While both Kiva and Zidisha are non-profit microfinance organizations operational online and based in the US, there are a few notable differences. While Kiva lends the lender amounts to microfinance institutions based locally, Zidisha uses no intermediaries. Loans from Zidisha go directly to computer literate borrowers who update their loans and progress status to their borrowers on regular basis. Cutting the intermediaries also considerably cuts costs in terms of interest rates. Zidisha uses a one-time registration fee to conduct thorough background checks on borrowers. Read more here.