Aclamos vs OpenWater
Awards software that does not feel like 2014.
OpenWater has served awards programs for years, but its roots show in the UI, the pricing posture, and the lack of modern integrity tooling. Aclamos is built on Next.js 15, ships verifiable voting out of the box, and prices in public.
Side by side
Feature
Aclamos
OpenWater
Modern stack (Next.js 15 + Prisma + Postgres)
Yes
Legacy platform
Public pricing
Visible at /pricing
See vendor site for current pricing
Per-submission fee
0% on every plan
See vendor site for current pricing
Voting methods
12 methods (IRV, STV, Schulze, Condorcet, Borda, score, cumulative, more)
Standard scoring + ranked
End-to-end verifiable voting
SHA-256 audit chain + per-voter receipts + public re-tally
Not a stated feature
Ceremony cue desk
OBS Studio WebSocket bridge
No
Open Badges 3.0 winner credentials
W3C Verifiable Credentials, LinkedIn add-to-profile
No
AI Show Director
Claude-powered show config
No
Public REST API + OpenAPI 3.1
Yes
Limited public API
Mobile app for judges
Yes — Expo / React Native
Web responsive
Frequently asked
- Is Aclamos an OpenWater alternative?
- Yes. Aclamos covers the same awards lifecycle with a modern stack, public pricing, 0% per-entry fees, end-to-end verifiable voting, an OBS-bridged ceremony cue desk, and a native mobile judging app.
- Does Aclamos do federated foundation grant cycles?
- Yes — multi-org, multi-show schema with declarative eligibility rules, per-org RBAC (SUPERADMIN / OWNER / ADMIN / PRODUCER / JUDGE / VIEWER), conflict-of-interest handling, and multi-round shortlisting.
- What is the migration path from OpenWater?
- Aclamos imports CSV/XLSX rosters and submission data. Tell our team your timeline and we will map your existing rounds, rubrics, and award structure to Aclamos.
A modern awards platform from the ground up.
Pricing at aclamos.app/pricing. Free tier available.