Best Church Management Software (2026)
Nicole installed 5 apps on Android, used each one, and scored them against the same rubric.
Tested hands-on by Nicole Magnelli·Updated September 2026·5 apps compared
The ranking
Scored by hand on one public rubric. Select an app to read its review.
The reviewer
We paid for the review, not the result
Nicole MagnelliMom · Ministry leader · Mixed-media artist · Teacher · Pittsburgh, Pa · tested on Android
“I can’t say much about ChurchTrac or Breeze because there was no way to trial them, but comparing Planning Center, Rock and Ministry Planner is easy. If you know your way around Planning Center, it can do a lot and works great. I’ve used it for years at my church. If you’re just building a communications and church management system, I would recommend Ministry Planner. It’s simple, very user friendly and economical. Unless I’m a huge church, I wouldn’t see a need to use Rock.”
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I’m Nicky Magnelli, a mixed-media artist, ministry coordinator, and high school art teacher. I live near Pittsburgh with my husband and daughter, and faith shapes the way I create, serve my community, and pay attention to everyday life. I’ve used Christian apps for my own spiritual practice, with my daughter, and for ministry work. I share reviews from that personal, real-life perspective.
New to church management systemsMinistry Planner
Church or familyMinistry Planner
Worth paying forMinistry Planner
The one to skipRock RMS
App reviews
In ranked order
“Honestly, I don’t see much of a catch. The only thing I couldn’t tell without digging in extensively was how far you could customize and design things like emails, announcements, etc outside of the templates. But for quick ease of use at a reasonable price, I find it much better than many alternatives.”
✓ Would keep using Design 8/10
+Pretty much everything. If I was searching for a church management software, this is what I’d choose.
–I don’t think any of them did better in any category. It has everything.
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On the designVery easy to navigate. The dashboard and the side navigation let you get to what you need quickly.
What you get freeYou get a 30 day trial and can basically start loading your church info and customization in from the beginning of the trial
Did a paywall hit?Not during the trial
Price49-300/month, depending on church size
SetupSetup is incredibly easy. They have a bunch of templates, a lot of click and play.
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“If you want to manage all aspects of church planning, scheduling and communications without paying for anything at all, you'll be very limited unless you have a very small congregation and not a lot of events. Also, its analytics of church health aren't great. It only can give you as much as you're inputting about each church member.”
✓ Would keep using Design 8/10
+It integrates very well with church website design software, saving time overall.
–Ministry Planner is much easier to use and more intuitive.
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On the designIt's easy to manage and integrates across the different modules well.
What you get freePeople: unlimited database and reporting. The church center app and web configuration are also free. There are also free levels of the calendar, check-ins, groups, and registrations.
Did a paywall hit?Only if you add or increase each module beyond the free caps. They have a tiered structure, so you only have to pay for as much as you'll need.
PriceIt has a free tier, but full operations will require a subscription. However, you can choose a la carte to meet your church's needs.
Free plan or trialYes, you get the first 30 days free whenever you apply to a new product for the first time. Planning Center also allows you soft limits if you temporarily exceed your plan's limits.
SetupYou don't have to set up everything at once. You can begin with specific modules and build out as needed. It's best to start by importing your directory into People.
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“If you were going to use ChurchTrac exclusively in place of all other programs, it will work extremely well. However, if you don't want to change part of your systems -- like giving, accounting or website management -- there are more limitations and little live updating.”
✓ Would keep using Design 9/10
+If you use it for all other apps or programs, it’s easy to learn and use
–Ministry Planner seemed more in depth with a ton of options for building out events, sermon series, volunteering, analytics and more.
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On the designIt's clean, intuitive and very user friendly.
What you get freeYou can definitely get a good idea of everything you might want to use during the trial. It appears that nearly every module can be accessed for free, temporarily.
Did a paywall hit?Not during the trial
Price29/month to 119/month depending on congregation size
Free plan or trialYou can actually do quite a lot during the 30 day free trial. You can even migrate your current directory and set up users/admins/etc. while still under the trial.
SetupI'm actually very impressed with the setup. It leads you through easy setup milestones, has simple videos and hints that explain everything and they have weekly Getting Started Livestreams to help.
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“It seems very similar to Planning Center, but if you want to be able to check it out without giving your credit card info, it seems like you're mostly limited to scheduling a demo with a representative.”
✕ Wouldn't keep it Design 6/10
+I’m not sure because I couldn’t play with it without paying
–No free trial - compared to ChurchTrac and Ministry Planner
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On the designI could only watch the pre-recorded demos. The CMS seems clean and easy to navigate, but I couldn't actively try it out.
What you get freeI could view the demo and sign up for a live demo. And I could compare Tithely with other various CMS systems.
Did a paywall hit?It needed a credit card to start the 30-day trial. It wouldn't charge the $72/month until afterwards.
Free plan or trialThere's a free trial but you have to input a credit card to start it
SetupBreeze has been rebranded as Tithely - I couldn't set up anything without putting my credit card in
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“I think it would be a valuable resource for very large churches, especially because you can customize it more than other platforms I’ve used. However, small congregations probably wouldn’t find it worth the cost and should probably skip it.”
✕ Wouldn't keep it Design 8/10
+If you are a church with very, very large congregations, multiple campuses and multiple forms of audio/visual, etc. it would be very helpful for managing everyone and everything.
–It’s very, very expensive so it’s not a great resource for smaller churches with smaller budgets.
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On the designFrom what I could see from the information sections, it’s highly customizable CMS.
Did a paywall hit?Yes, you can’t really use the platform without subscribing but it seems like you can do just about everything you would need to do behind the scenes for communication, organization and tracking data at a church.
Price419-4000+ a month depending on congregation size
Nicole's screenshots (3)Hide screenshots
Feature comparison13 features compared across 5 apps.
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✓ has feature
✕ confirmed none
? not yet verified
Independent ranking. Every app here is scored the same way. Nobody can pay to rank higher. Scored by hand by Nicole.
* Ministry Planner is made by the owner of this site. Nicole Magnelli did not know that when scoring it.
Looking for more options?This ranking covers our top picks. The directory lists every Church Management app with user ratings and platform filters.
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