GiveRadar vs GiveWell: an honest comparison
If you are deciding between GiveWell and GiveRadar, the short answer is that they answer different questions, and GiveWell's is the harder one. GiveWell tells you where a donation saves or improves the most lives per dollar, a question GiveRadar deliberately does not attempt. GiveRadar tells you what any of 7.9 million+ nonprofits in 100+ countries disclose in official records.
Primary sources
All GiveWell figures are sourced from GiveWell's own published documentation and last reviewed July 2026; volatile figures carry their date where stated. GiveRadar figures are live counts from this platform.
This page is written and maintained by GiveRadar. We make no claim to neutrality: we built GiveRadar and we believe in it, and we have tried to represent GiveWell fairly. GiveWell produces genuinely irreplaceable cost-effectiveness research, and we recommend it without reservation for donors whose goal is maximum impact per dollar. The two tools answer different questions and combine well. If you spot an inaccuracy, email info@giveradar.com and we will correct it.
Matt Timmermans
Founder of GiveRadar
GiveRadar
GiveWellTwo tools, two different questions
Almost every disagreement about "which is better" dissolves once you name the question you are actually asking. There are two, and each tool owns one of them.
The disclosure question
"Is this specific charity registered, transparent, and well-governed?"
This needs official records at scale: registration, filings, officers, and contact data, pulled from government registries. GiveRadar answers it for 7.9 million+ nonprofits, most of which no impact evaluator will ever study.
Answered by GiveRadar
The impact question
"Where does my donation do the most good per dollar?"
This needs cost-effectiveness research: program evidence, real costs, and funding gaps, weighed over months. GiveWell spends 70,000+ research hours a year answering exactly this, and GiveRadar deliberately does not attempt it.
Answered by GiveWellWho 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.
Each charity gets a 0-100 integrity assessment that measures disclosure: registration, financial transparency, governance, contact availability, and data recency. It does not measure impact, and it cannot be bought.
Profiles include financials, officer records, three types of automated red flags, peer context via GiveRadar Analysis, and watchlists with change alerts. Every data point shows its provenance, and developers get a REST API and MCP server with free tiers.
GiveWell
GiveWell is the leading cost-effectiveness charity evaluator (givewell.org), founded in 2007 by Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld; its legal entity is The Clear Fund, a US 501(c)(3) headquartered in Oakland, California (EIN 20-8625442), with a UK charity number and a Netherlands RSIN.
Its researchers spend more than 70,000 hours a year identifying programs that save or improve the most lives per dollar, and donors have directed over $2.6 billion through GiveWell from more than 150,000 donors since inception (as of July 2026).
It names four Top Charities and grants far beyond them: a record $418 million across 131 grants to 69 organizations in 30 countries in its latest metrics year. All research is free and it takes no fees on donations. It has no public API.
GiveWell for maximum impact, GiveRadar for checking any charity
GiveWell answers a question GiveRadar refuses to answer: which charities do the most good per dollar. That refusal is deliberate. Impact evaluation done properly takes what GiveWell actually spends, more than 70,000 research hours a year, and no automated disclosure score should pretend to substitute for it. What GiveRadar offers instead is breadth GiveWell does not attempt: disclosure records on 7.9 million+ nonprofits in 100+ countries.
If you are choosing where an unrestricted donation does the most measurable good, start with GiveWell. If you are checking a specific charity that GiveWell has never evaluated, which is nearly all of them, GiveRadar is where the records are.
How do GiveRadar and GiveWell compare on coverage and depth?
The two platforms sit at opposite ends of the same tradeoff. GiveWell goes extraordinarily deep on a handful of organizations; GiveRadar goes wide across millions. Neither bar being fuller is "winning": they are built for different jobs.
GiveWell's bar is almost invisible here on purpose: it granted to 69 organizations in its 2025 metrics year. That is the point of depth, not a shortfall.
GiveWell weighs program evidence, costs, and funding gaps over months; GiveRadar reads what registries already publish. Depth is GiveWell's job, not ours.
GiveWell focuses grants where cost-effective global-health impact is strongest; GiveRadar mirrors whatever a country's official registry publishes.
GiveWell is far more than four charities
GiveWell is far more than its four Top Charities: in the February 2025 to January 2026 metrics year it approved a record $418 million across 131 grants to 69 organizations, and most of that flowed beyond the four through the All Grants Fund and its broader portfolio. People often picture GiveWell as "just the four," but its own numbers say otherwise.
Figures cover the February 2025 to January 2026 metrics year; GiveWell plans to grant at least $500 million in 2026. Source: GiveWell.
What do GiveWell and GiveRadar each give you?
GiveWell and GiveRadar produce different kinds of output: GiveWell hands you a research conclusion about a program (cost per life saved), while GiveRadar hands you a disclosure record about an organization (a 0-100 integrity assessment). That is why "which score is higher" is the wrong question to ask of the two.
GiveRadar gives you an integrity assessment
A disclosure measure built from five components: registration, financial transparency, governance, contact availability, and data recency. It says how much is verifiable, never whether the mission works.
GiveWell gives you a cost-effectiveness estimate
A modeled judgment that a program is among the most efficient ways to save or improve a life, published with the reasoning and spreadsheets behind it (2022-2024 averages, unchanged as of June 2026).
GiveRadar vs GiveWell: the full comparison table
These tools are not competitors; the table lines them up across the dimensions where each is meaningful. GiveWell figures last reviewed July 2026.
| Dimension | GiveRadar | GiveWell |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | 7.9 million+ nonprofits | Four Top Charities plus a broader portfolio: 131 grants to 69 organizations in the latest metrics year |
| Geography | 100+ countries | Grants in ~30 countries, focused on global health and poverty |
| What the score means | Integrity assessment, 0-100: measures disclosure (registration, financial transparency, governance, contact, recency), not impact | No score: a research recommendation that a program saves or improves the most lives per dollar, roughly $3,500 to $5,500 per life saved (2022-2024 averages) |
| Price | Free for everyone; no pay-to-play | Free: all research published openly, no fees taken on donations it processes |
| Data source | 50+ official government registries and tax authorities, with provenance on every data point | Its own research: 70,000+ hours a year of program evaluation and cost-effectiveness modeling, published as articles and spreadsheets |
| API | REST API and MCP server, free tiers available | No public API (as of July 2026) |
| Monitoring | Watchlists and change alerts | None; recommendations update as research concludes |
Scroll the table sideways on a phone to see every column.
When should you use GiveWell vs GiveRadar?
For most thoughtful donors the question is not "which" but "in what combination".
Use GiveRadar when
- The charity you are checking is not in GiveWell's portfolio, which is nearly every charity on earth.
- Your question is about a specific organization's disclosure: registration, filings, officer compensation where disclosed, red flags, and peer context.
- You are giving locally or to a specific cause and country rather than optimizing globally.
- You need monitoring or integration: watchlists, change alerts, and a REST API plus MCP server.
Use GiveWell when
- You are deciding where a donation does the most good and are open about the destination.
- You want evaluated giving without doing the evaluation yourself: the Top Charities Fund, All Grants Fund, and Unrestricted Fund route money to opportunities GiveWell has already investigated.
- You want to read serious cost-effectiveness research, spanning malaria, nutrition, vaccination, livelihoods, and water (as of mid-2026).
Use both when
You split your giving, as many donors do: an optimized portion through GiveWell's recommendations, and a personal portion to local or cause-specific charities you check on GiveRadar first. The two tools genuinely do not overlap. And if you want background on GiveWell's own recommended organizations, their registry records, filings, and officers are on GiveRadar like any other charity, as raw disclosure data alongside GiveWell's impact case.
Is GiveRadar a good alternative to GiveWell?
If you searched for a GiveWell alternative, we will be honest: GiveRadar is not one. Nothing on GiveRadar replicates cost-effectiveness research, and we have made a deliberate decision never to tell you which charity does the most good per dollar. That question requires the kind of work GiveWell does, more than 70,000 research hours a year across program evidence, costs, and funding gaps, and an automated disclosure score that pretended to answer it would be misleading. If maximizing impact per dollar is your goal, GiveWell is the tool, and it is free.
GiveRadar is the better fit only when your question is different: you already know which charity you care about and want to see its official records, or the organization sits outside the global-health-and-poverty space GiveWell researches, or you need data on charities in a specific country. GiveRadar covers 7.9 million+ nonprofits across 100+ countries, entirely free, with a disclosure-based integrity assessment. It is a records desk, not an impact evaluator.
GiveRadar and GiveWell: common questions
Is GiveRadar a GiveWell alternative?
No, not for GiveWell's core question. GiveWell identifies the charities that save or improve the most lives per dollar; GiveRadar does not evaluate impact at all and deliberately never will. GiveRadar is complementary: it holds disclosure records, registration, financials, and officer data on 7.9 million+ nonprofits across 100+ countries, including the many charities GiveWell has never studied. Use GiveWell to decide where money does the most good; use GiveRadar to check what a specific charity discloses.
Is GiveWell or GiveRadar better?
Neither is better; they answer different questions, and GiveWell's is one GiveRadar refuses to attempt. GiveWell answers "where does my donation do the most good", backed by 70,000+ research hours a year. GiveRadar answers "what does this specific charity disclose in official records", across 100+ countries. The honest steer: for maximizing impact, GiveWell, without hesitation; for looking up a particular charity's records, GiveRadar.
What are GiveWell's top charities?
As of June 2026, GiveWell names exactly four Top Charities, all global-health programs: Malaria Consortium (seasonal malaria chemoprevention), Against Malaria Foundation (insecticide-treated nets), Helen Keller Intl (vitamin A supplementation), and New Incentives (cash incentives for childhood vaccination in Northern Nigeria). GiveWell estimates roughly $3,500 to $5,500 per life saved across them (2022-2024 averages). Most GiveWell grantmaking now goes beyond this list: in its 2025 metrics year, $309 million of $418 million went to other programs via the All Grants Fund and its broader portfolio.
Does GiveWell have an API?
No. As of July 2026, GiveWell publishes no public API; its research is released as free articles, spreadsheets, and cost-effectiveness models on givewell.org. GiveRadar offers a REST API and an MCP server, both with free tiers, covering all 7.9 million+ nonprofits in its database. The two are not substitutes: GiveWell's output is research conclusions, GiveRadar's is structured registry data.
Does GiveRadar cover GiveWell's top charities?
Yes. GiveWell's four current Top Charities (Malaria Consortium, Against Malaria Foundation, Helen Keller Intl, and New Incentives) each have a profile in GiveRadar with their registry records, financials, officers, and integrity assessment, like any other charity. GiveWell tells you the programs are cost-effective; GiveRadar shows you each organization's disclosure record. Use GiveWell's research to choose, and GiveRadar to check the operational signals.
Other tools donors weigh
Check any charity's disclosure record, free
Search 7.9M+ nonprofits in 100+ countries. Then read GiveWell's impact research too; serious giving uses both.