There is no one right way to pick a ChMS for your Christian church. Many ChMS platforms have things in common, but they also have unique features that set them apart. Here’s our top 10 list of software based on their pros and cons.
Stop us if you’ve heard this before—a church is not a building, but instead a group of people. We certainly agree with that statement, but it begs the question: how do you keep track of those people?
Within any Christian Church, there are any number of things to keep track of, including:
Luckily, there is one solution for managing all of these things with Church Management Software (ChMS). A ChMS handles all administrative tasks for your Christian church and gives you a central database to find the information you need quickly and reliably.
Christian churches need Church Management Software for the same reason they need a building. It’s not strictly required, but it’s become an expected resource. Just like a physical building, your ChMS provides a place to store and protect your people (or their data).
When used properly, a ChMS manages many different elements of your congregation:
These features benefit your congregation, regardless of whether you’re Baptist, Catholic, Anglican, or another denomination.
At its most basic, any Church Management Software is just a database—it creates records for people, lets you add data and tags about them, and connect them to various groups.
However, ChMS is more powerful than that because these are designed specifically for Christian churches with your needs and expectations in mind. Most of these companies have been around for years and work with thousands of churches.
For this reason, they have a number of customized features that work specifically for communities of faith like yours.
Church Management Software is unique because of their purpose for specifically serving Christian churches. These are a few of the most important elements to look for when selecting your own ChMs:
There is no one right way to pick a ChMS for your Christian church. Many ChMS platforms have things in common, but they also have unique features that set them apart. Here’s our top 10 list of software based on their pros and cons.
<a href="#list-1" class="toc-link">1. Breeze ChMS</a>
<a href="#list-2" class="toc-link">2. Tithely</a>
<a href="#list-3" class="toc-link">3. WildApricot</a>
<a href="#list-4" class="toc-link">4. Fellowship One</a>
<a href="#list-5" class="toc-link">5. Pushpay</a>
<a href="#list-6" class="toc-link">6. Shelby Systems</a>
<a href="#list-7" class="toc-link">7. Servant Keeper</a>
<a href="#list-8" class="toc-link">8. Elvanto</a>
<a href="#list-9" class="toc-link">9. Faith Teams</a>
<a href="#list-10" class="toc-link">10. Churchteams</a>
Breeze ChMS has a single price of $72 per month. This includes all features for unlimited users with no onboarding fees.
Tithe.ly’s ChMS option costs $72 per month with a $149 one-time setup cost. This can also be bundled with the rest of the Tithe.ly suite for $119 per month.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.shelbysystems.com/">3. Shelby Systems</a>
Shelby Systems’ pricing is based on the size of your church starting around $35/month.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://servantkeeper.com/">4. Servant Keeper</a>
Servant Keeper has a small church option starting at $250 for up to 50 families. Their unlimited plan costs $499 plus an initial fee for unlimited users.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.fellowshipone.com/">5. Fellowship One</a>
Fellowship One doesn’t list pricing and develops contracts based on individual churches. However, they do have a 30-day free trial to test the system.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://pushpay.com/">6. Pushpay</a>
Pushpay offers three pricing tiers for their ChMS—core, advanced, and complete—based on features. However, the specific pricing for these tiers isn’t listed.
Elvanto’s ChMS with the giving feature is a flat $50/month plus a one-time $149 setup fee. There is also a 2.9% + $0.30 fee for each donation.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.flockbase.com/">8. FlockBase</a>
There are two pricing models based on locally-hosted or cloud-based solutions. Cloud prices range from $24 to $59 monthly. The desktop option range from $139 to 269 one-time price.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.wildapricot.com/">9. WildApricot</a>
WildApricot’s price depends on the number of database contacts and admins. The cost begins at $60/month for 250 contacts and extends to $350/month for up to 5,000 contacts.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://go.churchteams.com/">10. Churchteams</a>
Churchteams is a comprehensive church management tool that has most of what big churches require for effective administration.
Churchteams includes:
Some users of Churchteams report that it’s a bit clunky on the back end.
Churchteams offers scaled pricing. A church of 2,000 people will pay $107 for their “essentials” plus texting suite.
When considering which church management system to use, you’ll want to consider features, pricing, usability, and support.
The best church management system for big churches is a tool that offers everything you need without scaled pricing. You shouldn’t have to pay for your church growth!
Key takeaways? Every big church requires a management system. While many software tools offer similar products, not all church management software is created equal. Pricing, user experience, and customer support are key things to consider alongside features.
All types of software is used in church–but smart churches will rely on an all-in-one product to meet the majority of their needs.
To manage the business aspects of your church, you’ll need accounting tools and payment software.
Technology is used to run church administration, marketing, and communication.