How to Choose Church Management Software in 2025

Choosing a church management system is one of the most impactful technology decisions your church will make. The right choice saves staff hours every week, grows giving, and strengthens congregation connections. The wrong choice wastes months of setup time and creates frustration. This guide walks you through the decision process.

Step 1: Define Your Church's Primary Pain Points

Before looking at any software, spend 30 minutes with your admin staff and pastoral team answering this question: What consumes the most time or causes the most frustration in managing our congregation?

Common answers for churches 100–2,000 members:

Member tracking — We don't know who's coming and who's drifted away
Giving — Most people still give by check; we need digital options
Volunteer scheduling — Sunday morning is chaos getting the right people in the right places
Communication — We have no good way to reach specific groups
Events — Registration and check-in are manual and error-prone
Children's ministry — Check-in takes too long and isn't secure

Rank your top 2-3 pain points. This will guide your software evaluation — don't buy a platform because it has 100 features if your problem is specifically volunteer scheduling.

Step 2: Know Your Budget

Church software for a 100–500 member congregation should cost $50–$150/month. Here's a realistic budget breakdown:

Church Size	Recommended Budget	Best Options
Under 100 members	$0–$72/month	Planning Center Free, Tithe.ly Free
100–300 members	$72–$100/month	Breeze, Tithe.ly
300–1,000 members	$100–$200/month	Planning Center, Breeze, Tithe.ly
1,000–2,000 members	$200–$500/month	Planning Center, Pushpay
2,000+ members	Custom pricing	Pushpay, CCB

Include giving transaction fees in your calculation. If your church collects $10,000/month in digital giving, a 2.9% rate = $290 in fees. That's part of your total platform cost.

Step 3: Match Features to Pain Points

Don't evaluate platforms on overall feature count. Evaluate them on how well they solve your specific top 2-3 pain points.

If your pain is...	Prioritize this feature	Best platforms
Digital giving growth	Mobile giving, text-to-give, recurring gifts	Tithe.ly, Pushpay
Member tracking	Member directory, custom fields, engagement tracking	Breeze, Planning Center
Volunteer scheduling	Service planning, schedule automation, reminders	Planning Center Services
Communication	Email lists, SMS, group messaging	Most platforms cover basics
Children's ministry	Secure check-in, allergy tracking, name tags	Breeze, Planning Center

Step 4: Short-List 2-3 Platforms

Based on your pain points and budget, we recommend short-listing no more than 3 platforms. More than that creates comparison fatigue and delays the decision.

Our standard short-list recommendations by church size:

Under 300 members: Breeze + Tithe.ly (compare these two)
300–1,000 members: Planning Center + Breeze
1,000+ members: Planning Center + Pushpay

Step 5: Request Demos — The Right Way

Don't just watch a vendor's canned demo. Come prepared with your specific use cases:

"Show me how a first-time visitor is added to the system and followed up with"
"Walk me through scheduling 20 volunteers for a Sunday service"
"Show me how a member makes a one-time donation on their phone"
"How does a year-end giving statement get generated?"

If the vendor can't demo your actual workflows, that's a red flag.

Step 6: Run a Real Free Trial

Every platform on our list offers either a free trial or a free tier. Use it with real data from your church. Invite 2-3 staff members who would actually use the system daily. Get their honest feedback after 2 weeks.

The platform that your least tech-savvy admin can use without frustration is the winner — not the platform with the most features.

Step 7: Get Elder Board Buy-In

Present your recommendation to church leadership with a simple ROI framing:

How many staff hours per month will this save? (At even $15/hr, 5 saved hours/month = $75/month in labor savings)
What is the projected increase in digital giving? (10% on $5,000/month = $500/month additional)
What is the monthly cost? (e.g., $72/month)
Net benefit: $500 - $72 = $428/month positive impact

Step 8: Plan Your Implementation

A successful ChMS launch needs:

A designated internal champion (usually the admin/office manager) who owns the setup
A data migration plan — export your current data first, before canceling anything
A rollout timeline: admin training → volunteer testing → congregation communication → full launch
A giving transition plan if you're switching platforms (maintain parallel giving for one month minimum)

Our Top Picks

Based on thousands of hours of research and real-world testing:

Best for small churches: Breeze ChMS — flat $72/month, easiest onboarding
Best for online giving: Tithe.ly — free giving tools, best mobile experience
Best all-in-one: Planning Center — free tier, best volunteer scheduling

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to implement church management software?

Typical ChMS implementation takes 2–8 weeks depending on data complexity. Breeze can be live in a day or two. Planning Center typically takes 2–4 weeks with proper volunteer setup. Migrating from another ChMS with complex data may take longer.

Should I involve elders or deacons in the ChMS decision?

Yes — for any software with a monthly cost over $50, we recommend involving at least one elder or board member in the decision. Their buy-in ensures ongoing funding and adoption. Frame it as a stewardship decision: better tools = more efficient use of staff time = more ministry impact.

What data do I need to migrate when switching ChMS?

Key data to migrate: member/contact profiles, household relationships, giving history (for year-end statements), attendance records, and group memberships. Most platforms accept CSV imports. Request a data export from your current system before canceling.