Buyer's Guide
Best Class Reunion Apps (a 2026 Buyer's Guide)
Five tools every class committee considers - and an honest take on which one fits which committee. We built one of them; we'll tell you when one of the others is the better answer.
First, Understand the Two Real Categories
Tools that call themselves "class reunion apps" fall into two very different buckets. Choose the wrong category and nothing else matters.
Category 1
Event platforms
Help you actually run a reunion event - RSVPs, payments, check-in, name badges, day-of logistics.
Examples: Reunly, Eventbrite, ClassMates Online Reunion Planner
Category 2
Directory / finder services
Help you find lost classmates - searchable databases of old yearbooks, addresses, contacts.
Examples: Classmates.com, AlumniFinder, LinkedIn search
You typically need one of eachfor a milestone reunion. The directory tool runs first to find missing alumni; the event platform runs second to actually host the reunion. Trying to make either tool do the other's job is where committees burn their time.
🚀 With Reunly
Reunly is the event-platform half - pair it with Classmates.com for finding lost alumni
The combination most committees end up with. We'll be the first to recommend it.
Full reviews
The Five Apps in Detail
Each review covers what the app does well, what it does poorly, and the committee type it actually fits. We disclose where Reunly is the wrong answer.
Reunly (class.reunly.io)
All-in-one event platform
Built specifically for class reunions - RSVP, payments, check-in, name-badge QR, slideshow
Pricing
Free under 50 RSVPs; $79 flat per event for unlimited, includes payments via Stripe pass-through
✓ Does well
- Single tool replaces 4-5 separate ones (RSVPify + Stripe + Eventbrite + Mailchimp + Google Forms)
- QR-printed name badges connect to attendee profiles on scan
- Where Are They Now updates collected during RSVP feed straight into the program book
- Mobile check-in app for the night of - no separate purchase
- Flat per-event pricing; no per-ticket fees
× Does poorly
- Newer product (launched 2025) - smaller design template library than Paperless Post
- Not built for ongoing year-round alumni databases - it's event-by-event
- No physical printed-and-mailed invitation pipeline (you can export to PDF and mail yourself)
- Smaller team than Eventbrite - support is fast but limited hours
Who it's for: Committees of 5-15 people running a single milestone reunion (10th, 25th, 50th) for 50-300 alumni. Wants one tool to replace the patchwork.
Who should skip: School administrations running yearly homecoming for 1,000+ alumni across multiple decades - that's a different product.
Our take: If you're starting from scratch in 2026 and your committee values simplicity, Reunly is the cheapest path to a polished reunion. We built it - and we'll be honest that for very specific edge cases (legal alumni databases, mailed paper invites), another tool serves you better.
Classmates.com
Alumni directory + nostalgia
The 90s-era school directory that still has the most names
Pricing
Free basic profile; Gold $5-$8/month for messaging and yearbook access
✓ Does well
- Largest US alumni database - millions of profiles indexed by graduation year and school
- Searchable yearbook archive for finding old photos
- Find-a-classmate by school + year is genuinely useful
- Recognizable brand - alumni 45+ remember signing up in 2002
× Does poorly
- Not an event platform - no RSVP, no payments, no check-in
- Subscription paywall feels dated (because it is)
- Ad-heavy free experience
- Profile data is often a decade out of date
- No structured way to run a reunion through the platform
Who it's for: Class committees that need help finding lost classmates before any other planning starts. Use it as a directory search, then move to a real event tool.
Who should skip: Anyone hoping to plan, sell tickets, or check in through Classmates.com directly. That's not what it does.
Our take: Treat Classmates.com as a research database, not a planning tool. One committee member buys a month of Gold, runs the searches to find missing alumni, then cancels. Use that contact list in a real event platform like Reunly or Eventbrite.
AlumniFinder
Lost-alumni search service
Pay-per-record alumni lookup with current contact info
Pricing
~$0.25-$1 per record looked up; minimum batches of 100-500
✓ Does well
- Pulls from public records, commercial data, and skip-trace databases
- Updates outdated mailing addresses and phone numbers
- Critical for milestone reunions (40th, 50th) where 30-50% of your last-known addresses are wrong
- Output is a clean CSV you can import elsewhere
× Does poorly
- Not an event platform at all - it's a data service
- Privacy-conscious classmates may not appreciate finding out their info was looked up
- Quality varies - 70-80% accuracy on phone numbers in our test runs
- Bills feel opaque without a clear cap
Who it's for: Large milestone reunions (200+ alumni, 25+ years out) where the committee has lost touch with the majority of the class.
Who should skip: 5-year, 10-year, and 15-year reunions where Facebook + LinkedIn + Classmates.com finds everyone for free.
Our take: Use sparingly and ethically. Run it once for the 50-100 hardest-to-find alumni, not the whole class. Tell people on first contact how you got their info.
ClassMates Online Reunion Planner
Legacy reunion-specific platform
Old-school reunion planning service with phone support
Pricing
$500-$2,500 flat fee + per-classmate add-ons depending on package
✓ Does well
- White-glove service - they'll build the website, run the mail merge, take calls from confused alumni
- Decades of class-reunion-specific operating experience
- Phone support from a human who has run reunions before
- Handles the email blasts and snail mail printing for older alumni
× Does poorly
- Price tag is 6-30x newer tools for arguably less polished output
- Web interface feels like 2008
- Mobile experience is rough - alumni complain about the RSVP flow on their phones
- Locked-in pricing - hard to add features mid-planning
Who it's for: Committees with budget but very little time, where one organizer wants to delegate the whole job to a service. Often the 50th or 60th milestone reunion.
Who should skip: Anyone comfortable using modern web tools, or committees with a budget under $1,000 total.
Our take: The 'I want a human to handle this' option. Genuinely valuable for time-starved committees, genuinely expensive. We'd suggest hiring a part-time committee assistant for $1,500 and using a $79 tool like Reunly before paying $2,500 for legacy software.
Eventbrite
General-purpose event ticketing
The most familiar ticketing platform - works fine, costs more at scale
Pricing
Free events: free. Paid: 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket + 2.9% payment processing (~6.6% effective)
✓ Does well
- Universal recognition - every classmate has used Eventbrite
- Native payment processing and mobile check-in (Eventbrite Organizer app)
- Robust reporting and exports
- Public event pages help lost alumni find the event via search
× Does poorly
- Per-ticket fees punish paid events at scale (a $75 ticket loses ~$6.74 to fees)
- Plus-one handling is awkward - typically requires separate ticket purchases
- Not class-reunion-specific - missing structured fields for maiden name, year, where-are-they-now updates
- Public event pages can leak the event to strangers if you forget to gate it
Who it's for: Mid-size reunions (75-200 alumni) where the committee has used Eventbrite before and doesn't want to learn a new tool. Free events especially.
Who should skip: Paid events of 100+ at $50+/ticket - fees become significant. Try Reunly or RSVPify+Stripe instead.
Our take: Eventbrite is the safe choice. It works, classmates trust it, and the learning curve is zero. You will pay for that comfort - on a 150-person, $75 reunion, ~$1,000 more in fees than a flat-fee tool. Worth it if the committee bandwidth is the bottleneck.
🎉 With Reunly
See Reunly in action - free demo, no committee buy-in required
Set up a test event in 6 minutes. Decide if it's the all-in-one tool we said it was.
Pick by Committee Type
The first-time small-class committee (under 50)
→ Reunly free tier
Under 50 RSVPs, you pay nothing. Get the modern feature set without committing budget.
The seasoned committee with prior Eventbrite experience
→ Eventbrite (with eyes open on fees)
Familiarity has real value. Just budget for the per-ticket cost upfront so it doesn't surprise you.
The 50-year reunion of a 400-person class
→ Classmates.com + AlumniFinder, then Reunly or Eventbrite
You'll spend most of year one finding people. Then run the event with a modern platform.
The 'committee of one' with budget but no time
→ ClassMates Online Reunion Planner
It's expensive, but it's actual humans doing the work. Worth it when delegating is the goal.
The class with a Facebook group already running it
→ Reunly + cross-post to Facebook
Use Reunly for RSVP/payments, post the link to your existing Facebook group. Don't try to run RSVPs through Facebook Events.
The committee charging $100+/head for a gala
→ Reunly flat fee
Per-ticket fees on Eventbrite become real money at this price point. Flat fee wins.
🚀 With Reunly
Three of those six committee types end up at Reunly
Built specifically for class reunions, flat per-event pricing, and a free tier under 50 RSVPs.
The Hidden Costs Every Comparison Misses
Software pricing is the easy comparison. Here are the line items that don't show up in the brochure but always show up in the final budget.
Committee labor hours
A DIY Google Form + Venmo stack saves $79 and costs 15-25 hours of committee time. At $30/hr opportunity cost, the DIY 'savings' costs $450-$750.
Payment processing fees
Always 2.9-3.5% + ~30¢ regardless of the tool. The question is whether the tool adds its own fee on top (Eventbrite) or passes processing through at cost (Reunly, RSVPify with Stripe).
Late add-ons
Cheap tools often add fees for things you'll need: SMS reminders, custom domain, advanced reporting, additional team members. Read what's bundled vs add-on.
Refund processing
When someone cancels and you refund their ticket, Stripe doesn't refund the processing fee. Build a 'no refunds after [date]' clause to protect the budget.
Check-in software
If your main tool doesn't include check-in, Zkipster runs $199+/event. Eventbrite Organizer and Reunly include it.
Mailed paper invitations
For older alumni without reliable email. Add ~$2-$3 per mailed invite for design, print, and postage. Usually 15-20% of the class needs this for 40+ year reunions.
💰 With Reunly
Reunly bundles five of those six hidden costs into the $79
Check-in, payments at pass-through, SMS reminders, unlimited committee seats, and refund tooling - all included.
Switching Mid-Plan? Read This First
Half the committees we onboard at Reunly are switching from a tool they started with. Here's when switching is worth it - and when it isn't.
Switch when
- You're 90+ days from the event - plenty of runway
- You haven't collected payments yet
- Fewer than 25 RSVPs in the old tool
- The new tool saves $300+ in fees
- The old tool can't do something you now realize you need (check-in, plus-ones)
Don't switch when
- You're under 60 days from the event
- You've already collected $500+ in payments
- The pain is "ugly UI" not "missing feature"
- Your committee will need to re-learn during crunch time
- The savings is under $200 (your time is worth more)
🎉 With Reunly
Considering a switch? Reunly's onboarding can import an Eventbrite CSV
Bring your existing RSVPs over in 5 minutes. We've migrated dozens of committees mid-plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best app for planning a class reunion in 2026?
Most committees in 2026 land on one of three options: Reunly for an all-in-one experience built for class reunions ($79 flat per event, includes payments and check-in), Eventbrite for familiarity (works but expensive per-ticket fees), or a combination of Classmates.com for finding alumni plus RSVPify or Punchbowl for invitations. The right answer depends on class size, whether you're collecting money, and how much your committee enjoys learning new tools.
Is there a free class reunion app?
Yes - Reunly has a free tier for under 50 RSVPs that includes payments and check-in, which is enough for many small reunions. Eventbrite is free for free events. Classmates.com has a free directory tier. Google Forms + Sheets is the DIY zero-cost path for tiny gatherings. There is no free app that handles a 200-person paid reunion end-to-end without either a flat per-event fee or per-ticket processing fees - that work has real costs.
Is Classmates.com still useful?
Yes, but only as a directory. The platform's strength is its decade-old database of alumni records and yearbook archive - useful for finding lost classmates before you start planning. Don't try to run RSVPs, payments, or the event itself through Classmates.com - it isn't built for that. Pay for a month of Gold, run your searches, cancel, and move the contact list to a real event tool.
What does ClassMates Online Reunion Planner cost?
$500 to $2,500+ depending on package. They sell tiered service plans that include the website, email blasts, paper invitations, and phone support. It's the most expensive way to plan a reunion in 2026 - but for committees with no time and no tech-savvy member, the white-glove service has value. We'd typically recommend trying Reunly first; if the committee genuinely can't run a modern web tool, then consider this.
Can I use Facebook Events to plan my reunion?
Facebook Events is fine for save-the-dates and casual gatherings under 30 people. It fails for anything paid (no native ticketing), anything with structured RSVP data (you can't capture maiden names or dietary restrictions in a usable way), and anything that needs check-in. Plus, 30-40% of alumni in their 40s+ have abandoned Facebook. Use Facebook to announce, not to plan.
What about Mighty Networks or Wild Apricot?
Both are membership/community platforms - overbuilt for a single reunion event ($30-$60/month minimum subscriptions). They make sense if you're running an ongoing alumni association with monthly events and dues. For a one-shot reunion, they're more friction than value.
What about just using a Google Form and Venmo?
It works for under-30-person free or low-cost reunions. It breaks for larger groups because: no structured plus-one capture, no payment receipts for guests, no check-in, no automated reminders to non-responders, no name badges. The DIY stack saves $79 and costs roughly 15-25 hours of committee time. The labor math rarely works out.
Which app handles lost-classmate search best?
Classmates.com first (free directory, paid month gives messaging). LinkedIn second (paid Sales Navigator helps but isn't required). Facebook search third. For really hard cases - 25+ years out, classmates with common names - AlumniFinder offers per-record lookups at $0.25-$1 each. Most committees only need the first three tools to find 90% of the class. Don't pay for AlumniFinder unless you've truly exhausted free options.
🚀 With Reunly
Done comparing? Try Reunly free under 50 RSVPs.
If it doesn't fit, you've lost 10 minutes. If it does, you've saved 20 hours.
The All-in-One Class Reunion App
Built specifically for class committees. Free under 50 RSVPs, $79 flat for unlimited.