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Affordable church management software should be available to every church.
In 2023, there are even free options that allow you to use cloud-based software absolutely free...although we don't necessarily recommend options that are all-inclusive and 100% free (keep reading to learn why).
In the following article, we'll take a look at some of the best options out there for churches that want to use an online church management software system without paying a ton of money.
We'll also look at a few free options and add-ons that you might want to consider.
Ready?
<a href="#list-1" class="toc-link">1. Tithely</a>
<a href="#list-2" class="toc-link">2. Tithely Media</a>
<a href="#list-3" class="toc-link">3. Tithely People</a>
<a href="#list-4" class="toc-link">4. Breeze</a>
<a href="#list-5" class="toc-link">5. PastorsLine</a>
<a href="#list-6" class="toc-link">6. ChurchTrac</a>
<a href="#list-7" class="toc-link">7. Elvanto</a>
<a href="#list-8" class="toc-link">8. Continue to Give</a>
<a href="#list-9" class="toc-link">9. Churchteams</a>
<a href="#list-10" class="toc-link">10. ShelbyNext</a>
Free church software is a system that allows you to use the features of a ChMS without paying a monthly fee.
In many cases, church management tools will offer free features without necessarily offering the entire system for free.
These free features might include a giving platform, free media, free data migration, and more. Paid features might include accounting software, church database software, and church worship software.
Depending on different ministry contexts, you need ChMS to manage different aspects of your church, such as donation collection and tracking, communications tool (email and text message), event planning, and more.
Ultimately, a software tool will help you be most efficient and effective at church administration, so that you can focus your time on what's really important–like pastoral care, outreach, and helping people grow in their relationship to God!
It's time to replace your church management software when:
Here's the good news: There are a ton of options for you to replace your current system.
Here's the tricky part: Choosing the right option for you can feel overwhelming. That's why we've done the legwork for you, and narrowed down the field to 10 options.
The advantages of using a free church management software are that you don't have to worry about wasting money on the wrong tool.
The disadvantages, however, are that a comprehensive free church software isn't easy to find. Most free tools will miss at least one crucial feature that you need to run your church well.
When choosing the best church software, we considered several factors. Is the tool user-friendly? Does it offer different kinds of software updates to keep the tool up to date? Does it have advanced features that help you address all the various aspects of church administration?
Finally, while we don't necessarily recommend an all-in-one church management software that's 100% free, the tool should be very affordable for churches of every size.
Tithely is a church management software that offers all the tools you need to run your church from a single platform. Tithely offers:
What's free: Tithely's online giving platform is free to use, with no monthly subscription fees or contract. And, Tithely Media–a free church media library–is also free to use.
What's not free: Tithely costs $119 a month to use absolutely everything (Tithely Giving is always free!)
Tithely Media is a free tool that helps churches to download and customize graphics for social media channels, their church website, sermon series, and more. While not technically a church management solution, Tithely Media can help you create awesome custom content for your church needs.
With Tithely Media you can:
Tithely People is a contact database solution for storing and managing your church member information. Although Tithely People syncs beautifully with other Tithely products, it can also be used as a standalone solution.
Here's what Tithely People includes:
What's free: Tithely People is free to use when you also use Tithely Giving.
Breeze is an all-in-one church management solution that can help ministry leaders manage their people, staff, and volunteers.
Breeze includes:
What's free: Breeze will move over all your data for free, meaning that setup with their platform is smooth and simple.
What's not free: To use all of their tools, Breeze charges $67 a month.
PastorsLine helps church leaders to text and email their visitors and members. It's not an all-in-one solution, but a standalone communications tool.
With PastorsLine, you can:
What's free: PastorsLine offers a free trial with 500 text messages included.
What's not free: You'll have to pay to use PastorsLine for more than one month. These trials range from $15 to $750 per month.
ChurchTrac is a church management solution with a wide range of features for ministry leaders.
ChurchTrac offers tools for:
What's free: ChurchTrac's member management ("People") tool is free to use, along with a few of their core features.
What's not free: To use anything beyond their People tool, you'll need to pay a minimum of $48 per month for a 1,000-person church (their pricing scales up with the size of your congregation).
Elvanto is a church management solution that offers a range of advanced features to help your church manage their members, plan events, send out communications, and much more.
Elvanto provides tools for:
What's free: Elvanto is one of the most advanced church management products out there, and doesn't offer any free products.
What's not free: You can use Elvanto's church management solution + giving platform for $72 a month–or pay an extra $45 for their custom app.
Continue to Give is primarily an online giving platform for churches, missionaries, and ministries. But they also offer tools for church management.
Here are some of the things you can do with Continue to Give:
What's free: Continue to Give offers a free version of their online giving tool, but the transaction rates are high (3.2% + $0.45). They also offer free setup and free coaching.
What's not free: For $29 a month, you can use Continue to Give's online giving tool with a 2.7% + $0.25 per transaction rate.
Churchteams is a church management solution that offers giving tools, volunteer coordination, group management, event registration, and more.
Churchteams can help you:
What's free: Churchteams offers a free 30-day trial.
What's not free: Churchteams' monthly pricing ranges from $37-$227, depending on what you use and how many church members you have.
Subsplash is a church management solution that offers tools for online giving, livestreaming, event planning, volunteer scheduling, and more.
Here are just a few of the things you can do with Subsplash:
What's free: Subsplash's Giving platform is free to use.
What's not free: Subsplash's base package costs $99 a month, plus a $499 setup fee.
When choosing a church management solution for your church, you'll want to look for a solution that fits your budget and specific needs.
Again, a solution that is 100% free may not be a great choice. But a solution that offers free products to some degree (such as a free giving platform) can be a great choice!
Churches use a range of software products to manage their people, events, workflows, and more. Often, a large customer base indicates that a product is a great choice. Tithely, for example, has 37,000 customers–a great sign that this is both affordable and high-value.
Church management software can perform just about any administrative function that a church may need. That includes any internal operations or staff/volunteer management needed for events; marketing needs, such as online marketing, email communication, and more; and online giving.
Finally, church management software can provide much-needed insight into the health of a church. That can include member engagement, giving stats, and more.
Look for ease of use, functionality, and affordability. We recommend a software that charges one flat fee, so that you don't need to pay more as you grow!
