Best Free Church Management Software in 2025

Free church management software helps streamline daily activities, optimize communications, and foster collaborations without cost. Churches and other religious organizations of all scales can use the platform, which offers a comprehensive toolset. Typically, these applications come as free plans with incomplete functionalities and a limited number of users. The objective is for users to upgrade to a paid plan to receive the full set of features as their operations scale up, but some free plans are sufficient to serve the needs of small organizations. We have reviewed many of the leading products on the market and suggest that you start your search with Pro Church Tools, ChurchTrac and Chmeetings, or even try club management software like Wild Apricot that can adapt to church management needs.

Besides free plans, many church management systems offer free trials or demos that allow users to sample the software’s full features for a limited period. You can take advantage of free plans and free trials to get acquainted with the functionalities and suggested workflows of the leading applications on the market, before selecting a product to work with. For users who went for a free plan, you can avail of the free church management software full version should you upgrade to a paid plan. Many of the top products offer free trials and free plans, including popular picks like Wild Apricot, 10to8, Pro Church Tools, ChurchTrac Online, and memberplanet.

• Small churches. Even though small churches have relatively low capacity, church officials have a hard time dealing with routine tasks such as tracking attendance, documenting contributions, and profiling churchgoers. Free church software systems or the basic plans of paid church apps are sufficient for the needs of small churches.
• Mid-sized and large churches. With memberships ranging from 250 to 2,000, these churches operate with bigger contributions and expenses, coupled with more complex organizational charts and operations. As such, church management platforms tend to offer accounting and reporting tools that help track the flow of money, automate contributions, and monitor assets and payroll.
• Megachurches. Churches with a membership of over 2,000 need all-in-one management systems with expansive databases capable of covering all members, volunteers, and officials. These programs also have powerful accounting and communication tools to ensure the successful staging of events, outreach programs, and other forms of large-scale collaboration.

• Wild Apricot: An all-in-one club management system with comprehensive tools for church management. It helps churches manage their members, receive donations, plan events, build websites, and foster collaborations among officials and within the church community.
• 10to8: A multifunctional appointment scheduling system leveraged by churches for staging and scheduling events, receiving donations, and profiling church officials and staff. It also has tools for processing online payments, monitoring staff schedules, and calendar synchronization.
• Pro Church Tools: A cloud-based church management system that enables the easy viewing and sharing of religious content like podcasts, educational courses, and articles. In addition, the application has solutions for web design and links the younger members of communities to enriching social media pages.
• ChurchTrac Online: A reliable church management system designed by pastors to address the specific needs of churches and ministries. Its wide range of solutions includes membership management, communication management, accounting, donation management, and attendance tracking.
• memberplanet: A robust membership management system that streamlines the management, payments, and communication of members. It also has tools for creating email campaigns, event management, and tracking member donations.

On-Premise. These systems are downloaded and then installed on desktops and feature a one-time payment for ownership. These do not require an internet connection to operate and save files directly to a computer.

Web-Based. These systems operate like powerful webpages and grant access to multiple users on both desktops and mobile devices. These also integrate with other web-based tools to expand their functionalities and for the seamless use of data through various workflows.

• Member Management: Free church membership software systems are capable of recording and updating information about members, visitors, and volunteers as well as their involvement in activities. The member list is compiled into a digital directory from which lists can be created. The location of children can also be tracked for safety purposes.
• Communication Tools: Free church administration software systems provide solutions for various communication channels, including instant messaging, email marketing, and direct mail. These enable church officials and members of the community to freely interact at any given time.
• Contribution Management: Free church management software records and stores information about contributions and donations made to a church. Some platforms can associate contributions with member profiles for proper attribution.
• Accounting Tools: These tools enable churches to document contributions, donations, other income, and expenses for a given period and help in the creation of financial statements. Insights can be gleaned from the financial reports generated by a platform.
• Events Management: Free church software systems are equipped with scheduling and event management tools that enable event registration, help allocate resources, simplify communications with suppliers, and note down the budget and flow of money per event. Some platforms can automate scheduling and sending reminders.
• Volunteer Management: Church officials leverage free church software to create a profile for each volunteer that contains their contact details, work history, availability, and other pertinent information. Available volunteers can be assigned to upcoming programs and events.
• Attendance Tracking: Church officials can record and monitor the number of attendees and volunteers for each event. Data can be compiled to see which events draw more people and donations.
• Mobile Access: Many church management tools have apps or mobile-friendly interfaces that enable users to easily communicate with church officials and community members through their mobile devices. In addition, users can perform the software’s management functionalities on mobile.

• Convenient check-ins. Free church management software systems come with convenient check-in tools that allow you to monitor the number of members and volunteers for every event. Some platforms also have check-in tools that promote the security of children.
• Unified member information. Free church software platforms have centralized databases that contain the contact details, designation, and sometimes contributions of every member of the church community. You can easily select people to send invites to for location-based events.
• Effective communication. Church software management free and paid plans carry several communication tools, including group messaging, instant messaging, and email. This makes communicating with the church community easy, whether you’re planning events or asking for opinions.
• Event insights. The analytics engines of church management platforms present visual reports that reflect the attendance, expenditures, and income of events. You can base the type and location of your succeeding events on the insights generated.
• Track contributions and donations. Contributions and donations can be tracked and attributed to members of the community through church management systems. The amounts can be reflected on member profiles and contribution lists.
• Reliable accounting. The financial activities of churches can be recorded through the accounting features of church software. In using these, you can document the inflows of money, coming from donations and contributions, and the expenses, en route to accurately preparing financial statements.
• Streamlined church workflows. Some church management systems can automate parts of church operations like scheduling and reminders. The toolsets of these applications also speed up and simplify church management workflows.

• Digital donations. In recent years, the number of people who send church donations has dramatically increased, which goes in stride with the popularity of remote work and online shopping. Payment gateways and some church management apps have made the sending of donations more convenient, especially for community members who live far from their church. More church management applications are expected to add payment processing features to cater to the popularity of online donations.
• Social media integration. Social media has made communications fun and easy for people, including members of faith-based organizations. They can establish religious pages, discuss church events, and update one another on their personal lives. Some church management apps have started integrating with social media applications, and others could follow suit, given the importance of social media in this day and age.

• Lack of sophisticated features. Although this is not a problem with top-tier systems, some mid-level ones do not possess sufficient functionalities to streamline tedious church activities. These may lack tools for accounting, membership management, and contribution management or integrations with widely used applications. As a result, church management workflows still have a lot of pain points.
• Lack of training. Some church officials and community members are not tech-savvy, so they may not be able to fully leverage a sophisticated platform like an advanced church management system. Unfortunately, not all software vendors provide training to users. This might change soon, given the rising demand for these applications.

There are a lot of worthwhile products on the market, making it hard for users to select a free church management software to go with. As such, several factors are to be kept in mind to find an ideal solution more easily.

• Church needs. Religious organizations have different needs, and these tend to vary per location and the living conditions of the church community. Identify your church’s exact needs, the church workflows that give you and your team the hardest time, and the processes that would greatly enhance your operations. From there, find a software system that addresses your church’s needs and presents solutions that streamline and enhance your workflows.
• Size of the community. Church management software systems have different plans based on the size of the user’s congregation. Instead of viewing software solutions as a whole, zone in on plans designed for your congregation’s size and their inclusions. Normally, church software free plans are for small communities while larger, full-featured ones are for larger congregations.
• Budget and scalability. While free church management software systems are convenient, these might not suit the needs of a fast-growing congregation; in which case, upgrading to a paid plan is necessary. Set a budget and select a reasonably priced application that offers the most suitable features for your operations. Take note if there are limits to the use of essential functionalities since they should always accommodate the size of your community.

Church management software free editions are costless but their features and allowed number of users are limited. Growing congregations might need to upgrade to a paid plan in the long run, so knowing the price points of these applications is essential. It’s important to note that software vendors have varying pricing schemes, with the subscription fees of price plans based on either the number of users or features.

The monthly subscription fees of church management platforms typically range from $10 to $110. These systems have varying core competencies, which explains the huge difference between the lowest and highest values. Some simply act as aggregators of religious content while others streamline entire church operations.