Which works better for small vs large Salesforce AppExchange stores?

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ typically suits early-stage and growth-mode stores based on its review-base composition (2 reviews). Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging aligns more with early-stage and growth-mode stores (270 reviews). Larger review bases generally mean the app has been load-tested at scale — relevant if you're processing high order volume or handling enterprise compliance requirements.

AppRanks

Affinaquest vs Blackthorn Events — Salesforce

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ vs Blackthorn Events

Side-by-side comparison · 24 data points

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™

3.0·2reviews

The Affinaquest Advancement RM™ is the leading advancement system for educational institutions, academic health science centers, and select not-for-profits. Manage campaigns, prospects, demographics & giving for the most complex fundraising endeavors.

Shopifypaid

Change

1. Listing metadata

Field-level data

	Affinaquest, Advancement RM™	Blackthorn Events
Tagline	“The Affinaquest Advancement RM™ is the leading advancement system for educational institutions, academic health science centers, and select not-for-profits. Manage campaigns, prospects, demographics & giving for the most complex fundraising endeavors.”251 chars	“Salesforce-native event management, payments, and A2P messaging. 600+ organizations across higher ed, nonprofit, healthcare, government, and corporate run events inside Salesforce. HIPAA-eligible, SOC 2 Type 2, PCI SAQ D.”221 chars
Description	1192 / 2000 chars60% used	1132 / 2000 chars57% used
Screenshots	—	—
Languages	en	en
Platforms	Shopify	Shopify
Developer	Affinaquest	Blackthorn.io, Inc.
Listed	February 21, 2020

At a glance

9 metrics · auto-computed

Feature comparison between Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ and Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging
Metric	Affinaquest, Advancement RM™	Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging
Rating	3.0 ★	★ 5.0 ★
Total reviews	2	★ 270
Free plan	—	—
Pricing	paid	paid
Built for Shopify	—	—
Pricing tiers	1 tier	1 tier
Listed features	3	★ 9
Languages	1 supported	1 supported
Listed since	Feb 2020	Dec 2016

AppRanks verdict

Generated from live data on this page

Based on the data on this page, Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging is the stronger choice for most Salesforce AppExchange merchants — 5.0★ vs Affinaquest, Advancement RM™'s 3.0★ is a meaningful gap that usually reflects real product or support quality differences across the user base. Pricing entry tiers: Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ at paid, Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging at paid. Check each app's tier structure for the capacity limits you actually need before deciding — the headline number is the same shape, but the gating shape per tier (apps, orders, integrations) varies. Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging has the larger user base (270 reviews vs 2), which usually maps to broader integration coverage, faster bug-fix cadence, and a deeper bench of community workflow patterns. Affinaquest, Advancement RM™'s smaller cohort can be an advantage for niche workflows where the bigger app has accumulated bloat. Recommended by store size: small/early-stage merchants who need fast install and low risk should default to Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging; mid-market and enterprise merchants with specific feature requirements should evaluate both — Affinaquest, Advancement RM™'s 2-review base may include the workflow context that matches your specific use case better than Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging's broader-but-shallower coverage. This verdict is generated from the live marketplace data on this page — rating, review count, pricing tier, and category position all refresh from the canonical Salesforce AppExchange listing every 24 hours. AppRanks does not accept payment to influence comparison outcomes; the methodology is documented on the About page and applies identically to every pair on the site.

Read each app's audit: Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ audit • Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging audit

Last updated	—	—

3. Features

As listed by each developer

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™

Leverage Salesforce functionality so you can easily track existing donors and major gift prospects
Easily manipulate data with a modular approach to both constituent engagement and data management tools
Comprehensive, fully auditable Gift Processing that meets all industry standards including those of the IRS, FASB, NACUBO and CASE.

Blackthorn Events

Blackthorn Events is for event managers and Salesforce admins. Get real-time event data with richer data than off-platform Event registration apps, no integrations to fuss with, & the ability to use Flow & Experience Cloud.
HIGHER ED ✔ Admissions & Recruitment ✔ Campus Life ✔ Alumni & Advancement NONPROFIT ✔ Donor Events ✔ Chapter & Local Events HEALTHCARE ✔ Patient Education & Community Events ✔ CME Courses ✔ Clinic Events
GOVERNMENT ✔ Community Events ✔ Town Hall & Citizen Engagement CORPORATE ✔ Field Marketing
Easy configurations without any code or integrations ✔ Event landing pages ✔ Event groups ✔ Recurring Events ✔ Hybrid, In-Person & Virtual ✔ Matching Contacts & Leads ✔ Virtual Events Integration
PAYMENTS ✔ Web-based invoice for Pay Later ✔ PayLink to email or text (w/BT Messaging) to registrants ✔ Virtual Terminal within Salesforce ✔ Split Payments Spring '25 ✔ Apple Pay and Google Pay using Stripe Checkout
TEXT MESSAGING with Blackthorn Messaging ✔ 1:1 Attendee Messaging ✔ Bulk Messaging ✔ Text Message and Email Scheduler ✔ Text-to-Register with Flow configuration
COMPANY STATS ✔ 600+ customers ✔ Processing > $1.5B per year ✔ Millions of event registrations per year ✔ 100+ Employees, globally located
DATA ✔ Capture UTM for registration tracking ✔ Data model agnostic. All Industry Clouds. EDU, NPO, HLS+ ✔ Measure event ROI with trust ✔ Session and Event attendance stored on Attendee, Contact, Person Accounts, & more
CHECK-IN APP ✔ Use a student ID or other central ID to check in attendees from our QR code ✔ Group check-in, for families and other groups who check in at once ✔ Works Offline!

5. Search rankings

Top 5 keywords · shared rankings prioritized

Keyword	Affinaquest, Advancement RM™	Blackthorn Events
pages attendee management	Not ranked	#1
event pages attendee	Not ranked	#1
member	Not ranked	#1
cra and irs	#9	Not ranked

9. App details

Long-form description · keyword frequency

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™

The Affinaquest portfolio of products provides you with best-in-breed tools to facilitate your fundraising and engagement efforts. Our decades-long foundation in advancement fundamentals and our data aggregation, cleansing, and enrichment tools combine to give you a platform to build on your fundraising success. Our stable and mature product, Advancement RM™, has been developed by acknowledged pioneers in fundraising software, thus ensuring continuity with established business practices. At the same time, we have leveraged the flexibility and extensibility of Salesforce, the most comprehensive CRM platform. Additionally, our customers now have optional access to our industry-leading data warehouse, as well as award-winning data enrichment and first-in-class matching gift solution. Included: State-of-the-Art Major Gift Fundraising Tools -Campaign management (budgets/expenses, campaign trees, KPI dashboards) -CASE standard constituent engagement tracking -An array of biographic data that can be easily retrieved -Industry-leading gift processing and management tools that meet industry standards (IRS, FASB, NACUBO and CASE) -Mobile app to help on-the-road Development Officers

Top keywords

data4×2.53%
fundraising4×2.53%
gift3×1.90%
advancement2×1.27%
engagement2×1.27%
enrichment2×1.27%
management2×1.27%
platform2×1.27%

Blackthorn Events

Blackthorn turns any organization’s Salesforce® CRM into event planning software powered by their connected data. EVENT REGISTRATION & EVENT MANAGEMENT ✔Matching & Duplication Logic ✔Experience Cloud ✔Manage Sponsors, Speakers, and Sessions ✔Customize w/ CSS ✔Member vs Non-Member pricing ✔Calendar View ✔Multi-Attendee & Group Registration ✔Auto-Generated Landing Pages w/ Custom URLs ✔Ticket Management MOBILE ✔Check-In App w/ QR Codes and Badge Printing ✔Built for iOS & Android App ✔Attendee Mobile App coming December '24 KEY FEATURES ✔Build registration pages within Salesforce ✔Conferences & Trade Shows ✔Custom Questions & Surveys ✔Waitlists ✔Language Translation ✔Budget & Expenses ✔Tables & Seats ✔Out-of-the-Box Reports & Dashboards ✔Data Cloud and AgentForce Compatible EMAIL INVITES ✔Email Template Builder ✔Works w/ Marketing Cloud ✔Mass Email Campaigns ADD-ONS ✔SMS Text Messaging w/ Blackthorn Messaging PAYMENTS ✔Stripe, Authorize.net, Touchnet (Transact, CASHNet / Transact Campus) ✔Pay Later, Credit Card, ACH, Invoices, Multi-Currency ✔120+ Gateways ✔WCAG, ADA, VPAT ✔GDPR ✔HIPAA ✔PCI SAQ D, SOC 2 Type 2

Top keywords

cloud3×2.04%
email3×2.04%
event3×2.04%
registration3×2.04%
blackthorn2×1.36%
custom2×1.36%
data2×1.36%
management2×1.36%
messaging2×

Frequently asked

Common questions about this comparison

Is Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging cheaper?

Both Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ and Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging offer paid plans only. Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ starts at paid; Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging starts at paid. Compare the per-tier features in the Pricing section above before committing.

Which has better reviews, Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging?

Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging has the higher average rating (5.0★ from 270 reviews) compared to Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ (3.0★ from 2 reviews). Both are tracked daily by AppRanks, so the figures here update each refresh cycle.

Should I choose Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging?

It depends on what you're optimizing for. Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ fits better if you prioritize broader integrations; Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging is the call if you need the higher-rated option. Read both apps' detail pages on AppRanks for the full feature breakdown, install counts, and recent listing changes.

Which is faster to set up, Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging?

Both apps are one-click installs from the Salesforce AppExchange marketplace. Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging has more onboarding documentation maturity (270 reviews vs 2), which usually translates to better-tested setup wizards and quicker time-to-value. AppRanks doesn't measure setup time directly — read the recent reviews on each app's detail page for merchant-reported install experience.

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ vs Blackthorn Events

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™

1. Listing metadata

Blackthorn Events

At a glance

AppRanks verdict

2. Pricing & plans

3. Features

4. Categories & rankings

5. Search rankings

7. Activity in the last 90 days

Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ · 0 changes

Blackthorn Events · 2 changes

9. App details

Frequently asked

Is Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging cheaper?

Which has better reviews, Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging?

Should I choose Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging?

Which is faster to set up, Affinaquest, Advancement RM™ or Blackthorn Events: Salesforce-Native Event Management, Payments & Messaging?

See full keyword rankings, install trends, and weekly alerts

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