Best Fundraising Platforms for Nonprofits in 2026: Fees Compared

The gap grows with volume. At $100,000 raised online in a year, the difference between keeping 100% of each gift and keeping 93.8% is $6,200, before any subscription is counted. Below: the fee table, what you keep at three annual volumes, and the fees most pricing pages leave out.

Checked October 2026. We compared the published fees on each vendor’s own pages on October 19, 2026. Vendors change pricing often, so confirm the current figure on the linked page before you sign.

In this guide:

1. What are the best fundraising platforms for nonprofits in 2026?
2. How much do fundraising platforms cost in 2026?
3. Of every $100 donated, how much actually reaches the nonprofit?
4. How can a fundraising platform be free?
5. What fees do fundraising platforms not list on the pricing page?
6. How much will your nonprofit keep at $25,000, $100,000, and $500,000 a year?
7. Which fundraising platform fits your campaign type?
8. What should you check before switching fundraising platforms?
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. What should your nonprofit do next?
11. Where do these figures come from?

What are the best fundraising platforms for nonprofits in 2026?

Most of the comparison articles on page one of Google in October 2026 were written by fundraising platforms that rank themselves first. This one ranks nothing. It sorts the platforms by the situation each one fits, using only what the vendors publish about their own pricing.

Here is the short answer by situation:

• Lowest cost to the nonprofit: Zeffy charges no platform fee and covers card processing. Give Lively charges no platform fee and passes Stripe processing through.
• A free tool with optional paid tiers: Givebutter is free to use, with Plus tiers at $29, $79, and $129 a month.
• A lower platform rate in exchange for a subscription: Donorbox Pro costs $150 a month and charges 1.75% to 2%.
• Donor-cover focus with no subscription: Fundraise Up asks donors to cover fees, charges no subscription, and does not publish its platform fee.
• Giving days with a capped fee: Mightycause caps its fee at 1.99% + $0.49 per transaction, processing included.
• Custom quote only: GoFundMe Pro (formerly Classy) publishes no fees and quotes each organization individually.

“Best” depends on three things: how much you raise online in a year, what kind of campaigns you run, and whether your donors are asked to tip or cover fees. The table in the next section puts every published figure side by side so you can check your own situation.

How much do fundraising platforms cost in 2026?

Fundraising platforms charge in four ways: a platform percentage, card processing, a monthly subscription, or a prompt asking donors to tip or cover fees. Some use one. Some combine three. The headline rate on a pricing page rarely tells you the full amount that leaves each gift.

The table below lists each cost separately. The net column shows what lands in your account from one $100 card gift, using Stripe’s published US rate of 2.9% + $0.30 wherever the platform passes Stripe processing through.

Net column assumptions: a single $100 card gift where the donor does not cover fees or tip, a US nonprofit, and a domestic Visa or Mastercard. A nonprofit with an approved Stripe or PayPal charity discount keeps somewhat more. Donorbox also lists a Premium plan with custom pricing on the same page.

Two platforms in the table cannot be scored on net. Fundraise Up does not publish its platform fee, and GoFundMe Pro quotes every organization individually. Ask each one for a written fee schedule before you compare it against the rest.

Of every $100 donated, how much actually reaches the nonprofit?

Start with the floor. Card processing alone at Stripe’s published US rate of 2.9% + $0.30 leaves $96.80 of a $100 gift. Any platform that adds its own percentage on top of that lands below $96.80.

The tip debate only makes sense when you see both sides of the transaction. A platform can deliver the full $100 to you because the donor paid more than $100. The view below shows both numbers, using only the figures in Table A.

Assumes the donor does not cover fees or tip, except where the donor-pays cell notes a tip prompt. The Mightycause figure is at its published fee cap.

Small gifts lose a bigger share. On a $25 gift at 2.9% + $0.30, processing takes about $1.03, or about 4.1% of the gift. On a $100 gift, the same rate takes 3.2%. The flat $0.30 is the reason: it weighs four times as much on a $25 gift as on a $100 gift.

How can a fundraising platform be free?

A platform that charges the nonprofit nothing still has servers, staff, and card processing bills. Each “free” model moves that cost somewhere else, and the place it lands matters to your donors.

Zeffy funds itself through an optional, voluntary contribution donors are asked for at checkout. Zeffy states that the suggested contribution varies with the gift amount and that donors are never forced to tip. The nonprofit pays no platform or processing fee.

Givebutter runs two modes. With tips on, it charges a 0% platform fee and states it covers card processing when a donor declines to cover fees, so the nonprofit receives the full gift. With tips off, Givebutter charges a flat 3% plus card processing.

Give Lively states that it is funded by philanthropy, and it also offers donors an optional tip that does not reduce the nonprofit’s amount. It charges no platform or subscription fee, but Stripe processing still comes out of the gift unless the donor covers it.

Fundraise Up takes a different route. It asks donors to cover both the platform fee and processing, and it does not publish the platform fee itself.

The tradeoff sits on the donor’s side. Give Lively notes on its fees page that tips to the platform are not tax-deductible, and a donor who tips or covers fees pays more than the gift amount. Free to the nonprofit is not the same as free to the donor.

What fees do fundraising platforms not list on the pricing page?

The headline rate assumes a domestic card, a standard donation form, and a nonprofit that never needs its money quickly. Real fundraising breaks all three assumptions. These are the fees that sit outside the headline number.

The Stripe nonprofit discount is not automatic. A nonprofit has to apply through Stripe support, and Stripe requires that at least 80% of the account’s volume come from tax-deductible donations. Stripe does not publish the discounted rate. Without an approved application, the standard 2.9% + $0.30 applies.

PayPal’s charity rate works the same way. The 1.99% + $0.49 rate requires an application and pre-approval by PayPal. Until then, donations run at the standard 2.89% + $0.49 (PayPal page dated October 1, 2026).

Card and channel surcharges add up. Stripe’s US pricing lists these on top of the base rate:

• International cards: +1.5%, plus 1% more when currency conversion is needed.
• ACH bank payments: 0.8% capped at $5 for standard settlement.

Campaign type changes the rate. Donorbox Standard charges 2.95% on donation forms, fundraising pages, and nonprofit-run peer-to-peer pages, but 3.95% on event ticketing, memberships, and pages set up by individual supporters. Donorbox Pro charges 1.75%, and 2% on those same products. Mightycause offers donors a cover option of 7.9% + $0.30.

Check payout terms before you sign. Givebutter states no payout limits or fees. Give Lively’s fees page, dated September 2025, states that donations are disbursed to the nonprofit’s bank account within seven business days.

PayPal charges 1.5%, with a $0.50 minimum, for an instant transfer. Zeffy, Donorbox, Fundraise Up, GoFundMe Pro, and Mightycause do not state payout terms on the pages we checked.

How much will your nonprofit keep at $25,000, $100,000, and $500,000 a year?

A per-gift view hides the cost of subscriptions. Donorbox Pro’s $150 a month is $1,800 a year whether you raise $25,000 or $500,000, so its value depends entirely on volume. The table below counts subscriptions at their published price.

Assumptions: all gifts are $100 card gifts, donors do not cover fees or tip, Stripe’s published 2.9% + $0.30 applies where processing passes through, no processor discounts, subscriptions at the published price, and donation-form rates (not event or membership rates). Mightycause figures are at its published fee cap.

At $100,000 a year, the spread between the full-gift options and Givebutter with tips off is $6,200. Those full-gift options shift the cost to the donor through tips or cover-fee prompts, so the $6,200 does not vanish. It moves.

The Donorbox break-even sits at $150,000. For donation forms, Pro’s $1,800 a year at 1.75% beats the 2.95% Standard rate only above $150,000 a year in online gifts. Below that line, the subscription costs more than it saves, which is why Pro trails Standard at $25,000 and $100,000 but leads it at $500,000.

Givebutter Plus is a paid subscription at $29, $79, or $129 a month, tiered by contact count, that adds features without changing Givebutter’s tipping, platform, or processing fees, so it adds cost at every volume. Rerun these numbers each year as your online revenue grows.

Which fundraising platform fits your campaign type?

The same platform charges different amounts depending on what you sell or ask for. Match your campaign mix to the fee that applies to it, then look back at Table A.

One-time online giving and year-end appeals. Check the donation-form fee and the processing rate. If your appeal brings in many small gifts, remember that the flat $0.30 in Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 takes about 4.1% of a $25 gift.

Recurring monthly giving. Every installment is a separate charge. The platform percentage and the processing fee apply to each one, twelve times a year, so a small rate difference compounds over a donor’s lifetime.

Peer-to-peer and crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is one campaign page your organization runs. Peer-to-peer means supporters build their own pages that feed your campaign. Donorbox prices them differently: 2.95% on nonprofit-run pages and 3.95% on supporter-created pages under the Standard plan.

Events and auctions. On Donorbox, ticketing carries a higher rate than donations: 3.95% on the Standard plan and 2% on Pro. Ask each vendor which rate applies to auction items and ticket sales before you build the event.

Giving days. A giving day packs a large number of gifts into a single day, so a capped fee is worth checking. Mightycause caps its fee at 1.99% + $0.49 per transaction, per its October 2026 page.

What should you check before switching fundraising platforms?

Fees are the easy part of a switch. The harder part is everything connected to your donation form: your donor records, your recurring gifts, your customer relationship management (CRM) system, and your books. Check these before you sign.

Data ownership and export. Confirm in writing that you can export full donor and transaction history before you leave. Ask specifically about recurring-gift payment tokens. If they cannot move to the new processor, every monthly donor has to re-enter card details.

CRM and accounting sync. Find out whether the platform syncs gifts to your CRM and to your accounting system, such as QuickBooks, or whether someone on staff re-keys them by hand. Our guides to nonprofit systems integration and nonprofit database software integrations cover what a clean connection looks like. If you are choosing a donor database at the same time, start with our comparison of the best CRM for nonprofits.

Security and card compliance. Card payments fall under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Ask each vendor to confirm its compliance in writing and to state which parts of card handling stay with your organization. For the wider picture, see how to protect nonprofit donor data.

If you want an outside view of how your giving platform fits with the rest of your systems, our 10-day tech stack audit looks at the whole stack.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which fundraising platform has the lowest fees for nonprofits?

Based on published pricing as of October 2026, Zeffy and Givebutter with tips on leave the full $100 of a $100 card gift with the nonprofit. Give Lively charges no platform fee but passes Stripe processing through, which leaves $96.80. The lowest cost to the nonprofit is not the lowest cost to the donor, because both full-gift options rely on donor tips.

Is Zeffy really free?

Zeffy is free for the nonprofit: it charges no platform fee and covers card processing, according to its pricing page. It funds itself through an optional, voluntary contribution donors are asked for at checkout. Zeffy states the suggested amount varies with the gift size and that donors are never forced to tip.

Are fundraising platforms with no monthly fee really cheaper?

Below $150,000 a year in online gifts, Donorbox Standard with no subscription keeps more than Donorbox Pro at $150 a month. Above that line, Pro wins: at $500,000 a year, Pro leaves $473,450 against Standard’s $469,250. The answer depends on your annual online volume, so run your own number through Table B.

Should donors cover processing fees?

Asking donors to cover fees moves the processing cost from your budget to theirs. On Mightycause, the optional cover is 7.9% + $0.30, and on Give Lively, tips to the platform are not tax-deductible. Decide based on how much of each gift you need to keep and how comfortable your donors are paying above their gift amount.

Who owns my donor data on a fundraising site?

Your contract with the platform decides that, so read the data and termination terms before you sign and test a full export, including recurring-gift tokens. Scottship Solutions does not sell a fundraising platform, so we have no stake in which vendor holds your data.

What should your nonprofit do next?

1. Pull your numbers: Export last year’s online gift total and your average gift size from your current platform.
2. Find your row: Match your annual volume to Table B and compare what you keep on your current platform against the alternatives.
3. List your campaign types: Mark which of your campaigns are events, memberships, or supporter-created pages, since those carry higher rates on some platforms.
4. Apply for processor discounts: If you process through Stripe or PayPal directly, apply for the nonprofit or charity rate. Neither discount is automatic.
5. Test the exit: Before you switch, run a full donor and transaction export from your current platform and confirm it imports cleanly into your CRM.

Where do these figures come from?

• Zeffy pricing: no platform fee, card processing covered for the nonprofit
• Zeffy help center: suggested donor contribution varies with the transaction amount
• Givebutter pricing: free plan, Plus tiers, no payout limits or fees
• Givebutter help center: 0% with tips on, 3% plus 2.9% + $0.30 card or 1.9% + $0.30 ACH with tips off
• Give Lively pricing: no platform, setup, or subscription fees
• Give Lively fees and disbursement (dated September 2025): Stripe processing, payout timing, non-deductible tips
• Donorbox pricing: Standard 2.95% and 3.95%, Pro $150 a month at 1.75% and 2%, Premium custom pricing
• Fundraise Up pricing: donor-covered fees, no subscription, no contract
• GoFundMe Pro pricing: custom pricing, no fees published
• Mightycause (modified October 13, 2026): fee capped at 1.99% + $0.49, donor cover option 7.9% + $0.30
• Mightycause pricing: $0 per month
• PayPal business fees (updated October 1, 2026): 2.89% + $0.49 standard donations, 1.99% + $0.49 charity rate after approval, 1.5% instant transfer with $0.50 minimum
• Stripe US pricing: 2.9% + $0.30 domestic cards, +1.5% international cards, +1% currency conversion
• Stripe local payment methods: ACH Direct Debit 0.8% capped at $5 for standard settlement
• Stripe support: nonprofit discount by application, 80% tax-deductible volume requirement

At Scottship Solutions, we help nonprofits choose software that fits the rest of their systems. From a nonprofit tech stack audit to help choosing the right platform for your nonprofit, our team looks at cost, data, and integration together. If you want a second set of eyes on your giving platform, a conversation with our team is a good place to start.

Written by

Luiza Vilardo

Director of Consulting at Scottship Solutions

Luiza oversees technology assessments, strategic roadmap execution, and project delivery for nonprofit and small business clients. She translates CIO-level strategy into operational reality through structured delivery and measurable outcomes.

Certifications

PMP (Project Management Professional) • Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt • Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)

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Human Services, Healthcare & Community Health, Arts & Culture, Foundations & Grantmakers, Education & Youth Development