Crowdfunding is an innovative way to raise money from a large group of personal investors.

You can use crowdfunding to raise funds from your existing audience or a crowdfunding platform’s active investors.

Crowdfunding is more than an online fundraising strategy—it’s a movement. In 2024, crowdfunding will add $1.03 billion to the US economy, with the average crowdfunding campaign raising nearly $8,000.

Crowdfunding also lets you test new products and gauge demand for content ideas. You can trade perks like preorder rights, gifts, exclusive access, and equity for financial support.

Read on to learn what crowdfunding is and discover the top 10 crowdfunding sites for funding your business, product, content creation, or nonprofit project.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a method of raising capital where numerous individuals contribute small amounts of money to support a business. This contrasts with traditional fundraising, which typically involves securing large investments from a limited number of sources, such as accredited investors or venture capital firms.

How does crowdfunding work?

Crowdfunding “backers” are offered incentives in exchange for their donations and support. Incentives can include:

• Early access to purchase a product, possibly at a discount
• The chance to preorder a product and contribute feedback to its development
• Exclusive rewards like ongoing discounts, enhanced customer loyalty status, or free merch
• Access to the founding team or other crowdfunders
• Equity
• Exclusive content

In exchange for hosting crowdfunding campaigns, crowdfunding sites charge platform, transaction, and payment processing fees.

Crowdfunding sites’ features, fee structures, and user bases vary, but their core concept prevails: You submit your project to the platform, complete with fundraising target and deadline, and then campaign for support.

Considering crowdfunding as a fundraising strategy? Here are some of the best crowdfunding websites in 2024.

1. Kickstarter

Best overall crowdfunding platform

As one of the best-known online fundraising platforms, Kickstarter is synonymous with crowdfunding. Since its launch in 2009, the Kickstarter community has funded more than 250,000 projects—including physical and digital products.

Kickstarter is a reward-based platform. Fundraisers incentivize potential backers with exclusive preorder discounts, gifts, and shoutouts; sometimes they createtiered reward structures, compensating bigger pledges with better rewards.

Kickstarter campaigns are all-or-nothing: You only receive your funds (and pay Kickstarter’s platform fee) if you meet your fundraising goal. If you fall short, then all the money stays with your funders.

Projects on Kickstarter tend to be high-quality and novel—creative or innovative enough to catch the attention of early adopters and reporters. Backers tend to trust Kickstarter projects, knowing they don’t pay unless a campaign succeeds.

Read Kickstarter crowdfunding success stories from Rockwell Razors, SaniKind, and LastObject.

Fees: Successful projects cost a 5% platform fee plus transaction fees between 3% and 5%, plus 30¢ per pledge. Pledges of less than $10 cost a discounted micro-pledge fee of 5% plus 8¢ per pledge.

Pros:

• Large, active community
• All-or-nothing model encourages donations
• Ideal for creative projects

Cons:

• No funds unless goals are met
• 5% fee plus transaction costs
• Not for personal causes or charities

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2. Indiegogo

Runner-up crowdfunding platform

Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform that supports businesses, artists, and nonprofits. Like Kickstarter, it comes with user-friendly tools and campaign options.

The biggest difference between the platforms is that Indiegogo lets you choose a flexible or fixed funding goal. With flexible funding, you receive your pledges regardless of whether you’ve met your target by deadline.

The flexible funding option is handy for multi-stage projects because you can fulfill some of your commitments to backers using a portion of their investments. This means you can get to work even if you weren’t able to fund the entire campaign.

Indiegogo’s InDemand feature maintains momentum so you can continue raising money after the campaign ends. This can be useful for funding extra production or fulfillment costs or for expanding your audience after a product launch.

Fees: Indiegogo charges a 5% fee on all funds raised for your campaign. There’s also a transaction fee of 3% plus 20¢.

Pros:

• Flexible funding options
• Wide range of project types
• Ongoing fundraising

Cons:

• 5% fee plus transaction fees
• Smaller community than Kickstarter

• Flexible option risks underfunding

💡 Shopify store BodyBoss transitioned to Indiegogo InDemand after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

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3. Fundable

Best crowdfunding platform for small businesses

Fundable is part of the Startups.com platform and is among the top crowdfunding sites for US startups to exchange rewards, including equity, for funding.

The platform offers self-managed fundraising and options for campaign support—Fundable will help you create a pitch deck and identify prospective investors. You can also use it to organize fundraising activities and track investor interest.

According to Fundable, startups that offer rewards typically raise fewer funds but get more backers. Meanwhile, equity crowdfunding usually raises more capital from fewer investors.

To succeed with equity crowdfunding, you must provide all the background materials accredited investors expect, including a record of growth, a pitch deck, and a solid business plan.

Fees: $179 per month, with no success fees.

Pros:

• Flexibility to offer rewards or equity
• Built-in campaign support
• Startup- and small business-friendly

Cons:

• High monthly fee
• Complex signup requirements
• Equity crowdfunding requires extensive financial disclosure

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4. Crowdfunder

Best crowdfunding app for Shopify stores

If you already have a Shopify store and want to crowdfund a product through your website, consider the Crowdfunder app.

Most crowdfunding platforms and donation apps require that you use their website for your campaigns. Crowdfunder bucks this trend by letting you turn website product pages into crowdfunding pages, complete with progress bars, progress trackers, and preorder buttons.

Crowdfunder enables crowdfunding in its simplest form: accepting customer preorders to validate ideas and fund production. Plus, you pay a predictable monthly fee instead of the commissions charged by third-party platforms.

Use Crowdfunder to gauge customer interest, test new product ideas, raise money for a cause, or launch a limited-run product.

Fees: $24 per month.

Pros:

• Easily transforms product pages into crowdfunding pages
• Perfect for Shopify store owners
• Monthly fees, not percentages

Cons:

No community or marketplace

Only for Shopify stores

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5. Patreon

Best crowdfunding platform for content creators

Patreon is built with digital creators in mind, and worth considering if you’re a podcaster, musician, game developer, or videographer.

While most crowdfunding sites support limited-run campaigns, Patreon works on a subscription basis. Creators develop membership programs for their fans, who pay to access exclusive perks among a community of like-minded patrons.

Creators and internet personalities can use Patreon to monetize their audiences and generate recurring revenue. You can choose for patrons to pay per month or per creation. Creators can also accept payments with:

Credit card
Apple Pay
PayPal
Venmo

Patreon creators offer all kinds of exclusive perks based on different payment tiers, such as access to gated content, branded merch, sneak peeks, shoutouts, and more. The site supports various integrations to support content on the platform. You can upload videos, host livestreams, and run forums or newsletter groups for your patrons.

Fees: Between 8% and 12% of the income you earn from Patreon, depending on your plan. Plus, processing fees of up to 6% plus 10¢ depending on payment method.

Pros:

• Ideal for subscription-based funding
• Allows community building
• Supports various integrations

Cons:

• Not for one-off projects
• 8% to 12% fee
• Building a patron base takes time

💡 Learn how content creators Wait But Why use Patreon for monetization.

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6. Crowdcube

Best crowdfunding website for the UK and Europe

Business owners outside the US should check the terms and conditions of the crowdfunding platforms listed so far to ensure they qualify to use all their features.

Unlike the sites above, Crowdcube is a UK-based equity crowdfunding platform built for European businesses. You can set up several types of equity crowdfunding using Crowdcube, including private and follow-up rounds.

Like Fundable, Crowdcube supports common tasks such as managing follow-up rounds and distributing dividends.

Crowdcube hosts relatively few campaigns. Still, companies that are approved and succeed with their fundraising goals on the platform can join Crowdcube’s Funded Club, enjoying exclusive benefits from partner organizations.

Promote your pitch to solicit investors from your network or to appeal to Crowdcube’s established community.

Fees: 7% of the amount successfully raised, plus a 0.75% to 1.5% completion fee and payment processing fees of up to 2.9%.

Pros:

• Created for European businesses
• Different types of equity crowdfunding allowed
• Exclusive benefits for successful campaigns

Cons:

• 7% fee plus other charges
• Unsuitable for businesses outside Europe
• Relatively few campaigns

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7. GoFundMe

Best crowdfunding site for personal fundraising efforts

GoFundMe is a free crowdfunding platform primarily intended to fundraise for individuals, charitable causes, and community projects.

Because GoFundMe is suited to personal fundraising, anyone can create a campaign. Backers on the platform tend to support campaigns originating from personal networks, local communities or causes linked to their interests (like funding a youth sports facility renovation).

However, campaigns that gain momentum can attract a broader pool of backers. Even if campaign visitors don’t donate, they might share your profile and boost its reach.

Unlike other crowdfunding websites, GoFundMe isn’t designed for commercial activities. But if you’re a small business owner facing difficulties, or you need to raise money toward overcoming a personal challenge, try GoFundMe.

Fees: No platform fee for fundraising campaigns, just 2.9% plus 30¢ payment fee.

Pros:

• Ideal for charities and personal fundraising
• No platform fee

Cons:

• Not for commercial projects
• Success often depends on personal networks

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8. Mightycause

Best crowdfunding site for nonprofits

Since its inception in 2006, Mightycause campaigners have raised more than $600 million for nonprofit causes.

Instead of a centralized platform, Mightycause offers tools and features you can use on your website. There’s a fundraising page creator, donation forms and buttons, and social media, email, and SMS integrations. A CRM system generates reports and offers a visual overview of activities.

You can run unlimited peer-to-peer, team, and event fundraising campaigns with Mightycause. Campaigns aren’t required to meet set goals, so if your fundraiser doesn’t reach its target, you can still use the donations you receive.

Fees: $79 to $119 monthly, depending on your plan. Up to 1.9% plus 49¢ in payment processing fees.

Pros:

• Includes tools for nonprofit crowdfunding
• No goal requirements

Cons:

• High monthly fees
• Not for commercial projects

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9. CrowdStreet

Best for real estate crowdfunding

CrowdStreet offers individual investors the opportunity to contribute funds to real estate projects. So far, it has serviced $4 billion and counting in investments.

Real estate sponsors can apply for access to the platform’s marketplace and raise passive capital for their construction or financial projects. CrowdStreet also supports projects with investor management services and provides a digital marketing campaign for pitches.

As a niche crowdfunding platform, CrowdStreet is best suited to established real estate firms dealing in commercial properties. The platform’s annual market outlook report signals the project types with the most investor interest.

Fees: Specific fee structure varies depending on the deal.

Pros:

• Real estate-specific platform
• Investor management and marketing support

Cons:

• Only for established real estate firms
• Thorough vetting process

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10. StartEngine

Best equity crowdfunding site for high-growth startups

StartEngine is an equity crowdfunding platform where you can raise capital through the site’s network of more than 1.8 million prospective investors.

In order to open investment to the public, StartEngine allows fundraising through Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF), an exception to SEC regulations enabling companies to raise up to $5 million. While this process is more streamlined than traditional methods of raising funds from accredited investors, it still has strict financial and legal requirements.

Fortunately, StartEngine provides the financial review and legal documentation necessary to launch a Reg CF campaign. Companies can save on costs and infrastructure by capping their fundraising at $107,000, under the threshold that requires extensive financial reporting.

StartEngine is best for startups that have already demonstrated a growth potential and can invest upfront funds into their crowdsourcing campaign.

Fees: Varies. Between 5.5% and 13% commission.

Pros:

• Equity crowdfunding platform
• Financial review and legal documentation provided

Cons:

Extensive preparation and documentation required

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Benefits of using crowdfunding for your project

There are plenty of advantages and disadvantages to crowdfunding. Some of the top reasons to consider it include:

Access to diverse funding sources

Funding your business idea or project doesn’t have to mean begging banks or sweet-talking investors.

Crowdfunding lets you tap into thousands of potential backers who might love your idea. You can get support from a global community that believes in what you’re doing. Some investors may even become loyal customers.

Validate your business idea

If people are willing to put their hard-earned cash behind your project, you have proof that there's demand for what you're offering.

It’s better than guessing whether people will like your product or service. You can also use feedback to tweak and improve your idea before going all in.

Enhance visibility and marketing efforts

Crowdfunding is primarily about fundraising, but it’s also a great way to market your product.

Your project gets exposure to a massive audience who might never have found you otherwise. When people back your project, they often share it with their networks, creating a word-of-mouth effect.

When a campaign builds buzz, it connects you with your target audience, creating a community around your brand before you even launch.

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