Short version: Zeffy charges your organization nothing — you keep $100 of every $100, and Zeffy asks your donors for an optional tip on top. Donorbox's free Standard plan costs about $5.45 per $100 card gift (2.95% platform + 2.2% + $0.30 processing), but donors can be asked to cover all fees, and there are no platform tip prompts to a third party at checkout.
Run your own numbers
Preset to this pair, including Donorbox Pro ($150/month, lower platform fee). The donors-cover-fees slider matters a lot here — it only helps Donorbox.
Fee schedules, side by side
Sources: zeffy.com ("How is Zeffy 100% free?"), support.zeffy.com, donorbox.org/pricing — verified 2026-06-10. US rates, donation forms.
| Fee | Zeffy | Donorbox Standard (free) | Donorbox Pro ($150/mo) |
|---|
| Platform fee | 0% | 2.95% | 1.75% |
| Card processing (Stripe nonprofit rate) | $0 (Zeffy covers) | 2.2% + $0.30 | 2.2% + $0.30 |
| Bank transfer (ACH) | $0 | 0.8%, capped at $5 | 0.8%, capped at $5 |
| Donor can cover fees? | Nothing to cover | Yes — org then receives 100% | Yes — org then receives 100% |
| Tip prompt to donors | Yes, for Zeffy (org cannot customize it) | No | No |
| Org keeps, of a $100 card gift | $100.00 | $94.55 (or $100 if donor covers) | $95.75 + plan fee |
Notes: Donorbox via PayPal processes at 1.99% + $0.49 (non-AmEx). Event ticketing and memberships carry higher Donorbox platform fees (3.95% Standard / 2% Pro) — this page models donation forms. Zeffy publishes no itemized ACH schedule; its blanket claim is "no transaction fees, no platform fees, no fees period."
The real trade
This is not "free vs paid" — it's who interacts with the cost. On Zeffy, your books show zero fees, and your donors see a tip request to Zeffy at checkout (suggested twice, amount set dynamically, not customizable by you; Zeffy says about 2 of 3 donors tip). On Donorbox, your books show ~5.45% on card gifts — or ~0% if your donors reliably tick "cover fees," which adds the fee to the donor's charge transparently, with no third-party tip framing.
Honest verdict by organization size
Under ~$25k/yr online
Zeffy wins the pure money math ($100.00 vs $94.55 kept per $100 card gift) for any org that accepts the tip-prompt donor experience. At $25k/yr, Donorbox Standard costs roughly $1,360/yr on cards if no donor covers fees, $0 if all do.
~$25k–$150k/yr
Money still favors Zeffy, but the gap narrows if your donors cover fees at high rates on Donorbox. Decide on donor experience and the features your workflow needs. Stay on Donorbox Standard — Pro's $1,800/yr only pays for itself above roughly $150k/yr of volume (the 1.2-point platform-fee saving must exceed the subscription).
Above ~$150k/yr
Donorbox Pro becomes the cheaper Donorbox plan ($1,800/yr < 1.2% of volume), keeping about $95.75 of every $100 card gift before the plan fee. Zeffy still posts $100.00 — at this size the question is purely whether the tip-prompt experience and platform fit work for your donor base, not the fee table.
Related: How much does Donorbox take? · Is Zeffy really free? · How we compute these numbers