Tithely Fees Explained: What Your Church Really Pays

Tithely's giving plan costs nothing per month. As of October 2026, the church pays a processing fee on each gift: 2.9% + $0.30 for credit and debit cards, 1% + $0.30 for ACH bank transfers and 3.5% + $0.30 for American Express, per Tithely's pricing page. On $100,000 a year of giving, that works out to roughly $2,000 to $3,500, depending mostly on how many givers use ACH and how large the average gift is.

This guide uses only Tithely's published numbers, opened on October 18, 2026. Where Tithely doesn't publish something, we say so.

Tithely's published fees

Item	Price (as of October 2026)
Free Giving plan	$0/month, no setup fees, no contracts
Credit or debit card gift	2.9% + $0.30
ACH / bank transfer gift	1% + $0.30
American Express gift	3.5% + $0.30
Refunds, disputes, PCI, deposits	No extra charge, per Tithely
Text-to-give on the free plan	$19/month

Tithely's page states "there are no monthly minimums, no scaling fees, and no extra charges for refunds, disputes, PCI fees, or deposits." That is a cleaner fee schedule than many processors publish. The rates listed are Tithely's standard U.S. rates. The pricing page doesn't list rates for international cards or other countries.

Cover the Fees

Tithely's "Cover the Fees" option lets a giver add the processing fee to their gift at checkout, so the church receives the full amount they intended. The church turns it on, and Tithely's pricing page says about 60% of donors choose to add the fee. That figure is Tithely's own and will vary by congregation.

The pages we could open don't show the exact formula for the add-on. If it is calculated so the church nets the full gift, a $100 card gift would need about $103.30 (because $103.30 minus 2.9% and $0.30 leaves about $100). Tithely's help center has more detail, but it didn't load for us, so check your own giving form.

Cover the Fees doesn't make the fee disappear. It moves the cost from the church's budget to the giver. That is a fair trade for many churches, and a choice worth making deliberately.

Fee table: $100,000 a year by ACH share and gift size

The per-gift math at Tithely's rates:

• $100 card gift: $2.90 + $0.30 = $3.20
• $100 ACH gift: $1.00 + $0.30 = $1.30
• $50 card gift: $1.45 + $0.30 = $1.75
• $50 ACH gift: $0.50 + $0.30 = $0.80

A $100,000 year is 1,000 gifts at a $100 average, or 2,000 gifts at a $50 average. The ACH share below is the share of dollars given by bank transfer, assuming card and ACH gifts average the same size. No Cover the Fees is assumed.

ACH share	$100 average gift	$50 average gift
0%	1,000 × $3.20 = $3,200 (3.2%)	2,000 × $1.75 = $3,500 (3.5%)
30%	700 × $3.20 + 300 × $1.30 = $2,240 + $390 = $2,630 (2.6%)	1,400 × $1.75 + 600 × $0.80 = $2,450 + $480 = $2,930 (2.9%)
60%	400 × $3.20 + 600 × $1.30 = $1,280 + $780 = $2,060 (2.1%)	800 × $1.75 + 1,200 × $0.80 = $1,400 + $960 = $2,360 (2.4%)

Two things stand out. Moving from 0% to 60% ACH saves $3,200 − $2,060 = $1,140 a year at a $100 average gift. And halving the average gift adds $300 at every ACH share, because the same $100,000 now carries 1,000 more $0.30 fixed fees (1,000 × $0.30 = $300).

A quick formula for your own numbers: fees = 2.9% of card dollars + 1% of ACH dollars + $0.30 × number of gifts (add 0.6% of Amex dollars on top). If you want this run on your church's actual giving mix and software spend, the free audit does it in a few minutes.

The catch

Tithely's fees are published and simple. A few details still shape the real cost.

The $0.30 fixed fee hits small gifts hardest. A $10 card gift costs $0.29 + $0.30 = $0.59, which is 5.9% of the gift. The same $10 by ACH costs $0.10 + $0.30 = $0.40, or 4%. Kids' offerings, small text gifts and frequent recurring gifts in small amounts carry the highest effective rate.

American Express costs more. At 3.5% + $0.30, a $100 Amex gift costs $3.80, or $0.60 more than a Visa or Mastercard gift. On $10,000 of Amex giving a year, that is 0.6% × $10,000 = $60 extra.

ACH is the cheapest rail, but only if givers use it. Every scenario above improves as ACH share rises. Asking recurring givers to switch from card to bank account is the biggest lever a Tithely church controls.

Add-ons are separate monthly costs. As of October 2026, Tithely's pricing page lists:

Plan	Monthly	× 12 months
Website	$19	$228
Church Management	$72	$864
Mobile Church App	$89	$1,068
All-Access (all products)	$119	$1,428
Text-to-give on the free plan	$19	$228

All-Access includes text-to-give and daily deposits. Tithely says all plans include a 30-day free trial, and that paying yearly saves "about 25% on Church Management + Engagement." The page doesn't state an annual price for each plan. One inconsistency: the plan selector lists Church Management at $72/month, while an FAQ on the same page refers to a "$119/mo Giving + Church Management plan." Confirm the price in your account before budgeting. Whether any add-on is worth it depends on what it replaces. If the app or church management plan lets you cancel another subscription, count that saving against it.

Payout timing. Tithely's pricing page says funds are deposited weekly by default. Churches can request approval for daily deposits, which arrive with a two-day lag. You don't need to request a payout; deposits are automatic. Deposits arrive net of fees, so your bookkeeper records gross giving plus a fee expense.

How Tithely compares

Briefly, using rates already verified in our church giving platform fees comparison:

• Zeffy charges the church $0 and is funded by optional donor tips. On the scenarios above, that turns $2,060 to $3,500 into $0, with the trade-off that givers see a tip prompt.
• Planning Center Giving lists 2.15% + $0.30 per card gift and $0.30 per ACH gift in the U.S., plus a monthly Giving subscription whose price isn't shown on that page. At a $100 average gift and 30% ACH, processing would be 700 × $2.45 + 300 × $0.30 = $1,715 + $90 = $1,805, before the subscription.
• Stripe and PayPal offer nonprofit rates on application if you run giving through them directly, though neither is a full church giving platform.

Lower processing rates don't automatically make another platform cheaper. Count subscriptions, the features you would lose or gain, and the staff time to move recurring givers.

Lowering your Tithely costs

1. Pull last year's numbers: total giving, number of gifts, and card vs ACH split.
2. Promote ACH for recurring gifts. At a $100 average, each gift moved from card to ACH saves $1.90.
3. Decide on Cover the Fees on purpose, and explain it to givers if you turn it on.
4. Review add-ons yearly. Drop plans nobody uses, and compare annual billing.
5. Re-run the comparison in the giving fees guide if fees are a large share of your budget.