Best Self Hosted Alternatives to ClubDesk

Hitobito is an open-source web application for managing organizations and communities with complex group hierarchies. It provides contact and member management, event and course administration, mailings, invoicing and role-based permissions in a plugin-oriented architecture. (hitobito.com)

Key Features

• Hierarchical group model with customizable group and role types via a plugin (wagon) system, allowing flexible organisational structures and permission scopes.
• Member and contact management with role assignments, membership data and multi-level access controls.
• Event and course management including registrations, waitlists and organisation-specific qualifications.
• Integrated mailings and communication features for sending newsletters and transactional emails.
• Billing and payment-related features for invoicing and financial tracking tailored to organisations.
• Extensible plugin (wagon) framework to add organisation-specific functionality and integrations.
• Production-ready artifacts and tooling visible in the repository (Dockerfile, JS build tooling, Procfile) and an official public demo environment. (github.com)

Use Cases

• National or regional associations needing federated member and role management across multiple sub-organisations.
• Clubs, youth organisations and sports/music federations managing courses, events, registrations and membership fees.
• Political parties or NGOs that require structured permissioning, mailings and invoicing for large, multi-level membership bases. (hitobito.com)

Limitations and Considerations

• Core Hitobito does not ship predefined group/role types; at least one organisation-specific wagon/plugin is required to define group types and enable a usable configuration for a specific organisation. This demands some developer setup for initial organisation modelling. (github.com)
• Primary user documentation and many architecture/developer docs are available in German; non-German-speaking operators may face additional effort to onboard without translation. (github.com)

Hitobito is community-driven and licensed under an AGPL-family license; it is intended for organisations that need a flexible, extensible membership and event management platform and are able to maintain or adapt plugins for their specific structures. (github.com)

Admidio is a PHP-based membership and user management system designed for associations, clubs and other organizations. It provides a role- and group-oriented permission model, customizable member profiles, and a collection of modules for events, media and document handling.

Key Features

• Flexible roles, groups and permissions to mirror organizational structures
• Customizable user profiles with configurable profile fields and relationships
• Membership lists with export to CSV, Excel, ODF and PDF
• Event management with online event publishing and participant handling
• Media gallery for photo albums and simple e-card functionality
• Document and file repository with upload and role-based access control
• HTML email messaging to users, roles and groups
• Plugin system and theming to extend functionality

Use Cases

• Manage membership records, roles and contact data for clubs or associations
• Publish and manage events, registrations and participant lists for community groups
• Provide a central document and photo repository with controlled access for members

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires a PHP webserver (PHP 8.2 or higher) and a supported SQL database (MariaDB, MySQL or PostgreSQL)
• Upgrading can require careful handling of custom themes and plugins to avoid conflicts

Admidio is a practical, mature solution for organizations that need structured member administration with built-in modules for events, media and documents. It favors a traditional PHP webapp architecture and is extendable via plugins and themes.

Karrot is an open-source web platform designed to help grassroots initiatives and local groups coordinate face-to-face activities, manage membership and share resources. It focuses on transparent, democratic and participatory group management while providing maps, activity scheduling and contextual chat.

Key Features

• Independent groups: each group has its own settings, logo, membership rules and governance mechanisms.
• Activity scheduling with slots: create time-and-place activities (meetings, pickups, events) with sign-up slots and attendance tracking.
• Offers and local sharing: create offers for items or services and discuss interest in per-offer chats.
• Contextual messaging and notifications: group-wide messages, private messages and activity/place-specific chats; configurable notifications.
• Trust-based role system and membership review: peer-assigned trust levels, application workflow, voting and membership review tools.
• Maps and lists: map-based discovery of groups, places and participants alongside chronological lists of upcoming activities.
• Audit trail and transparency: history logs of actions for accountability and moderation.
• Extensible plugin system: frontend and backend plugin APIs for custom features and integrations; frontend uses a Vite-based build and i18n support.
• Deployment options: published Docker images, Docker Compose guides and a recommended coop cloud/ansible deployment workflow.

Use Cases

• Food-rescue and community food-sharing groups scheduling regular store pickups and coordinating volunteers.
• Local mutual-aid or neighborhood groups organizing events, tasks and resource-sharing with clear membership processes.
• Small community organizations that need lightweight, transparent tools for activity sign-ups, offers and discussion.

Karrot provides a focused toolset for local, volunteer-driven coordination with an emphasis on transparency and community governance. Its plugin architecture and published deployment guides make it adaptable for different group needs while remaining technology-agnostic and community-driven.

Mobilizon is an ActivityPub-enabled platform for creating and sharing events and groups across a federated network. It lets communities organize gatherings, manage participation, and publish event information in a social-network-like interface.

Key Features

• Create and manage events with rich details (time, location, description) and event pages
• Group features for organizing communities and recurring activities
• Participation management: RSVP/attendance, visibility controls, and event updates
• Federation via ActivityPub to follow and interact across compatible servers
• Multi-identity support (profiles) to separate public and private participation

Use Cases

• Local communities publishing events without depending on centralized platforms
• Organizations managing meetups, workshops, and recurring group activities
• Federated event discovery and cross-instance following for public calendars

Mobilizon provides a privacy-conscious alternative for community event publishing, combining event management with federation to reach audiences beyond a single server while keeping control in the hands of administrators and communities.