Completely free. Always. But how? →
Square Gives Australian Not-for-Profits the Standard Rate, Not a Discount
Square markets to not-for-profits but prices them like any other seller. It is a payments and point-of-sale company, so the donation forms, receipts and donor records are yours to add.
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Square
Zeffy
Zeffy VS Square
Square
Pricing
Zeffy:
$
0.
Square: 
2.2%.
online, or 1.6% in person. No discounted not-for-profit rate is published
Processing fees
Square:
2.2% online.
1.6% in person and 2.2% manually keyed. No fixed fee, and no not-for-profit discount published
Platform fees
Zeffy:
$
0.
Zeffy never takes a cut. You keep 100% of every donation, on the only plan we have.
Square:
$0.
No platform fee. Square is a payments and point-of-sale company rather than a fundraising platform
Monthly fees
Zeffy:
$
0/month.
No subscriptions, no paywalls. Every org, big or small, gets full access for free.
Square:
$0.
Free at $0 a month, Plus from $40 a month, Premium custom. A not-for-profit can stay on the free plan and pay only per transaction
Other fees
Zeffy:
$
0.
We've never charged a single cent to not-for-profits and we never will.
Square:
Varies.
Instant transfers 1.5%. Readers and terminals are bought outright, though Tap to Pay needs only your phone
Value for money
Features
Donations
Zeffy: 
Donations without the cut. Custom forms, tax receipts, donor tracking — all fee-free.
Square:
No donation form. A payment can be labelled a donation through a payment link or Online Checkout, without suggested amounts, recurring giving or a deductible-gift receipt
Ticketing
Zeffy:
Sell tickets, check in guests, track sales — and keep 100%. No fees. No fine print.
Square:
No event ticketing with registration and check-in. Tickets can be sold as products through the online store
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Zeffy:
Teams or individuals launch fundraising pages in minutes. Track progress, keep 100%. No fees.
Square:
No peer-to-peer fundraising pages for supporters
Auctions
Zeffy:
Run auctions without giving up a percentage. List items, track bids, collect payments — all fee-free.
Square:
No auction tooling. Square can take the payment once the bidding happens elsewhere
Online Store
Zeffy:
Skip the tool sprawl. Sell merch and manage your store in one place — no fees, no add-ons.
Square:
A genuine online store with inventory and multi-channel selling, built for retail rather than for fundraising
Memberships
Zeffy:
Automate memberships with no per-member fees. Dues go straight to your organisation, which suits clubs, alumni and supporter groups.
Square:
Recurring payments can collect dues. Square publishes no membership tiers, member portal or renewal handling
Donor management/CRM
Zeffy:
Ditch the expensive CRM. Track donations, send thank-yous, and build donor loyalty — all fee-free.
Square:
A customer directory holds sales history, loyalty and subscriptions across channels. It is a customer record rather than a donor record, with no giving history or receipting
Emails & Newsletter
Zeffy:
Manage contacts and send newsletters from the same place you fundraise. Unlimited sends, no fees.
Square:
Payment receipts and invoices. Square Marketing is a separate paid product, and neither is built for donor communication
Payment Processing
Zeffy:
Accept donations, ticket sales, and payments — all 100% fee-free. No cuts, no hidden fees, ever.
Square:
First-party processing with cards, digital wallets, invoicing and Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android
Payment Methods
Zeffy:
All-in-one fundraising: donations, events, memberships, email and a donor CRM, 100% free.
Square:
Cards and digital wallets online at 2.2%, and in person at 1.6% through Square's own hardware or Tap to Pay on a phone.
Credit Card Payments
Zeffy:
Accept all major credit cards with zero processing fees. Zeffy covers the cost — you keep 100% of every donation.
Square:
Visa, Mastercard, eftpos and American Express all cost the same rate: 2.2% online, 1.6% in person
Apple Pay & Google Pay
Zeffy:
One-tap donations and tickets with Apple Pay & Google Pay. No fees, just smooth mobile checkouts.
Square:
Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported, at the same rate as a card
Tap to Pay App
Zeffy:
Anyone on your team can take payments from their phone. No card reader, no fees, no friction.
Square:
Free because it needs no terminal, just your own phone. Square then charges 1.6% on every tap
Support
Help Center
Zeffy:
Searchable help docs, video tutorials, and step-by-step guides — all free, all the time.
Square:
A large help centre, written mainly around retail, restaurant and services use cases
Email Support
Zeffy:
Email us anytime. Most questions answered within hours — not days.
Square:
Support through the account. Square publishes no not-for-profit support team
Phone Support
Zeffy:
Need to talk? Call us. Real support from real people who understand not-for-profits.
Square:
Phone support is published for sellers
Onboarding
Zeffy:
Get set up in under 30 minutes. No training required — but we're here if you need us.
Square:
Self-service setup from documentation. No onboarding service is published for not-for-profits
Community
Zeffy:
Join thousands of not-for-profits sharing tips, templates and best practices.
Square:
Square runs a public seller community
Zeffy is 100% free, always.
Get nonprofit pricing and nonprofit tools, not retail ones
💰
Square markets to not-for-profits without pricing for them
Square runs a page called "POS for Nonprofits", and its Australian pricing page contains no mention of a charity or nonprofit rate at all. You pay 2.2% online and 1.6% in person, the same as a cafe. Zeffy charges nothing and covers the processing.
🧾
Point of sale is not a fundraising platform
Square takes a payment well. What it does not give a not-for-profit is a donation page, recurring giving, event registration, membership renewals, a deductible-gift receipt or a donor record — a customer directory tracks sales, not giving. Zeffy includes all of it.
📱
Tap to Pay with no terminal to buy, and no percentage either
Square's Tap to Pay is free because it needs no reader, just your own phone, and then takes 1.6% of every tap. Zeffy also runs Tap to Pay in Australia and takes nothing, so a volunteer can collect at an event with the phone already in their pocket.
Does Square offer a not-for-profit discount in Australia?
Not on its published pricing. Square runs nonprofit-facing marketing pages, and its Australian pricing page contains no occurrence of "charity" or "nonprofit" and lists no reduced rate, so an Australian not-for-profit pays the standard rates. That is a real difference from PayPal, which does publish a gated Australian charity rate. Zeffy is free to every registered Australian not-for-profit with no application.
What does Square actually charge in Australia?
1.6% per in-person transaction for sellers who signed up on or after 30 May 2024, and 1.9% for sellers who signed up before that date. Online — Online Store, Online Checkout, the eCommerce API or an invoice paid online — is 2.2% per transaction, and manually keyed payments including Virtual Terminal and card on file are also 2.2%. There is no fixed per-transaction fee on top. Zeffy charges nothing.
Is there a monthly fee?
Not on the free plan, which is $0 a month. Plus starts at $40 a month and Premium is custom. Instant transfers cost 1.5%, and sellers processing more than $250,000 a year can negotiate custom rates. Zeffy has one plan and it is free.
Can we take donations through Square?
You can take a payment and label it a donation, through a payment link, Online Checkout or in person. What you do not get is a donation form with suggested amounts, recurring giving, a deductible-gift receipt or a donor record. Zeffy includes those.
Can we sell event tickets or run memberships on Square?
Square sells products and can take recurring payments, so you can approximate both. It does not publish event ticketing with registration and check-in, or membership tiers with renewals, in the way a fundraising platform does. Zeffy includes event ticketing and memberships at no cost.
What about Tap to Pay?
Square offers Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android free with your own phone, then charges the 1.6% in-person rate on each transaction. Zeffy also offers Tap to Pay in Australia, and charges nothing on the payment.
Is Zeffy really free where Square has a $0 plan?
Square's $0 refers to the software subscription, not the transaction. On $50,000 raised online, Square's 2.2% is about $1,100. Zeffy takes nothing at any volume and covers the card processing, and the donation forms, ticketing, memberships and donor CRM are included rather than added.
What does Square do better than Zeffy?
Retail. If your organisation runs a shop, a cafe or a venue with inventory, staff and a till, Square is a genuine point-of-sale system and Zeffy is not. Plenty of not-for-profits reasonably run Square for the shop and a fundraising platform for the fundraising.
Still undecided?
Keep comparing, and see why not-for-profits choose Zeffy
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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: not-for-profit stories worth sharing.
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