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There are so many different membership tools on the market that choosing the best one for you can be tricky. You want to know who is in your congregation, keep track of personal details and attendance data, send out church announcements, organize events, set up fundraisers, and provide learning materials to churchgoers – and need the right tool for your church. I've got you covered! In this post, I share from my personal experience as a technical consultant and having worked for a megachurch as an assistant youth pastor for many years, and share my picks of the best church membership software.

What is Church Membership Software?

Church membership software is a specialized tool used to streamline the management of member-related information within a church or religious community. It serves as a database for storing and updating member details, tracking involvement, and facilitating communication between church leaders and members. Among the features that make this possible are member profile management, attendance tracking, communication tools, and contribution tracking.

This software enables churches to maintain accurate and accessible member records, resulting in a more cohesive and engaged church community with streamlined administrative processes.

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.

Use automation and personalized messaging to invite your congregation to service

  • Free demo
  • Custom pricing upon request

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.

Keep accurate records of volunteers and send automated emails for events

  • From $99/month for up to 1,000 records

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.

Make your church attendees’ profiles as detailed as you want with custom fields

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $14/month/up to 75 group members

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.

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.

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.

Create contact groups and communicate with them without leaving the app

  • 30-day free trial
  • From $15.50/month/account

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.

Stay in touch with your members with the help of custom reminders

  • Free demo available upon request

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.

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.

Increase member engagement with automated workflows

  • From $99/month

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.

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.

The 10 Best Church Membership Software Solutions Summary

Tools Price
Hivebrite Custom pricing upon request
DonorPerfect From $99/month for up to 1,000 records
Planning Center From $14/month/up to 75 group members
Church Windows No price details
ACS Realm No price details
ChurchSuite From $15.50/month/account
Sunergo No price details
ChurchTrac No price details
Neon Membership From $99/month
Churchteams No price details
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	Compare Software Specs Side by Side</h2>

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

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Other Options

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

  1. PowerChurch Plus

    Church management platform that helps you keep all your church’s information in one place.

  2. Tithe.ly

    Giving platform that makes it easy for your community to donate.

  3. FaithLife

    All-in-one church software that helps you automate tedious tasks and facilitate online giving.

  4. Fellowship One

    Church management platform that helps with payment systems, payroll, and accounting.

  5. Member Clicks

    Membership management platform that enables you to keep in touch with your attendees and share lectures.

  6. MinistryPlatform

    Customizable church software that helps you interact with your community online.

  7. SimpleChurch CRM

    Church management software that helps you reach out to members.

  8. One Church Software

    All-in-one church management solution that helps you keep accurate records of your staff, volunteers, and members.

  9. Wild Apricot

    Membership management software that helps you create contact lists and plan events.

  10. ShelbyNext

    Church members management solution that helps you nurture relationships with mass emails and online interactions.

  11. MembershipWorks

    Complete church solution that allows you to reach out to your congregation and create job boards.

Comparison Criteria

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

  1. 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. 
  2. 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. 
  3. 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. 
  4. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. Staff or volunteer management: The tool should help you create and schedule workflows for your staff and volunteers. 
  4. Event management or worship planning: The software should enable you to plan out events or worship. 

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

By Alexandria Schmidt

Lexie was born into a family of pastors and other church leaders. She was trained by her grandfather and worked as an assistant youth pastor in a megachurch in her twenties. Now she runs a peer support group and is the Technical Consultant for her current church, MCC Illiana. While she is no longer pastoring, she is staying active in other parts of the ministry.