10 Church Communication Apps Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 26 tools reviewed.
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
With so many different communication solutions available, figuring out which one is right for you is tough. You know you want a centralized platform for sharing announcements, event updates, prayer requests, and other important information, but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experiences using dozens of different tools and leveraging my experience as a technical consultant for a metropolitan church to share my picks of the best communication app options on the market.
What is a Church Communication App?
A church communication app is a specialized application that facilitates communication and collaboration within a church community on any device. It provides a convenient and accessible platform for church members, leaders, and staff to stay connected, share information, and engage in meaningful communication related to church activities and events.
Features like messaging and chat functionality, announcement boards, event calendars, prayer request submission, and push notifications allow churches to foster a sense of community and connection among members and ensure that important announcements and updates reach the intended audience on time.
Best Church Communication App Summary
Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Best for mobile app communications | Free version available | From $12/month | Website | |
2 | Best for personalized messages | Free plan available | From $69.99/month | Website | |
3 | Best for mass emails and texts | Free plan available | From $9/month | Website | |
4 | Best for church donor communications | Free demo | $50/account/month. | Website | |
5 | Best for automating communications | 30-day free trial | From $58/month | Website | |
6 | Best for website communications | 15-day free trial | From $39/month | Website | |
7 | Best for member engagement analytics | You can access a demo and request a free trial. | from $279/month | Website | |
8 | Best for fundraiser communications | Not available | From $99/month/account | Website | |
9 | Best for church surveys & polls | 14-day free trial | From $94/month | Website | |
10 | Best for communicating around church projects & tasks | 30-day free trial upon request | $35.13/account/month | Website |
Reviews Of The 10 Best Church Communication Apps
Here’s a brief description of each church communication app to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
ChMeetings is a comprehensive church management software tailored for churches and religious organizations to streamline communication and administrative tasks. Designed for congregations of all sizes, it offers standout features like mobile app access for both admins and members, ensuring everyone stays connected. The platform supports email, text, and voice messaging, and push notifications, facilitating effective communication within the church. Additionally, it integrates with popular apps like WhatsApp and Viber for seamless interaction, making it an invaluable tool for modern church communication.
Beyond basic communication, ChMeetings boasts a suite of features aimed at enhancing church operations. It provides tools for creating and managing groups with specific communication options for each group, such as targeted emails and notifications. The software also supports event management, allowing churches to organize and promote events efficiently. With capabilities like QR code check-ins, volunteer scheduling, and detailed reporting, ChMeetings ensures that all aspects of church communication and management are handled smoothly.
SteepleMate is a church management system designed to help you oversee various aspects of your church's operations. It offers tools for managing attendance, finances, and member information, all in one place. Its app excels in people management, offering tools like advanced group management, guest tracking, and communication activity reporting. Overall, these features let you keep track of your congregation's participation and outreach efforts efficiently.
Additionally, SteepleMate's messaging system allows you to send personalized messages through email, SMS, or in-app chat, which is crucial for keeping everyone updated on church activities. The prayer check-in feature also simplifies the process of submitting prayer requests and tracking participation, fostering a sense of community and support among members.
ChurchTrac is a comprehensive church management software designed to help you manage your congregation's information, track attendance, and handle contributions. One reason I chose ChurchTrac as a top church communication app is its built-in messaging system. You can send mass emails and text messages directly to your congregation, ensuring everyone stays informed about upcoming events and announcements. This feature helps you maintain consistent communication without needing separate third-party services.
Another valuable feature is Church Connect, which serves as a member portal and free church website. Through Church Connect, your members can access important information, submit prayer requests, and even give online. This centralized hub fosters engagement and keeps your congregation connected, enhancing the sense of community within your church.
Breeze is a church management software with a member management feature for creating, storing, and organizing member information. It has an event management feature for planning and holding events. This event management feature also lets you take attendance during events and print name tags to help members get to know each other. Breeze has a custom church app available in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store to manage your church on the go.
Breeze is the best church communication app for communicating with donors to help support your church’s operations and causes. You can use Breeze’s email and text messaging feature to remind members about their pledges or invite them to join fundraising activities. You can use Breeze to generate financial reports and share information about the church’s financial health with stakeholders. Breeze also lets you print or email year-end giving statements to show donors your appreciation for their generosity.
One Church Software is a church management software to help you care for your flock, manage your church, and help your volunteers. This app can communicate with members, staff, and volunteers through text messages, emails, or push notifications. It has an event management feature for organizing, promoting, and hosting church events to foster a sense of community.
One Church Software is the best church communication app for automating communication to save time. You can create workflows that automate simple yet repetitive manual processes like sending welcome emails to new members to give them a great first experience. This church communication software lets you automate sending text messages to encourage attendance when you add a church event or a text message when a volunteer receives a new schedule.
Aplos is a management software with fund accounting, online giving, and donor management features for managing your church. It has a reporting and analytics feature to help you gauge the performance of your church and generate reports for church staff and stakeholders. Aplos has an event registration feature for embedding registration forms on your church website to collect attendee information and improve event management capabilities.
Aplos is a church communication app for building a church website to reach more members. This church app has website templates you can use to quickly develop your church website without the help of a web developer. Aplos can help you build a website with a member portal for communicating with volunteers, scheduling meetings with your church staff, or tracking Sunday school attendance. You can also use your church website to share the details of an upcoming event to attract more attendees.
Church Windows is a church management system with online and desktop options to manage your church anywhere. It has a membership module for creating membership directories with vital information like personal information, contact details, and personal notes to minister to your flock better. Church Windows has a scheduler feature for managing events and assigning tasks to church staff, group members, and volunteers.
Church Windows is the best church communication app with a reporting feature for communicating to church members, staff, and volunteers the state of your church. You can use this church communication tool to create a list of volunteers and their contact information so group members can communicate with each other. Church Windows enables you to generate reports on rooms and equipment booking to track resources and distribute them to custodians to prevent double booking.
Neon One is a church management solution for managing the day-to-day operations of your church. It has an event management feature for planning and executing church events and activities to foster camaraderie among church members. Neon One has a membership management feature for creating a database and communicating with church members using their preferred communication methods. You can use Neon One to create marketing campaigns to promote an upcoming event or ramp up online giving efforts.
Neon One is the best church communication app for managing fundraisers to help support your church and its causes. You can use Neon One to create donation pages for posting details of fundraising events and communicating with sponsors and attendees. Neon One has an autoresponder feature to automate repetitive communication tasks like donation receipts and fundraiser registration confirmations.
Neon One integrates with other church communication tools like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Giving Docs.
Trumpia is a church texting software for creating personalized interactions with church members. It has an automation feature to eliminate manual communication tasks like sending welcome text messages to new members or greeting members on their anniversaries. Trumpia lets you send MMS messages to promote events by sending a message with posters or video promotions. This church communication tool has a voice broadcasting feature for sending voice messages to send critical messages that your members can hear immediately.
Trumpia is the best church communication app for SMS communications to help you engage your parishioners. You can use Trumpia to send broadcast text messages for church-wide announcements like to promote events or worship services. Church leaders can use Trumpia to send text polls or SMS surveys to church members to know what else they can do to improve your church. Trumpia has a two-way texting feature for church members to send in questions, sign up for Sunday school, or send in a prayer request.
Trumpia integrates with communication tools like MailChimp, Slack, Google Calendar, and Patreon.
Elexio is a church management software for keeping your congregation organized. It has a group management feature for managing, scheduling, and communicating with small group members. Elexio has a custom church app you can get on Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store for communicating with members anywhere. This church communication tool has a live streaming feature for airing worship services or online sermons on your church website, social media page, or church smartphone app.
Elexio is the best communication app with a task management feature to promote accountability. This church communication tool automatically notifies church staff or volunteers when a task gets assigned, even if they are not signed in to the system. Church staff and volunteers can reply to the email notification upon task completion to automatically update the system.
Other Church Communication Apps
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- Realm
For connecting the entire church community
- Planning Center
For communicating with church volunteers
- Servant Keeper
For church membership management
- Slack
For live online church engagement
- Textmagic
For two-way communications
- MinistryPlatform
For large churches
- Subsplash
Church communication app for email & SMS blasts
- Connection Card Pro
Ministry management solution with volunteer management feature for communicating with volunteers. FaithLife - Church management platform for
- FaithLife
Church management platform for creating announcements and automatically posting them on your website, mobile app, digital signage, and social media accounts.
- Faithful Steward by Diakonia
Church management software for creating photo directories to know your members.
- Click Nonprofit
Program that helps churches and non-profits reach more people through Google’s $10,000 Ad Grant.
- Donarius
Church management software for sending personalized letters, emails, and text messages.
- Church Software by Grplife
Church management software with a branded mobile app for connecting with members through emails, text messages, and chat messages.
- Excellerate
Church management solution for automating visitor follow-ups to grow your membership.
- Fellowship One
Church management software with a push notification feature for broadcasting mass messages.
- Church Teams
Church management software with text-to-church feature for text giving, marking attendance, or checking in during events.
Comparison Criteria
What do I look for when I select the best church communication tool? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): Church leaders need to concentrate on tending to their flock, so I look for software with a clean interface to find the features they need quickly.
- Usability: A church communication app is for church leaders, staff, volunteers, and members, so I look for software that is easy to use and master.
- Integrations: Churches use other software for payroll, marketing, presentation, and live streaming, so I look for software that works well with other tools.
- Value for $: Churches has limited resources, so I look for software with many features but reasonable pricing.
Church Communication App Key Features
- Contact management: Feature for creating a membership directory with contact information (similar to top church contact management software tools).
- Push notifications: Allows church leaders to quickly send notifications to the entire congregation when they’re not using the church app.
- Mass messaging: Allows churches to send mass emails and text messages for church-wide announcements.
- Automation: Helps save time by automating simple messaging tasks like sending welcome messages or donation acknowledgment.
- Website builder: Allows the creation of church websites to help a church reach more people.
Other Church Apps Reviews
Church communications apps aren't the only apps that churches are using these days. Make sure you are keeping up with the digital age and check out these other church app reviews that I've compiled here.
What Do You Think About This List?
Constant communication with church members can help promote engagement and grow your church. You can use a communication app to run successful worship services and events. You can also use it to maintain a fantastic relationship with donors to support your church.
To learn more about the best church communication app options for church leaders and other useful tools, subscribe to The Lead Pastor and equip your church with the right software you need.