Overview

Rubric is a modular student-engagement platform for universities, student unions, associations, and guilds. It is best suited to campus teams that need club operations, events, communications, and student participation tracking under one roof. The broad toolkit is compelling, though transaction fees and a 30–60-day typical onboarding period deserve a place in the decision.

Customers can select from 28 plug-and-play modules to match campus needs. The Student CRM & Engagement Tracker connects student profiles with touchpoints such as club activity, events, and trainings, and supports engagement scoring. That combination suits institutions seeking a view of participation across programs as well as tools to run them; it may be more platform than a team looking only for a basic event tool needs. Rubric is operated by MySmock Pty Ltd trading as Rubric and was founded in 2017.

Key features

Club administration and approvals

The Club Management dashboard brings together club members, hosted events, activity levels, forms, attendance rates, and member types. This gives administrators a consolidated view of club activity. Smart Digital Forms support drag-and-drop fields, live data from club profiles, and approval flows, making them useful when campus processes depend on collecting information and routing it for review.

Events and outreach

Event & Ticketing covers membership validation, recurring events, tabling, collaborative event management, a marketplace, and ticket scanning. Outreach Tools add SMS blasts and email campaigns with templates and real-time recipient lists. Together these tools can support the practical work around campus events, although organizations selling tickets or merchandise should weigh the associated transaction charges.

Engagement, integrations, and safeguards

The Student CRM & Engagement Tracker supports student profile management and engagement scoring across events, clubs, and trainings. Rubric also supports LMS and student-information-system connections, single sign-on, and experience-management systems. Its admin portal lists integrations including Xero, QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Stripe, Wallester, Weel, SAML 2.0, AAF OIDC, Google OAuth/OIDC, Microsoft Azure AD/Graph, and StudId.

Rubric says it uses SSL encryption, quality-assurance procedures, and industry-standard encryption and key-management practices. It states that it is GDPR compliant and PCI-DSS 3.2.1 Level 1 compliant as both merchant and service provider. Production systems and backups are hosted on Amazon EC2, with residency options in Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Rubric reports average uptime of 99.5%; it says support is available through an in-app chatbot and email and typically responds within 24 business hours.

Pricing

The US clubs pricing page lists free monthly subscriptions across three transaction-volume tiers. The tiers differ in their fees on paid memberships, tickets, and merchandise, so the free subscription does not mean every sale is fee-free.

Plan	12-month transaction volume	Monthly subscription	Paid sales
Free	Below $200	Free	Free
Standard	$200–$20,000	Free	4% + 70¢
Champion	Above $20,000	Free	3% + 50¢

All three are listed at 0.00 USD per free. Free is the natural fit for clubs with less than $200 in annual transaction volume; Standard applies in the $200–$20,000 range, while Champion is intended for volume above $20,000 and lowers the listed selling fee. Purchases may also carry service fees that vary with payment method, basket size, and card issuer. For wider institutional adoption, Rubric asks prospective customers to book a demo or contact its team; institutional pricing is custom pricing.

Platforms

Rubric is available on Android, iOS, and the web. Its campus engagement app gives students access to events and activities, and the App Store listing identifies iPhone availability.

Who it's for

Rubric is aimed at universities, student unions, associations, and guilds managing clubs, campus programs, services, and student engagement. Its modules and connected participation tracking are most relevant to teams coordinating several parts of campus life. Most users are up and running within 30–60 days, depending on package and integration or customization needs, so it is a less immediate fit for organizations seeking a quick, lightweight deployment.

Pros and cons

Pros: A choice of 28 modules lets campus organizations shape the platform around their needs.
Pros: Club oversight, event tools, outreach, and engagement tracking connect administration with student participation.
Pros: Free monthly subscriptions keep subscription costs at zero across the listed US clubs tiers.
Cons: Fees apply to paid sales in the Standard and Champion tiers, and purchase service fees can vary.
Cons: Typical onboarding takes 30–60 days, which may not suit teams needing a rapid rollout.
Cons: Broader institutional pricing requires contacting the team rather than choosing a published plan.

Alternatives

Student Engagement Software offers a broader category view for comparing campus tools.

GivePulse is another freemium option with a free plan; its Basic Free plan has one admin, no subgroups, and five custom fields, while Give Joy is 20.00 USD per month when billed annually.
InScribe is a paid option with an institutional plan that uses custom pricing.
Modern Campus CMS is a paid alternative available on Android, API, iOS, self-hosted, and web platforms.
Pathify is a paid alternative with custom pricing based on enrollment and optional add-ons.
Suitable is a paid alternative available on Android, iOS, and web.
Civitas Advising is a paid alternative with quote-based annual subscription pricing scaled to institution size.
Unibuddy is a paid alternative with no free plan.
Nearpeer is a paid alternative available on Android, iOS, and web.

Verdict

Choose Rubric if your university, union, association, or guild wants configurable campus operations and student-engagement tracking in the same platform, with free monthly subscriptions for club plans. Look elsewhere if transaction charges on paid sales or a typical 30–60-day onboarding period conflicts with your budget or rollout needs.

	Empower	Rubric
Free plan	No	Yes
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	—	Free
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Android, iOS, Web
Free plan	No	Yes
Engagement analytics	Yes	Yes
Student surveys	Yes	—
SMS outreach	—	Yes
Risk alerts	—	Yes
LMS integration	—	Yes

Empower vs Rubric

Empower

Rubric