Notebird vs Chaverware
Notebird is the pick when a rabbi and care team need one private place to log conversations, assign follow-ups, and track lifecycle events, and it runs next to Chaverware or ShulCloud. Chaverware fits the office job: membership database, dues, and yahrzeit administration. Notebird does not replace it; congregants import from a Chaverware query export by CSV, free.
Notebird vs Chaverware at a glance
- Your rabbi, cantor, and care team need one shared place to log hospital visits, shiva calls, and conversations, with notes that stay private from office staff who do not need them.
- You want follow-up tasks assigned to a specific person with a due date, and an open-task list so no one falls through the cracks.
- You want a daily email of who needs attention: upcoming yahrzeits and lifecycle milestones, overdue follow-ups, and congregants no one has contacted lately.
Bottom line: Notebird gives the rabbi and care team a shared, private record of how they look after people, with assigned follow-ups, milestone reminders, and a care history that works from any phone. Chaverware fits the narrower office job: the installed system of record for members, dues, yahrzeits, seating, and accounting. Add Notebird next to Chaverware, or the ShulCloud you move to, when clergy and volunteers need more than office notes; stay on Chaverware alone only if those notes cover your care work.
Notebird vs Chaverware: features side by side
Chaverware is installed Windows synagogue membership and billing software from 1993, now owned by Togetherwork alongside ShulCloud, for the office that runs dues, yahrzeits, seating, and accounting. Sources for every Chaverware fact are listed at the end of this page.
| Feature | Notebird | Chaverware |
|---|---|---|
| Care notes per congregant Chaverware has a "note and tickler system" on the family record, built for the office. It is not designed for clergy and volunteers logging hospital visits, shiva calls, and conversations as a team. | Yes | Partial |
| Private (restricted) notes with permission control Chaverware 5.1 added "user based security" and optional password protection on notes. Restricting one note to specific clergy while other staff still see the record is not documented. | Yes | Partial |
| Follow-up tasks assigned to a team member with a due date The tickler system gives date-based reminders on notes. Assigning a follow-up to another person and tracking open tasks per team member is not documented. | Yes | Partial |
| Milestone tracking (birthdays, anniversaries, b'nai mitzvah, custom) with reminders Chaverware stores demographic dates and yahrzeits and can query and mail-merge on them. Reminders to a care team ahead of a congregant's milestone are not documented. | Yes | Partial |
| Yahrzeit management (Hebrew date conversion, multiple observers, member self-service) Chaverware's yahrzeit module converts dates in both directions and links multiple observers per deceased; ChaverWeb lets members view and edit their yahrzeits. Notebird can hold yahrzeits as milestones so the care team is reminded, but it does not send member notices. | Partial | Yes |
| Care reports (printable per-person care history) Chaverware has a report generator and a query system that outputs to Word, Excel, labels, and quick reports. A per-congregant care history is not documented. | Yes | Not documented |
| Team activity feed | Yes | Not documented |
| Groups / care teams with per-team-member access Chaverware documents "full security to protect sensitive data from unauthorized individuals" at the user level. Limiting a volunteer or clergy member to only the congregants assigned to them is not documented. | Yes | Not documented |
| Mobile access (phone and tablet) Chaverware is a Windows desktop program that runs on a workstation or office server. ChaverWeb is a browser portal for members to pay, donate, register, and update their own data. | Mobile web app; add to home screen on iOS and Android, no store download | No staff app documented |
| Full-text search across notes Chaverware's query system lets staff build, save, and reuse queries, and queries on notes have been possible since version 5.1. It is a database query tool, not instant search. | Yes | Partial |
| Daily "who needs attention" email Notebird sends the Early Bird report each morning. Chaverware documents startup reminders for unprocessed credit cards and recurring payments, not a care digest. | Yes | Not documented |
| Membership database with family accounts and relationships Chaverware is the system of record, with a relationship module that shows how families in the congregation are connected. Notebird imports congregant profiles from it. | People profiles only | Yes |
| Dues, pledges, accounts receivable, statements, and accounting link Flexible billing cycles, recurring payments, credit card processing, donation database, and single-entry integration with QuickBooks or Peachtree (now Sage 50). | No | Yes |
| High Holiday seating, aliyot, cemetery, and Shalach Manot modules | No | Yes |
| Member portal (pay bills, donate, register for events and religious school) ChaverWeb, priced per family unit per year on the historic price list. | No | Yes |
| Cloud-based, works from any device Chaverware is installed on Windows; only the ChaverWeb member portal is web-based. Its historic system requirements list Windows XP through Windows 8 workstations and Server 2003 through 2012. | Yes | Partial |
| Sync between the two systems The Notebird Help Center walks through the Chaverware query ("Notebird_Export", Is_Member equals True) and secure upload. If you later move to ShulCloud, the free Notebird Synagogue Exporter can sync on a schedule. | From Chaverware via query export and free CSV import (one-time); Planning Center, Breeze, Church Windows (direct); CSV import from others | Exports to Excel, Word, and CSV from the query system; imports arranged by data conversion |
| Current status (2026) Togetherwork has owned Chaverware since 2017. Shulware's 2026 product list is ShulCloud, Mitzvah Tools, Kesef, and Congregation Connect. ShulCloud publishes a Chaverware import script. No formal end-of-life notice was found. | Actively sold and updated | Legacy; chaverware.com redirects to shulcloud.com |
| Pricing model | Per user, graduated | Per synagogue; installed license or multi-year support plan (historic) |
Which one should you pick?
Why churches choose Notebird
- Your rabbi, cantor, and care team need one shared place to log hospital visits, shiva calls, and conversations, with notes that stay private from office staff who do not need them.
- You want follow-up tasks assigned to a specific person with a due date, and an open-task list so no one falls through the cracks.
- You want a daily email of who needs attention: upcoming yahrzeits and lifecycle milestones, overdue follow-ups, and congregants no one has contacted lately.
- You need to log care from a phone at the hospital or after a shiva minyan, on any phone, not only from the office PC.
- You want lay leaders and volunteers to see only the congregants or groups assigned to them.
- You are keeping Chaverware, or moving to ShulCloud, and want a care system that imports from either for free and never touches your billing.
When Chaverware may fit better
- You already run Chaverware for the membership database, dues, accounts receivable, and QuickBooks or Sage 50 link, and it still does that job for your office.
- You need built-in synagogue modules that Notebird does not have: yahrzeit management with Hebrew date conversion, High Holiday seating, aliyot, cemetery, Shalach Manot, and a religious school database.
- You want members to pay their account, donate, register for events, and update their own yahrzeits through the ChaverWeb portal.
- You prefer installed software on your own Windows server with data on site, and your staff know its query and mail-merge tools well.
- The office note-and-tickler system is enough for the front desk and you do not need a shared care record for clergy and volunteers.
