Planning Center alternatives for small and mid-size churches

Why do churches look for Planning Center alternatives?

Most churches that look elsewhere aren't unhappy with any single Planning Center product; they're weighing how the products add up. Planning Center prices each product separately, by its own measure: daily check-ins, team members who log in, active group members, monthly donations, event attendees (Planning Center pricing, verified as of 2026-10-06). That's fair and flexible, but it means:

• The bill grows with your church. Each product steps up a tier as more people check in, serve or join a group. That's good news for ministry and harder news for a fixed budget.
• There's more to learn. Volunteers move between several products, each with its own screens and settings.
• Small churches may want something simpler. A church run by one part-time administrator or a handful of volunteers often wants fewer moving parts.

None of these is a problem for every church. If Planning Center is working for you, it's worth staying.

What should a small church look for in an alternative?

Look for a tool that fits how your church actually runs, not the longest feature list. A good shortlist checks these boxes:

1. A price you can predict. Can you say what you'll pay next year if you grow by 50 people?
2. One people directory. Families, roles and permissions in one place, shared by every ministry.
3. A member app people will actually open. Ideally in the App Store and Google Play under your church's name.
4. Kids check-in your volunteers can run in seconds, with security labels.
5. Help moving. Someone who will move your people, groups and history for you.
6. A real trial. Long enough to run a few Sundays on it before you pay.

Before you start any trial, write down the three jobs your team does every week (say, scheduling the band, checking in kids, and sending the Friday email) and test those first. The tool that makes your most common week easier is usually the right one.

Where does Churchory fit?

Churchory is church management software for small and mid-size churches. Start free with Core (your people directory, families, roles and church-wide email and push), then add only the products you need, like groups, events, Sunday serving and check-in, kids, care, chat and voting, or get everything with Churchory One.

For a Planning Center church, the main changes are a flat price, one directory and a single app. Each Churchory product is $99 a year, a $201 saving over paying $25 a month. Churchory One (every product, including every future product and your church's own branded app) is $599 a year, a $949 saving over paying $129 a month. Core is free forever, there are no contracts or people-count tiers, you can cancel any month, and prices are in USD. Your members use the Churchory Mobile app on iOS and Android, or your church's own app with Churchory One. Worship teams keep ChordPro charts with live transpose, and the Sunday product covers serving schedules, worship planning and Sunday check-in in one place. The Kids product prints security labels on Brother label printers or plain paper.

Switching is free: our team moves your people and households, groups, serving teams and up to two years of attendance history, and can import your Planning Center Services song library. See Churchory vs Planning Center for a side-by-side table and what Churchory replaces, and switching to Churchory for the steps.

Churchory isn't the right fit for everyone. It doesn't do fund accounting, and texting and church websites are still in beta.

What are the other Planning Center alternatives?

Here are other options small and mid-size churches often compare, with details from each company's public page (verified as of 2026-10-06):

• Breeze: one flat monthly plan for church management with free giving; worship tools are a paid add-on. Breeze is owned by Tithe.ly and is now called Tithely Church Management. See Churchory vs Breeze.
• Tithe.ly: an All-Access bundle with giving, church management, a custom app and a website. See Churchory vs Tithe.ly.
• ChurchTrac: priced by number of names, with fund accounting included. See Churchory vs ChurchTrac.
• Subsplash: strong on apps, websites and media; Subsplash One pricing is based on church size and usage and isn't published. See Churchory vs Subsplash.
• Pushpay: giving and church management (formerly Church Community Builder), quote-based pricing. See Churchory vs Pushpay.

Try two or three side by side with your real Sunday in mind, and pick the one your volunteers find easiest.

How do you move from Planning Center to Churchory?

Free staff-run migration: people and households, groups and leaders, upcoming events, serving teams, documents and up to two years of attendance history (giving ledgers stay with your giving provider; nobody is invited until you say go). Self-serve: people CSV import; attendance and serving history import with a Planning Center preset (Check-Ins → Check-ins → Export → CSV; Services → service type → Matrix or People → Export to CSV); and Planning Center Services song import using a personal access token (titles, CCLI numbers, authors, ChordPro charts; preview first; the token is never stored).

Read the full switching and setup guide.