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Churches face a distinct set of fundraising needs: recurring tithes and offerings, event ticketing for seasonal programs, donor stewardship over years and decades, and — increasingly — the expectation that giving can happen from a phone in the pew. The four tools below all serve the nonprofit fundraising space and address at least some of those needs. This guide walks through what each one does based on captured data, prices it honestly, and flags a few areas where users have reported friction.
A note on third-party reviews: We have independent review data for Donorbox and Givebutter. For DonorDock and Aplos, we don’t have third-party review data to draw from, so no friction notes appear for those tools.
Pricing at a Glance
| Tool | Starting Price | Top Published Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donorbox | $0/month (Standard) | $150/month (Pro) | Premium plan is quote-only; platform charges 2.95% fee + payment processor fee |
| DonorDock | $500/year (ONE plan) | $500/year (one published plan) | Single flat-rate plan |
| Aplos | $79/month (Lite) | $229/month (Advanced) | Promo pricing available on Lite ($39.50/month) and Core ($64.50/month); Custom plan is quote-only |
| Givebutter | $29/year (Plus, 250 contacts) | $129/year (Plus, 2,500 contacts) | Billed annually; Plus tier tiered by contact count |
The Tools
Donorbox
Donorbox positions itself around fundraising tools for nonprofits — donation forms, recurring donations, peer-to-peer campaigns, crowdfunding, and more. For churches specifically, the features most likely to resonate include Recurring Donations (important for regular giving), Donorbox Live™ Kiosk and Tap to Donate (for in-person giving moments), text-to-donate (donors text a campaign ID and receive a link to complete a donation), Event ticketing, Peer-to-Peer campaigns, and Membership tiers with monthly and annual options. Donation forms are embeddable on a church’s own site, and the platform supports 52+ currencies and 15 languages — relevant for multilingual congregations.
The Standard Plan is $0/month billed monthly, but the platform charges a 2.95% Donorbox fee plus the fee charged by your payment processor on all transactions. The Pro Plan is $150/month billed monthly. The Premium Plan is quote-only. Text-to-donate is available as an add-on in Basic and Short Code tiers; see the vendor’s pricing page for current rates. Both are subject to the same 2.95% Donorbox fee plus payment processor fees.
Some users report friction around invoicing and payments, price and value, features and functionality, ease of use, and onboarding and setup — worth factoring into your evaluation.
DonorDock
DonorDock describes itself as an all-in-one platform covering Online Giving (donation forms, giving pages, ticket sales), Donor Management CRM (donor tracking, gift tracking, activity tracking, volunteer tracking), and Donor Outreach (email marketing, text-to-donate, scan-to-give). That’s a reasonably broad set for a church looking to consolidate giving, donor records, and outreach in one place.
Pricing is simple: one plan — ONE — at $500/year, billed annually. There are no other published tiers.
We don’t have third-party review data for DonorDock, so we’d encourage direct conversations with their team and, if possible, references from other churches using the platform before committing.
Aplos
Aplos leads with fund accounting built for nonprofits and churches — tracking funds and grants, creating donor-ready reports, and staying compliant. The captured feature categories emphasize restricted fund and grant tracking, custom nonprofit financial reports, board-ready financial statements, bank reconciliation, and expert bookkeeping services. The positioning explicitly calls out churches alongside nonprofits.
If your church needs to manage designated funds (building funds, mission funds, memorial gifts) and produce clean financial reports for a board or congregation, Aplos is built around exactly that problem. It also describes a “Velora suite” working together, though the specifics of what that suite includes beyond the accounting features are not detailed in the captured data.
Plans and pricing (billed monthly):
- Lite: $79/month (promo: $39.50/month)
- Core: $129/month (promo: $64.50/month)
- Advanced: $229/month
- Custom: Quote-only
We don’t have third-party review data for Aplos to share here.
Givebutter
Givebutter’s captured positioning highlights features across Auctions, Donation forms, Marketing & engagement, Donor management & CRM, Fundraising events, Fundraising pages, Payment processing, and Widgets, plus a mobile app. The platform’s stated emphasis is on fundraising speed and donor engagement.
Pricing is on the Plus plan, billed annually, tiered by contact count:
- $29/year (250 contacts)
- $79/year (1,000 contacts)
- $129/year (2,500 contacts)
That entry price is the lowest flat-rate annual figure in this comparison for churches with smaller congregations. Note that the detailed feature-level specifics behind each category weren’t fully captured, so we’d recommend reviewing Givebutter’s feature page directly for the granular breakdown.
In the reviews we scanned, no recurring complaint pattern stood out — which is worth knowing, though it’s not a rating or endorsement.
Grounded Best-For Picks
Best for churches that want $0 to start: Donorbox
The Standard Plan is $0/month billed monthly — the only plan in this group with a published free entry point. You’ll pay the 2.95% platform fee plus processor fees on donations, so it’s not truly cost-free, but there’s no flat monthly charge to get started. Features like recurring donations, embeddable donation forms, and text-to-donate make it functional from day one.
Best for churches that need fund accounting: Aplos
No other tool in this fact sheet explicitly positions itself around fund accounting, restricted fund tracking, grant tracking, and nonprofit-specific financial reporting. If your church treasurer needs to track designated gifts and produce board-ready statements, Aplos is the only tool here built around that core problem. Promo pricing brings the Lite plan to $39.50/month and Core to $64.50/month.
Best for small congregations watching the annual budget: Givebutter
At $29/year for up to 250 contacts, Givebutter’s Plus plan has the lowest published annual cost of any tool here. For a small church that doesn’t need a full accounting suite and wants a low-commitment entry into fundraising tools covering events, donor management, and giving pages, that price point is hard to ignore on paper — just verify the specific features you need directly on their site.
Best for churches wanting an all-in-one giving + CRM + outreach platform at a flat rate: DonorDock
DonorDock’s ONE plan at $500/year covers donation forms, giving pages, ticket sales, donor CRM, volunteer tracking, email marketing, text-to-donate, and scan-to-give in a single published price. For a church that wants to know exactly what it’s paying annually and cover multiple functions without assembling separate tools, the flat-rate structure is straightforward — though we’d recommend talking to their team directly and seeking out references, given the absence of third-party review data.
A Few Things to Verify Before You Buy
- Platform and processing fees — Donorbox charges 2.95% plus processor fees on every transaction. Confirm the full fee structure for any tool you’re considering, especially if your church processes a high volume of smaller donations.
- Fund accounting vs. fundraising tools — Aplos is built around accounting compliance; the other three lead with fundraising and donor engagement. These aren’t always the same product category, and many churches need both.
- Contact limits — Givebutter’s Plus plan pricing scales by contact count (250, 1,000, 2,500). Know your congregation size before selecting a tier.
- Quote-only tiers — Both Donorbox (Premium) and Aplos (Custom) have upper tiers that require a sales conversation. If your church is likely to outgrow published plan limits, budget time for that process.