Feending vs Graduway: the alternative for universities [2026]

Feending and Graduway both help a university manage its alumni, with a different centre of gravity. Graduway is part of a fundraising suite and publishes a standard 10-week implementation, against the one or two weeks Feending publishes, whose AI suggests who each member should meet. Feending is the better fit if you want an active alumni network.

Feending wrote this article, so read it with that in mind. What we say about Graduway comes from its own website.

Any alumni office knows the scene. A graduate wants to change sector and has no idea who to write to. A company founded by an alumnus is looking for people from the same university, and nobody hears about it. Meanwhile, two people reconcile spreadsheets before every mailing. Alumni software feature lists, with directory, events and mentoring on every one, do not settle that.

What is the best Graduway alternative for a university?

Feending is the best Graduway alternative for a university that wants its alumni to meet and help each other without every connection depending on its staff. It is a private, one-of-a-kind platform that works for the manager and for the member, bringing together the alumni database, chat, email, news wall, events, resources, dues, sponsorships and jobs.

Three situations tend to tip the decision towards Feending. 1/ Your team is small. The platform suggests the connections two people could never make by hand. 2/ Your data is scattered. Faculties, forms and newsletters end up in a single database. 3/ You want to start this academic year. The community can be up and running in one or two weeks.

Which AI connects alumni better, Feending's or Graduway's?

Feending's AI builds a profile of each alumnus and suggests who to meet across five dynamics, whereas what Graduway describes is a mentoring match. In an alumni network, they look like this:

1/ Networking. A graduate moves to a new city and finds the people already working in their sector there. 2/ Mentoring. A recent graduate talks to someone who has already taken the step she is weighing up. 3/ Sales. An alumnus who runs a consultancy reaches another who needs exactly that service. 4/ Investment. A founder meets someone in the same network who invests in her sector. 5/ Hiring. An executive looking for young talent from her faculty stops relying on word of mouth.

Knowing why two people should meet is the core of Feending. Members do not dig through a directory, and the office does not make every introduction by hand. We explain the logic in how smart networking works.

Gravyty markets its platform as AI-powered, but its Graduway page does not detail specific AI features. What it does describe is a mentoring match based on profile attributes and application answers, which admins can run automatically, individually or in bulk.

What does Feending change for a university with scattered data?

Feending puts the database, sign-ups, segmentation, communication and activity tracking on one platform, and that is how UCAM Alumni made segmenting its profiles five times faster.

Before, UCAM Alumni's data was spread across forms, spreadsheets, newsletters and standalone platforms. In the words of Sarah Folio, head of UCAM's alumni department: "We've gone from reactive, operational management to strategic, data-driven management." The whole story is in the UCAM case study.

Can a university have an alumni platform with its own brand?

Yes: with Feending, a university gets a private, one-of-a-kind platform, 100% personalised, with its brand, its domain and its web app always included. Its alumni see their university and nobody else.

Feending starts from how your organisation works. If something does not exist, it is developed to order and quoted separately. An app in the App Store and Google Play under your brand is available as an option.

Maintenance, updates and continuous evolution at no extra cost, support from the team and daily backups are all included, as the pricing page sets out. Graduway also offers a white-labeled portal; with Feending, the platform is built around your community. See it applied to universities at Feending for alumni.

How long does it take a university to launch its community with Feending?

A university goes from first conversation to a working community with Feending in one or two weeks. In the first week you define structure, roles, content and identity together. The launch comes in the second week, with the team beside you to invite members so that things are moving from the very first days.

Technically, the platform can be ready from 24 hours if you arrive with everything defined and no ad-hoc developments.

That timeline changes what you can plan. If the annual alumni reunion or graduation is a month away, you can use it to present the network. For your current data, there is a guide on how to migrate an alumni database.

Who helps the alumni office grow the community?

At Feending, its own team does: one hour of consulting a month is always included, never held back for a higher plan, and you talk to people, not bots.

There is experience behind that: more than 70 communities in 7 countries, from universities such as UNIR, UCAM and UPV to business clubs. It produced the Feending Method, with five blocks: Ideation, Communication, Engagement, Monetisation and Analysis. It helps with each month's questions: how to re-engage a graduating class that has gone quiet, which sponsorship to propose, or which data to take to university leadership to show what the network is worth.

LQDVI went from 3,500 sign-ups to almost 5,000, up 42%, and improved how it runs events and mentoring. Gravyty, for its part, advertises a dedicated account manager and regular reviews with a Customer Success Manager.

Feending or Graduway: who is each one for?

Feending is for the university, business school or alumni network that wants active relationships between members, has a small team and prefers to launch soon with people by its side.

Graduway fits better if your priority is fundraising and your institution already uses Gravyty's suite or wants it. In that case, having community and giving under one vendor may outweigh everything above.

If you are still comparing, read Feending vs Almabase, Feending vs PeopleGrove and our best alumni software roundup.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best Graduway alternatives?

For a university that wants to connect its alumni with AI and have advice included, Feending. To widen the list, see Feending vs Almabase and our Hivebrite alternatives.

Does Graduway have AI?

Gravyty markets its platform as AI-powered and, for Graduway, describes a mentoring match based on profiles and application answers. Feending's AI suggests who each member should meet across five dynamics.

Graduway or Feending for an alumni network?

Feending, if the first goal is connecting alumni and you want to launch in one or two weeks. The decision changes if your priority is fundraising.

How much does Feending cost?

From €300 + VAT a month with a 12-month commitment. It depends on the size of the community and what you activate, and it includes your branded platform, maintenance, updates, support, daily backups and monthly consulting.

See Feending with your university's case in mind

If you want a private, one-of-a-kind platform, with AI that connects your alumni and people who help you make it work, Request a free demo.