The US is where most of these platforms were born — so the choice is wide, but the fees hide in different places. Here's where your money actually goes.
The United States is GoFundMe's home market, and most global platforms launched here first. Almost all of them run card payments at the US standard of roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per donation. What differs is the layer on top: GoFundMe and GiveSendGo charge no platform fee and lean on optional donor tips; Kickstarter and Indiegogo add about 5%; Patreon takes 8%+ from creators. On a campaign built from many small gifts, that flat $0.30 per card is the fee that quietly does the most damage.
| 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% |
| Kickstarter | $700 | 14.0% |
Estimated fees on a $5,000 raise across 1,000 small contributions; actual rates vary by country and payment method.
Ralli charges a flat 2% plus a small low-cost rail cost, and pays you direct to your own US bank account — it never holds your funds on a platform balance. Where donors can give by bank transfer instead of card, the per-gift cost drops well below the 2.9% + $0.30 card rate, which is exactly where campaigns with lots of small US donations save the most.
If you're a registered 501(c)(3) and your donors need tax receipts, use a platform built for nonprofit receipting — Ralli is a creator-payout platform and does not issue US tax receipts. For personal, medical, memorial, community and creator fundraising, where donations aren't tax-deductible anyway, the fee you pay is what matters most.
On a handful of large donations, a 0%-platform site funded by tips can come out about as cheap as a flat 2%. Ralli's edge is biggest on many small gifts and on raises with international donors. Run your own numbers below.
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Open the fee calculator →It depends on your donation sizes and whether you need tax receipts. For personal and creator fundraising built from many small gifts, a flat 2% plus low-cost rails (as Ralli charges) usually keeps the most; on a few large gifts a 0%-platform site funded by tips can be about as cheap. Registered 501(c)(3)s needing receipts should use a nonprofit-receipting platform.
GoFundMe charges no platform fee on personal fundraisers but passes through payment processing of roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per donation, and asks donors for an optional tip. On many small gifts the fixed $0.30 per card transaction is the biggest cost.
Yes. Ralli pays creators direct to their own US bank account, is non-custodial, and works in around 185 countries — so you can also accept donations from overseas supporters and still be paid locally.
Only donations to a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit are tax-deductible, and you need a platform that issues receipts. Personal, medical and most community fundraisers aren't tax-deductible regardless of platform — so for those, the fee you pay is the number that matters.
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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.