GivebearGivebear vs GiveSmart. Kiosks, fees and funds, side by side.
Compare GiveSmart with Givebear for gala fundraising, auctions, text-to-give, event registration, donation kiosks, donor records, and receipts. See the side-by-side comparison, where GiveSmart still fits, and how to migrate to Givebear without breaking donation links.
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Side by side.
| Capability | Givebear | GiveSmart |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Auction / Mobile Bidding | No | Yes |
| Hardware Donation Kiosks | Yes | No |
| Year-Round Online Giving Pages | Yes | Event-centric |
| Unified Donor CRM Integration | Yes | Add-on |
| Month-to-Month Pricing | Yes | Annual contract |
When GiveSmart is the better fit
GiveSmart fits organizations whose fundraising centers on silent auctions, mobile bidding, and large ticketed galas where auction mechanics are the core requirement.
Run your own numbers
The kiosk cost calculator and the platform fee calculator work from your device count and giving volume.
After the gift. Where each one lands.
The full comparison.
Last updated June 2026
Quick answer
GiveSmart is a gala platform: silent auctions, mobile bidding, and ticketed events, sold on an annual contract. Givebear has no auction or bidding tools. It covers the rest of the year instead: lobby donation kiosks, online giving pages, fund routing, and event registration feeding one donor list, on month-to-month plans. If auctions are the core of your fundraising, GiveSmart fits better.
Key takeaways
- GiveSmart's donor CRM is an add-on; Givebear's is part of every plan.
- Givebear sells donation kiosks; GiveSmart does not.
- Before switching, export auction history and list text-to-give shortcodes, donors who started recurring gifts at past events, and event URLs that need redirects.
Who this is for: Nonprofits comparing event fundraising and auction platforms; Development and events staff who sell tickets and take donations at the same event and want both in one donor history, weighing GiveSmart against Givebear
GiveSmart is an event fundraising and auction platform. In the comparison below, GiveSmart has the edge on silent auction / mobile bidding, and the rest comes down to cost and how in-person giving is handled.
Where GiveSmart is the better choice
GiveSmart offers silent auction / mobile bidding, and Givebear does not. If staff use that every week, leaving GiveSmart means replacing it with another tool or going without.
Where Givebear is different
Givebear fits organizations where events are one channel among several: lobby donation kiosks, online giving pages, fund routing, and event registration writing to the same donor records all year.
Compared with GiveSmart, Givebear's kiosk for an event entrance or registration table is a 21.5-inch touchscreen with a built-in Stripe card reader, sold once at $999 to $1,099 (wall mount or battery floor stand) with no per-kiosk software subscription.
What to test before you decide
Score both platforms on auction and mobile bidding depth, year-round giving outside events, donation kiosk support, unified donor records and receipts, and pricing model and contract terms. Use your last gala or ticketed event as the test case: set up the same funds and receipt wording in a free Givebear account and check whether it produces the report your board asked for from GiveSmart.
How do you switch from GiveSmart to Givebear?
Review auction history exports, active text-to-give shortcodes, recurring donors created at past events, and which event URLs and QR codes need redirects before switching.
Givebear imports contacts and past gifts from a CSV, so the GiveSmart export is the first step. Create your funds in Givebear before importing the GiveSmart file, since fund names in it do not create funds on their own. Saved cards move only if GiveSmart and Stripe support a transfer; otherwise recurring donors restart their gift on your new page, so announce the change a few weeks ahead.
Before cutover, list every place a donor can reach GiveSmart: website buttons, email footers, printed QR codes, and event pages. Repoint the ones you control; a printed code that sends donors to GiveSmart keeps working only as long as GiveSmart keeps that page up.
Practical use cases
- Choose Givebear if you need hardware donation kiosks, which GiveSmart does not offer.
- Stay with GiveSmart if your team depends on silent auction / mobile bidding.
- Keep GiveSmart for online giving and add a Givebear kiosk for walk-up gifts, then decide after a season of both.
Common questions
Does GiveSmart support donation kiosks?
What is the best GiveSmart alternative?
Can I import my donors from GiveSmart?
What does switching from GiveSmart to Givebear cost?
Givebear covers donation portal, donation kiosks, campaign pages, event registration, automated receipts, donor records.
See Givebear next to GiveSmart.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough. Bring what you run on GiveSmart today and we will show the same setup in Givebear: funds, kiosk, receipts and reports.
- Your funds, set up the way your treasurer reports them
- Where a kiosk would go, and what it costs
- The reports your board will actually see
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