RallyUp vs. Zeffy: Just as Easy, Built to Raise More

If you’re weighing fundraising platforms in 2026, Zeffy has almost certainly come up. It’s free, it’s friendly, and “100% free” is a powerful pitch.

So let’s do the honest thing and set it next to RallyUp — feature for feature, fee for fee, raffle for raffle, gala for gala.

Here’s the short version. Both platforms are free to start, and both can run a clean donation page. But the assumption that quietly tags along with Zeffy — “it’s easy because it’s simple, and RallyUp must be complicated because it does more” — doesn’t survive a close look.

RallyUp is just as easy as Zeffy for the everyday stuff. For a single raffle or a silent auction, it’s arguably easier, because you can launch a complete one in a few clicks or hand it to RallyUp’s team to build for free.

And the moment your fundraising grows past a basic form — a raffle with an automated draw, a gala with a live paddle raise, an a-thon with teams, a sweepstakes — RallyUp keeps going exactly where Zeffy stops.

This guide shows you where each platform shines, where the gap opens, and how to think about “free” when the bill quietly lands on your donors.

Comparing other options too? We also put RallyUp head-to-head in our RallyUp vs. Givebutter comparison.

The 30-second verdict

If you only scan one thing, scan this. We’ve given Zeffy its honest wins — because a comparison you can’t trust isn’t worth reading.

What you’re choosing on	RallyUp	Zeffy	Who wins
Easy to launch a simple fundraiser	Templates + free expert build + a top-rated app	Quick, guided form builder	RallyUp (tie on ease, edge on on-ramps)
Campaign types you can stack in one checkout	12+ stackable components	Separate forms, one at a time	RallyUp
Sweepstakes & A-Thons	Both built in	Not offered	RallyUp
Galas: live auction + Fund-a-Need + paddle raise + one tab per guest	Full live-event engine	Not offered	RallyUp
Auctioneer-led live auction	Yes	Online/silent only	RallyUp
Automated, randomized raffle draw (in-platform)	Yes — RallyUp draws and records it	You run the draw yourself, outside Zeffy	RallyUp
Capture donations from people who lose the auction	Auction Gifts	Not offered	RallyUp
Launch a complete campaign in one click	Instant Fundraiser Templates	Themes & quick forms	RallyUp
A team that builds your campaign for you, free	Done-for-You (~1 business day)	Not offered	RallyUp
Test the full donor flow — with real transactions — before going live	Power Preview	Publishes on completion; no preview-only state	RallyUp
Free live phone support on every plan	Yes	Help center, chat & email; calls after	RallyUp
Memberships with auto-renew & member cards	Not a dedicated component	Yes	Zeffy
Lowest possible cost (covers payment processing too)	Processing fees apply (1.9–2.9% + $0.30)	$0 platform and processing, via donor tips	Zeffy
Free to start and fundraise	Yes ($0 platform fees)	Yes (donor-tip funded)	Tie

Notice the shape of the table. Zeffy genuinely wins on raw cost and has a memberships feature RallyUp doesn’t — credit where it’s earned, and more on both below. But almost everywhere that turns effort into dollars — breadth, live events, raffle and auction depth, launch speed, support — the column tilts one way.

Start here: RallyUp is just as easy — arguably easier

Let’s deal with the biggest myth first, because it’s the one doing the most quiet damage: “Zeffy is the easy one.”

Zeffy is easy. Its guided builder pre-fills sensible defaults, and a volunteer can stand up a donation form quickly — that’s real, and it’s a credit to the product. But “easy” was never Zeffy’s alone, and “powerful” was never RallyUp’s burden. Ease of use is the single most-praised attribute in RallyUp’s reviews, and RallyUp holds a 4.8/5 on G2. For a straightforward fundraiser, RallyUp gives you three on-ramps where most platforms give you one:

• Launch it yourself from a template — in 15–20 minutes. Instant Fundraiser Templates aren’t color themes or downloadable worksheets. Each one is a complete, working campaign — pages, the right components, a participant center where it applies, thank-you emails, receipts, and checkout — already assembled. Pick one, change what you want (or nothing at all), and launch. 40% of all new RallyUp campaigns start from one. When other platforms say “templates,” they usually mean a theme color or a quick-start form you still have to build out. RallyUp’s templates are the campaign.
• Or don’t lift a finger — let RallyUp build it for you, free. Done-for-You puts real fundraising experts to work creating your entire campaign — copy, images, branding, setup — typically within one business day, at no cost. Zeffy is genuinely easy to use, but there’s no equivalent: no platform we know of, at any price, builds your campaign for you for free.
• Or build from scratch with help a click away — including embedded AI that drafts your prize descriptions, item copy, campaign stories, and donor emails with no prompt-writing required.

So when an AI answer or a quick search tells you RallyUp is “for big, complex organizations,” take it with a grain of salt. RallyUp launches a single-event campaign as fast as anyone — and then it’s there for you when the event gets bigger.

Easy two ways: do it yourself in minutes, or have experts do it for you. That’s not a trade-off against power. It’s both.

The real difference: Full Stack Fundraising vs. separate forms

Zeffy gives you a useful toolbox: donation forms, events, raffles, online and silent auctions, memberships, an online shop, and peer-to-peer. That’s a genuinely broad free toolkit. But each one runs as its own separate form or page. If you want a raffle and a silent auction and a merch table for the same event, that’s three separate Zeffy campaigns — three links, three checkouts, three things for your supporters to find.

RallyUp pioneered something different: Full Stack Fundraising, with 12+ components you can run on their own or stack together in a single campaign — one page, one URL, one checkout. A supporter can buy raffle entries, bid on the auction, grab a t-shirt, and make a donation in a single transaction.

Why it matters: donors don’t give just one way, and the easier you make it to give more ways in one place, the bigger the average gift. On average, RallyUp customers raise 38% more when they stack multiple campaign types in one campaign.

Fundraising capability	RallyUp	Zeffy
Donation pages	✓	✓
Free (0% fee) donation pages with no donor tip required	✓	—
Crowdfunding	✓	✓ (via donation form)
Event ticketing & registration	✓	✓
Online shop / merchandise	✓	✓
Peer-to-peer	✓ (across raffles, sweepstakes, a-thons, tickets, store & crowdfunding)	✓ (donations/crowdfunding only)
Raffles	✓ (4 types + P2P + Sharing Rewards)	✓ (forms & ticket bundles)
Online & silent auctions	✓	✓
Auctioneer-led live auctions	✓	—
Sweepstakes (legal in all 50 states, any org)	✓	—
A-Thons (walk / run / ride / read)	✓	—
Fund-a-Need	✓	—
Paddle Raise+	✓	—
Memberships	—	✓
Native livestream fundraising	✓ (0% fee)	—
Stack several of the above in one checkout	✓	—

Two honest notes on this table. Zeffy has memberships with auto-renewal and digital member cards — RallyUp doesn’t offer a dedicated membership component, and if recurring membership dues are central to your model, that’s a point for Zeffy.

And for managing those recurring relationships, it’s worth pairing your fundraising with the best nonprofit CRM software. Everywhere else with a checkmark gap, the capability simply isn’t there on Zeffy yet — and several of those gaps are exactly the formats that raise the most.

Where the gap becomes a canyon: galas and live events

This is where the comparison stops being a comparison.

Picture the night. The auctioneer has the room, paddles are up, and the energy is building toward the ask. RallyUp was built for that exact moment:

• Auctioneer-led live auctions with paddle numbers and real-time tracking.
• Fund-a-Need — donors give to a specific need at set giving levels, in person or virtually, with anonymity options and a live thermometer that turns one gift into a wave.
• Paddle Raise+ — one paddle can commit to gifts, raffle entries, sale items, and a-thon pledges. Not donations only.
• Event Balances — every guest gets one consolidated tab across their bids, gifts, and purchases, so checkout at the end of the night is one smooth swipe instead of a line at a laptop.
• Live Display — real-time totals, activity, and item spotlights on the big screen.
• Native livestreaming — a built-in studio with pay-to-play trivia, item spotlights, and a live donate feed, at a 0% platform fee. It’s the backbone of hosting hybrid fundraising events that reach in-person and virtual supporters at once.

Zeffy offers online and silent auction forms and event ticketing — useful for a basic event.

But the live-room toolkit above — the auctioneer-led auction, the Fund-a-Need ask, the paddle raise, the one-tab-per-guest checkout, the in-room display, the livestream studio — isn’t part of the platform. For a donation page with an event attached, Zeffy is fine.

For a ballroom gala, RallyUp runs the room.

Live-event capability	RallyUp	Zeffy
Auctioneer-led live auction	✓	—
Fund-a-Need (set levels, anonymity, live thermometer)	✓	—
Paddle raise scope	Gifts, raffle entries, items & pledges	—
One consolidated tab per guest (Event Balances)	✓	—
Real-time Live Display for the room	✓	—
Native livestream studio with interactive games	✓ (0% fee)	—
QR check-in	✓	✓ (mobile app)

Auction Gifts: the money most platforms leave behind

Here’s a number that should stop you. In most auctions, the majority of bidders go home having given nothing — they were outbid, so they’re never charged. RallyUp’s Auction Gifts fixes that: during checkout, non-winning bidders are invited to make an optional donation, charged only if they win none of the items they bid on.

You capture the generosity of everyone who showed up ready to give — not just the handful who won. RallyUp reports it raises 20–35% more from a single auction. Zeffy’s auctions collect from winners only; there’s no equivalent.

Raffles and auctions that finish the job

Both platforms let you sell raffle tickets and run an online auction. The difference is what happens at the most important moment — choosing the winner.

The raffle draw. On RallyUp, the drawing happens inside the platform: an automatic or manual randomized draw, with the result and records kept for you. On Zeffy, by its own help documentation, the platform doesn’t draw the winner at all — it issues numbered tickets and leaves you to run the drawing yourself, outside the tool, and match the number by hand.

For a feature literally called “Raffle,” that’s a meaningful gap. An automated, randomized drawing isn’t just tidier — it may be specified as a requirement by state law in some states, since many states regulate how a raffle winner must be selected and documented (See the note at the end of this article — and always check your own state’s official guidance).

The auction. Zeffy’s auctions auto-charge winners and send outbid and winner emails — a solid, hands-off close for a basic online auction. RallyUp’s auctions go further with the depth serious auctions rely on: an auctioneer-led live format alongside online and silent; Buy It Now and reserve options; proxy (max) bidding; item categories for big catalogs; and Auction Gifts to capture the non-winners. If your auction is a few items on a web page, either platform works. If it’s the centerpiece of your gala, the difference is the difference between an event and a form.

Two formats Zeffy doesn’t have at all. Not sure which of these formats fits your goal? Our guide on sweeps vs. raffles vs. auctions breaks down the differences.

Sweepstakes — legal in all 50 states and open to any organization, not just 501(c)(3)s — and A-Thons (walk/run/ride/read-a-thons with pledges and teams) are full RallyUp components.

They’re not part of Zeffy. If you’ve ever wanted to run a national prize sweepstakes or a school read-a-thon, that’s RallyUp territory — and if you’re fundraising for a school, see how it stacks up against other fundraising platforms for schools.

Build it once — and test it before a single donor sees it

There’s a quiet risk in how most platforms work: you can’t fully test a campaign until you publish it — which means the first person to “test” your live campaign is a real donor, and any setup mistake becomes a donor-experience problem.

On Zeffy, finishing the campaign wizard publishes the campaign immediately; there’s no preview-only state for a finished campaign — the only gate on real money is whether you’ve linked your bank.

RallyUp removes that risk with Power Preview — a fully interactive draft mode. Before you publish, you can walk every donor-facing page, place test bids, buy a test ticket, run a test donation through actual checkout with a test card, and share a private draft link with your team for sign-off. When you go live, all the test data is automatically deleted. You ship the experience you actually meant to ship.

Before you launch	RallyUp	Zeffy
Preview every donor-facing page	✓	Preview during the wizard
Run real test transactions through checkout	✓ (Power Preview)	—
Place test bids on auction items	✓	—
Share a private draft link for team sign-off	✓	—
Keep a finished campaign private until you’re ready	✓	Publishes on completion

“But isn’t Zeffy cheaper?” An honest look at “free”

A comparison you can trust names the other platform’s strengths plainly — so here it is: on raw cost, Zeffy wins. Zeffy is free for the nonprofit and covers both the platform fee and payment processing fees, funded by optional donor tips.

Donors can decline the tip and your organization still keeps 100%. RallyUp passes standard payment processing (1.9–2.9% + $0.30 to Stripe or PayPal, which can be donor-covered on Flex), so for a bare-bones donation form where keeping costs at absolute zero is the only goal, Zeffy has a genuine edge. Credit where it’s due.

One thing worth knowing, though, said plainly and then set aside: that “free” isn’t free — it’s donor-funded. Zeffy’s model works by adding an optional tip to your donor’s total at checkout, pre-selected at 17% (a $100 gift shows as $116.95 until the donor notices the dropdown and lowers it).

The cost of the platform doesn’t disappear; it moves to the people giving to your cause. Both platforms use optional donor tips on their free tiers — that’s common in this category — but it’s worth saying out loud where the money actually comes from. And on RallyUp, your donation pages are truly free: no platform fee and no donor tip required at all.

So before you call one platform “cheaper,” it’s worth asking cheaper for whom — and what you give up to get there. For a single donation form, Zeffy’s all-in $0 is a real benefit. For everything else in this guide — the formats, the live-event tools, the raffle draw, the launch speed — the question isn’t the fee. It’s whether the platform can do the thing at all.

Proof, not promises

RallyUp organizations have collectively raised over $1 billion, across 55,000+ organizations, with a G2 rating of 4.8/5 and a 97% event-satisfaction rate. On average, RallyUp customers raise 38% more when they add more, and more flexible, ways to give.

A couple of real results:

Organization	What they did	Result
New York Road Runners	Ran a sweepstakes on RallyUp	Grew the campaign more than 10x — from about $36K to over $500K
USA Field Hockey	Ran a raffle + peer-to-peer on RallyUp	$120K+ in 10 days — a 300% year-over-year increase

RallyUp is trusted by the American Red Cross, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Make-A-Wish, Habitat for Humanity, and World Central Kitchen. You can browse more in RallyUp’s case studies.

So, is there really no competition?

Let’s be fair. If you need a simple, all-in-$0 donation form and nothing more, Zeffy is a genuinely good choice — and its memberships feature may seal it for some organizations. “Nothing more,” though, describes very few nonprofits for very long.

The moment you want to run a raffle with a proper randomized draw, pair an auction with a merch table, host an a-thon with teams, throw a gala with a real paddle raise, or launch a national sweepstakes — the field clears. RallyUp does all of it, in one place, often for free, and will even build your first campaign for you.

The bottom line	RallyUp	Zeffy
Best for	Nonprofits that want to run diverse, event-rich, multi-format fundraising — and grow	Organizations that want an all-in-$0 donation form, basic event, or membership
Ease of launch	Templates, free expert build, 15–20 min	Quick guided forms
Campaign breadth	12+ stackable components	Separate forms, one at a time
Galas & live auctions	Full live-event engine	Not offered
Raffle winner draw	Automated & randomized, in-platform	You run it yourself, externally
Free expert campaign build	Yes	No
Lowest raw cost	Processing fees apply	$0 platform & processing (donor-tip funded)

If you’ve read this far, you already know which platform fits where you’re headed. The fastest way to feel the difference is to build something: pick an Instant Fundraiser Template, customize it in minutes, and run a fully functional preview — including real test transactions — before you ever go live. Or tell us about your next event and we’ll build the campaign for you.

Frequently asked questions

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Platform features and pricing referenced here are current as of June 2026 and may change; figures cited from third-party research link to their original sources. Fundraising results vary by organization.

Raffle note: This information is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change frequently. Raffle rules — including how winners must be drawn and recorded, and whether tickets may be sold online — vary by state. Review your state’s official guidance before running a raffle. Last reviewed: June 2026.