What is the best online donation software for nonprofits in 2026?
Online donation software comes down to one question: how much of each gift reaches your mission.
A donate button on your site, a link in your newsletter, a monthly giving option, a receipt that goes out on its own. That is the job. The hard part is the fee model: free with donor tips, a flat percentage, a subscription, or a bundle with a CRM.
The short answer. Zeffy is the cheapest if you are eligible: $0, card fees covered, funded by optional tips. Givebutter lets you switch tips off for a flat 3% plus processing. Give Lively is free with every feature, processor fees only. Donorbox puts the form on your own site and serves nonprofits outside the US. Bloomerang fits teams buying a donor CRM anyway. Fundraise Up targets large online programs. Funraise is free under $1M a year, at 5% per gift.
What most lists skip: they are written by vendors ranking themselves, and few say which countries a tool serves. This page puts every fee on the same $100 gift.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
7 online donation tools compared
The ranking targets a nonprofit raising from a few thousand dollars to a few hundred thousand online each year, with a small team and no developer.
| Best for | What sets it apart | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zeffy | Best free option | Card fees covered, $0 to you | 4.6/5 | $0, optional donor tip | ✓ | Small nonprofits in 6 countries | Visit → |
| 2 | Givebutter | Best for campaigns with a choice of fee model | Tips on, or a flat 3% without | 4.4/5 | $0 with tips; 3% + processing without | ✓ | Small to mid-size, US | Visit → |
| 3 | Give Lively | Free with no tiers | Every feature free, no tiers | 4.3/5 | $0; processor from 1.99% + $0.25 | ✓ | Small to mid-size, US | Visit → |
| 4 | Donorbox | Best for a form on your own site | Form embedded on your site | 4.1/5 | Free plan, 2.95% to 3.95% + processor | ✓ | Any size, US and abroad | Visit → |
| 5 | Bloomerang | Best when donor retention comes first | Gifts land in the donor CRM | 4.1/5 | $40/month + CRM from $125/month | — | Teams with a development staff | Visit → |
| 6 | Fundraise Up | Best for high-volume digital giving | Checkout built for conversion | 3.9/5 | $0 upfront; rate on request | — | Mid-size to large online programs | Visit → |
| 7 | Funraise | Free entry under $1M a year | No subscription under $1M | 3.9/5 | $0/month, 5% + 2.9% + 60¢ | ✓ | Under $1M raised a year | Visit → |
Scores on five weighted criteria, detailed in the method. Prices read in 2026 on official vendor pages, in US dollars.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
This page is for the executive director, development lead or volunteer treasurer who has to pick where online gifts come in. It is not a buying guide for a national charity replacing an enterprise stack.
We read each vendor's official pricing page, then user reviews, negatives first. Two complaints come back across tools: tip prompts donors did not expect, and fees that are higher than the headline once processing is added.
To compare cost, we used one case: a single $100 card gift, fees absorbed by the nonprofit, tips switched off where you can. Forms and checkout weigh 30% of the score, because that is where gifts are won or lost; real cost 25%; donor management 20%; recurring giving and campaigns 15%; ease of use 10%.
Not ranked: Neon One, Bonterra, Mightycause, CauseVox and Qgiv come up in searches, but they are not ranked in this edition; they get no score until their pricing is checked on their own pages.
- Donation forms and checkoutEmbedded or hosted form, one-time and monthly options, how fast a donor gets through checkout.30%
- Real cost to the nonprofitWhat leaves a $100 gift: platform fee, processing, subscription, and who pays it.25%
- Donor managementDonor records, history, exports, and whether a separate CRM is needed.20%
- Recurring giving and campaignsMonthly gifts, peer-to-peer and campaign pages.15%
- Ease of useTime to publish a first form for a team without a developer.10%
No affiliate link changes a score or a rank.
Donation platform fees move. Get the update when they do
Zeffy
Zeffy's pitch fits in one line of its pricing page: "Our price is $0 100% free, always." No subscription, no platform percentage, and Zeffy says it covers credit card and transaction fees too. On a $100 gift, $100 lands in your account.
The money comes from donors instead. At checkout, Zeffy asks the donor for an optional contribution to Zeffy itself. By Zeffy's own count, 2 of 3 donors leave one, and that pays the bills.
That prompt is also the main complaint in user reviews: some donors find the suggested amount high, or notice it after they have paid. They then email you, not Zeffy. One line in your appeal fixes most of it: the extra amount goes to the platform, it is optional, and it can be set to zero.
Check eligibility before anything else. Zeffy's support center lists nonprofits in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and Germany. Anywhere else, skip to Donorbox.
- $0 platform fee, card fees covered by Zeffy
- No paid tier
- Funded by optional donor tips
- ✓Nothing comes out of the gift
- ✓No contract, no plan to outgrow
- ✓Nothing to compare: one price, $0
- ✗The tip prompt annoys some donors
- ✗Six countries only
- ✗You do not control the default tip
If you are eligible and your donors accept a tip prompt, it is the cheapest way to take gifts online. Warn donors about the tip and you remove the friction.
Givebutter
Givebutter gives your board a decision Zeffy does not: keep the tip prompt, or turn it off and pay a flat 3% platform fee. Without tips, processing comes on top: 2.9% + 30¢ per card gift and 1.9% + 30¢ by ACH.
What that means on a $100 card gift with tips off: $3 to Givebutter and $3.20 in processing, so $93.80 reaches you. Push donors to bank transfer and the processing part drops to $2.20.
The free plan already runs the campaign pages. Givebutter Plus adds paid features at $29, $79 or $129 a month, billed annually ($348, $948 or $1,548 a year), with a 30-day trial. The tier depends on how many contacts you keep.
One review pattern to know: a nonprofit left Givebutter after donors complained about fees. If your donors are fee-sensitive, run with tips off and say so on the page. Account setup asks for a US bank account and an EIN, so this is a US tool.
- Tips on or off, your choice
- ACH at 1.9% + 30¢
- Plus tiers by contact count
- ✓A flat-fee option for boards that refuse tip prompts
- ✓Cheaper processing when donors pay by bank
- ✓Free plan covers the campaign pages
- ✗About 6.2% gone on a $100 card gift with tips off
- ✗US bank account and EIN required
- ✗Plus gets pricier as your list grows
The pick for a US team that wants the fee decision in its own hands. Zeffy costs less; Givebutter gives you the switch.
Give Lively
Give Lively's pricing page says it in five words: "Every feature, free for nonprofits." There is no membership fee, no platform fee and, in its own words, "no tiered access". You never hit a paywall to unlock a feature.
The one cost is the payment processor. Give Lively lists it "as low as 1.99% + $0.25". On a $100 gift, that is $2.24 at best, and your nonprofit receives $97.76 or a little less.
Compared with Zeffy, the trade is simple. Zeffy covers card fees and asks donors for a tip; Give Lively lets the processor take its cut. Some boards prefer a known fee to a checkout prompt they cannot control.
Where it fits less: a team that wants donor retention tools in the same system as the form. That is Bloomerang's ground, further down.
- Free, with no tiered access
- Processor fees as low as 1.99% + $0.25
- No platform percentage
- ✓Every feature on the free account
- ✓A fee you can predict
- ✓No tip negotiation with donors
- ✗Processor fees still apply
- ✗"As low as": your rate may be higher
- ✗Retention work happens elsewhere
The cleanest free option for a US nonprofit that would rather pay a small processing fee than ask donors for a tip.
Donorbox
Donorbox puts the form where your donors already are: on your website, embedded in a page or as a pop-up. They give without leaving your site, and you keep your own design around the form.
The pricing works on a sliding scale. Standard is free, with platform fees between 2.95% and 3.95%. Pro costs $150 a month and drops the fee to 1.75% to 2%. Premium is on quote, from 1.6% to 2%. Your processor's fees come on top, and donors can choose to cover them.
When does Pro pay for itself? Moving from roughly 3% to roughly 2% saves about 1% of what you raise. $150 a month is $1,800 a year, so the switch starts to make sense somewhere around $180,000 raised online per year. Below that, stay on Standard.
Around the form: recurring gifts, peer-to-peer, events, memberships and a donor CRM. For European nonprofits, Donorbox takes SEPA direct debit in euros.
One setting to check before launch: the default gift frequency on each form, so a donor who wants a one-time gift does not end up on a monthly plan by accident.
- Embedded or pop-up form on your site
- Recurring, peer-to-peer, events, memberships
- SEPA direct debit for European nonprofits
- ✓Donors never leave your website
- ✓Clear fee ladder by plan
- ✓Works for nonprofits outside the US
- ✗2.95% to 3.95% on the free plan, before processing
- ✗Pro at $150/month only pays off at high volume
- ✗Default frequency needs checking
The pick when the form must live on your site, or when you raise money outside the countries Zeffy and Givebutter serve.
Bloomerang
Bloomerang is the only tool in this ranking that starts from the donor database, not from the form. Its online giving product, Fundraising, starts at $40 a month. The catch is in the footnote of its pricing page: it "must be purchased as part of bundle with Bloomerang CRM".
So the real entry price is $165 a month, $125 for the CRM plus $40 for Fundraising, billed annually. Over a year, that is $1,980 before any processing fee. Next to Zeffy's $0, it only makes sense if you were going to buy a donor CRM anyway.
If you were, the logic flips. Gifts land directly in the same records your team uses for thank-yous, calls and retention work. No export, no import, no duplicate donors.
A practical tip: price the bundle against your current CRM plus a free giving page. If the gap is small, one system wins on time saved.
- Giving page and donor CRM in one system
- Fundraising from $40/month
- CRM from $125/month
- ✓Gifts feed the donor CRM directly
- ✓Built for retention work
- ✓One system for the development team
- ✗Fundraising cannot be bought alone
- ✗$165/month minimum for both
- ✗Annual billing
Worth it when the donor CRM is the real purchase and the giving page comes with it. For a giving page alone, look higher in this list.
Fundraise Up
Fundraise Up sells to nonprofits that already raise serious money online. Its checkout embeds on your site, with Elements to place giving buttons across pages, recurring gifts, peer-to-peer and a donor portal where supporters manage their own gifts.
On price, the official page promises "$0 upfront, no setup fees, fixed subscriptions, or long-term contracts". It also quotes a "~1% average effective Fundraise Up cost", once donors cover the fee. Read the next line too: "It is not a contracted or guaranteed rate and can vary by organization."
That ~1% is an average after donor contributions, not the percentage you sign. The contracted rate is not published, so ask for it in writing and run it on last year's online revenue before you commit.
Reviews flag the same thing as with tip models: even when donors cover the fee, some write in to complain about it.
- Embedded checkout and Elements
- Donor portal for self-service
- No setup fee, no long contract
- ✓Built to lift conversion on your own site
- ✓Recurring and peer-to-peer included
- ✓No fixed subscription
- ✗Contracted percentage not published
- ✗~1% is an average, not a promise
- ✗Overkill for a small donor base
A serious option once online giving is a large share of your revenue. Get the contracted rate in writing first.
Funraise
Funraise calls itself "a free, fee-based, fundraising and donor management platform for organizations raising under $1 million annually." Free means $0 a month. Fee-based means the platform takes 5% of what you raise.
On a $100 card gift, that is $5 to Funraise plus $3.50 in Stripe processing (2.9% + 60¢), so $91.50 reaches you. That is the highest cost per gift in this ranking, and the 60¢ fixed part weighs more on small gifts than the 30¢ or 25¢ you will see elsewhere.
Premium brings the platform fee down to between 0% and 3%, on a quote. Ask for it as soon as your volume justifies a call: on $200,000 raised, each point is $2,000.
The appeal is having donor management in the same place as the giving page, without a monthly bill. The cost is a percentage that grows with your success.
- $0/month under $1M raised a year
- Fundraising and donor management in one
- Premium fee from 0% to 3%
- ✓No subscription to start
- ✓Donor records next to the giving page
- ✓A path to lower fees on Premium
- ✗5% platform fee on the free plan
- ✗60¢ fixed processing fee per gift
- ✗Premium pricing on quote only
Fine to start with no budget, but run the 5% against Zeffy or Give Lively before you settle in.
What leaves a $100 gift
Same gift everywhere: $100 by card, your nonprofit absorbs the fees, tips off where that is possible. Percentages that look close end up far apart once fixed fees and processing are in.
$0 to about $2.25
Zeffy: $0, because Zeffy covers the card fee and lives on tips. Give Lively: no platform fee, processor fees as low as 1.99% + $0.25, so $2.24 at best.
About $3 to $6.20
Donorbox Standard: $2.95 to $3.95 to Donorbox, plus your processor's fee. Givebutter with tips off: $3 platform fee plus $3.20 processing, $6.20 in total, or $5.20 if the donor pays by ACH.
$8.50, or a subscription
Funraise Free: $5 platform fee plus $3.50 via Stripe. Bloomerang works the other way: Fundraising and the CRM start at $165 a month together, billed annually.
- Is your country on the platform's eligibility list?
- Is processing included or charged on top?
- Can you switch the tip prompt off, or set its default?
- Is there a fixed fee per gift, and how big is it on your average gift?
- Can donors choose to cover the fees?
- Does the form live on your site or on the platform's page?
The traps donors notice before you do
These come straight from user reviews of the tools above. None is written in large type on a pricing page.
A tip suggestion donors find too high
Zeffy, GivebutterThe platform's free plan is paid by your donors. When the suggested tip feels steep, they blame you. Mention it in the appeal email and show donors where to set it to zero.
A one-time gift that turns monthly
DonorboxReviewers report gifts they meant once that renewed every month. Open each form, check which frequency is preselected, and make one-time the default unless you run a monthly campaign.
Donors who cover fees, then complain
Fundraise Up, GivebutterEven an optional fee-cover box generates emails. Write one line under the form: what the fee pays for and that it is optional.
Signing up where you cannot be paid
Zeffy, GivebutterZeffy lists six countries; Givebutter asks for a US bank account and EIN. Check payout eligibility before you design a single page.
Go further
Pages that pick up where this one stops: donor CRM, events and the payment layer.
Your questions on online donation software
Which online donation software is free for nonprofits?
Zeffy and Give Lively charge no platform fee. Zeffy also covers card fees and lives on optional donor tips; Give Lively passes on processor fees, as low as 1.99% + $0.25. Givebutter, Donorbox and Funraise have free plans with a percentage.
How much does a nonprofit really pay on a $100 online gift?
From our ranking, card gift, fees absorbed: $0 on Zeffy, about $2.24 on Give Lively, $6.20 on Givebutter with tips off, $8.50 on Funraise's free plan. On Donorbox Standard, $2.95 to $3.95 plus your processor's fee.
Are donor tips a good idea?
They make the platform free for you, but donors pay instead. Reviews of tip-based tools often mention suggested amounts that feel high. If you use one, say in your appeal that the tip is optional and goes to the platform.
Can a nonprofit outside the US use Zeffy or Givebutter?
Zeffy lists nonprofits in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and Germany. Givebutter asks for a US bank account and an EIN. Elsewhere, Donorbox takes nonprofits from Europe, with SEPA direct debit in euros.
Should the donation form be on my website or on the platform's page?
An embedded form keeps donors on your site, which Donorbox and Fundraise Up both offer. A hosted page is faster to launch and fine for a single campaign. If most gifts come from your site, embed.
When is a paid plan worth it?
When the lower percentage saves more than the subscription. Donorbox Pro costs $150 a month to cut fees by about one point, so it pays off from roughly $180,000 raised online a year.
Do I need a donor CRM on top of donation software?
Not at first: most tools here keep donor records. Once a team works on retention, a CRM such as Bloomerang helps, and its Fundraising product only comes bundled with that CRM.
What does Fundraise Up cost?
No setup fee and no subscription. Fundraise Up reports a ~1% average effective cost after donors cover fees, and says it is not a contracted or guaranteed rate. Ask for your contracted rate in writing.
