# Pledge vs Steady

## What the data says.

Paying by Credit card, Pledge delivers about 9.70 more of every 100 donated than Steady ($96.80 vs £87.10 per 100). On the headline numbers, Pledge and Steady are closely matched — the better pick comes down to Credit card availability, language coverage, and where your donors are.

## Side-by-side.

| Metric | Pledge | Steady |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Recipient gets | $96.80 | £87.10 |
| Platform fee | 0% | 10% |
| Payment processing fee | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + £0.00 |
| Trustpilot | — (0) | 2.6 (4) |
| Domain Rating (by Ahrefs — https://ahrefs.com/) | 76 | 77 |
| Country coverage | 1 | 32 |
| Data residency | US | — |
| Languages | 1 | 5 |
| Payment methods supported | 10 | 4 |

## Choose Pledge if

> US-based individuals, nonprofits and purpose-driven companies that want a free-to-start fundraiser with a wide range of giving methods - cards, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, stock, donor-advised funds and crypto - plus Shopify and API-based embedded giving.

- No mandatory platform fee - funded by optional donor tipping, with most donors choosing to cover the fees.
- Exceptionally broad giving methods: cards, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, stock, donor-advised funds and cryptocurrency.
- Donations are regranted through the Pledgeling Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) public charity, with multi-state US fundraising compliance.
- Shopify "Give & Grow" app and embedded-giving APIs and widgets for e-commerce and product integrations.


## Choose Steady if

> European creators, independent journalists, podcasters, and publishers who want recurring income from paying members rather than one-off donation campaigns.

- Purpose-built recurring-membership tooling for creators, journalists, and publishers.
- Free to register and create a project; fees apply only once you earn.
- European data handling with multi-currency support (euro, pound, Swiss franc, US dollar).
- Members can pay by card, PayPal, Apple Pay, and SEPA direct debit.