Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover monetization & payments. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Stripe | Zeffy | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Pricing model | Free | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | None |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Monetization & Payments, Creator Finance | Crowdfunding, Monetization & Payments, Tips & Donations |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Card payments at a published per-charge rate
Stripe is the processor a great many of the tools in this directory are quietly built on, and going to it directly makes sense once you sell from a site you control. The rate is published rather than quoted, which is rarer in payments than it sounds. Subscriptions, invoices, payment links and a hosted checkout all sit on the same account. Nothing is billed monthly, so an idle account costs nothing.
Our note
Go direct to Stripe when you own the storefront and can live with your own tax admin. If VAT and sales tax registration is the part keeping you awake, pay the extra couple of points for a merchant of record and stop thinking about it.
Only on this side
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.
Only on this side
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.