Comparison

VisitorTap Hidden Costs for 200 Plates (2026)

VisitorTap pairs a monthly software subscription with a 500-unit minimum order for branded discs and a Pushpay-leaning back end. Tap.Giving sells NFC tap plates one time, with breaks starting at 100. Here is the real five-year math for a 200-seat church that wants tap to give without a recurring bill.

May 21, 2026

9 min read

A smartphone using tap to give on an NFC tap plate, the hardware behind a no-subscription alternative to VisitorTap

$3,600+

What a 200-seat church pays extra over five years to run VisitorTap instead of Tap.Giving plates, before Pushpay platform fees are layered on top. Same in-service tap moment, very different bill.

The Short Answer (Read This First)

VisitorTap is software plus hardware on a subscription. Tap.Giving is hardware on a one-time receipt. Both produce the same in-service contactless giving moment, a giver holds a phone near a small NFC disc and lands on a giving page. The difference is the bill. VisitorTap's public pricing pairs a monthly software fee of about $59.95 with a 500-unit minimum order for custom-branded discs, and the deeper features assume your church is on Pushpay. Tap.Giving plates are $4.00 each at the 200 tier, $800 once for a 200-seat church, with no minimum beyond 100 and no subscription anywhere.

Over a five-year window a 200-seat church running VisitorTap pays at least $3,597 in subscription alone, plus the disc order, plus whatever Pushpay charges if the church is on that platform. The same 200-seat church on Tap.Giving plates pays $800 once and then $0 in years two, three, four, and five. That is the headline. Below is the line-by-line breakdown that explains why the gap is real, where the 500-unit minimum bites, and when VisitorTap is still the right call.

What VisitorTap Includes Out of the Box

VisitorTap is now a Pushpay product, sold as an NFC layer on top of the Pushpay giving platform. The pitch is reasonable: a small disc you tap with a phone to open a giving page, with disc-level analytics built into the Pushpay dashboard. For churches already on Pushpay it is the most integrated tap to give option.

What the monthly subscription buys

A software layer that handles the tap-to-URL routing
Disc-level analytics: which disc was tapped, how often, and (for Pushpay churches) which donor
Vendor support for the disc fleet
Replacement coverage on faulty discs within a service window

For a Pushpay-native church those are real benefits. For everyone else they are features paid for monthly that the church's existing giving platform already covers through its own reporting. Most non-Pushpay churches read the VisitorTap pitch and ask why the disc layer needs a subscription at all. The answer is the integration, and the integration mostly matters if Pushpay is the back end.

The Hidden Costs Most Churches Miss Until They Order

The list price is only the start. Four costs do not show up on a marketing page but show up on a 200-plate quote.

1. The 500-unit minimum order

A 200-seat church only needs 200 branded discs. VisitorTap's branded production line sets a 500-unit floor, which means the church either pays for 300 discs it has no plans to use, settles for generic stock without church branding, or delays the order until growth justifies 500. None of those options is free. Tap.Giving's 100-plate price break covers a 100-seat church plant, the 200-plate tier covers a 200-seat room, and the 400-plate tier covers a 500-seat sanctuary, no fixed minimum penalty either way.

2. The 60-month subscription clock

At $59.95 per month the software fee alone runs $719 a year, or roughly $3,597 over five years. Subscription costs are not refunded when a service stagnates. A church that decides to pause digital giving for a stewardship season still pays. Tap.Giving plates sit on the pew whether the church is in a giving push or a sermon series on Sabbath, no clock running.

3. The Pushpay coupling

Donor matching, the headline analytics feature of VisitorTap, is most useful when Pushpay is the giving back end. A church on Tithely, Subsplash, Donorbox, Givelify, Anedot, Planning Center Giving, or Nucleus Giving can still use the discs as a URL opener, but the analytics value drops. If the church is not on Pushpay, the subscription pays for less than what is on the brochure.

4. The lock-in if a platform switch is on the table

Pushpay's own platform runs around $1,475 per month for a mid-tier church, with setup fees and annual contracts. If a church plans to leave Pushpay later, VisitorTap travels poorly because the integration is the point. Tap.Giving plates carry zero migration friction. The plate opens whatever URL the church writes on its order form, today or three years from now. See our Pushpay vs Tap.Giving cost compare for the broader stack math.

None of these costs are deal-breakers in isolation. Stacked together for a 200-seat church, they turn a "comparable" hardware purchase into a different category of spend. For an even longer list of fees that hide off the public pricing page, our hidden costs of church giving platforms breakdown is worth a read alongside this one.

Need 200 plates for your church?

$800 once at $4.00 each, free shipping, no monthly fees. Works with Pushpay and every other major giving platform.

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5-Year Total Cost: A 200-Seat Church

Here is the dollar math for a 200-seat church on the two options, with conservative assumptions on the disc count and the subscription. VisitorTap pricing is taken from Pushpay's published VisitorTap pages as of 2026 and should be confirmed before purchase. The Pushpay platform fee is excluded so the comparison stays on the NFC layer.

Line Item	VisitorTap (5 yr, 200 needed)	Tap.Giving (5 yr, 200 needed)
NFC discs / plates	~$750 to $1,500 (500-unit minimum overshoot)	$800 (200 plates @ $4.00)
Software subscription (60 mo)	~$3,597 ($59.95 × 60)	$0
Setup / activation	Often bundled with Pushpay onboarding	$0
Per-tap fee from this vendor	$0 (your platform's processor still applies)	$0 (your platform's processor still applies)
Promo	Varies, ask the rep	WELCOME10 takes 10% off the first order
5-year total (NFC layer only)	~$4,400 to $5,500	$800 (or $720 with WELCOME10)

Source: VisitorTap and Pushpay public pricing pages as of 2026. The 500-unit overshoot is unavoidable for a 200-seat church that wants branded discs. Confirm current rates before purchase. Run your own seat-by-seat numbers on our pricing page or the cost calculator.

The hardware delta on the NFC layer alone is roughly $3,600 to $4,700 over five years. That is a youth retreat, a guest speaker honorarium, or a missions trip deposit, paid for once and reusable every year by simply skipping a subscription. Industry data shows tap to give can drive a 300% or higher lift in service participation, with 81% of attendees willing to give in service when a tap option is present versus 24% who actually give without one. About 53% of NFC givers are first-time givers, and the same lift shows up regardless of which vendor's disc is on the pew. The argument for VisitorTap was never lift, it was integration. The argument for Tap.Giving is total cost and platform freedom.

VisitorTap vs Tap.Giving for the Same 200 Plates

A fair feature comparison should put the integration argument and the cost argument on the same table. Here is what each option actually delivers on a 200-plate deployment.

Capability	VisitorTap	Tap.Giving
Tap to give / tap to donate	Yes	Yes
Works with Apple Pay and Google Pay	Yes (via your giving page)	Yes (via your giving page)
Order 200 branded plates	No (500-unit minimum)	Yes ($800 once)
Monthly subscription	~$59.95 per month	None, ever
Platform agnostic	Best with Pushpay back end	Works with every major platform
Disc-level analytics	Built in (with Pushpay)	Handled by your giving platform
QR fallback on the plate	Varies by disc spec	Printed on every plate
Migration cost if you change platforms	Reorder likely	Re-encode the same plates, no reorder

Both vendors qualify as tap and give hardware. The difference shows up in the form factor, the order minimum, and the subscription. For a wider sweep across tap tags for churches and other NFC vendors, see our tap-to-give platform comparison, our general VisitorTap vs Tap.Giving overview, and the broader how it works walkthrough.

When VisitorTap Still Wins

Honest carve-out: there are situations where VisitorTap is the right pick on the front pew.

Your church already runs Pushpay and the staff lives in the Pushpay dashboard for donor matching and recurring management.
You actually need 500 or more discs and the unit economics flip in VisitorTap's favor.
You want disc-level analytics tied directly to a donor record without leaving the platform you already pay for.
The monthly fee is small relative to a giving budget that is already comfortable with subscription church giving technology.

For everyone else, especially a 200-seat church on Tithely, Subsplash, Donorbox, Givelify, Anedot, Planning Center Giving, or Nucleus Giving, the math comes out the other way. Hardware for $800, no monthly bill, no minimum-order tax. If you are not sure which side fits, our Pushpay tap-to-give setup guide and our plain-English explainer on how tap to give works walk through both flows.

Get 200 plates for $800, not a subscription

One-time hardware. No monthly fee. No 500-unit minimum. Works with Pushpay, Tithely, Subsplash, Donorbox, Givelify, Anedot, Planning Center Giving, and Nucleus Giving. Free shipping on every order.

Get Your Free Quote See Pricing

Use code WELCOME10 for 10% off your first order

FAQ: VisitorTap and Tap.Giving Questions

What does VisitorTap actually cost in 2026?

VisitorTap's public pricing pairs a monthly software subscription of about $59.95 with a 500-unit minimum order for custom-branded NFC discs. Over five years that subscription alone runs roughly $3,597 before the discs are counted. Branded discs add several hundred to over a thousand dollars depending on order size. Confirm current rates on Pushpay's VisitorTap page before signing.

Why is the 500-unit minimum a problem for a 200-seat church?

A 200-seat church only needs about 200 plates, one per seat. VisitorTap's 500-unit minimum for branded discs forces the church to pay for 300 plates it does not need, choose an unbranded option, or wait until growth justifies the order. Tap.Giving's price breaks start at 100 plates, so a 200-seat church pays for exactly 200 at $4.00 each, total $800.

Do I have to be on Pushpay to use VisitorTap?

VisitorTap is now part of Pushpay and the full feature set, including donor matching and Pushpay reporting, is designed for churches running the Pushpay platform. Churches that are not on Pushpay can still use the discs to open a giving page, but the deeper analytics features assume the Pushpay back end. Tap.Giving plates are platform-agnostic and work with Tithely, Subsplash, Donorbox, Givelify, Anedot, Planning Center Giving, Nucleus Giving, and any other mobile-friendly giving URL.

How much do 200 NFC tap plates cost from Tap.Giving?

200 plates cost $800 one-time at $4.00 each, with free shipping and no monthly fees. Promo code WELCOME10 takes 10% off the first order, dropping the total to $720. There are no transaction fees from us. The church's existing giving platform keeps its normal processing rate, typically 2.9% plus $0.30 per card gift. See our pricing page for full quantity breaks.

What does the 5-year total cost look like side by side?

For a 200-seat church the math runs roughly $800 once for Tap.Giving versus about $4,400 to $5,500 for VisitorTap over 60 months, depending on disc order size and any Pushpay platform fees layered on top. That is a hardware delta of $3,600 to $4,700, before counting Pushpay's separate subscription if the church is on it. Hardware that costs $800 once and never asks for a renewal is the cheaper layer of church giving technology by a wide margin.

Does VisitorTap include features Tap.Giving does not?

VisitorTap's subscription bundles disc-level analytics and Pushpay donor matching for churches already on Pushpay. Tap.Giving sells hardware only, the giving page handles all reporting through your existing platform. If your church values built-in disc-level analytics and is already paying for Pushpay, VisitorTap is the more integrated choice. If you want platform freedom and no recurring bill, Tap.Giving plates are the cheaper path.

Can a church run Pushpay and Tap.Giving plates together?

Yes. Tap.Giving plates encode whatever Pushpay giving URL the church already uses. The plate is just a printed disc with a chip that hands the giver a web address. Pushpay handles the donation, the receipt, the donor record, and the deposit. Adding plates does not change Pushpay's bill in either direction, and most churches see lift on in-service participation within the first quarter. The setup walk-through is in our Pushpay tap-to-give setup guide.