Comparison

Charity Navigator vs CharityWatch

Charity Navigator and CharityWatch both land on Worth it.

Charity Navigator

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Donors should use it . it's free vetting before you give.

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Use it if you want tough, financial-only vetting of a specific US charity before donating . it's free and uncompromising.

Charity Navigator versus CharityWatch
Compare	Charity Navigator	CharityWatch
Verdict	Worth it	Worth it
Best for	Donors vetting charities before giving	Individual donors vetting a US charity
Who it's not for	Software buyers . it's a free ratings site, not a purchasable tool	Grant-makers needing diligence at scale . the £149 reports are the separate .co.uk product
Privacy	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
Support quality	No evidence found	No evidence in sources
Public sentiment	Reddit threads and opinion writers question its trustworthiness and methodology, while some users still call it a great starting point for charity research.^⁴	Reddit donors and mainstream outlets treat CharityWatch as a credible, harder-edged watchdog than star-rating sites.¹⁶
Biggest gotcha	Giving Basket donations may carry fees . check the fee breakdown before donating.^³	Coverage is the catch: check your charity is actually rated before relying on it.

Grant-makers needing diligence at scale . the £149 reports are the separate .co.uk product
Anyone wanting volume . many charities are simply unrated
Star-rating fans; Charity Navigator covers far more nonprofits
Nonprofits hoping to buy a rating; coverage is analyst-driven