Tool
Donation Fee Calculator
What each giving platform will actually cost your organization this year—subscription and processing broken out, and an honest account of who ends up paying.
Fee data last reviewed July 30, 2026
Every platform advertises one number. You will almost never pay that number. Donorbox advertises 2.95%—a small nonprofit on its Standard plan with Stripe actually pays 5.15% + 30¢ per gift once processing stacks on top (verified Apr 2026, from Donorbox’s own help center). The gap between the advertised rate and the real one is why this calculator exists.
Enter your numbers and we’ll rank every platform we track by what your organization would actually pay in a year. Watch the letter next to each name. The market runs on five fee architectures, and the architecture—not the headline rate—decides who wins at your volume. A flat subscription looks expensive at $30,000 a year of giving and gets cheap fast at $300,000. And a “free” platform isn’t free; it moves the cost onto your donors, which is a philosophical choice you should make on purpose, not a discount.
The five fee architectures
- Fee architecture A: Platform % + processing %
Platform % plus a separate processing %—two cuts, stacked. Only the platform fee is advertised. (Donorbox, Givebutter with tips off)
- Fee architecture B: Single all-in rate
One all-in rate, processing included. Looks higher than A; frequently isn’t. (Givelify, Tithe.ly, EasyTithe, Continue to Give, Subsplash)
- Fee architecture C: Interchange pass-through + tier
Processing at cost, no markup; the platform earns its money on a monthly tier. (MyWell, Planning Center, Pushpay (structure only—price unpublished))
- Fee architecture D: Flat subscription, donor covers fees
Flat subscription; donors cover processing automatically and mandatorily. The org always nets 100%. (Nucleus, RebelGive)
- Fee architecture E: Free to the org, donor tips
Free to the org, funded by donor tips at checkout. The platform monetizes your donors. (Zeffy, Givebutter with tips on, Txt2Give)
Your numbers
85% cards / 15% bank
25% of gifts, where the platform offers it
Our read on your numbers
At these numbers, Zeffy costs your organization the least: $0/yr. It gets there by shifting cost to your donors through a tip prompt at checkout—a legitimate choice, but make it on purpose. If you’d rather keep fees on your side of the ledger, MyWell Ministry is the cheapest that does: $2,565/yr.
Scroll sideways for the full table
| Platform | Arch. | You pay /yr | Donors pay /yr | Eff. rate | Fee breakdown | Sign up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZeffyFreeVerified Jul 2026 | Fee architecture E: Free to the org, donor tips | $0 | Optional tips | 0.0% | Visit site | |
| Givebutter (tips on)Standard, tips onVerified Apr 2026 | Fee architecture E: Free to the org, donor tips | $0 | Optional tips | 0.0% | Visit site | |
| MyWell Ministry101–250 gifts/moVerified Jul 2026 | Fee architecture C: Interchange pass-through + tier | $2,565 | $459 | 2.1% | Visit site | |
| Tithe.lyFree GivingVerified Jul 2026 | Fee architecture B: Single all-in rate | $2,713 | $904 | 2.3% | Visit site | |
| Planning Center GivingGrowth (200 donations/mo)Verified Jul 2026 | Fee architecture C: Interchange pass-through + tier | $3,057 | $0 | 2.5% | Visit site | |
| Txt2GiveFree (pricing page)Verify direct | Fee architecture E: Free to the org, donor tips | $3,240 | Optional tips | 2.7% | Visit site | |
| Continue to GiveSilverVerified Feb 2026 | Fee architecture B: Single all-in rate | $3,420 | $1,140 | 2.9% | Visit site | |
| Subsplash GivingGiving only, non-exclusiveVerified Jul 2026 | Fee architecture B: Single all-in rate | $3,638 | $0 | 3.0% | Visit site | |
| GivelifyStandardVerified Jul 2026 | Fee architecture B: Single all-in rate | $3,960 | $0 | 3.3% | Visit site | |
| EasyTitheEntry + $10/mo security feeVerified Jul 2026 | Fee architecture B: Single all-in rate | $3,984 | $0 | 3.3% | Visit site | |
| DonorboxStandardVerified Apr 2026 | Fee architecture A: Platform % + processing % | $4,752 | $1,584 | 4.0% | Visit site | |
| Givebutter (tips off)Standard, tips offVerified Apr 2026 | Fee architecture A: Platform % + processing % | $5,535 | $1,845 | 4.6% | Visit site |
Architectures D and E don’t make fees disappear—they move them onto your donors, as a mandatory pass-through (D) or a tip prompt (E). Someone always pays the fee. The “Donors pay” column is that someone.
Pricing not published—verify direct
These platforms don’t publish enough pricing for us to rank them honestly, so we won’t. Get a quote and run the same math.
Scroll sideways for the full table
| Platform | Arch. | You pay /yr | Donors pay /yr | Sign up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NucleusVerified Jul 2026Subscription price not published—get it from Nucleus directly. | Fee architecture D: Flat subscription, donor covers fees | Not published | $2,814 | Get a quote |
| PushpayVerified Jul 2026No pricing published on Pushpay's own site—every plan is a sales conversation, on a 1–3 year contract. | Fee architecture C: Interchange pass-through + tier | Not published | Not published | Get a quote |
| RebelGiveVerify directSubscription and processing rates unpublished—verify directly. | Fee architecture D: Flat subscription, donor covers fees | Not published | Not published | Get a quote |
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How we model this
Every rate comes from the vendor’s own pricing page or help center, verified on the date stamped on each row—never from a competitor’s comparison post. Where a vendor won’t publish a price, we say so and rank nothing. The full dataset was last reviewed July 30, 2026; we re-check it quarterly.
- Gift counts split in the same proportion as dollars: 85% card volume means 85% of gifts on cards, all at your average gift size.
- The donor-cover slider shifts fees from you to your donors on platforms that offer the option—it never shrinks the fee. Someone always pays it.
- Amex isn’t modeled separately; most platforms charge more for it (typically around 3.5%), so heavy Amex volume will run slightly above these figures.
- MyWell’s interchange pass-through is modeled at their own cited ~1.33% average across debit and credit. Per-transaction ACH caps (Donorbox’s $25 platform cap, Stripe’s $5 processing cap) are applied per gift.
- Platforms with no published ACH rate get your full volume priced at their card rate, and we flag it on the row.
- Donorbox is modeled on its Standard plan with Stripe; Givebutter on its current Standard regime (legacy pre-Sept-2025 accounts price differently).
The calculator gives you the number. For the argument—which platform we’d pick at your size and why—read our giving platform comparisons.