Short answer: if you want to know where your own graduates work, Cturtle is a data-first alternative to QS alumni analytics. It enhances your existing alumni records with employer, salary, programme and skills data. It then turns them into three platforms to grow enrolment, improve career outcomes and increase engagement. Pricing is published, from $0.25 per alumnus per year.
Do you know where your graduates are working, which companies hire them, and what skills the market wants?
QS is best known for its world university rankings. It also markets alumni analytics to universities across Asia. If you are comparing options, start with the job you need done. Rankings compare institutions. Alumni data shows what happened to your graduates, programme by programme.
What alumni data should tell you
Whichever provider you choose, good alumni data helps you:
- Understand graduate employability and career progression
- Find partner employers and strengthen those relationships
- See which industries and further study paths alumni take
- Judge how relevant each programme is, based on real outcomes
- Show prospective students and parents proof, not promises
What to compare when choosing an alumni data provider
Six questions. Put them to every provider, including us.
| Question | Cturtle | Ask any provider |
|---|---|---|
| Where the data comes from | A proprietary database that links alumni to employer details, estimated salary, course programme and skills. | Where does each field come from? How is it checked? |
| What happens to your records | Cturtle enhances the alumni data you already hold. It keeps it up to date and adds employer, salary and further-study data. | Will you work with my existing records, or start again? |
| Platforms | Three live platforms with public demos. All run on one shared dataset. | Can I try it before I buy? |
| Independence | Cturtle does not sell rankings or paid placement. It sells data and platforms. | Does the provider also sell marketing or ranking services to the same universities? |
| Price | Published. From $0.25 per alumnus per year for data, $0.44 with all three platforms. | What is the full price per alumnus, in writing? |
| Privacy | Small groups are hidden. On the K12 platform, groups under 5 people are never shown. | How are small groups and individuals protected? |
Data, transparency and trust
Cturtle has argued for transparent student employment outcomes since 2016. The idea is simple. Show students and parents what graduates of a specific programme actually did next.
Many universities now buy marketing, advisory and ranking services from the same few firms. That is a reason to ask one plain question of any provider: what is for sale? At Cturtle the answer is data and platforms. We do not sell rankings or paid placement.
- Data: a proprietary database linking alumni to employers, estimated salary, programmes and skills. More than 33 million profiles tracked, including 7.5 million international student alumni.
- Transparency: students see real outcomes for the exact degree they are considering.
- Trust: evidence a prospective student can check, and a price the university can check too.
Three platforms, three demos
Grow enrolment. Improve career outcomes. Increase engagement. Each platform runs on one shared alumni dataset.
CourseAdvisor
Links your course catalogue to alumni career outcomes, so prospective students can see where a degree leads.
CareerAdvisor
Helps students and graduates find the employers that hire people like them.
AlumniPro
Alumni intelligence and CRM. Track career outcomes and engage your global alumni community.
See it live at three institutions
These are working platforms, not mock-ups.
- University of Birmingham289 degree programmes linked to 146,737 alumni outcomes, across 214 countries and 73,487 employers. uob.cturtle.co
- University of York301 degree programmes linked to 84,417 alumni outcomes, across 170 countries and 41,731 employers. york.cturtle.co
- K12 solution, for prospective parentsShows parents universities, fields and levels of study, employers, job titles, industries, work countries and estimated earnings. English and Vietnamese, one click. Groups under 5 people are never shown. Built for recruitment, with an enquiry button. kcw.cturtle.co
Trusted by global industry leaders
Cturtle is not only for universities. We also work with professional bodies that need to know where their members work.
- CPA AustraliaWe track over 92K members. Read the member intelligence report
- AusIMMWe track global market trends across 372K mining professionals worldwide. Read the partner brief
Better value, in writing
Cturtle prices per alumnus, per year. The prices are public.
| Plan | Per alumnus per year | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Data only | $0.25 | Raw alumni data (employer, job title, location, industry, seniority) as CSV, JSON or XML. Annual refresh. No minimum spend. |
| Data + one platform | $0.35 | CourseAdvisor, CareerAdvisor or AlumniPro, with dashboard, search and unlimited user seats. Year 1 minimum $10,000. |
| Data + two platforms | $0.40 | Any two platforms on one shared dataset. Year 1 minimum $15,000. |
| Data + all three platforms | $0.44 | All three platforms on one shared dataset. Year 1 minimum $20,000. |
Discounts: 10% off for 100,000 to 199,999 alumni, and 20% off for 200,000 or more. Platform tiers drop 50% from Year 2. See the full pricing page. Ask any other provider for the same breakdown, then compare.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to QS for alumni data in 2026?
It depends on the job. If you need a ranking, you need a ranking provider. If you need to know where your own graduates work, which employers hire them and what they earn, a data-first provider is a better fit. Cturtle enhances your existing alumni records with employer, salary, programme and skills data, and delivers it through three platforms with live demos.
How is Cturtle different from a rankings provider?
Rankings compare institutions. Cturtle shows what happened to the graduates of each of your programmes. Cturtle does not sell rankings or paid placement. The product is verified data and the platforms that use it.
What does alumni data enhancement mean?
Cturtle takes the alumni records you already hold, keeps them up to date, and adds employer, job title, industry, location, estimated salary and further-study data.
How much does Cturtle cost?
Pricing is published. Data only is $0.25 per alumnus per year. Data plus one platform is $0.35, plus two platforms $0.40, and plus all three platforms $0.44. Platform tiers have a Year 1 minimum and volume discounts apply.
Which platforms does Cturtle offer?
Three. CourseAdvisor helps grow enrolment, CareerAdvisor helps improve career outcomes, and AlumniPro helps increase alumni engagement. All three run on one shared dataset and all three have live demos.
Can prospective parents use it in their own language?
Yes. Cturtle's K12 solution, live at kcw.cturtle.co, shows parents universities, fields of study, employers, job titles and estimated earnings in English and Vietnamese, with one click to switch.
Is individual alumni information shown?
No. On the K12 platform, groups of fewer than 5 people are never shown.
QS and Quacquarelli Symonds are trademarks of their respective owner. Cturtle is not affiliated with QS. Comparison criteria on this page describe Cturtle’s own products and published pricing.
Want a walkthrough?
See how Cturtle can enhance your alumni data. Book a call with our founder, Shane Dillon.