Fundraise Up charges 4% plus Stripe or PayPal processing, about $6.20 on a $100 gift. Here is how the alternatives compare on all-in cost and what is bundled.
The math behind the 4%
Fundraise Up advertises 4 percent per transaction with no monthly fee, and then Stripe or PayPal processing applies on top. At Stripe's nonprofit rate of 2.2 percent plus 30 cents, a $100 gift costs about $6.20 all in. The checkout itself is strong, among the best in the sector, and the absence of a monthly fee keeps the door open for small teams.
We think the number to hold onto is the one on the year, not the one on the gift. Four percent is the highest platform rate of the options compared here, and on $500,000 of annual giving the difference between $6.20 and $4.60 per hundred is roughly $8,000 a year before donor-covered fees are counted at all. That is a part-time salary, and it is the reason teams that like the product still go looking. The side-by-side is in our fees comparison, and we should say that one of the alternatives is ours.
Checkout is not a stack
Fundraise Up is built around the donation itself and goes deep there: company matching, a donor portal, receipts and follow-ups, AI-suggested ask amounts and a coach for peer-to-peer pages all live inside the product. What sits outside it is everything before the donor arrives and most of what happens after she leaves: whether an assistant names you when someone asks where to give, and whether the person who gave once is spoken to again in a way that fits her.
That is the comparison worth running. Answer engine optimisation decides whether AI search recommends you at all. Hyper-personal donation flows mean a returning donor never sees a stranger's form. If those need two more vendors, the 4 percent was never the whole price, and if you already have them, it may be exactly the right one.
The alternatives, honestly compared
Whitelabel is 3.5 percent plus 1.1 percent processing, $4.60 all in on $100, with no monthly fee and donors covering fees by default, so 100 percent of the gift typically reaches the cause. The AI suite is bundled rather than bolted on, and processing meets PCI DSS Level 1, the same specification Stripe is built to.
Donorbox Free is cheaper to enter at 2.95 percent plus processing, about $5.15 all in, with less personalisation and no AI at the centre of it. Givebutter is platform-free and tip-funded, and suits smaller teams and event fundraising. GoFundMe Pro, formerly Classy, serves enterprise organisations on subscription pricing with deep workflow tooling. Rates are as published at the time of writing; verify them before you budget.
How teams switch
Checkout first. A Whitelabel donor front sits on top of the website you already have, so most teams point one campaign at the new checkout, compare conversion and all-in cost against the old flow, and move the rest once the numbers have settled the argument.
Donor data follows on its own. Every gift lands on a DonorCardAI record and syncs two ways with the CRM you already run, which is what keeps the switch from turning into a replatforming project. The year the $8,000 stays in the budget is the year the decision made itself.
Frequently asked questions
What does Fundraise Up cost per $100 donation?
About $6.20 all in: the 4% platform fee plus Stripe's nonprofit processing of 2.2% and 30 cents. There is no monthly fee.
Is Whitelabel cheaper than Fundraise Up?
On a $100 gift, Whitelabel is $4.60 all in versus about $6.20, and donors cover fees by default so 100% of the gift typically reaches your cause.
How long does switching take?
Checkout can be live in days. A donorfront layers on top of your existing website, nothing migrates, and your CRM stays in two-way sync throughout.