License & Deployment Mix: 14 tools – 1 OSS, 12 SaaS. (OSS and SaaS counts can overlap when an open-source tool also offers a vendor-hosted edition.)
What Is Church Management Software?
Church management software (ChMS) is the operational backbone of a church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious organization. It handles membership records, giving and donation tracking, event management, volunteer coordination, and communications – replacing spreadsheets, paper records, and disconnected tools with a unified digital platform.
Unlike generic CRM or nonprofit software, ChMS includes domain-specific features that general tools cannot provide:
- Membership management – household and individual records, attendance tracking, life-event milestones (baptism, confirmation, membership class), and member directories
- Giving / donation tracking – tithes, offerings, pledges, fund designations, contribution statements, and tax-receipt generation
- Check-in / attendance – secure child check-in with name tags and security codes, worship attendance tracking, and kiosk support
- Groups / ministry management – small groups, Bible studies, ministry teams, class rosters, and group communication
- Volunteer management – scheduling, position assignments, background checks, and automated reminders
- Event management – event registration, facility scheduling, room reservations, equipment booking, and calendar management
- Communication – mass email, SMS/text messaging, push notifications, and church app integration
- Service planning – worship service scheduling, song selection, volunteer coordination, and rehearsal management
- Fund accounting – church-specific accounting with fund-based tracking, budgets, payroll, and financial reporting
- Online giving portals – web and mobile giving, text-to-give, recurring donations, and payment processing
- Mobile apps – branded church apps for member engagement, giving, event info, and sermon streaming
The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it. Catalogue data version 2026.197.
Comparison
Tools Comparison
Overview
Feature Matrix (Open Source + Cloud)
| Feature | ChurchCRM | Rock RMS | Planning Center | Tithe.ly | Breeze |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Membership | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Giving | Basic* | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Check-in | Basic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Groups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Volunteers | Basic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Communication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service plan | No | Basic | Yes | Yes | Basic |
| Accounting | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mobile app | No | Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website CMS | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
* = No built-in online giving; requires third-party integration
| Feature | Pushpay | Realm | FellowshipOne | Elvanto | TouchPoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Membership | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Giving | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Check-in | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Groups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Volunteers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Communication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service plan | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Accounting | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website CMS | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Feature | SimpleChurch | Subsplash | ShelbyNext | ParishSOFT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Membership | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Giving | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Check-in | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Groups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Basic |
| Volunteers | Yes | Yes | Basic | Yes |
| Events | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Communication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service plan | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Accounting | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Website CMS | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SSO / OIDC Comparison
OIDC is the preferred SSO protocol; Authentik notes below assume an Authentik SAML/OIDC provider as IdP.
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | LDAP | Authentik Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChurchCRM | No | No | No | No SSO support |
| Rock RMS | Plugin | No | Yes | OIDC plugin + LDAP |
| Planning Center | No | Ent | No | SAML (enterprise) |
| Tithe.ly | No | ? | No | Contact vendor |
| Breeze | No | No | No | No SSO support |
| Pushpay / CCB | No | Ent | No | SAML (enterprise) |
| Realm | No | Ent | No | SAML (enterprise) |
| FellowshipOne | No | Ent | No | SAML (enterprise) |
| Elvanto | No | No | No | No SSO support |
| TouchPoint | No | ? | No | Contact vendor |
| SimpleChurch | No | ? | No | Contact vendor |
| Subsplash | No | ? | No | Contact vendor |
| ShelbyNext | No | ? | No | Contact vendor |
| ParishSOFT | No | ? | No | Contact vendor |
Ent = available on enterprise plans only ? = not publicly documented; contact vendor
Best SSO support: Rock RMS has the best SSO support with OIDC via plugin and LDAP integration. Planning Center, Pushpay, Realm, and FellowshipOne offer SAML on enterprise plans.
No OIDC native support: no ChMS tool in this evaluation natively supports OIDC. Rock RMS’s community plugin is the closest option.
Deployment Comparison
| Tool | Type | Platform | Cloud | On-Prem |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChurchCRM | Self-hosted | LAMP | No | Yes |
| Rock RMS | Self/Cloud | Windows | Yes | Yes |
| Planning Center | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| Tithe.ly | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| Breeze | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| Pushpay / CCB | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| Realm | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| FellowshipOne | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| Elvanto | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| TouchPoint | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| SimpleChurch | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| Subsplash | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
| ShelbyNext | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No* |
| ParishSOFT | SaaS | Browser | Yes | No |
* = Legacy ShelbyV5 desktop version still in use at some sites (Windows + SQL Server)
Pricing Comparison
| Tool | License | Pricing Model | Est. Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChurchCRM | MIT (OSS) | Free | $0 |
| Rock RMS | Community (OSS) | Free | $0 (hosting cost) |
| Planning Center | Proprietary | Per-product, by size | $0–$399+/mo/product |
| Tithe.ly | Proprietary | Bundled | ~$149+/mo |
| Breeze | Proprietary | Flat rate | $67/mo |
| Pushpay / CCB | Proprietary | By size | ~$300–$1,500+/mo |
| Realm | Proprietary | By size | ~$40+/mo |
| FellowshipOne | Proprietary | By size | Contact vendor |
| Elvanto | Proprietary | By size | ~$50+/mo |
| TouchPoint | Proprietary | Annual/records | ~$6,000+/yr |
| SimpleChurch | Proprietary | By size | Contact vendor |
| Subsplash | Proprietary | Custom | Giving $0/mo + fees |
| ShelbyNext | Proprietary | Base + per-user | ~$35+/mo |
| ParishSOFT | Proprietary | By parish size | ~$19+/mo |
Licensing Comparison
| Tool | License | Type | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChurchCRM | MIT | Open source | Community |
| Rock RMS | Rock Community | Source-avail | Spark Dev Network |
| Planning Center | Proprietary | SaaS | Planning Center |
| Tithe.ly | Proprietary | SaaS | Tithe.ly |
| Breeze | Proprietary | SaaS | Tithe.ly |
| Pushpay / CCB | Proprietary | SaaS | Ministry Brands |
| Realm | Proprietary | SaaS | ACS Technologies |
| FellowshipOne | Proprietary | SaaS | Ministry Brands |
| Elvanto | Proprietary | SaaS | Elvanto |
| TouchPoint | Proprietary | SaaS | TouchPoint Software |
| SimpleChurch | Proprietary | SaaS | Ministry Brands |
| Subsplash | Proprietary | SaaS | Subsplash |
| ShelbyNext | Proprietary | SaaS | Ministry Brands |
| ParishSOFT | Proprietary | SaaS | ParishSOFT |
Ministry Brands portfolio: Pushpay/CCB, FellowshipOne, SimpleChurch, and ShelbyNext are all owned by Ministry Brands. This consolidation may affect long-term product direction and support.
API Comparison
| Tool | REST API | Auth | Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChurchCRM | Limited | N/A | Minimal |
| Rock RMS | Yes | OAuth/Key | Comprehensive |
| Planning Center | Yes | OAuth 2.0 | Excellent |
| Tithe.ly | Limited | API key | Limited |
| Breeze | Yes | API key | Good |
| Pushpay / CCB | Yes | OAuth/Key | Partner-only |
| Realm | Limited | Contact | Limited |
| FellowshipOne | Yes | OAuth 2.0 | Developer reg |
| Elvanto | Yes | OAuth/Key | Good |
| TouchPoint | Yes | API key | Customer-only |
| SimpleChurch | No | N/A | None public |
| Subsplash | No | N/A | None public |
| ShelbyNext | No | N/A | None public |
| ParishSOFT | No | N/A | None public |
Best API: Planning Center has the best- documented, most comprehensive API with full product coverage and OAuth 2.0. Rock RMS also provides excellent API coverage. Elvanto and Breeze offer good APIs on all plans.
Multi-Site / Multi-Campus Support
| Tool | Multi-Site | Centralized Mgmt |
|---|---|---|
| ChurchCRM | Limited | No |
| Rock RMS | Yes | Yes |
| Planning Center | Yes | Yes |
| Tithe.ly | Yes | Yes |
| Breeze | Limited | No |
| Pushpay / CCB | Yes | Yes |
| Realm | Yes | Yes |
| FellowshipOne | Yes | Yes |
| Elvanto | Yes | Yes |
| TouchPoint | Yes | Yes |
| SimpleChurch | Limited | Limited |
| Subsplash | Yes | Yes |
| ShelbyNext | Limited | Limited |
| ParishSOFT | Yes* | Yes* |
* = Diocese-level multi-parish management
Tools
14 tools.
Breeze ChMS
Breeze is one of the most popular simple church management systems, known for its ease of use, flat-rate pricing, and clean interface.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: SAML
ChurchCRM
ChurchCRM is a free, open-source church management system built on the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). It helps churches manage membership data, groups, events, and finances without licensing fees.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native · SSO: none
Elvanto
Elvanto is a 100% cloud-based church management system originally developed in Australia and now used by churches worldwide.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: SAML
FellowshipOne
FellowshipOne is a cloud-based church management platform, part of Ministry Brands, covering membership, giving, check-in, groups, events, and communication with a branded mobile app.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ParishSOFT
ParishSOFT is a cloud church management platform built for Catholic parishes and dioceses, covering sacrament tracking, membership, giving, finance, and diocese- level reporting and aggregation.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
Planning Center
Planning Center is the dominant mid-market church management platform, used by tens of thousands of churches worldwide.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: SAML
Pushpay / Church Community Builder
Pushpay is a premium church giving and engagement platform that acquired Church Community Builder (CCB) in 2019 for $87.5 million.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
Realm (ACS Technologies)
Realm is the cloud-based church management platform from ACS Technologies, one of the oldest and most established vendors in the faith-tech space.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
Rock RMS
Rock RMS is a comprehensive, open-source church management system developed by Spark Development Network. It combines a CMS (content management system), relationship management system, and church management system into a single platform.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native · SSO: OIDC
ShelbyNext (Shelby Systems)
Shelby Systems is one of the oldest church software vendors, with decades of history serving churches and faith-based organizations.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
SimpleChurch CRM
SimpleChurch CRM is a cloud-based church management system designed for ease of use and accessibility.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
Subsplash
Subsplash is a church engagement platform that has expanded from its roots in church mobile apps and media into a full church management system.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
Tithe.ly
Tithe.ly is a rapidly growing church engagement platform that started as an online giving solution and expanded into a full church management suite.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
TouchPoint
TouchPoint is a cloud-based church management platform designed for mid-to-large churches that need deep data management and reporting capabilities.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
