How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- If budget is the whole conversation, Zeffy and Give Lively charge nonprofits 0% in platform and processing fees, funded by optional donor tips and philanthropic backers.
- Givebutter (free with tips on, 3% platform fee with tips off) and Donorbox (free Standard plan, 2.95% platform fee) are the two most popular low-cost on-ramps, with very different fee philosophies.
- Platforms that charge per donation instead of per month (Fundraise Up, Funraise's free tier) can cost more than a subscription once volume grows, so model your annual gift total.
- Nonprofits that need fundraising plus a real donor CRM in one login should compare Bloomerang (from $40/month for fundraising), DonorPerfect (from $119/month) and Aplos ($79/month, accounting-first).
- Bigger organizations running complex campaigns use GoFundMe Pro (formerly Classy), where pricing is quote-based and the platform fee structure rewards higher tiers.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Givebutter | Small teams wanting modern pages, events and auctions free | Free (tips on); 3% platform fee (tips off) | Yes |
 Donorbox | Fast setup with embeddable recurring-gift forms | Free (Standard plan, 2.95% platform fee) | Yes |
 GoFundMe Pro | Mid-size and large nonprofits running complex campaigns | See website (custom quote) | No |
 Fundraise Up | Conversion-focused donation checkout with AI optimization | Free to start (per-transaction platform fee, no monthly fee) | No (no monthly fee; platform fee applies per donation) |
 Zeffy | Nonprofits wanting zero fees on every gift, period | Free (0% platform and processing fees) | Yes |
 Bloomerang | Donor retention with fundraising, CRM and volunteer tools united | $40/month (Fundraising, billed annually) | No |
 Funraise | Growing organizations wanting forms, events and CRM in one free tier | Free (5% platform fee on free plan; Premium custom quote) | Yes |
 Give Lively | 501(c)(3) nonprofits wanting a philanthropically funded free platform | Free (0% platform fee; payment processor fees apply) | Yes |
 DonorPerfect | Development teams wanting a long-tenured fundraising CRM | $119/month | No |
 Aplos | Small nonprofits and churches needing fund accounting plus giving | $79/month (Lite) | Free trial (15 days) |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Picture the last week of December. Your development director refreshes the donation page on her phone and watches the year-end gifts land. Half of them come from a link someone shared on social media, a third from the email appeal, and the rest from donors typing your site address from memory at 11 pm. Every one of those gifts passes through a platform that takes its cut or does not, shows your branding or does not, and captures the donor's data or lets it vanish. The best online giving platforms for nonprofits make that moment boring: the page loads fast, the gift completes in seconds, and the donor's record is waiting in your CRM the next morning. These 10 platforms cover the real options, from genuinely free to enterprise-grade.
#1
Givebutter
Best for: Small teams wanting modern pages, events and auctions free
Visit givebutter.com
Starting priceFree (tips on); 3% platform fee (tips off)
Free planYes
Givebutter built its reputation on being the free platform that does not look free. Donation forms, fundraising pages, ticketing, auctions, peer-to-peer and a donor CRM all run on the core plan at no monthly cost, funded by optional donor tips under the Givebutter Guarantee. With tips enabled, the nonprofit keeps 100% of funds raised; with tips off, a flat 3% platform fee applies across campaign types, plus standard processing.
The catch is donor psychology: some donors resent the 15% tip ask, and a few nonprofits report complaints. Givebutter Plus (from about $29 per month) gates SMS, advanced automation and phone support. For small teams that want a polished page this week with no budget meeting, it remains the easiest yes on this list.
What we like- Free core platform with donation forms, events, auctions and a built-in CRM
- Modern payment options (Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH)
- Givebutter Wallet earns rewards on held funds
Watch out for- The tip prompt (about 15% suggested) annoys some donors
- Turning tips off triggers a flat 3% platform fee
- Advanced marketing automation sits in paid Givebutter Plus
Starting priceFree (Standard plan, 2.95% platform fee)
Free planYes
Donorbox is the form-first pick: paste an embed code into your site and you are accepting one-time and recurring gifts in minutes. The Standard plan has no monthly fee and charges a 2.95% platform fee; the vendor's own FAQ positions Pro and Premium for organizations that want reduced fees and advanced features. Recurring donors manage their own gifts through a branded portal, which cuts the "please update my card" emails.
At $100,000 a year in online gifts, 2.95% is $2,950, which is why growing organizations compare the $150-per-month Pro tier (1.75% to 2% platform fee) once volume justifies it. Donorbox also sells events, memberships, crowdfunding and a kiosk app for in-person giving, so it can stretch beyond the donation form as you grow.
What we like- Embeddable forms and hosted pages with a fast UltraSwift checkout
- Recurring giving with a donor self-service portal
- Broad payment methods including crypto and stock donations
Watch out for- The 2.95% Standard platform fee adds up at volume
- Pro ($150/month) and Premium are needed for lower fees and priority support
- Text-to-give costs extra
#3
GoFundMe Pro
Best for: Mid-size and large nonprofits running complex campaigns
Visit classy.org
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
Classy rebranded as GoFundMe Pro, and the product now pairs Classy's campaign engine with GoFundMe's donor network and data. This is the platform for organizations running peer-to-peer programs, multi-chapter campaigns or international fundraising: branded donation pages, event fundraising, recurring programs and analytics built for teams with dedicated development staff. The integrations list (Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Zapier) reflects its enterprise audience.
Pricing is quote-based, entry costs are high, and platform fees plus processing on every gift surprise teams that only compared subscriptions. If annual online revenue clears six figures and staff can run the toolkit, the conversion data and campaign depth can justify it.
What we like- Enterprise campaign toolkit (P2P, events, international giving) backed by GoFundMe's donor data
- Strong reporting and integrations including Salesforce
- Brand recognition that lifts donor confidence
Watch out for- Quote-only pricing with a high entry point (third-party guides cite from $299/month)
- Transaction and platform fees stack on top
- Overkill for small shops
Starting priceFree to start (per-transaction platform fee, no monthly fee)
Free planNo (no monthly fee; platform fee applies per donation)
Fundraise Up sells one thing: a checkout that converts. The platform fee applies per successful transaction instead of a monthly subscription, and every account gets the full toolkit (AI optimization, campaign pages, recurring giving, localization, integrations) with no tiered feature gates. Donors can opt to cover fees at checkout, which the vendor says most do. There are no annual contracts, so seasonal campaigns can come and go.
The trade is cost at scale: a percentage on every gift means your busiest month is also your most expensive software month, and unlike a subscription the bill never flattens. There is no native CRM, so budget for the system holding your donor records. It fits organizations that already own a CRM and want the highest-converting form available.
What we like- AI-optimized checkout with strong reported conversion rates
- No monthly fee, no contracts, no feature gating
- Multi-currency and many payment methods for international donors
Watch out for- Per-donation platform fee (around 4% reported) scales with your best months
- No built-in CRM, so donor data must sync to a separate system you pay for
- Limited design customization
#5
Zeffy
Best for: Nonprofits wanting zero fees on every gift, period
Visit zeffy.com
Starting priceFree (0% platform and processing fees)
Free planYes
Zeffy is the only platform on this list that charges nonprofits literally nothing: no subscription, no per-transaction cut, no percentage of donations. The company covers all platform and processing costs itself, funded by optional tips donors can add (or zero out) at checkout. One free plan includes donation forms, event ticketing, raffles, auctions, peer-to-peer, memberships, an online store and a donor CRM with unlimited contacts.
The model invites one question: what is the catch? In practice the catch is maturity, not money. Zeffy's automation and reporting depth trail enterprise platforms, and very large organizations may miss dedicated success teams. For small and mid-size nonprofits, though, keeping 100% of a $10,000 campaign instead of losing $300 to $600 in fees is arithmetic that ends most evaluations early.
What we like- Truly zero fees: no platform cut, no processing fees, no monthly charges
- Donations, ticketing, raffles, auctions, memberships and a CRM in one free plan
- No credit card required to start
Watch out for- Funded by optional donor tips, which some donors find off-putting
- Narrower advanced automation than paid enterprise platforms
- US and Canada focused
#6
Bloomerang
Best for: Donor retention with fundraising, CRM and volunteer tools united
Visit bloomerang.co
Starting price$40/month (Fundraising, billed annually)
Free planNo
Bloomerang plays a different game from the form vendors: it wants to be the system of record for donor relationships. The Giving Platform combines fundraising tools, a donor CRM with AI-driven next-best-action recommendations, and volunteer management, aimed squarely at retention rather than one-time conversion. Pricing is published: Fundraising from $40 per month, CRM from $125, Volunteer from $119, or the unified Giving Platform from $242 per month billed annually, all with unlimited users.
Note that Qgiv is now Bloomerang Fundraising: the event, auction and text fundraising toolkit lives inside Bloomerang, not as a separate product, and the old Qgiv-only pricing is gone. Bloomerang fits organizations that have outgrown a donation form and need to spot drifting donors before they lapse.
What we like- Fundraising, donor CRM and volunteer management in one platform with predictive donor insights
- Published entry prices with unlimited users
- Qgiv's event and auction toolkit now folded in as Bloomerang Fundraising
Watch out for- The full Giving Platform starts at $242 per month, a jump from the $40 fundraising-only tier
- Pricing scales with your database size
- Onboarding a CRM takes real staff time
#7
Funraise
Best for: Growing organizations wanting forms, events and CRM in one free tier
Visit funraise.org
Starting priceFree (5% platform fee on free plan; Premium custom quote)
Free planYes
Funraise's free plan is unusually complete: donation forms, fundraising pages, recurring giving, event ticketing and a donor CRM at $0 per month, with a 5% platform fee. The vendor's own pricing page is upfront about the trade: Premium plans carry a 0 to 3% platform fee with a custom quote and add peer-to-peer, auctions, wealth screening, SMS and hands-on onboarding. Processing runs 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction, and the vendor notes most donors choose to cover fees.
Five percent of $50,000 is $2,500, which buys a lot of subscription elsewhere. The $0.60 fixed fee also bites on small recurring gifts: a $20 monthly donation pays $7.20 a year in fixed fees alone. Funraise fits organizations raising under $1M that want an all-in-one free start and will graduate to Premium (or elsewhere) as volume grows.
What we like- Free plan bundles donation forms, pages, recurring giving, events and a donor CRM
- Premium adds P2P, auctions, wealth screening and text-to-give
- Strong automation for a free tier
Watch out for- The free plan's 5% platform fee is the highest here
- Card processing runs 2.9% plus $0.60 per gift
- Premium pricing is quote-based
#8
Give Lively
Best for: 501(c)(3) nonprofits wanting a philanthropically funded free platform
Visit givelively.org
Starting priceFree (0% platform fee; payment processor fees apply)
Free planYes
Give Lively takes a third path to free: instead of donor tips or venture capital, philanthropic founders fund the platform, so member nonprofits pay no platform fees at all. You connect your own Stripe or PayPal account and pay standard processor rates, but Give Lively itself takes nothing. The platform covers one-time, recurring and offline donations, peer-to-peer pages and event ticketing, with unlimited use of each product.
The gate is membership: organizations apply, connect Stripe, and pass a values alignment review, which adds days to onboarding and excludes non-501(c)(3) groups. The toolkit is narrower than Givebutter's or Zeffy's (no auctions, no built-in CRM). For eligible nonprofits that want free software without tipping prompts shown to donors, it is the cleanest deal available.
What we like- No platform, setup or subscription fees of any kind
- Funded by philanthropic founders, not donor tips
- Clean donor-first page design with real-time data exports
Watch out for- Membership requires an application and values alignment review
- You still pay Stripe or PayPal processing fees
- Narrower campaign toolkit than commercial rivals
Starting price$119/month
Free planNo
DonorPerfect is the veteran: employee-owned, four decades in nonprofit fundraising, and built around the donor record rather than the donation button. Plans start at $119 per month with pricing based on features, covering donor management, online giving, reporting, email marketing (Constant Contact is bundled) and automation. The pitch is operational maturity: migration help, configurable workflows, and reporting that boards actually read.
There is no free tier, and $119 a month before processing fees is real money for a small shop. The online tools are competent but the platform's heart is the CRM, so form-obsessed teams may find Givebutter or Donorbox livelier. For development teams that live in their database, the tenure argument lands.
What we like- Forty-plus years focused on nonprofit fundraising, with deep reporting and donor management
- Constant Contact email marketing included in every plan
- 90% year-over-year client retention claimed on its site
Watch out for- $119 per month entry with no free tier prices out tiny orgs
- The interface shows its age next to newer rivals
- Online giving forms are solid but not the product's center
#10
Aplos
Best for: Small nonprofits and churches needing fund accounting plus giving
Visit aplos.com
Starting price$79/month (Lite)
Free planFree trial (15 days)
Aplos belongs on this list for one reason: it is the only entry where the donation form and the general ledger are the same product. Small nonprofits and churches get fund accounting, donation tracking, online giving forms, event registration and board-ready reports starting at $79 per month for two users on Lite, with Core at $129 and Advanced from $229. The 15-day trial needs no credit card.
Aplos is accounting software with giving attached, not giving software with accounting attached. If your primary pain is campaign conversion or peer-to-peer, the pure fundraising platforms above do more. But if your treasurer wrestles with restricted funds in spreadsheets while donations land elsewhere, unifying both in Aplos removes a whole category of reconciliation work.
What we like- True fund accounting (not QuickBooks with workarounds) plus donation tracking and online giving forms
- Published prices from $79/month
- Part of the Velora suite with Keela and Raisely for connected fundraising
Watch out for- Accounting-first, so campaign and event tools trail pure fundraising platforms
- Only 2 users on Lite and Core
- The Advanced tier jumps to $229/month
Every platform on this list makes money, and the honest ones tell you how. There are four models here, and mixing them up is how nonprofits overpay. First, the subscription: a flat monthly fee (Bloomerang from $40, DonorPerfect from $119, Aplos from $79). Predictable, and usually the cheapest at high volume. Second, the platform fee: a percentage of each gift (Donorbox 2.95%, Givebutter 3% with tips off, Funraise 5% on free, Fundraise Up around 4%). Third, processing: the Stripe or PayPal cut (usually 2.2% to 2.9% plus $0.30), which almost everyone pays unless the platform covers it (Zeffy) or donors do. Fourth, the tip model: the platform asks your donors for an optional contribution instead of charging you (Zeffy, Givebutter, Give Lively's founder-funded variant).
To compare, run your last twelve months of online gifts through each model. A $200,000 year costs $0 on Zeffy or Give Lively, about $6,000 on Donorbox Standard (before processing), $8,000 on Fundraise Up's reported rate, and $10,000 on Funraise's free tier. Then add subscriptions: Bloomerang's Giving Platform at $242 per month is $2,904 a year plus processing. The crossover where a subscription beats a percentage usually lands between $50,000 and $150,000 in annual online revenue.
Free is real, but it is never feature-identical to paid. The free platforms fund themselves through donor tips (Zeffy, Givebutter), philanthropy (Give Lively), or a platform fee on every gift (Funraise's free tier, Donorbox Standard). That funding shapes the product: tip-funded platforms show tipping prompts to your donors, fee-funded free tiers take a meaningful cut, and philanthropically funded platforms gate membership.
Paid platforms earn their keep in three places. Depth: Bloomerang's predictive donor insights, DonorPerfect's forty years of reporting refinement, GoFundMe Pro's campaign analytics. Breadth: auctions, text-to-give, wealth screening and volunteer management that free tiers skip or charge for. And service: onboarding teams, data migration and named support people, which matter enormously during a platform switch and barely at all once you are running.
Start free if you are under $50,000 a year in online gifts with no dedicated development staff; switching platforms is a data export and a weekend of form rebuilding. Move to paid when the platform fee line exceeds a subscription quote, when you need a real CRM, or when your board asks for retention analytics no free dashboard provides.
How we chose
We started with the searches nonprofit buyers actually run: online giving platform, donation software for nonprofits, free fundraising platform, and donor management software. For each candidate we opened the vendor's own homepage and pricing pages, checked fee structures against public reviews on G2, Capterra and Software Advice and practitioner discussion on Reddit, and compared payment methods, recurring giving, CRM depth and company-size fit. Where a vendor published no price, we wrote "See website" instead of guessing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest online giving platform for a small nonprofit?
Zeffy and Give Lively both charge 0% in platform fees. Zeffy also covers processing, funded by optional donor tips; Give Lively charges no platform fee but you pay standard Stripe or PayPal rates and must pass a membership application. Givebutter and Donorbox are free to start but take a per-gift platform fee (3% with tips off, 2.95% on Donorbox Standard).
How much of each donation does the platform keep?
It depends on the model. Zeffy keeps 0%. Give Lively keeps 0% of the platform side (you still pay processor rates). Givebutter keeps 0% with donor tips enabled or 3% with tips off. Donorbox Standard takes 2.95%. Funraise's free tier takes 5%. Fundraise Up takes around 4% per transaction. Then add card processing (typically 2.2% to 2.9% plus $0.30) unless the platform or the donor covers it.
Do donors mind the tip prompts on free platforms?
Some do. Nonprofits using tip-funded platforms report occasional donor complaints about being asked to add 10 to 15% on top of a gift, and most platforms let donors zero out the tip. If your donor base skews older or your average gift is large, test the checkout yourself and watch completion rates for a month before committing your year-end campaign to a tip-funded platform.
Can I switch donation platforms without losing recurring donors?
Usually yes. Most platforms export donor records and gift history as CSV, and several (Funraise Premium, Bloomerang, DonorPerfect) offer managed migration that moves recurring payment tokens so donors do not re-enter cards. Run old and new forms in parallel for one giving cycle, and never migrate during December.
Do these platforms work with our existing donor CRM?
Most integrate with the big CRMs. Fundraise Up, Bloomerang and Donorbox all list Salesforce integrations; Donorbox, Funraise and Aplos connect to common nonprofit tools via native integrations or Zapier. If your CRM is the system of record, confirm the sync direction before buying: some platforms push gifts one way, which creates duplicate records if your CRM also tracks online gifts.
Are donor tips tax-deductible for the donor?
Generally no. A tip left for the platform vendor is a payment to a for-profit company, not a charitable contribution to your nonprofit, so it should not appear on the donor's gift receipt from you. Most platforms separate the tip from the donation at checkout. When in doubt, ask your accountant, and make sure receipts clearly show only the gift amount.
Sources we checked (15)
- https://givebutter.com/blog/givebutter-guarantee
- https://donorbox.org/
- https://classy.org/
- https://fundraiseup.com/
- https://zeffy.com
- https://www.zeffy.com/blog/how-does-zeffy-work-get-to-know-our-help-centre
- https://bloomerang.co
- https://funraise.org
- https://www.funraise.org/lp/nonprofit-fundraising-software
- https://givelively.org
- https://donorperfect.com/
- https://aplos.com/
- https://www.aplos.com/pricing
- https://www.g2.com/categories/donation-management
- https://www.capterra.com/fundraising-software/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.