Aplos displacement
Move off Aplos. Without losing donors, history, or sleep.
We built a real Aplos importer — field-by-field mapping of accounts, funds, contributions, vendors, bills, budgets. The hard part — donor-restricted vs board-designated disambiguation — is handled by an engine you can review and override.
Why now
Three converging forces
Velora repricing
Aplos's parent (Velora, post the Raisely + Keela bundling under ASG/Alpine) has steadily raised list pricing across 2024-25.
AI as a $25/mo upcharge
The Data Visualizer + AI features are gated behind a per-month add-on. We include comparable AI in the base tier on the Advanced plan.
Oversight is thin
For firms managing many client books, Aplos Oversight is login federation. No firm console, no batch operations, no SCIM, no SLA.
The migration plan
How it actually works
- 1Discovery (1 hour)We map your Aplos account to steepl: chart of accounts shape, fund kinds (designated vs restricted), departments, dimensions, donor record conventions, payroll setup, AP workflow.
- 2Sample data pull (Day 1–2)You authorize the Aplos API; we pull a representative sample (last 6 months of GL + your donor roster + open AP). No production writes.
- 3Dry-run report (Day 3–5)We produce a reconciliation report: every account mapped, every fund classified, every donor matched, every JE round-tripped through our validator. You review and approve the fund-kind disambiguation.
- 4Parallel run (2 fiscal periods)Two full monthly closes run in parallel on Aplos and steepl. Trial Balance and Statement of Activities tie to the penny. Your CPA signs off.
- 5Cutover (1 day)Final import: full GL history, open AP, donor history, attachments (operator-assisted where Aplos's API doesn't expose them). Aplos becomes read-only as a reference.
- 6Aplos cancellation (your call)You keep your Aplos account read-only for 90 days (recommended). After that, cancel.
What we migrate
Field-by-field, with operator review where it matters
Chart of accounts
Type, parent, postability, functional class for expenses.
Funds
Designated vs restricted disambiguation with operator-reviewable mapping file.
Donors + households
Native household_id if present; heuristic merge otherwise; you review the merge map.
Contributions + restriction class
Restriction at intake; multi-fund splits preserved.
Vendors
Name, address, defaults. W-9 is NOT migrated — recollected for tax-defensibility.
Bills + payments
Open AP and history with accrual + payment JE pairs reconstructed.
Budgets
Multi-period, multi-fund.
Attachments
Documents lifted to your tenant's storage; via API where exposed, operator-assisted otherwise.
Audit trail
Every migrated entry tagged with source = migration and Aplos external_id for traceability.
Migration assessment, no obligation
Book a call. We'll talk through your Aplos setup and produce a written assessment: what's straightforward, what needs operator review, the rough timeline. Free.