GiveRadar vs Candid: an honest comparison

What are GiveRadar and Candid each for?

Both hold nonprofit data, but they are built for different questions. Candid goes deep on US organizations and their funders; GiveRadar goes wide across countries with a disclosure score from official records.

Global disclosure, no account

"How transparent is this charity, anywhere in the world, per official data?"

This needs broad coverage and a comparable score from government registries, free and signup-free. GiveRadar answers it across 100+ countries, where Candid's coverage is US-centric.

Answered by GiveRadar

US depth and funder data

"Tell me everything about this US organization and who funds it."

This needs decades of IRS-derived detail, self-reported program profiles, and funder-and-grants data that nobody else has at that depth. Candid is the most complete US source, and GiveRadar has no funder or grants database.

Answered by Candid

Who each one is

GiveRadar

GiveRadar is a free charity intelligence platform covering 7.9 million+ nonprofits across 100+ countries, built from 50+ official government registries and tax authorities, plus vetted directories where no registry data exists.

Every charity gets a 0-100 integrity assessment of disclosure and governance signals: registration, financial transparency, governance, contact availability, and data recency. It does not measure impact, and it cannot be bought.

Profiles add red flags, officer compensation where disclosed, GiveRadar Analysis peer context, and watchlists with change alerts. No signup is needed to look up a charity, and developers get a REST API and MCP server with free tiers.

Candid

Candid is the dominant US nonprofit information organization, formed in February 2019 from the merger of GuideStar (founded 1994) and Foundation Center (founded 1956). It is itself a US nonprofit.

Its database covers 1.9 million organizations, 3 million annual grant transactions, and about $180 billion in annual grant dollars (candid.org, as of July 2026). In January 2026 it launched Candid search, unifying the legacy GuideStar and Foundation Directory products behind one login: free with registration, with tiered paid subscriptions.

Candid runs the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Seals of Transparency, sells bulk datasets from $3,500 and a suite of eight APIs with published starting prices, and its data powers more than 200 third-party giving platforms.

How big is Candid?

Candid is the deepest US nonprofit dataset there is, with funder and grants data nobody else matches. These are its own published headline figures.

What are Candid's Seals of Transparency, and how do they compare?

Candid's Seals of Transparency are four disclosure tiers a nonprofit earns by adding information to its own Candid profile. GiveRadar's integrity assessment is a 0-100 score computed from official records. Both measure disclosure, from opposite directions.

GiveRadar: registry-sourced score

82 / 100

A single 0-100 score,
example shown

The integrity assessment reflects what official government registries and tax authorities publish about the charity, scored across registration, financial transparency, governance, contact availability, and data recency. It cannot be bought and cannot be self-certified through a profile.

Candid: self-reported seals

Bronze Silver Gold Platinum

A charity earns each tier by adding information to its own profile: basic details for Bronze, programs for Silver, financials and leadership for Gold, and goals and results metrics for Platinum. Fewer than 1 percent of US nonprofits hold Platinum (as of July 2026). Free to earn, cannot be bought, and reflect what a charity says about itself.

GiveRadar vs Candid: the full comparison table

These tools publish different data; the table lines them up across the dimensions where each is meaningful. Candid figures last reviewed July 2026.

Scroll the table sideways on a phone to see every column.

When should you use Candid vs GiveRadar?

The two views genuinely complement each other: one is what official records show, the other is what the charity chooses to disclose.

Use GiveRadar when

• The charity is outside the United States: GiveRadar covers 100+ countries where Candid is US-centric.
• You want a lookup with no account: full profiles need no registration.
• You want a disclosure score grounded in official records that cannot be bought or self-certified.
• You need an affordable API, or free watchlists and change alerts for ongoing monitoring.

Use Candid when

• You are researching a US nonprofit in depth and want the fullest profile, including what the organization added itself.
• You need funder-side data: who gives grants, to whom, and at what scale.
• You are a US grantmaker or platform that needs compliance-grade products such as the Charity Check API.
• You want demographic data on nonprofit leadership through Demographics via Candid.

Looking for a GuideStar alternative?

GuideStar no longer exists as a standalone product: since January 15, 2026, its data lives inside Candid search, one unified platform with a single login, free with registration and with tiered paid subscriptions on top. The guidestar.org domain still resolves as a Candid-branded site, but Candid is actively migrating users to the new platform (as of July 2026). So "GuideStar alternative" today really means one of two things.

If you used GuideStar for free profile lookups: GiveRadar is the closest free alternative that asks for no account at all. You can look up any of 7.9 million+ nonprofits across 100+ countries and see the integrity assessment, financials, officer records with compensation where disclosed, and red flags, with the source shown for every data point. If your research is exclusively US-based and you want the self-reported program detail GuideStar profiles were known for, registering for Candid search (free) remains the right move.

If you used or priced the GuideStar APIs: those are now Candid's APIs, with published starting prices from $2,750 to $9,900 per year, plus two free APIs and a 30-day trial (candid.org, as of July 2026). GiveRadar's REST API starts free at 10 requests/day and Pro is $99/month for 10,000 requests/day. Both now speak MCP: Candid through its Anthropic partnership inside Claude for Nonprofits, GiveRadar through its own keyless MCP server. If you need US compliance products or 760-field IRS depth, Candid's pricing buys data GiveRadar does not have; if you need broad international coverage, per-field provenance, or a budget-friendly start, GiveRadar is the practical GuideStar API alternative. See our comparison with ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer for the free 990-data angle.

Is GiveRadar a good Candid alternative?

GiveRadar is a genuine Candid alternative for global charity lookups, disclosure scoring, monitoring, and affordable API access. It is not a Candid alternative for everything, and pretending otherwise would not serve you. GiveRadar has no funder or grants database, no charity-authored program profiles or results metrics, no demographic data program, and no US compliance products. If those are what you use Candid for, stay with Candid; it is the best at them.

If what you need is a free, registration-free check on any charity in 100+ countries, an integrity assessment that reflects official disclosure rather than profile completeness, watchlists and change alerts at no cost, or an API that starts free, GiveRadar covers that, and you can verify every claim on the page because each data point links to its source. For other US-focused comparisons, see how GiveRadar compares to Charity Navigator.

GiveRadar and Candid: common questions

Other US nonprofit data tools compared

GiveRadar vs Charity Navigator The big US star-rating evaluator, compared with a global disclosure database. GiveRadar vs ProPublica The free 990 data source, next to registry-sourced disclosure. GiveRadar vs GiveWell Impact research versus disclosure, the complementary comparison.

See all GiveRadar comparisons