How Much Does Church Management Software Cost? A 2026 Pricing Breakdown

Church management software costs between $0 and roughly $250 per month for most churches, and the spread inside that range has almost nothing to do with church size. It has to do with which of four pricing models a vendor uses, and whether payment processing is bundled into the conversation or quietly left out of it.

That second part matters more than the subscription. A church receiving $40,000 a month in online giving pays somewhere between $900 and $1,300 a month in processing fees. Compared with processing costs, the $47 monthly difference between a $72 platform and a $119 platform is relatively small.

This page breaks down what each major platform actually publishes, what the four pricing models do to your bill as you grow, and how to calculate a three-year total that survives contact with a renewal. If you're earlier in the process, start with how to choose church management software, or what church management software does if you're still defining the category.

The short answer

As of September 2026, published list prices for church management software fall into three broad bands:

• $0/month — free giving tiers and free member databases, paid for through payment processing fees rather than a subscription.
• $29 to $160/month — where nearly every small and mid-size church lands once it needs member management, check-in, groups, and communication.
• Quote only — several of the largest vendors publish no price at all and require a demo before they'll give you one.

The honest headline: five of the twelve vendors compared below won't tell you what they cost without a sales call.

The four pricing models

Before comparing numbers, identify which model you're being sold. Two platforms with the same month-one price can differ by thousands of dollars over three years.

1. Flat rate. One price, every feature, unlimited users and records. Predictable, easy to budget, and it doesn't punish you for growing or for giving volunteers access. Tithely's All Access plan works this way at $119/month.

2. Tiered by people. Price steps up at record-count thresholds. Fair in principle, but ask exactly where the next threshold sits and what your bill does the month you cross it. ChurchTrac is the clearest example: $29/month covers 75 names, $119/month covers unlimited.

3. Modular or per-product. A low base price — sometimes zero — then check-in is extra, texting is extra, the app is extra. Planning Center is the best-known version, and it's genuinely generous at the bottom: the People database is free and unlimited for any church. The cost arrives when you add Giving, Check-Ins, Groups, and Registrations, each priced on its own usage curve. Church Windows and PowerChurch do the same thing with modules and user seats.

4. Quote only. Pushpay, Subsplash, Church Community Builder, Realm, and Shelby Arena all require a conversation. Expect annual contracts, and in Pushpay's case explicitly 1, 2, or 3-year terms with the balance owed if you cancel early.

The budgeting risk is highest with modular and quote-only pricing. Modular pricing can be inexpensive when you need only a few tools, but costs can climb as you add products. Quote-only pricing can make initial comparison difficult because you don't know your real cost until you've entered the sales process.

What each platform publishes: 2026 price comparison

Every figure below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, checked the week this was published.

Two things stand out. First, flat-rate pricing is now the minority position. Second, the platforms aimed at larger churches are the ones least willing to publish a number — which is exactly when a buyer most needs one for a budget conversation with a board.

If you're weighing specific vendors head to head, we maintain detailed breakdowns for Planning Center, Servant Keeper, Shelby Arena, Church Community Builder, Pushpay, Subsplash, Fellowship One, and ChurchTrac. The full set lives on the comparison hub.

Payment processing is the other half of your bill

This is the line item that decides your real cost, and it's almost never in the comparison spreadsheet.

Run the math on a church receiving $40,000 a month in online giving across roughly 400 gifts:

• All credit and debit at 2.9% + $0.30: $1,160 in percentage fees plus $120 in per-transaction fees = $1,280/month.
• Same volume at 2.15% + $0.30: $860 plus $120 = $980/month.
• 40% of that volume moved to ACH at 1% + $0.30, the rest on card at 2.9%: $768 in card fees plus $208 in ACH fees = $976/month.

Potential savings from payment mix alone: $3,648/year.

That last line is the one worth sitting with. Moving four in ten donors from card to bank transfer got this church to roughly the same monthly cost as switching to the lowest card rate available — without changing platforms at all. It saves $304 a month against the all-card baseline, more than three times the $90 gap between the most and least expensive published plans in the table above. Card-rate differences of half a percent are real, but donor payment mix is the larger lever, it compounds with a better rate rather than competing with it, and it's the one you control. Online giving processing fees covers the mechanics in more depth.

Ask every vendor for processing rates in writing, separate from the software quote, and ask specifically whether ACH is offered and at what rate.

What to budget by church size

The costs that aren't on the pricing page

Six line items account for nearly every "we went over budget" story in this category.

Onboarding and migration fees. Sometimes included, sometimes not, and rarely mentioned until contracting. Tithely's Premium Onboarding is a $599 one-time fee that covers training sessions and migration assistance and is included at the Enterprise tier. ChurchTrac prices a website and app build from $477 and accounting setup from $399. Ask whether migration is included, billed, or handled by a third party.

Text messaging overages. Almost every platform includes an allowance and meters past it. Tithely includes 250 messages a month; ChurchTrac sells Enhanced Messaging at $7/month for 250 credits, then $7 per additional 250. If you text your whole congregation weekly, price this deliberately — a 600-person church sending four texts a month is 2,400 messages, not 250.

Per-seat creep. PowerChurch Online covers two concurrent users and charges $29/month for each additional pair. Servant Keeper's Core plan estimates four users, Complete estimates eight. The question isn't how many staff you have; it's how many volunteer coordinators, group leaders, and check-in workers will need a login in two years.

Module unbundling. On modular platforms, price the complete stack you need, not the entry tier. A free database plus paid giving plus paid check-in plus paid groups plus paid registrations is a different number from "free."

Contract length. Quote-only vendors generally sell annual or multi-year terms. Pushpay publishes 1, 2, and 3-year contracts and states that early cancellation requires paying the balance. A three-year contract isn't automatically bad — it's usually where discounts live — but price the exit before you sign.

Add-on features that feel core. Servant Keeper charges $199 for child check-in. Check whether the one workflow you most need is inside the plan or beside it.

How to calculate a three-year total

Monthly price is the wrong unit. Use this instead, for each vendor on your shortlist:

1. Software: monthly subscription for the complete set of modules you need × 36.
2. Setup: onboarding, migration, and implementation fees, one time.
3. Processing: (annual giving × expected blended percentage rate) + (annual transaction count × per-transaction fee), multiplied by three. For most churches this is the largest of the three numbers by a wide margin.
4. Overages: texting above the included allowance, extra user seats, and any module you'll add in year two.
5. Growth: re-run step 1 at the size you expect to be in three years, not the size you are now. On tiered and per-user models, this is where the number moves.

Then compare totals. The cheapest platform in month one is frequently the most expensive by year three under per-user or modular pricing — and occasionally the reverse, if a flat-rate plan includes far more than you'll ever use.

For the finance side of the stack, church bookkeeping software covers where accounting sits relative to your ChMS, since most churches need both and the overlap is a common source of duplicate spend.

Where Tithely fits

Tithely uses flat-rate pricing, which offers one significant budgeting advantage: your software bill doesn't increase simply because your database or administrative team grows.

Giving is $0/month with no setup fee, no monthly fee, and no contract — you pay only standard processing at 2.9% + $0.30 for credit and debit, 1% + $0.30 for ACH, and 3.5% + $0.30 for AMEX. Church Management adds member records, check-in, groups, volunteers, events, and communication for $72/month with unlimited admin users and unlimited people. All Access bundles both with a custom church app, a church website, and worship planning for $119/month. Every paid plan includes a 30-day free trial, and Enterprise customers get negotiated processing rates and premium onboarding.

The honest tradeoff: Tithely's card rate is higher than Planning Center's 2.15%, and a church whose giving is overwhelmingly card-based and whose needs are met by Planning Center's free People database may well pay less there. Where flat-rate all-in-one wins is the church running four or five disconnected tools, paying for each, and losing hours to the seams between them. Price both scenarios honestly before deciding.

You can see every plan side by side on Tithely pricing and compare plans in detail, or read our roundup of the best all-in-one church management software for the wider field.

Frequently asked questions

How much does church management software cost per month? Most churches pay between $29 and $160 per month for software, with free tiers available for giving and, in Planning Center's case, for the member database. Published 2026 prices run from $0/month (Tithely Giving) to $239/month (Planning Center Giving at unlimited volume). Several large vendors, including Pushpay, Subsplash, Realm, and Shelby Arena, publish no price and quote on request.

Is there free church management software? There are free tiers, not free full platforms. Planning Center People is free and unlimited as a member database. Tithely Giving is $0/month with no setup or monthly fee, and you pay only payment processing. ChurchTrac and most others offer 30-day trials rather than a permanent free plan. A genuinely free tier is usually funded by processing fees, which is a real cost, just a variable one.

Why do some vendors not publish their pricing? Quote-only pricing usually signals variable pricing by church size, negotiated processing rates, and multi-year contracts. It isn't automatically a red flag — larger churches often get better rates that way — but it means you can't budget or shortlist without committing to a sales call. Ask for a written quote that separates software, onboarding, and processing.

What's a reasonable church management software budget for a church of 300? Budget $59 to $160 per month for software, plus processing on your giving volume. At 300 attendees a flat-rate plan and a mid-tier per-person plan land in similar territory month one; the difference shows up in year three, and depends mostly on how many volunteers need logins and how many modules you add.

Do payment processing fees count as part of the software cost? Functionally, yes. For most churches processing is the larger number. A church receiving $40,000/month in online gifts pays roughly $976 to $1,280 per month in processing depending on rates and payment mix — several times any subscription in this category. Always evaluate software price and processing rate together.

Can we reduce processing fees without switching platforms? Usually. Encouraging ACH or bank transfer giving is the single biggest lever. ACH processing is typically considerably less expensive than credit-card processing. For example, Tithely's published ACH rate is 1% + $0.30 compared with 2.9% + $0.30 for most cards. Many platforms also let donors cover the fee at checkout. Both changes typically save more than moving to a cheaper vendor.

What hidden costs should we ask about before signing? Six: onboarding and migration fees, text messaging overages, per-user or per-seat charges, modules priced outside the base plan, contract length and early-cancellation terms, and what happens to your data if you leave. Get each in writing before contracting. The buyer's checklist has the full question list.