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Stripe vs Zeffy: Fees, Features and CRM Compared
Zeffy gives your nonprofit Stripe processing for free and pays every fee. Used directly, Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per card payment, and forms, receipts and donor records are yours to add.
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Zeffy VS Stripe
Pricing
Zeffy:
$
0.
Stripe: 
2.9% + 30¢.
per domestic card payment at Stripe's standard rate. A nonprofit discount is available on request.
On a $100 donation
Zeffy:
$
100.
The whole $100 goes to your nonprofit.
Stripe:
$96.80.
kept at the standard rate. Stripe does not publish its nonprofit rate.
Card processing
Zeffy:
$
0.
Zeffy pays the Stripe card fee on every gift.
Stripe:
2.9% + 30¢.
per domestic card. Plus 0.5% if keyed in by hand, 1.5% for an international card.
Nonprofit rate
Zeffy:
$
0.
Nothing to apply for: there is no fee to discount.
Stripe:
N/A.
A discount on request if 80% of your Stripe volume is tax-deductible donations. Rate not published.
Bank payments
Zeffy:
$
0.
US bank payments cost your nonprofit nothing.
Stripe:
0.8%.
per ACH Direct Debit, capped at $5.
Recurring gifts
Zeffy:
$
0.
Monthly gifts carry no extra charge.
Stripe:
+0.7%.
Billing fee on recurring charges, on top of the card fee.
Setup & monthly fees
Zeffy:
$
0.
No subscription and no setup cost.
Stripe:
$0.
No setup or monthly fee on standard pricing.
Other fees
Zeffy:
$
0.
Payouts to your bank are free.
Stripe:
$15 per dispute, 1.5% on Instant Payouts (50¢ minimum), $10 a month for a custom domain.
What it means
Zeffy:
Zeffy covers the Stripe fee on every transaction: cards, wallets, bank and monthly gifts, tickets and auctions. Your nonprofit pays nothing: a $100 donation arrives as $100.
Stripe:
Stripe publishes clear pay-as-you-go rates with no monthly fee. Used directly, the nonprofit pays 2.9% + 30¢ per card gift, less with an approved discount.
Payments
Zeffy: 
Stripe processing, free for your nonprofit: Zeffy runs every payment on Stripe and pays the fee.
Stripe:
The processor itself: cards, wallets, ACH and in person, with a fee on each payment.
Cards
Zeffy:
Credit and debit cards, processed on Stripe. Zeffy covers the fee.
Stripe:
Credit and debit cards, at 2.9% + 30¢ each.
Apple Pay & Google Pay
Zeffy:
Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout, with the fee covered.
Stripe:
Digital wallets online, at the card rate.
ACH / bank transfer
Zeffy:
ACH in the US and PAD in Canada, free.
Stripe:
ACH Direct Debit at 0.8%, capped at $5.
Donor-advised funds
Zeffy:
Donor-advised fund gifts accepted, with no fee.
Stripe:
DAF gifts are not publicly mentioned.
In person
Zeffy:
Zeffy's Tap to Pay app on iPhone or Android. No reader, no fee.
Stripe:
Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android at 2.7% + 5¢, plus $0.10 per tap.
Payouts
Zeffy:
Sent to your bank automatically, every Monday or monthly, at no cost. Next-day payouts available.
Stripe:
First payout within 7 to 14 days, then on a schedule. Instant Payouts cost 1.5%.
Account setup
Zeffy:
No Stripe account to open or manage: Zeffy sets up the processing for you.
Stripe:
You open, verify and run your own Stripe account.
What it means
Zeffy:
With Zeffy, your nonprofit gets Stripe for free: donors pay on the same card, wallet and bank checkout, and Zeffy pays every processing fee.
Stripe:
Stripe takes cards, wallets, ACH and taps on a phone. The nonprofit holds the account and pays the fee on each payment.
All-in-one fundraising
Zeffy:
4.8/5.
Ease of use on Capterra. Forms, events, sales and donor management in one free account, on Stripe.
Stripe:
4.5/5.
Ease of use on Capterra. Payment pages and subscriptions; fundraising tools are not publicly mentioned.
Donation forms
Zeffy:
Branded forms with suggested amounts, shared by link, QR code or embed.
Stripe:
Payment Links can collect a donation, with no code.
Recurring gifts
Zeffy:
Weekly to yearly options on any form, with no added fee.
Stripe: 
Subscriptions through Billing, at 0.7% on top of the card fee.
Ticketing
Zeffy:
Tickets and registrations with QR check-in, no ticket fee.
Stripe:
Event ticketing is not publicly mentioned.
Peer-to-peer
Zeffy:
Personal and team pages with leaderboards.
Stripe:
Peer-to-peer fundraising is not publicly mentioned.
Auctions
Zeffy:
Silent auctions with outbid alerts for bidders.
Stripe:
Auctions are not publicly mentioned.
Raffles
Zeffy:
Numbered tickets emailed to each buyer, where your state allows raffles.
Stripe:
Raffles are not publicly mentioned.
Online store
Zeffy:
Merch with sizes and stock counts, for pick-up or shipping.
Stripe:
Payment Links sell products. A store builder is not publicly mentioned.
Memberships
Zeffy:
Membership tiers, automatic renewals and digital cards.
Stripe:
Subscriptions and a customer portal. Member management is not publicly mentioned.
What it means
Zeffy:
Zeffy is an all-in-one fundraising platform with payment processing built in: forms, tickets, auctions, raffles, a store, memberships and a donor CRM, all free.
Stripe:
Stripe is the payment processing piece only. Forms, ticketing, auctions, receipts and a donor CRM are yours to build or buy around it.
Sources
Zeffy:
Donations · Ticketing · Peer-to-peer · Auctions · Raffles · Store · Memberships · Capterra
Stripe:
Donor CRM
Zeffy:
A free donor CRM: every donation, ticket and membership lands on the donor's record.
Stripe:
Payment records for the account. A donor CRM is not publicly mentioned.
Donor records
Zeffy:
One record per donor, with lifetime giving, last gift and a timeline.
Stripe:
Payment data in the Stripe Dashboard. Donor profiles are not publicly mentioned.
Tax receipts
Zeffy:
Sent automatically on every gift, with a yearly recap each January.
Stripe:
Donor tax receipts are not publicly mentioned.
Segments & lists
Zeffy:
Filter on giving history or campaign, and save lists that update on their own.
Stripe:
Donor segments are not publicly mentioned.
Newsletters
Zeffy:
Email a saved list, with opens, clicks and gifts tracked.
Stripe:
Newsletters are not publicly mentioned.
Automations
Zeffy:
A welcome series for new subscribers that ends once they give.
Stripe:
Donor automations are not publicly mentioned.
Price
Zeffy:
$0 for the CRM, whether you manage 100 donor records or 100,000.
Stripe:
No donor CRM. A separate one means another subscription and another sync.
What it means
Zeffy:
Every donation, ticket and membership lands on the donor's record in Zeffy, receipt already sent, so nothing is exported to a separate CRM.
Stripe:
Stripe keeps payment records for the account. Donor profiles, tax receipts and newsletters are not publicly mentioned, so a CRM is a second tool.
Support
Zeffy:
Chat, email and calls on request, the same for every nonprofit.
Stripe:
24x7 phone, email and chat for every account, with paid plans for priority help.
Help center
Zeffy:
500+ articles, including how Zeffy works with Stripe.
Stripe:
A support site and developer docs.
Phone
Zeffy:
No phone line to ring. A call is booked on request by chat or email.
Stripe:
24x7 for all customers.
Email & chat
Zeffy:
Chat starts with an AI assistant and hands over to a person. Email answered in 2 to 6 business hours.
Stripe:
24x7 email and chat for all customers.
Priority support
Zeffy:
No paid tier: every nonprofit gets the same help.
Stripe:
Growth, Premium and Enterprise plans add priority support. Prices are not published.
What it means
Zeffy:
Zeffy has no paid support tier: every nonprofit gets the same chat, email and booked calls, whatever it raises.
Stripe:
Stripe offers 24x7 phone, email and chat to every account. Priority help and a technical account manager come with its paid support plans.
Zeffy is 100% free, always.
Stripe's payments, built into free fundraising
💳
Zeffy pays Stripe's fee, every time
Every payment runs on Stripe, and Zeffy covers the fee on all of them for your nonprofit. A $100 gift arrives as $100, not $96.80.
🎟️
A full fundraising platform, not a checkout
Donations, tickets, auctions, raffles, a store, memberships and donor management in one free account, with payment processing built in.
🧾
A CRM every payment writes into
Each gift, ticket and membership builds the donor's record and sends the tax receipt on its own, so there is no second tool to sync.
What is the difference between Stripe and Zeffy?
Zeffy is a free, all-in-one fundraising platform with a donor CRM built in, and it processes its payments on Stripe. One free plan covers donation forms, events, auctions, a store and memberships, and Zeffy pays the Stripe fee. Stripe is the payment processor itself. A nonprofit that uses it directly gets payment pages and subscriptions and pays 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card payment. Tax receipts and donor records are not publicly mentioned on stripe.com.
Does Zeffy use Stripe?
Yes. Zeffy processes every payment on Stripe's infrastructure and covers the Stripe fees, so your nonprofit pays no card or transaction fee. Zeffy creates a dedicated Stripe connection for each organization through Stripe Custom Connect, and payouts go to your bank. How Zeffy works with Stripe.
How much does Stripe charge nonprofits?
At its standard published rate, Stripe charges a nonprofit the same as any business:
- 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card or wallet payment online.
- Plus 0.5% for a card keyed in by hand, 1.5% for an international card, and 1% when currency conversion is needed.
- ACH Direct Debit: 0.8%, capped at $5.
- Recurring charges: Billing adds 0.7%.
- No setup or monthly fee.
- On a $100 donation by card: $3.20 in fees, so your nonprofit keeps $96.80.
Stripe offers a nonprofit discount on request, but it does not publish the discounted rate. On Zeffy the same $100 card gift arrives whole, because Zeffy pays the Stripe fee itself. More in our guide to Stripe for nonprofits. Rates read on stripe.com/pricing in October 2026.
Is Stripe free for nonprofits?
No. Stripe has no setup or monthly fee, but it charges a nonprofit 2.9% + 30¢ on each domestic card payment, the same as any business. A nonprofit discount is available on request, at a rate Stripe does not publish. The way to get Stripe's processing for free is through Zeffy: every payment runs on Stripe and Zeffy pays the fee, so a $100 gift arrives as $100.
Stripe vs PayPal for nonprofits: which is cheaper?
At their published US rates, on a $100 donation by card:
- Stripe, 2.9% + 30¢: your nonprofit keeps $96.80.
- PayPal, standard donation rate of 2.89% + $0.49: $96.62.
- PayPal, charity rate of 1.99% + $0.49, after PayPal approves your nonprofit: $97.52.
Stripe's nonprofit discount would lower its figure, but the rate is not published. On Zeffy, which processes on Stripe and pays the fee, the same gift arrives as $100. Full PayPal vs Stripe comparison.
How does a nonprofit get Stripe's nonprofit discount?
By asking Stripe's support team. Stripe offers discounted processing fees to eligible nonprofits that mainly accept donations. At least 80% of the account's Stripe volume must come from tax-deductible donations, and membership fees, tuition, ticket sales, registration fees and auction payments do not count. The organization signs in and requests the discount for its account. Stripe does not publish the discounted rate. On Zeffy there is no discount to request: the fee is covered on every payment, tickets and auctions included.
Can I use my existing Stripe account with Zeffy?
No. Zeffy connects each organization through its own integration, Stripe Custom Connect, and that integration is what lets Zeffy cover every transaction fee. Your existing Stripe account stays separate and unaffected, and you can keep using it for other tools. Read the help article.
Is Zeffy really free?
Yes. Zeffy charges your nonprofit no platform fee, no subscription and no processing fee, even though every payment runs on Stripe: Zeffy pays that fee itself. The only money Zeffy receives is an optional contribution a donor may add at checkout, on top of the gift. See how Zeffy is free.
Still undecided?
Keep comparing — and see why nonprofits choose Zeffy
100,000+ nonprofits trust Zeffy — and keep their fees at $0.
For 7+ years, Zeffy has supported nonprofits with free, user-friendly fundraising tools.
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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.”
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Amy R
Rebuilding Together Metro Chicago
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!
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Debra B
Glory to Glory Women's Mentoring Ministry
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!!
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Carmen M
DIVINA World Foundation
Zeffy is very easy to use and ensures that every dollar quickly gets into our account.. A huge help to our work!
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Nathan C
Jiwa International
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.
Ryan S
Jesters Theatre: Youth Unlimited
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.
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Jennifer H
GSCB Troop 144
We were ready to sell tickets in less than 30 minutes. The reporting capabilities were better than some other paid-for sites.
Mark B
Theta Mu Lambda Charitable Foundation
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!
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Stevie C
We Are HER
SUCCESS STORIES
Zero-fee fundraising in action — nonprofit stories worth sharing.
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