Which works better for small vs large Salesforce AppExchange admins?

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration typically suits early-stage and growth-mode teams based on its published review base (273 reviews). ascend typically suits early-stage and growth-mode teams based on its published review base (10 reviews). A larger review base generally means the app has been exercised at scale — relevant if you are processing high volume or handling enterprise compliance requirements.

AppRanks

Blackthorn Events vs ascend — Salesforce

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration vs ascend

Side-by-side comparison · 24 data points

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration

5.0·273reviews

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.

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1. Listing metadata

Field-level data

	Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration	ascend
Tagline	“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. ”222 chars	“Ascend is the most comprehensive, end to end solution for fundraising and constituent engagement, built natively on Salesforce - and continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in the areas of next generation constituent experiences and AI.”249 chars
Description	1109 / 2000 chars55% used	860 / 2000 chars43% used
Screenshots	—	—
Languages	en	en
Platforms	Salesforce	Salesforce
Developer	Blackthorn.io, Inc.	Kindsight
Listed	December 12, 2016

At a glance

8 metrics · auto-computed

Feature comparison between Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration and ascend
Metric	Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration	ascend
Rating	5.0 ★	★ 5.0 ★
Total reviews	★ 273	10
Free plan	—	—
Pricing	paid	paid
Pricing tiers	1 tier	—
Listed features	★ 9	3
Languages	1 supported	1 supported
Listed since	Dec 2016	Nov 2018

Last updated	—	—

3. Features

As listed by each developer

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration

One Salesforce-native platform Registration, payments, messaging, and check-in run natively inside Salesforce. Real-time attendee and revenue data lives on your CRM records and flows into Flow and Experience Cloud.
Trusted at scale 600+ customers process more than $1.5 billion in payments per year through Blackthorn, powering millions of event registrations. Employees globally support Sales, Service, Experience, Marketing, and Data Cloud customers.
Any event type, configured in Salesforce Launch event landing pages, event groups, recurring events, and hybrid, virtual, or in-person formats. Contact and Lead matching keeps the CRM clean. Native Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex.
Blackthorn Payments accepts credit cards, ACH, invoices, and multi-currency across 120+ gateways, including Stripe, Authorize.net, and Touchnet. PayLink, Virtual Terminal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Blackthorn Messaging sends A2P 10DLC-compliant SMS from Salesforce: 1:1 attendee texts, bulk campaigns, scheduled sends across text and email, and Text-to-Register triggered by Flow. Every message is logged on the Contact record for reporting and audit.
The Blackthorn Check-In App scans student IDs, central IDs, or QR codes on iOS and Android. Group check-in handles families, teams, and delegations in a single tap. Works offline and syncs when reconnected, with built-in badge printing.
Capture UTM parameters at registration, measure ROI with Campaign Influence, and track session attendance on Attendee, Contact, or Person Account records. Works with all Salesforce Industry Clouds.
Trusted by higher ed (Admissions & Recruitment, Campus Life, Alumni & Advancement), nonprofits (donor events, chapter and local events), and healthcare (patient education, CME courses, clinic events). HIPAA-eligible, SOC 2 Type 2, PCI SAQ D.
Ready for government (community events, town halls, citizen engagement) and corporate (field marketing, customer conferences, partner enablement). Inherits Salesforce sharing, FLS, and audit trails.

ascend

Simplify and consolidate disparate systems by migrating your entire fundraising operation.
Build stronger relationships with your constituents as Ascend gives you a broader, centralized view of the progress and effectiveness of fundraising activities.
Be part of a growing, vibrant, and engaged User Community that is helping to drive the Ascend product roadmap.

Keyword	Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration	ascend
campaign type	#6	#12

7. App details

Long-form description · keyword frequency

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration

Blackthorn Events is the Salesforce-native event platform on the AppExchange. 600+ organizations across higher ed, nonprofit, healthcare, government, and corporate run event registration, payments, and A2P messaging inside Salesforce with no middleware. Every attendee, session, and payment is a Salesforce record. Registration covers multi-attendee groups, ticketing, waitlists, sponsors, speakers, sessions, custom questions, calendar view, budgets, matching and duplication logic, auto-generated landing pages, member vs non-member pricing, tables and seats, and language translation. Blackthorn Payments accepts credit cards, ACH, invoices, Pay Later, and multi-currency through Stripe, Authorize.net, Touchnet (Transact, CASHNet/Transact Campus), and 120+ gateways. Blackthorn Messaging delivers A2P 10DLC-compliant SMS for confirmations, reminders, and check-in. Native to Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Data Cloud. iOS and Android check-in app with QR codes and badge printing. Out-of-the-box Salesforce reports and dashboards. SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA-eligible, PCI SAQ D, GDPR, WCAG, ADA, VPAT.

Top keywords

blackthorn3×2.10%
cloud3×2.10%
salesforce3×2.10%
a2p2×1.40%
check-in2×1.40%
event2×1.40%
messaging2×1.40%
payments2×1.40%
registration2×1.40%
transact2×1.40%

ascend

Ascend provides a comprehensive, 360-degree view of your Advancement and Fundraising activities including Bio Demographics, Prospect Management, Gift Processing, Grateful Patient, all backed by AI workflows and insights. FEATURES: Mobile Friendly User Interface, Processing Multiple Pledge Types, Processing Pledge Payments, Processing Matching Gifts, Entering Hard/Soft Credits, Tracking Multiple Relationships, Tracking Designations & Allocations, Implementing Multiple Interfaces, Robust Prospect Management Feature Set. Included in Ascend are integration management tools such as Interims and Review Transactions and productivity tools such as cloud explorer Dataloader and ruli Records Manager. ENHANCEMENTS: Constituent Engagement with Connect Donor Portal, Integration Tools, Configuration, Custom Development, Custom Reporting, and Platinum Support.

Top keywords

processing4×3.88%
management3×2.91%
multiple3×2.91%
ascend2×1.94%
custom2×1.94%
integration2×1.94%
pledge2×1.94%
prospect2×1.94%
prospect management2×1.94%
tracking

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration vs ascend

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration

1. Listing metadata

ascend

At a glance

AppRanks verdict

2. Pricing & plans

3. Features

4. Categories & rankings

5. Search rankings

6. Activity in the last 90 days

Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration · 6 changes

ascend · 0 changes

7. App details

Frequently asked

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Which works better for small vs large Salesforce AppExchange admins?

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Can I migrate data between Blackthorn Events - In-Person and Online Event Management & Registration and ascend?