Is Candid or GiveWP better?

Neither clearly leads. Candid starts at $219/month and GiveWP at $199/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Candid or GiveWP?

Candid starts at $219/month and GiveWP at $199/year.

Does Candid or GiveWP run on more platforms?

Candid runs on Web, API. GiveWP runs on WordPress plugin (self-hosted on WordPress sites).

What is Candid best used for?

Candid is most often used for a development director building a list of foundations that have actually funded organisations of your size, sector and geography in the past three years, a funder verifying us tax exempt status before releasing a grant payment, a software vendor embedding nonprofit organisation data and charity verification into its own product, a nonprofit maintaining a transparency seal on its public profile because institutional funders check it before giving. Of those, a development director building a list of foundations that have actually funded organisations of your size, sector and geography in the past three years and a funder verifying us tax exempt status before releasing a grant payment are not what GiveWP is typically brought in for.

What can Candid do that GiveWP cannot?

Candid covers Foundation Directory, 990 based grant records, Nonprofit Profiles, Charity check. GiveWP covers Donation forms, Recurring donations, Donor management, Fundraising campaigns.

Nonprofits · head to head

Candid vs GiveWP

Candid

Nonprofits

Funder and nonprofit data subscriptions from the organisation formed by Foundation Center and GuideStar

From: $219/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

GiveWP

Nonprofits

WordPress donation plugin for nonprofits

From: $199/year
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Candid grant records derive largely from Form 990 filings, which are published with a lag, so the database describes what a funder did up to eighteen months ago rather than what it intends to fund now.; GiveWP recurring donations and fee recovery only available in Pro and Elite tiers; Essentials tier ($199/year) limited to one-time donations
They diverge on capability: Candid covers Foundation Directory, GiveWP covers Donation forms.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Candid and GiveWP actually diverge.

Attributes where Candid and GiveWP differ
Attribute	Candid	GiveWP
Starting price	$219/month	$199/year
Pricing model	Per user per month by tier	subscription
Platforms	Web, API	WordPress plugin (self-hosted on WordPress sites)
Founded	Unknown	2012

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Nonprofits).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Candid

Foundation Directory
990 based grant records
Nonprofit Profiles
Charity check
Data APIs and bulk feeds
Candid Learning
Funding Information Network

Only in GiveWP

Donation forms
Recurring donations
Donor management
Fundraising campaigns
Stripe
PayPal
Mailchimp
Zapier

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Candid

A development director building a list of foundations that have actually funded organisations of your size, sector and geography in the past three yearsnot GiveWP
A funder verifying US tax exempt status before releasing a grant paymentnot GiveWP
A software vendor embedding nonprofit organisation data and charity verification into its own productnot GiveWP
A nonprofit maintaining a transparency seal on its public profile because institutional funders check it before givingnot GiveWP

GiveWP

WordPress-hosted nonprofits managing donors with self-hosted data (no third-party donor database)not Candid
Organisations needing text-to-give and multi-gateway payment processing (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Apple Pay, Google Pay)not Candid

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Candid

Grant records derive largely from Form 990 filings, which are published with a lag, so the database describes what a funder did up to eighteen months ago rather than what it intends to fund now.
Foundation Directory is a research database, not a pipeline tool: there is no proposal tracking, deadline management or task assignment, so most teams pay for a grants tracker alongside it.
Monthly pricing is high relative to the budget of a small nonprofit, and the same database is available free in person through partner libraries in the Funding Information Network, which makes the subscription hard to justify for occasional research.
Coverage is US-centric and built on the US tax filing system, so it is of limited use to organisations seeking funding from UK, EU or Commonwealth foundations.
Many funders do not accept unsolicited proposals at all, and the database cannot reliably tell you which, so prospect lists built from it still require manual qualification before outreach.

GiveWP

Recurring donations and fee recovery only available in Pro and Elite tiers; Essentials tier ($199/year) limited to one-time donations
Email marketing integrations (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Salesforce) require Pro tier or higher
Peer-to-peer fundraising only available in Elite tier ($599/year); not in lower tiers

Pricing, plan by plan

Candid

$219/month

Foundation Directory Essential$219/month
- Search US grantmakers and grant records
- Saved searches and prospect lists
- Single user
Foundation Directory Professional$1499/month
- Full grantmaker, grant and recipient search
- Trustee and key staff search
- Advanced filters and larger exports
Data licensing$undefined/year
- API and bulk data feeds
- Charity check and organisation verification
- Priced by volume and use case, quoted

GiveWP

$199/year

Essentials$199/year
- Everything needed to start fundraising on your own site
- Unlimited donation forms
- Donor database
Pro$399/year
- All Essentials features
- Recurring donations
- Fee recovery options
Elite$599/year
- All Pro features
- Peer-to-peer fundraising
- Funds and designations

Which should you pick?

Choose Candid if

You need foundation directory.
You work on Web, API.
You also want 990 based grant records.

Candid review

Choose GiveWP if

You need donation forms.
You work on WordPress plugin (self-hosted on WordPress sites).
You also want recurring donations.

GiveWP review

Questions people ask

Is Candid or GiveWP better?: Neither clearly leads. Candid starts at $219/month and GiveWP at $199/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Candid or GiveWP?: Candid starts at $219/month and GiveWP at $199/year.
Does Candid or GiveWP run on more platforms?: Candid runs on Web, API. GiveWP runs on WordPress plugin (self-hosted on WordPress sites).
What is Candid best used for?: Candid is most often used for a development director building a list of foundations that have actually funded organisations of your size, sector and geography in the past three years, a funder verifying us tax exempt status before releasing a grant payment, a software vendor embedding nonprofit organisation data and charity verification into its own product, a nonprofit maintaining a transparency seal on its public profile because institutional funders check it before giving. Of those, a development director building a list of foundations that have actually funded organisations of your size, sector and geography in the past three years and a funder verifying us tax exempt status before releasing a grant payment are not what GiveWP is typically brought in for.
What can Candid do that GiveWP cannot?: Candid covers Foundation Directory, 990 based grant records, Nonprofit Profiles, Charity check. GiveWP covers Donation forms, Recurring donations, Donor management, Fundraising campaigns.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Candid: Is Candid the same as GuideStar?

GuideStar is now part of Candid, merged with Foundation Center in 2019. GuideStar nonprofit profiles continue under the Candid brand.

GiveWP: How much does GiveWP cost?

GiveWP pricing starts at $199 per year for the Essentials plan, $399 per year for Pro, and $599 per year for Elite. There are no per-transaction donation processing fees on any tier.

Source

Candid: Can I use Foundation Directory for free?

Yes, in person. Hundreds of partner libraries and nonprofit resource centres in the Funding Information Network provide free access, which is a genuine alternative to a subscription for occasional research.

GiveWP: Does GiveWP charge transaction fees on donations?

No, GiveWP charges no platform fees or per-donation transaction fees. Organizations only pay the standard payment processor fees (Stripe, PayPal, Square, etc.).

Source

Candid: How current is the grant data?

It is drawn largely from Form 990 filings and lags real time by roughly a year to eighteen months. Treat it as evidence of past funding behaviour, not current priorities.

GiveWP: Do I own my donor data with GiveWP?

Yes, with GiveWP you retain complete data ownership of your donor relationships and donation history. There is no vendor lock-in.

Source

Candid: Does Candid help outside the United States?

Only marginally. The data model is built on US tax filings and US registered organisations.

Candid vs GiveWP

Candid

GiveWP

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Candid

Only in GiveWP

What people use each for

Candid

GiveWP

Where each one falls short

Candid

GiveWP

Pricing, plan by plan

Candid

GiveWP

Which should you pick?

Choose Candid if

Choose GiveWP if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Candid

More on GiveWP

Keep looking

Other head to heads