Software guide · State legislature & statewide races
Options to compare: NationBuilder, Online Candidate. Compare the tasks you need, the complete price and the terms before choosing.
The cost case · State legislature & statewide races
Start with the bill and one costly workflow. The comparison is straightforward: recurring software costs you can actually remove, minus the hosting, AI, integrations and upkeep a replacement needs. Time saved is a separate gain, and only becomes margin when the business can use it.
Current software · researched prices
$160/ month
$1,920 a year in this worked example
State house challenger with a 15,000-contact list
See the vendor’s published price ↗
A source-priced scenario, not a claim about your invoice. Check required modules, usage fees and your negotiated terms.
A focused tool · under your control
One time: map the rules, build, test edge cases, move only the data needed and train the people who use it.
Each month: affordable hosting, coding-AI usage, any database or integrations, backups and maintenance. Price these for the actual application; a $0 or low hosting tier is not the total cost.
You control: the code repository, domain, data and service accounts. Someone on your side owns updates, access, recovery and support.
The exact replacement cost depends on scope and usage. Bring your invoice and one frustrating task; we’ll map what can stay, what could be owned and the costs to verify.
Get a free 30-minute cost and workflow reviewBuild the public site and staff request workspace, then document publishing, approval workflows and status updates. Define public-record and retention obligations in the scope.
Ask for a sample export. Check relationships, attachments and history, not just row counts.
These terms appear in the same research category. Check your specific workflow before treating products as interchangeable.
For state legislature & statewide races, our worked example runs $160 a month, which is $1,920 a year. A website-related price point in the research is $160 a month; check whether it is a plan rate or a separate fee. 1 of 3 vendors have quote-only pricing in our research.
State house challenger with a 15,000-contact list
Where the money goes
NationBuilder meters by contacts, not pages. Starter is $34 a month up to 5,000 contacts; load a county voter file and you're on Pro at $160. Add-ons stack on top: $9 a month per additional website, $10 for text messaging, $49 for ActionButton Plus.
If you work your voter list inside NationBuilder, keep it. The CRM, donation page and email tool are what you're paying for, and a campaign site alone doesn't replace them.
Ask providers to demonstrate this workflow using your edge cases. Check which plan includes each step, what costs extra and how your records can be exported.
3 vendors sell to state legislature & statewide races
| Vendor | Plans (per month) | Website | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| NationBuilderCharges by contacts (people) in the database - the bill grows with the size of the voter file you load, not with the site |
| $34/mo | 2026-09-21 |
| Online CandidateCharges by flat fee per campaign, or flat monthly |
| $29/mo | 2026-09-21 |
| NGP VAN / Bonterra | Quote only | — | — |
Prices are what each vendor publishes on its own pricing page, on the date shown. "Quote only" means the vendor doesn't publish prices. "Not verified" means we couldn't read a price off the vendor's own page, so we don't print one.
Questions owners ask
Most serious state campaigns land on Pro at $160 a month. Starter is $34 a month but tops out at 5,000 contacts, and importing a voter file usually crosses that. Extra websites are $9 a month, text messaging $10, ActionButton Plus $49.
Online Candidate sells a $29-a-month builder, month to month, or one-time packages at $449 and $699. None of them include a CRM, a voter file or a fundraising processor, so you still add a list tool and a donation platform.
No. NGP VAN doesn't publish prices. Campaigns usually get access through their state party rather than buying it outright, so the cost depends on that arrangement.
Related businesses
Bring one workflow or software bill to a free 30-minute conversation. We’ll map what a coding AI and affordable hosting might cover, and what ownership would require.
Practical guidance, not a promise of a cheap or maintenance-free replacement.