2024’s Best-in-Class Church Software Ranked and Reviewed
10 Best Church Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 29 tools reviewed.
Pastor, are you tired of...
- Spreadsheeting your church volunteer schedule, only to watch it become obsolete in two weeks?
- Sinking all your energy into planning an event only to hear, "Oh, I didn't know that was happening. Must have missed the email."?
- Watching your calendar fill with admin tasks, only to realize that there's no space for the teaching, discipleship, and prayer that form the backbone of pastoral ministry?
If so, then church software has a LOT to offer you and your church. The right church software can transform your ministry... but choosing that software? Oof, that can be tough.
This guide leaves no stone unturned, examining the essential features, pricing plans, and the most pressing questions pastors have about adopting church software.
Why Trust Our Software Reviews
My writing team and I are experienced church leaders and pastors ourselves. We've been reviewing, trialing, testing, and evaluating church software since 2019. We invest in deep research to help you make the best software purchasing decisions possible. We’ve tested over 2,000 tools for different church use cases and written over 1,000 comprehensive software reviews.
Learn how we stay transparent & our church software review methodology.
The 10 Best Church Software Summary
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Breeze ChMS | $50/account/month. | Website |
| Subsplash | provides customized pricing upon request. | Website |
| Aplos | $29.50/account/month | Website |
| Servant Keeper | a one-time license fee starting at $299. | Website |
| Wild Apricot | paid version costs $48/account/month | Website |
| MinistryTracker | $44.99/account/month | Website |
| Tithe.ly | giving app is free, but the pricing for Tithe.ly All Access is $99/month. | Website |
| Elexio | $35.13/account/month | Website |
| ChurchStaq | Pricing is available by request from its website | Website |
| One Church Software | From $58/month | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
Compare SoftwareHow to Choose Church Software
Here are five key questions to incorporate into your church's decision-making processes. Ask these questions of each for the church software tools you're considering:
1. How well do the church software's features fit our goals?
Define your goals, then find the software that best contributes to those goals. If your church frequently organizes community events, prioritize church software that includes event management tools. If you're looking to increase your volunteer engagement, then prioritize software that offers robust tracking and analytics.
2. How user-friendly is this church software?
Choose software that is easy to use and navigate. This is especially true if your staff and volunteers are a little older or less tech-savvy. Look for a clean dashboard, straightforward menus, and helpful tutorials.
3. Does this church software integrate with our other tools?
When the various pieces of software play nicely together, everything is more efficient. For example: when someone updates their contact email in your member directory, the church software should automatically update that change throughout your other software tools. That sort of integration saves you and your staff a LOT of time.
4. How much support and training do we need?
Having great software is no good if your staff and volunteers can’t get the help they need when they need it. Look at the customer support and training resources for the church software you're considering.
5. How cost-effective is this option?
While most church software providers offer budget-friendly options; choose software that elevates your capacity at a reasonable expense. NOTE: many church software providers factor transaction fees into their pricing model. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it's something to be aware of.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Church Software
Breeze ChMS is a church management software that can help you store and organize membership data so you can steward your congregation better. To get to know your members better, you can add personal notations on member records like special dates, food allergies, background check renewals, and other critical information. It also has a feature that enables you to track online giving to consolidate records and enable you to come up with year-end statements detailing your church's financial status.
Holding activities and events is one of the best ways to keep church members engaged, and Breeze ChMS can help you with its event management feature. You can use Breeze ChMS to plan and conduct a wide variety of activities and events like Sunday school classes, worship services, fundraising events, and community gatherings. You can also use Breeze ChMS to print name tags on the spot and track attendance to know which events appeal to your members.
Subsplash is an all-in-one engagement platform with a mobile app version available to Android and iOS users to reach all your members regardless of their mobile device of choice. It has a mobile giving feature to help members support your church and outreach programs through donations and pledges. Subsplash has a messaging function to share messages, files, polls, and prayer requests, ensuring that you stay connected to church members.
Media is a powerful tool your church can use to boost engagement with members, and Subsplash's media hosting and streaming platform can help you reach not just current members but potential new members of your flock. You can use Subsplash to stream, publish and share videos that your members can benefit from. You can use your Subsplash dashboard to organize and upload sermons, music, and podcasts to your website, YouTube channel, or social media accounts so members can listen using their preferred media platform.
Aplos is an all-purpose church software you can use in managing the day-to-day operations of your church. It has an online giving and tithing feature, giving members the freedom to use their preferred payment of choice, whether it's through checks, bank transfers, or supported bank cards. This church software has built-in communication tools enabling you to utilize text messages, emails, and letters to maintain communication with members.
If you want church software that lets you manage your church and your finances in one interface, then Aplos is the software for you. You can use Aplos to track and pay bills, ensuring the smooth operation of your church's daily activities. Aplos allows you to track designated funds to show your members how you steward the gifts they give your church.
Servant Keeper is a cloud-based church management software you can use to manage your church, its members, and your daily operations. It has embedded communication tools like emails, text messaging, voicemail, and video messages to help you keep in touch with members and update them about your church's activities and events. You can also use it to create and manage fundraising activities to support your church's projects and operations.
Servant Keeper is an excellent church software if you have a large church or growing membership because it allows you to add an unlimited number of members. You can create a membership directory complete with crucial information like contact information, address, family members, crucial dates, and worship history. Members can access and update their details through a mobile app that works on iOS and Android mobile devices, ensuring you have updated information for all members.
Wild Apricot is cloud-based software to help you manage your NGO. Store, manage and update your church's membership information in one centralized location. It has an event management feature you can use to organize events and handle the attendance of participants.
Harnessing the power of the internet is one of the best ways to connect with church members and encourage new members to join your church, and Wild Apricot can help you create a website that reflects what your church is all about. Use Wild Apricot to build a website from scratch using templates with the sections, features, and functionalities your church members need. If your church has an existing website, you can use Wild Apricot to improve it through additional widgets, forms, and membership applications.
Ministry Tracker is a church management software with dynamic features, including people management, events management, and small groups management. It comes with communication tools allowing you to keep in touch with members through emails, traditional mail, voice calls, and text messages. It also has a scheduler to help you allocate equipment, venues, tools, and human resources to church events and activities.
Reports are fantastic tools if you want to understand your flock better and serve your members better. Ministry Tracker is the best church software for you if you want excellent reporting capabilities. You can generate reports to assess different aspects of your ministry like the demographics of members, attendance reports, financial reports, and others. What's even better is you can use Ministry Tracker to create reports on different levels of your ministry, from a church-wide report down to small groups allowing you to drill down on even the smallest of issues.
Tithe.ly is a church giving platform with a wide variety of digital tools for building your church's website, organizing events, and managing membership. It also has a suite of communication tools allowing you to communicate with existing church members and reach new ones to grow your ministry. Tithe.ly can also help you set up your church's mobile app to reach more members, highlight events, and upload media your members can enjoy.
Tithe.ly is the best software for your church if you want to give members a wide variety of options to contribute to your church. This enables members to choose the giving option they're most comfortable with, like online giving, text to give, or through checks. The software also allows members to set up recurring donations to continue supporting the church regularly.
Elexio is a church management software you can use to manage members, organize schedules, and plan events. This software has reporting functionality to help you analyze critical data that can help you assess your church and implement action plans to address crucial issues. You can use Elexio to automate simple and repetitive tasks like sending welcome messages to new members to streamline workflow and allow you to devote your time to caring for your ministry.
Small groups make up the backbone of your church, and if you need church software to help you organize them, then Elexio is the best software for you. Elexio allows you to create an unlimited number of small groups making it ideal no matter how small or large your church is. Organize members into different groups like choir members, Sunday school teachers, volunteers, and others. You can also use the software to send private messages to small groups ensuring confidentiality on sensitive matters.
You can choose Churchstaq to create a mobile app for your church to increase your church's reach.
Cloud-based church management software with online giving, membership management, and automated emailing capabilities.
Honorable Mentions: Other Church Software Tools
These didn’t crack the top ten, but they’re definitely worth considering, should none of the top options fit your needs:
Additional Church Software Tools
These software tools are more specific, performing more targeted tasks. They’re an essential part of any pastor’s church software toolbox:
Additional Resources Worth Your Time:
- This year's best-in-class church presentation software tools to improve your worship and sermon presentation experience
- Our ranked comparison of church accounting software options to fortify your church's financial foundation
- This curated list of church website builders to bolster your online platform
Selection Criteria for Church Software
No one can tell you what is the perfect church software for your unique situation. However, we're church leaders and software reviewers: we see both sides of the fence.
The criteria we use for evaluating the various church software tools has grown out of extensive research and testing that we've done personally. We've developed a rubric that has proven to help the best options bubble to the top:
Core Church Software Functionality: 25% of total weighting score
To be considered for inclusion on this list of the best church software, a piece of software must be able to do the following:
- Manage and update member information
- Provide communication tools
- Grow with your congregation
- Handle and track donations and tithes seamlessly
- Produce accurate and comprehensive financial reports
- Coordinate and schedule events effortlessly
- Safeguard sensitive data with robust security measures
Additional Standout Features: 25% of total weighting score
- Communication tools that include support for channels outside typical email and SMS, such as integrated social media platforms or live streaming capabilities
- Advanced analytics features that provide deeper insights into donation trends and member engagement
- Ability for churches to customize software features to fit their needs (without need for extensive coding)
- Mobile app that supports on-the-go management and access
- Integration with external software like accounting packages or marketing tools to streamline all church operations
Usability: 10% of total weighting score
- Intuitive interface that requires minimal training, regardless of how tech-savvy the user
- Clear, well-designed dashboards that facilitate quick access to the most used features
- Drag-and-drop functionality in the calendar and event management module
Onboarding: 10% of total weighting score
- Availability of comprehensive training materials such as videos, manuals, and FAQs
- Interactive product tours and real-time help via chatbots to assist new users in navigating through features
- Webinars and one-on-one training sessions to ensure users can leverage all functionalities
Customer Support: 10% of total weighting score
- Quick response times for support queries to minimize disruptions
- Multiple support channels, including live chat, email, and phone support
- Proactive monitoring and regular updates to ensure software reliability and security
Value For Money: 10% of total weighting score
- Transparent pricing with no hidden costs
- Flexible pricing models that cater to different sizes and types of churches
- A clear breakdown of what each pricing tier offers, ensuring churches pay only for what they need
Customer Reviews: 10% of total weighting score
- High ratings for user satisfaction and ease of use
- Positive feedback on the effectiveness of customer support
- Testimonials that highlight specific scenarios where the church software provided significant benefits
Over the years, and through many hundreds of software evaluations, this rubric has proven to reveal the software that best:
- streamlines church operations
- provides flexibility
- delivers comprehensive support
The strategic use of technology can transform how you manage church resources, engage with members, and ultimately, expand your ministry's impact.
joshua Gordon
Trends in Church Software for 2024
Our team has been reviewing product updates, release logs, and press releases from all of the major players in church software.
Boring? For some people. We're weird, though, so it's oddly fulfilling. Here's the 'breaking news' of the church software industry:
Automation and AI
- Across the board, we are seeing increasing automation. Human error remains one of the major issues with administrative tasks. Providers are increasing automation in order to cut down on these.
- AI offers some intriguing analysis possibilities. Financial forecasting, identifying trends, etc. are increasingly relying on AI-driven analytics. This might be overkill for smaller churches, but hey... there's a lot we can learn from member participation patterns and predictive fundraising opportunities.
Membership and Communication
- Evolving Communication Tools: As younger believers jettison email in favor of social media, church software providers are widening communication channels.
- Detailed Tracking of Member Activities: church software allows for careful data gathering on how members use and interact with the software. (Some church members may push back against this.)
Declining Trends
- Declining Importance of On-Premise Solutions: Cloud services allow churches to scale more efficiently and access their data remotely. As that popularity grows, church software providers offer 'on-site' options less and less.
What is Church Software?
Church software is a tool that can help manage day-to-day operations of churches. It streamlines tasks such as:
- organizing member information
- tracking donations
- scheduling events
- managing volunteer activities
Instead of manually recording donation details and member data in a notebook or spreadsheets, church software automates these processes, saving time and reducing errors.
Features of Church Software
There are a handful of features that are critical in church software. Every option you seriously consider should absolutely include the following:
- Membership Management: Track and update your church members’ information.
- Donation Management: Efficiently process all tithes and donations (and ensure transparency).
- Event Scheduling: Plan, schedule, and manage your church’s events seamlessly.
- Volunteer Coordination: Coordinate volunteers effectively (MINUS the manual scheduling).
- Financial Reporting: Generate accurate financial reports to inform decisions and maintain accountability.
- Database Security: Protect sensitive data for peace of mind to you and your members.
- Multi-Platform Accessibility: Access and manage church software from anywhere, at any time.
- Communication Tools: Utilize integrated broadcast communication tools (email, SMS, social channels, etc.) to stay connected with your members.
- Customizable Profiles: Personally tailor outreach and engagement strategies with personalized member profiles.
- Scalable Infrastructure: choose a system that can grow and widen with your church.
Benefits of Church Software
Effective, well-chosen church software can significantly streamline operations and improve church management:
- Increase in Administrative Efficiency: Church software automates many of the routine tasks associated with church management. This means valuable time and resources go towards outreach, not paperwork or email tag.
- More Financial Transparency: When every dollar is accounted for at all times, it helps to both maintain trust within your congregation and simplifies reporting to your church board.
- Better Communication: Reaching out to your congregation becomes simpler and more effective with consistent, timely messaging.
- Streamlined Event Management: Church software handles registrations, scheduling, and logistics, allowing for gatherings that resonate with the congregation (and don't burnout your key volunteers).
- Improving Member Engagement: Glean insights into the activities your members do (and don't) engage in. This strengthens community ties and ensures that members feel valued and connected.
Simply put: church software frees up time spent on administrative tasks so you can do more of what Jesus wants you to do.
Joshua Gordon
Costs and Pricing for Church Software
This is church software pricing, only with a 'view from 30,000 feet' perspective. There are a variety of entry points with functionalities for congregations of every size:
| Plan Type | Average Price | Transaction Fee | Common Features | Best for... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | N/A | Basic member management, limited reporting, email support | Small churches or new startups with limited budgets |
| Basic | $30 per month | 1% | Member management, donation tracking, basic financial reporting, email support | Small to medium-sized churches needing essential management tools |
| Standard | $50 per month | 0.75% | Enhanced reporting, event scheduling, volunteer management, phone and email support | Medium-sized churches requiring more advanced features |
| Premium | $75 per month | 0.5% | Advanced analytics, custom integrations, priority support, multi-platform access | Large churches with complex needs and higher budgets |
Still Need Direction?
In this business, if someone scrolls THIS far down the page, it means either I’m a killer writer, or you, the reader, are still in research mode. If you’re still here because I’m awesome at my job, then… you’re welcome, I guess?
In the more likely event you’re actually looking for more info, I’ve got you.
Church Software Frequently Asked Questions
What measures do church software take in order to protect my congregation's protect data?
Can church software help track our missionary and outreach activities?
Do church software providers offer training to help the less tech-savvy volunteers use the software?
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