Givebutter vs. Zeffy vs. RallyUp: The Honest 2026 Comparison

If you’re researching fundraising platforms in 2026, these three come up together constantly. They overlap enough to feel interchangeable and differ enough that the wrong pick can cost you real money or real capability. So let’s set them side by side plainly — fee for fee, feature for feature, raffle for raffle, gala for gala. Every claim below is sourced to each platform’s own documentation or to a named third party, including the places where a competitor genuinely wins.

Which platform is right for you? The 60-second verdict

Each platform is best at a different job. RallyUp is the fastest of the three to get a real campaign live and the only one built for the live room; Zeffy wins on fee purity; Givebutter wins on the back office. Here’s what each is genuinely best at.

RallyUp is genuinely, seriously easy to use — and does dramatically more.

Start with one campaign — a raffle, an online auction, a donation page — and RallyUp is quick to build and quick to launch: go live from an Instant Fundraiser Template in 15–20 minutes, or let RallyUp’s experts build your first campaign for free with Create My Campaign. Neither competitor offers a free expert build at any price. RallyUp is also the clear pick for galas and live events — Event Balances gives every guest one tab all night and one charge, alongside an auctioneer-led Live Auction, Fund-a-Need, and Paddle Raise+ — for Sweepstakes and A-Thons, which the others don’t offer at all, and for Raffles that draw the winner inside the platform. And when you’re ready to grow, it’s the only one of the three that lets you add and combine 12+ campaign types in a single Campaign with one checkout via Full Stack Fundraising.

Zeffy is the true zero-fee specialist.

Its pitch is simple and real: the nonprofit pays nothing — no platform fee and no payment-processing fee — because costs are funded by tips donors add at checkout. On fee purity, no major platform matches it, and it offers memberships with renewals and member cards, which RallyUp does not. The cost doesn’t disappear, though; it moves to your donors at a pre-selected default, and the fundraising itself runs as separate, standalone forms.

Givebutter leads on the back office, not the fundraising range.

Its real strength is the broad, mostly-free suite around the donation: a capable CRM (unlimited contacts), built-in email, outbound texting on its paid tier, a large integration library, and a financial layer (a wallet paying 2.5% APY, cards, QuickBooks sync). The fundraising itself is narrower — three campaign types (forms, pages, events) versus RallyUp’s 12+ — so Givebutter fits best when your donor database and communications matter more to you than how many ways you can raise.

None of that requires exaggeration. The rest of this guide shows the evidence.

The master scorecard: how do they compare at a glance?

Each platform has its own strengths and clear wins. Here’s how they line up at a glance.

What you’re choosing on	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp	Best fit
Ease of use for a simple campaign (a raffle, an online auction, a donation page)	Easy	Easy	Genuinely, seriously easy — and faster to launch: a template in 15–20 minutes, or a free expert build	RallyUp
Free expert team builds your campaign	—	—	Create My Campaign / Done-for-You (~1 business day)	RallyUp
Run real test transactions before publishing	Non-transacting preview + test receipts	Publishes on wizard completion	Power Preview (real test card transactions)	RallyUp
Automated randomized raffle draw in-platform	— (export + external tool)	— (export + external tool)	Yes (auto or manual, auto-notify)	RallyUp
Dedicated 50/50 raffle with a live prize total	No 50/50 format; prize total updated by hand	Not documented	50/50 and Enhanced 50/50; prize total updates automatically	RallyUp
Auctioneer-led Live Auction	Not offered — Givebutter: “isn’t auctioneer software”	—	Yes, today	RallyUp
Capture gifts from non-winning bidders	Winners pay only	Manual after-the-fact email	Auction Gifts (systematized)	RallyUp
One tab all night, one charge at a gala	—	—	Event Balances + Automated Checkout	RallyUp
Fund-a-Need + Paddle Raise+	Donations-only paddle raise (2026)	—	Self-serve Fund-a-Need + multi-type Paddle Raise+	RallyUp
Sweepstakes	—	—	Yes	RallyUp
A-Thons (walk/run/read)	—	—	Yes	RallyUp
Embedded, no-prompt AI copy across the builder	Prompt-based assistant (beta)	Advisory tools only	Generate with AI / Enhance with AI	RallyUp
Reach a human on the free plan	Chat & email; phone on paid Plus	Help center, chat, email	Ask for a human, get a human — on every plan	RallyUp
Campaign types you can combine in one checkout	3 types, one at a time	Separate forms, one at a time	12+ stackable in one checkout	RallyUp
Online Storefront / merchandise	—	Yes (inventory tracking)	Yes	Zeffy / RallyUp
Online & silent auctions	Yes (auto-bid, QR, buy-it-now)	Yes (auto-bid, anti-sniping, auto-charge)	Yes	Tie
You own your donor data	Yes	Merchant of record	Yes (integrates with your CRM)	Givebutter / RallyUp
Lowest possible cost (covers processing too)	Free w/ tips; flat 3% if tips off	$0 platform and processing	Free plan; Flex 2.9–6.9% + processing	Zeffy
Memberships (renewals, member cards)	Yes	Yes	Not a RallyUp feature	Givebutter / Zeffy
Built-in CRM, email & texting	Broad, mostly free (SMS on paid tier)	Donor CRM, email/newsletters	Donor Profiles + CRM integrations	Givebutter
Third-party integrations	1,000+	Fewer native	Native + Zapier (5,000+ apps)	Givebutter

Most of the rows that turn effort into dollars — the live room, the raffle draw, the on-ramps, the formats no one else offers — go to RallyUp. Zeffy takes raw cost and Givebutter takes the built-in CRM and integration count; both are genuine wins, and both matter most when a simple form or a donor database is the whole job rather than one part of it.

How much does each platform cost? Three kinds of “free”

Each platform can cost your organization $0 in platform fees, but “free” means something different in each case. This is the most-searched question about all three, so let’s be precise — the honest question is who pays, and for what capability.

Zeffy — truly zero, funded by donor tips.

Zeffy covers both the platform fee and the payment-processing fee, so a $100 gift can deposit as a full $100 whether or not the donor tips. That’s a real advantage, best-in-class on fee purity.

The model is funded by an optional tip Zeffy adds to the donor’s total at checkout, and it’s pre-selected by default: third-party coverage reports the default at 17% on gifts up to $99.49 and 15% at $99.50 and above (Donorbox), with about 60% of donors tipping (Zeffy). Donors can lower or remove it, though it requires an active opt-out.

A modelled estimate from 4aGoodCause, a competing provider, puts the effective donor-borne cost of tip-funded platforms near 12.75%, assuming the 20%/13% suggested tips it models and two-thirds of donors tipping; Zeffy itself publishes no percentage. The takeaway isn’t that the model is bad — plenty of platforms, RallyUp included, use optional donor tips on their free tiers — it’s simply that with Zeffy the cost sits with your donors at a high default rather than with your nonprofit. One detail worth knowing on the donor-experience side: per Zeffy’s own help center, if a donor is refunded, the tip to Zeffy isn’t returned automatically — a standard refund covers the donation only, and getting the tip back takes a separate request to Zeffy.

Two other notes: Zeffy is the merchant of record (your organization doesn’t own its donor payment tokens, which adds friction if you ever migrate recurring donors — 4aGoodCause), and it doesn’t support PayPal or Venmo.

Givebutter — free with tips on, or a flat 3% with tips off.

By Givebutter’s own pricing documentation, if you keep optional donor tips enabled, the Givebutter Guarantee (effective September 9, 2025) covers processing fees and your nonprofit keeps 100%. If you turn tips off — which some organizations prefer, especially those funded by grants or corporate gifts where a tip prompt feels awkward — a flat 3% platform fee applies across all campaign types, plus processing (2.9% + $0.30 cards, 1.9% + $0.30 ACH).

Separately, Givebutter Plus is a paid, contact-based subscription (from $29/month for under 250 contacts, scaling with your contact count) that unlocks automations, an advanced email editor, outbound SMS, custom reports, direct mail, and phone support. The free CRM itself has unlimited contacts.

RallyUp — a free plan, or per-Component Flex pricing with no subscription.

RallyUp’s Free plan runs on optional donor tipping with no platform fee, and its Donation Pages are free with no platform fee and no required donor tip at all — turn tipping off and you still pay zero.

Its Flex plan charges per Component rather than a subscription: 0% on Donation Pages, 2.9% on Ticketing & Registration and Storefront, 4.9% on Auctions, Crowdfunding, Fund-a-Need, Paddle Raise+, and A-Thons, and 6.9% on Raffles and Sweepstakes — plus processing (1.9–2.9% + $0.30 to Stripe or PayPal, which RallyUp takes no cut of and which can be passed to donors on Flex).

RallyUp also caps auction platform fees at $100 per item regardless of the winning bid.

There are no contracts, subscriptions, or setup fees. You can see the full breakdown on RallyUp’s pricing by campaign type.

Pricing dimension	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Platform fee (tips on / default)	$0 (Givebutter Guarantee)	$0	$0
Platform fee (tips off)	Flat 3%, all campaign types	n/a (tip-funded)	Free plan $0; Flex 2.9–6.9% by Component
Payment processing	2.9% + $0.30 (1.9% ACH)	Covered by tips ($0 to org)	1.9–2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe/PayPal)
Donation pages truly free (no tipping required)	—	—	Yes
Default donor tip	Optional	Pre-selected 17% (≤$99.49) / 15% (≥$99.50), per Donorbox	Optional, not pre-selected
Paid subscription tier	Plus (from $29/mo, contact-based)	None	None (Enterprise is custom)
PayPal / Venmo	Cards, Apple/Google Pay, ACH	No PayPal or Venmo	PayPal supported
You own your donor data	Yes	Merchant of record	Yes

The honest takeaway on cost.

RallyUp’s Free plan carries no platform fee, and its Donation Pages are the only ones of the three that are free with no donor tip required at all. For a simple donation form where absolute zero cost is everything, Zeffy wins outright — say it plainly. Givebutter is effectively free when donors tip and predictable at a flat 3% when they don’t.

But the fee is only half the equation, and arguably the smaller half. The number that actually lands in your account is what you raise minus what you pay — and a platform that helps you raise more can send you home with more even if a particular fee line is a point or two higher. RallyUp reports that campaigns combining multiple Components raise about 38% more on average; a bigger total generally beats a smaller total at a lower rate.

Put simply, the lowest fee isn’t a bargain if you take less money home. So weigh cost alongside the real question — how much will your next fundraiser actually raise? — rather than in isolation.

Campaign types: a toolbox, or one combined campaign?

The structural difference that matters most day to day is whether campaign types run as separate forms or combine into one checkout: Zeffy and Givebutter run one format at a time, while RallyUp stacks 12+ into a single Campaign.

Zeffy

Zeffy gives you a broad free toolbox: donation forms, events and ticketing, raffles, online and silent auctions, an online store (with inventory tracking), memberships, and peer-to-peer. That’s a lot for free. Each one, though, runs as its own separate form — a raffle and a silent auction and a merch table for one event means three separate Zeffy forms, three links, three checkouts.

Givebutter

Givebutter documents three campaign types — Form, Page, and Event — with auctions, raffles, and its 2026 paddle-raise feature attached as tabs to Pages and Events. It’s a capable range: donation forms and pages, events with drag-and-drop seating, silent/online auctions with mobile bidding, raffles, livestreaming, a Live Display, and peer-to-peer. What it doesn’t offer are Sweepstakes, A-Thons, or a dedicated online storefront — and it isn’t built to combine multiple formats into a single stacked checkout.

RallyUp

RallyUp is built around exactly that idea — Full Stack Fundraising: 12+ Components you can run on their own or stack together in one Campaign with one URL and one checkout. A supporter can buy Raffle entries, bid on the Auction, grab a t-shirt from the Storefront, and add a donation in a single transaction. RallyUp reports customers raise about 38% more when they stack multiple formats, and its Peer-to-Peer fundraising works across campaign types (Raffles, Sweepstakes, A-Thons, Storefront, Crowdfunding), not donations only.

RallyUp also lets you add new Components to a campaign after it’s already live — so if a raffle takes off mid-event, you can bolt on an auction or a store without taking the page down or starting over.

That flexibility mid-campaign is unusual, and it’s a meaningful edge when momentum strikes.

Fundraising capability	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Donation pages	✓	✓	✓ (no required donor tip)
Crowdfunding	✓	✓ (via forms)	✓
Event ticketing & registration	✓	✓	✓
Online store / merchandise	—	✓ (inventory tracking)	✓ (Storefront)
Memberships (auto-renew, cards)	✓	✓	—
Peer-to-peer	✓ (pages & events)	✓ (donations/crowdfunding)	✓ (across all campaign types)
Raffles	✓ (via tickets)	✓ (forms & bundles)	✓ (4 types incl. 50/50)
Online & silent auctions	✓	✓	✓
Auctioneer-led Live Auction	Not offered	—	✓
Sweepstakes	—	—	✓
A-Thons	—	—	✓
Fund-a-Need (self-serve, live thermometer)	—	—	✓
Paddle Raise+	Donations-only paddle raise	—	✓ (gifts, entries, items, pledges)
Native interactive livestreaming	✓ (embed-based)	—	✓ (0% fee, built-in studio)
Event Balances + Automated Checkout (one tab all night, one charge)	—	—	✓
Combine several formats in one checkout	—	—	✓

Two honest notes.

Zeffy and Givebutter both have memberships with renewals and member cards; if recurring dues are central to your model, that’s a real point against RallyUp, which doesn’t offer a membership Component.

And Givebutter’s range is broader than its reputation suggests — it’s no longer just donation forms. Everywhere else with a gap, the format simply isn’t there yet on that platform, and several of those gaps (Sweepstakes, A-Thons, and combining formats in one checkout) are exactly where the most money tends to come from.

If you’re still mapping out which formats fit your cause, our roundup of 75 fundraising ideas for nonprofits is a good starting point.

Which platform is best for galas and live events?

For a ballroom gala, RallyUp is the most complete of the three today, and the clearest reason is what happens at the end of the night. Event Balances and Automated Checkout give every guest one tab all night and one charge: bids, gifts, raffle entries, and purchases all roll into a single balance that settles instantly or automatically, so nobody queues at a checkout table. RallyUp reports that 90% of payments complete in under a minute, 75% of guests check out on their phones, auto-checkout guests spend 0 minutes checking out at all, and organizers see 50% fewer post-event follow-ups. Neither Givebutter nor Zeffy has an equivalent. Here’s where the three diverge across the rest of the room.

RallyUp is the most complete of the three for the live room today:

• An auctioneer-led Live Auction with paddle numbers, spotter keyboard shortcuts, and real-time tracking — available now.
• Fund-a-Need — a live fundraising segment where supporters give at set levels, in person, virtual, or hybrid, with anonymity options and a live thermometer.
• Paddle Raise+ — one paddle can commit to gifts, Raffle entries, Storefront items, and A-Thon pledges, not donation gifts only, and those commitments roll into a single per-guest tab.
• Event Balances — one consolidated tab per guest across bids, gifts, and purchases, so end-of-night checkout is a single swipe.
• Live Display and native, interactive Livestreaming (pay-to-play trivia, item spotlights, a live donate feed) at a 0% platform fee.

Givebutter covers a good deal of the room: mobile bidding, QR codes, a Live Display, event seating, livestreaming, and — since April 2026 — a paddle-raise feature (staff-logged donation commitments at set giving levels, with paddle numbers and its own checkout). What it doesn’t do is run the live ask. In its own words, Givebutter “isn’t auctioneer software, so there’s no real-time paddle bidding software” and no live bid-calling tools (Givebutter). For events that blend an in-person room with a virtual audience, see our guide to hybrid fundraising events.

Zeffy handles online and silent auctions (with auto-bidding, anti-sniping auto-extend, and auto-charge at close) plus event ticketing and seating — a capable set for a straightforward event, without a live-ask engine.

Live-event capability	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Silent auction + mobile bidding	✓	✓	✓
Live Display for the room	✓	—	✓
Livestreaming	✓ (embed)	—	✓ (0% fee, interactive)
Event seating	✓	✓	✓
Auctioneer-led Live Auction	Not offered	—	✓
Fund-a-Need (self-serve, live thermometer)	Staff-logged paddle raise only	—	✓
Paddle raise scope	Donation gifts only	—	Gifts, entries, items & pledges
One tab all night, one charge	—	—	✓ (Event Balances + Automated Checkout)
Capture gifts from non-winning bidders	Winners pay only	Manual email ask	✓ (Auction Gifts)

Auction Gifts, specifically. In most auctions, the majority of bidders go home having paid nothing — they were outbid, so they’re never charged.

RallyUp’s Auction Gifts invites non-winning bidders to pledge an optional donation at checkout, charged only if they win nothing; RallyUp reports it raises 20–35% more from a single auction.

Givebutter’s auctions collect from winners only. Zeffy can email losing bidders inviting a donation after the fact — but that’s a manual ask, not a donation captured automatically at the moment of the bid. The difference is systematized revenue versus a follow-up email someone has to remember to send.

Raffles and auctions: who draws the winner?

Both the raffle and the auction come down to one moment: choosing the winner and closing the money. Only RallyUp draws the raffle winner inside the platform — and this is where a well-documented gap shows up.

Do Givebutter and Zeffy draw the raffle winner for you?

No — neither draws the winner in-platform; only RallyUp does. All three platforms sell raffle tickets, but the draw itself works very differently on each.

• RallyUp performs an automatic or manual randomized draw inside the platform, can notify the winner automatically, and keeps the record for you. It supports four Raffle types (including 50/50 and an Enhanced 50/50 with custom splits), Peer-to-Peer selling, and bonus “Sharing Rewards” entries for social shares.
• Givebutter, per its own help documentation, issues numbered tickets and then has you export the ticket list and run a random-number generator yourself, matching the drawn number back to a buyer by hand. (Givebutter offers a separate, standalone number-spinner web tool, but it isn’t tied to your actual sold entries and isn’t certified for raffle or gaming use.)
• Zeffy states it plainly in its own documentation: it has no raffle winner drawing tool, so you export your participant list and use an outside random name or number picker. Zeffy notes it doesn’t hold the license to operate as an electronic raffle system with a built-in draw.

Both competitors describe the missing draw as a deliberate design choice — they point to gaming-authority licensing and to the general expectation, in many places, that the drawing happens separately from the ticket-sales platform. That’s a fair thing to note.

The 50/50 raffle is the sharpest illustration. On RallyUp it’s a dedicated format — standard 50/50 and Enhanced 50/50 with configurable splits and multiple winners — and the campaign page shows the winner’s actual prize amount, updating automatically as tickets sell. Givebutter has no 50/50 format: you sell ordinary tickets and manage the split yourself, and its own 50/50 guide instructs organizers to “update your raffle ticket event page with the total prize amount every few days” (Givebutter).

RallyUp takes the other approach on the draw itself: it runs the randomized draw in-platform and documents the result. For a feature literally named “Raffle,” the practical difference is real — on RallyUp it’s one action inside the tool; on Givebutter and Zeffy it’s an export, an external generator, and a manual match. If you’re still deciding which prize-based format fits your cause, our guide to sweepstakes vs. raffles vs. auctions breaks down the legal and practical differences.

Where and how you can run a raffle varies by location; for the legal side, RallyUp keeps a plain-English, state-by-state guide at raffle laws by state.

Raffle workflow	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Sell numbered raffle tickets	✓	✓	✓
Dedicated 50/50 format with a live prize total	No 50/50 format; prize total updated by hand	Not documented	✓ (50/50 and Enhanced 50/50; prize total updates automatically)
Bonus entries for social sharing	—	—	✓ (Sharing Rewards)
Draws the winner inside the platform	—	—	✓ (auto or manual randomized)
Auto-notifies the winner + keeps the record	—	—	✓
Requires an external random-number tool	✓	✓	Not required

How do the auctions compare?

All three offer capable auctions, but with real differences in the live-room depth. Give the competitors their due here. Zeffy’s auctions include auto-bidding (proxy/max), anti-sniping auto-extend (three minutes, up to 30), auto-charge at close, and email outbid notifications — a genuinely solid online/silent auction. Givebutter’s auctions add mobile bidding, QR codes, automated bidding, and buy-it-now. Both are capable tools for a web-based auction.

RallyUp’s differences are specific rather than “we do auctions, they don’t”: an auctioneer-led Live Auction format available today (Givebutter says it isn’t auctioneer software; Zeffy has none); Auction Gifts to capture non-winning bidders (covered above); and, for organizations paying fees on the Flex plan, an auction platform fee capped at $100 per item — a $50,000 winning bid costs $100, not a percentage.

One fair, verified nuance on Givebutter’s side: its auctions are free only when tips are on and the winner pays via Givebutter’s emailed invoice; if you use auto-charge or manually charge winners — the usual, convenient gala method — a 3% platform fee applies regardless of tips, uncapped.

(Zeffy’s auctions, by contrast, are free when tips are on, so there’s no fee face-off to stage there.) If your auction is a few items on a web page, any of the three works well. If it’s the centerpiece of a gala, the live-room depth tilts toward RallyUp.

What two formats does only RallyUp have?

Sweepstakes and A-Thons are full RallyUp Components that neither Givebutter nor Zeffy offers. Sweepstakes — a prize campaign available to any organization, not just 501(c)(3)s — and A-Thons (walk/run/ride/read-a-thons with pledges and teams, where participants collect pledges per unit of activity) are unique to RallyUp among these three. If a prize sweepstakes or a school read-a-thon is on your calendar, that’s RallyUp territory by default. A sweepstakes always includes a free method of entry, which means different requirements than a raffle rather than a shortcut around them.

Which has the best CRM, email, and donor data tools?

Givebutter clearly leads on built-in CRM and marketing, with a broad free donor database, built-in email, and texting on its paid tier — and it’s worth stating without hedging.

Givebutter

Givebutter includes a broad free CRM — unlimited contacts, data hygiene, wealth screening, and a guided “Magic Migration” for importing existing data — alongside built-in email, a social-style supporter feed, and a financial suite (a wallet paying 2.5% APY, Visa cards, QuickBooks Online sync, automated payouts). Outbound texting sits on its paid Plus tier. For an organization that wants fundraising, its donor database, and its communications in one modern system, Givebutter is a leading pick.

Zeffy

Zeffy keeps a donor CRM, email/newsletters, segmentation, and Tap to Pay attached to its forms, plus a paid postal mail product — lighter than Givebutter, but real, and it suits volunteer-run organizations that don’t need a heavy back office.

RallyUp

RallyUp takes a “connect to your existing system” approach: Donor Profiles with giving history, plus native integrations to Salesforce, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Virtuous, email integrations (Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, SendGrid), QuickBooks sync, Zapier access to 5,000+ apps, and a REST API. If a deep, built-in CRM is your top priority, Givebutter leads; if you already run a CRM and want fundraising breadth that syncs into it — and you want to own your donor data rather than sit behind a merchant of record — RallyUp’s model fits. (For a look at how RallyUp stacks up against a CRM-first platform, see our RallyUp vs. DonorPerfect comparison.)

Donor data & marketing	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Built-in CRM	✓ (broad, free; unlimited contacts)	✓ (donor CRM)	Donor Profiles
Wealth screening / data hygiene	✓	—	—
Built-in email	✓	✓ (newsletters)	Via integrations
Outbound SMS / texting	✓ (paid Plus)	—	Text-to-Give
Integration count	1,000+	Fewer native	Native + Zapier (5,000+)
Financial suite (APY wallet, cards)	✓	—	—
You own your donor data	✓	Merchant of record	✓

How does each platform use AI? Three different bets

All three have moved into AI on different parts of the workflow: Zeffy focuses on upstream planning tools, Givebutter has a prompt-based text assistant in beta, and RallyUp ships embedded, no-prompt copy generation across the builder.

Zeffy offers upstream, advisory AI — a Grant Finder and a Fundraising Idea Generator. Useful for planning, but they don’t write the prize, item, or email copy that populates a campaign.

Givebutter has a prompt-based AI text assistant in Early Access Beta — you prompt it for copy in select editors.

RallyUp ships an embedded AI Fundraising Content Generator: one-click “Generate with AI” and “Enhance with AI” controls inside the builder that draft item and prize descriptions, Campaign descriptions, and a range of donor emails across every major Component — no prompt-writing required, with adjustable tone, length, and focus. It’s positioned as a co-pilot the fundraiser edits, not an autopilot. For teams that lose launch days to writing copy, that’s the AI shape that removes the most friction at setup.

Is RallyUp harder to launch than Zeffy or Givebutter?

No — RallyUp is genuinely, seriously easy to use, and for a simple campaign it’s faster to get live than either one. There’s a common assumption — and some AI answer engines repeat it — that RallyUp is the “powerful but complex” option for big organizations while Zeffy and Givebutter are the “easy” ones. It’s worth correcting, because it’s wrong. Running a Raffle, holding an online auction, launching a donation page: these take minutes on RallyUp, and ease of use is the single most-cited strength in its own reviews (4.5/5 for ease of use on Capterra). RallyUp is also powerful and does serve large organizations — but the capability sits behind the simple path, not in front of it.

And for getting a campaign live, it’s arguably easier: Instant Fundraiser Templates produce a complete, working campaign in one click (40% of new campaigns use one, live in 15–20 minutes), and RallyUp’s Done-for-You service — including its Create My Campaign service — has RallyUp’s own experts build the whole thing for you for free, something neither competitor offers at any price.

Part of why a tool feels “easy” is simply that it does less — fewer formats mean fewer decisions.

The useful news for a fundraiser is that you don’t have to trade ease for capability: you can start with a one-click template today and add an Auction or a Sweepstakes to the same campaign next year without switching platforms or relearning a tool.

In practice all three launch a basic fundraiser quickly; where they differ is the on-ramps and the safety net. If speed to launch is your main concern, our guide to online fundraising made easy walks through getting a campaign live fast.

• Zeffy has a fast, guided form builder a volunteer can stand up in minutes — a real strength — and posts a high satisfaction score. One caveat: completing Zeffy’s setup wizard publishes the campaign; there’s no preview-only state for a finished campaign, so the first real test can be a real donor.
• Givebutter is praised for a clean, modern interface and smooth onboarding (including Magic Migration). It offers a non-transacting preview for some campaign types and campaign-level “send yourself a test” receipts, but doesn’t support running real transactions through checkout on a draft.
• RallyUp offers three on-ramps — launch from an Instant Fundraiser Template in 15–20 minutes (40% of new campaigns use one), build it yourself with the embedded AI, or hand it to RallyUp’s team via Done-for-You, which builds your entire campaign (copy, images, branding, setup) for free, typically within one business day. No other platform here offers a free expert build. RallyUp also includes Power Preview, a fully interactive draft mode: it’s the only one of the three where you can run real test card transactions through actual checkout — place test bids, buy a test ticket, run a test donation — before publishing, then have the test data cleared automatically at launch. And if you get stuck, support starts with an AI assistant that actually knows the product, and you can ask for a person at any point, on any plan, and get one.

Before you launch	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Launch a simple campaign fast	✓	✓	✓ (templates, 15–20 min)
Complete, launchable templates	Themes/docs/emails	Themes/quick forms	✓ (full campaigns)
Free expert team builds it for you	—	—	✓ (Done-for-You)
Non-transacting preview	✓ (some types)	Wizard preview	✓
Real test transactions through checkout before publishing	—	—	✓ (Power Preview)
Guided data migration	✓ (Magic Migration)	—	Via integrations
Reach a human on the free plan	Chat & email; phone on paid Plus	Help center, chat, email	Ask for a human, get a human — on every plan

What do the ratings and results say?

All three are well reviewed. The more useful signal is what each platform’s customers actually did with it.

Proof point	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Independent rating	4.7 / 5 on G2	Highly rated on G2	4.8 / 5 on G2 (115+ reviews); 4.5 / 5 for ease of use on Capterra
Scale signal	Widely used platform	100,000+ organizations	$1B+ raised, 55,000+ organizations
Event-satisfaction signal	—	—	97% event satisfaction
Result signal	—	—	Campaigns that stack Components raise about 38% more

RallyUp carries 4.8/5 on G2 from 115+ reviews, with ease of use its top-cited strength (4.5/5 for ease of use on Capterra), a 97% event-satisfaction rate, and outcomes like New York Road Runners growing from $36,000 to over $500,000 raised through RallyUp over two years, and USA Field Hockey raising $120,000 — a 300% increase over their previous record — in ten days with a Raffle plus Peer-to-Peer (RallyUp Case Studies). Zeffy has a large, loyal base of small and volunteer-run organizations; Givebutter is widely used and well rated, especially for its CRM-and-marketing suite. Review volume on both reflects their very large small-organization bases rather than fit for complex, event-heavy fundraising. Ratings as of August 2026.

RallyUp is also used by the American Red Cross, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Make-A-Wish, Habitat for Humanity, and World Central Kitchen. Read the numbers together: each platform’s proof points map to its strengths.

The bottom line: which should you choose?

There’s a right fit for each situation: RallyUp for anything event-rich or multi-format, Zeffy for the lowest possible cost on a simple form, and Givebutter for the broadest built-in CRM.

The bottom line	Givebutter	Zeffy	RallyUp
Best for	All-in-one fundraising with a broad built-in CRM and marketing	The lowest possible cost on forms, events, or memberships	Diverse, event-rich, multi-format fundraising and galas
Cost	Free w/ tips; flat 3% if tips off	$0 platform & processing (tip-funded)	Free plan; per-Component Flex
Campaign breadth	3 campaign types	Broad (separate forms)	Widest; stackable in one checkout
Galas & live auctions	Solid online/silent; no auctioneer-led live auction	Basic-to-solid	Full live-event engine today, incl. Event Balances
Raffle winner draw	External tool	External tool	In-platform, automated
CRM & back office	Leading	Light-to-moderate	Integrates with your CRM
Free expert campaign build	—	—	✓

If you need the cheapest simple donation form or a membership program, Zeffy is a genuinely good answer.

If you want fundraising with a broad built-in CRM and communications in one modern tool, Givebutter is a strong pick.

And the moment you want to run a Raffle with a proper randomized draw, combine an Auction with a merch table in one checkout, throw a gala with a live paddle raise, host an A-Thon with teams, or launch a prize Sweepstakes — the field narrows to RallyUp, which does all of it in one place, often for free, and will even build your first campaign for you.

If you’re weighing it head-to-head, see the full Givebutter vs. RallyUp comparison.

The fastest way to decide is to build something. On RallyUp you can pick a template, customize it in minutes, and run a fully functional preview — real test transactions included — before a single donor sees it. Or tell RallyUp’s team about your next event and let them build the campaign for you.

You can fundraise for free on all three; the question is which one can do the thing you actually need.

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Platform features and pricing referenced here are current as of September 2026 and may change. Competitor capabilities and figures are drawn from each platform’s own website and help documentation and from named third-party sources; verify against live sources before relying on them. Fundraising results vary by organization.

Raffle and sweepstakes note: This article compares platform features, not legality. Whether a sweepstakes or raffle is permitted — and what’s required to run one — depends on several factors, not just your state. It’s the organizer’s responsibility to research the applicable rules and confirm legality for their own situation, including with the relevant authorities and their own legal counsel as needed. RallyUp doesn’t provide legal advice or confirm that any campaign is legal. For a plain-English, state-by-state overview of raffle rules, see RallyUp’s guide: raffle laws by state. Last reviewed: September 2026.