Crowdfundr vs Givebutter Comparison 2026
Crowdfundr runs reward and donation campaigns for creators at a published 5 percent fee. Givebutter charges a 0 percent platform fee when donor tips are switched on, funding itself from what donors choose to add at checkout, and the fundraising tools, events and CRM stay free with unlimited contacts. The audience differs more than the price. Givebutter is built for nonprofits and community groups, not a creator collecting tips for themselves.
Crowdfunding built to leave creators the money
Fundraising that runs on optional tips
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
- Givebutter takes no share of what you earn. Crowdfundr takes 5%.
Side by side
Crowdfundr | Givebutter | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $29 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Usage-based | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | 30 days |
| API | Not stated |
Crowdfundr
Crowdfunding built to leave creators the money
Crowdfundr runs reward and donation campaigns with the platform fee presented as optional to the supporter rather than deducted from the creator, and the company publishes what that works out to in practice. Campaigns are free to start and there is no all-or-nothing rule forcing a goal. The comparison table on its own pricing page names Kickstarter and BackerKit and states their fees beside its own. Discovery is thin, so bring your own audience.
Our note
Compare this against Kickstarter on the assumption that nobody covers your fees, and then treat anything supporters do cover as upside. The absence of an all-or-nothing rule is the bigger practical difference for a creator funding a project that can ship at a smaller scale.
Only on this side
- Covers monetization & payments
Givebutter
Fundraising that runs on optional tips
Givebutter charges nothing for donation pages, events and its fundraising CRM, and funds itself from a tip donors can choose to add at checkout. Turning tips off swaps them for a platform fee, which is the honest version of free. The paid tier is a marketing add-on rather than the fundraising itself, and most organisations never need it.
Why people weigh these two
- Givebutter instead of Crowdfundr
- Givebutter runs on optional tips from supporters, the same model as Crowdfundr's optional platform fee, with a free tier and paid plans from $29.
- Crowdfundr instead of Givebutter
- Crowdfundr is built to leave more of each donation with the campaign, free to run, the pick for a one-off crowdfunding push rather than an ongoing donation page.
Which one should you pick
Pick Crowdfundr if you are a creator with an audience, funding a product or a project with reward tiers attached. The 5 percent fee is the number to plan for, regardless of how many supporters cover it themselves.
Pick Givebutter if you are a nonprofit or a community group running donation pages, ticketed events or peer-to-peer fundraising. Its platform fee drops to 0 percent while donor tips stay on, genuinely cheaper than Crowdfundr's flat 5 percent, and the CRM holds unlimited contacts for free. The $29 a month Plus tier only adds marketing features that neither organisation strictly needs to raise money.
Common questions
- Is Givebutter really free?
- The core product is, with a 0 percent platform fee while donor tips stay switched on at checkout. Turning tips off brings back a platform fee instead. Crowdfundr, by comparison, states a flat 5 percent fee as the honest planning number no matter what supporters choose to cover.
- Can a creator use Givebutter to collect tips for themselves?
- It is built for nonprofits and community causes rather than personal tip jars. Crowdfundr is closer to that use case, with reward tiers built around a creator's own product or project.
- What does Givebutter charge for beyond the free plan?
- The $29 a month Plus tier, billed at $348 a year, adds marketing and contact-based features on top of a fundraising toolkit that is already free. It carries a 30 day period to test it before committing.
- Does Crowdfundr require nonprofit status to sign up?
- No. It is open to any creator running a reward or donation campaign. Givebutter does not require nonprofit status either, though its templates and CRM are built around nonprofit and community fundraising rather than a personal project.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.