Ummah vs Zeffy
Zeffy is a donation platform that charges the nonprofit nothing and asks the donor for a tip at checkout instead. Ummah is the system a Muslim community runs on: events with tickets and QR check-in, members and dues, prayer times, the shared app, a website we design and build, and on Advanced, donations through your own Stripe or PayPal with no tip asked of anyone. Here is the honest split, including where Zeffy is the better choice.
Zeffy is free to the nonprofit. Ummah is the system the masjid runs on.
Start with the part that is true: Zeffy costs the nonprofit nothing. Their pricing page, read on October 16, 2026, puts the cost to the organization at 0% with no monthly fee listed, issues tax receipts automatically, and supports recurring giving. The platform is funded by a tip suggested to the donor at checkout, which the donor can set to zero. If what your organization needs is a donation form and a link to put under a Jumu’ah announcement, and there is no budget for anything else, Zeffy is a good answer and the section below says so.
A masjid does more than collect, though. It sells tickets to an iftar and needs someone at the door to check people in. It runs a weekend school with families to register. It has members, some paying dues, and a board that wants to know who they are. It publishes prayer times, and its community expects to find all of that in one app and on one website. Ummah is built around those jobs, and donations sit inside them on the Advanced plan rather than on a separate tool with a separate login.
The money works differently too. On Ummah the plan is $0, $19 or $75 a month, and on a paid ticket the platform fee is added at checkout and paid by the attendee, so you bank the face value. Donations run on Advanced, where the platform fee is 0%, through your own Stripe or PayPal account, and no tip is asked of a donor giving zakat or sadaqah. Communities do switch from Zeffy to Ummah, usually when the second job arrives: a ticketed iftar, a weekend school to register, members with dues, and the donation, the ticket and the member in three different places.
Side by side
Zeffy's column was read from zeffy.com/pricing on October 16, 2026. Where something is not published on their site, this table says so rather than guessing. Bold is the side that is ahead on that row. Prices move, so check theirs before you act on it.
| Feature | Ummah | Zeffy |
|---|---|---|
| What the organization pays | Free $0/mo. Basic $19/mo, month to month. Advanced $75/mo billed annually on a twelve-month term, and donations are on Advanced. Card processing goes to your own Stripe or PayPal at their rates | 0% to the nonprofit, and no monthly fee on the pricing page we read. That is the headline of zeffy.com/pricing and it is true |
| Who pays the platform fee | On a paid ticket, the attendee: it is added on top at checkout, 3% on Free, 1.5% on Basic, 0% on Advanced, so the organization banks the face value. On a donation, nobody: donations run on Advanced at 0% | The nonprofit pays none. Zeffy is funded by a tip the donor is asked for at checkout, so in practice the donor pays unless they set it to zero |
| The donor tip | None. The checkout asks a donor for the gift and nothing else | A tip is suggested by default at checkout. The donor can change it, including to $0, before paying |
| Card processing | Charged by your processor, not by Ummah: Stripe 2.9% + 30c, or 2.2% + 30c for verified nonprofits; PayPal 1.99% + 49c for confirmed charities. Rates as our pricing page lists them, August 2026 | None to the nonprofit: zeffy.com/pricing puts the organization’s total cost at 0% |
| Tax receipts | Donor records on Advanced, so you know who gave what and when, and the payment record sits in your own Stripe or PayPal account under your organization’s name | Issued automatically, per zeffy.com/pricing |
| Recurring giving | Marked "soon" on our pricing page. Not something to plan a fundraiser around today | Yes |
| Donation campaigns and donor records | On Advanced: campaigns with raised totals, donor records and contacts, refunds, fundraising analytics, and a donation widget for your own site. Campaigns need nonprofit approval | The page we read covers fees, the tip, receipts, recurring and hardware. It does not describe campaign or donor tools, so this row does not score them |
| Events and ticketing | On every plan, Free included: events, RSVPs and waitlists, paid tickets with discount codes, multi-session schedules, the ticket QR code in the confirmation email, and QR check-in at the door from a phone | Not covered on zeffy.com/pricing, the page we read, so this table does not score it either way |
| Members and dues | Unlimited members on every plan. Approvals and member and household records on Basic and Advanced. Paid membership tiers with a monthly price, paid by card through Stripe | Not covered on the page we read |
| Prayer times and the app | Calculated adhan on 2,000+ masjid pages, real iqama on 300+, a prayer times widget on Free, and the shared Ummah app on iOS and Android, which 30,000+ Muslims already have | Not part of what zeffy.com/pricing describes. Zeffy is a donation platform, not a community app |
| Website | A branded website we design and build on your own domain, included on Basic and Advanced, with prayer times and the donation widget pulling live from your Portal. A public Community Page on Free | Not covered on the page we read |
| Hardware at the door | QR check-in from any phone on every plan. A kiosk app on a tablet for in-person registrations and donations on Advanced. Tap-to-pay is still being built and is not on any plan yet | Tap to Pay in their phone app only. No kiosk |
| Donations next to the rest | Donations, tickets, members, announcements, the feed and prayer times in one Community Portal and one app, with one member record behind them | Zeffy is a donation platform. Whether tickets, members and prayer times come with it is not on the page we read; if they do not, each stays a separate tool with a separate list |
Where Zeffy is the better choice
No product wins every row, and a comparison page that pretends otherwise is not worth reading. Here is where we would point you at them instead.
Free means free
Zeffy charges the nonprofit nothing: no monthly fee and 0% on what comes in, on the page we read on October 16, 2026. A tip is suggested to the donor at checkout and the donor can set it to zero. For an organization with no budget that only needs a donation form, that is a better deal than Advanced at $75 a month, and we would tell you so on a call.
Receipts and recurring are there today
Tax receipts go out automatically and recurring gifts are supported. Recurring giving on Ummah is marked "soon" on our own pricing page, and this table does not pretend otherwise. If monthly donors are the heart of your fundraising right now, that row alone may decide it.
Tap to Pay on a phone
Zeffy takes a card on a phone through its own app. Ummah checks people in by QR code on every plan and has a kiosk app on a tablet for in-person registrations and donations on Advanced, but tap-to-pay is still being built and is not on any plan yet. For a fundraising dinner where volunteers walk the tables with a phone, Zeffy has the tool and we do not.
Simplicity
One form, one link, no plan to choose. If you do not need tickets, check-in, members, dues, prayer times, an app or a website, Ummah has more product than you need and Zeffy has exactly enough.