Church Giving Platforms Comparison: Fees in Dollars

Most of the online giving platforms below publish their rates, and nearly all of them take a fee from each gift. On a card gift they charge a percentage plus 30 cents, and the ones that list a rate for gifts from a bank account charge less for those. For the sample church further down, which receives $100,000 a year online, the year’s fees run from $0 to $3,200. Every rate here was read off the company’s own pricing page on October 13, 2026.

The rates

A bank transfer is also called ACH, the network banks use to move money between accounts. American Express cards cost more at Tithely and Givelify, 3.5% plus $0.30. Anedot’s row shows its rate for 501(c)(3) organizations, which are tax-exempt under that section of the federal tax code, the one that lists religious and charitable purposes. Anedot’s standard rate for other organizations is 4% plus $0.30, so confirm that your church gets the lower rate.

The table leaves out a few details.

• Subsplash gives a lower card rate, 2.3% plus $0.30, to churches that buy its larger platform, Subsplash One, and it does not publish that platform’s price.
• Zeffy charges nothing and covers the card fees itself. Its page says it “relies entirely on optional contributions from donors,” so each giver is asked for a tip to Zeffy when he gives. The page describes Zeffy as free for nonprofits, so confirm that it accepts your church.
• Planning Center now offers Giving free for up to 12 months to a church still under another giving contract, and Stripe charges $15 for each disputed gift and $15 more to contest it, which it returns if the church wins. Tithely says it charges nothing extra for refunds or disputes.
• Pushpay publishes no rates. Its pricing page says “We offer 1, 2, and 3 year contracts,” so ask for the rates and the contract length in writing.

Card gifts from 2.2% + 30¢*. The Covenant OS example assumes approval for that card rate and uses the 0.8% bank rate, for $1,990 on this church’s year of gifts.

The standard rate applies until approval.

*Stripe’s nonprofit rate, so it depends on Stripe approving the church for it. We are in active negotiations with several processors to bring it lower for churches, and Covenant OS never adds a fee of its own.

Stripe is the payment company behind Planning Center Giving. A church can also take gifts through Stripe directly with a payment link, a payment page it sets up on Stripe’s site with no code. Before you do that, find out how you would record each gift by fund and produce giving statements.

Givelify fees

On a $100 gift by card, Givelify keeps $3.20 and the church receives $96.80. On $100,000 a year in $100 gifts, Givelify keeps $3,200. Because Givelify takes no bank transfers, the cheaper path other platforms offer for regular givers is closed: on Planning Center the same $100 gift by bank transfer costs $0.30, and on Tithely $1.30.

A church that moves its regular givers to bank transfers on another platform saves most of that $3,200.

What a church pays in a year

Take a church that receives $100,000 a year online in 1,000 gifts of $100, spread evenly at about 83 gifts a month. Seven hundred of the gifts come by card and three hundred by bank transfer.

1. Zeffy $0 a year
2. Covenant OS $1,990 a year
3. Planning Center Giving $2,189 a year
4. Stripe, used directly $2,480 a year
5. Subsplash Giving $2,603 a year
6. Tithely $2,630 a year
7. Anedot $2,700 a year
8. Givelify $3,200 a year
9. Pushpay No published price

1,000 gifts of $100, 700 by card and 300 by bank transfer, at each platform's published rates read October 22, 2026. Covenant OS card gifts from 2.2% + 30¢* require nonprofit-rate approval; its bank rate is 0.8%. Givelify takes cards only, and Planning Center includes its $32 monthly Giving plan.

Among the five platforms that charge a fee on both card gifts and bank gifts, the spread is $511 a year for this church, from $2,189 at Planning Center to $2,700 at Anedot. Givelify lists one rate, so its figure applies that rate to all 1,000 gifts. Run the same arithmetic with your own numbers. Type your church’s online giving for a year and see the lowest, the highest and the middle of the platforms, from rates read in July. The full calculator adds the split between cards and bank transfers.

Free tool you can try here

What your giving platform keeps

Type what your church receives online in a year and see what each platform would keep, at the rates each one publishes.

This free tool is made by Church Posting.

Online giving in a year, in dollars With 60 percent on cards, 30 on bank transfer and 10 on American Express, and gifts averaging $100.

Fees for a year, lowest first

Use it free

The calculator is free, and the full version splits cards, bank transfers and American Express across the platforms.

Do the giving paperwork free

• Giving fee calculator What each giving platform keeps from your year Work out your fees
• Giving statements Year-end statements for every giver Make statements
• Software cost calculator A yearly total for software, texting and giving fees Price your stack

Ways to pay less

1. Ask regular givers to give from a bank account. A $100 gift by card costs the church $2.45 at Planning Center and $3.20 at Tithely, and the same gift by bank transfer costs $0.30 and $1.30.
2. Turn on the option that lets a giver add the fee to his gift. Tithely and Anedot both offer it, and Tithely’s page says 60% of donors use it, which is the company’s own figure.
3. Count the gifts in your busiest month when comparing plans. Planning Center bases its monthly Giving charge on that count, and Covenant OS (ours) includes giving in every plan, from $39 a month, with card gifts at 2.2% + 30¢ once Stripe approves the church’s nonprofit rate and bank gifts at 0.8%.

What to check besides the fee

For what a giving statement has to say, see church accounting software. The free tool builds the statement for every giver from a spreadsheet of gifts, and this is one for a made-up giver.

Free tool you can try here

See a giving statement

Type a giver and three gifts. The real tool does this for every giver from one spreadsheet.

This free tool is made by Church Posting.

Church name

Giver

Gift 1

Gift 2

Gift 3

Riverside Community Church

Contribution statement for 2026

Michael and Hannah Brooks

Total gifts	$700.00

The church provided no goods or services in exchange for these gifts, other than intangible religious benefits.

Use it free

The tool is free, reads your spreadsheet without it leaving your computer and opens with your church name.