NGP VAN is the voter file and field system of the American Democratic party, and MiniVAN is its door-knocking app. Cadrify is built for British elections. In most cases these two do not compete, because they work in different countries, under different rules and are sold in completely different ways.
If you are running a campaign in the United States as a Democrat, NGP VAN is the answer and Cadrify is not. The national voter file, the modelled scores and the coordination with the party are the product, access comes through a party committee and your organisers already know MiniVAN. Cadrify holds no American voter file and has no plan to.
Cadrify is for British elections, where the register comes from the council rather than from a party, the geography is wards and constituencies keyed by GSS code and polling day means telling and knocking up. It is sold to anyone, on a card, without a committee's permission.
The comparison usually comes up when someone has worked on an American campaign and wants the same thing here. They cannot have it. There is no British party-supplied voter file to plug into, and VAN is not sold here on the same terms. What Cadrify offers instead is the British equivalent, built from the register you can lawfully get hold of.
Every row carries a verdict as well as a tick. Where a row says Cadrify does not do something, it does not.
| Capability | Cadrify | NGP VAN / MiniVAN | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| British electoral register | Imports the council register as electors, matched to wards and polling districts by GSS code | Built around the American voter file | Different countries, different source data. Neither tool can do the other's job in the other's country. |
| American voter file | Not offered, and not planned | The reason the product exists | If you need the American voter file, this row ends the comparison. |
| Who can buy it | Anyone. Any party, an independent, a community campaign or an NGO. Card or invoice, self-serve, 30-day trial | Access is granted through a Democratic party committee in the United States | This is the largest practical difference. You can start Cadrify this afternoon. VAN access is a decision somebody else makes. |
| Door-knocking on a phone | Runs in a phone browser with no app to install, and captures results with no signal | MiniVAN, a native iOS and Android app, free to the door-knocker where a licensed committee exists | MiniVAN is the more mature native app and American door-knockers already know it. Cadrify's is the browser, which means nothing to install and nothing to update. |
| Round generation from a boundary | Rounds cut from a ward boundary and the road network, balanced by door count | Territory cutting from the voter file | Both divide a patch into workable pieces. Cadrify starts from a British ward boundary and the road network on it. |
| Leaflet and literature rounds | Delivery rounds with counts, deliverers and a delivery record | Not part of American practice | Mass leaflet delivery by volunteers is a British organising habit. Cadrify models it. American systems generally do not. |
| Polling day: telling and knocking up | Telling sheets by polling station, and knock-up lists that shrink as tellers report | American get out the vote tools | Both push turnout on the day. The British method, tellers at the polling station feeding a shrinking knock-up list, is what Cadrify models. |
| Candidate nomination paperwork | Nomination forms filled from your data, subscribers checked against the register | Not offered | British nomination paperwork is a British problem. Cadrify solves it and VAN does not. |
| Turnout history | Digitise the marked register after each ballot | Vote history arrives inside the voter file | Both give you who voted, from different sources. In America it comes with the file. In Britain somebody has to digitise the marked register, which is what Cadrify does. |
| Party neutrality | Open to any party, any independent and any NGO | Democratic committees and affiliated organisations | If you are not a Democrat in the United States, VAN is not available to you on these terms. |
| Data residency | EEA. Hosted in Frankfurt | Not confirmed. Ask them where your data would sit | For a British organisation with a data protection officer, this row is worth a written answer from any American vendor. |
| How the price is set | Electorate of the geography your organisation claims. Published rate card, from £150 a year | Set by a party committee. Varies by state, committee type and the size of the district | One you can budget from a public page. The other you have to ask for. |
Cadrify's own rows describe what the product does today. The NGP VAN rows reflect our reading of its public documentation and pricing as of August 2026, and vendors change both. Check anything that would decide your purchase with NGP VAN directly. Unfamiliar with a term? See the British campaign glossary.
If the right-hand column describes your campaign, NGP VAN is the better buy.
Cadrify fits when the election is British.
For an American Democratic campaign this is not a close call, and Cadrify should not pretend otherwise.
Cadrify's figures are our published rate card. The NGP VAN figures are what that vendor published when we last read it, in its own currency.
One plan. Every feature at every size, unlimited volunteers and unlimited branches. The price follows the electorate of the geography your organisation claims, never the number of records you hold.
Rates are marginal, per 1,000 electors per year. A ward of 5,000 electors is £150 a year. A Leeds ward of 17,000 is £695. A constituency party covering 70,000 is £2,450. Broadcast email, per-address geocoding and AI features are metered separately, each with an allowance most campaigns never reach, and postcode-level geocoding is free. 30 days free. Full pricing
Not sold self-serve. What you pay depends on who grants you access.
Described from NGP VAN's public voter file access page and from state party guidance read in August 2026. There is no single published price. Ask the committee that would grant you access.
Cadrify publishes a rate card and a calculator, so a branch treasurer can put a number in a budget before the meeting. £150 a year at the minimum, £695 a year for a ward of 17,000 electors, £2,450 a year for a constituency of 70,000. NGP VAN has no equivalent public figure, because the price is set by whichever committee grants access. The software is not the issue. It is distributed through party committees, which is why a British campaign cannot buy it.
Written for the person who has to do it. Do every step while the old account is still live.
The American voter file is licensed to American campaigns through the party. None of it is available in Britain. What replaces it is the council electoral register, which you request from the electoral registration officer.
Candidates, agents and registered political parties can obtain a copy of the full register for electoral purposes. Cadrify imports the file the council sends, in the formats councils use.
Volunteer, member and donor lists import as activists and members. Voter data from an American file does not come across, and should not.
A territory becomes a round. Get out the vote becomes knocking up. Poll watching becomes telling. The glossary lists the rest.
Cadrify scores an elector from 1 to 5, where 1 is a supporter and 5 is an opponent. Modelled scores from an American file mean nothing against a British register, so start from your own door-knocking.
Generate a round from a real ward, print the sheets, knock it and log the results. 30 days, the whole product.
Not on the same terms. VAN is built around the American voter file and access runs through Democratic party committees in the United States. There is no British register inside it, no polling district structure and no nomination paperwork. If you have been told otherwise, put the question to NGP VAN directly.
For British door-knocking, yes. Cadrify generates rounds, records what happened at each door and syncs when the phone finds signal. It runs in a phone browser rather than as an app your door-knockers install.
No. Cadrify holds no American voter file and does not model American elections. Go to your state party for VAN, or look at the American field tools.
Anyone. Any party, an independent, a community campaign or an NGO. Start a 30-day trial and nobody's permission.
Cadrify scores each elector from 1 to 5, where 1 is a supporter and 5 is an opponent, from what your own door-knockers recorded and from its own models. It is not connected to the American commercial modelling market.
30 days, the whole product. Import your register, generate a round and knock it this week.