Softwr

Nonprofits · head to head

CharityEngine vs Kindful

CharityEngine logo

CharityEngine

Nonprofits

Nonprofit CRM with its own in-house payment processing rather than a third-party gateway

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Kindful logo

Kindful

Nonprofits

Simple donor management and fundraising

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CharityEngine payment processing rates are negotiated and never published, so the total cost cannot be compared to a licence-only CRM without getting a quote and modelling your own volume in basis points.; Kindful kindful's own site now states that Kindful is a Bloomerang product and directs visitors to demo Bloomerang instead
  • They diverge on capability: CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Kindful covers Online donation forms.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CharityEngine and Kindful actually diverge.

Attributes where CharityEngine and Kindful differ
AttributeCharityEngineKindful
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWebWeb, Mobile-responsive
FoundedUnknown2014

Identical on both: starting price (On request), 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 CharityEngine

  • In-house payment processing
  • Recurring giving recovery
  • Direct mail segmentation
  • Peer-to-peer and events
  • Advocacy and membership
  • Marketing automation

Only in Kindful

  • Online donation forms
  • Donor segmentation
  • Recurring donation management
  • Volunteer portal
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Mailchimp
  • Google Analytics

What people use each for

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

CharityEngine

  • A nonprofit processing high recurring gift volume that wants card updater and dunning built into the CRM rather than bought separatelynot Kindful
  • Replacing a stack of a CRM, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliationnot Kindful
  • A direct mail heavy organisation that needs offline gift entry and mail file segmentation as first-class features, not add-onsnot Kindful
  • An organisation whose finance team wants a single settlement file that already reconciles to donor recordsnot Kindful

Kindful

  • Donation and fundraising managementnot CharityEngine
  • Nonprofit donor relationship managementnot CharityEngine
  • Grant and donation trackingnot CharityEngine

Where each one falls short

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

CharityEngine

  • Payment processing rates are negotiated and never published, so the total cost cannot be compared to a licence-only CRM without getting a quote and modelling your own volume in basis points.
  • Because the vendor is both the software provider and the merchant processor, switching CRM also means re-papering merchant services and re-tokenising every recurring donor, which is a far larger project than a normal migration.
  • Subscription pricing is quote-only and reported entry points come from third parties rather than the vendor, so small organisations often discover the floor is well above what they budgeted.
  • The interface is dense and configuration-heavy, and organisations without a dedicated database administrator tend to use a fraction of what they pay for.
  • Implementation and data migration are billed on top of the subscription and are commonly the largest first-year line item, which is easy to miss when comparing monthly figures.

Kindful

  • Kindful's own site now states that Kindful is a Bloomerang product and directs visitors to demo Bloomerang instead
  • The Bloomerang Giving Platform starts at $242 per month billed annually
  • Bloomerang Fundraising starts at $40 per month billed annually but must be purchased as part of a bundle with Bloomerang CRM
  • All plans are annual; there is no month to month option
  • Pricing is constituent based, so the bill rises with the size of the donor database
  • Only a starting price is published and the actual figure comes from contacting sales

Pricing, plan by plan

CharityEngine

On request
  • CharityEngine$undefined/year
    • Donor CRM and gift processing
    • In-house payment processing at a negotiated rate
    • Email, SMS and direct mail tools

Kindful

On request
  • Starter$50/month
    • Online donation forms
    • Donor segmentation
  • Growth$120/month
    • Volunteer portal
    • Multi-channel fundraising

Which should you pick?

Choose CharityEngine if

  • You need in-house payment processing.
  • You also want recurring giving recovery.
CharityEngine review

Choose Kindful if

  • You need online donation forms.
  • You work on Web, Mobile-responsive.
  • You also want donor segmentation.
Kindful review

Questions people ask

Is CharityEngine or Kindful better?
Neither clearly leads. CharityEngine starts at On request and Kindful at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CharityEngine or Kindful?
CharityEngine starts at On request and Kindful at On request.
Does CharityEngine or Kindful run on more platforms?
CharityEngine runs on Web. Kindful runs on Web, Mobile-responsive.
What is CharityEngine best used for?
CharityEngine is most often used for a nonprofit processing high recurring gift volume that wants card updater and dunning built into the crm rather than bought separately, replacing a stack of a crm, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliation, a direct mail heavy organisation that needs offline gift entry and mail file segmentation as first-class features, not add-ons, an organisation whose finance team wants a single settlement file that already reconciles to donor records. Of those, a nonprofit processing high recurring gift volume that wants card updater and dunning built into the crm rather than bought separately and replacing a stack of a crm, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliation are not what Kindful is typically brought in for.
What can CharityEngine do that Kindful cannot?
CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Recurring giving recovery, Direct mail segmentation, Peer-to-peer and events. Kindful covers Online donation forms, Donor segmentation, Recurring donation management, Volunteer portal.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CharityEngine: Does CharityEngine publish pricing?

No. Both the subscription and the payment processing rate are quoted. Third-party sites report a starter tier around 550 US dollars a month, but the vendor does not confirm this.

Kindful: How much does Kindful cost?

Kindful does not publish pricing on its website. Contact their sales team at 888-854-3230 or [email protected], or schedule a demo to receive a custom quote.

Source
CharityEngine: Is the payment processing optional?

In practice no. The processing is the product. Using an external gateway removes most of what distinguishes CharityEngine from cheaper CRMs.

Kindful: Does Kindful offer transaction fees for donations?

Transaction fee information is not disclosed on the website. Contact Kindful sales for details on payment processing costs.

Source
CharityEngine: Is there a nonprofit discount?

Every customer is a nonprofit, so there is no separate discount; pricing is tiered by contact count and gift volume instead.

CharityEngine: How long is the contract?

Annual terms are standard, and multi-year commitments are used to buy down the rate.

Share

Related pages

More on CharityEngine

More on Kindful

Keep looking

Other head to heads