Donorbox vs iHelp
Small-to-medium nonprofits across verticals like churches, healthcare, education, and animal welfare that want recurring-donation tooling, donor fee-cover, and a managed donation-form product without a CRM-scale platform commitment.
Spanish nonprofits and donors who value vetted, legitimacy-checked causes and a commission-light giving model, and who are comfortable with a single Santander payment gateway and a smaller catalogue of campaigns.
Of every 100 donated, iHelp delivers 5.45 more per 100 to the recipient than Donorbox.
Each platform is priced in its own currency: Donorbox in GBP, iHelp in EUR.
What the data says.
Paying by Credit card, iHelp delivers about 5.45 more of every 100 donated than Donorbox (€100.00 vs £94.55 per 100).
iHelp stores donor data inside the EEA — a practical advantage for GDPR-sensitive campaigns — while Donorbox does not.
Per-method pricing.
| Payment method | Per transaction | Of £100, recipient gets | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iDEAL | 2.95% + £0.29 | £96.76 | 2.95% platform fee |
| SEPA Direct Debit | 3.3% + £0.25 | £96.45 | 2.95% platform fee |
| Credit card | 5.15% + £0.30 | £94.55 | 2.95% platform fee |
Side-by-side.
| Metric | Donorbox | iHelp |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient gets (per 100) | £94.55 | €100.00★ winner |
| Platform fee | 2.95% | 0%★ winner |
| Payment processing fee | 2.2% + £0.30 | 0% + €0.00★ winner |
| Trustpilot | 3.9 (53)★ winner | — (0) |
| Country coverage | 23 countries★ winner | 1 countries |
| Data residency | US | EU★ winner |
| Languages | 12★ winner | 2 |
| Payment methods supported | 19★ winner | 1 |
Winner by category.
€100.00 vs £94.55 reaches the recipient.
3.9 vs — on Trustpilot.
23 vs 1 countries.
EEA data residency for GDPR-sensitive donor data.
Choose based on who you are.
Small-to-medium nonprofits across verticals like churches, healthcare, education, and animal welfare that want recurring-donation tooling, donor fee-cover, and a managed donation-form product without a CRM-scale platform commitment.
- ✓Donor-cover-fees option at checkout — Donorbox frames opt-in as the default, so the recipient can receive the full donation amount.
- ✓Broad payment-rail support: iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA, BACS, Klarna, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Link by Stripe.
- ✓Standard plan has no monthly subscription — just per-transaction fees on the 2.95% / 3.95% tier.
- ✓First-class recurring-donation tooling with upsell prompts and donor-management features on the Pro tier.
Spanish nonprofits and donors who value vetted, legitimacy-checked causes and a commission-light giving model, and who are comfortable with a single Santander payment gateway and a smaller catalogue of campaigns.
- ✓No platform commission charged to nonprofits or donors, per iHelp's FAQ.
- ✓NGOs and causes are vetted for legality and viability before listing.
- ✓Long heritage in Spanish online giving, continuing Cibersolidaridad.org which ran from 2001.
- ✓Post-donation follow-up and a stated focus on transparent, effective altruism.
A third option.
Dutch and other social-impact initiators running Global-Goals-aligned campaigns who value personal coaching and community-building over a high-volume, self-serve crowdfunding marketplace.
Other comparisons.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Donorbox or iHelp?
Of every 100 donated, Donorbox delivers approximately £94.55 to the recipient and iHelp delivers approximately €100.00. Real costs depend on the payment method donors choose.
Which is better for European nonprofits?
iHelp is generally better suited to European nonprofits handling GDPR-sensitive donor data because of its EEA data residency.
Which platform has more country coverage?
Donorbox operates in 23 countries; iHelp operates in 1.
Rankings are produced by a public editorial methodology — open to peer review. We disclose ownership, scoring weights, and every change.