A church planter in Oregon told us last year that he almost gave up on online giving entirely. Not because the technology was hard. Because every platform he looked at seemed designed for a church three times his size with a budget he could not imagine. The pricing pages assumed staff. The demos showed dashboards built for teams. The monthly costs added up to more than his church spent on coffee and communion supplies combined.
He eventually found a platform that worked. It took him longer than it should have. This article exists so it does not take you as long.
We looked at five giving platforms and organized them by what matters most when resources are tight: cost. Not features, not polish, not brand reputation. Cost first, because every dollar you spend on a platform is a dollar your community gave in faith that is not going to ministry. That does not make the expense wrong. It means the expense should be proportional to the value you actually receive.
How we organized this
Most roundups rank giving platforms by features or star ratings. We organized this one differently.
The platforms below are listed from lowest cost to highest. For each one, we cover the monthly price, what the transaction fees look like, and who the platform fits best. We also cover the trade-offs honestly, because every platform at every price point asks you to give something up.
A quick note on transaction processing fees: every platform charges them. They typically run 2.9% plus $0.30 per credit or debit card transaction, with lower rates for ACH (bank transfer) payments. These fees are the cost of moving money electronically, and no platform eliminates them entirely. Many platforms offer “fee coverage,” where the donor can choose to add a small amount to cover the processing cost. When your givers opt in, your church receives the full gift amount. We will note where processing fees differ from the standard, but for most of these platforms, the per-transaction cost is roughly the same.
The real cost difference between platforms is the monthly subscription. That is where your budget decision lives.
1. churchtrac: free tier with giving built in
Monthly cost: $0 on the free plan (paid plans start at $7.50/month)
Processing fees: Standard rates (2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction)
Best for: Small churches that want giving and basic church management in one place without paying a monthly fee
ChurchTrac started as a church management tool and added giving capabilities as part of its platform. The free tier is genuinely free, not a 14-day trial that quietly starts billing you. You get a people database, attendance tracking, and online giving at no monthly cost. The free plan supports up to 100 people in your database, which covers a lot of small churches and most church plants.
The giving features on the free plan are straightforward. Donors can give through a web-based giving page, and you get basic reporting on contributions. It handles tax statements at year-end, which saves you a meaningful amount of manual work every January.
The trade-off is that ChurchTrac’s giving experience is functional rather than refined. The giving page works, but it will not win any design awards. If your primary concern is getting online giving running with minimal cost, that trade-off is easy to accept. If you want a polished, branded giving experience that feels like your church, you may outgrow the free tier.
Paid plans at $7.50/month (Basic), $15/month (Standard), and $30/month (Plus) raise the database limit and add features like text-to-give, custom branding, and more advanced reporting. Even the paid tiers are among the least expensive in the church software space.
ChurchTrac fits churches that want to solve two problems (management and giving) with one tool and one budget line. The ceiling is lower than some platforms on this list, but the floor is as low as it gets.
2. tithe.ly: free giving with room to grow
Monthly cost: $0 for giving (paid plans start around $49/month for additional tools)
Processing fees: 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction; approximately 1% + $0.30 for ACH
Best for: Churches that want free online giving now and may want an integrated ecosystem later
Tithe.ly built its reputation on a simple premise: online giving should not cost a church anything to start. Their free plan includes a giving page, a mobile giving app, and basic reporting. No monthly fee. You pay only the processing fees on each transaction. That is not a promotional offer. It is the permanent structure of their free tier.
The Tithe.ly app is available in both app stores. Your members download it, search for your church, and give through it. The setup process takes minutes. For a church that wants mobile giving running by next Sunday, Tithe.ly can make that happen.
Where Tithe.ly separates itself from ChurchTrac is in what comes next. Tithe.ly offers a full ecosystem: church management software, a custom church app, a website builder, and media tools. You do not need any of those to use the free giving platform, but they are there when your church is ready. The paid plans scale from around $49/month for church management up to roughly $149/month for an all-access bundle.
The trade-off on the free plan is limited customization and basic reporting. You get what you need to accept gifts and track them, but you will not get the detailed analytics or donor engagement tools that come with paid platforms. For many churches, that is perfectly fine. The data you need most (who gave, how much, when, and whether it was recurring) is all there.
Tithe.ly also offers text-to-give on paid plans, which is worth considering if your congregation skews toward phone-first interactions. A member texts a dollar amount to a dedicated number, receives a link, and completes the gift in under a minute. After the first time, repeat gifts take seconds.
The free tier is genuinely strong. If you are starting from zero, Tithe.ly removes the financial barrier entirely and gives you a clear upgrade path when you are ready for more.
Churchtrac and tithe.ly: a quick comparison
Both ChurchTrac and Tithe.ly offer free giving, so the natural question is which one to choose.
ChurchTrac bundles giving into a broader (though more basic) church management tool. If you need a people database, attendance tracking, and giving in one free package, ChurchTrac does more out of the box.
Tithe.ly’s free tier is giving-focused, and the giving experience itself is more polished. The mobile app is smoother, the donor experience is cleaner, and the ecosystem you can grow into is larger. If giving is your primary concern right now and church management can wait, Tithe.ly’s free plan is the stronger starting point.
Neither choice locks you in. Both platforms let you export your data. Pick the one that solves your most pressing problem today.
3. breeze: flat-rate simplicity
Monthly cost: $72/month (flat rate, no tiers based on church size)
Processing fees: Standard rates for giving transactions
Best for: Churches that want predictable costs and an all-in-one system without usage-based pricing surprises
Breeze takes a different approach to pricing: one plan, one price, no tiers based on how many people are in your database. At $72/month, you get church management, giving, volunteer tracking, check-in, email and text tangleaging, and a mobile admin app. No setup fees. No contract. Cancel anytime.
The giving features are included at no additional monthly cost. Breeze calls it “$0/month Giving,” meaning there is no cap on donation volume and no separate giving subscription. You pay the standard processing fees on each transaction, but the platform cost for giving is folded into that flat $72.
For a church that has outgrown free tools but is not ready for enterprise pricing, Breeze occupies a practical middle ground. The flat rate means your costs do not increase as your church grows. A church of 80 and a church of 800 pay the same monthly fee. That predictability matters when you are managing a tight budget.
The trade-off is that Breeze’s giving features are solid but not its primary focus. Breeze is a church management system first. The giving works well, it integrates with the rest of the platform, and your team will not struggle to use it. But if you are looking for the most advanced giving analytics, the most polished donor experience, or the deepest customization of your giving page, a giving-first platform may serve you better.
Breeze also offers a 30-day free trial, which gives you enough time to set up your church, import your data, and test the giving flow before committing. That is a meaningful offer when $72/month is a real line item in your budget.
One more detail worth noting: Breeze can bundle with Tithely Church Apps and Tithely Sites for $119/month total, which points to how these ecosystems are starting to overlap and partner rather than compete.
4. subsplash giving
Monthly cost: Custom pricing (typically starts around $49 to $99/month for giving)
Processing fees: Competitive rates, often slightly lower than the 2.9% standard depending on volume
Best for: Churches that want a premium giving experience, particularly if they already use (or plan to use) a Subsplash church app
Subsplash built its reputation on custom church apps before expanding into giving, and that heritage shows. The giving experience is polished, mobile-first, and designed to reduce the number of taps between “I want to give” and “I just gave.” Their giving pages are clean and customizable, and the integration with a Subsplash church app is seamless.
Subsplash does not publish a single public price for giving alone. Pricing depends on which products you bundle (app, giving, website, media) and the size of your church. For giving specifically, churches have reported costs starting in the $49 to $99/month range, though bundling with an app typically increases that.
The processing fees are where Subsplash gets interesting for budget-conscious churches. They have historically offered competitive rates, and for churches processing higher volumes of giving, the per-transaction savings can partially offset the monthly subscription. ACH rates tend to be favorable as well.
The trade-off is that Subsplash’s pricing is less transparent than the other platforms on this list. You will need to contact their team for a quote, which means you cannot do a quick comparison on a Saturday afternoon. For some pastors, that friction alone is a dealbreaker. For others, the conversation is worth having if the giving experience and app integration are priorities.
Subsplash fits churches that are past the startup phase and want to invest in a giving experience that feels intentional and branded. If you are already using a Subsplash app or considering one, adding giving into the same ecosystem makes practical sense.
5. securegive
Monthly cost: Custom pricing (typically $69 to $149/month depending on features)
Processing fees: Standard rates, with options for churches to negotiate based on volume
Best for: Churches that want a dedicated giving platform with strong text-to-give and kiosk capabilities
SecureGive has been in the church giving space longer than most of the platforms on this list. They focus exclusively on giving (not church management, not apps, not websites), and that focus shows in the depth of their giving-specific features. Text-to-give, giving kiosks, and detailed giving analytics are core to their product, not add-ons.
Their pricing is custom and typically falls in the $69 to $149/month range depending on the features you need and the size of your church. Like Subsplash, you will need to have a conversation with their team to get a specific number. The lack of a free tier or a simple pricing page puts SecureGive at a disadvantage for churches that want to compare costs quickly.
The trade-off is the monthly cost relative to the free and low-cost options above. SecureGive offers more giving-specific depth than ChurchTrac, Tithe.ly, or Breeze, but that depth comes at a price. For a church processing a high volume of gifts and wanting advanced tools like giving kiosks or detailed trend analysis, the investment may pay for itself. For a church of 75 that just needs a reliable way to accept online gifts, the free and flat-rate options above will serve you well at a fraction of the cost.
Choosing by budget, not by hype
Cost alone does not determine the right platform. But cost is where the conversation should start, because the gap between free and $149/month is significant for a church managing limited resources.
If your church has fewer than 100 regular attendees and you have not offered online giving before, start with a free option. ChurchTrac or Tithe.ly will get you running this week without adding a dollar to your monthly expenses. You can upgrade later when your needs grow and your budget allows. Starting free is not settling. It is being a good steward of what your community has entrusted to you.
If your church has grown past the startup phase and you need giving integrated into a broader system, Breeze at $72/month offers predictable cost and solid functionality across multiple needs. The flat rate protects you from the kind of usage-based pricing that punishes growth.
If you want a premium giving experience and your budget can sustain a monthly investment, Subsplash and SecureGive both offer more polish and depth. The value is real, but so is the cost. Make sure the features you are paying for are features your church will actually use, not features that look good on a comparison chart but sit unused in your dashboard.
Whatever you choose, remember that the platform is a tool. The generosity of your community is not determined by which software you use. A church with 50 faithful givers on a free platform is doing something beautiful. The goal is to remove friction between the intention to give and the act of giving. Every platform on this list can do that. Your job is to find the one that does it at a cost your church can sustain for years, not just months.
The pastor in Oregon we mentioned at the start eventually chose a free tier. His church has since grown to about 140 people, and recurring online giving now accounts for more than half their monthly income. He told us the best decision he made was not which platform he chose. It was that he stopped waiting for a perfect option and started with one he could afford.
That is the kind of stewardship we can all learn from.
