Donately vs Kindest Comparison 2026
Donately puts a donation form on a site you already run and takes 2 percent flat on the free plan, or a lower unstated rate for $99 a month. Kindest works only for a registered nonprofit: free at 5 percent, waived completely on the first $50,000 raised in a first year, or $1,800 a year for 3.75 percent. Once that opening waiver is spent, Donately's flat 2 percent undercuts every Kindest tier. The waiver itself is the reason to start with Kindest instead.
Donation forms with the fee written down
Donation pages that start without a subscription
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Donately | Kindest | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $99 | Not listed |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
Donately
Donation forms with the fee written down
Donately puts donation forms and recurring giving on a site you already have, and states its own cut on the pricing page rather than after signup. Every plan carries every feature, so what the money buys is a lower fee rather than more product. It argues openly against the platforms that call themselves free and then take a fifth through donor-paid fees.
Our note
The arithmetic is straightforward: below about $60,000 raised a year the free plan is cheaper, and above it the monthly plan starts winning. Ask what the $99 plan's fee actually is before you sign, because the page never says.
Only on this side
- Covers monetization & payments
Kindest
Donation pages that start without a subscription
Kindest gives a nonprofit donation forms, recurring giving and donor records on a free plan that takes a percentage instead of a monthly fee, and waives even that on the first fifty thousand dollars of a first year. The paid tier lowers the percentage and adds text campaigns and scheduled time with a person. Forms default to asking the donor to cover fees. Everything here assumes a registered charity rather than an individual.
Why people weigh these two
- Kindest instead of Donately
- Kindest starts donation pages without a subscription, an easier first step than $99 monthly plans for an organisation still proving the campaign.
- Donately instead of Kindest
- Donately publishes its fee plainly rather than a percentage that eases off with a waiver, with a paid tier from $99 a month once the free forms are not enough.
Which one should you pick
Pick Donately once a nonprofit is past its first raise, or is not a registered charity at all, since Donately never checks for that status. Its flat 2 percent fee is lower than Kindest's ongoing 5 percent and even beats Kindest's discounted 3.75 percent paid tier. Prepaying $5,000 also removes the fee entirely for up to $1 million raised, a cap Kindest does not offer.
Pick Kindest for a brand-new United States charity that has not raised its first $50,000 yet, because that window is fee-free while Donately always keeps its 2 percent. Kindest's own $1,800 a year plan only pays for itself once giving passes roughly $144,000 a year, so most small organisations should stay on its free tier until the waiver runs out and then compare rates again.
Common questions
- Which platform takes a smaller cut of each donation?
- Donately's flat 2 percent beats every Kindest tier except one window: a brand-new nonprofit's first $50,000 raised, which Kindest waives entirely. After that, Kindest charges 5 percent free or 3.75 percent on its $1,800 a year plan, both higher than Donately's 2 percent.
- Does either platform require nonprofit registration?
- Kindest does. Its free and paid tiers, including the first-year waiver, are built around a registered United States charity. Donately does not check for that status, so an individual campaign or a business raising funds can use it too.
- When does Kindest's $1,800 a year plan pay for itself?
- By Kindest's own numbers, around $144,000 raised in a year, which is where the drop from 5 percent to 3.75 percent saves more than the subscription costs. Below that figure, Kindest's free tier is the cheaper choice.
- What does Donately's $99 a month plan actually buy?
- A lower percentage fee than the free 2 percent, though the page does not state the new number. Every feature, including embeds and the API, is already on the free plan, so the $99 tier buys rate alone, not more product.
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