Indiegogo was for years the flexible-funding option: miss your goal and you still kept the money. That changed with its 2025 platform overhaul, when flexible funding was discontinued for new campaigns and fixed, all-or-nothing goals became the rule.
Indiegogo is still a strong home for an inventive physical product going out to a worldwide audience. For a bakery replacing an oven or a clinic fitting out a second room, the audience is local and a partial raise is still a real help.
Pledzy vs Indiegogo
| Pledzy | Indiegogo | |
|---|---|---|
| Funding model | Keep what you raise — the goal is a target | Fixed goals for new campaigns since the 2025 platform change |
| Built for | Local businesses, nonprofits and community projects | Product launches, inventions and creative projects |
| Audience | Your own city and state, plus local hubs | A global audience of product backers |
| Platform fee | 5% (3% for verified nonprofits) | 5% of funds collected |
| Card processing | 2.9% + 30¢, deducted from the payout | Roughly 3% + 20¢ per transaction |
| Business verification | Registration, tax ID and photo ID checked before the badge | Creator identity and tax details collected |
| Local discovery | City and state hubs, browse by business type and reason | Category browsing and trending product feeds |
- Most of your support will come from people who already know your business.
- Partial funding is still useful — you do not want an all-or-nothing cliff.
- You are a nonprofit or community group.
- You want a verified, reviewed business page rather than a product launch page.
- You are launching a manufactured product to a worldwide audience.
- The project only works fully funded, so a fixed goal protects you.
- You want to tap an existing community of gadget and product backers.
Common questions
Does Indiegogo still have flexible funding?
Not for new campaigns. Flexible funding was discontinued in the 2025 platform overhaul, so new Indiegogo campaigns use fixed goals. Pledzy campaigns always keep what they raise.
Are the fees similar?
Both platforms charge around 5% plus card processing. Pledzy charges 3% for verified nonprofits, and our processing is 2.9% + 30¢ taken from the payout.
Keep reading
GoFundMe is built for personal causes. Pledzy is built for local businesses raising money with rewards, verification and a campaign structure customers expect.
Kickstarter is all-or-nothing and built for creative products. Pledzy lets local businesses keep what they raise, with rewards, local discovery and a lower risk of ending with nothing.
Honeycomb lets a local business borrow from its community and pay interest. Pledzy raises the same kind of money from the same people with rewards instead of repayment.
Equity crowdfunding sells shares in your company under SEC rules. Pledzy raises money from customers with rewards, so you keep full ownership and skip the filings.
Donation tools are built for ongoing giving on your own website. Pledzy is a campaign platform with reward tiers, review and local discovery — at a 3% nonprofit rate.
Patreon is monthly membership for creators. Pledzy is a one-time campaign for a local business with a specific thing to fund and a deadline to do it by.
Facebook fundraisers are cheap and easy, but donation-only and built for personal causes. Pledzy gives a business a reviewed campaign page, reward tiers and verification.
Every fee on a pledge in plain language, with the real math.