Softwr

Nonprofits · head to head

Fundraise Up vs Tendenci

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
Tendenci logo

Tendenci

Nonprofits

Open-source association management system for nonprofits

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Tendenci has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Tendenci self-hosting is a real operational commitment, and organisations without technical capacity should not treat the free licence as a free system
  • They diverge on capability: Fundraise Up covers Embedded donation checkout, Tendenci covers Open-source licence.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Fundraise Up and Tendenci differ
AttributeFundraise UpTendenci
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelPercentage of each donationOpen source, with paid hosting available
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, Cloud

Identical on both: 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 Tendenci

  • Open-source licence
  • Membership management
  • Events and registration
  • Donations
  • Content-managed website
  • Email

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 Tendenci
  • An international organisation needing donors to give in local currency and languagenot Tendenci
  • A campaign pushing one time givers into monthly recurring support at the point of donationnot Tendenci
  • A digital team that can measure conversion before and after and justify a percentage fee with datanot Tendenci

Tendenci

  • Nonprofits whose boards require member and donor data to stay under their own controlnot Fundraise Up
  • Organisations with data residency obligations a hosted platform cannot satisfynot Fundraise Up
  • Groups with technical capacity wanting to avoid per-member subscription costs at scalenot Fundraise Up
  • Associations needing to customise workflows beyond what a proprietary platform allowsnot 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.

Tendenci

  • Self-hosting is a real operational commitment, and organisations without technical capacity should not treat the free licence as a free system
  • The community is small compared with mainstream open-source projects, so answers are harder to find and contributors are few
  • The interface is dated against the commercial association platforms and this is the most common user complaint
  • Fewer integrations than commercial competitors, and building them is a development task rather than a configuration one
  • Feature depth in events and continuing education is behind the specialist commercial systems

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

Tendenci

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Full source code
    • No per-member licence
    • Community support
  • Managed hosting$undefined/month
    • Hosted and maintained
    • Updates applied
    • Support included

Which should you pick?

Choose Fundraise Up if

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

Choose Tendenci if

  • You need open-source licence.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Cloud.
  • You also want membership management.
Tendenci review

Questions people ask

Is Fundraise Up or Tendenci better?
Neither clearly leads. Fundraise Up starts at On request and Tendenci at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fundraise Up or Tendenci?
Tendenci has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Fundraise Up and Free for Tendenci.
Does Fundraise Up or Tendenci run on more platforms?
Fundraise Up runs on Web. Tendenci runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Cloud.
Can I use Tendenci for free?
Yes. Tendenci has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fundraise Up starts at On request.
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 Tendenci is typically brought in for.
What can Fundraise Up do that Tendenci cannot?
Fundraise Up covers Embedded donation checkout, Digital wallet payments, Recurring gift upgrade prompts, Multi currency and multi language. Tendenci covers Open-source licence, Membership management, Events and registration, Donations.

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.

Tendenci: Is Tendenci really free?

The software is, under an open-source licence with no per-member fee. Running it is not: hosting, updates, backups and security are the organisation responsibility unless managed hosting is purchased.

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.

Tendenci: Who should choose it?

Organisations with a genuine requirement to control their own data, and the technical capacity to act on it. Choosing it purely to avoid subscription cost usually ends badly.

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.

Tendenci: Can I move my data out?

Yes, entirely. That is the point. Data lives in a PostgreSQL database you control, and there is no vendor holding it.

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.

Tendenci: How does it compare to Wild Apricot?

Wild Apricot is easier, better supported and better looking. Tendenci is the answer when data ownership is a requirement rather than a preference.

Tendenci: Is it actively maintained?

It is developed openly on GitHub with a small team and community. Check recent commit activity before committing, as with any small open-source project.

Share

Related pages

More on Fundraise Up

More on Tendenci

Keep looking

Other head to heads