Comparison
NGP VAN pricing, and the part NGP VAN was never built to do
To be clear about what this page is. NGP VAN and the party tools handle voter contact and fundraising. They are good at that. This page is about the job they leave open: scheduling the volunteers who staff your field program.
14 days free. No credit card. Keep your voter file where it is.
The job the party stack leaves open
Party tool access runs through your state party, and it is not cheap. Its volunteer features are built around recruiting for voter contact events. There is no shift grid for voting sites.
Nothing flags one volunteer booked at two places. There is no gap panel the night before election day, and no coverage report in the morning. Campaigns that use it still run the field schedule on a spreadsheet next to it.
| Field scheduling job | Capstone Volunteer | Party stack |
|---|---|---|
| Shift grid across vote centers and early-voting sites | Yes, live and multi-seat | No |
| Conflict detection on double-bookings and travel | Yes, flagged in place | No |
| Coverage gap panel with ranked fill candidates | Yes, area-matched | No |
| Daily coverage report to the field director | Yes, emailed at 7am | No |
| Public event pages with RSVPs and reminders | Yes | Through its events module and Mobilize |
| Reminders for scheduled shifts | Automatic, evening before and morning of | Event reminders via Mobilize |
| Voter file and voter contact | No, and not the goal | Yes |
| Cost for a downballot race | $99 to $149/month, all seats | Five figures a year, via the party |
Moving the volunteer list: three steps, one afternoon
Step 1
Export from VAN
Export your volunteer list to a spreadsheet. Names, phones, emails, and any ward or activity columns you keep. Any layout works.
Step 2
Upload it
The importer matches your columns, cleans phones and wards, and merges duplicates by email, then phone, then close name. Science-notation phones and messy cells included.
Step 3
Build the grid
Enter your election dates and shift times once. The grid builds across every site. Your first coverage report is ready the same day.
Keep VAN for the voter file and voter contact. Nothing syncs back, and nothing needs to. The two tools do different jobs. The campaign we built this against moved 268 volunteers and more than 700 shifts this way.
Pricing, side by side
Capstone Volunteer
$99 a month for one campaign. $149 a month for multi-ward races. Or $295 once for the rest of the cycle. Every seat is included. The first 14 days are free, and nothing is charged until they end. See full pricing.
Party stack
NGP VAN does not publish a price list. For most Democratic campaigns, access comes through the state party or the coordinated campaign, and what you pay depends on your state and the size of your race.
Campaigns report a wide range, from a few hundred dollars for a small local race to five figures a year for a big one. Ask your state party for your real number. See the cost question below.
They work side by side
Most campaigns keep their party access for the voter file and use us for the field schedule. The importer reads spreadsheet exports directly, matching columns and merging duplicates, so your list moves in one upload. Nothing needs to be retired.
Comparing other tools? See vs Mobilize, vs EveryAction, vs CallHub, and vs Ecanvasser.
And if your race never had party access at all, we run on our own. No voter file needed. Work from your own import or the QR sign-up pool. The 14-day free trial runs the full product on your real list.
How much does NGP VAN cost?
NGP VAN does not publish prices. There is no public price list and no self-serve checkout.
For most Democratic campaigns in the United States, access comes through the state party or the coordinated campaign.
VoteBuilder, the party version of VAN, is given to candidates by each state Democratic party. What you pay depends on your state, your race, and how many users you need.
Campaigns report a wide range. A small local race may pay a few hundred dollars. A large race may pay five figures a year. Some state parties include it for certain candidates.
There is one way to get your real number. Ask your state party's data director for the rate card for your race.
NGP VAN
Quote only
No public price. Access through your state party. Cost depends on state and race size.
Capstone Volunteer
$99 a month
Published price. Every seat included. 14 days free. Cancel when the race ends.
NGP VAN has no public pricing page. We checked its site on October 1, 2026. The ranges above are what campaigns report, not quotes from NGP VAN.
NGP VAN alternative: questions
Is Capstone Volunteer a replacement for NGP VAN?
No. NGP VAN is the voter file and voter-contact platform, and it does that job well.
Capstone Volunteer schedules the volunteers who staff your field program: the shift grid, conflict detection, gap filling, and the coverage report. Most campaigns that use it keep their VAN access and run both.
Can we keep using VAN alongside it?
Yes. Nothing needs to be retired and nothing syncs back. VAN holds the voter file and the contact history; Capstone Volunteer holds the schedule. The two meet at the launch table and the vote-center door.
How do we move our volunteer list from VAN?
Export the volunteer list to a spreadsheet, then upload it. The importer auto-maps columns, normalizes phones and wards, and deduplicates against anything already in your pool. A list of a few hundred names moves over in a few minutes.
What does it cost compared to VAN?
Capstone Volunteer is $99 a month for a campaign, $149 for multi-ward races, or $295 once for the rest of the cycle, with every seat included and a 14-day free trial.
Party-stack access is arranged through your state party and typically runs to five figures a year.
What if our race never had VAN access?
Capstone Volunteer runs standalone. It needs no voter file. Start from your own spreadsheet or the QR sign-up pool, and try it on your real list.
What is VoteBuilder?
VoteBuilder is the version of NGP VAN that each state Democratic party gives to its candidates. It holds the voter file and contact history.
What is the MiniVAN app?
MiniVAN is the mobile canvassing app from NGP VAN. Canvassers use it to walk their list, and answers sync back to VAN.
VoteBuilder and the MiniVAN app
VoteBuilder is the version of VAN that state Democratic parties give to their candidates. It holds the voter file, vote history, and contact records.
MiniVAN is the NGP VAN canvassing app. Canvassers walk their list on a phone, and the answers sync back to VoteBuilder.
Neither one books volunteers into shifts or shows which sites are uncovered. That is the part Capstone Volunteer does, next to VAN.
Know by Friday who is covering Saturday
- Every shift sits on one grid, from canvass launches to election day.
- The gap panel ranks who to ask by ward and by who shows up.
- Reminders go out the day before, and no-shows are tracked.
The gap panel tells you who to text for each open shift. In a 2020 test with 1,220 volunteers, people asked by text showed up more than 3 times as often as people sent only an email. Read the study.
Start 14 free days, then $99 a month
More ways to pay: card, Cash App, Link, or Amazon Pay.
Nothing is charged for 14 days. We email you 3 days before. Cancel before then and you pay nothing.
Want to talk first? Book a 30-minute call or email me the pricing.