Although the Brazilian Federal regulation approach against deforestation has been effective with large landowners, it has little touched smallholders and may have aggravated their poverty conditions. In this context, REDD+ is seen by many institutions as a useful tool to promote conservation by small farmers, as it could encourage a transition towards alternatives livelihoods, which would reduce deforestation. In the context of a REDD+ pilot project in São Felix do Xingu, we aimed at analysing the perceptions of deforestation by small farmers and what would bring them to stop. We concluded that an investment-based scheme might be more effective than a use-restricting payment, given that support in the form of technical assistance is essential for most of them. More specifically three groups are identified: the environmentalists, the innovators and the objectors. They each have very different needs to reduce deforestation, questioning the relevance of one-fits-it-all solutions even for an investment scheme. A REDD+ project would have to adapt to this diversity by offering various forms of support. This has implications both for the equity within a REDD+ project and the control of conditionality.