Donately vs Zeffy Comparison 2026
Donately charges 2 percent up front plus a separate 2.2 to 2.9 percent processing charge on its free plan, or $99 a month for a lower unstated rate. Zeffy takes nothing at all, not a platform cut and not the card processing either, covering both out of an optional tip it asks donors to add at checkout. The trade for Zeffy's zero is that every donor sees the tip prompt, and Zeffy only signs up registered nonprofits, while Donately asks nothing about charity status.
Donation forms with the fee written down
Fundraising with no platform or processing fee
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Donately | Zeffy | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $99 | Free |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Monthly or annual | Usage-based |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
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.
Zeffy
Fundraising with no platform or processing fee
Zeffy takes nothing from a donation, and covers card processing itself out of the optional tips donors leave at checkout. Donations, ticketed events, raffles, auctions, memberships and a donor database are all in the same account. It is built for nonprofits, and the sign-up asks you to be one.
Our note
If you qualify as a nonprofit, start here, because no competitor can beat zero. Read the tip prompt on a live form first and decide whether you are comfortable with your donors seeing it, since that is the whole trade.
Why people weigh these two
- Zeffy instead of Donately
- Zeffy charges no platform or processing fee at all, the free-first pick for a campaign where any monthly bill is too much.
- Donately instead of Zeffy
- Donately writes its fee down plainly instead of covering it from tips, with a free tier and plans from $99, a more conventional cost structure than Zeffy's zero-fee model.
Which one should you pick
Pick Donately if the campaign is not a registered nonprofit, since Zeffy only signs up charities and Donately checks nothing. It also fits once the flat 2 percent, or a discounted rate on the $99 a month plan, still beats what a donor-tip model like Zeffy's would realistically bring in, and it embeds directly on a Webflow, Squarespace or WordPress site rather than sending donors elsewhere.
Pick Zeffy for any qualifying nonprofit that wants the lowest possible cost per donation. Nothing beats a genuine zero on both the platform cut and card processing, and ticketed events, raffles, auctions and a donor database sit in the same free account. Look at a live form first, because every donor sees a tip prompt at checkout, and some organisations decide that ask is not the first impression they want to give.
Common questions
- Which one is actually free?
- Zeffy is the only one that charges nothing at all: no platform fee and no card processing fee, both covered by an optional tip Zeffy asks donors to add. Donately's free plan still charges 2 percent plus a separate 2.2 to 2.9 percent processing fee, and its $99 a month plan only lowers the percentage, without naming the new number.
- Does either one require registered nonprofit status?
- Zeffy does. Its signup checks for it before an account opens. Donately does not ask, so an individual campaign or a business collecting donations can use it where Zeffy will not.
- What is the catch with Zeffy's zero fees?
- Every donor sees a prompt asking them to leave a tip for Zeffy at checkout, since that tip is what funds the free processing. It is a social cost rather than a financial one, and some organisations decide that ask does not belong on their donation page.
- Can Donately's donation form live on my own website?
- Yes, with embeds built for Webflow, Squarespace and WordPress, so the form sits on a page you already control. Zeffy leans toward a fuller event toolkit instead, with ticketed events, raffles, auctions and memberships alongside plain donations.
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.