Editor Sebastiaan Smits ·
Published November 5, 2026 · Updated November 5, 2026
Churches look past Planning Center when five product plans add up to a bill they cannot predict, or when they want one flat price or a deeper, customizable database. Most go to ChurchTrac or Breeze for a single readable price, Tithely for a bundle, and Rock RMS or a large-church platform for control.
Short answer: The closest replacements for Planning Center in our Church management software ranking are ChurchTrac, Breeze ChMS and Tithely. Choose ChurchTrac if you want one subscription that includes accounting, check-in, giving and a website, priced by roll size. The other 10 entries come from our Best Church Management Software in 2026 list as well, and every one is set against Planning Center specifically, with a note on the cases where Planning Center should stay.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. The first three alternatives go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure · editorial process.
Each product has its own plan sized by a count: team members, attendees at the largest event, donations a month, Sunday check-ins, people in groups. Running services, groups, check-ins and giving means four plans to watch, and the pricing page shows the monthly total only after you pick levels.
Texts sent through People use purchased credits at $0.02 per text, and a toll-free number for text giving is $5 a month. Music Stand is a $5 monthly add-on. None of this is large, but a church that wants one figure for everything has to add these up.
Free entry levels such as 5 team members in Services and 15 group members in Groups stop quickly in a church with many volunteers. The pricing page says going over a limit breaks nothing and brings a suggestion email, but staying within the free levels is a real constraint.
The 11 candidates run from the strongest match for Planning Center users to the weakest, and the last column is its slot in our list of 12.
| # | Alternative | Headquarters | Switch if | Our rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  ChurchTrac | United States | you want one subscription that includes accounting, check-in, giving and a website, priced by roll size | #1 |
| 2 |  Breeze ChMS | United States | you want one flat price with unlimited people and admins, and an easy exit | #2 |
| 3 |  Tithely | United States | you want giving, app and website bought as one bundle instead of by module | #5 |
| 4 |  Subsplash | United States | your church leads with a custom app, video and media, and accepts a quote | #7 |
| 5 |  Pushpay | New Zealand | you run a large or multi-site church that centers on giving and accepts a multi-year contract | #6 |
| 6 |  Rock RMS | United States | you have a technical volunteer or staff member and want to own the system and the code | #3 |
| 7 |  Servant Keeper | United States | you want a long-running ChMS with only two published plans and a demo | #10 |
| 8 |  Realm | United States | you want a mid-sized vendor with giving and accounting and are willing to book a demo | #9 |
| 9 |  MinistryPlatform | United States | you are a large church, parish or diocese that wants one customizable database | #8 |
| 10 |  Shelby Systems | United States | you want membership and church accounting from one vendor for an established church | #12 |
| 11 |  Church Windows | United States | you want fund accounting and payroll modules with desktop-style control | #11 |
Pricing follows the number of names you track, from 75 names at $29 a month to an unlimited roll at $119, and every size includes fund accounting, giving, check-in, worship scheduling and a website with an app. Enhanced Messaging for two-way texting is a separate add-on.
Switch from Planning Center if you want one subscription that includes accounting, check-in, giving and a website, priced by roll size.
One flat $72 monthly plan covers unlimited contacts and admin users, with no contract or termination fee and a free data export and import. Texting includes 250 messages a month, then $10 per 500, and worship tools are a $29 add-on.
Switch from Planning Center if you want one flat price with unlimited people and admins, and an easy exit.
The All-Access plan at $119 a month bundles five products: giving, management, church app, website and service planning. Its pricing page lists a CSV export of all giving transactions. Leaving later means leaving the app and site too, since they sit in the same plan.
Switch from Planning Center if you want giving, app and website bought as one bundle instead of by module.
Giving alone lists $0 a month with 2.3% plus 30 cents on cards and 1% on ACH, and the wider Subsplash One bundle of apps, media, streaming and management is priced by quote. The pitch leans on apps and media more than on the database.
Switch from Planning Center if your church leads with a custom app, video and media, and accepts a quote.
Contracts run one, two or three years, and the pricing page says that ending one early means paying the balance. Check scanning and remote deposit start at $0.29 per check. Unlimited users and administrators are stated for every plan, and a Complete tier targets multi-site churches.
Switch from Planning Center if you run a large or multi-site church that centers on giving and accepts a multi-year contract.
The software is open source with no license fee: the pricing page asks for a donation of $4.45 per average weekend attendee a year, on the honor system, plus either a cloud host or your own servers. The cost moves from licenses to hosting and configuration time.
Switch from Planning Center if you have a technical volunteer or staff member and want to own the system and the code.
Two published plans: Core at $79.99 and Complete at $159.99 a month, with a yearly option that saves 8%. Both are sold with a demo, and check-in is a $199 option on Core. Fewer admin logins are included than on a flat unlimited-admin plan.
Switch from Planning Center if you want a long-running ChMS with only two published plans and a demo.
Made by ACS Technologies, it covers profiles, groups, volunteers, reports, giving and accounting under one vendor. No price is published, and the ACS site steers visitors to a personalized demo request rather than to a self-serve sign-up.
Switch from Planning Center if you want a mid-sized vendor with giving and accounting and are willing to book a demo.
ACS Technologies' single-database platform for large churches, parishes and dioceses, shown through a demo, with no price on the site. Its pages stress one customizable database and self-service access across the ministry, not a menu of separate products.
Switch from Planning Center if you are a large church, parish or diocese that wants one customizable database.
An integrated suite of membership, online giving, church accounting, a mobile app, websites, background checks and worship planning. The site offers a free trial or a call with a specialist and shows no price. Accounting is the strongest reason to look at it.
Switch from Planning Center if you want membership and church accounting from one vendor for an established church.
Sold as modules, among them membership, scheduler, donations, accounting with funds and payroll, available as web access or a desktop install. You buy the parts you need and a support tier, rather than product usage tiers. Mobile apps and websites get less attention.
Switch from Planning Center if you want fund accounting and payroll modules with desktop-style control.
Planning Center is still the right choice when you want to start with the free levels and add one ministry at a time, and when you are happy to pay per product. The pricing page lists no contract, no start-up fee and no cancellation fee, every product has a 30-day free trial, and the processing rate of 2.15% plus $0.30 on US cards applies to both Giving and Registrations. If your usage is small and steady, the several plans cost little.
The Terms of Service say an email or phone request to cancel is not a cancellation. An organization administrator has to use the Accounts link in the top navigation, where each application has its own cancellation link. Do this only after the new system holds your data.
After cancellation you lose access, and the terms say customer data is deleted one year later and cannot be recovered. The data remains yours under the terms. Export people, giving history and check-in records first, and keep your own copy before the new system goes live.
Planning Center's strength is that its products share one person record. Elsewhere, services, groups, check-in and giving may sit in one product or in several, so volunteers, families and giving statements need a deliberate mapping. Run both systems in parallel for a few weeks before cancelling.
Export before you cancel, because access ends at cancellation and the terms say data is deleted a year later. The terms confirm that the data stays yours. We did not confirm the export formats for each product on its own pages, so check People, Giving and Check-ins separately.
An organization administrator cancels from the Accounts link in the top navigation. Each application has its own no-questions-asked cancellation link there. An email or phone request does not count as cancelling. Cancel the products you use one by one, and keep the free ones if you still need them.
There is no cancellation fee and no contract, according to the pricing page. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time. Subscription fees are billed in advance for the selected payment term and are non-refundable, so a mid-term cancellation ends the service without a refund.
A paid subscription renews automatically for successive periods equal to the selected payment term until you cancel, per the Terms of Service. Cancel before the next billing date. A free trial charges its fees when it ends unless you cancel first, with an email reminder sent ahead.
You lose access at cancellation, and the terms say all customer data is deleted one year after the date of cancellation and is not recoverable. The data remains yours under the terms. A downgrade can also remove content or capacity at the start of the next payment term.
Most alternatives accept a CSV import, but each handles families, groups and giving history differently. Breeze lists free data import and export, ChurchTrac says its team imports people and families for free from a spreadsheet or old provider, and Tithely lists CSV export of transactions. Ask each vendor about giving history.
They usually do. Planning Center lists 2.15% plus $0.30 on US cards and 0% plus $0.30 on ACH. Subsplash lists 2.3% plus 30 cents on cards and 1% on ACH for its giving product, and Pushpay and Tithely set their own rates. Compare the full cost, not only the monthly fee.
Every price, plan limit and product statement about Planning Center here was read on the vendors' own pages on November 5, 2026. Either can change at any time, so read the figures as of that day.
Sebastiaan Smits, Founder, wrote, edited and fact-checked this page.
Founder of The Interregnum and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page here; research and drafting are AI-assisted. Last reviewed November 5, 2026.
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