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Tithe.ly has a 4.7/5 overall rating on Capterra — and it earns that score in a lot of areas. But ratings don't pay the bills. Before you sign up, you need to know exactly what those transaction fees cost your congregation each month, who the platform is actually built for, and whether the Breeze acquisition changes anything for your church's workflow.

This review covers all of it. Real user quotes with attribution, a plain-English pricing breakdown, honest pros and cons, and a clear answer to: is Tithe.ly right for a small church?

Table of contents

• Tithe.ly: our verdict for small churches

• Tithe.ly ratings across platforms

• What users love about Tithe.ly

• What users complain about

• Tithe.ly pricing: what it actually costs

• Is Tithe.ly the same as Breeze?

• Who Tithe.ly is best for — and who should look elsewhere

• Alternatives for small churches

• FAQs

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Tithe.ly: our verdict for small churches

Tithe.ly is a purpose-built church giving platform with real strengths: a clean mobile donation experience, solid recurring gift tools, and a church management system (via Breeze) that mid-size congregations genuinely love. It's been around since 2015 and has earned trust in the faith-based community.

But here's the honest small-church problem: the fee structure hits hardest exactly where small churches are most vulnerable. There's no plan that waives transaction costs. Even on the free $0/month plan, every gift carries a 3.5% + $0.30 fee. A congregation of 150 members tithing $15,000/month pays roughly $630/month — $7,560/year — straight to transaction fees before a single dollar reaches ministry programs.

That math matters. Our editorial take: Tithe.ly is a strong choice for churches with 200+ members and a budget that can absorb those costs. For smaller congregations running lean, the fees are a real tradeoff that deserves serious consideration before you commit.

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Tithe.ly ratings across platforms

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The TrustRadius score (5/10) is a notable outlier worth flagging. TrustRadius skews toward IT buyers and larger organizations, which likely explains the gap. On platforms where church administrators and pastors do the reviewing — Capterra, Software Advice, GetApp — Tithe.ly consistently scores near the top. Take both data points seriously.

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What users love about Tithe.ly

Across hundreds of reviews, three themes come up repeatedly: how easy it is to give, how the platform held up during COVID, and how the breadth of features surprised new users.

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Ease of donating

There is a tremendous ease in donating through Tithe.ly. It gives the admin the ability to customize the options for giving, which in turn helps the donors realize the financial opportunities of giving.
— Cameron B., Capterra

This is the most consistent praise across the platform. Donors don't need training. The mobile app makes giving as fast as a text message, and admins can configure fund designations, recurring schedules, and giving categories without a developer.

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Donor communication during crisis

We converted to Breeze/Tithe.ly two years prior to the COVID pandemic. Because we had this system in place we were able to easily communicate with our congregation via email and text during the early days when the pandemic was changing things daily. The fact that our congregation had two years of experience with the software meant we did not experience the slump or delay in giving during the pandemic like many other churches we know.
— Bryan P., Capterra

This quote captures something unique about Tithe.ly's value proposition: it's not just a donation widget. Churches that had the full communication suite — email, text, mobile app — maintained giving continuity when in-person attendance dropped to zero.

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Feature breadth

Fairly simple to use. Even with lots of features, there are natural places to go and look for them. There are several extra features that I probably wouldn't have tried as a stand alone, but are really cool. We just implemented the credit card reader through Tithely Pay and it has been really helpful.
— Nathan C., Capterra

The all-access tier adds text-to-give, a custom church app, point-of-sale, worship tools, and website hosting. For a church that wants a single vendor for its entire digital ministry, that depth is genuinely useful — if the price is workable.

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What users complain about

The negative reviews cluster around three issues: software instability after updates, limited user permission controls, and customer support that doesn't scale well.

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Software instability after updates

The software was frequently not working the way it should. Once they updated to Tithe.ly 2.0, I was unable to print or export PDFs of our monthly giving statements. This forced me to take screenshots of the webpage and then crop the image down, which is very annoying. On top of this, there were several other bugs that we had to work through. Tithe.ly is a very ambitious company that has taken on many new functions and acquired several other smaller companies. The result is what seems like a lot of usability and functionality but is actually dysfunctional, dated, and mismatched UX and UI.
— Nathaniel T., Capterra

This is the sharpest criticism in the review corpus. Rapid acquisition activity — including Breeze — created product integration debt that users felt as bugs, UX inconsistencies, and broken export functions.

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Limited donor engagement controls

The tithely side still needs a little work when it comes to giving anyone outside of a full admin access to the various areas. I am also looking forward to better stats in the communications area so we can see who is engaging (opening, clicking) and who isn't. I would also like to see the newsletter function from the website integrate into the communications area.
— Cameron B., Capterra

User permissions and engagement analytics are weaker than expected given the platform's breadth. Churches with multiple staff roles — pastor, office administrator, volunteer coordinator — run into access limitations quickly.

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Customer support quality

I mostly disliked the constant bombardment of advertisements to upgrade or integrate with some new product they acquired while the ones they had were still running on Tithe.ly 1.0. The lack of support grew worse over time with the little bubble on the bottom right of the screen of Tithe.ly support was anything but helpful just offering up canned responses or links to outdated information or dead pages.
— Jana M., Capterra

Tithe.ly's customer support has a 4.6/5 rating on Capterra overall — but the qualitative feedback tells a nuanced story. Chatbot and self-serve resources are the first line of defense. Reaching a human support rep during business hours (5am–6pm PT, Monday through Friday) is possible, but multiple reviews note delays for complex issues.

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Tithe.ly pricing: what it actually costs

Tithe.ly has a "value for money" rating of 4.7/5 on Capterra. But that score reflects users across all church sizes. For small congregations, the per-transaction fee structure deserves its own honest look.

The core pricing reality: every plan, including the free $0/month plan, carries a transaction fee of 3.5% + $0.30 per gift. There is no plan that eliminates this cost. A 30-day free trial of paid plans is available.

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What that actually costs a small church

Run the numbers for a 150-member church receiving $15,000/month in tithes:

• Transaction fee per month: 3.5% $15,000 = $525, plus $0.30 estimated 100 transactions = $30

• Total monthly fee: approximately $630

• Annual cost in transaction fees alone: approximately $7,560

That's before any platform subscription fee. On the $72/month plan, annual total cost approaches $8,424. On All-Access, closer to $9,048.

For a small church where every dollar is a ministry decision, that's not a footnote — it's a budget line.

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Tithe.ly Fee Calculator

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Is Tithe.ly the same as Breeze?

This is one of the most common questions in Tithe.ly review threads, and the confusion is legitimate. Here's the clear answer.

Tithe.ly and Breeze are separate products that share a parent company. Tithe.ly acquired Breeze Church Management in 2021. Breeze is a church management system (ChMS) — it handles people records, attendance, volunteer management, group management, and member communication. Tithe.ly is the giving and fundraising platform.

After the acquisition, Tithe.ly packaged Breeze into its middle and upper pricing tiers. The "Giving + Church Management" plan at $72/month is essentially Tithe.ly giving plus Breeze ChMS bundled together.

What this means practically:

• If you're a current Breeze ChMS user evaluating Tithe.ly for giving, you're looking at an integrated stack — same vendor, same login ecosystem.

• If you're new to both, you're buying a bundled product where giving tools and church management are now joined.

• If you're a longtime Tithe.ly user who hasn't upgraded, Breeze features are locked behind the $72/month plan.

The integration created some of the UX friction users mention in negative reviews — two previously independent products merged into one interface. The instability complaints around Tithe.ly 2.0 are largely attributable to this integration period. For most users today, the products function as one cohesive platform, though some seams still show in the admin experience.

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Who Tithe.ly is best for — and who should look elsewhere

Small churches (under 200 members)

Tithe.ly works for small churches that prioritize ease of use and don't mind the transaction fees. The free plan's giving tools are genuinely functional. But the math is hard: at $5,000/month in tithes, you're paying roughly $205/month in transaction costs. At $10,000/month, it's around $380/month.

If your church is operating on a lean budget and every dollar needs to reach your congregation directly, those fees are a real constraint. Small churches that want zero transaction costs should evaluate alternatives before committing.

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Mid-size churches (200–1,000 members)

This is Tithe.ly's clearest sweet spot. The $72/month Giving + Church Management plan delivers real value: Breeze's people management tools, giving history, calendar, and group management combined with solid online giving. At this congregation size, transaction fees are proportionally smaller relative to budget, and the integrated ChMS reduces the need for separate software.

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Large churches (1,000+ members)

Large congregations typically have dedicated admin staff and IT budgets that can absorb Tithe.ly's costs. The All-Access plan at $119/month adds text-to-give, a custom-branded church app, website hosting, and point-of-sale — a compelling stack for churches running full ministry operations. At scale, Tithe.ly competes with Pushpay (starting at $149/month, 2.9% + $0.30) as an all-in-one church technology platform.

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Who should look elsewhere

• Churches receiving less than $8,000/month in giving who can't absorb $300+/month in transaction fees

• Organizations that need granular user permission controls for multiple staff roles

• Churches that experienced Tithe.ly 2.0 instability and haven't re-evaluated recently

• Any congregation where the finance team's time is already stretched — the support experience may add friction

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Alternatives for small churches

If you've worked through the fee math above and it doesn't fit your congregation's budget, here are the most relevant alternatives.

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Zeffy

Zeffy is the only fundraising platform that charges zero fees — no platform fee, no transaction fee, no credit card processing fee. It's funded entirely by optional donor tips. Over 100K+ nonprofits and churches have raised $2B+ on the platform.

For small churches where the Tithe.ly fee math doesn't work, Zeffy keeps every donated dollar in your ministry. It's not a church management system like Breeze — it's a fundraising and donor engagement platform. If you need ChMS functionality, you'll use a separate tool. But if your primary need is zero-cost online giving, recurring donations, event ticketing, and donor communication, Zeffy covers it without fees.

Zero-fee features include:

• Online donations and recurring gifts

• Mobile giving

• Event management and ticketing

• Peer-to-peer fundraising

• Membership management

• Email automation

• Point-of-sale tool

• Fundraising campaigns

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Pushpay

Pushpay targets large and growing churches with premium giving tools and a custom-branded app. Platform fees start at $149/month, with 2.9% + $0.30 per credit card transaction. It's a direct Tithe.ly competitor at the upper end of the church market — better suited for large congregations than small ones.

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Subsplash

Subsplash offers giving, media streaming, and communication tools in one platform. Platform fees start at $99/month with a processing fee of 2.3% + $0.30. It has a 4.2/5 "Value for Money" rating on Capterra. Stronger media and streaming tools than Tithe.ly, but a higher base cost for small churches.

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Givelify

Givelify has no monthly subscription fee and charges 2.9% + $0.30 per donation — a lower transaction rate than Tithe.ly's 3.5% + $0.30. It has a 4.8/5 "Value for Money" rating on Capterra and a mobile-first, three-tap donation experience. A reasonable middle ground for small churches that want lower fees but don't need full ChMS functionality.

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FAQs

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