Give Lively vs Zeffy: Fees, Features and CRM Compared

Neither takes a platform fee. On Give Lively, your nonprofit still pays card processing on every gift; on Zeffy, it pays nothing, with auctions, raffles, a store and a CRM built in.

Zeffy is trusted by 100,000+ nonprofits

Give Lively

G2 ratings

Zeffy

4.9/5

3,463 reviews

Give Lively

4.7/5

81 reviews

Ease of Use

95%

1,054 responses

93%

72 responses

Meets Requirements

94%

572 responses

87%

69 responses

Interaction Tracking

92%

367 responses

86%

21 responses

Donor Profiles

89%

342 responses

87%

22 responses

Likelihood to Recommend

98%

1,278 responses

93%

80 responses

Product Direction

99%

563 responses

87%

62 responses

Zeffy VS Give Lively

Zeffy VS Give Lively: What nonprofits should know before choosing.

Pricing

Completely free. Always. But how? →

2.2% + $0.30.

No platform fee, but card processing on every gift through your own Stripe account, unless the donor covers it.

On a $100 donation

100.

Your nonprofit keeps all $100.

$97.50.

at Stripe's nonprofit rate (2.2% + $0.30), unless the donor covers the fee.

Processing fees

$0 in credit card and transaction fees. Zeffy covers these. How? →

2.2% + $0.30.

per card gift at Stripe's nonprofit rate (2.9% + $0.30 standard, 3.5% Amex). ACH: 0.8%, capped at $5.

Platform fees

Zeffy never takes a cut. You keep 100% of every donation.

$0.

No platform fee. Give Lively asks donors for a voluntary tip.

Monthly fees

0/month.

No subscriptions, no paywalls. Every org, big or small, gets full access for free.

$0/month.

No setup, membership or subscription fee.

Other fees

We've never charged a single cent to nonprofits and we never will.

$1.01 per payout sent by check. DAF gifts: 2.9%.

Value for money

5/5.

Source: Zeffy Value for Money on Capterra (465 reviews) →

3.6/5.

Give Lively value for money on Capterra, from 8 reviews.

What it means

Zeffy also takes no platform fee, and it covers card processing too, with no Stripe account for your nonprofit to open.

Give Lively takes no platform fee, but your nonprofit pays card processing on every gift unless the donor covers it.

Sources

How Zeffy is free · Capterra

Pricing · Fees and disbursement · Capterra

All-in-one fundraising

4.8/5.

Ease of use on Capterra. Every way to raise money in one place, all free.

4.0/5.

Ease of use on Capterra. Donation pages, tickets, peer-to-peer and text-to-donate, on one free plan.

Donations

Donation forms and pages with recurring giving, pledges, fund choice and automatic tax receipts. No fees.

Campaign pages and donation widgets with recurring giving, plus Text-to-Donate.

Ticketing

Sell tickets and run registrations. Every buyer lands in your donor CRM. No fees.

Event ticketing pages with ticket tiers, free or discounted tickets, and a live display for events.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Personal and team pages with live leaderboards. Every donor they bring in becomes your contact.

Individual and team fundraising pages with a leaderboard.

Auctions

Silent auctions with outbid alerts for bidders. No platform fee, no per-item fee.

Auctions are not publicly mentioned.

Raffles

Numbered digital tickets sent automatically, bundles and 50/50 thermometers. No fee on any ticket.

Raffles are not publicly mentioned.

Online Store

Sell merch with sizes and stock counts, with pick-up or shipping. Keep every dollar.

An online store is not publicly mentioned.

Memberships

Sign-up forms, automatic renewals and reminders, and digital cards in Apple and Google Wallet. No fees on dues.

Memberships are not publicly mentioned. Recurring donations only.

What it means

Zeffy adds auctions, raffles, a store and memberships to donations, tickets and peer-to-peer, all free.

Give Lively covers donations, tickets and peer-to-peer. Auctions, raffles, a store or memberships need another tool.

Sources

Donations · Ticketing · Peer-to-peer · Auctions · Raffles · Store · Memberships

Features · Membership levels · Event ticketing · Peer-to-peer

Donor CRM

A free CRM built into your fundraising. Every gift lands on the donor record.

No built-in CRM. Donor data exports, or a free app that syncs to Salesforce, which you pay for.

Donor database

Donations, tickets, memberships and shop orders build your donor database on their own. Unlimited contacts.

Donor and donation data in the Nonprofit Admin Portal, with CSV exports.

Notes & reminders

A timeline of gifts, emails and notes per contact, with reminders and a daily email of follow-ups due.

Not publicly mentioned. Donor follow-up runs in your own CRM.

Segments & lists

Filter by giving, campaign or any custom property, and save it as an auto-updating list.

Segments come from the CRM you connect.

Newsletters

Drag-and-drop builder and AI drafts, with open, click and donation reporting. Unlimited sends, no fees.

No newsletter tool. Zapier templates connect to Mailchimp and others.

Automations

A welcome series for new subscribers that stops once they give or go monthly. Campaign reminders and receipts send on their own.

Automated thank-you and receipt emails per campaign. Other automations run through Zapier.

Reporting

Live dashboards for recurring donors, plus the AI Data Assistant: ask in plain words, get charts back.

Real-time donation data and exports, with referrer and UTM tracking.

Tax receipts

Auto-generated, resendable, and attributed to the right fund.

Automated receipt emails, with tailored thank-you notes.

Integrations

QuickBooks sync, Zapier, and a public API with webhooks, all free. Import contacts straight from Mailchimp.

A free Salesforce app (NPSP, hourly sync) with an integration specialist, Zapier to 6,000+ apps, and Double the Donation.

Price

$0. No per-contact or per-user fees, ever.

No built-in CRM to pay for. You pay for the CRM you connect.

What it means

Zeffy keeps donor records itself, so you don't need Salesforce or another CRM to see who gave what.

Give Lively sends donor data to a CRM you pay for separately, such as Salesforce: another subscription, another login, and a sync to maintain.

Sources

Donor CRM · Emails

Integrations · Membership · Features

Payment Methods

Cards, wallets, ACH, DAFs and Tap to Pay. No fees, no Stripe account to open.

Cards, wallets, ACH, PayPal, Venmo and DAFs, through your own Stripe account. Processing on every payment.

Credit Card Payments

Accept all major credit cards with zero processing fees. Zeffy covers the cost, so you keep 100% of every donation.

All major cards at 2.2% + $0.30 with Stripe's nonprofit rate, or 1.99% + $0.25 through Shift4, for one-time gifts.

Apple Pay & Google Pay

One-tap donations and tickets with Apple Pay & Google Pay. No fees, just smooth mobile checkouts.

Apple Pay and Google Pay, plus PayPal and Venmo (PayPal: 1.99% + $0.49 at the nonprofit rate).

ACH / Bank Transfers

Accept bank transfers with zero fees. Full donation amounts go straight to your mission.

ACH at 0.8%, capped at $5, with a weekly limit set by Stripe.

Donor-Advised Funds (DAF)

Accept donor-advised fund gifts of $1,000 or more, for US charities, with no fees.

One-time DAF gifts through DAFpay, at 2.9%.

Who can use it

For nonprofits in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and Germany, paid in their local currency.

US 501(c)(3) organizations only, after a values review of 5 to 7 business days. Donors can give from abroad.

Tap to Pay App

Anyone on your team can take payments from their phone. No card reader, no fees, no friction.

In-person card payments are not publicly mentioned. Text-to-Donate works at events.

Payouts

Paid out to your bank automatically every Monday, or monthly. New payments clear a fraud review first, usually 1 to 3 business days.

Within seven business days, with no holding period, through your Stripe account.

What it means

Zeffy covers processing on cards, wallets, ACH and DAFs, so donors never need to cover a fee for your nonprofit to keep 100%.

Give Lively accepts cards, wallets, ACH and DAFs, and every payment carries processing, paid by your nonprofit unless the donor covers it.

Sources

Payment processing · Tap to Pay

Fees and disbursement · Eligibility · Membership

Support

4.9/5.

Customer service on Capterra, from 464 reviews. Email, chat and calls on request, free for every nonprofit.

3.9/5.

Customer service on Capterra. Chat and email on weekdays, free for every member.

Help Center

500+ help articles and step-by-step guides, all free, all the time.

A Resource Hub with guides, videos and FAQs, and an AI chatbot after hours.

Email Support

Email us anytime. Answers within 2 to 6 business hours.

Chat 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and email 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday, with a 24-hour average turnaround.

Phone Support

Calls on request. Reach out by email or chat first and we'll set one up.

No phone support. Give Lively says it cannot take support calls.

Onboarding

No training required, and we're here by email or chat if you need us.

A live onboarding webinar, plus workshops and webinars.

Community

Join thousands of nonprofits sharing tips, templates, and best practices.

Community Office Hours: live Q&A with the team and other members.

What it means

Zeffy support answers by email and chat within 2 to 6 business hours, with calls on request when you need to talk it through.

Give Lively support is free, by chat and email on weekdays, with a 24-hour average turnaround and no phone calls.

Sources

Contact · Capterra

Contact support · Membership · Capterra

Zeffy is 100% free, always.

Calculate savings

How is Zeffy free?

Why Zeffy over Give Lively?

Keep more of every dollar, with every tool in one place

💯

Keep every dollar donors give you

On Give Lively, your nonprofit pays card processing on every gift unless the donor covers it. With Zeffy, your nonprofit receives 100% of every gift, whether donors leave a voluntary contribution or not.

🤝

A free CRM, built in

Give Lively has no built-in CRM: donor data goes to one you pay for, like Salesforce. Zeffy's CRM is built in and free, with newsletters, automations and unlimited contacts.

🎟️

Every way to raise money, in one place

Give Lively covers donations, tickets and peer-to-peer; auctions, raffles, a store or memberships need other tools. Zeffy runs them all in one free platform.

Questions nonprofits ask when choosing between Zeffy and Give Lively

What fees does Give Lively charge?

Give Lively charges no platform, setup or subscription fee. Your nonprofit pays the payment processors on every gift, unless the donor chooses to cover the fee:

Cards through Stripe: 2.2% + $0.30 at Stripe's nonprofit rate (2.9% + $0.30 standard), 3.5% for American Express.
Cards through Shift4: 1.99% + $0.25, for one-time gifts.
ACH: 0.8%, capped at $5. PayPal: 1.99% + $0.49 at the nonprofit rate.
DAF gifts: 2.9%. Payouts by check: $1.01 each.

On a $100 card gift, your nonprofit keeps $97.50 at Stripe's nonprofit rate. With Zeffy, your nonprofit keeps $100, whether or not the donor leaves a contribution. Source: givelively.org, October 2026.

What is the difference between Give Lively and Zeffy?

Zeffy is free in full, with no platform fee and no processing fee: donations, tickets, peer-to-peer, auctions, raffles, a store, memberships and a donor CRM in one account. Give Lively is a free fundraising platform for US 501(c)(3) nonprofits, with donation pages, tickets, peer-to-peer and Text-to-Donate. It takes no platform fee either, but your nonprofit pays card processing through its own Stripe account unless the donor covers it, and it has no built-in CRM.

Should we choose Give Lively or Zeffy?

Choose Zeffy if you want free fundraising without paying card processing, with auctions, raffles and memberships, and a donor CRM so you don't need Salesforce.

Choose Give Lively if you are a US 501(c)(3), already use Salesforce, and want Text-to-Donate and a live donation display at events. Expect card processing on every gift unless donors cover it, and a separate CRM to pay for.

How does Give Lively make money?

Give Lively says its founders, who are philanthropists, cover its operating costs, and donors can leave a voluntary tip. On donations through Charity Navigator's Giving Basket, the Give Lively Foundation charges a 2.5% platform fee. Zeffy is funded by optional contributions from donors at checkout, so nonprofits pay nothing: no platform fee and no processing fee. See how Zeffy is free.

Who can use Give Lively or Zeffy?

Give Lively is open to US-based 501(c)(3) public charities and private operating foundations only. It reviews each application for alignment with its values, which takes 5 to 7 business days. Zeffy is open to registered nonprofits and charities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Germany.

Does Give Lively include a CRM?

No. Give Lively stores donor and donation data you can export, and offers a free app that syncs it to Salesforce, which is a paid service. Other tools connect through Zapier. That means a second subscription and a second login. Zeffy's CRM is built in and free: every donation, ticket and membership lands on the donor's record, ready to segment, email and automate, with unlimited contacts.

Is Zeffy only for small nonprofits?

No. Give Lively and Zeffy are both free to start, but only Zeffy covers processing, and that matters more as you grow: on $1 million raised, Zeffy still costs your nonprofit nothing. One free plan, every tool and the CRM, at any size.

Do we need a Stripe account to use Give Lively or Zeffy?

With Give Lively, yes. Your nonprofit connects its own Stripe account, applies to Stripe for the nonprofit rate, and Stripe charges processing on every gift. Payouts reach your bank within seven business days. With Zeffy, no. There is no processor account to open or manage: Zeffy processes every payment, covers the fee, and pays out to your bank every Monday or monthly, for free.

What fees does Give Lively charge?

Give Lively charges no platform, setup or subscription fee. Your nonprofit pays the payment processors on every gift, unless the donor chooses to cover the fee:

Cards through Stripe: 2.2% + $0.30 at Stripe's nonprofit rate (2.9% + $0.30 standard), 3.5% for American Express.
Cards through Shift4: 1.99% + $0.25, for one-time gifts.
ACH: 0.8%, capped at $5. PayPal: 1.99% + $0.49 at the nonprofit rate.
DAF gifts: 2.9%. Payouts by check: $1.01 each.

What is the difference between Give Lively and Zeffy?

Should we choose Give Lively or Zeffy?

Choose Zeffy if you want free fundraising without paying card processing, with auctions, raffles and memberships, and a donor CRM so you don't need Salesforce.

How does Give Lively make money?

Who can use Give Lively or Zeffy?

Does Give Lively include a CRM?

Is Zeffy only for small nonprofits?

Do we need a Stripe account to use Give Lively or Zeffy?

Still undecided?

Keep comparing — and see why nonprofits choose Zeffy

Planning Center

Clickbid

Network for Good

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!