Did you know CRMs aren’t just useful for for-profit businesses, but can also prove essential for church management and community building?
Without a reliable church management system, tasks like attendance tracking, contact management, and worship planning become easily disorganized and overwhelming.
As a web designer and long-term employee of the tech world, I have ample experience with CRMs, including church management CRMs.
Between my expertise and devoted research (lab testing, independent trials, third-party reviews), I’ve compiled a list of the best church management software for your ministry in 2023.
What is a Church CRM?
A church CRM (also known as a ChMS [church management software]) is a tool that churches and ministries can use to organize and communicate with their members, donors, and volunteers.
It’s similar to the type of CRM (customer relationship management) tool that for-profit businesses might use to keep track of their clients and contacts.
For churches, CRM software can be extremely helpful when it comes to increasing the quality of communication with church members.
Improved communication can easily help facilitate growth in church commitment from volunteers and visitors, a factor that ultimately strengthens the overall church community. ,
Furthermore, CMS systems help with back-end duties by reducing the margin of error and labor when it comes to data entry and member inventory.
Usually, church management software is cloud-based and accessible from any device.
Some of the concrete abilities of these systems include:
- Sending reminders to church members and volunteers
- Tracking donations
- Volunteer management
- Automating data input for members and donors
- Organizing contact information
- Streamlining church communicating
- Increasing online giving
Think of a church management system as a sort of online church community builder. These tools help religious organizations stay better connected to their community.
How to Choose a Church CRM?
Understand Your Needs
Analyze the size of your church and your most pressing goals so that you can look for relevant features in a church CRM.
You don’t want to end up overpaying for features you won’t use, or underpay and find your CRM not as helpful as you’d anticipated.
This is also a necessary step because many of the CRMs on this list require a consultation for configuring pricing. During this consultation, you’ll need a list of features and requirements so that the CRM provider can accurately price their services.
Talk With Your Team
This step goes hand-in-hand with the first.
Ensure your church family is on the same page regarding your church’s goals and needs before actually purchasing CRM software.
There may also be features needed for different organizational departments that one church leader wouldn’t be able to gauge on their own.
This is a valuable time to educate your staff about the purpose of a CRM so that they can maximize its use.
Test Drive a CRM Below
Most of the CRMs in this list offer either free trials or demo options.
These features are invaluable because they allow you to make sure their software works for you before you financially commit.
Make a Selection
This is pretty self-explanatory!
With sufficient research, team discussion, and test driving, you should be ready to choose the right CRM for your organization.
Benefits of a CRM for Churches
Cutting Costs for the Church
Church management software can be super helpful when it comes to cutting costs, therefore saving time and money for your staff.
Because this software often comes with event planning functionality and communication tools, these tasks are easier to execute and not as laborious for your team.
By streamlining operations and activities, staff can save money by decreasing the amount of time spent managing church affairs.
Church CRMs also provide benefits to staff members by doing away with the need for manual paperwork, cutting back on personnel costs, and increasing donor engagement.
Automated workflows enable staff to save time and resources while improving productivity, setting a pathway for further growth of your church organization.
Reducing Human Error
Church management software is also much more reliable than manual data entry and communication.
With automated church management software, it’s highly unlikely that a mass email won’t get sent or worship won’t get scheduled because the system is going to forget the automation you’ve set up!
This technology reduces the margin of error present in entirely human-run tasks.
It’s also much easier to crunch numbers and keep track of important data with a CRM while maintaining accuracy.
Freeing Up Your Time
Church CRMs have essential tools that help church staff become more efficient and spend less time on mundane tasks.
By leveraging these management systems, employees can optimize their daily activities and focus instead on expanding the congregation as well as further developing existing initiatives.
This free time can be used to seriously enrich your church’s sermons and worship sessions, rather than having to be spent on manual tasks like data entry and member organization.
Church communication devices can simplify the process of connecting with church members and make it easier for staff to manage their time.
In addition, having donation features in place will save valuable hours spent managing finances by accurately tracking contributions and donor information.
Automating Mundane Processes
A good church management system will come with automation options for tasks like weekly reminders, communication, scheduling, and more.
This automation will make the life of your church organization tremendously easier.
It’ll also allow you more time to focus on enriching your parish and focusing on nurturing relationships with your community.
The things that can be automated with church management software are often distractions from more substantial and meaningful religious interactions — so why not let go of mundane tasks to free up time for yourself and your staff?
Best Church CRMs of This Year
Our CRM experts and I are constantly on the lookout for new developments in the CRM industry, so this list is frequently updated.

ParishSoft is a church management software designed for Catholic churches and parishes.
This cloud-based church management software provides multiple advantageous core features specifically for the needs of Catholic parishes.
Church management and communication with the diocese have never been easier.
Why We Picked It
- Family directory feature manages member records and streamlines communication
- Religious education feature to manage Catholic lesson plans
- Accounting features for parishes and dioceses to manage payroll and expenses
- Giving tools to make donations easier for parishioners — including online payments!
Pricing
ParishSOFT offers custom-built plans tailored to the unique needs and number of members of each service user. They also offer a free demo for users who want to test out their service.
However, users are encouraged to contact a knowledgeable representative from ParishSOFT’s team to receive an accurate quote based on their requirements.
Pros
- Streamlined communication even with a large membership
- Tailored pricing plans
- Education management
Cons
- Catholic-specific
- No social media functionality

Cloud-based ChurchCRM is a modern and comprehensive church management system for almost any type of religious organization.
This church management CRM is extremely easy to install and is replete with multilingual features at an affordable cost.
Why We Picked It
- Custom fields for people, families, and groups
- All-in-one dashboard
- Easy setup and data imports/exports
- Contributions tracking
- Event management
- Unlimited families and people
- Sunday school organization
- Financial management tools
Pricing
There’s no additional cost to run this CRM in conjunction with an existing website.
No need to pay for web hosting or anything like that.
You can simply install the ChurchCRM software from GitHub and get started!
Pros
- All essential features included
- No additional costs
- Mobile friendly
Cons
- Unclear customer support features

Tithe.ly is an all-encompassing church management software for any sect.
It is an efficient CRM, project manager, and donation tracker in one convenient place.
This is one of the most-used church management software options out there.
Tithe.ly comes with a host of powerhouse features that can help you with site building, social media outreach, content creation, app development, and more.
With more efficient daily operations, churches can use Tithe.ly to free up their time to reach out and expand their congregations.
Why We Picked It
- Church donations functionality (includes cryptocurrency)
- “People” feature for church leaders to conduct contact management
- Automated workflows
- Attendance tracking
- Member-focused app creation
- Event organization
- Excellent messaging feature
Pricing
Tithe.ly is a free ChCRM that offers an all-access plan pricing starting at $99/month.
However, you can also choose features and pay a-la-carte pricing to match your organization’s needs.
Tithe.ly also allows users to explore their services with no-obligation demo sessions, which can be scheduled whenever they are most convenient for you.
This allows customers to determine whether specific tools suit their existing website.
Pros
- Extremely comprehensive
- Affordable pricing for extensive range of features
- User-friendly for beginners and advanced techies
- Great customer support
Cons
- Possibility of too many features for small churches
- Minimal customization

Breeze offers a simple and accessible church management solution, taking the hassle out of managing your church.
This ChCRM has become a staple in Lutheran, Protestant, and Catholic churches for its convenient tools that simplify managing religious activities.
It also provides churches with a wide array of tools to automate tasks, allowing them to focus more on outreach, worship services, and organizing events.
Why We Picked It
- Efficient CRM features for contact management
- Advanced customizability
- Church administration tools for workflow automation
- Online giving features
- Check-in for events
Pricing
Breeze gives businesses an affordable way to take advantage of its incredible customer relationship management services, all for an unbeatable price of only $67/month.
Pros
- Straightforward and user-friendly features
- Easy to set up
- Workflow automation
- Affordable
Cons
- Almost no communication technology

ChurchDesk is a powerful church management software that drastically simplifies the administrative responsibilities of your congregation.
This UK-based church management software offers advanced features for member management, donation and attendance tracking, and registration.
Why We Picked It
- Intuitive “People” feature serves as a database for member information
- Feature-laden and customizable calendar
- All-in-one dashboard
- Mobile and online payments
- Easy registration
Pricing
ChurchDesk offers an array of subscription plans, with a free version available for those just getting started.
If your organization requires additional features or customization options, booking a meeting to discuss pricing is the way to go.
Pros
- Integrated payment options
- Intuitive and highly-customizable forms
- Mass email and communication functionality
Cons
- Mainly aimed at UK churches

Even though Monday CRM is not church-specific, it’s a leading CRM tool with the flexibility necessary for religious management.
From customer relationship management to marketing, Monday.com facilitates multiple workflows with aplomb and proficiency, allowing you to streamline your business processes effortlessly.
Additionally, it is highly adept at managing events, projects, and human resources-related tasks.
Why We Picked It
- Workflow automation
- Email sync
- CRM dashboards
- Team goals
- Data organization
- Financial management
Pricing
Monday is a free CRM that offers four pricing plans.
From Basic ($8/user/month) to Standard ($10/user/month) and Pro ($16/user/month), there’s a Monday.com plan that fits any budget.
Each one comes with a complimentary trial period, so you know what your money will get you before making a decision.
They also provide the Enterprise plan that offers custom pricing for users who want a personalized experience.
Pros
- Tons of customizable templates
- Desktop and mobile app
- Workflow automation
Cons
- Slightly complicated price plans
Conclusion
By utilizing church CRMs, churches can experience a range of advantages.
For instance, such systems can help staff save precious time and money through simplified operations, and reduce paperwork load for members of the team thus cutting costs.
You can also foster engagement with donors and optimize productivity throughout all departments.
Utilizing efficient church management tools such as event planning, gift tracking, communication devices, volunteer managing, and church-giving features can be a powerful asset to any congregation.
In addition to mitigating human error and saving precious time for furthering the development of congregations, these CRMs help accurately track financials – leaving nothing up to chance or mismanagement.
I hope this article gave you a clear step forward in your journey of finding the right church management software for you.
Best wishes, and happy hunting!
FAQs about topic
There are lots of accounting software, including QuickBooks, available for church organization bookkeeping.
Some of these features are available on church management software, such as donation and accounts receivable tracking.
Churches with complicated finances should look into organization software to keep track of their finances.
According to laws of tax audits and the IRS, churches should keep financial records for seven years.
CRM traditionally stands for Customer Relationship Management.
However, “customer” is interchangeable depending on the purpose of the CRM.
The three traditional Christian ministries that Jesus performed were Prophet, Priest, and King.
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