TidyHQ vs Donorbox
Last reviewed August 2026
Donorbox is donation software with a membership feature attached. TidyHQ is club management software that tracks donation income. That ordering explains most of the difference. Donorbox does donation forms, recurring giving, crowdfunding and peer-to-peer very well, and its membership tiers are real. But the free plan charges a 2.95–3.95% platform fee on everything that comes through it, the next plan up is $150 USD/month, and there is no committee governance, no Xero, and no income reporting across the gate, the bar and the canteen.
Where TidyHQ wins
Flat pricing that doesn't take a percentage of your subs. Donorbox's free Standard plan charges a 2.95–3.95% platform fee on every transaction; on $60,000 of annual club income that is $1,770–$2,370 a year before processing, and the escape route is $150 USD/month. TidyHQ Pro is $890 AUD/year flat with a 1% + 20c service fee. Beyond price: governance with agendas, minutes and committee tasks, 25 GB of document storage, income categorised across subs, events, shop, gate and grants with Xero sync coming soon, SMS to members, and unlimited admin seats on every plan.
Where Donorbox wins
Donorbox is a strong donation product. Its forms convert well, recurring giving is handled properly, and crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, text-to-give and Donorbox Events cover the fundraising formats most organisations actually run. Its membership feature is genuine — unlimited tiers, self-service upgrades and cancellations, lapsed-member tracking. And unlike several platforms on this list, it works anywhere Stripe or PayPal does. If donations are your main income and you want the fundraising side done well, Donorbox does it.
Best for
Clubs and associations whose income is mostly subscriptions, events and trading rather than donations — and who need governance, committee tools and treasurer-grade reporting alongside it.
Feature comparison
Subscription cost
TidyHQ
$890 AUD/year flat (free plan available)Donorbox
Standard free; Pro $150 USD/mo; Premium customPlatform fee on transactions
TidyHQ
1% + 20cDonorbox
2.95–3.95% (Standard); 1.75–2% (Pro)Processing fee
TidyHQ
Stripe (1.75% + 30c AU)Donorbox
Stripe 2.2% + 30c; PayPal 1.99% + 49c; ACH 0.8%Membership management & renewals
TidyHQ
Tiers, auto-renewals, familyDonorbox
Unlimited tiers, self-service renewalsDonation & fundraising campaigns
TidyHQ
Categorised donation income onlyDonorbox
Forms, crowdfunding, P2P, text-to-giveAdmin seats
TidyHQ
Unlimited on all plansDonorbox
5 (Standard), 10 (Pro), 30 (Premium)Meeting minutes & governance
TidyHQ
Agendas, minutes, action itemsDonorbox
Task management
TidyHQ
Assigned to committee rolesDonorbox
Document storage
TidyHQ
25 GBDonorbox
Accounting integration (Xero)
TidyHQ
Coming soonDonorbox
✗ (QuickBooks via Zapier)Financial reporting by income category
TidyHQ
Subs, events, shop, gate, grantsDonorbox
Campaign and fund levelEvent ticketing with member pricing
TidyHQ
Members see their priceDonorbox
Donorbox Events; no member pricingOnline shop
TidyHQ
With member pricingDonorbox
Email & SMS communications
TidyHQ
email; SMS available AU/NZ/UK (credit packs)Donorbox
Email; text-to-giveWebsite builder
TidyHQ
Flexible with widget drop-insDonorbox
✗ Embeds into your siteAPI access
TidyHQ
Donorbox
Pro and Premium only*Approximate conversion: 1 AUD ≈ 0.65 USD ≈ 0.50 GBP. Actual rates may vary.
Key differences
A percentage of your subs is not a small number
Donorbox's free plan takes 2.95–3.95% of everything processed. That is defensible for donations. Applied to $60,000 of membership subs, ticket sales and shop takings it is $1,770–$2,370 a year, and the way out is a $150 USD/month subscription. TidyHQ is $890 AUD/year flat with a 1% + 20c service fee — the bill doesn't move when the club has a good year.
Your whole committee can log in
Donorbox caps team members at 5 on Standard, 10 on Pro and 30 on Premium. A club with a president, secretary, treasurer, registrar, canteen coordinator and five committee members runs out of seats on the free plan. TidyHQ has unlimited admin seats on every plan, including the free one.
Governance Donorbox doesn't build
Agendas, minutes with action items, committee tasks assigned to roles, and 25 GB of document storage for constitutions and AGM records. Donorbox is a fundraising product — it is not trying to run your committee, and it doesn't.
Your treasurer's income isn't all donations
Clubs take money from subs, match-day gate, the bar, the canteen, the shop, events, grants and sponsorship. Donorbox reports by campaign and fund. TidyHQ categorises income by source and Xero sync is coming soon — which is the difference between a report and a set of accounts.
What Donorbox does well
Donorbox is a strong donation product. Its forms convert well, recurring giving is handled properly, and crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, text-to-give and Donorbox Events cover the fundraising formats most organisations actually run. Its membership feature is genuine — unlimited tiers, self-service upgrades and cancellations, lapsed-member tracking. And unlike several platforms on this list, it works anywhere Stripe or PayPal does. If donations are your main income and you want the fundraising side done well, Donorbox does it.
We think honest comparisons build more trust than pretending competitors don’t exist. Try both and see which one your committee actually uses.
Ongoing development
We have shipped every month since 2008.
The software you pick now is a bet on where it will be in three years, and no feature table tells you that. We have been building TidyHQ for eighteen years, across more than 30,000 commits. The public record is dated and checkable: 15 new features and 52 updates since November 2025 alone, the most recent on 24 July 2026.
Some of what landed
We have not tried to summarise Donorbox’s release history here, because we do not have reliable data on it and would rather not guess. Go and look for their changelog too. If a vendor cannot show you what they shipped last quarter, that is worth knowing before you sign anything.
Is TidyHQ right for you?
TidyHQ is the better choice if…
- Most of your income is subs, events and trading rather than donations
- You need governance — meeting minutes, committee tasks, document storage
- Your committee has more than five people who need admin access
- You want a flat annual price instead of a percentage of everything you take
- You need Xero (coming soon) rather than a Zapier connection to QuickBooks
Donorbox might be better if…
- •Donations are your primary income and conversion on the donation form matters most
- •You need crowdfunding, peer-to-peer and text-to-give campaigns
- •You want to embed donation forms into an existing website
- •You need recurring giving with donor self-service and lapsed-donor tracking
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about using Donorbox vs TidyHQ for membership organisations.
The Standard plan has no subscription but charges a 2.95–3.95% platform fee on every transaction, on top of processing (Stripe 2.2% + 30c, PayPal 1.99% + 49c, ACH 0.8% capped at $5). Pro is $150 USD/month and reduces the platform fee to 1.75–2%. Premium is custom-priced at 1.6–2%. TidyHQ Pro is $890 AUD/year flat with a 1% + 20c service fee.
Yes. Donorbox Memberships supports unlimited customisable tiers with monthly or annual pricing, member records showing tier and status, and self-service upgrades, renewals and cancellations. What it doesn't include is the rest of running a club — governance, committee tasks, document storage, or income reporting across gate takings, the bar and the canteen.
No. Donorbox connects to QuickBooks and other tools through Zapier, and offers API access on Pro and Premium, but there is no Xero integration. TidyHQ's Xero integration is coming soon and is two-way — the accounting package most Australian and New Zealand treasurers already use.
Donorbox includes 5 team members on Standard, 10 on Pro and 30 on Premium. TidyHQ includes unlimited admin seats on every plan, including the free tier — so the registrar, the treasurer and every committee member can have their own login.
You can. A reasonable split is TidyHQ as the system of record for members, subs, events, finances and governance, with Donorbox running a donation appeal where its forms and recurring giving are stronger. There is no direct integration, so donation totals come into TidyHQ as categorised income rather than syncing automatically.
If the 2.95–3.95% platform fee on the free plan is what pushed you to look, Zeffy charges nothing at all and covers processing itself, and Givebutter runs at 0% with donor tipping — though Givebutter is US-only. If the five-seat cap on the free plan is the issue, TidyHQ has unlimited admin seats on every plan. For campaign formats Donorbox does not cover — silent auctions, raffles, paddle raises — RallyUp is the stronger tool.
Sources
Claims in this comparison are based on publicly available information. Verify current pricing and features directly with each provider.
- 1Donorbox pricing— Standard, Pro and Premium platform fee bands, team member caps and processing rates
- 2Donorbox Memberships— Membership tiers, member records and self-service renewals
- 3TidyHQ pricing— Published flat pricing for comparison
Related comparisons
Other Fundraising Platforms alternatives we’ve written about.