7 Best Crowdfunding Plugins for WordPress (Expert Pick for 2024)

At WPBeginner, we’ve helped tons of nonprofit and small business projects get off the ground, and we’ve seen how the right crowdfunding tools can make all the difference.

Sorting through the many crowdfunding plugins for WordPress can be a headache, and let’s face it: not all plugins are up to par. The right tool allows you to easily launch and scale your campaigns with minimal difficulty or fees.

That’s why we’ve done the research to find the best WordPress crowdfunding plugins. Our personal favorite is the Charitable plugin because it gives you everything you need. In fact, our founder, Syed Balkhi, uses it on the Balkhi Foundation website.

We also have a lot of firsthand experience with WPForms. Its forms offer advanced conditional logic, and it can be a great choice if you want a simple way to collect information and give rewards to different donor levels.

Still, we know that every project is unique, and there are a few other plugins out there that might be better for your needs. Keep reading to see our complete list of the best crowdfunding plugins for WordPress.

Overview of the Best Crowdfunding Plugins for WordPress

In a hurry? Here’s a quick overview of the best crowdfunding plugins for WordPress:

#	Crowdfunding Plugin	Best For	Price	Free Version
🥇	Charitable	Best overall and for peer-to-peer campaigns	Starts at $69/yr	✅
🥈	WP Simple Pay	Fast + simple (accepts Stripe payments without an online store)	Starts at $49.50/yr	✅
🥉	GiveWP	Mobile donations (accepts Venmo)	Starts at $149/yr	✅
4	WPForms	Advanced donation forms and reward-based crowdfunding	Starts at $49.50/yr	✅
5	WP Crowdfunding	Online stores crowdfunding new products	Starts at $149/yr	✅
6	Formidable Forms	Advanced forms (calculator fields, donate buttons, etc.)	Starts at $39.50/yr	✅
7	Patreon WordPress	Creators + Patreon users	Free	✅

What Is a Crowdfunding Plugin, and Why Do You Need One?

Fundraising can be a challenge, especially for entrepreneurs and small businesses. You might have the perfect business plan and website, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t have the funds to start it.

That’s where crowdfunding comes in. It involves raising awareness about a new business venture that you are considering developing and getting small contributions from people.

Rather than go to sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, which take a cut of your funds and restrict your ability to add customizations, a crowdfunding plugin gives you full control.

There are lots of advantages to crowdfunding in WordPress, such as:

• Access to capital: Crowdfunding allows you to get access to capital when it may not be feasible or easy to secure funding from traditional sources like banks or other lenders.
• Market validation: By presenting your idea to the public, you can gauge the interest and see if your product is something that people would actually pay for. For example, you can accept donations and include a survey form so that your team can collect valuable feedback from contributors.
• Audience building: Crowdfunding allows you to reach a large number of people so you can build awareness and grow your audience. Those who contribute to your campaign will likely be loyal customers and advocates. It’s a good idea to use a plugin like MemberPress so you can give contributors a place to share their thoughts and ideas in a private forum.
• Customization: You have control over your entire campaign design and branding. You can even combine other plugins to help boost your crowdfunding efforts. For example, you could use other plugins like RafflePress to incentivize others to share your campaign to increase awareness.
• Data ownership: When you choose WordPress, you own the data. You can build your email list with plugins like OptinMonster, which allows you to send updates to your subscribers about your new business venture.

As you can see, there are plenty of benefits to choosing WordPress for your crowdfunding needs. You will just need the right plugin to do it!

How We Test & Review Crowdfunding Plugins for WordPress

We tested the most popular WordPress crowdfunding plugins in real time on our demo sites. In order to make our top picks, here are the factors we evaluated:

• Ease of Use: We made sure to include only beginner-friendly crowdfunding plugins that come with a straightforward editor. This way, you can build your fundraising campaigns without any hassle. We also looked for simple (yet effective) features that help you share your mission, accept payments, and keep donors happy.
• Crowdfunding Features: When testing, we evaluated every plugin for its crowdfunding and donation features. We looked for things like easy payment processing, recurring donations, donor receipt options (for tax purposes), donor rewards systems, and more.
• Payment Methods and Integrations: One of the most important aspects of a crowdfunding campaign is accepting payments. With that in mind, we checked what major payment platforms crowdfunding plugins worked with. We looked for the most popular integrations, such as Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and even Venmo. Beyond that, we checked if the tools were compatible with useful software like CRMs, email marketing plugins, and more.
• User Reviews: We test every plugin we recommend. But, we know that we can’t try out every possible scenario. To fill any knowledge gaps, we made sure to check out customer reviews in the WordPress plugin directory and on each plugin’s official website.
• Pricing: We know budget can play a crucial role when choosing software. So, we checked the pricing for every crowdfunding plugin on this list. We’ve picked tools at different price points, but all of our selections come in free versions.

With all said, let’s dive into the best tools building for starting your crowdfunding campaigns.

1. Charitable

After trying a lot of options, we believe that Charitable is the best overall crowdfunding plugin for WordPress because it comes with everything you need.

Our founder even uses it on the Balkhi Foundation website and has had an excellent experience with it. It’s also perfect for running peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns.

For more information, see our complete Charitable review.

The great thing about Charitable is that you don’t need to use a separate hosted fundraising platform, and it doesn’t charge transaction fees. It allows you to easily build attractive fundraising pages and forms on your website.

Plus, it lets you set up peer-to-peer fundraising and build brand awareness much faster, which can ultimately get you more funding for your business venture.

During our research, we found that Charitable offers a wide range of add-ons, making it possible to handle just about any use case. For example, you can find addons like Donor Comments to add testimonials.

When testing, we also discovered that you can easily add a video introducing what your new business project is all about. It’s a great way to get people excited about the idea and increase conversions.

Here’s an example of a video, description, and donation button added to the crowdfunding form on Charitable.

We also love that Charitable comes with other cool extensions like PDF receipts, so contributors can keep their invoices for tax write-offs.

Plus, you’re able to connect the plugin to email marketing services so that you can send subscribers updates about your venture, which keeps them informed and excited about what’s going on.

Pros:

• Lots of add-ons to increase functionality
• Plenty of payment methods, including Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and more
• Easy to use crowdfunding form editor
• Useful addons, including ‘Donor Comments’ to get testimonials
• Extras like PDF receipts

Cons:

• You will need to pay for the premium versions to get access to the add-ons

Why We Recommend Charitable: In our opinion, Charitable is the best way to raise money with crowdfunding in WordPress. It’s our top overall pick because it comes with tons of useful features for sharing your story, accepting payments, and keeping donors happy. It’s also great for setting up peer-to-peer fundraising, allowing businesses to leverage their networks to reach more people.

Pricing: Charitable starts at $69 per year. There’s also a free version of the plugin.

2. WP Simple Pay

If you want to launch your crowdfunding campaign as quickly as possible, then WP Simple Pay is your best option. That’s because it’s a standalone Stripe plugin that allows you to easily accept donor payments without any fuss.

For more details, see our full WP Simple Pay review.

One of the best things about this plugin is that you won’t need to set up an online store or even a checkout page. You can build a crowdfunding form and embed it anywhere on your site.

Plus, with its advanced form builder, you can customize it however you like. When testing this tool, we found that there are plenty of text fields, dropdowns, and price options to add.

The flexible donation and fundraising forms offer cool features to help drive more conversions. For example, you can create a predefined suggested donation amount to increase the average donation.

We particularly appreciated how WP Simple Pays offers recurring donations because this allows you to create a steady stream of funding for your organization. Best of all, the plugin accepts 13+ payment methods, so you can appeal to a wide range of donors from around the world.

Pros:

• Integrates seamlessly with Stripe
• Accepts 13+ payment methods and multiple currencies
• You can provide customizable receipts that help contributors for tax purposes
• The advanced form builder is easy to use

Cons:

• It doesn’t offer any community-building features

Why We Recommend WP Simple Pay: We like WP Simple Pay as a quick and easy solution for accepting donations. You can choose to create payment forms or an entire donation page, and thanks to the Stripe integration, the payment process is seamless.

That said, if you’re looking for more advanced crowdfunding features, you might prefer Charitable.

Pricing: WP Simple Pay starts at $49.50 per year, but there is a free version available as well.

3. GiveWP

If you know your target audience will likely make donations using their smartphones, then GiveWP is a great choice. It stands out for its mobile-friendly features but also has plenty of crowdfunding functionality, and it comes with an easy-to-use form builder that doesn’t require any coding knowledge.

In our opinion, the easier you can make it for contributors to donate, the better. GiveWP offers extra convenient options like Venmo Donations, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and even Text-to-Give. That means, with a simple text message, donors can easily contribute to your new venture anytime from anywhere.

When testing this plugin, we also found that its dashboard is easy to navigate and filled with lots of useful features. You’ll get real-time crowdfunding reports, so you can view metrics like top donors, average donation amounts, and more. This allows you to optimize campaigns and tweak your form or page for better conversions.

Pros:

• GiveWP offers multiple mobile-pay options, including Venmo and Text-to-Give
• The dashboard provides in-depth reports so you can optimize your campaigns
• Easy-to-use form builder

Cons:

• GiveWP is pricey once you upgrade to the paid version

Why We Recommend GiveWP: GiveWP is a comprehensive tool that gives you all the essentials for crowdfunding. It’s great if you want to prioritize mobile donations since users can easily pay through texting or popular apps like Venmo.

Pricing: GiveWP offers a free version to start, but the basic plan costs $149 per year.

4. WPForms

WPForms can accept crowdfunding payments and other transactions. So, it’s a great option if you want to build advanced donation forms without setting up a complex campaign, as you would have to do with some of the other options on this list.

At WPBeginner, we use WPForms to create all our contact forms and surveys, and we love it. For more information, see our complete WPForms review.

With crowdfunding forms built using WPForms, you can accept donations through a wide range of payment gateways, such as PayPal, Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, and others.

Chances are, if you’re building a new product or business, you’ll need other form types as well. That’s where WPForms excels.

You can create forms for all sorts of purposes, like contact forms, newsletter signups, surveys, registration forms, and more. It’s an all-in-one form builder with over 2000+ templates to choose from, which is more than any other plugin on this list.

Out of all the plugins we tried, WPForms is the best for collecting user responses in your crowdfunding forms. That’s because advanced features like the smart logic condition allow you to collect relevant information based on the contributors’ responses.

For example, depending on the contribution level, you may consider adding a reward.

Let’s say VIP contributors will get access to a special launch event. In that case, you’d need to collect information about them so they can RSVP. Or if you’re sending physical rewards like gifts or merchandise, then the smart logic would prompt users to provide their shipping address for delivery purposes.

WPForms comes with a wide range of add-ons like email marketing so you can send donors updates. There are also plenty of integrations with third-party apps to enhance functionality. For instance, adding integration with CRM apps allows you to follow up with contributors once your business launches.

Pros:

• You can easily accept payments via forms
• Smart logic is a great option for showing or hiding fields based on donor responses
• There are plenty of third-party integrations to increase functionality
• WPForms comes with 2000+ templates

Cons:

• It’s not a dedicated crowdfunding platform

Why We Recommend WPForms: We like WPForms because of its wide range of templates and customizations. Beyond that, smart logic is an excellent way to show only relevant fields, which is great if you offer reward-based crowdfunding.

Pricing: You can get started with WPForms for $49.50 per year, but there’s also a free Lite version.

5. WP Crowdfunding by Themeum

Looking for a crowdfunding plugin for your online store? WP Crowdfunding uses the power of WooCommerce to accept and manage pledges from backers. We like that it integrates with all of your other products and categories.

Let’s say you have a dropshipping store but want to build your own branded products and start private labeling them. Rather than investing time and resources into products your customers aren’t interested in, you can raise money to help support items that people are willing to pay for.

When testing the tool, we noticed that you can add all your crowdfunding campaigns in one place, similar to Kickstarter or Indiegogo. We think this is super helpful because it allows visitors to see more easily which product to support.

We like that the plugin also has its own Native Wallet system, which tracks all of the proceeds that are raised on the crowdfunding project.

This can help make sure you don’t mix up online sales with donations. You’ll get stats along with a list of backers, so you know all the contributions made. There’s also a donor reward system, which lets you configure reward options.

Pros:

• WP Crowdfunding connects with your WooCommerce store
• It helps you decide which products to launch
• Donor reward option
• Backers can donate visibly or anonymously

Cons:

• It only uses Stripe

Why We Recommend WP Crowdfunding: This plugin is a great choice for online stores that want to start selling their products. Visitors can see all of the crowdfunding campaigns available to contribute to and see the progress towards each goal.

Pricing: WP Crowdfunding costs $149 per year for a single site. There’s also a free version but it doesn’t come with some of the best features, like the Native Wallet System and the analytics reports.

6. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is another form builder plugin, like WPForms, but it’s better for more advanced users. It lets you build elaborate donation forms and comes with complex features like calculator fields and donate buttons. Thanks to its advanced integrations, you can even configure it to send thank-you SMS messages to donors.

We have tested this tool for lots of different form needs. Check out our full Formidable Forms review for more details.

The plugin comes with a wide range of donation forms, payment forms, calculator forms, contact forms, and more. You can easily create donation and fundraising forms that accept payments via Stripe or Authorize.net.

When using Formidable Forms, you’re taken to a visual form styler, giving you plenty of customization options. You can add a donate button, custom amounts, and just about any field you’d like.

While it is a contact form plugin, you can still view donation stats based on all the contributions made. There are beautiful graphic charts that help you visualize your campaign’s performance.

We also appreciated that it has integrations with powerful apps like Zapier, so you can automate workflow tasks. For example, you can set it up so that all contributors receive a thank-you message via email or text.

Overall, we found that Formidable Forms had lots of built-in customization choices. After thorough testing, we do like that it has advanced calculation features. For example, for large donations, you might include a calculator to estimate the tax-deductible portion of the donation.

Pros:

• A visual form styler to customize the fundraising form to fit your brand identity
• Advanced features like calculator fields, donate buttons, and more
• Visual reporting to easily see campaign performance
• Lots of form templates

Cons:

• It’s not specifically designed for crowdfunding purposes

Why We Recommend Formidable Forms: This plugin could be a good choice if you need a customizable tool for collecting donations. It supports all the popular payment gateways, and you can add advanced features like calculators to your donation forms.

Pricing: Formidable Forms starts at $39.50 per year but also offers a free version.

7. Patreon WordPress

Patreon WordPress is a free fundraising plugin that allows you to connect your WordPress site to your Patreon account to boost your pledges and patrons. It’s perfect for artists, musicians, and any other type of creator.

Let’s say you already have a built-in audience on Patreon, but you also want your visitors to have access to your community. Then, you can easily import your existing Patreon posts and content.

During our research, we found that it syncs data automatically to WordPress. When donors pledge and subscribe to your Patreon, they can easily access everything from your website.

All contributors can be added to your Patreon community, giving them exclusive access to your gated content. You can choose to restrict any single post or all of your posts. In addition, you can select the tiers or minimum pledge amount needed to access any custom post or type of post.

Pros:

• Good for creators and existing Patreon users
• It syncs from Patreon to WordPress
• You can choose to lock or unlock any single post or all posts

Cons:

• It’s not useful for anyone who doesn’t plan on using Patreon

Why We Recommend Patreon WordPress: This is the perfect plugin for creators, artists, musicians, bloggers, and other creatives who are already on Patreon. You’ll be able to bring the power of Patreon onto your website and integrate the platforms.

Pricing: Patreon WordPress is a free plugin.

How Do You Choose the Best Crowdfunding Plugin?

The right crowdfunding plugin will depend on your needs. Some tools are specifically designed for crowdfunding, while others offer fundraising forms as part of their larger offering.

If you offer other products or services or want to set up different types of forms on your website in addition to the fundraising form, then using an all-in-one plugin could be the more cost-effective solution.

Beyond that, it’s vital that you provide donors with a fast and easy checkout experience. That means you should offer a wide range of payment gateways so contributors can pay using their payment method of choice.

If you’re only planning to build a few pages to gauge interest level with any of these plugins, you may want to use SeedProd. It is the best page builder plugin on the market, with a powerful drag-and-drop editor that allows you to easily create any type of page, like a landing page or a custom homepage.

That way, you don’t have to spend time building out your entire website around a particular plugin or system until you have contributors rolling in to support your business idea.

Which Is the Best Crowdfunding Plugin for WordPress?

After testing the most popular options, we’ve found that the best crowdfunding plugin for WordPress is Charitable.

It has all the tools you need to set up a crowdfunding campaign. With the peer-to-peer fundraising capability, you can have ambassadors spread the word and increase your donation amount. Beyond that, you can accept recurring donations, connect to your newsletter software to stay connected to your audience, and more.

If you just want to add a crowdfunding feature to your existing site, WP Simple Pay or WPForms are solid, cost-effective solutions. You can add a simple crowdfunding payment form to any part of your WordPress website and start raising money.

Meanwhile, if you want to crowdfund products in a pre-existing online store, WP Crowdfunding has all the features you need.

Expert Guides: Adding Crowdfunding and Donations to WordPress

Picking the right crowdfunding plugin for your project is likely just the first step. You may also be interested in these expert guides about crowdfunding and accepting donations in WordPress:

• Best WordPress Themes for Crowdfunding
• How to Raise Money with Crowdfunding in WordPress
• Top Donation Form Best Practices to Boost Donations in WordPress
• How to Create a Recurring Donation Form in WordPress (Step by Step)
• How to Create a Donate Form for Nonprofit Organization using WordPress

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