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Nonprofits · head to head

CharityEngine vs Virtuous

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
Virtuous logo

Virtuous

Nonprofits

CRM designed for faith-based and mission-driven organizations

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.; Virtuous the pricing page publishes no rate, no minimum and no cost driver for any product; every tier says Request Pricing
  • They diverge on capability: CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Virtuous covers Donor management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CharityEngine and Virtuous actually diverge.

Attributes where CharityEngine and Virtuous differ
AttributeCharityEngineVirtuous
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWebWeb, IOS, Android
FoundedUnknown2013

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 Virtuous

  • Donor management
  • Volunteer tracking
  • Giving analysis
  • Ministry management
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Mailchimp
  • Slack

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 Virtuous
  • Replacing a stack of a CRM, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliationnot Virtuous
  • A direct mail heavy organisation that needs offline gift entry and mail file segmentation as first-class features, not add-onsnot Virtuous
  • An organisation whose finance team wants a single settlement file that already reconciles to donor recordsnot Virtuous

Virtuous

  • Donor management and pipeline tracking for mid-sized and large nonprofitsnot CharityEngine
  • Marketing automation and supporter journeys tied to giving datanot CharityEngine
  • Online donation forms and giving pages connected to the CRMnot 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.

Virtuous

  • The pricing page publishes no rate, no minimum and no cost driver for any product; every tier says Request Pricing
  • Tier eligibility is set by the nonprofit's own annual fundraising revenue, with a $5 million threshold separating Platform from Enterprise
  • CRM+, Raise, Insights, Analytics, Volunteer and Momentum are packaged as separate products, each with its own Request Pricing button
  • Momentum, the AI fundraising agent, is sold separately from the CRM rather than included

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

Virtuous

On request
  • Starter$99/month
    • Donor management
    • Volunteer tracking
  • Advanced$199/month
    • Giving analysis
    • Ministry management
    • Email campaigns

Which should you pick?

Choose CharityEngine if

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

Choose Virtuous if

  • You need donor management.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android.
  • You also want volunteer tracking.
Virtuous review

Questions people ask

Is CharityEngine or Virtuous better?
Neither clearly leads. CharityEngine starts at On request and Virtuous at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CharityEngine or Virtuous?
CharityEngine starts at On request and Virtuous at On request.
Does CharityEngine or Virtuous run on more platforms?
CharityEngine runs on Web. Virtuous runs on Web, IOS, Android.
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 Virtuous is typically brought in for.
What can CharityEngine do that Virtuous cannot?
CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Recurring giving recovery, Direct mail segmentation, Peer-to-peer and events. Virtuous covers Donor management, Volunteer tracking, Giving analysis, Ministry management.

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.

Virtuous: How are Virtuous tiers defined?

Virtuous offers a Platform Tier for nonprofits with fundraising revenue up to $5 million annually and an Enterprise Tier for organizations over $5 million. Specific pricing requires a demo request.

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.

Virtuous: What products are included in Virtuous?

Virtuous offers CRM+, Raise (donation forms and pages), Momentum (AI-powered donor outreach), Insights (donor segmentation), Analytics (business intelligence), and Volunteer (recruitment and scheduling).

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.

Virtuous: How do I get a Virtuous pricing quote?

Virtuous does not publish pricing online. Visit their pricing page to request pricing or schedule a demo with their sales team.

Source
CharityEngine: How long is the contract?

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

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