12 Reasons to Choose Donorbox Over Pushpay
Currently fundraising with Pushpay, but considering Donorbox? Below, I’ll highlight 12 ways Donorbox outweighs Pushpay to help you make an informed decision.
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Currently fundraising with Pushpay, but considering Donorbox? Below, I’ll highlight 12 ways Donorbox outweighs Pushpay to help you make an informed decision.
Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!Are you considering switching from Pushpay to another fundraising platform? If you’re curious to know how Donorbox compares, I’m here to help.
In this article, I’ll provide 12 reasons why you should fundraise with Donorbox instead of Pushpay.
Pushpay is a well-known church giving and management platform for medium-to-large churches and parishes.
The platform offers useful fundraising and church management solutions. However, it limits access to critical features and does not support many languages and payment methods.
Pushpay is also often a long-term commitment. Plans operate on one- to three-year contracts billed monthly or annually. This can become an issue if your organizational or fundraising needs change.
While Pushpay isn’t transparent about its pricing, some users note that it is expensive:
“COST! too expensive to have that software plus fees they charge.” – Richard R.
“The cost. It is a pretty significant investment.” – Verified User
Below, I’ll compare the features of Donorbox vs. Pushpay.
| Feature | Donorbox | Pushpay |
|---|---|---|
| Donation forms and pages | ✅ | ✅ |
| Peer-to-peer and crowdfunding | ✅ | ❌ |
| Events | ✅ | ✅ |
| In-person donation kiosk software | ✅ | ❌ |
| Recurring donations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Recurring upsell | ✅ | ✅ |
| Advanced form customization options | ✅ | ❌ |
| Donor management tools | ✅ | ✅ |
| Text-to-Give | ✅ | ✅ |
| Pledges | ❌ | ✅ |
| Tribute gifts | ✅ | ❌ |
| Reporting and analytics | ✅ | ✅ |
| Customizable donation receipts | ✅ | ✅ |
| Volunteer management software | ❌ | ✅ |
| Membership forms | ✅ | ❌ |
| Church management app | ❌ | ✅ |
| Live streaming | ❌ | ✅ - via Resi integration |
| Payment processing | Stripe and PayPal | In-house processing |
| Integrations | ✅ - 5000+ | ✅ - 80+ |
| G2 rating | 4.6 ⭐ | 4 ⭐ |
Donorbox is a comprehensive fundraising and donor management platform designed to help organizations of all sizes and types – including churches – strengthen their fundraising and donor engagement.
Listen to this video testimonial by Jeremy Conrad, Executive Director of the Calvary Family of Churches, on how Donorbox has transformed the growth of their ministry:
Grow Your Church with Donorbox
Donorbox operates on a transparent pricing model to suit your unique fundraising needs – no monthly or annual contracts required to get started. Our plans are designed to support you as you scale your organizations.
Donorbox offers three pricing plans:
Pricing excludes standard Stripe and PayPal payment processing fees. However, you can always ask donors to cover these fees to amplify their impact.
Pushpay does not publicly disclose its pricing, but offers one-, two-, and three-year contracts. Their quote-based pricing and lack of transparency can feel frustrating if you don’t want to contact their sales team before making a decision.
See what this user had to say about their contract terms and lack of flexibility:
“…Locked into 2-Year Commitments: The long-term contracts are restrictive and don’t offer the flexibility needed if your circumstances change or if you’re dissatisfied with the service….” – Verified User
More than 100,000 organizations in over 96 countries trust Donorbox to scale their fundraising and donor engagement.
By contrast, Pushpay is utilized by just 14,000+ churches. What’s more, your organization must be based in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, or Australia to use its features.
Increase conversions and reach more international donors by offering donors 25+ payment methods on Donorbox’s OmniGive™ donation forms. These include credit/debit cards, digital wallets like Apple Pay and Cash App Pay, ACH, stock and cryptocurrency, and bank redirects.
The most relevant payment methods appear based on your donor’s location, device, and more. No decision fatigue, just quick and easy giving.
See what this user had to say about payment options available with Donorbox:
Pushpay currently only supports credit/debit cards, ACH, stock and cryptocurrency, and Apple Pay. Accepting Apple Pay donations is only available on the Advanced and Complete Plans. Plus, Discover cards are not currently supported for recurring donations made via Apple Pay.
Donorbox enables you to customize your donation forms and pages so they align with your brand and campaign. Add your fundraising story and compelling visuals to increase engagement and donations.
Pro and Premium users have access to advanced customization on OmniGive donation forms, including prebuilt and custom theme options, the ability to add images, and more.
See how the Your Catholic Voice Foundation created a beautiful custom theme for their form:
Create a Customized Donation Form with Donorbox
Pushpay limits branding options to its Advanced and Complete Plans, restricting organizations on its Core plan. A lack of branding can erode donor trust, reducing your fundraising potential.
Donorbox comes with a clean user interface. Its campaign editor features an accordion design that makes navigating the backend quick and easy for users.
Pushpay users report that the platform’s user interface feels outdated and clunky.
“The design (UI/UX) of the platform is very out-dated and needs an overhaul…” – Verified User
“There are times where the UI feels a bit dated or clunky…” – Matt W.
The Donorbox Live™ app turns your tablet and card reader or Android phone into a mobile giving kiosk, simplifying face-to-face fundraising at events and on location. Donors can quickly make a secure one-time or recurring donation using their credit/debit cards and digital wallets.
Donorbox Live is purpose-built as a user-friendly, self-service in-person fundraising software. It streamlines the donation experience while supporting recurring giving and capturing valuable campaign and donor data in the backend.
Watch this video testimonial to see how the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine uses Donorbox Live to support in-person giving:
Pushpay enables supporters to donate to your fundraising campaign via their smartphone using VisitorTap. However, their “kiosk” solution prioritizes mobile, app-based giving over in-person fundraising.
Here’s what one user had to say:
“… I understand Pushpay is trying to encourage giving on an app or automation, and I am all for that! However, if this is the case, they should not offer this “in-between” solution that is neither an app nor a kiosk …” – Earle K.
Donorbox donation forms support 15 languages and 55 currencies. This empowers you to reach more global donors and make giving feel inclusive.
Pushpay only supports English and Spanish, limiting your ability to create a personalized giving experience for international donors.
Available with all plans, collect and analyze valuable donor information to strengthen engagement, outreach, and retention using Donorbox’s donor management tools.
Track donor communications, save important notes, use advanced filters to sort donor and donation data and create segmented lists, instantly send personalized donation and year-end receipts, and more.
While Pushpay offers helpful tools for managing donors, it limits access to donor development to its Advanced and Complete plans. This can hinder donor stewardship efforts and overall church growth for organizations on their Core plan.
Promote and sell tickets to your fundraising events with Donorbox Events. Create an attractive online event form and embed it on your website or host it for free on Donorbox.
Add unlimited ticket tiers and bundled tickets, list tax-deductible values, send automatic receipts, accept one-time and recurring donations on top of ticket sales, and streamline guest check-in.
Plus, supporters can purchase tickets via credit/debit card, digital wallets, direct debit, bank redirects, and buy now, pay later options. Learn more about the benefits of Donorbox Events here.
Pushpay does offer an event ticketing tool. However, you cannot accept additional donations during ticket purchases and include custom questions to collect valuable donor insights beyond their basic contact information.
Donors are also limited to making ticket purchases by card only, which can cause friction and lead to abandoned carts.
Leverage 5,000+ integrations with your favorite tools to streamline your workflow with Zapier and API – in addition to Donorbox’s native integrations. Zapier is available to users on Pro and Premium plans, and most native integrations are available as an add-on.
Pushpay currently only supports 80+ integrations. These integrations are only available with its Advanced and Complete plans, meaning organizations on the Core plan cannot integrate online tools.
Maximize support for urgent appeals or specific projects by creating a customizable crowdfunding campaign on Donorbox. Supporters can easily share your campaign using the social sharing buttons, amplifying your reach and ability to attract new donors.
To take your fundraising to the next level, rally supporters to fundraise on your behalf with Donorbox Peer-to-Peer. Once you’ve created a campaign and turned on peer-to-peer fundraising, invite supporters manually or allow anyone to sign up to fundraise for you using their own customizable campaign pages.
While workarounds are possible, Pushpay does not offer native crowdfunding or peer-to-peer functionality for increasing engagement and donations.
See how The Jesus Club has raised more than A$30,000 with Donorbox Peer-to-Peer:
Raise More for Your Ministry with Donorbox
Donorbox’s interactive dashboard is available to all users and enables you to track and analyze key church metrics and giving trends for optimal growth.
Dashboard features include being able to view one-time and recurring donations for tracking tithes and other offerings, reviewing how many new members supported your church for the first time, and analyzing the total number of donations received.
Donorbox also offers ready-to-use reporting templates to better understand donor engagement and analyze giving trends for informed decision-making.
Pushpay does offer church metric tracking via Pushpay Insights. However, these features are exclusive to the Advanced and Complete plans.
If your organization cannot afford to upgrade, you won’t be able to track crucial metrics that help increase engagement, attendance, and donations.
While Pushpay has useful tools for elevating church giving, you may find it restrictive if your church has a smaller budget or your fundraising needs change.
Donorbox offers powerful online and in-person fundraising features designed to help you raise more, engage your community, and elevate your impact.
Get started for free by signing up for our Standard Plan – no monthly or annual contracts required. Or, upgrade to Pro. 67% of Pro organizations raise an average of 9x more within six months of signing up.
For more comparison articles and fundraising tips, visit the Nonprofit Blog.
Jamy-Lee has over 7 years of experience in copywriting and content marketing. With experience teaching in underserved communities and volunteering for animal rescue organizations, she has a first-hand understanding of the challenges faced by mission-driven organizations. She now uses her passion for writing to share practical insights that help nonprofits fulfill their missions.
Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!
