Planning Center

planningcenter.com
Productivity
Weekend Project

Software made to help churches help people

How to Replace Planning Center

Overview

Planning Center is a unified church management software platform that provides specialized tools for individual ministries while maintaining a shared database. For 19 years, it has helped churches stay organized, communicate with teams, and connect with their congregants through integrated products and a scalable system.

Features

26 features across 21 categories

Analytics(1)

Engagement Analytics

View analytics on congregation engagement with the app and website

Also in: Hugging Face, Notion, Smartsheet

App Customization(2)

Custom Pages & ThemesPremium

Design custom pages and themes for Church Center

Home Page Configuration

Configure the home page of the Church Center app

Automation(1)

Workflows

Automate processes and workflows within the system

Also in: monday.com, Notion, Airtable

Billing(2)

Processing Fee Calculator

Tool to calculate and estimate payment processing savings

Soft Plan Limits

Ability to occasionally exceed limits in Giving, Check-Ins, and Registrations without penalty

Also in: Insightly, Airtable, Obsidian

Calendar & Scheduling(1)

Calendar

Manage unlimited events and calendar scheduling

Communications(1)

Communication Tools

Built-in tools for communicating with team members and congregation

Contact Management(1)

Profile Management

Manage member profiles within the People database

Content Management(1)

Sermon Notes & AV ChannelsPremium

Share sermon notes and audio/visual content channels

Also in: Juro, Notion, WordPress.com

Database Management(1)

People Database

Shared membership database that connects all other products, serving as the core of the Planning Center system

Donations & Payments(1)

Giving & DonationsPremium

Track and manage donations with support for card, ACH transfer, and Apple Pay transactions

Event Management(2)

Check-InsPremium

Manage check-ins for events with unlimited check-in stations and administrators

Event RegistrationsPremium

Manage event registrations and attendee tracking with card and Apple Pay processing

Forms & Data Collection(1)

Online Forms

Create and manage online forms for data collection

Group Management(1)

Groups ManagementPremium

Create and manage unlimited groups with group events and member tracking

Migration & Onboarding(1)

Transition Support

Resources and guidance for migrating to Planning Center from other systems

Mobile Application(2)

App Management

Manage the Church Center app setup and configuration

Church Center App

Free mobile app and website for congregants to engage with ministries

Product Development(1)

Weekly Product Updates

Consistent product improvements and new features released weekly

Reporting(1)

Custom Reporting

Create custom reports from the People database

Resource Management(1)

Rooms & Resources TrackingPremium

Track and manage rooms and resources for events

Service Planning(2)

Music StandPremium

Supplementary feature for music management in services

Services PlanningPremium

Plan and organize service logistics with team access and unlimited service types

Storage(1)

StoragePremium

100MB cloud storage included with Services plan

Support(1)

Free Support & Training

24/7 access to support articles, training videos, and email support with ~1 business hour response time

Pricing

Free Plan - People

Free
  • People database
  • Profile management
  • Custom reporting
  • Online forms
  • Workflows
  • Communication tools
  • Calendar (unlimited events, 0 rooms)

Free Plan - Check-Ins

Free
  • Check-Ins (up to 10 daily check-ins on busiest day)
  • Unlimited check-in stations and administrators

Free Plan - Giving

Free
  • Giving (up to 15 monthly donations)
  • Card, ACH transfer, and Apple Pay support

Free Plan - Groups

Free
  • Groups (up to 5 group members)
  • Unlimited groups and group events

Free Plan - Church Center

Free
  • Church Center essentials
  • App setup and management
  • Home page configuration
  • Engagement analytics

Free Plan - Registrations

Free
  • Registrations (up to 5 event attendees)
  • Unlimited events
  • Card and Apple Pay support

Free Plan - Services

Free
  • Services (up to 5 team members, 100MB storage)
  • Unlimited teams and service types

Cost Calculator

Pricing data not available for Planning Center. Check their website for current pricing.

Build vs Buy

Should you build a Planning Center alternative or buy the subscription? Estimate based on 26 features.

Buy Planning Center

Better Value
Monthly costContact Sales
3-year totalVaries
Time to deployDays

Build Your Own

Development cost$12,000
Maintenance$180/mo
3-year total$18,480
Dev time~1 months

Buying Planning Center saves ~$18,480 over 3 years vs building.

Estimates based on 26 features and a BuildScore of 5/5. Actual costs vary.

Integrations

2 known integrations

Apple PayStripe