10 Best Church Communication Software & How They Help Lead

Churches today are complex operations with lots of activity and deep roots in the community. Thanks to church communications software, it’s now easier than ever to communicate with congregations, keep people engaged, and maximize attendance. 

The Best Church Communication Software

Here’s a shortlist of the best church communication solutions: 

1. One Church Software
2. Planning Center 
3. Elexio 
4. Aplos 
5. Servant Keeper 
6. Breeze  
7. Church Windows 
8. Neon One 
9. Trumpia 
10. Pushpay

Church Communication Solutions: Comparison Criteria

What do I look for when I select the best church management system for communication? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria: 

1. User Interface (UI): Is it clean, attractive, and appropriate for church use?
2. Usability: Is it easy for non-professionals (such as church members) to master? Does the company offer tech support, user support, tutorials, and training that works with church needs (like a contact center available on weekends)?
3. Integrations: Is it easy to connect with other church management tools? Are there any pre-built integrations? Does the tool connect with all popular communication solutions, like email, social media, SMS, website notices, and anything else you use daily?
4. Value for $: How appropriate is the price for nonprofit organizations? Is pricing clear, transparent and flexible?

Church Communication Tools: Key Features

Here are some key features to look for when selecting church communication software:

1. Supports your preferred messaging channels: offers a range of options to tailor your communications (from social media to text messages)
2. Database management: enables you to update your list of contacts easily
3. Engagement tools: offers features designed to increase engagement from members of the congregation
4. Integrates with popular church management software: works with church accounting, church management software, etc.
5. Simple to use: makes it easy for inexperienced team members to start using the software
6. Scalable: grows as your church and its requirements develop
7. Faith-based compliance: designed to be suitable for use by most faith-based or religious groups

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Overviews Of The 10 Best Church Communication Software

Here’s a brief description of each of the best church management software solutions with membership communication features. I’ll go over some best use cases, feature highlights, and provide screenshots to give you a glimpse of their inner workings.

1. One Church Software - Best for empowering volunteers

This cloud-based church management system helps ministries reach out to local communities and streamline daily operations. Features include text messaging, workflow creation, and volunteer management. 

One Church Software allows you to update contact preferences, send follow-up messages through the system, and inform members of upcoming church events. You can automate text in church messaging, emails, communications, and promotions.  

One Church Software costs from $24/user/month and a free 14-day trial is available.

2. Planning Center - Best for managing church resources

Planning Center is a suite of cloud-based applications designed to support church leaders in planning, scheduling, and managing church programs. The software is modular in design, so you only pay for the tools you need.

The publishing module allows you to create content and share it with your congregation. You can use customizable pages and the Android/iOS mobile app to distribute sermons and other messages. 

Planning Center costs from $14/user/month and a 30-day free trial is available. 

3. Elexio - Best for mass email communication

Elexio church administration software helps you to communicate with your members using text, mass emails, or voicemail. The system integrates church management software with church website design, check-in, giving kiosks, and a church mobile app. 

Key features include attendance tracking, contribution management, and automated workflows. You can also coordinate worship services and schedule volunteers. 

Elexio costs from $35.13/user/month and a 30-day free trial is available. 

4. Aplos - Best communication software with cash balancing

This cloud-based solution offers a range of software tools to help large and small churches run more efficiently. Aplos offers custom communications, along with fund accounting software, church membership management, donation management, and reporting.

With Aplos, churches of all sizes can handle all their communications and group management needs in one place. This user-friendly software is well suited to small groups and medium-sized churches. 

Aplos pricing starts from $29.50/user/month and a free trial is available.

5. Servant Keeper - Best for digital discipleship

This church management solution helps faith-based organizations organize operations more efficiently. It's easy to communicate with members by email, track attendance and pinpoint volunteers with skills needed for specific events.

Visitors can be excluded from member-only communications. Other features include modules for child check-in, online scheduling, and accounting. 

Servant Keeper is priced from $9.99/user/month and a free trial is available.

6. Breeze - Best for event planning communication

Breeze church management software is a cloud-based solution for small to medium-sized churches. The intuitive interface allows you to search and find contact information quickly, tag people as required, and customize accordingly.

Breeze also offers features to help with event registration, printing name tags, and tracking attendance. Alerts can be set to highlight individuals who have ceased attending for a given number of weeks.

This software suite costs from $50/month and a free demo is offered.

7. Church Windows - Best for membership reports

Church Windows helps religious organizations manage administrative tasks and day-to-day interactions with followers. The system can be deployed either in the cloud or on-premises. You can also build a unified church calendar to keep track of community happenings, track your budget, and pay church employees. 

This software suite enables church administrators to view and track household and individual records, record interaction notes, perform accounting duties, and create visitation reports. Church Windows’ customer support is top-notch and they can help you make the most out of the tool according to your needs. 

Pricing starts from $80/user/month. There is no free trial option.

8. Neon One - Best for communication & marketing solution

Neon One is a cloud-based contact management solution for nonprofit organizations of all sizes. The built-in fundraising tools include add-ons for email blasts, donor management, and automated membership renewals. They offer different modules for communication management, customer relationship management (CRM), fundraising, payroll, and website building. 

The system can be customized to match the look and feel of an existing website, and event pages can be configured as required. Administrators can send automated event notifications to registered attendees. They integrate with apps like QuickBooks, Mailchimp, TrueGivers, Eventbrite, and Windfall.

Neon One pricing starts from $49/user/month. There is no free trial, but a demo can be arranged. 

9. Trumpia - Best texting software for churches

Trumpia helps churches communicate with members through an automated SMS platform. Administrators can easily send messages, collect contacts, conduct outreach, engage with visitors or new members, and improve attendance. 

Features of the system include mobile keywords, mass texting, one-to-one texting, text giving, auto-response, and contact cleanup. Multiple campaigns can be run via SMS, email, or social media platforms.

Trumpia costs from $36/user/month. A free trial is available. 

10. Pushpay - Best for building a church smartphone app

This cloud-based solution assists churches in managing a range of operations. Church admins can create a database of donor information, including contact details. PushPay offers a no-code solution to building a smartphone app for your church, including a dynamic home screen, visual customizations, interactive notifications, and a built-in audio player. 

Data can be imported from third-party sources or uploaded through the PushPay portal. Customer support is available via an online knowledge base. 

Pushpay pricing starts from $199 a month. There is no free trial. 

Other Church Management Software Options

Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.

1. Click Nonprofit - Best for free Google advertising
2. Church Teams - Best for discipleship communications
3. CDM+ - Best for complete data integration
4. Excellerate - Best for automated follow-up letters
5. Faithful Steward by Diakonia - Best for an affordable solution
6. Donarius - Best for tracking contributions
7. Wild Apricot - Best for building an online store
8. Attendance Now - Best HTML email builder
9. Church Software by Grplife - Best free church website & hosting
10. TouchPoint by Pursuant - Best for fundraising analytics
11. Together+ by Aware3 - Best forms & registration tools
12. ChurchTrac - Best for service outlines with a song library
13. FellowshipOne - Best for background checks
14. Connection Card Pro - Best for large churches 
15. FaithLife - Best for sermon prep
16. ACS - Best for large churches
17. Tithe.ly - Best for automating tithe collection

You might also like: 10 Best Free Church Management Software

What software do churches use?

Most churches today use specialized church management (ChMS) software to run their organizations efficiently. Many different software vendors develop applications specifically for this large, growing market. Pastors may require specialized functionality for venue upkeep, website & app building, real-time communication, discipleship tracking, fundraising & collections, event management, and even accounting & payroll.

What is ChMS software?

Church management software (also known as ChMS software) is the range of applications used by churches and related institutions to manage operations more effectively. ChMS software covers everything from attendance recording to people management and helps to simplify complex church procedures.

Related Read: Complete Guide To Church Management For Lead Pastors

What Do You Think About These Church Management Systems and Communication Tools?

Do these systems help you communicate with your congregation, or are the old ways better? Let us know what you think in the comments below. While you’re here, be sure to check out this article on streaming software for churches, too.

For even more information, we've written this article for you:

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