Free base auction. No platform commission. No donor-tipping defaults. Optional upgrades you pay for directly. 130,500+ causes since 2008.
"Almost double last year." — Sarah, PTA Pres.
"Free silent auction platform" is a Googled phrase that delivers messy results. Some platforms calling themselves free recover their cost via optional donor tipping that defaults to enabled (donors are prompted to add a 5-15% tip on top of their bid, often without realizing it's optional). Some are free until you cross a fundraising threshold ($5,000 raised is common). Some are free to sign up but require a paid plan to actually launch. Some are free with a platform commission on every donation. The phrase "free" hides a lot of trade-offs across the category.
32auctions has a more honest model. The base auction is genuinely free forever — build it, publish it, run it, collect bids and payments without paying us a dollar. The trade-off is house ads on the auction page (which is how we fund the free tier for organizations that can't pay). The Most Popular upgrade package costs about $170 per event if you want those ads removed plus branding, more items, more images, and text notifications. We don't take a platform commission on what you raise — every dollar a winner pays goes to your organization minus only the standard Stripe/PayPal processing fees. No donor-tip defaults. No platform fee deductions.
This page covers exactly what's in the free tier, exactly what's not, how this compares to other "free" platforms (Givebutter, BiddingOwl, RallyUp, Auctria's free tier — each with different trade-offs), the transparent pricing for upgrades when you want them, and the answers to the questions organizers ask before committing to any platform claiming to be free.
Every painful step of a silent auction, rebuilt for how organizers actually run them.
Paper bid sheets. Midnight recounts. The runner who lost the form.
Every bid lands on every device in real time. Auto-bidding, outbid alerts, and a live leaderboard drive the final-minute frenzy. Final totals reconcile themselves the second the auction closes.
Praying donors show up. Praying they brought a checkbook.
Your custom URL is the only thing donors need. No app, no account, no friction. Outbid texts and emails keep them in the auction until the final minute.
Chasing winners for payment for the next three weeks.
When your auction closes, every winner gets their invoice. Most pay by card within an hour through your own Stripe or PayPal account — we never sit in the middle of your money.
Not a kitchen-sink feature list. The capabilities that consistently separate auctions that work from auctions that flop.
Sign up today and the base auction is yours forever. No trial expiration date. No "free until you raise $5,000" cap. No "free for one auction, paid after." No platform commission on what you raise. Build a full auction with up to 20 items, publish at a custom URL, run it to completion, collect payments (via self-managed payments at no 32auctions transaction fee, or with the Online Payment Collection upgrade at 2.9% + $0.40 per transaction). The free tier supports unlimited bidders, custom URL, mobile-friendly bidding, outbid email notifications, real-time auction insights, proxy bidding, Buy Now, basic donor and sponsor promotion, and email support.
Free includes: custom URL auction page, up to 20 items with 1 image per item, mobile-friendly bidding (no app, no account for bidders), outbid email notifications, real-time auction insights, proxy bidding and Buy Now, basic donor and sponsor promotion, unlimited bidders, email support. Trade-off: our house ads display on the auction page. The ads are served by standard ad networks with appropriate filtering for the nonprofit-fundraising context — they appear in defined positions and don't interrupt the bidding experience. For organizations where the ads aren't acceptable, the No 3rd Party Ads upgrade removes them (included in the Most Popular package at about $170 per event).
Some "free" platforms fund themselves via optional donor tipping that defaults to enabled — donors see a checkbox asking them to add a 5-15% tip on top of their bid, often without realizing it's optional. The platform collects the tips as revenue. The trade-off is that donors who don't notice the checkbox pay more than they intended, and your nonprofit receives less per bid. 32auctions doesn't operate this way. Donors pay the bid they entered, plus Stripe/PayPal's standard processing fee (paid by you or passed through to the donor depending on your settings), plus the 32auctions transaction fee (2.9% + $0.40, only if using Online Payment Collection). No tipping. No surprise add-ons.
Most organizations on the free tier eventually want a branded, ad-free page (typically as their auction grows or their donor expectations rise). The Most Popular package at about $170 per event is the standard combination most organizers pick — no ads, full branding, expanded item count, more images per item, text outbid notifications. You can also buy individual upgrades à la carte: just No 3rd Party Ads, just More Items, just Apply Your Brand. Pay only for what you actually use; the rest of the upgrades stay locked until you need them.
Donor, bidder, item, and winning-bid data is exportable to CSV from any auction — free or paid. You own your data. We don't lock the export behind an upgrade. This matters because you may want to import auction data into your CRM (Bloomerang, Salesforce, etc.) or generate tax receipts for your 501(c)(3) donors — the data needed for both is in the free-tier export. Lock-in via data export restrictions is a common pattern at competing platforms; we don't operate that way.
Many "free" platforms eventually convert to paid-only after being acquired by larger fundraising-software companies. 32auctions has been independent and family-run since 2008, with the free tier as a continuous part of the model the entire time. Through three recessions, the nonprofit-software industry's major consolidation wave, and 17 years of business operations, the free tier has remained available. We can sustain it because our cost structure is built around it — house ads on the free tier subsidize the platform's operating costs while the paid tier funds growth. No acquisition pressure, no IPO timeline, no quarterly-growth obligation to close the free tier later.
The end-to-end workflow most organizers follow on 32auctions, in the order they follow it.
Create your account. No credit card. Three minutes.
Name it. Pick start and end dates. Choose privacy settings.
Upload photos, write descriptions, set starting bids and bid increments. Import from a spreadsheet if you have one from last year.
Free base supports 20 items with house ads. The Most Popular package (about $170) removes ads, adds branding, expands items and images, unlocks text notifications.
Link your Stripe or PayPal account for automatic winner invoicing, or use self-managed payments at no 32auctions transaction fee.
Share your custom URL via email, text, social media, and printed materials. Auction goes live at your scheduled time.
Real-time insights, live leaderboard, automatic outbid notifications — the platform handles engagement automatically.
When the auction ends, winners are invoiced. Funds deposit. Export your treasurer reports. Send thank-yous.
The full pricing model, plainly stated. Use this to compare against any competitor — we publish ours; most of them require you to talk to sales to find theirs.
Free base auction (free forever): Up to 20 items, 1 image per item, custom auction URL, real-time mobile bidding, outbid email notifications, real-time auction insights, proxy/Buy Now bidding, basic donor and sponsor promotion, unlimited bidders, email support. Funded by house ads displayed on the auction page.
Optional upgrades, à la carte or as packages:
The Most Popular package — about $170 per event: The pre-built combination most organizers pick. Removes house ads, adds your branding, expands items and images, unlocks text notifications.
The Works package: All upgrades bundled, for organizers who want everything.
Transaction fees on payment collection: When you use the Online Payment Collection upgrade, 32auctions adds 2.9% + $0.40 per online payment, on top of whatever Stripe or PayPal charges. Or use self-managed payments (cash, check, your own processor) and pay no 32auctions transaction fee.
What we never charge: No annual contract. No commission on what you raise. No platform fee on donations. No minimums.
Honest, sourced comparison. Pricing changes — verify with each vendor before purchase.
| 32auctions | Auctria | Silent Auction Pro | Givebutter | RallyUp | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free (base auction) | Free starter; credits for upgrades | From $449/yr | Free with optional donor tipping | Free with optional donor tipping |
| Pricing model | Pay per event (~$170 package) | Freemium + credit purchases | Annual subscription | Tip-supported, no subscription | Tip-supported or paid plans |
| Free tier? | Yes — base auction free forever | Yes (limited) | No | Yes | Yes (with tipping) |
| Bidder requires app? | No — web-based | No | No | No | No |
| Bidder requires account? | No | Yes (light registration) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Transaction fee on online payments | 2.9% + $0.40 (32a) on top of Stripe/PayPal — OR $0 with self-managed | 2.9% + $0.30 via Stripe | 2.9% flat (via Worldpay) | 2.9% + $0.30 combined platform fee | Varies by plan |
| Years in market | Since 2008 | Since 2011 | Since 2002 | Since 2016 | Since 2015 |
| Best for | 1-4 events/yr, schools, churches, small/mid nonprofits | Small to mid auctions with simple needs | Mid-range nonprofits, schools, churches | Modern fundraising tools, all-in-one feel | Multi-format fundraising (raffles, auctions) |
Pricing and feature data sourced from each vendor's public pricing pages and verified third-party listings on G2, Capterra, and GetApp (Nov 2025-Apr 2026). Pricing changes — always confirm current rates directly with vendors before purchase. 32auctions transaction fees apply only when using the Online Payment Collection upgrade; self-managed payments carry no 32auctions transaction fee.
Stories from preschool PTOs to verified G2 reviewers. The metric we care most about: did they use 32auctions again the next year?
So easy, so smooth, and so fun. Our preschool has used them for many, many years for the biggest fundraiser of our school year — and every year it just works. Entering items is simple. The presentation to our families is great. Wrapping it up is easy.
The site was easy to set up and worked like a charm for our first fundraiser. The remote bidding features were the best part — administrators could post items in minutes and see who'd bid on what in real time. We raised more than I projected.
No marketing-speak. Just the truth about how the platform actually works for free silent auction platform.
Is the free tier really free or is there a catch I'm missing?
The catch is house ads on the auction page. That's literally the entire catch. The free tier is fully functional — you can build a full auction with up to 20 items, publish it at a custom URL, run it to completion, collect bids, and reconcile payments without paying us a dollar. If the ads are unacceptable for your auction (some larger nonprofits have brand-purity requirements), the No 3rd Party Ads upgrade removes them. For most small fundraisers, classroom auctions, family causes, and ministry events, the free tier is fully sufficient permanently.
How does 32auctions free tier compare to Givebutter?
Different funding models. Givebutter is free but funds itself through optional donor tipping that defaults to enabled — donors are prompted to add a tip on top of their bid (typically 5-15%), and most donors don't uncheck the box. Givebutter collects the tips as revenue. The trade-off is donor confusion (donors paying more than they intended) and your nonprofit receiving slightly less per bid (since the tip is on top of the bid rather than as part of it). 32auctions funds the free tier through house ads on the auction page — disclosed clearly, no donor-side fees. Which trade-off is better depends on your donor base and your view of donor-tipping transparency.
How does 32auctions free tier compare to BiddingOwl?
Different feature limits. BiddingOwl is free for in-person auctions with under $5,000 raised. Online auctions and larger amounts require paid plans. 32auctions is free for any auction up to 20 items, with no fundraising cap and no online/in-person distinction. For most small to medium fundraisers, 32auctions's free tier is more generous on both dimensions (item count and total raised). For very small in-person-only auctions under $5,000, BiddingOwl's free tier may fit equally well.
How does 32auctions free tier compare to RallyUp?
Similar to Givebutter — RallyUp funds the free tier through optional donor tipping. Same trade-offs apply: donor confusion potential vs ad-supported transparency. Beyond the tipping model, RallyUp positions itself toward multi-format fundraising (raffles, sweepstakes, peer-to-peer alongside auctions). 32auctions focuses on silent auctions exclusively. For organizations needing multi-format fundraising and willing to accept donor tipping as the cost model, RallyUp may fit. For organizations focused on silent auctions and preferring ad-supported transparency, 32auctions fits better.
Can I run my whole multi-year auction program on the free tier without ever paying?
If your auction stays under 20 items and you're OK with house ads on the page, yes — permanently. Many small auctions on 32auctions run entirely on the free tier year after year. Classroom-level fundraisers, small ministry events, single-family-cause auctions, and small team fundraisers all routinely operate on the free tier permanently. Larger or more brand-conscious auctions typically upgrade to the Most Popular package ($170 per event) eventually, but there's no platform pressure to upgrade — the free tier is sustainable on its own terms.
What's the long-term risk that 32auctions will eliminate the free tier?
Low. The free tier has been continuously available since 2008. The platform's cost structure is built around the free tier (house ads on free auctions fund the platform's operating costs; the paid tier funds growth). Eliminating the free tier would require a fundamental business-model change, which is unlikely given our independent ownership and 17-year track record. That said, no guarantee is absolute — if you want certainty that you'll always have the platform you signed up for, the Most Popular package at $170 per event has the same long-term pricing stability as the free tier.
Can I collect payments on the free tier or do I need to upgrade?
Both options. Self-managed payments (cash, check, your existing processor) work on the free tier at no 32auctions transaction fee. Online payment collection (auto-invoicing winners through Stripe/PayPal) requires the Online Payment Collection upgrade, which is a per-event upgrade. For very small auctions where you'd prefer not to set up online payments, self-managed works fine — invoice winners manually after the auction via email. For larger auctions where manual invoicing is impractical, the Online Payment Collection upgrade automates winner invoicing through your Stripe/PayPal account at 2.9% + $0.40 per transaction.
Name it now. Set it up tonight. Share it tomorrow. Free base auction. No credit card. No commitment.