When choosing a church management software, you'll want a tool that can do more than just help you with running church services and attendance tracking (although that's certainly important).
You'll also want a tool that offers innovative solutions for church administrators–providing better workflows for church admin, strategies for organizing people and groups, and advanced features for volunteer management.
All three of these platforms include helpful features for both church leaders and church staff to better manage workflows and projects. A complete church management system will also include powerful reporting tools.
However, each suite of tools differs in pricing and overall functionality. In the following article, we'll take a deeper dive into each all-in-one online solution.
A church management solution typically includes database integrations that make it simpler to communicate with church members. Depending on the tool, it may also include automation tools for making sure that projects and tasks are completed on time.
At the end of the day, cloud-enabled church management software is designed to help your administrative team save time on staying organized and engaged with your church community.
The church management system that's the best will be a powerful, yet cost-effective solution that doesn't represent a massive extra cost for churches.
To help you choose the best church management system, we've take a closer look at Fellowship One, Planning Center, and Tithely. While each of these tools was designed with churches in mind, they do offer different end experiences.
Tithe.ly Church Management (ChMS) is an amazing solution for administration teams to run church services, engage community, generate financial reporting, manage giving, and more.
Tithe.ly charges one low fee–$72 a month–to use their ChMS. Between the three platforms, it's the cheapest solution.
Tithely is a powerful, yet cost-effective solution that provides solution for teams that are uniquely church-oriented. With Tithely, you get all the advanced features you need to effectively run and manage your church. You pay one low monthly cost for all the tools–no additional costs for extra features.
Fellowship One is a church management tool that provides a digital giving solution, accounting and payroll tools, church website designs, and more.
Fellowship One can be used as a comprehensive software system for your church. It's a CRM and ChMS. They do not display per-month pricing on their website.
Fellowship One offers a free trial to help your administration team decide if they want to get onboard with their platform for service planning, running payroll, receiving online donations, and more.
Planning Center is a church management tool that provides seamless integrations for churches to manage their staff and plan upcoming events, as well as church database software.
Planning Center works by charging your church per tool. For example, if you only use their check-in tool, you pay $149 a month for 200 daily check-ins (the price scales as users increase).
With Planning Center, your church admin only uses what they need. So, you can use individual tools–such as their calendar or giving tool. The downside of this is that you can end up paying a high cost, instead of using a cost-effective, all-in-one online solution.
To help churches make the best choice for their church management software tool, it's important to compare them across three core areas: flexibility, simplicity, and pricing.
A flexible church management system means that users are able to use exactly what they need, customize forms with design options, and integrate with other systems.
Thankfully, all three of the platforms described above rate well in terms of flexibility.
Church management software should be simple to navigate. An approachable format means that admin teams have a more positive experience with the tool.
Here's how Tithely, Fellowship One, and Planning Center stack up in terms of simplicity.
Let's not forget about pricing. Your church management software should be affordable for your church organization.
At the end of the day, the best way to choose a church management software tool is to compare the top features.
The top features of Fellowship One's church management system includes:
The top features of Planning Center include:
The top features of Tithely ChMS include:
Fellowship One has the features that most churches need to run efficiently. At $149 a month, however, the price is pretty steep for all but the largest churches.
Likewise, Planning Center has a range of helpful tools and features for churches. Unless your church is very small, however, the price becomes astronomical very quickly.
Tithely is ideal for small- to mid-sized churches that are looking for a one-size-fits-all solution. Tithely has everything you need to run and manage your church, gain insight, and provide a great experience for church members. To learn more about Tithely, click here.
Picking a church management tool is a super important decision. The right tool can help you save time and money, and create a more positive experience for your administrative staff and church members. The wrong tool can waste money and cost you in time and efficiency. Choose wisely!
