# How to Choose the Best Fundraising Software | Donatefy > How to choose the best fundraising software: compare one platform to a patchwork of tools on settlement, ledger, donor records, owned hardware, and fees. Source: https://www.donatefy.org/compare Updated: 2026-10-15 Why Donatefy ## How to choose the best fundraising software: the patchwork vs. the platform. Most giving stacks grew one vendor at a time. Here is what changes when the whole program runs on one system, and the tests to hold any fundraising software to before you choose. ### Why organizations switch The three reasons we hear most often come first: pooled funds, separate systems, and rented kiosks. | What you live with | Before | With Donatefy | |---|---|---| | Where donations go | Pooled with a vendor, remitted on their schedule | Settle directly into your organization's own Stripe account, on your payout schedule | | Online + in-person | Online, kiosk, and event gifts in separate systems, with separate reports and donor lists | One platform, one login: giving site, kiosks, handhelds, Mobile App, forms, QR codes | | Kiosk hardware | Rented or leased; the vendor's fate is your risk | You own your kiosks and readers, with remote support and device visibility included | | The ledger | Reconciled by hand, one afternoon per system per month | One ledger with channel, device, campaign, and fee detail on every gift, cash and checks included, so month-end is a review, not a reconciliation project | | Donor records | The same supporter split across three systems | One record per donor: totals, history, recurring plans, every channel | | Recurring in person | Rare to nonexistent; sustainers sign up online or not at all | A walk-up donor starts a monthly plan at the kiosk with one card tap | | Fees | Discovered in deductions and month-end surprises | Visible line items in your own account; donors can opt to cover them | | Accounting | Exports, imports, and re-keying into QuickBooks | Donations post pre-coded per campaign to account, class, and fund mappings | | Receipts | Manual sends and January reprint season | Automatic branded receipts everywhere, plus donor self-service and year-end summaries | | Leaving | Losing donor payment data and recurring plans | Your Stripe account, donor relationships, and plans remain yours | Category-level comparison based on common vendor models in nonprofit giving. For a comparison against your current stack, bring your vendor list to a demo. ### What to look for in fundraising software Start with where your donors actually give, then hold every option to the same eight tests. #### One platform for every channel The same campaign runs on your giving site, campaign pages, QR codes, kiosks, handhelds, and phones without re-entry. #### One ledger, one donor record Every gift, cash and checks included, lands in one place, tagged with its channel, device, and campaign. #### Automatic, tax-ready receipts Every channel sends a branded receipt with your EIN and tax language, plus year-end summaries. #### Money that settles to you Donations settle into an account your organization controls, not a vendor account that remits later. #### Published pricing, visible fees You know the plan price and platform fee before a sales call, and you see every fee as a line item. #### Hardware you own If you collect in person, a kiosk you buy outright cannot leave with a contract. #### Recurring giving everywhere Donors can start a monthly gift online or at a kiosk, then manage it themselves. #### Sync without re-keying Gifts reach your accounting and donor systems with the coding you set once. ### Questions to ask any fundraising software vendor Take these to every sales call, ours included. The answers sort a platform from a patchwork quickly. Buying kiosks or handhelds too? Read [how to choose a donation kiosk](https://www.donatefy.org/guide-kiosk-buyers-guide). #### Money and ownership - Where do donations settle, and on whose payout schedule? - Is the platform fee the same on every channel, and is it published? - Do we own the kiosk hardware, or rent it for as long as we use it? - If your company shut down, what would we still own? #### Donors and records - Do online and in-person gifts share one ledger and one donor record? - Can a donor start a recurring gift at a kiosk and manage it without calling us? - Do receipts carry our name, EIN, and tax language on every channel? - Which accounting and donor systems do you sync with, and can we see sync status for each gift? ### Three moments that start a switch #### The kiosk vendor disappeared Hardware you own and funds that never touch us mean no vendor's fate can strand your giving program again. #### Kiosk software, rented forever Owned hardware plus flat platform pricing replaces the rental treadmill with a capital line your budget understands. #### The price floor moved Predictable pricing that does not scale against your generosity, [published](https://www.donatefy.org/pricing) before you ever talk to us, visible after. ### Organizations collecting with Donatefy ![Mosque Foundation](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/mosque-foundation.webp) ![Peninsula Islamic Community Center](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/picc.webp) ![At-Taqwa Center](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/at-taqwa.webp) ![Darussalam Foundation](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/darussalam-foundation.webp) ![ICMC](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/icmc.webp) ![Iqra Foundation](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/iqra-foundation.webp) ![Darul Uloom Michigan](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/darul-uloom-michigan.webp) ![Pious Projects](https://www.donatefy.org/assets/clients/pious-projects.webp) ### When Donatefy fits, and when to start smaller Built for organizations that raise money in more than one place. Collecting online only? Start free and add in-person giving later. Illustration: Channels: online #### Online only **$0**/mo Free plan Complete online giving, free forever Illustration: Channels: online, kiosks, handhelds, and the Mobile App #### Online and in person **$49** or **$149**/mo Starter or Growth 1 device on Starter, up to 5 on Growth Illustration: Channels: every channel, across multiple sites #### Multi-site **Custom** pricing Enterprise Built for chapters and dioceses [See every plan and price](https://www.donatefy.org/pricing) ### Switching is a project. We treat it like ours. Campaign setup, receipt branding, integration mapping, and device rollout, walked through with the Donatefy team so your donors never notice the seam. [Plan a switch](https://www.donatefy.org/demo) ### Fundraising software comparison questions **Why no named competitor tables?** Because those change monthly and age badly. Bring your current vendor list to a demo and we will compare against the stack you actually run, feature by feature. **What is genuinely different, in one sentence?** Online and in-person giving on one ledger, with money that settles to your own account and hardware you own. **Can we run Donatefy alongside our current tools first?** Yes. Many organizations start with one channel, a kiosk or a campaign, and migrate the rest when the ledger proves itself. ### Compare against your actual stack. [See a demo](https://www.donatefy.org/demo)