What is the best church management software in 2026?

ChMeetings packs a lot into a low price. The free plan isn't a trial: 50 people and 50 donations a month, forever. After that, pricing follows headcount: $12 a month up to 100 people, $25 up to 250, $40 up to 500. Pay annually and you get two months free.

Every plan includes members and households, giving and statements, events with kids' check-in, volunteer scheduling, service planning, email, SMS, voice and push messages, accounting and a member portal. ChMeetings says more than 8,000 churches, ministries and dioceses use it. A read-only connection to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok lets you ask questions about your data in plain English.

It's also the multilingual pick: the interface is available in 26 languages, including Spanish and Portuguese. Handy for a church with a Spanish-speaking service.

The catch: it's hosted on Microsoft Azure in the US, fine for a US church but a data transfer question for members abroad, and there are few public reviews outside software directories.

Tip: stay on Free while you enter your first 50 profiles and run one real month of giving. You'll know whether your team adopts it before you pay a cent.

Elvanto, now a Tithely company, prices on active adults only. Kids and contacts who aren't members don't count. That's $19 a month up to 50 adults, or $15.20 billed yearly, and $39 up to 100. Add a one-time $149 setup fee.

Its strength is organizing people: rosters for worship and hospitality teams, small groups, a member portal and messaging. It also states servers in Australia, Europe and the US, with EU customers covered by GDPR.

Elvanto says its interface is translated into Spanish and French; check it during the trial, menus and emails included.

The catch: it takes time to learn. One treasurer quit after a month of training, finding the accounting side too complicated. There's no permanent free plan either.

Tip: clean your data before importing. Flag kids and visitors as non-members and you may drop a tier, saving up to $374 a year.

Planning Center is the default answer for a reason. It's a set of separate apps that share one database: People for your directory, Services for worship planning and teams, Giving, Check-Ins for kids, Groups, and more.

The free tier is unusual. People is free with unlimited profiles and reports. Every other module is free up to a threshold: 5 team members in Services, 10 donations a month in Giving, 10 check-ins a day, 15 members in Groups. A small church plant can run on it for a long time without paying.

Past those thresholds, no paid price is printed: you get it from the calculator on the official pricing page by ticking your modules and entering your size. Do that before you compare. Giving costs 2.15% + $0.30 per card donation and $0.30 per ACH gift, plus 1.5% on international cards. Text2Give is $5 a month.

The catch: the bill grows module by module, and not everyone loves the interface. Some users report a frustrating mobile app and thin giving reports.

Tip: open People alone, import your directory, and only switch on a paid module when its free limit actually stops you.

Breeze, part of the Tithely group, bets everything on simplicity. One price, $72 a month, unlimited contacts, no contract. At 600 people, that's one of the most predictable bills in the category.

Users consistently praise how fast volunteers pick it up. It covers people, giving, events, check-in, forms and messaging, with 250 texts a month included and $10 per extra 500.

The extras add up. Worship Tools cost $29 more a month. The bundle with a church app and website is $119. Online giving takes 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction.

The catch: for an 80-person church, $864 a year is a lot next to ChMeetings at $120. Reviewers also mention limits in the mobile app, customization and reporting.

Tip: price your real add-ons before signing. If you want the app and the website, compare the $119 bundle with two separate tools.

ChurchTrac prices for small churches. It starts at $29 a month for 75 names and climbs in steps to $119 for unlimited. Pay yearly and you save 10%. The 30-day trial needs no credit card.

Its reviews stand out for one thing: support. Users describe a team that goes into their system to find the problem instead of sending a help article. The sample on Trustpilot is small, though, so read it as a signal, not proof.

Features cover the basics well: members, giving, attendance, events, accounting and messaging. SMS runs $7 per 250 credits.

The catch: no free plan, and at 250 people it costs $59 a month, more than twice ChMeetings at the same size.

Tip: count names carefully. At 126 names you jump from $39 to $59, so archive inactive records before the trial ends.