# Grant Manager Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Grant Manager the right Grant Management solution for you? Explore 7 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/92667/Grant-Manager/reviews --- Grant Manager 4.9 (7) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/92667/Grant-Manager/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Grant Manager Ease of use 4.6 Customer Service 5.0 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-7 of 7 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use MS Marjorie S. Associate Dirctor Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Overall, Grants Manager works well as a back up system to track expenses in real time." April 8, 2020 5.0 Grants Manager has been our financial software of choice since its inception; the cloud version is currently used with 25 access licenses. For our purpose, Grants Manager works well as an interdepartmental backup system to produce real-time data because the university financial system does not always provide real-time data. It depends on when the update takes place. Pros I like the ease of use, not a real complicated software. The customer support is superb; they always respond expeditiously. If I need something the program does not offer, they will work with you to develop what you need. We like the ability to manage funds for several different grants all in the same in the system. It allows us to manage data, track expenses in real-time, upload related documents, and produce reports. Cons System access can sometimes be difficult without technical support. Grants manager does not integrate with other processes in the university. Reconciliation has to be done manually to reconcile with Banner, the university financial system. Our grants are awarded annually for five years. .When annually adding funds to an account or transferring funds from one account code to another it does not calculate in a manner that is easy to understand. The balance appears as negative or positive. You really can't tell what the true balance is. Some reports are difficult to create even when using the widget. Reason for choosing Grant Manager Many of the products reviewed involved a very difficult learning curve and/or offered either too much or not exactly what was needed. Review Source Response from Northern Lights Software April 15, 2020 We appreciate and value your review and feedback. We want to note that Grant Manager includes a built-in, user-configurable utility that can be used to quickly and easily import and reconcile data from Banner, Oracle, or any other accounting system that can generate spreadsheet export files. Since this is an advanced feature, it is sometimes easy to overlook. While complex custom reports may be difficult for end-users to create or edit, we are more than happy to help to make sure our customers can create and run reports that meet their specific needs. AG Alexandra G. Program Administrator Research Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Personnel Manager from Northern Lights" April 9, 2020 5.0 Pros Personnel Manager is a fantastic way to manage personnel costs on grants. I cannot imagine using any other tool for this purpose (and most definitely not Excel, even though I'm a huge Excel fan!). It is super easy to use and has incredible flexibility and functionality. Salary and fringe expenses can be easily checked and/or a variety of reports run by person, by grant, and/or by date range. It is very versatile and accommodates just about any option for paying people (i.e., weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, hourly, etc.). It also is very easy to doublecheck salary expenses (the largest cost on any grant) to ensure that personnel are paid correctly. Cons None--Personnel Manager is a terrific, indispensable tool! Reason for choosing Grant Manager Not only is the functionality terrific, the customer service is equally amazing. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, without time to prepare to work remotely, I had an issue accessing Personnel Manager from my institution's server. Shortly after emailing customer support, I was on a call with Northern Lights, and in no time, Personnel Manager had been moved to Northern Lights' cloud service, and I was back up-and-running. Truly an amazing experience. Come for the product, and stay for the stellar customer support! Review Source JD Jodie D. Admin. Program Specialist Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Grant Manager makes my job easier!" April 9, 2020 5.0 I have been using Grant Manager for over 20 years. It was easy to learn and makes my job much easier. Any time I have had issues they were addressed right away and a solution was found. I started using the web-based version when I had to work from home due to a family emergency. Northernlights Software was always available for any questions or concerns. Now that we find ourselves in the middle of a pandemic and under the stay-at-home order I can once again continue my work without any problems. Going into our fiscal year end will continue instead of coming to a difficult end. I cannot say enough good things about this company or software especially using it for a university accounting system. Pros I work for a major university at the department level and handle many accounts that have multiple PI's assigned to them. Grant Manager makes it easy to set up sub-accounts and core users so I can run reports with budgets for each one that request their expenditures and balances. This makes the job run smoothly without having to keep separate spreadsheets for each PI. Cons I haven't found anything that I do not like about this software. Review Source AL Albert L. Laboratory Supervisor Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Grant Manager" April 30, 2020 5.0 Grant Manager has allowed us as a department within the larger University system, to maintain a consistent shadow budgeting system while University financial processes have changed over the years. It has also been adaptable for educational budgeting of laboratory course expenses particularly in calculation of course fees. Pros Grant Manager is easy to use and intuitive in its design. It allows for complex budgeting processes and tracking to be simplified so that faculty and staff who are not necessarily trained in accounting and finance can manage their grants easily. The application provides very clear and simplified reporting to researchers. Cons The application is only a "PC" based application. It would be helpful to have a MacOS compatible version as many researchers use Apple computers. Review Source Response from Northern Lights Software May 5, 2020 While the on-premise version of Grant Manager is available only for Windows, the cloud version runs equally well on Windows, Macs, and Linux computers. SD Sandy D. Accounts Manager Research Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Grant Manager and Personnel Manager" April 8, 2020 5.0 Grant Manager has given me a central location for storing my data for government reporting. From the reports, I can prepare government reports. Pros The majority of our income comes through government funding. They are very particular about classification of income and expenses. Personnel Manager gives me the ability to categorize our payroll by different grant sources. Grant Manager gives me the ability to categorize expenses to prepare for receiving draws. Personnel Manager detail can be transferred into Grant Manager easily, making a one source vehicle for reporting. Cons There are reports for every situation, making it more difficult to find the right reports. Once you find the ones you want, it's smooth sailing. Reason for choosing Grant Manager Working with someone who has experience with a product is more valuable than reading about one. Review Source DA Dorothy A. Bio/NSci Resource Coordinator Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "User friendly and reliable- great support" June 3, 2020 5.0 I have been using Grant Manager software since 2000- To track and manage purchases, payroll and all account activity in the Biology and NSci Departments at Oberlin College. I use it every day and it has been very reliable and also easy to teach new users. The support is personal and thoughtful and very reliable. Truly the right software for my application. Pros The report feature is extremely helpful and the reports themselves are easy to read and very clear. Also love the search function- many ways to look up information Cons Sometimes due to the use of upper or lower case will make a search unreliable Review Source JB Joy B. Research Administrator Research Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Grant Manager is well worth the money!" April 24, 2020 4.0 The absolute best aspect of Grant Manager is the customer service! Whenever we have a question or need, Northern Lights is there for us, quickly and always with a (virtual) smile. They are wonderful to work with! Pros We use Grant Manager as an accounting tool for our small institute. Although it might not have the bells and whistles of the more expensive, higher end products used by larger institutions, it is quite robust and fulfills our needs. We have been very happy with it! Cons Like any product, it requires a bit of training and use before fully understanding the system. 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