Church management software makes running various aspects of your church easier. It helps you handle the “business” side of church, keeping tracks of donations, memberships, event scheduling, and more.
It can be used as a central database of all church attendees and can facilitate sending out emails or letters to the whole congregation or certain subgroups.
The logistics, team, attendees, and schedule of an event can be managed, including Sunday services. You can see who is meant to be where and when, which is always useful!
Of course, not every piece of church management software – ChMS – provides every feature. This isn’t to downplay how useful certain programs can be, as they may specialize in a certain area. An event scheduling ChMS may not be able to handle anything to do with donations, and that’s perfectly fine.
The following is not a comprehensive list, but we hope it proves useful if you are looking for some software to improve the workflow within your church.
Here’s our Top 10, in no particular order:
Church Metrics
Church metrics is trusted by churches around the world to track, view, and analyse church data. This can be anything from attendance figures to salvations to giving to sales in your coffee shop – if you can put a number on it, Church Metrics can handle it.
Reports can be built weekly, monthly, yearly, or however you see fit. With apps available for iOS and Android and a full-featured website, it’s easily accessible for all.
Features include:
- Attendance tracking
- Volunteer management
- Tracking for anything that can be counted
Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
Cost: Free
More details here: Church Metrics
Breeze
Great for small to mid-sized churches, Breeze allows you to manage your membership database with ease. Event management is included as well as the ability to communicate with groups (eg small/house groups). Children can be checked in to events, and you can analyse attendance and age groups.
Both online and text giving are supported, and reports can be displayed to help you manage every part of your church.
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Accounting Integration
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
- Volunteer Management
Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
Cost: $50 per month
More details here: Breeze
ChurchTrac
As the name suggests, ChurchTrac allows you to track many things for your church including people, events, and giving. A check-in facility is provided, and you can set up services with worship sets including the ability to import data from SongSelect.
Scheduling is made easy for all teams, and a church website/membership portal is included.
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
- Volunteer Management
- Built-in Accounting
Platforms: Web
Cost: Basic access is free, with paid-for plans starting at $5 per month
More details here: https://www.churchtrac.com/
Faithlife Equip
Faithlife provides solutions for everything a church needs, from sermon prep to media presentations, bible study to small group management, outreach and administration.
Although not the cheapest on offer, Faithlife Equip provides everything you need through one single login, which may make it easier for you to get everything under control. Demos and trials are available.
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Member Directory
- Accounting Integration
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
Platforms: Windows, OSX, Web, Android, iOS
Cost: Based on congregation size, starting at $100 per month for under 50 attendees
More details here: Faithlife Equip
Excellerate
Offering a time-unlimited free trial, Excellerate is certainly worth a look. There are no monthly fees when you decide to purchase, and the software runs from a desktop computer without the need for an internet connection.
Membership management features include the option to include pictures, send emails and texts, and include custom fields. Visitor tracking is available, and full management of tithes and offerings is easy to access.
Data on small groups can be stored and analysed, check-ins for events can be added, and full volunteer scheduling is possible.
Online alternative “Atom” provides similar features through a mobile friendly responsive web app which includes a member portal, allowing members to update their own details.
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
- Volunteer Management
Platforms: Windows, “Atom” runs on Web
Cost: Based on number of people, starting at $100 per month for Atom and $145 (single cost, no monthly price) for Excellarate
More details here: Excellerate / Atom
Planning Center
Planning Center is comprised of several different applications, all web and mobile based. Combined, they provide a complete church management system, but you only need to pay for what you want to use – each product can be subscribed to individually.
Options including check-ins, event management, giving, managing groups, and planning your Sunday services (with the ability to link to SongSelect to download song lyrics and chords) are available on the web and through apps. You can even manage your web presence through the Publishing application!
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
- Volunteer Management
Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
Cost: Starts from free, based on number of people/events/donations/etc
More details here: Planning Center
Church Windows Software
Church Windows is a user-friendly ChMS that has been built to help with membership management, donation management, and accounting tasks.
In similar fashion to Planning Center, you only pay for what you want to use. With Membership, Scheduler, Donations, Accounting and Payroll modules available, you can pick one, two, or as many as you want – adding extra modules on later if you wish.
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Accounting Integration
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
- Volunteer Management
- Built-in Accounting
Platforms: Web, Windows, OSX
Cost: Free trial, one time cost for single module starting at $285
More details here: Church Windows
Donarius
Aimed more at tracking donations and contributions than full church management, Donarius excels at what it does. You can import from online donation sources, and a full set of tax statements can be printed or emailed as needed.
Features include:
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
Platforms: Windows, OSX – data can be shared to multiple computers via Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc
More details here: Donarius
Tithe.ly
Another ChMS focused on giving, Tithe.ly includes a full suite of church management tools for managing members, groups, child check-ins, service planning, and full reporting and insights.
Once again, this is a modular setup. The basic giving platform is free to set up and use, with other products costing varying amounts. The church management suite has a $149 setup cost with an ongoing $59 per month fee to continue use.
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
- Volunteer Management
- Built-in Accounting
Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
Cost: From free, check site for full details of plans
More details here: Tithe.ly
ChurchInfo
ChurchInfo is a free church database management program that has multiple features. You can track members, families, groups, pledges and payments, with the option of custom fields, multiple reports, and comprehensive search features.
Offering features that are sometimes only found in expensive church management software packages, ChurchInfo is a great solution especially if you are technically-minded. The software can be downloaded for free and installed on your own server/hosting, but this may require knowledge of PHP and SQL databases.
An inexpensive hosting service has recently been added, opening ChurchInfo up to a wider userbase.
Features include:
- Attendance Tracking
- Membership Management
- Pledge Management
- Member Directory
- Small Group Management
- Donation Management
- Volunteer Management
Platforms: Web – requires installation on own hosting or use of hosting service
Cost: Free if self-hosted
More details here: ChurchInfo