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2026-27 Rankings / Head-to-head

Head-to-head · Updated September 2026

booster vs. Zeffy: Zeffy is cheaper, and we're not going to pretend otherwise

We make booster, so read this with that in view. This is the hardest comparison on our site to write honestly, because on the single question most people lead with — what does it cost — Zeffy wins outright, and it isn't close. Here's the rest of the picture.

The one-line version: Zeffy is genuinely 0% — it even covers card processing — so on $5,000 raised your club keeps the full $5,000, versus about $4,300 with booster. But Zeffy requires your booster club to hold its own 501(c)(3) status, and it's nonprofit software, not team software. If you have the tax status and your fundraising looks like donations, take the free option.

Where Zeffy honestly wins

Price, completely. Most "free" platforms mean free of platform fees while you still pay 3% to a card processor. Zeffy covers processing too, sustained by optional tips donors are prompted to add at checkout. That is the best raw economics on our entire board — better than booster's flat 10%, better than the 0%-plus-processing tools, and far better than the 20%-plus rep-led incumbents.

The nonprofit toolkit. Donation forms, recurring giving, event ticketing, automatic receipts. If your booster club operates like a small nonprofit — because it legally is one — Zeffy is built for exactly that shape.

Money that carries over. This is worth saying plainly, because it's the argument we make for booster and Zeffy can make it too: recurring gifts on Zeffy persist season to season and keep arriving in the summer. booster is not the only way to get revenue that doesn't reset.

Where booster wins

  • No 501(c)(3) required. This is the practical one. Zeffy is for registered nonprofits. Plenty of teams fundraise without their own tax-exempt entity — school-run programs, new clubs, programs under a district umbrella that won't lend its EIN. Those teams cannot use Zeffy at all.
  • Team-shaped, not cause-shaped. Rosters, athlete pages, season framing, content that supporters follow. Zeffy gives you a donation form for a cause; booster gives you a program that fans subscribe to.
  • Subscriptions, not appeals. The mechanic differs even where the outcome looks similar. Zeffy's recurring giving is a donor choosing to repeat a gift. booster's model is a fan subscribing to a team the way they'd subscribe to anything else they follow — which is a lower-friction ask, repeated to a larger group.
  • Nobody has to run a nonprofit. Zeffy's toolkit assumes someone will operate it. Coach effort on Zeffy is DIY; booster is ongoing but light.

How to actually decide

  • Pick Zeffy if: your booster club has its own 501(c)(3), your fundraising is donation- and event-shaped, and someone is willing to administer it. You will keep more of every dollar. Take the money.
  • Pick booster if: you don't have tax-exempt status, or you want supporters attached to the team rather than to an annual appeal, or you want the fundraising to run itself off content your program is already producing.
  • Worth knowing either way: booster subscriptions are purchases, not charitable gifts, so they aren't tax-deductible for the supporter. On Zeffy, through a 501(c)(3), donations generally are. For some donor bases that's decisive.
Sources for every fee claim: see /fees and each platform's entry in the rankings.
boosterZeffy
Scout Score 9.3 Exceptional 7.9 Good
All-in cost 10% flat + card processing — teams keep 90%0% — tip-supported; 501(c)(3) orgs only
Per $5,000 raised, you keep $4,300 $5,000
Revenue carries over ✓ Yes subscriptions persist ✓ Yes
Off-season revenue ✓ Yes ✓ Yes
Student contact lists required ✓ No ✓ No
Per-athlete quotas ✓ None ✓ None
Product / cash logistics NoneNone
Coach effort Ongoing, lightHigh — DIY
See how booster works → Run both through the calculator
Is Zeffy actually 100% free?

For a registered 501(c)(3), effectively yes — Zeffy charges no platform fee and absorbs card processing, funding itself through optional tips donors are asked to add on top of their gift. The trade is that your donors see a tip prompt at checkout, and some find it confusing. But the organization's economics are real: you keep the gift.

Our team doesn't have its own 501(c)(3). Can we still use Zeffy?

No. Zeffy is nonprofit software and requires tax-exempt status. This is the most common reason teams end up somewhere else — a lot of high school programs fundraise without their own registered entity, and getting one is a months-long paperwork project, not a season-opening move.

Why would anyone pay 10% when Zeffy is free?

Because price and fit are different questions, and only one of them is on the pricing page. If Zeffy fits — you have the tax status, your fundraising is donation-shaped, someone will run it — then paying 10% is paying for nothing you need, and we'd rather you knew that. booster earns its fee when the alternative isn't available to you, or when the thing you need is recurring fan revenue attached to a team rather than an annual appeal attached to a cause.