Full fee structure, in writing: processing percentage, per-transaction fee, monthly cost, and the card-versus-ACH split. ACH-first defaults are the quiet money-saver.
Who covers fees: donor-covers options change the net math and donor experience; know your congregation's stance before configuring.
Fund designation: tithes, missions, building, benevolence — designation must survive from checkout through accounting to statements.
Statements and receipts: immediate receipts and self-serve annual statements are table stakes; anything less recreates clerk work online.
Data at exit: donor records and history must export cleanly. A platform that holds giving history hostage owns your congregation.
Integration reality: "works with your ChMS" means a live, tested sync — ask for a reference congregation on your exact stack.
Why no vendor panels yet
Network rule: named-vendor facts appear only when verified against the vendor's own pages with dates, and this category's pricing pages vary by plan and change often. As verified panels are added they will carry dates; until then the checklist above is deliberately vendor-neutral so it works in any sales conversation — which is also where it is most useful.
Platform questions
Which online giving platform is best for a church?
We do not rank them, for the network-standard reason: platform pricing and features change frequently and the honest comparison is against your congregation's specifics, not a stars column. The category (Tithe.ly, Pushpay, and peers, plus denomination-run systems like AdventistGiving) is compared correctly with the six questions in our checklist — fees per transaction and per month, who covers processing costs, fund designation support, statement generation, data export at exit, and integration with your church management software. Every vendor answers these; make them do it in writing.
What fees are normal for church online giving?
The structure to expect: a card-processing percentage plus a per-transaction fee (with ACH/bank transfers cheaper than cards), sometimes a monthly platform fee, and often a donor-covers-fees option at checkout. We deliberately do not print current numbers — they change and vary by plan — but the structural advice holds: ACH-first defaults save congregations real money at any fee level, and any platform that cannot state its full fee structure plainly has answered a different question.
As a donor, is giving through these platforms safe?
The platform category is mature and mainstream; the realistic risk is not the processor but the path — fake giving pages and DM solicitation impersonating churches. The donor rules from our LDS page generalize: reach giving pages from your church's own site or bulletin, expect receipts and an annual statement, and treat any pressure or unusual channel (gift cards, wire, crypto "giving") as disqualifying. A congregation's official channel, whatever platform runs it, is the answer.