Comparison
CoFunders vs GoFundMe
These are different tools rather than competing versions of one. GoFundMe is for donations to a cause and releases money as it arrives; CoFunders is for funding something that gets built, holds pledges in escrow until the goal is met, and gives backers a reward.
Fees, side by side
- GoFundMe
- no platform fee; 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing per donation in the US, 2.9% + €0.25 in the EU, plus an optional donor tip
- CoFunders
- 1.5% + $0.99 per pledge on the free plan (2.49% on a $100 pledge), down to 0.5% on the top plan
Their published rate, read on 2026-09-05. Check it yourself
What they do better
- It is the right tool for a personal emergency. Medical bills, a funeral, disaster relief, helping someone through a hard month — there is no goal to meet and nothing to ship, and holding that money in escrow would be actively harmful.
- No platform fee at all. They take payment processing and ask donors for an optional tip, which for pure donation is hard to beat.
- Money is available immediately rather than at the end of a campaign, which is the entire point when the need is urgent.
- Recognition most people already have. Sharing a GoFundMe link needs no explanation.
What we do differently
- A goal that means something. A GoFundMe that raises 4% of its target keeps the 4% and the thing still does not happen; here the campaign either reaches its goal or every backer withdraws in full.
- Backers get something. A reward is a reason to fund a project run by someone you have never met, which is what makes this work beyond your own social circle.
- The escrow is a program on a public network rather than a company account. The balance and the release rule can be read by anyone.
- On larger pledges we cost less. Above roughly $49 our 1.5% plus $0.99 beats their 2.9% plus $0.30: at $100 we take 2.49% against 3.2%, and at $500 we take 1.7% against 2.96%.
Where we are the worse choice
- For anything that is genuinely a donation we are the wrong platform and GoFundMe is the right one. With no deliverable, an all-or-nothing goal is an obstacle rather than a protection.
- On small amounts they are cheaper. At the $10 minimum we take 11.4% and they take about 5.9%. Our flat fee is what does that, and it does not stop mattering until roughly $49.
- Urgency. Waiting for a deadline is the wrong shape for a crisis, and there is no mechanism here to release funds early.
- Reach. Far more people have donated on GoFundMe than have heard of us.
Which to pick
If you are raising for a cause — someone is ill, something was destroyed, a community needs help now — use GoFundMe. If you are making something and people are paying ahead of time to receive it, use CoFunders: the goal, the escrow and the reward exist for that case and none of them help with the other one.