GuideStarvs
Classy
Classy: Platform for modern nonprofit fundraising
GuideStar
Nonprofit profile and intelligence platform
As of 30 August 2026, GuideStar is free to use. GuideStar (now part of Candid) provides nonprofit profiles, impact data, and intelligence to help organizations increase visibility and attract donors. Softwr lists it under Nonprofits. GuideStar is made by Candid (formerly GuideStar), launched in 1995, available on Web.
Overview
What GuideStar does
GuideStar (now part of Candid) provides nonprofit profiles, impact data, and intelligence to help organizations increase visibility and attract donors.
What people use it for
- Business operations
- Productivity
- Automation
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about GuideStar.
- GuideStar and Foundation Directory are being retired and merged into a single Candid platform, per Candid's own learning.candid.org help pages, with existing subscribers redirected to log in at app.candid.org
- Candid's own pricing page lists Candid Premium (annual) at $1,199 per year in USD, and $219 per month if billed monthly, with an Ultimate annual tier at $1,699 per year adding compliance monitoring features
- Candid's free tier limits search results, profile views and dashboards; full grants and profile data downloads are capped even on Premium annual, at 1,000 grants downloads and 5,000 profile downloads per month
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of GuideStar
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- GuideStarvsConstant Contact
Constant Contact: Email marketing and event management
- GuideStarvsDonorbox
Donorbox: Online fundraising platform for nonprofits
- GuideStarvsGiveWP
GiveWP: WordPress donation plugin for nonprofits
Pricing
What GuideStar costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Profile
Free
- Nonprofit profile
- Basic data
Gold
$300 /mo
- Enhanced profile
- Donor verification
- Impact reporting
Capabilities
Features
Nonprofit profile
Impact data
Donor verification
Financial transparency
Ratings
Salesforce
Integration with Salesforce
Google Analytics
Integration with Google Analytics
Web support
Available on Web
Mobile-responsive support
Available on Mobile-responsive
Behind it
Who makes GuideStar
- Company
- Candid (formerly GuideStar)
- Based in
- New York, USA
Keep looking
Where to go from GuideStar
- GuideStar alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- GuideStar pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- GuideStar badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Nonprofits softwareThe full category
- Best Nonprofits softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Nonprofits software for
Compare GuideStar with
- GrantStation
- Instrumentl
- Constant Contact
- GiveWP
- Classy
- Donorbox
- Fluxx
- Foundant Technologies
- OpenGrants
- Charity Navigator
- EveryAction
- QuickBooks for Nonprofits
- Kindful
- Microsoft Nonprofit Program
- Mightycause
- MobileCause
- OpenGrants
- QuickBooks for Nonprofits
Other Nonprofits software
A low-cost grant opportunity database sold on annual membership, usually at a heavy standing discount
From $199/yr11 researched notesGrant prospecting and pipeline tracking for nonprofits, priced per organisation with published tiers
From $299/mo12 researched notesConfigurable grants management for foundations that run complex, multi-stage funding programmes
Pricing on request11 researched notesGrant lifecycle management for foundations, with public subscription bands and a two-year term
Pricing on request11 researched notesLow-cost grant search across federal, state and private funders, with a paid consultant marketplace alongside
Free, then $9/mo10 researched notesLow-cost grant search across federal, state and private funders, with a paid consultant marketplace alongside
Free, then $9/mo10 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for GuideStar, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on GuideStar
GuideStar alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
GuideStar pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare GuideStar
Put it head to head with anything we hold
GuideStar badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Nonprofits software alternatives
Offline-first case management and mobile data collection for frontline health and development programmes
Per month by mobile user count
The rolled-up parent of EveryAction, Apricot, CyberGrants and Network for Good, sold as three product lines
quote
Grants management for foundations and corporate givers inside the Blackbaud ecosystem
quote
Open-source association management system for nonprofits
Open source, with paid hosting available
Nonprofit CRM with its own in-house payment processing rather than a third-party gateway
quote
Funder and nonprofit data subscriptions from the organisation formed by Foundation Center and GuideStar
Per user per month by tier