What are churches without their members? As church leaders, it can help to know who is in your congregation and keep track of personal details and attendance data.
Church membership software enables you to create contact databases so you can best manage your community. It allows pastors and community leaders to send out church announcements, organize events, set up fundraisers, and provide learning materials to their churchgoers.
Read my review to discover the best church membership software you can use in 2023. The review includes a short description and a screenshot of each tool that made the list, along with a comparison chart so you can determine which solution would be ideal for your church. Let’s get started.
Church Membership Tool Shortlist
Here’s the list of the best tools that I’ll cover in this article.
- ChurchSuite
- Churchteams
- ChurchTrac
- Planning Center
- Sunergo
- Neon Membership
- Realm
- DonorPerfect
- Hivebrite
- Church Windows
Comparison Criteria
What do I look for when I select the best church membership system? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): I look for tools that offer a clean interface, so anyone could navigate them and find the right functionalities, regardless of age and experience with technology.
- Usability: I look for software that’s easy to use. Church leaders, staff members, or volunteers should be able to learn how to make the most out of the tool after a brief onboarding period.
- Integrations: I look for solutions that integrate with other tools you may already use, such as church accounting software, communication tools, church management software, scheduling software, church community builder, and so on.
- Value for $: I look for software that helps you achieve multiple goals so you get a good return on your investment.
Church Membership Key Features
- Contact database: The software should help you create a contact database so you can keep track of church members and gain control over membership management.
- Attendance tracking: The solution should enable you to track church attendance so you can identify the active members of your community There's also specialized church attendance software, which you can learn more about here.
- Staff or volunteer management: The tool should help you create and schedule workflows for your staff and volunteers.
- Event management or worship planning: The software should enable you to plan out events or worship.
The Lead Pastor is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you click through links on our site — learn more about how we aim to stay transparent.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Church Membership Software Solutions
Here’s a brief description of each church membership app to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
1. ChurchSuite - Create contact groups and communicate with them without leaving the app
ChurchSuite is a contact management software that was designed to help church leaders of both small and large churches create detailed contact lists of worshipers. The tool has a clean interface that’s easy to navigate and offers a great variety of helpful functionalities.
This solution makes it easy to communicate with your community. You can contact churchgoers directly from the tool’s address book, eliminating the need for an external communication tool. In addition, the Small Groups feature enables you to segment church members into multiple categories and communicate with one or multiple groups at once.
ChurchSuite also produces helpful reports that enable you to determine how your church is doing and plan ahead.
ChurchSuite costs from $15.5/month. The software offers a free 30-day trial.
2. Churchteams - Oversee the activity of your attendees with the help of detailed reports
Churchteams is a church membership software that’s optimized for mobile devices. The platform enables community leaders to create in-depth contact databases that include everyone’s information, family structure, church involvement, and attendance over time.
This solution makes it easy to coordinate your staff, attendees, and volunteers. Everyone can text a local number to contact your church for everything they need, from information about church service to registration or giving for church events.
One of the things that make this solution stand out is its reporting dashboard. This dashboard helps pastors and staff members discover how their church is doing by comparing year-to-year giving, year-to-date (YTD) giving by method, year-to-year worship, and attendance.
Churchteams costs from $37 for a small church of up to 200 people/month. The platform offers a free 30-day trial.
3. ChurchTrac - Text or email your contacts directly from the app
ChurchTrac is a church database software that helps you make contact lists you can communicate with. The platform enables you to add pictures to your database, making it easier to keep track of new members.
With ChurchTrac, you can add different roles to your profiles, such as member, prospect, or donor. In addition, the software also enables you to add private notes to profiles. The private notes can only be accessed by people with certain permission levels.
ChurchTrac syncs with MailChimp, allowing you to email contacts directly from the app. You can also use the app to text your attendees.
ChurchTrac costs from $6/75 members/month. The software offers a free-forever version with limited capabilities.
4. Planning Center - Make your church attendees’ profiles as detailed as you want with custom fields
Planning Center is a service planning and scheduling platform with good membership management capabilities. The platform is easy to use, and both its desktop and mobile versions have nice interfaces that are friendly to people who are not tech-savvy.
This software’s contact database allows you to create custom fields for every profile you create. This helps you keep track of your attendees’ baptism dates, completed classes, or gift assessments, making it easier to build meaningful relationships with them.
Planning Center keeps accurate records of the activity of your members and their communication, and you can use the platform to search for information when needed.
Planning Center offers custom pricing upon request. You can access a free 30-day trial.
5. Sunergo - Stay in touch with your members with the help of custom reminders
Sunergo is an all-in-one church management system with strong church members management features. The platform helps you create a central location for all your staff and attendees’ profiles, so you can collect information and find it when needed.
This solution helps you track your congregation’s attendance and event participation, and it sends you custom reminders for birthdays, anniversary dates, or specific achievements.
One of the nice things about this platform is that it enables you to monitor individual or household attendance trends, helping you plan your church events accordingly.
Sunergo provides custom pricing upon request. You can schedule a free demo.
6. Neon Membership - Increase member engagement with automated workflows
Neon Membership is a membership management software that’s suitable for church administration. The solution helps you organize your contacts and leverages intelligent marketing tools to help you plan events, deliver personalized communications, and manage donations.
This platform’s automation features can help you develop personalized workflows to save time and increase membership engagement. You can create automated sequences to greet new members via email or to invite regular attendees to fundraisers or events.
Neon Membership integrates with popular accounting software, such as QuickBooks.
Neon Membership costs from $99/month.
7. Realm - Engage your congregation members from a single location
Realm is an online church management solution that can help you build an engaged community. The platform creates a directory for all your contacts, and you can segment your church members based on different criteria. Realm also creates a central location for all your communications, so you can easily track different conversations.
The software allows you to create multiple users with different permissions, so church leaders can ensure that staff members don’t stumble upon private information when operating the tool. Even though this tool is cloud-based, it stores contact information on your device, so you can access your attendees’ profiles when you’re not online.
One of the good things about this platform is that it helps with online giving. The friendly interface makes it easy for your congregation to make a digital donation when they cannot attend service.
Realm offers custom pricing upon request. You can schedule a free demo.
8. DonorPerfect - Keep accurate records of volunteers and send automated emails for events
DonorPerfect is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform designed for non-profits that’s suitable for any religious organization. The software helps you manage contacts, send emails and other communications, organize fundraising events, and manage donations.
This solution helps you build a contact database that’s rich in data and includes personal details as well as a history of giving and donations. The tool’s automation features help you send out scheduled emails to let your congregation know about events, volunteer schedules, or Sunday school.
DonorPerfect integrates with accounting solutions such as QuickBooks.
DonorPerfect costs from $99/1000 records/month. You can register for a free demo.
9. Hivebrite - Use automation and personalized messaging to invite your congregation to service
Hivebrite is a popular community management solution that’s popular with non-profit organizations. The platform's features and simple interface make it perfect for church and community leaders.
This solution helps you engage with your congregation with personalized messaging so you can prevent them from lapsing. The tool’s analytics features are top-notch and help you identify which members of your community are active and engaged, and which could benefit from your support.
Hivebrite’s communication features enable you to send the right emails to the right churchgoers. You can set up email campaigns and use dynamic filters to customize your audience for each message. You can also create automated weekly email campaigns to invite your congregation to service.
Hivebrite integrates with multiple tools, including social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.
Hivebrite offers custom pricing upon request. You can access a free demo.
10. Church Windows - Keep track of congregation members and run payroll with a single solution
Church Windows is a flexible church management software that helps you keep track of attendees’ records. The solution enables you to organize your staff and volunteer schedules, and also enables you to track donations and run payroll.
This solution offers comprehensive documentation. If you encounter any problems when using it, you can also contact support via phone or email and consult with an expert.
One of the nice things about this platform is that it creates a trail for every action your contacts make. You can easily track attendance, event participation, and donations.
Church Windows costs from $279/month. You can request a free trial and schedule a demo.
Other Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- SimpleChurch CRM - Church management software that helps you reach out to members.
- Tithe.ly - Giving platform that makes it easy for your community to donate.
- PowerChurch Plus - Church management platform that helps you keep all your church’s information in one place.
- ShelbyNext - Church members management solution that helps you nurture relationships with mass emails and online interactions.
- One Church Software - All-in-one church management solution that helps you keep accurate records of your staff, volunteers, and members.
- MinistryPlatform - Customizable church software that helps you interact with your community online.
- Fellowship One - Church management platform that helps with payment systems, payroll, and accounting.
- Faithlife Equip - All-in-one church software that helps you automate tedious tasks and facilitate online giving.
- MembershipWorks - Complete church solution that allows you to reach out to your congregation and create job boards.
- Wild Apricot - Membership management software that helps you create contact lists and plan events.
- Member Clicks - Membership management platform that enables you to keep in touch with your attendees and share lectures.
What Do You Think About This List?
Contact management can make a huge difference in your church’s success. As Ludwig Micallef, director of Deloitte Consulting Malta, said:
“A very useful side effect of storing all this useful information about your clients is the fact that it will be possible for you to analyze the aggregated data to understand important customer patterns, enabling you to customize your service accordingly. You will be able to identify star customers (and reward them accordingly) or [...] clients you are at risk of losing, enabling you to take appropriate corrective action.”
If you want to receive tailored advice on how to make your church more successful from top leaders in the community, subscribe to The Lead Pastor.