Zeffy vs Cheddar Up

Givebutter

Donorbox

DonorPerfect

Givebutter is a cloud-based, all-in-one fundraising platform for student organizations, sports teams, companies, and nonprofits which offers a range of tools for collecting donations online, running social peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, selling tickets to fundraising events, and more

Donorbox is an embeddable, localized donation form / plugin for websites, designed to encourage recurring donations with fast, multi-step checkout

DonorPerfect helps nonprofits of every size streamline fundraising and centralize donor data in one flexible, all-in-one platform.
A CRM that empowers teams to collaborate, stay organized, and make data-driven decisions from anywhere, so your mission keeps moving forward.

Fundraising Chair

The only challenge we’ve run into is the limited flexibility around team member access levels.

President

Zeffy support is always available either by email, online chat, zoom training or actual voice calls.  

Artistic Director

From our initial meeting to the online training and even questions we had after implementing, the Zeffy support staff have been a tremendous help.

Zeffy is the first and only zero-free fundraising platform. Sell tickets for your fundraising events, create donation and peer-to-peer campaigns, and manage donors and even memberships from an intuitive all-inclusive fundraising platform.

Access Controls/Permissions

Accounting Integration

ACH Payment Processing

Activity Dashboard

Activity Tracking

Ad hoc Reporting

Alerts/Notifications

Attendance Management

Auction Management

Campaign Analytics

Campaign Management

Campaign Planning

Communication Management

Contact Management

Contribution Tracking

Credit Card Processing

Customizable Branding

Customizable Fields

Customizable Forms

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Dashboard

Data Import/Export

Donation Tracking

Donor Management

Dues Management

Electronic Payments

Email Management

Email Marketing

Email Reminders

Email Templates

Event Management

Event Scheduling

Event Ticketing

Forms Management

For Nonprofits

Fundraising Management

Goal Setting/Tracking

Member Database

Membership Management

Mobile Access

Mobile Giving

Online Forms

Online Giving

Payment Processing

Personalization

Pledge Management

Real-Time Analytics

Real-Time Reporting

Receipt Management

Recurring Giving

Recurring/Subscription Billing

Registration Management

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Social Media Integration

Summary Reports

Third-Party Integrations

Volunteer Management

By industry, Zeffy reviewers are most commonly professionals in non-profit organization management (29%). The most frequent use case for Zeffy cited by reviewers is nonprofit (68% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Most reviewers indicate that Zeffy’s zero transaction fees and lack of hidden costs offer significant savings, especially for non-profits. Some users report wanting clearer communication about donor-covered fees, but most users consider the value exceptional.

Value for money

Zeffy is a fundraising solution with key features that include online giving, donation tracking, payment processing, electronic payments, credit card processing, and more.

Zeffy

Web-based

Windows

Linux

Chromebook

GoFundMe

Cheddar Up

Neon CRM

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Bonterra EveryAction

GoFundMe Pro

Tithe.ly

HelloAsso 

Bonterra Network for Good

Pushpay

Bloomerang

Free

We used it for event registration, peer-to-peer campaigns, and donations. If you’re skeptical about their business model, we can tell you there are no catches or loopholes on the financial side — they took zero percent of our fundraising income.

Chief Warden

New donations/sales are reported as they occur, a summary of new transactions is provided weekly along with all transactions to date, and a deposit notice is also provided weekly.

Zeffy’s flexibility makes it adaptable for a wide range of events and fundraisers, which has been a big plus for our team. While we would love to see more customizable options for team member access levels, the overall value and impact of the platform have been outstanding.

Manager

At the moment, Zeffy lacks some of the refinements and tools that bespoke email platforms, event organisers and online stores can offer.  

Event Planner

Love alllllll the amazing settings for hosting an event and selling tickets- whole tables, early bird tickets/tickets with different release dates, etc.

Executive Director

It gives us the flexibility to run campaigns, sell tickets, and manage fundraising all in one place without sacrificing transparency.

Treasurer

Having automatic emails generated for Thank You's and tax receipts is a super time-saver.    And all this is done while saving my non-profit money from credit card fees.   

Treasurer, Fundraising Chair, Board Member

A game changer for our little volunteer-run nonprofit, with managed a email list, suggestions about how to write emails, and did I say no credit card processing fees?

The email creation element is still a bit crude and clunky and site navigation can be counter-intuitive (to me at least).

The forms are simple to set-up, the connection with our bank was flawless, payouts happen weekly without any issue, and I can easily integrate the payment forms into our Squarespace-based website.

We are using this for our PTA and the reports get a bit complicated when we are asking for student's names and their teacher.

Field Director

How much customization you can do on the front side (on what the customer sees).

Board Chair

Customer service is responsive and excellent! Whenever a problem arises, and that's rare, the customer service team is available and responds quickly and expertly.

Communications are terrific, with a live human response usually within an hour or two. And any suggestions I have made to improve the experience have been accepted quickly and sent to the creative department.

Founder

We also now have a database of attendees from our event and can easily keep in touch for future events.

Vice President

Its directed more towards general fundraising and less on managing a membership database and fundraising through a membership organization.

Digital Marketing And Efficiency

I also wish I could set up email confirmations at either the organizational level or at the team level so that emails are no longer managed at the individual form level.

The onboarding process is simple, and we already have funds being deposited into our account from the fundraising campaign we created.

Volunteer

My only issue is that if your customers don't read correctly, they accidently pay the fee or complain that there is a fee.

The platform is also very easy to use, both for our organization and for supporters, with simple setup, customizable event and donation pages, and clear reporting.

There have just been a few small things like wishing on the donation form we could put in more than 4 preset amounts.

Zeffy tried to think of all the things you would encounter using their software for events: like redundant emails, managing emails, testing emails etc.  

The few times I did need help I was able to get that from the help center and even then someone from Zeffy followed up with an email to make sure I got everything I needed.  

I wish there were more customizable options to choose exactly what data team members can view or edit.

Also since we only have one event a year, the card processing on my phone had to be relearned.

Artistic and Executive Director

The product is still new so it doesn’t have quite as many features as other similar products.

I also am confused by getting one email (not sure how) and then getting a second different email that the user manually types in....?

The templates for fundraising ideas, adding photos.

We were collecting dues in $30 increments.  

It was easy to set up campaign elements, and customer support was quick with the one or two hiccups we had.

We continue to use Zeffy for our memberships, donations, engaging sponsors, volunteer management and fishing derbies.  

The platform is easy to use, effective for meeting our fundraising goals, and a huge benefit in saving on fees—allowing more funds to directly support our school.

Assistant to the President and Vice-President

Each time I have had questions or needed help building a form or event, I have been able to speak with a knowledgeable individual.

I also really like the tax exempt forms which are automatically created when our supporters donate.

Other platforms like Give Butter deduct Stripe transaction fees or allow the donor to cover those.

Vice-President

The fee structure which ensures our non-profit receives 100% of the proceeds from registrations and donations is terrific.

There's not much bad to report. When I try to do an email campaign I still don't know how to get all of our donors on it, especially the ones that didn't come through Zeffy.

We are a new CRA Foundation and this platforms helps significantly with the paperwork and event creation.

Lead Office Administrator

We use it for events that involve the broader community, not just our school families who can pay in a variety of ways.

We are a new non profit that supports our small school district, and we weren’t really sure what we were doing when we started fundraising.

Operations Manager

It's very simple to use, the interface is elegant, and the export options are excellent.

Financial Secretary

I am new to our school's PTA and I took on the task of setting up a new payment platform for our fundraising because the one we used in the past had very high fees.  

Zeffy helped us streamline specifically our fundraising events with one link and one payment method.

St. Jude Hero Ambassador

Setting up the emails can be a real grudge when using your cell phone when you need it the most.

It would be nice if there were slightly more robust customization options for event ticketing set-up, but this is a very small quibble.

Chair, Board of Directors

I would pay for a for-profit version of this same system, and I'm actively seeking a close alternative for for-profits.

I’ve had a great experience switching to Zeffy and look forward to seeing what cool, free features they add next!

Secretary

We also are doing online registrations for our annual reunion for the first time ever.

The default fee to the members was relatively high.  

Fundraising

Email Communication

Customer Support

Donations and Donors

Ticketing and Events

Pricing

Ticketing and Donations

Features

Nonprofit Use

Small Business

Freelancers

Most reviewers indicate that Zeffy’s zero transaction fees are a major advantage, especially for non-profits and charities aiming to maximize the impact of every donation. They say the platform is completely free to use, with no hidden or ongoing costs, which allows organizations to save significant amounts on processing fees compared to other platforms. Users think this fee-free model is critical for their missions, as it ensures that donor contributions go directly to their causes rather than being reduced by administrative or payment service charges. Some reviewers feel that the ability for donors to optionally cover processing fees further enhances value for money, as financially secure supporters can choose to offset any costs. Reviewers appreciate that there are no start-up costs and that the platform remains accessible and inexpensive, making it especially valuable for small or new organizations. Some users report that Zeffy’s transparency about its pricing model is important, though a few mention a desire for clearer communication regarding the optional nature of donor-covered fees. Overall, most users consider Zeffy’s cost-benefit ratio highly favorable, citing substantial savings and the absence of hidden fees as key reasons for their satisfaction.

PayPal

PayPal provides an end-to-end suite of tools that can integrate with a business's existing systems and service providers. Its network of shoppers and businesses provides AI-driven data insights to help businesses reach new customers and drive results.

Venmo

Venmo is a digital wallet and payment gateway that allows customers to send money and make purchases via mobile device, and share activity via the purchase feed

Stripe

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform that enables businesses to accept payments online and in person. It offers a suite of APIs for payment processing, subscription management, fraud prevention, and financial services integration Stripe provides both developer-focused tools with extensive documentation and no-code solutions for businesses without technical staff.

Cheddar Up enables groups to process payments and information online – for free. Create custom forms to collect registrations, waivers with e-signatures, item variations, and more. Securely collect credit card or eCheck payments and track it all with streamlined reporting.

Zeffy vs Cheddar Up Comparison (2026)

Zeffy

Cheddar Up

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives