Roster and Glue Up solve the same problem from opposite directions: one is source-available software you can own outright for $19, the other is a subscription at ~$125+/mo run entirely on someone else's servers.
Head to head
| Roster | Glue Up | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once | ~$125+/mo |
| Member data | Your SQLite file | Their cloud |
| Custom fields | Unlimited, free | Plan-gated |
| Members | Unlimited | Priced per contact tier |
| Self-serve profile edits | Yes | Yes |
| CSV import/export | Yes | Yes |
| Works offline / desktop | Yes | No |
| Source code | MIT, yours | Proprietary |
What Roster does well
- Member profiles — Photo, contact info, bio, status (active / pending / lapsed), and join and renewal dates.
- Custom fields per organization — Text, select or URL fields that appear on cards, in the table, in search and in CSV round-trips.
- Real search and filtering — Full-text search across names, emails, bios and every custom field, with filters by status, chapter or exact value.
- Chapters — Sub-listings for multi-chapter orgs with member counts, auto-created on CSV import.
What Glue Up still does better
There's a real reason Glue Up costs what it does: a bigger team, broader integrations and dedicated support behind it. If that ecosystem is genuinely what you need, it's worth paying for.
Which one should you pick
If your workflow depends on Glue Up's specific integrations or you'd rather not run anything yourself, stay put — that's a legitimate call. If you're comfortable owning the tool and want to stop paying ~$125+/mo for a job your own hardware can do, Roster pays for itself and then some: one year of Glue Up runs past $1,500 — Roster pays for itself before lunch.
Try Roster — $19, once
Self-hosted searchable directory with custom fields, chapters, CSV round-trips, renewal tracking and magic-link editing.