Instead of Common App
Common App alternatives
Common App helps first-year and transfer students discover colleges, submit applications, and work through admission steps. Students can explore more than 1,100 Common App colleges, save answers year over year, and use guides for gathering materials, understanding requirements, and planning essays. It also offers online support, fee waivers for eligible students, and participating-college direct admission offers that can be applied to for free. The service is free to use, though individual colleges may charge application fees.
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BlueBic Online Admissions
Free plan AndroidiPhoneWebSchools managing admissions through matriculation — BlueBic adds school-branded forms, online fee collection, entrance exams, applicant tracking, and conversion into student profiles.
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AdmitCue
Free plan WebUniversities handling international recruitment and enquiries — AdmitCue adds AI enquiry triage, international recruitment workflows, and multilingual admissions operations for institutions.
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OpenEMIS Admissions
Free plan Self-hostedWebSchools seeking free, self-hosted enrolment management — OpenEMIS Admissions is a free, self-hosted school enrolment tool that supports applications to multiple institutions and links to OpenEMIS Core.
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WebAdMIT
Free plan APIWebAdmissions teams reviewing and tracking applicant pools — WebAdMIT adds centralized applicant review assignments, scoring, automated communications, reporting, and institutional data exports.
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Kira Talent
Paid AndroidAPIiPhone+3Higher education teams assessing applicants by interview — Kira Talent adds timed video and written assessments, structured live interviews, and competency-based review rubrics.
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Gecko
Paid AndroidAPIiPhone+1Institutions coordinating student conversations across channels — Gecko adds a student engagement CRM with a shared inbox, AI support, conversation tools, and workflow automation.
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Embark
Paid AndroidiPhoneWebOrganizations managing applications, reviews, and onboarding — Embark serves schools and other programs with branded applications, references, rich-media attachments, reviews, interviews, and onboarding.
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OpenApply
Free plan MacWebWindows - 9
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Slate
Free plan Web - 11
Schoolites Admissions
Free trial AndroidAPIiPhone+1 - 12
AdmissionsPlus
Paid Web - 13
Admitly
Paid Web - 14
P16 Enrolment
Free trial Web - 15
CollegeNET ApplyWeb
Paid Web - 16
DreamApply
Paid APIWeb - 17
Ravenna Admissions
Paid AndroidAPIiPhone+1 - 18
AdmissionPros
Paid Web - 19
Finalsite Enrollment
Paid APIWeb - 20
Slate
Paid AndroidAPIiPhone+1 - 21
FACTS Enrollment
Paid Web - 22
Apply+
Paid Web - 23
Avela Apply
Paid Web - 24
Enrollment Rx
Paid Web
A different option may fit better when you need school-side admissions operations, specialist assessment, or a workflow beyond college applications. Common App runs on Android, iOS, and the web; a self-hosted option or a platform for managing inquiries, interviews, reviews, or enrollment may better match an institution’s needs. Compare the intended user, application and review tools, communications, integrations, platform availability, and price. Some alternatives are free or have a free plan, while several require a pricing inquiry.