The short version: on a $100 donation you will receive between $96.80 and $97.00 on every free platform below. The spread across all of them is about twenty cents. Choose on something other than price.
What you actually receive from a $100 gift
| Platform | Contributor pays | You receive | Page is public? |
|---|---|---|---|
| GoFundMe | $100.00 | $96.80 | Yes — indexed by Google |
| GiveSendGo | $100.00 (+10% tip prompt) | $97.00 | Yes — public |
| FreeFunder | $100.00 (+optional tip) | $96.80 | Yes — public |
| Ever Loved | $100.00 | $96.80 | Yes — public |
| A Better Gift | $106.90 | $100.00 | No — never indexed |
“Free” means no platform fee, not no fee
There are two separate charges in crowdfunding and the marketing only ever talks about the first one.
1. The platform fee — genuinely zero on most sites now
2. Payment processing — never zero, and nearly the same everywhere
So “free” is accurate and also nearly meaningless as a comparison. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive free option here is roughly 20 cents on $100.
How these platforms actually pay for themselves
If they are not charging you, they are asking your contributors. Both models are honest; they feel different at checkout.
- GoFundMe shows donors an optional tip at checkout. That is how the company makes money.
- FreeFunder shows a field where a contributor can add a donation to FreeFunder itself, or type zero.
- GiveSendGo prompts for an optional 10% tip, removable.
- Ever Loved charges no service fee on donations, and sells a premium memorial website at $199.99 one-time.
None of this changes what you receive. A tip is paid by the contributor on top and does not come out of your total.
Where they genuinely differ
Since price is effectively a tie, these are the things actually worth deciding on.
- Whether the page is public. All four free options publish a page that Google can index. For some situations that is the point; for others it is the problem.
- When you get the money. FreeFunder credits the beneficiary's Stripe account as donations arrive, with no all-or-nothing goal — you keep whatever you raise.
- How much tip pressure your contributors feel. A 10% default prompt is a different experience from an empty field.
- Whether the platform is built for your situation. Ever Loved is built specifically around a death and can pay a funeral home directly.
The option that costs more, and why you might still take it
It would be dishonest to run a page about free alternatives and quietly imply that ours is one of them. It is not.
A Better Gift charges 6.9%, added on top of the contribution and paid by the contributor. A $100 gift costs them $106.90 and you receive $100.00. That is the most expensive option on this page for the person giving — about $6.90 more than GoFundMe on a $100 gift.
What that buys is that there is no public page. The request is shared by a link you send, never listed, never indexed. If your situation is one you would rather not have searchable under your name, that is what you are paying for. If it is not, the free platforms above do the job for less and you should use one.
How to choose in one question
Do you mind if this is findable? If no, take any free platform — they cost within twenty cents of each other, so pick the one built for your situation. If yes, no free crowdfunding platform solves it, because publishing a page is how they work.
Frequently asked questions
Which crowdfunding site has the lowest fees?
GiveSendGo is marginally lowest for US card donations at 2.7% + $0.30, against 2.9% + $0.30 on GoFundMe, FreeFunder and Ever Loved. On a $100 donation that is a difference of about twenty cents, so it is not a sound basis for choosing between them.
Does GoFundMe take a cut of my donations?
There is no platform fee on a personal fundraiser, but a transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 is deducted from each donation to cover payment processing. Recurring donations carry 5%. Certified charity fundraisers pay 2.2% + $0.30. GoFundMe itself is funded by optional tips from donors.
Is any crowdfunding platform genuinely free?
Not for card payments. Every platform on this page has removed its own platform fee, but none of them absorbs the card processing cost, so between 2.7% and 2.9% plus 30 cents comes out of every donation regardless of which you choose.
If nobody tips, does the platform still take my money?
No. Tips are paid by the contributor on top of their donation and are optional on every platform here. Declining to tip does not reduce what you receive; it only means the platform earns nothing from that gift. What always comes out is the card processing fee.
Why does A Better Gift cost more than the free options?
Because the fee is charged on top rather than deducted, and because there is no public page funding it through traffic. The contributor pays 6.9% above their contribution and you receive the whole amount. On a $100 gift that is $106.90 from them and $100.00 to you — more expensive for the giver than any free platform on this page.