CharityEngine vs Virtuous: Nonprofit CRM Comparison (2026)

CharityEngine lists its Starter plan at $550 a month and processes payments in-house. Virtuous offers custom pricing with no platform fee and processes all payments through Stripe. Zeffy is free.

Zeffy is trusted by 100,000+ nonprofits

Charity Engine VS Virtuous

Charity Engine VS Virtuous: What nonprofits should know before choosing.

Donor Management CRM Features

Easy Donor Database

✅

✅

Donation History & Notes per Donor

✅

✅

Donor Tags / Segments

✅

✅

Built-in Donation Tracking (No Integrations Needed)

✅

✅

Emailing to Donors (Receipts, Thank yous, Newsletters)

✅

✅

Smart Filters (Search by Donation, Campaign, Date...)

✅

✅

Export Donor Data Anytime

✅

✅

Offline Donations Tracking

✅

✅

Pre-filled donation forms

✅

✅

Pricing

$550/mo.

Starter, per Capterra; Pro and Premier are custom quotes

N/A.

No pricing information available

Processing fees

Not published.

CharityEngine processes payments in-house and publishes no rate.

Varies.

Set by Stripe, the processor Virtuous runs on.

Platform fees

N/A.

Not separately disclosed; platform fees appear to be included in the monthly subscription cost

n/a.

Virtuous states it charges no platform fee.

Monthly fees

$550/month.

Starter plan; Pro and Premier plans require contacting the vendor for pricing

Custom.

Custom pricing quoted per organization

Value for money

4.2.

4.4.

Features

4.3/5.

Capterra rating. One platform for the CRM, forms, events, email and in-house payments.

4.4/5.

Solid donor tools. Steep learning curve; requires higher-tier plans for advanced features.

Donations

Donation forms with recurring giving, text-to-give and DAFPay.

Virtuous processes donations with standard payment processing fees. Their donor management tools help track giving history and engagement.

Ticketing

Event management is on the Starter plan, per Capterra.

Ticketed Events handle tickets, add-ons, sponsorships and a registration page, with attendee check-in.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Peer-to-peer fundraising starts on the Pro plan, a custom quote, per Capterra.

Virtuous offers peer-to-peer fundraising tools with campaign tracking and supporter engagement features built into their platform.

Auctions

Live, silent and online auctions start on the Pro plan, per Capterra.

Virtuous doesn't offer auction functionality. You'd need separate auction software and manual data entry to track bidders in your CRM.

Raffles

No raffle tool listed by CharityEngine.

Virtuous doesn't support raffle functionality. You'd need separate raffle software and manual winner selection processes.

Online store

A shopping cart for merch and products comes with the Premier plan, per Capterra.

Premiums and Products lets donors add branded swag or mission products to the same cart as their gift.

Memberships

Membership tiers, renewals and benefits, per CharityEngine.

A donor portal gives donors self-service management of their gifts and payment methods and provides easy year-end tax statements.

Donor Management/CRM

Pledge tracking, moves management, wealth screening and a donor portal.

Virtuous provides robust donor management with contact tracking, giving history, and engagement scoring, but the learning curve is steep for small nonprofit teams.

Emails & Newsletter

Email and automated workflows, SMS and direct mail.

Virtuous includes email marketing tools with segmentation and automation features, but advanced email design options require higher-tier plans with steeper pricing.

Payment Processing

In-house processing for cards, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay. No rate published.

Virtuous processes all payments through Stripe.

Payment methods

Cards, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay and DAFPay, processed in-house.

Credit cards, digital wallets, ACH transfers

Credit Card Payments

Card gifts through CharityEngine's in-house processing; rate not published.

Yes - Accepts all major credit cards with integrated payment processing

Apple Pay & Google Pay

Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported, per CharityEngine.

Yes - Supports digital wallet payments including Apple Pay and Google Pay

ACH / Bank Transfers

ACH processed in-house, without a third-party gateway.

Yes - Supports ACH/bank transfers for recurring and one-time donations

Tap to Pay App

No tap-to-pay app listed for CharityEngine.

No - Does not offer a dedicated tap-to-pay mobile app for in-person donations

Customer Support

4.1/5.

4.4/5.

Unlimited Support

Capterra lists email, phone, chat and 24/7 live support for CharityEngine.

Support is included for all subscribers at no additional charge, with response times set by issue severity rather than by plan.

Phone Support / Office Hours

Capterra lists phone and 24/7 live support for CharityEngine.

Scheduled phone support, with 24/7 coverage for Severity 1 issues.

Webinars

CharityEngine runs upcoming and on-demand webinars.

Virtuous offers regular training webinars and educational sessions for users

Help Center

CharityEngine's resource center has guides, templates and an FAQ.

Virtuous maintains a comprehensive help center with articles, guides, and FAQs

Email and chat support, per Capterra.

Email and scheduled phone support, with response targets set by issue severity.

Nonprofit-Focused Support Team

Onboarding support is included on the Starter plan, per Capterra.

Tiered support with phone access limited to premium plans during business hours

Zeffy is 100% free, always.

Calculate savings

How is Zeffy free?

Why Zeffy over CharityEngine and Virtuous?

Why choose Zeffy over CharityEngine and Virtuous if you're a nonprofit

💸

Keep every dollar instead of paying for a CRM

Zeffy charges zero fees on donations, raffles, and events, so every dollar raised goes directly to your mission.

🧩

Every fundraising tool in one free platform

Zeffy includes auctions, raffles, ticketing, and online stores in one platform, with no subscription to buy first.

📞

Support that understands small nonprofits

Zeffy's support is free on every account: a real person on chat, email answered in 1 to 6 business hours, and calls on request.

Frequently asked questions

Is CharityEngine or Virtuous better for a nonprofit?

Both are CRMs with built-in fundraising. CharityEngine lists its Starter plan at $550 a month on Capterra and processes payments in-house. Virtuous offers custom pricing to its customers, including a flat subscription fee and no platform fee, and processes all payments through Stripe.

How much do CharityEngine and Virtuous cost?

CharityEngine Starter is $550 a month, per Capterra, with Pro and Premier quoted. Because Virtuous offers a variety of tools and is no longer just a CRM, they offer custom pricing to their customers, including a flat subscription fee and no platform fee. Zeffy has no subscription and no fees.

Do CharityEngine and Virtuous process payments?

Yes. CharityEngine processes cards, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay in-house. Virtuous processes all payments through Stripe. Zeffy processes gifts with no fees.

Can Zeffy handle all our fundraising needs beyond donor management?

Yes. Zeffy includes donation forms, event ticketing, auctions, raffles, peer-to-peer campaigns and an online store, with no fees.

How does Zeffy stay free?

Zeffy has no subscription and no fees. Donors can leave an optional contribution when they give, which is how Zeffy stays free for nonprofits.

Looking for a better option?

Zeffy was built for nonprofits like yours

focus on what matters

Built for small teams with big missions.

Zeffy is the fundraising platform that cuts out the fees, clears up your tech mess, and puts your cause first — so your team, even if you're a small team wearing many hats or a one-person show, can focus on what really matters.

Start your nonprofit

ZERO-FEE

Keep 100% of every dollar.

No platform fees. No processing fees. No catch. We know it sounds too good to be true, but it's not. Every penny goes straight to your mission, while competitors take 2-3% off every donation.

Start your nonprofit

ALL-IN-ONE PLatform

Ditch the tech mess.

Stop bouncing between MailChimp, Eventbrite, and all those spreadsheets. Now you can handle donations, ticket sales, memberships, raffles, and all your donor info in one spot.

Start your nonprofit

plug-and-play

Get going, fast.

Built for teams like yours — whether you're volunteer-led or have limited staff. Set up donation forms, sell tickets, and launch campaigns without needing a tech wizard. It's super easy, and you'll be up and running in minutes.

Start your nonprofit

mobile-first

Fundraise from every device, anywhere.

From QR codes on flyers to Tap-to-Pay on a phone, Zeffy makes it easy to accept donations on the go. Mobile-optimized and offline-ready, so no donor slips through the cracks.

Start your nonprofit

No turnover

Never lose a donor to volunteer transition.

Centralize supporter relationships, automate thank-you messages, and preserve institutional knowledge when board members rotate out.

Start your nonprofit

100% free forever.

100,000+ nonprofits trust Zeffy — and keep their fees at $0.

For 7+ years, Zeffy has supported nonprofits with free, user-friendly fundraising tools.

As a startup nonprofit with only two members, and no funding (yet) we’d need something with low (or no) fees. Zeffy was a dream come true.

Masey, Loose Ends.

Read the full story

“We were incurring a ton of fees for our past fundraising platform and Zeffy has helped us receive so much more of our donations.”

Zeffy has been invaluable in helping me track our donors, sales, events, and revenue in one spot. The coolest thing about Zeffy is it really is free!

Everything about Zeffy suits us starting with (of course, NO fees) but also the ease of use and customer experience as well as their client support!!

Zeffy is very easy to use and ensures that every dollar quickly gets into our account.. A huge help to our work!

Zeffy is very simple, allows for a lot of customization and seamlessly integrates into our website. The fact that all of this is free is still wild to me.

We couldn't believe there was a free payment platform for our Girl Scout group. Zeffy took ZERO fees from us, which is huge when you run on very small amounts of money.

We were ready to sell tickets in less than 30 minutes. The reporting capabilities were better than some other paid-for sites.

Since using Zeffy, our conversion rate of donations has skyrocketed. It's an easy platform to use. Plus customer support has always been responsive and helpful!