A direct, factual comparison of two fundraising platforms built for progressive campaigns — so you can make the right choice for your race.
GoodChange is an online fundraising platform for progressive campaigns, PACs, state parties, trade associations, and nonpartisan candidates — built and operated by Level Wins in Little Rock, Arkansas. It offers same-day launch, donor fee coverage, spare change round-ups, peer-to-peer tools, a full public API, embeddable donation forms, and compliance reporting. Pricing starts at 3.75% + 25¢ per transaction with no monthly fees and no platform tips.
ActBlue is a Democratic Party political action committee and fundraising platform founded in 2004. It processes individual contributions and charges a flat 3.95% processing fee per donation. As a nonprofit, ActBlue also runs its own fundraising program and accepts optional donor tips to fund its operations. ActBlue serves eligible Democratic and progressive candidates, political organizations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofits at the federal, state, and local levels.
A direct look at how these two platforms compare across the features that matter most to campaigns.
| Feature | GoodChange | ActBlue |
|---|---|---|
| Processing Fee | 3.75% + 25¢ (Standard) | 3.95% flat |
| Monthly Platform Fees | None — ever | None |
| Platform Tips to Vendor | Never charged | Donors prompted to tip ActBlue |
| Donor Fee Coverage | Yes — 74%+ adoption rate | Not offered |
| Same-Day Launch | Always | Some accounts take up to a week |
| Spare Change Round-Ups | Yes — unique passive giving | Not available |
| Full API + Webhooks | Yes | Limited API |
| Peer-to-Peer Fundraising | Yes | Yes |
| Compliance Tools | Included on every plan | Yes |
| Leaderboards & Gamification | Yes | Not available |
| Payout Speed | Weekly (Standard); daily option (Pro) | Standard payout schedule |
| Who Can Use It | Progressive, Democratic, and nonpartisan candidates | Democratic and progressive only |
This is the most significant practical difference. GoodChange offers donor fee coverage — donors see a transparent option to cover the processing fee at checkout, and 74% choose to do so. That means campaigns typically pay an effective rate of 1–2%. ActBlue takes a different approach: it asks donors to optionally tip ActBlue to fund its own operations. One puts more money in your campaign's account. The other funds the platform.
GoodChange campaigns can create an account and start accepting donations the same day — always. ActBlue is fast for most campaigns, but some state and local races can take a week or more to get started. For campaigns that need to move fast — around a news cycle, endorsement, or filing deadline — that gap matters.
GoodChange offers a full API, automated webhooks, and embeddable donation forms — allowing campaigns, developers, and agency partners to integrate donation infrastructure directly into any website, CRM, or custom tech stack. ActBlue offers a limited API. For campaigns working with digital agencies or building custom infrastructure, this is a meaningful capability gap.
GoodChange offers a unique passive giving feature: spare change round-ups. Donors connect a debit or credit card and every everyday purchase is rounded up to the nearest dollar — with the difference going to their campaign automatically. This generates ongoing, low-friction revenue that compounds over time without repeated asks. ActBlue does not offer this feature.
In a 12-week comparison, a campaign using GoodChange's donor fee coverage generated $3,078.37 more than the same campaign would have raised on a platform without it — at an identical ask amount. With the majority of these donors covering the fee, nearly every dollar given actually lands in the campaign account.
Launch your GoodChange fundraiser today — same day, no setup fees, donor fee coverage built in from the start.