Do you want to collect donations on your WordPress website?
Tip jar plugins allow both non-profits and content creators to make money from their sites. They make it easy for users to give you a donation if they like your content or what you are offering.
In this article, we will share the best tip jar plugins for WordPress (with their pros and cons).
Why Use a Tip Jar on Your Website?
A virtual tip jar is pretty similar to a real tip jar. It’s a way for your audience to give you a few dollars as a “thank you” for your work.
There are lots of reasons why you might use one. Maybe:
- You are a musician, artist, or writer. You share your work freely online, but you’d like some extra funding.
- You create free software. You want to give your users a chance to support you so you can keep providing the software for free.
- You run a virtual class online that you don’t charge for. Donations would help you keep it going.
- You want to experiment with a tip jar as a way to make money online from your blog.
Tip jars are mini donation forms. They are often placed in the sidebar of a website, making them easily visible.
You want your tip jar to be as simple as possible. That way, people will be more likely to use it.
Using the right tip jar plugin is very important because some of these plugins can offer other useful features based on your needs.
Note: Some tip jar plugins will require you to use an SSL certificate. We strongly recommend this regardless of whether it’s required or not. If you don’t yet have an SSL certificate, then our tutorial on how to get a free SSL certificate takes you through the process of getting one.
With that said, let’s take a look at the best tip jar plugins for WordPress.
1. Charitable
Charitable is a powerful fundraising and donation plugin for WordPress, used by over 10,000+ non-profits to raise money online.
It’s not just for non-profits, though. You can also use Charitable as a tip jar to accept donations for your personal cause or project.
Pros of Charitable
Charitable is easy to use, and you can set up your first fundraising campaign in less than 5 minutes.
You can create custom donation forms to suit your exact needs, and you are able to set up as many fundraisers as you like. If you have multiple campaigns, then you can display them as a collection on any page or post of your WordPress website.
You can start accepting donations right away via PayPal or connect to premium payment gateways like Stripe, Authorize.net, Braintree, Windcave, and others.
Cons of Charitable
You can accept donations with their basic plan, but if you want to set up recurring donations, then you will need the Charitable Plus plan. And it’s a little bit expensive.
While the Charitable Plus plan comes with advanced features like anonymous donations, it will only work on a single WordPress site. So, if you have multiple websites, then this may not be the right choice.
Why Do We Recommend Charitable?
Charitable is a popular WordPress donation plugin. It’s trusted by thousands of users to accept online donations.
The Charitable plugin also seamlessly integrates with Easy Digital Downloads. This lets you easily sell digital products like eBooks to raise money for your cause.
There are also premium addons available, including recurring donations, peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunding, anonymous donations, and more.
Pricing
Charitable has a free version with limited features. Paid plans start at $99/year for unlimited campaigns, unlimited donors, and no transaction fees.
2. WPForms
WPForms is the best WordPress forms plugin, used by over 6 million website owners. You can use it to create a tip jar as a form and customize it to match your brand needs.
It’s one of the most popular WordPress plugins and comes with thousands of ready-made templates. These templates let you create any type of WordPress form in one click, including a contact form, survey form, registration form, donation form, and more.
Pros of WPForms
The WPForms plugin has a beginner-friendly interface. Plus, you can use the WPForms Donation Form template to create your tip jar quickly.
It supports Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.net to accept donations on your website. You can use it to accept one-time or recurring donations.
You can add the WPForms tip jar anywhere on your website, including standalone pages, sidebars, the footer area, and more.
Cons of WPForms
The recurring donation option is only available with the WPForms Pro and Elite plans. So, you have to pay for the Pro plan to add a tip jar to your WordPress site.
While it’s a little expensive, the WPForms Pro plan comes with more payment options, advanced addons, and more. So it’s worth buying anyway.
Why Do We Recommend WPForms?
WPForms is simple and beginner-friendly. The plugin is built for anyone who wants to add forms to their WordPress site.
When it comes to donations and tip jars, WPForms makes it easy for you to offer something in return for donations.
For example, if you are a musician, then you can offer an exclusive recording that isn’t publicly available. Or, if you are a software designer, then you could give users access to the beta version of your new software.
This helps increase your donations and fill up your tip jar quickly.
To offer your freebie, you can integrate your donation form with your email marketing service. This lets you set up an autoresponder to thank people for their donations and give them a freebie.
Moreover, WPForms isn’t just for tip jars. It has a multipurpose approach, ease of use, and affordable pricing plans.
Pricing
WPForms Pro, which costs $199.50 per year using our exclusive WPForms coupon, lets you accept one-time and recurring donations with no additional transaction fees.
If you are a non-profit, then you can get an additional discount through the WPForms Care program, which offers special pricing on WordPress forms for non-profits.
There’s also a limited free version that lets you accept donations via Stripe, but there’s a 3% transaction fee.
Alternative: If you are looking to create a simple form that accepts tips, then we also recommend WP Simple Pay. It’s the best Stripe payment form plugin for WordPress. There’s also a free version of WP Simple Pay that you can use to get started.
3. GiveWP
GiveWP, also known as Give, is a fantastic, fully-featured donations plugin for WordPress.
It’s one of the best plugins for nonprofits, but you can also use it for yourself or your for-profit business.
Pros of GiveWP
There are loads of different options with GiveWP. For example, you can allow donors to donate in their own currency.
You can also accept recurring donations and create goals to fundraise up to a certain point. This could work really well if you are offering your audience something new once you reach your goal.
For instance, if you are a nonfiction author, then you might promise to release a chapter of your upcoming book for free once you reach $1,000 in donations.
GiveWP can be connected to a whole range of payment gateways.
Cons of GiveWP
With GiveWP, you can install many different addons to give you extra features, but you only get the basic addons with the Basic plan.
The recurring donation feature is only available with the GiveWP Plus plan and above.
Why Do We Recommend GiveWP?
It’s easy to get started with GiveWP. As soon as you install and activate the plugin, you will be taken through the quick start guide.
GiveWP lets you customize your donation forms. But if having full control over your donation form is a crucial feature for you, then WPForms might be a better fit.
Pricing
GiveWP has a limited free version. Paid plans start from $149/year, and the Plus version gives you access to all addons for $349/year.
4. PayPal Donations
