GiveWP vs PayPal Donations
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | GiveWP v4.19.0.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.6/5 Visit Details | PayPal Donations v1.9.11 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.7/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 100,000+ | 20,000+ |
| Last updated | October 22, 2026 | August 17, 2026 |
| Editions | Give - Donation Plugin · Give - Recurring Donations ($) | Donations via PayPal |
| Pros | Donation forms and campaigns in the free core; Stripe and PayPal payment gateways included; Donor records, receipts and a donor export | Donate button through a shortcode or widget; Choose standard or custom button images; Sandbox mode for testing |
| Cons | Recurring donations need a paid add-on; Many advanced features are split into separate paid add-ons; Large plugin with many admin screens to learn | Donations go straight to PayPal with no on-site records; Shows admin notices when PHP or WordPress is too old; Only a donate button, no recurring or tiered donations |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Donation forms, Visual form builder, Fundraising campaigns, Donor records and statistics, Donor dashboard for logged-in donors, Donor export, Donation spam filtering, Donation receipts, Recurring donations via the Give - Recurring Donations add-on ($) | Donate button shortcode, Sidebar donate widget, Standard or custom button image, PayPal sandbox switch for testing, Return page and purpose defaults |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | Stripe, PayPal | PayPal |
| Other | GiveWP add-on license server | — |
| Requires WordPress | 6.9 | 5.5 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | — |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | Only if you agree | No |
| External services | telemetry.givewp.com, connect.givewp.com, www.google.com, givewp.com, relations.givewp.com, chart.apis.google.com, plugins.svn.wordpress.org, survey.givewp.com, www.howsmyssl.com, www.paypal.com, woocommerce.com, licensing.nexcess.com, software.liquidweb.com, herald.nexcess.com, www.liquidweb.com, api.stripe.com | www.paypalobjects.com |
| Blocks | 19 | — |
| Shortcodes | 19 | 1 |