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Which giving platform actually fits your church?

Four questions, an honest top 3, and the trade-offs named out loud. Grounded in what small churches actually use: we followed every giving link across a 2,000-church national sample — 1,298 of them resolved to a working giving destination. See the full study.

Four questions

How many people are in the room on a typical Sunday?
Roughly how much giving moves through the church in a month?
Do you want text-to-give?
Do you already run a church management system (ChMS)?

All 9 platforms are listed below — with JavaScript enabled, the questions narrow them to your top 3.

The platforms

Tithe.ly

Pricing
Free giving plan: no monthly fee, setup fee or contract. You pay card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per gift.
Monthly fee
$0 for giving (text giving $19/mo add-on)
Fee fine print
Cards 2.9% + $0.30 (Amex 3.5% + $0.30); ACH bank gifts 1% + $0.30. Text giving is a $19/mo add-on on the free plan.
Text-to-give
Yes (paid add-on on the entry plan)
Best for
first online giving setup · no monthly budget · live this week
Trade-off
The free plan covers giving only. Text giving costs $19/mo on that plan, and the Tithe.ly app, website and church management tools are separate paid plans.

Observed usage: 41 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

Planning Center Giving

Pricing
Free up to 10 donations/mo, then tiered from $15/mo to $239/mo by donation count; cards 2.15% + $0.30, ACH a flat $0.30.
Monthly fee
$0 to $239/mo by donation volume
Fee fine print
Cards 2.15% + $0.30 per gift (no separate US Amex rate listed). ACH is 0% + $0.30 flat. Text-to-give is listed as a way to give, and the subscription is a flat rate by donation count with no additional fees. No contracts, setup fees or cancellation charges.
Text-to-give
Yes, included
Best for
Planning Center churches · recurring/ACH-heavy giving · a 2.15% card rate
Trade-off
The monthly fee rises with the number of donations, not their size: free up to 10 a month, then $15/mo for up to 75, rising to $239/mo for unlimited.

Observed usage: this platform’s giving host didn’t appear in our study’s top-host table (that means “below the table’s cutoff”, not “nobody uses it”). · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

Givelify

Pricing
No monthly fee; 2.9% + $0.30 per donation.
Monthly fee
$0
Fee fine print
Amex runs 3.5% + $0.30. ACH pricing is not published. No sign-up fee and no contract. No text-to-give: Givelify's help center contrasts its app with text giving.
Text-to-give
No · Donor experience centers on the platform’s own app
Best for
mobile-first donors · fast one-time gifts · zero setup cost
Trade-off
Givelify publishes no bank (ACH) rate, so every published fee is a card fee: 2.9% + $0.30, or 3.5% + $0.30 on Amex. Its help center describes giving through Givelify's own mobile app.

Observed usage: 17 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

Subsplash Giving

Pricing
No monthly fee for giving; cards 2.99% + $0.30 (2.3% + $0.30 with an Exclusive Partnership agreement), ACH 1% with no fixed fee.
Monthly fee
$0 (giving only)
Fee fine print
Amex and other premium cards 3.5% + $0.30. Exclusive Partners also get GrowCurve, volume rebates applied each quarter; Subsplash's pricing page says rates can drop as low as 1.9% on cards and 0.5% on ACH. Text giving included.
Text-to-give
Yes, included
Best for
churches in the Subsplash bundle · growing giving volume · text giving included
Trade-off
The 2.3% card rate and GrowCurve rebates require an Exclusive Partnership agreement. Giving-only and non-exclusive accounts pay 2.99% + $0.30 per card gift.

Observed usage: 8 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

Vanco

Pricing
Grow plan $0/mo if you meet its onboarding conditions ($10/mo otherwise), or Thrive at $54/mo with lower processing rates.
Monthly fee
$0/mo (Grow, conditional) or $54/mo (Thrive)
Fee fine print
Grow: cards 2.9% + $0.45, ACH 1% + $0.45. Thrive: cards 2.65% + $0.39, ACH 0.9% + $0.39. Amex 3.99% on either. Text-to-give is $10/mo on Grow, included on Thrive. Grow stays $0/mo only if you meet with a Vanco Giving Specialist within 15 days and have your giving page live within 30 days. No contract or cancellation fees.
Text-to-give
Yes (paid add-on on the entry plan)
Best for
mainline churches · denominational familiarity · staffed church offices
Denomination note
Vanco's newsroom announces giving partnerships with United Methodist conferences, an Episcopal diocese, a United Church of Christ conference and the Center for Faith and Giving (Disciples of Christ).
Trade-off
Every Grow-plan gift carries a $0.45 fixed fee on top of the percentage ($0.39 on Thrive), and the $0/mo Grow plan carries onboarding conditions.

Observed usage: 14 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

easyTithe

Pricing
Plans at $19/mo, $49/mo and $75/mo, each with a $10 monthly minimum in processing fees; cards 2.6% to 3% + $0.42 depending on plan.
Monthly fee
$19 to $75/mo
Fee fine print
The $19/mo plan runs cards at 3% + $0.42; the $49/mo plan, 2.6% + $0.42; the $75/mo Pro plan (new customers only), 2.75% + $0.42. ACH is 1% + $0.42 on every plan. Amex rate not published. Text giving included in all plans, with no contract.
Text-to-give
Yes, included
Best for
kiosk giving · Ministry Brands stacks · flat-plan predictability
Trade-off
Every plan charges a monthly fee ($19 to $75) on top of per-gift fees of 2.6% to 3% + $0.42 on cards, while most platforms here list $0 a month for giving.

Observed usage: 14 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

PayPal

Pricing
No monthly fee; charities PayPal approves pay 1.99% + $0.49 per donation.
Monthly fee
$0
Fee fine print
The 1.99% + $0.49 charity rate is subject to eligibility, application and pre-approval by PayPal. Without it, donations through the Donate button or PayPal Checkout run 2.89% + $0.49.
Text-to-give
No
Best for
lowest percentage rate · donors who already trust PayPal · zero commitment
Trade-off
The low charity rate depends on PayPal approving your church; until then donations cost 2.89% + $0.49. The $0.49 fixed fee is the highest per-gift fixed fee here, which weighs most on small gifts.

Observed usage: 17 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

Realm Giving (ACS Technologies)

Pricing
Part of the Realm church management software. ACS publishes no price for Realm plans or giving, and no processing rates.
Monthly fee
Not published (contact ACS for Realm pricing)
Fee fine print
ACS says giving is fully integrated into Realm and does not say whether it is sold separately. Its giving page describes text giving but lists no price for it.
Text-to-give
Yes (price not published)
Best for
churches already on Realm/ACS · membership + accounting in one system
Denomination note
ACS Technologies says it has served churches since 1978, and its giving page describes giving as fully integrated into Realm.
Trade-off
Giving comes as part of Realm church management software, and ACS publishes no price, so you need a quote before you can compare. onrealm.org was still the single most-seen giving destination in our study.

Observed usage: 23 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

Pushpay

Pricing
Custom quote: Pushpay does not publish pricing, and contracts run 1, 2 or 3 years.
Monthly fee
Not published (quoted; 1, 2 or 3 year contract)
Fee fine print
Processing rates are quoted, not published. Pushpay bills a subscription on top, paid monthly or annually by automatic ACH. No setup fees.
Text-to-give
Yes (price not published)
Best for
larger churches · recurring-giving strategy · donor development tooling
Trade-off
Pricing is not published and comes through a sales demo. Contracts run 1, 2 or 3 years, and cancelling early means paying the balance of the contract.

Observed usage: 20 of the 1,298 working giving links in our 2026 study pointed here. About the study · Pricing verified 2026-10-22

How we ranked these

A fixed scoring rubric, the same for everyone: a platform that is native to the church management system you already run scores highest; then text-to-give fit; then how each platform’s pricing behaves at your monthly giving volume (monthly fees are penalized hard at low volume, volume-friendly rates rewarded at high volume); then congregation size. Ties break on observed usage in our study. Same answers, same top 3, every time.

Every published price on this page was verified against the vendor’s own pricing page on October 22, 2026. Where a vendor doesn’t publish pricing (Pushpay, Realm), we say “not published” instead of repeating third-party guesses. Published fees change — confirm with the vendor before you sign anything.

No platform paid to be here. The usage numbers come from our own 2026 study, The State of Small Church Websites, which followed every giving link across a 2,000-church national sample.

Questions pastors ask

How did you rank these giving platforms?
A fixed, deterministic scoring rubric: platforms native to the church management system you already run score highest, then text-to-give fit, then how each platform's pricing behaves at your giving volume (monthly fees are penalized at low volume; volume-discount rates are rewarded at high volume), then congregation size. Every published price was verified against the vendor's own pricing or help pages on 2026-10-22. No platform paid to be here.
What does online giving cost a small church?
Five of the nine platforms here list $0 a month for giving, and Planning Center Giving is free up to 10 donations a month. Card gifts mostly cost about 2.9% plus a fixed fee: Tithe.ly and Givelify list 2.9% + $0.30. Planning Center Giving lists 2.15% + $0.30, and PayPal lists 1.99% + $0.49 for charities it approves. Bank (ACH) gifts cost less where a rate is published: $0.30 flat on Planning Center Giving, 1% on Subsplash, and about 1% plus $0.30 to $0.45 on Tithe.ly, Vanco and easyTithe. easyTithe charges $19 to $75 a month on top of per-gift fees, and Pushpay and Realm do not publish prices.
Where does the "of the 1,298 working giving links" number come from?
Our 2026 study, The State of Small Church Websites, crawled a 2,000-church national sample and followed every giving link it found; 1,298 resolved to a working giving destination. The counts shown per platform are how many of those links pointed at that platform. See the full study at /research.
Do you sell or resell any of these giving platforms?
No. Church Digital builds church websites; we don't sell a giving platform and no platform paid to be in this tool. Whichever platform you pick, wiring it into your website (the give button, the mobile flow, the embedded form) is included in our website service.

Whichever platform you pick, we wire it into your website.

The give button in the right places, the mobile flow, the embedded form — it’s included in every website we build. No upsell for “giving integration.”

See how our websites work