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Nonprofits · head to head

Fundraise Up vs GrantStation

Fundraise Up logo

Fundraise Up

Nonprofits

Donation checkout layer that replaces the giving form on an existing nonprofit website

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
GrantStation logo

GrantStation

Nonprofits

A low-cost grant opportunity database sold on annual membership, usually at a heavy standing discount

From
$199/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Fundraise Up the fee is a percentage of donations, so cost rises exactly as the product succeeds, and a single large gift routed through the checkout carries the same rate as a twenty pound one unless the agreement caps it.; GrantStation it is a database with no pipeline, no deadline tracking against your own applications and no post-award reporting, so any team of more than one ends up managing grants in a spreadsheet anyway.
  • They diverge on capability: Fundraise Up covers Embedded donation checkout, GrantStation covers US grantmaker database.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fundraise Up and GrantStation actually diverge.

Attributes where Fundraise Up and GrantStation differ
AttributeFundraise UpGrantStation
Starting priceOn request$199/year
Pricing modelPercentage of each donationPer organisation per year

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web), 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 Fundraise Up

  • Embedded donation checkout
  • Digital wallet payments
  • Recurring gift upgrade prompts
  • Multi currency and multi language
  • Donor covered fees
  • CRM sync

Only in GrantStation

  • US grantmaker database
  • Federal and state funding
  • International and Canadian databases
  • Weekly opportunity bulletin
  • PathFinder library
  • Saved searches

What people use each for

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

Fundraise Up

  • A charity with a working CRM and website that wants to raise online conversion without replatformingnot GrantStation
  • An international organisation needing donors to give in local currency and languagenot GrantStation
  • A campaign pushing one time givers into monthly recurring support at the point of donationnot GrantStation
  • A digital team that can measure conversion before and after and justify a percentage fee with datanot GrantStation

GrantStation

  • A small nonprofit with no grants budget that needs a starting list of plausible funders in its statenot Fundraise Up
  • A solo grant writer validating whether a cause area has enough funders to justify a grants strategynot Fundraise Up
  • An organisation whose state nonprofit association resells the membership at 75 to 139 dollars, making it near-free researchnot Fundraise Up
  • Supplementing an existing donor CRM with opportunity discovery without adding a second four-figure subscriptionnot Fundraise Up

Where each one falls short

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

Fundraise Up

  • The fee is a percentage of donations, so cost rises exactly as the product succeeds, and a single large gift routed through the checkout carries the same rate as a twenty pound one unless the agreement caps it.
  • It is a checkout, not a CRM, so it is always an additional cost on top of a donor database rather than a replacement for one.
  • Donor covered fee opt in rates vary widely by audience, so an organisation with an older or offline leaning donor base absorbs more of the fee than the sales model assumes.
  • Design control is limited to what the embedded component exposes, so brand teams that want full control over the giving experience will hit boundaries.
  • Live recurring gift authorisations are held in the platform, which makes leaving considerably harder than adopting, because migrating active mandates risks lapsing donors.

GrantStation

  • It is a database with no pipeline, no deadline tracking against your own applications and no post-award reporting, so any team of more than one ends up managing grants in a spreadsheet anyway.
  • The published 699 dollar list price bears no relation to the market price, which means buyers who purchase direct without checking association rates routinely overpay by three to nine times.
  • Funder records are broad but shallow compared with 990-derived tools, so vetting whether a foundation actually funds organisations like yours still requires separate research.
  • There are no integrations with donor CRMs or accounting systems, so nothing found in GrantStation flows anywhere else without manual re-entry.
  • Data freshness varies by database, and the international pool in particular is thin relative to the US listings it is bundled with.

Pricing, plan by plan

Fundraise Up

On request
  • Fundraise Up$undefined/year
    • Platform fee taken as a percentage of every donation processed
    • Card processing billed separately on top of the platform fee
    • Optional donor covered fee prompt shifts the cost to the giver rather than removing it

GrantStation

$199/year
  • Membership (promotional or association rate)$199/year
    • Full US, Canadian and international databases
    • Weekly opportunity bulletin
    • PathFinder training library
  • Membership (list price)$699/year
    • Identical access to the promotional rate
    • Rarely the price actually paid

Which should you pick?

Choose Fundraise Up if

  • You need embedded donation checkout.
  • You also want digital wallet payments.
Fundraise Up review

Choose GrantStation if

  • You need us grantmaker database.
  • You also want federal and state funding.
GrantStation review

Questions people ask

Is Fundraise Up or GrantStation better?
Neither clearly leads. Fundraise Up starts at On request and GrantStation at $199/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fundraise Up or GrantStation?
Fundraise Up starts at On request and GrantStation at $199/year.
Does Fundraise Up or GrantStation run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Fundraise Up best used for?
Fundraise Up is most often used for a charity with a working crm and website that wants to raise online conversion without replatforming, an international organisation needing donors to give in local currency and language, a campaign pushing one time givers into monthly recurring support at the point of donation, a digital team that can measure conversion before and after and justify a percentage fee with data. Of those, a charity with a working crm and website that wants to raise online conversion without replatforming and an international organisation needing donors to give in local currency and language are not what GrantStation is typically brought in for.
What can Fundraise Up do that GrantStation cannot?
Fundraise Up covers Embedded donation checkout, Digital wallet payments, Recurring gift upgrade prompts, Multi currency and multi language. GrantStation covers US grantmaker database, Federal and state funding, International and Canadian databases, Weekly opportunity bulletin.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Fundraise Up: Is Fundraise Up a CRM?

No. It is a donation checkout that syncs into a CRM you already run, so budget for both.

GrantStation: What does GrantStation actually cost?

List price is 699 USD a year but the standing promotional rate is 199, and nonprofit associations resell it to members for 75 to 139. Check your association before buying direct.

Fundraise Up: How does it charge?

A percentage of each donation, plus separately billed card processing. There is no flat licence that insulates you from volume.

GrantStation: Does it track my applications?

No. It finds opportunities. Pipeline, deadlines and reporting have to live elsewhere.

Fundraise Up: Does the donor covered fee option remove the cost?

It shifts it. When donors opt in they pay the platform and processing fee; when they do not, the charity does.

GrantStation: How does it compare with Instrumentl?

It is roughly a tenth of the price and does roughly a tenth of the job. Instrumentl adds matching, pipeline and post-award tracking.

Fundraise Up: What happens to recurring donors if we leave?

Active recurring authorisations sit with the platform and its processor, and migrating them is the part of an exit most organisations underestimate.

GrantStation: Is there a free trial?

GrantStation offers a limited free search tool and periodic trials, but the full databases require membership.

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