Sourced comparison
Crafted Call vs Smarter Entry
Smarter Entry is a long-running competition and call-for-entry system, in service since 2003, that handles registration, fee processing, submission, and jurying. Crafted Call covers that same stage and connects it to exhibitions, sales, memberships, events, and your website.
Smarter Entry facts and pricing verified October 2, 2026 against the primary sources cited below.
The Quick Decision
Choose Crafted Call When
Galleries, art centers, and member associations whose calls become exhibitions, and that want accepted work to carry into wall labels, a printed catalog, sales and payouts, memberships, events, and a hosted website without re-entering it.
Choose Smarter Entry when
Organizations running straightforward juried competitions that want a one-time license, a low per-image fee, and no monthly bill, and that value Smarter Entry's long track record, multilingual events, and optional paid help with a prospectus.
Smarter Entry documents the jury fundamentals: blind review, a pre-jury, elimination passes, weighted ranking, and Excel exports. Its public pages stop at publishing juried results and notifying artists. Crafted Call covers the same jury stage, then turns accepted work into exhibition pages, wall labels, and a print-ready catalog, with check-in, sales, and payouts attached. It also runs the membership itself, so member discounts on entry fees apply on their own, and handles tickets and RSVPs for the opening reception.
Side by Side: Crafted Call vs Smarter Entry
Smarter Entry cells quote documented capabilities and published prices, not assumptions from a feature grid. Crafted Call cells link to the feature pages that back them.
| Capability | Crafted Call | Smarter Entry |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $0 Pay as you go plus 4 flat monthly plans ($19–$99/mo). Crafted Call pricing | A one-time $450 license, then a fee per image submitted, with no monthly fee and no minimum volume. |
| Cost to run one call | $0 to publish on every plan; $1.00 USD per completed application on Pay as you go, less with a subscription. Crafted Call pricing | No per-call price; entries are charged individually at $0.65-$0.70/image plus $450 onboarding. |
| Per-entry charges | $1.00 USD down to $0.25 USD per completed application, by plan, whatever the entry fee. A free-entry call carries the same charge, and you can have artists cover it at checkout instead. Crafted Call pricing | $0.65-$0.70/image + 2.9% + $0.30 published payment charge. |
| Jurying and rounds | Scored rounds with rubrics, juror assignment, recusal, and redistribution. Juror and round counts scale by plan, up to unlimited on Premier. Jury & Review | Single or multiple jurors, an optional pre-jury, elimination passes that narrow the field, filtering by category, and ranking on a weighted scale. |
| Blind review | Redaction hides the artist fields you choose, per round, and juror preview shows staff exactly what jurors will see. Jury & Review | Jurors can review work without seeing the artist's name. |
| Artist portfolios | Artists keep reusable portfolios and hosted profile pages. Accepted work can be entered into future calls without re-uploading. Artist Portfolios | Entrants keep an account to manage their images, and a call can accept single entries, related groups, or portfolios. |
| Entry fees and payments | Stripe checkout for entry fees, artwork sales, tickets, and memberships, with artist payouts and 1099 tooling. Artist Payouts | Entry fees run through Stripe at 2.9% + $0.30, with a monthly emailed statement of income, fees, and refunds by competition. |
| Exports and portability | CSV exports on paid plans for submissions, artists, payments, and financial reports, plus an API with webhooks on higher plans. API & Webhooks | Filterable activity reports and event data export to Excel; Smarter Entry states the organization owns all event data. |
| Publishing accepted work | Accepted pieces publish to hosted exhibition pages and online galleries, with artwork detail pages and inquiry capture. Exhibitions & Sales | Reports support publishing juried results and notifying selected artists; a hosted gallery of accepted work is not described. |
| Labels, catalogs, and intake | Print-ready wall labels and a branded exhibition catalog PDF, both generated from artwork data on every plan, plus QR-assisted check-in and checkout with condition notes. Exhibitions & Sales | Not publicly documented. |
| Exhibition operations | Floor plans and wall layouts, installation planning, condition reports, and sales during the show. Gallery Spaces | Not publicly documented. |
| Recurring calls | Duplicate any call or save it as a template. Each year keeps its own submissions, decisions, and reporting. Calls for Art | Not publicly documented. |
| Grants and non-art programs | Not the focus. Crafted Call is purpose-built for visual-arts calls; broad application platforms fit generic grant programs better. | Positioned for competitions, craft fairs, art festivals, public projects, galleries, and portfolio reviews, in English, Spanish, or French. |
| Memberships | Membership tiers with recurring dues, renewals, and rosters, included from Core. Member discounts on entry fees apply automatically, and a call can be limited to members. Memberships | Events can be limited to members; collecting dues, renewals, and a member roster are not described. |
| Events and ticketing | Ticketed and RSVP events for openings, talks, and classes, with member and early-bird prices, promo codes, check-in, waitlists, and attendance reporting. Included from Studio. Events & Ticketing | Not publicly documented. |
| Studio and space rentals | Rental agreements, charges, and occupancy reporting for studios, walls, and display cases. Space Rentals | Not publicly documented. |
| Email marketing | Newsletters with segments and delivery status on every paid plan; automations and campaign analytics through the Marketing Hub. Marketing Hub | Not publicly documented. |
| Your website | A hosted, branded gallery site with calls, exhibitions, artists, shop, and events pages, plus WordPress embeds. Organization Website | Not publicly documented. |
| Admin assistant | Frida drafts calls, answers questions, and works through gallery admin with your approval at every step. Frida | Not publicly documented. |
"Not publicly documented" means the vendor does not publish that capability or number on the pages we cite. It describes their public documentation, not proof of absence. Competitor cells summarize Smarter Entry's public pages; every citation is listed under Sources below.
Published Pricing, Both Sides
Smarter Entry
- A one-time $450 license, then a fee per image submitted, with no monthly fee and no minimum volume.
- Onboarding: $450.
- Per submission: $0.65-$0.70/image.
- Published payment charge: 2.9% + $0.30.
- Competition consulting (5 hours) add-on: $550.
- Prospectus writing add-on: $225.
- The $450 license is one-time, not yearly, and covers unlimited competitions. The per-image fee is $0.70, or $0.65 for 501(c)(3) nonprofits; Stripe adds fees on foreign transactions.
Pricing as of · sourced from Smarter Entry primary pricing source
Crafted Call
- Pay as you go: $0/mo and $0 to publish a call. A flat $1.00 USD platform charge per completed application, paid by the organization on a monthly invoice or by each artist at checkout.
- Paid plans: $19–$99/mo (Core, Studio, Gallery, Premier) with $0 to publish and a lower charge per application, down to $0.25 USD on Premier.
- Sales commission when artwork sells through the platform: 4% down to 1% by plan.
- Everything is free to set up and explore on Pay as you go; you only pay when applications complete, or from the first month of a paid plan.
These are our current published prices, the same numbers you will find on our pricing page and at checkout.
Looking for a Smarter Entry alternative?
Smarter Entry's per-image price is low, but it starts with a $450 license before your first competition. Crafted Call starts at $0: no onboarding or license fee on any plan, and publishing a call is free. The bigger question is what happens after the jury. When results become a show with labels, a catalog, sales, artist payouts, an opening reception, and a public exhibition page, Crafted Call keeps that work in the same system as the call instead of in spreadsheets.
Migration Reality
Smarter Entry exports event data to Excel and states that the organization owns it. Save the export as CSV and run it through Import & Migrate as a generic CSV: you map the columns once, check a dry run, and artists and their past entries come across, with artwork details where the export carries them. Images keep their original links and move across with help from support. Import a recent call first, and switch between calls rather than mid-call.
A vendor export proves data portability; it does not guarantee that every field, attachment, status, or historical event maps one-to-one.
In use at Mosaic Art Collective
Mosaic Art Collective in Manchester, NH runs its calls, jury review, exhibitions and artwork sales on Crafted Call.
- calls hosted
- 41calls hosted
- submissions reviewed
- 1,974submissions reviewed
- members in their artist community
- 447members in their artist community
Sources and Review Date
Pricing and capability facts verified October 2, 2026. Product details can change, so confirm the final scope and quote before buying.
Crafted Call vs Smarter Entry: common questions
How much does Smarter Entry cost?
Does Crafted Call charge an onboarding fee?
Is Crafted Call cheaper than Smarter Entry?
Does Smarter Entry support blind and multi-round jurying?
Can Smarter Entry publish an exhibition of accepted work?
Does Smarter Entry manage memberships?
Can I bring my Smarter Entry history into Crafted Call?
Why might an organization stay on Smarter Entry?
Compare with Your Real Workflow
Bring your call count, applicant volume, jury structure, post-acceptance work, and required exports. The right answer should survive that concrete comparison.