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Nonprofit Management

Silent Auction Software: Mobile Bidding Platforms and What They Cost

Sherman Hsieh
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Silent Auction Software: Mobile Bidding Platforms and What They Cost

Last updated: October 8, 2026 · Independent buyer’s guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.

Silent auction software runs your auction catalog, lets guests bid from their own phones, and collects payment from winners at the end of the night. Published prices fall into four fee models: a flat annual license (ReadySetAuction from $1,099 a year, Auctria from $375 a year), a per-event package (32auctions at about $170 an event), a percentage of auction proceeds (BiddingOwl charges 5% of items won online), and card processing fees that sit on top of almost every model. Larger event platforms such as OneCause, GiveSmart and Greater Giving do not publish license prices, so you will need a quote to compare them.

This roundup covers the auction side only. For ticketing, seating, sponsorship and the wider event workflow, see our guide to nonprofit event management software features and integrations.

Silent auction software pricing at a glance

All figures below come from each vendor’s own website and were checked on October 8, 2026. Prices are in USD. “Not published” means the vendor only quotes after a sales conversation.

Vendor Plan or tier Published price What is included
ReadySetAuction Essentials / Select / Complete $1,099 / $1,499 / $1,999 per year; no percentage of proceeds Unlimited non-concurrent events for one year, online and mobile bidding, self-checkout, hosted auction site with procurement form, phone support
Auctria Explorer / Emerald / Diamond Free / $375 / $750 per year, plus an Auctria card fee of 1% / 0.5% / 0.25% Income limits of $10,000 / $50,000 / unlimited per year; mobile bidding on all tiers; sales tax and consignment tracking on paid tiers
BiddingOwl Single model 5% performance fee on items won by online or mobile bid; paper-bid events free Auction site, bid sheets, tickets, donations, checkout through Stripe or PayPal, phone support
32auctions Free / paid upgrades Free up to 20 items; “Most Popular” package about $170 per event; online payment collection adds 2.9% + $0.40 Browser-based online auction with unlimited bidders; upgrades add items, branding and text outbid alerts
Givebutter Tips on / tips off 0% platform and processing fees with donor tips on; with tips off, a 3% platform fee plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing Silent auctions alongside donations, events and other campaign types
OneCause Professional / Enterprise / Nationals Not published; card rates “starting at 2.0%” Ticketing, auctions, donations and check-out; higher tiers add event series, sponsorship invoicing and multi-affiliate reporting
GiveSmart Annual subscription / Pay-As-You-Go Annual fee not published; Pay-As-You-Go is $0 to start with a per-transaction percentage disclosed at signup Unlimited events, auctions, ticketing, text-to-give, implementation support and an assigned success manager on both models
Greater Giving Express / Event / Event with Online Bidding Not published Event software plus Auctionpay card processing; item procurement tracking, bid sheets, catalogs, check-in and check-out
Handbid Annual license (quoted) License not published; no percentage of funds raised; card rates of 3.5% + $0.30 (Visa, Mastercard, Discover) Unlimited items, guests and bidders; silent, live and paddle raise; QR check-in and tap to pay

How mobile bidding, checkout and procurement work

Mobile bidding replaces paper bid sheets with item pages on each guest’s phone. Greater Giving runs bidding on a mobile-optimized website rather than a downloadable app, and guests enter card details when they place their first bid (Greater Giving, no date shown). OneCause lists max bid and Buy Now options, real-time outbid and item-won notifications, and real-time scoreboards that show current bids (OneCause, April 28, 2026). ReadySetAuction allows up to 90 days of electronic bidding with proxy bidding and outbid alerts (ReadySetAuction, no date shown).

Checkout is where the software saves the most staff time. Because the card is already on file, the platform can total each guest’s winning bids, donations and purchases, charge the card and send a receipt without a cashier line. Ask whether guests can self-check out on their phones and how the system handles a declined card.

Procurement is the work of collecting donated items before the event. Look for a donor-facing procurement form, item records that store the donor and fair market value, and tools to bundle items into packages. ReadySetAuction includes a procurement form on its hosted auction site, and Greater Giving’s Express package tracks procured items and builds packages (Greater Giving, no date shown). Auctria adds consignment tracking on its paid tiers for items you buy from a supplier and resell (Auctria, no date shown).

Fair market value matters for tax receipts. IRS Publication 526 gives the example of a guest who pays $600 at a charity auction for a beach house stay worth that much, and says that guest has made no deductible contribution (IRS, Publication 526 for 2025 returns). Under IRS Publication 1771, you must give a written disclosure statement to a donor who makes a quid pro quo payment over $75 (IRS, Rev. November 2023). Choose software that prints the item value on the winner’s receipt.

What drives the cost

  • Flat annual license. ReadySetAuction, Auctria, Handbid and GiveSmart’s subscription charge a fixed fee for a year of events. The cost does not rise with proceeds, which suits larger or repeat events.
  • Per-event package. 32auctions charges per event for upgrades beyond its free tier. This suits one small online auction a year.
  • Percentage of proceeds. BiddingOwl takes 5% of items won through online or mobile bids, and Givebutter takes 3% when donor tips are turned off. These cost little for small events and become the most expensive option as proceeds grow.
  • Card processing. Every model except Givebutter with tips on adds processing fees, either through the vendor’s own payment service (OneCause Payments, Greater Giving Auctionpay) or through a processor you connect, such as Stripe or PayPal.

The table below shows how platform fees alone compare for one event. It is an illustration with constructed figures: a single silent auction raising $40,000 from 80 winning bidders, all paid by card and all bid on through mobile bidding. It excludes the underlying card processor’s fees, which apply in every case.

Platform and plan Fee basis Platform cost on $40,000 (illustration)
Auctria Emerald $375 a year + 0.5% card fee $575
ReadySetAuction Essentials $1,099 a year flat $1,099
Givebutter, tips off 3% platform fee $1,200
32auctions with online payment collection About $170 per event + 2.9% + $0.40 per payment About $1,362
BiddingOwl 5% of items won online $2,000

The order changes with the size of the event. At $5,000 raised, BiddingOwl’s 5% fee would be $250, well below ReadySetAuction’s annual license. Auctria’s Emerald tier also caps income at $50,000 a year across all events, so a second auction in the same year could push you into Diamond.

Hidden and extra costs

  • On-site staff and event-night support. Handbid lists on-site staff as a separate line item in its quote (Handbid, no date shown). ReadySetAuction charges extra for additional training and night-of-event support but does not publish the price.
  • Setup services. Auctria sells Launch Foundation at $499 per event and Launch Advantage at $749 per event, and Assist calls at $49.95 and $99.95.
  • Text messaging. Auctria charges $25 per 1,000 additional texts once the included block runs out.
  • Processor fees on top of platform fees. Auctria’s card fee is added to Stripe or Authorize.Net fees, and 32auctions’ 2.9% + $0.40 is added to the processor’s own rate.
  • Auto-renewal. Handbid licenses renew automatically unless you give written notice within the window in your agreement. Auctria does not auto-bill and drops you back to the free limits when a license lapses.
  • Undisclosed rates. GiveSmart says its Pay-As-You-Go percentage is disclosed at signup and in your agreement, not on its website (GiveSmart, August 31, 2026).

How to compare quotes

Ask every vendor to price the same scenario: your number of events per year, expected gross proceeds, number of items and guests, and whether you need on-site staff. Ask for these figures in writing.

  • The license or platform fee, and whether it is per event, per year or a percentage of proceeds.
  • The card processing rate for Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express, plus any per-transaction fee and ACH rate.
  • Whether guests can cover fees, and whether that is on by default.
  • The cost of on-site staff, loaner devices, setup help and extra texts.
  • Contract term, renewal notice period and what happens to your data if you leave.
  • Whether item value prints on winner receipts, and how results export to your donor database.

Auction buyers are often new donors. Our donor management software guide compares the main platforms, and our nonprofit software pricing guide covers budgeting across your wider software stack.

Vendor profiles

ReadySetAuction

ReadySetAuction publishes three annual tiers and states that you keep 100% of auction proceeds. Every tier lists the same feature modules, so the page does not explain what the higher tiers add. The pricing page’s metadata shows it was last modified in July 2019, so confirm current prices in writing.

Auctria

Auctria has the lowest published entry price for an annual license and a free tier for events under $10,000 a year. Its income caps and the card fee added on top of the processor are the limitations to plan around. Paid tiers include priority chat and email support; event-night phone support comes with the paid Launch packages.

BiddingOwl

BiddingOwl charges nothing unless items are won through online or mobile bidding, which makes it inexpensive for small events and paper-bid auctions. Because the fee is 5% with no published cap, it becomes costly as proceeds grow.

32auctions

32auctions is a browser-based online auction tool with a free tier of up to 20 items. Its own site gives the paid package price only as “about $170” per event, and online payment collection adds a fee on top of the processor.

Givebutter

Givebutter runs silent auctions as one campaign type within a wider fundraising platform. With tips on, you pay no platform or processing fees, but guests see a tip prompt at checkout.

OneCause

OneCause offers three plans for auctions and events, from Professional to Nationals for organizations with affiliate chapters, and publishes no license prices (OneCause, May 6, 2026). Its payments page gives card rates only as starting at 2.0% (OneCause, October 1, 2025).

GiveSmart

GiveSmart, part of Momentive Software, offers an annual subscription with no per-transaction fees or a Pay-As-You-Go model with no upfront fee. Neither the annual fee nor the Pay-As-You-Go percentage is published, so you cannot compare it without a quote.

Greater Giving

Greater Giving pairs event software with its own Auctionpay card processing and covers procurement, bid sheets and check-out. It publishes no prices for any package (Greater Giving, no date shown). Phone support hours are Monday to Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific, so confirm event-night coverage.

Handbid

Handbid quotes an annual license that covers all events in the term and takes no percentage of funds raised. It publishes card rates of 3.5% + $0.30, or 3.95% + $0.30 for American Express, which are higher than some competitors’ starting rates. The license price itself is quote only.

How we researched this

We reviewed the pricing and product pages of nine silent auction platforms on October 8, 2026, recording only figures each vendor publishes on its own website. Where a vendor does not publish a price, we say so rather than repeat third-party estimates. No vendor paid for inclusion or reviewed this article.

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

How much does silent auction software cost?

Published annual licenses range from free (Auctria Explorer, for under $10,000 a year in income) to $1,999 a year (ReadySetAuction Complete). Percentage-based platforms such as BiddingOwl charge 5% of items won online. OneCause, GiveSmart, Greater Giving and Handbid quote privately.

Is there free silent auction software?

Yes, with limits. Auctria Explorer is free up to $10,000 in income a year, 32auctions is free for up to 20 items, and Givebutter charges no platform fee when donor tips are on. Card processing still applies to Auctria and 32auctions, while Givebutter charges nonprofits no processing fee when tips are on.

Do guests need to download an app to bid?

Not always. Greater Giving and 32auctions run bidding in a phone browser with no bidder app. Ask each vendor whether an app is required, and plan loaner tablets for guests without a smartphone.

Can winning bidders deduct what they pay at a charity auction?

Only the amount paid above the item’s fair market value is deductible, according to IRS Publication 526. If a guest pays more than $75 and receives something in return, you must give a written disclosure statement under IRS Publication 1771. Choose software that records item value and prints it on receipts.

Who pays the credit card fees?

By default the nonprofit pays them out of proceeds. Several platforms, including Handbid, OneCause and BiddingOwl, let guests choose to cover fees at checkout.

Sources

Sherman Hsieh

CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Business-Software.com
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more
Sherman Hsieh is the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Business-Software.com. He leads the site's independent, buyer-focused coverage of ERP, CRM, and other business systems, including vendor-neutral comparisons, pricing analysis, and implementation guidance. Before founding Business-Software.com, Sherman was an executive at Siebel ...

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