. Zelos is free to start, needs no card and no call, and the pricing page has the numbers on it.
Learn more →Grassroots and mutual aid groups
No budget line, no procurement, and organising shared between whoever is available that week. Zelos is free for unlimited people and unlimited organisers.
Learn more →Event staffing and festival crews
Event crews mix volunteers with paid staff and contractors, assemble in weeks and need dispatch rather than onboarding journeys and e-learning. Zelos treats everyone as a member who claims work, paid or not.
Learn more →Contractor pools and gig dispatch
Contractors are paid for the work, manage their own training, and aren't volunteers at all. Post the job, let the right people claim it, coordinate in the task chat.
Learn more →Sports clubs and leagues
Match-day shifts across a season, run by a parent committee with no budget and no interest in a quote form. Every team manager can post their own shifts at no extra cost.
Learn more →Brand ambassadors and street teams
Ambassador programmes are marketing rather than charitable work, and run on responsiveness and recognition rather than references and training modules.
Learn more →From teams who picked Zelos
What teams who picked Zelos say
"It helped us a lot reducing the planning overhead. It is way more motivating for staff to pick their task than just getting assigned!"
Manuel W.
Coordinator, Events Services
Full review → "We were looking for a system to handle our concert staff. Zelos is really easy to access both for the administrator and the users!"
Niels Peter H.
Board member, Music
Full review → "The overall experience has been great, the customer service is amazing and I can't wait for all the new changes coming up in the app!"
Celia D.
Coordinator, Motion Pictures and Film
Full review →Free for teams of any size
No credit card, no trial expiration.
Pro starts at $99/month, never per person.
Nonprofit and education discounts on Pro and Enterprise.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Volunteero cost?
How do hours get recorded in each one?
Does Volunteero have a free plan?
Can my volunteers chat in both?
Can Zelos track the people we support?
Can volunteers claim expenses?
Does Zelos do e-learning or reference collection?
Does Zelos integrate with our other systems?
How quickly can we start?
Do we have to be a UK charity?
What's the catch with the Zelos free plan?
Can I use both Zelos and Volunteero?
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