Nonprofits · ranked shortlist
Best Nonprofits software for Nonprofits in 2026
20 approved nonprofits listings, ordered by published rating with the method stated below rather than assumed. Nonprofits are working to a fixed budget, so a free tier or a flat subscription is worth more than a cheap per-seat rate that grows with volunteers.
- Tools ranked
- 20
- Entry price range
- $9-$299
- Publish a $0 plan
- 4 of 20
How this ranking is derived
The sort key
Published rating, highest first. Ties break on the number of ratings behind the score, then on product name so the order never depends on what the API happened to return first. That is the whole rule, there is no weighting, no score of our own, and nothing paid: no sponsored slot runs on these pages.
Where the ratings come from
No listing in this set carries a rating, so the order falls back to name. Those scores are aggregated from public sources rather than collected here, Softwr hosts no reviews of its own, which is also why no rating on this page is marked up as ours in structured data.
What the pool is
Approved nonprofits listings, capped at 20 per page; 20 came back for this one. It is not the whole market, and a tool being absent means we hold no record of it rather than that it failed a test. The unranked full set is on the nonprofits category page.
The ranking
Each entry lists why it sits where it sits, drawn from its own published rating and pricing.
- #1
Blackbaud Grantmaking
Highest rated hereGrants management for foundations and corporate givers inside the Blackbaud ecosystem
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- grants, Foundations, Philanthropy, Blackbaud
- #2
Bonterra
The rolled-up parent of EveryAction, Apricot, CyberGrants and Network for Good, sold as three product lines
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- Nonprofit Crm, case-management, Csr, Grantmaking
- #3
Candid
Funder and nonprofit data subscriptions from the organisation formed by Foundation Center and GuideStar
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $219 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $1,499 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- Per user per month by tier
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- Grant Research, Nonprofit Data, Prospect Research, 990
- #4
CharityEngine
Nonprofit CRM with its own in-house payment processing rather than a third-party gateway
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Nonprofit Crm, fundraising, donor-management, payment-processing
- #5
CiviCRM
Open source constituent relationship management for nonprofits, with no per contact or per donation fee
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- Open source, no licence fee
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Nonprofit Crm, Open Source, donor-management, membership
- #6
CommCare
Offline-first case management and mobile data collection for frontline health and development programmes
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $100 a month, with no free plan.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $4,000.
- Billing
- Per month by mobile user count
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- Field Data Collection, case-management, Global Health, offline
- #7
Fluxx
Configurable grants management for foundations that run complex, multi-stage funding programmes
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- Grants Management, Foundations, Grantmaking, Philanthropy
- #8
Foundant Technologies
Grant lifecycle management for foundations, with public subscription bands and a two-year term
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- Grants Management, Foundations, Fund Accounting, Scholarships
- #9
Fundraise Up
Donation checkout layer that replaces the giving form on an existing nonprofit website
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- Percentage of each donation
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- fundraising, Donation Forms, Conversion Optimisation, payments
- #10
Give Lively
Fundraising software given free to nonprofits, funded by its founders rather than by fees
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- fundraising, donations, nonprofit, peer-to-peer
- #11
Glue Up
Membership, events and engagement software with strong Asia-Pacific presence
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- Membership Management, events, Associations, crm
- #12
GrantStation
A low-cost grant opportunity database sold on annual membership, usually at a heavy standing discount
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $199 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $699.
- Billing
- Per organisation per year
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- grants, Grant Database, fundraising, nonprofit
- #13
Instrumentl
Grant prospecting and pipeline tracking for nonprofits, priced per organisation with published tiers
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $299 a month, with no free plan.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $999 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- Per organisation per month by seat band
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- grants, Grant Writing, fundraising, Prospect Research
- #14
Keela
Nonprofit CRM and fundraising platform with Canadian tax receipting built in
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- Per month by contact count
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Nonprofit Crm, fundraising, donor-management, Tax Receipting
- #15
MemberClicks
Association management for professional bodies and trade associations
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- Association Management, Membership Management, Nonprofits, Continuing Education
- #16
OpenGrants
Low-cost grant search across federal, state and private funders, with a paid consultant marketplace alongside
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $9 a month.
- Billing
- Per user per month
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- Grant Search, Funding, nonprofit, Sbir
- #17
SmartSimple Cloud
Configurable grants, research and case management platform for large funders
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- grants, Research Administration, Foundations, case-management
- #18
Submittable
Application, review and grant management for funders running open calls at volume
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- grants, Applications, Review, Foundations
- #19
Sumac
Modular nonprofit CRM that pairs donor management with client case management
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Nonprofit Crm, case-management, donor-management, fundraising
- #20
Tendenci
Open-source association management system for nonprofits
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- Open source, with paid hosting available
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- Association Management, Open Source, Nonprofits, Membership Management
What nonprofits software costs
Counted from the published pricing of the 20 listings on this page. A tool counts as free only where it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence or a starting price of zero.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $9OpenGrants
- Median entry price
- $199across 5 priced
- Dearest entry price
- $299Instrumentl
- Publish a $0 plan
- 4of 20
Paid nonprofits plans in this set start anywhere from $9 a month for OpenGrants to $299 for Instrumentl. The median entry price across the 5 tools that publish one is $199, half of them start below that figure and half above it.
Entry price is not the ceiling. The dearest published tier anywhere in this category is CommCare's at $4,000 a month, 13.4× the highest entry price on the page. Read the top of each ladder as well as the bottom, because that is where you land after two years of growth.
4 of 20 publish a $0 plan, and 3 of those charge nothing at all. 4 tools have no free tier of any kind.
15 of 20 keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote, which in practice means the number you end up paying at the top end is not on this page or on theirs.
How these vendors bill
The billing model each of the 20 nonprofits listings publishes, counted. Two tools at the same headline price are not the same purchase if one of them charges per seat.
- quote
- 10
- Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor
- 1
- Open source, no licence fee
- 1
- Open source, with paid hosting available
- 1
- Per month by contact count
- 1
- Per month by mobile user count
- 1
- Per organisation per month by seat band
- 1
- Per organisation per year
- 1
- Per user per month
- 1
- Per user per month by tier
- 1
- Percentage of each donation
- 1
Separately, 15 of 20 publish at least one tier with no price attached. Those are sold by quote, so the top of the ladder is negotiable, and unknowable, until you talk to sales.
What “Nonprofits” covers in practice
The subject tags that recur across these 20 listings, with the number of tools carrying each. A category label is a filing decision; this is the closer read of what is actually filed under it.
- fundraising8
- Foundations5
- grants5
- Nonprofit Crm5
- case-management4
- donor-management4
- nonprofit4
- Membership Management3
- Philanthropy3
- Prospect Research3
- Association Management2
- Csr2
Carried by a single tool: 990, Continuing Education, Donation Forms, Field Data Collection, government, marketplace, offline, Review. If one of those is the reason you are here, the category page is the wrong lens, go straight to that product.
How to choose between them
Four things the numbers above should change about your shortlist.
Start with the free tiers if there are enough of them
4 of 20 nonprofits tools here publish a $0 plan, which is enough to run a real trial without a purchase order. A free tier is worth more than a free trial when you are evaluating: a trial expires on the vendor's schedule, a free plan expires when you outgrow it. The thing to check before you commit is which of the capabilities below sit above the free line, starting with api access, the single most frequently named capability in this category's published tiers.
Read the spread before you read the features
$9 to $299 is a $290 spread on entry price alone, and a spread that wide is never about polish, it is about who the vendor built for. Tools at the bottom of this ladder are priced for one person or a small team; tools near $299 are priced for a department with a procurement process. Decide which of those you are before you compare capability, or you will shortlist four tools that were never competing for the same buyer.
Check which tier you actually land on
6 of 20 tools here publish three or more tiers, and the median vendor in this category ships 2 of them. The advertised price is the first rung, and the things teams tend to need, api access, advanced reporting, are named in higher plans far more often than in entry ones. Price your shortlist at the tier that contains what you need, not at the tier on the pricing page's left edge.
The billing model matters more than the headline number
This category splits across 11 billing models: quote on 10 listings, Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor on 1, and 9 other arrangements across the rest. A per-user price and a flat subscription at the same headline figure are not the same purchase, the first one grows with headcount and the second does not. Multiply by your real team size before you compare two numbers side by side.
Compare nonprofits tools directly
Every pairing below is a full comparison: the same checklist applied to both, so a gap in one is a gap in the other.
- Blackbaud Grantmaking vs Bonterra
- Bonterra vs Candid
- Candid vs CharityEngine
- CharityEngine vs CiviCRM
- CiviCRM vs CommCare
- CommCare vs Fluxx
- Fluxx vs Foundant Technologies
- Foundant Technologies vs Fundraise Up
Go straight to the numbers
- Blackbaud Grantmakingpricingalternatives
- Bonterrapricingalternatives
- Candidpricingalternatives
- CharityEnginepricingalternatives
- CiviCRMpricingalternatives
- CommCarepricingalternatives
Questions people ask about nonprofits software
Answered from the listings on this page, and nowhere else.
- How is this nonprofits ranking decided?
- Mechanically. The 20 approved nonprofits listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.
- Is this list re-ordered for nonprofits?
- No, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. The catalogue records no data about which team sizes or roles each tool suits, so the ranking is the same published-rating order as the unsegmented list. What the nonprofits framing changes is which of the figures below matter most. Nonprofits are working to a fixed budget, so a free tier or a flat subscription is worth more than a cheap per-seat rate that grows with volunteers.
- How much does nonprofits software cost?
- Across the 20 nonprofits tools listed here, paid plans start between $9 and $299 a month, with a median entry price of $199. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $4,000 a month (CommCare). 4 of 20 also publish a $0 plan.
- What is the cheapest nonprofits software?
- 3 of the 20 tools listed here cost nothing at all. Among the ones that charge, OpenGrants has the lowest published entry price at $9 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.
- Is there free nonprofits software?
- Yes, 4 of 20 tools in this category publish a plan priced at $0. 3 of them are free outright, with no paid tier above. A tool is only counted as free here when it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence, or a starting price of zero, a free trial does not count.
- How is nonprofits software usually billed?
- quote (10), Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor (1), Open source, no licence fee (1), Open source, with paid hosting available (1), plus 7 less common arrangements, counted across the 20 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not. 15 of 20 tools also keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote.
- What does nonprofits software actually cover?
- The 20 tools on this page do not describe themselves the same way. The subject tags they carry most often are fundraising (8), foundations (5), grants (5), nonprofit crm (5), case-management (4). That spread is the honest answer to what the category means in practice: it is not one product shape, and two tools filed under nonprofits may overlap on very little.
- How many pricing tiers do nonprofits tools offer?
- 20 of 20 tools here publish a plan breakdown, and the median one has 2 tiers. 6 of 20 publish three or more. More tiers is not generosity, it usually means the capability you are buying for sits two rungs above the advertised price, so price your shortlist at the tier that contains it.
- How many nonprofits tools are listed on Softwr?
- 20 approved nonprofits listings appear on this page, including Blackbaud Grantmaking, Bonterra, Candid, CharityEngine. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/nonprofits, which ranks the same set by published rating.
Keep reading
Neighbouring categories
Adjacent in the same taxonomy, not a ranking.