Most 'best platform' lists ignore the one thing that decides how much reaches your cause — the fees. Here's the honest math.
Nearly every fundraising platform looks free or cheap until the money moves. A 0% platform fee usually hides payment processing of about 2.9% + $0.30 per gift, and the ones that do charge a platform fee stack it on top. What you actually keep depends on your mix of donations — above all, how small they are.
| Platform | Est. fees on $5,000 | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Ralli — flat 2% + low-cost rails | $150 | 3.0% |
| GiveSendGo | $435 | 8.7% |
| GoFundMe | $445 | 8.9% |
| Donorbox | $558 | 11.2% |
| Indiegogo | $600 | 12.0% |
| GoGetFunding | $645 | 12.9% |
| Kickstarter | $700 | 14.0% |
Estimated fees on a $5,000 raise across 1,000 small contributions; actual rates vary by country and payment method.
Ask three questions. What does it cost on small gifts, where fixed per-transaction fees bite hardest? Does it pay you direct to your own bank, or hold your money until you withdraw? And does it work in your country? Ralli was built around those three: a flat 2% plus low-cost bank or stablecoin rails, paid direct to your own account in around 185 countries, never held on a platform balance.
On a handful of large average gifts, a 0%-platform site can come out about as cheap as Ralli — our small per-gift rail cost stops mattering at that size. Ralli's edge is biggest when you have lots of small contributions. Run your own numbers rather than taking anyone's word for it.
Run your own numbers — free, no sign-up.
Open the fee calculator →It depends on your donation sizes. On many small gifts, Ralli's flat 2% plus low-cost account-to-account rails typically keeps the most, because fixed per-gift processing fees do the most damage there. On a few large gifts, a 0%-platform tip-model site can be about as cheap. The honest answer is to run your own numbers in the calculator.
GoFundMe charges organisers no platform fee, but every donation still carries roughly 2.9% + $0.30 in payment processing, and the platform asks donors for tips to fund itself. So it is free of a platform fee, not free of cost.
Ralli charges a flat 2% plus a small low-cost rail cost, pays creators direct to their own bank account in around 185 countries, and is non-custodial — it never holds your funds on a platform balance.
Fee comparison calculator · Cheapest fundraising platforms · Best GoFundMe alternatives · 'Free' fundraising platforms · GoFundMe fees · Patreon fees
Figures are estimates based on each platform's published fee structure and typical processing rates, which vary by country and payment method. Platform names belong to their respective owners; Ralli is not affiliated with them.