Find the Best WordPress Crowdfunding Plugin to Increase Support
Last Updated January 9, 2023
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Crowdfunding is a growing means for non-profits, and individual content creators, to generate income. The days of relying on a simple PayPal donation button are long gone as more sophisticated solutions come into focus. Many third-party sites and applications now exist to help organizations handle accepting donations and financial support. For WordPress users, there are plenty of plugins available to help you take care of this as well. Today, we’ve put together a list of the best WordPress crowdfunding plugins that you, or your clients, can use on their sites. These plugins will help generate income by making it easier for people to donate, or offer support, directly on an existing WordPress site.
Popular WordPress Crowdfunding Plugins
All of these plugins are available, right now, for absolutely free at WordPress.org. You can also install and activate them directly inside of the WordPress admin as well. While these are all free, many offer premium or paid versions and add-ons with additional features. Some also tie into third-party services where an account and payment integration are required. We’ve done our best to explain when that is the case and to offer breakdowns of the features you get with paid upgrades. In the end, one or several of these WordPress crowdfunding plugins should be the right fit for your needs.
GiveWP
GiveWP is one of WordPress’s highest-rated, most downloaded, and best-supported donation plugins. The plugin is best suited if you want a simple donate button added to your site or are looking for a complete, powerful, and robust donation platform. You can choose from donation form templates to create fundraising campaigns. Then, you can start receiving payments through Stripe, PayPal, Venmo, and even offline methods. You get actionable fundraising reporting and donor management tools that can help increase your fundraising revenue by learning what makes donors happy and donate.
Plugin Details
This plugin was initially published by its creator in April of 2015. It is actively on version 3.8.0 and last underwent a change on April 17th, 2024. The latest update runs on WordPress 6.5.2 and requires at least PHP 7.2 to operate on your server. This plugin is currently running on over 100,000 WordPress sites. It has had over 7,062,350 downloads. There have been 61 help requests with a 85% response rate. GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform is well supported by its creator. Reviews for this plugin are very positive. Many of the end-users who left an evaluation found GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform to be useful.
Security Issues and Vulnerabilities
There have been 18 recorded security or vulnerability issues with GiveWP. All of those security problems have been resolved. Here is a look at the most recent issues:
| Date | Description | Fixed? |
|---|---|---|
| 1/19/23 | Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode This was a medium concern issue that was fixed in version 2.23.2. | Yes |
| 1/19/23 | Unauthenticated SQL Injection This was a critical concern issue that was fixed in version 2.23.2. | Yes |
| 7/12/22 | Authenticated Arbitrary File Creation This was a medium concern issue that was fixed in version 2.20.2. | Yes |
| 7/11/22 | Authenticated (Admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting This was a medium concern issue that was fixed in version 2.21.2. | Yes |
| 7/8/22 | Cross-Site Request Forgery This was a medium concern issue that was fixed in version 2.21.2. | Yes |
GiveWP has a series of add-ons and many of them are premium options you can only use when on one of their licensing plans. There are four different types of GiveWP licenses with various pricing levels. The cheapest option is called Basis and it is fairly limited. Next up, is the Plus license, which gives you access to all of the add-ons and recurring donation support. Pro is the following level and it comes with peer-to-peer fundraising features. Finally, if you run a WordPress design firm or development shop, the Agency license gives you everything that comes with Pro and works on up to five sites.
Buy Me a Coffee
The Buy Me a Coffee plugin is a must-have if you accept donations through your blog, or website, or project visitors. The plugin places “Buy Me a Coffee” buttons or widgets anywhere on your site, enabling visitors to make payments without leaving your site. You can also put up a paywall for your posts to make them available to paid members only. You will, however, need to create a free account on Buy Me a Coffee and link your bank or Stripe account to start accepting payments from your supporters.
Plugin Details
This product was initially published by its creator in December of 2017. It is actively on version 4.0 and last had a change on October 10th, 2023. The latest version runs on WordPress 6.3.4 and requires at least PHP 5.2 to function on your server. This plugin is actively functioning on over 6,000 WordPress websites. It has had over 105,390 downloads. There have been 3 support requests with a 33% response rate. Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget Plugin has below average support from its developer. WordPress users are positive and think highly of this piece of software.
WP Crowdfunding
WP Crowdfunding is one of the best plugins for fundraising and donations. The plugin enables you to create a crowdfunding site using the WordPress content management system. The plugin’s key features include dedicated user registration, minimum & maximum price options, a reward system, project updates, favorite projects, and adding and handling of payment methods. Once you have everything set up, just use the required shortcodes on your desired location to display the content.
Plugin Details
This product was originally released by its creator in August of 2016. It is now on version 2.1.10 and last had a change on December 20th, 2023. The most recent release operates on WordPress 6.4.4. This plugin is now operating on over 4,000 WordPress websites. It has had over 126,980 downloads. There have not been many support requests from end-users. Reviews for WP Crowdfunding are very positive. Many of the customers who left a piece of feedback found WP Crowdfunding to be worthwhile.
The plugin’s premium license is available in three pricing plans. The Individuals plan costs $149 annually and provides a single site license. The Freelancers plan costs $199 annually and provides 5 site licenses. The Agencies plan costs $299 annually and provides unlimited site licenses. The premium features include unlimited rewards with an estimated delivery date, a native wallet system to track, calculate, record, and distribute all funds, Google reCAPTCHA, analytical reports, Stripe Connect, and one year of plugin updates and support.
CodeBard’s Patron Button and Widgets for Patreon plugin enables you to add a button below page content to let your users become your patrons on Patreon easily. You can customize the buttons, widgets, and call-to-action text to match your website theme. After installation, activate the plugin, fill in your Patreon account details, and that’s it. You are now ready to run your Patreon membership service through your WordPress site.
Plugin Details
This piece of software was originally released by its creator in January of 2016. It is presently on version 2.2.0 and last experienced a revision on November 24th, 2023. The newest version functions on WordPress 6.4.3. This plugin is presently functioning on over 1,000 WordPress sites. It has had over 62,630 downloads. There have not been many help requests from users. WordPress users are positive and think highly of this plugin.
The plugin’s premium version, Patron Plugin Pro, provides additional features like advanced Patron-only content on the WordPress site, Patreon VIP features, automatically synced Patreon posts, and custom widgets. You can purchase the premium version for a single site for $30 a year. You will get a permanent 15% discount if you opt for automatic renewal.
Leyka
Leyka eases and improves the integration of donation collecting functions on WordPress websites. The plugin is easy to set up and requires minimum configuration. You can start collecting donations right after plugin setup. The payment methods supported include Cloudpayments, YandexKassa, PayPal, Chronopay, mobile and SMS payments via MIXPLAT, WebMoney, and traditional bank payment orders. Leyka also provides automatic e-mails to supporters, payment history and statistics, template color customization, multiple language support, and other powerful features.
Plugin Details
This plugin was initially published by its developer in March of 2013. It is presently on version 3.31.1 and last experienced a change on January 25th, 2024. The most recent update works on WordPress 6.4.3 and requires at least PHP 7.2.5 to function on your server. This plugin is now functioning on over 2,000 WordPress websites. It has had over 80,370 downloads. There have not been many assistance requests from users. Reviews for this plugin are very positive. Many of the users who left an evaluation found this plugin to be useful.
Whydonate
The Whydonate plugin enables you to accept donations on your WordPress website directly. The plugin is easy to install and set up. No coding knowledge is required. Once everything is in order, you can place the donation button on your site and start raising funds instantly. Whydonate’s key features include hosting a crowdfunding campaign, peer-to-peer fundraisers, multiple payment options, donor interactions, customer support, and one-time and recurring donations.
Plugin Details
This plugin was first published by its owner in April of 2018. It is now on version 3.13.4 and last underwent an update on February 22nd, 2024. The newest update operates on WordPress 6.3.4 and requires at least PHP 5.6 to operate on your server. This plugin is currently operating on over 600 WordPress websites. It has had over 26,960 downloads. There have not been many assistance requests from users. Reviews for Whydonate – FREE Donate button – Crowdfunding – Fundraising are very positive. Many of the users who left a review found Whydonate – FREE Donate button – Crowdfunding – Fundraising to be excellent.
Crowdfunding for WooCommerce
As the name suggests, the Crowdfunding for WooCommerce plugin adds full crowdfunding support to your WooCommerce store. When adding or editing a product, you can set its goal, start and end dates, and custom button labels. You can also integrate forms, set custom HTML to show when the project started and ended, modify and choose where to display crowdfunding info, style progress bars, and enable or disable emails on crowdfunding campaigns ended, added, or edited.
Plugin Details
This product was first published by its creator in August of 2015. It is actively on version 3.1.11 and last saw an update on July 15th, 2023. The latest edition functions on WordPress 6.2.5. This plugin is now working on over 400 WordPress websites. It has had over 30,930 downloads. There have not been many help requests from customers. Reviews for Crowdfunding for WooCommerce are very positive. Many of the customers who left a piece of feedback found Crowdfunding for WooCommerce to be wonderful.
Crowdfunding for WooCommerce Premium is the paid version of this plugin. This is a rare premium plugin that is, essentially, exactly the same as the free version. The only discernable difference is that Crowdfunding for WooCommerce Premium removes the limitation on how many crowdfunding products you can have on one site.
Find the Best WordPress Crowdfunding Plugin
Any of these WordPress crowdfunding plugins should help you, or your client, increase their revenue streams. Of course, while these plugins all have overlapping features, the details are what set them apart. We recommend giving a few of them a try, in a test environment, to see which ones work best for your given situation. And, for premium alternatives and upgrades, please try the free version before making a purchasing decision. Often, a free plugin that doesn’t hit the mark is rarely improved with a premium or pro upgrade. Eventually, with research and demos, you should be able to get your site up and running with the perfect crowdfunding solution.
Looking for More Ways to Improve WordPress?
Are you looking for a WordPress crowdfunding plugin for a client’s site or project? As a WordPress developer, you might be interested in checking out our White Label plugin. It’s designed specifically for people like you that want to customize the WordPress admin experience for clients. You can use White Label to edit admin menus, change plugin text and descriptions, add custom dashboard elements, and more. Brand the admin to match client colors and logos as well. There are dozens of ways you can use White Label to change and rebrand WordPress. Check out our full feature list to learn about all of the things the plugin can do for you and your projects.
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