Zeffy vs Tap.Giving: Free Platform, $675 in Plates (2026)
Zeffy is 100% fee-free for churches: no monthly subscription and no cut of donations. It funds itself by asking donors for an optional tip (typically defaulted to 10 to 15 percent) at checkout. What Zeffy does not ship is any NFC hardware, so if you want people to give during the service by tapping their phone on a pew, you still need NFC tap plates. Tap.Giving plates start at $3.50 each, one time, and open your Zeffy form on tap.
$675
One-time cost to add tap to give to a 150 seat church already on Zeffy. No monthly fee. No renewal.
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What Zeffy Is (and What It Isn't)
Zeffy is a fundraising platform for nonprofits, founded in Canada in 2019 and now widely used by churches across the US and Canada. It offers donation forms, event ticketing, memberships, peer-to-peer campaigns, and simple donor tracking, all with no monthly subscription and no percentage cut of donations. That is the pitch, and for many small churches it is genuinely compelling.
What Zeffy is not is a hardware company. There are no NFC tap plates, no giving kiosks, no card readers. Everything Zeffy does lives inside a browser. A donor reaches a Zeffy form through a QR code taped in the bulletin, a link on the church website, a text-to-give shortcode, or a URL announced from stage. That is a fine top-of-funnel, but it does not solve the friction of asking a member to pull out a phone, wake it up, open a browser, and navigate somewhere new while the offering is being taken.
Tap.Giving fills that gap. We are a hardware company that sells NFC tap plates you mount on pew backs or chairs. When someone taps their phone on a plate, their phone opens whatever URL you encoded, including a Zeffy donation form. We do not process the payment. Zeffy still does. We do not touch the money. We just move the give moment from "hunt for a QR code" to "hold your phone here, done."
How Zeffy's Pricing Really Works
Zeffy's headline is that the platform costs the church nothing. That is true at the invoice level. There is no monthly fee, no per-transaction fee, and no percentage skim from the donation itself. Payment processing (Stripe or the like) is absorbed by Zeffy rather than passed to the church.
What funds the platform is a tip prompt at checkout. Every donor sees an optional "contribution to Zeffy" field, defaulted somewhere in the 10 to 15 percent range depending on the flow. Donors can override to any amount, including zero. In practice the default sticks more often than most churches expect, which is how the platform pays its bills. Whether that is a net win for your church depends on how much your donors would have tipped and how much the alternative (say Tithely at 2.9% plus $0.30) would have taken.
For a fuller apples-to-apples read on those alternatives, see our breakdown of the hidden costs of church giving platforms and the side-by-side platform comparison. The short version is that Zeffy really is the cheapest software layer for a church that is comfortable with the tip model. It is just not a hardware answer, which is where NFC giving comes in.
Why "Fee-Free" Isn't the Whole Picture
Reducing platform fees is only useful if givers actually give. The single biggest lift we see when churches add NFC tap plates is not saving fees, it is capturing donations that never happened before. That gap is why NFC has been shown to be 42 times more engaging than QR codes, and why 81 percent of members will participate at least once when the plate is in front of them.
300%+
In-service donation lift some churches report after adding NFC plates
60% vs 24%
Willing to give digitally, versus actually giving, without a tap plate present
53%
Of first-time givers via NFC had never given digitally before
A completely free platform that captures 24 percent of willing givers still leaves 36 percent of your congregation on the sidelines. The math argues for the modest one-time hardware spend that closes the gap. That is what NFC tap plates do for a Zeffy setup, and it is why contactless giving is now standard equipment in most churches that take digital giving seriously.
Zeffy vs Tap.Giving: Feature Comparison
The two solve different layers of the same problem. Zeffy is the software layer (forms, processing, receipting). Tap.Giving is the hardware layer (NFC tap plates in the room). Here is how they line up.
| Feature | Zeffy | Tap.Giving |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Software (donation forms) | Hardware (NFC tap plates) |
| Cost to church | $0 (donor tips fund it) | $3.50 to $4.50 per plate, one time |
| Monthly fee | None | None |
| Transaction fee | None to church (optional donor tip) | $0 (we do not process payments) |
| Native NFC support | No | Yes |
| In-service capture | QR code or link (higher friction) | One tap, about 8 seconds |
| Works with other platforms | Zeffy only | Tithely, Pushpay, Subsplash, Donorbox, Givelify, Anedot, Planning Center, Nucleus, and yes, Zeffy |
| Payment methods | Apple Pay, Google Pay, card | Whatever the linked form supports |
They are complements, not competitors. Zeffy is a strong choice for the software layer if the tip model works for your donors. Tap plates capture the tap to give and tap to donate moments in the room that a form alone cannot. For more on how the plates work, see our how it works page or the deeper NFC FAQ.
Five-Year Cost Picture for a 200 Seat Church
Because Zeffy has no line-item church cost, the five-year comparison is not "which platform saves you money." It is "what does adding NFC hardware to Zeffy actually cost, and how does that stack up against paying a traditional platform plus NFC?" Both columns below assume 200 plates and a church of similar size.
| Line Item | Zeffy + Tap.Giving Plates | Tithely Suite + VisitorTap (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Platform setup | $0 | $0 to $200 |
| Platform monthly (60 months) | $0 | $99 x 60 = $5,940 |
| NFC hardware | 200 Tap.Giving plates x $4.00 = $800 | VisitorTap included with plan (limited) |
| Renewals over 5 years | $0 | $0 (rolled into monthly) |
| 5-year total (church side) | $800 | $5,940 to $6,140 |
The Zeffy plus plates path is roughly $5,140 to $5,340 cheaper across five years than a full Tithely suite with hardware, and about the same order of magnitude cheaper than Pushpay, which quotes closer to $1,475 a month for smaller churches. Both paths give you NFC tap plates in the room; only one has a recurring line item. If you also want to see how the numbers land on other stacks, we have deeper writeups on how Tithely works in 2026 and the best church donation technology of 2026.
The one honest caveat: Zeffy's donor-tip model means some percentage of your donors are effectively contributing to Zeffy on your behalf. For most small churches that is still a smaller total than a monthly platform fee, but it is real, and worth naming with your board. Full pricing on the plate side of the equation is on the Tap.Giving pricing page.
When Zeffy Alone Is Enough (and When It Isn't)
We do not think every church needs plates on day one, and we would rather be honest about it than sell you hardware you will not use. Here is our read.
Zeffy alone is probably enough if...
- You are a house church or plant of under 50 with almost no first-time visitors
- Your giving is primarily online outside the service (recurring bank drafts, mailed checks)
- You do not take a traditional offering during service
- You are still testing whether digital giving works for your congregation and want a zero-dollar starting point
Add NFC tap plates when...
- You want to capture in-service giving, not just send a link
- You have first-time visitors who will not sign up for anything
- Your QR-code adoption has stalled (which is most churches after month three)
- You are running a capital campaign or seasonal push and need every seat activated
Zeffy will happily be the software layer under Tap.Giving plates. So will Tithely, Pushpay, Subsplash, Donorbox, Givelify, Anedot, Planning Center Giving, and Nucleus Giving. That is the point of platform-agnostic hardware: you do not have to pick software vs plates. You get to pick the software that fits your team and add the church NFC tags that fit the room.
How to Add Tap.Giving Plates to a Zeffy Setup
If you already run donations through Zeffy, adding plates is straightforward. There is no integration to install, no API to configure. The plate is a URL, and Zeffy already gives you that URL.
1. Grab your Zeffy campaign URL
From your Zeffy dashboard, copy the public link of the donation form you want the plates to open. Test it on a phone first, make sure it loads fast and gives are one thumb-tap away.
2. Send us the URL and your logo
When you start an order, add a vector logo and the exact URL to encode. The editable proof updates instantly, and manufacturing begins only after artwork approval. Free shipping, typical delivery 2-3 weeks from artwork approval.
3. Mount and announce
Adhesive backs on pews, pre-drilled holes for screws, or elastic bands for chairs without backs. A 30-second stage demo on the launch Sunday matters more than any of the hardware, see how tap to give works for churches for the walkthrough we ship to every customer.
That is the whole rollout. From the moment plates arrive, you are one Sunday away from tap to donate happening in the room. If your Zeffy URL ever changes, we ship a small update kit or just re-encode with the free NFC Tools app on any Android phone.
Ready to add NFC tap plates to your Zeffy setup?
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FAQ: Common Questions
Is Zeffy really 100% free for churches?
Zeffy charges the church nothing. It funds itself by asking every donor for an optional tip at checkout, typically defaulted to 10 to 15 percent of the gift. Donors can override the tip to zero, so what the church actually receives depends on how many donors leave the default in place. For most small churches, the net cost still comes in below a monthly-fee platform like Tithely or Pushpay.
Does Zeffy support NFC tap-to-give?
Zeffy does not sell or program NFC hardware of its own. Its donation forms are reached by QR code, direct link, or text. To let people give during the service by tapping a phone on a pew, you need NFC tap plates that open your Zeffy form on tap. Tap.Giving plates work with any Zeffy campaign URL and add no software layer.
How much do Tap.Giving plates cost on top of Zeffy?
Tap.Giving plates are a one-time purchase: $4.50 each for 100 to 199 plates, $4.00 each for 200 to 399, and $3.50 each for 400 or more. Free shipping, no monthly fees, no transaction fees from us. A 150 seat church spends $675 once and is done. See the full breakdown on our pricing page.
Will Tap.Giving plates work with a Zeffy donation form?
Yes. Each plate encodes a single URL, so any mobile friendly Zeffy campaign link works. When the giver taps, their phone opens the Zeffy form in the browser and they pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or card. No app required on either side. The plate is passive: no battery, no Wi-Fi, no moving parts.
Do plates make sense if Zeffy is already free?
The Zeffy platform is free, but the friction that costs churches donations lives in the room, not in the software. Reaching for a phone, unlocking, opening a browser, and typing a URL loses most givers. NFC plates collapse that to a single tap, which is why NFC has been shown to be 42 times more engaging than QR codes and why 81 percent of members participate at least once when a plate is in front of them.
How long does setup take?
Confirm your Zeffy form URL in week one, order plates in week two, mount them in week three, announce and demo from stage in week four. Most 200 seat churches are collecting tap donations inside a month, and the plates keep working with no software to update. Lead time on the plates themselves is 2-3 weeks from artwork approval.
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