Two payments-first fundraising platforms with free entry points. Donorbox is the donation-form specialist that embeds anywhere; Givebutter is the broader free platform spanning forms, events, auctions, and a light CRM.
Published by DonorForge, which competes with both. Pricing and features below are sourced from each vendor’s public pages and review sites; the verdict is ours, the table is theirs.
Lightweight hosted donation forms with a basic CRM bolted on. Organizations that need a fast, embeddable donation form more than a full CRM. Standard tier is free with 2.95% to 3.95% platform fee plus Stripe or PayPal processing. Pro tier is $150 per month and reduces platform fees to 1.75% to 2%. Premium tier is by quote.
Free fundraising platform monetized through optional donor tips. Organizations running campaign-driven fundraising (events, P2P, crowdfunding) more than ongoing donor stewardship. Free tier with 0% platform and processing fees when donor tips are enabled (3% platform fee otherwise, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing). Givebutter Plus paid tier starts at $29 per month for up to 250 contacts and scales to $1,548 per month at 50,000+ contacts.
Watch out for
Watch out for
| Capability | Donorbox | Givebutter | DonorForge* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free tier | Free tier | Free tier |
| Donor records & giving history | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Hosted donation pages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Recurring giving (donor self-managed) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pledge tracking & dunning | — | — | ✓ |
| Grant pipeline & reporting | — | — | ✓ |
| Peer-to-peer fundraising | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in donor email | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SMS / text-to-give | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automated tax receipts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stripe + ACH out of the box | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom reports / board reports | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Multi-fund accounting | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Real free tier (not a trial) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| QuickBooks / accounting export | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ |
| Soft credits & household rollups | — | ◐ | ✓ |
| Native mobile app | — | ✓ | — |
| Event / seating management | — | ◐ | ✓ |
*DonorForge included for reference — we make it, so read that column with the appropriate salt. Sources: donorbox.org · g2.com · givebutter.com · g2.com
Donorbox is leaner and quicker to bolt onto an existing website — its forms and recurring giving are excellent, and its platform fee structure is straightforward. Givebutter covers more ground (events, ticketing, auctions, engagement tools) funded by optional donor tips. If you need one embeddable donation form done perfectly, Donorbox; if you want a free all-in-one fundraising toolkit, Givebutter.
Pick Donorbox if you are
Organizations that want best-in-class donation forms on their existing site.
Pick Givebutter if you are
Teams that want events, auctions, and forms in one free platform.
Donor records, recurring giving, pledges, campaigns, event seating, tap-to-pay terminals, and bookkeeping in one ledger — the full Pro plan at $0 for the next 200 signups. Not a trial. No card. Your data exports freely if it isn’t a fit.