The Church Co

Overview

The Church Co is a church website platform that combines site publishing with tools for congregational communication and participation. It suits churches that want sermons, events, giving and member features in one system. The key decision is whether its website and setup options meet the need without requiring a custom app through the On-demand team.

Key features

The drag-and-drop builder, templates and custom pages let a church shape its own site, while sermon publishing, event calendars, staff pages and donation links cover common publishing needs. Forms, prayer requests, small groups, sermon notes, livestreams and a member portal extend the site into community use. That breadth favors congregations seeking a central home for both information and participation; a church needing only a basic web presence may not need the full feature set.

Planning Center can automatically update website events, registrations, groups, forms, giving and sermons. This makes the platform a natural fit for churches already using Planning Center to manage those activities. Other integrations include Tithely, Church Community Builder, Church Suite, Stripe, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Optimize, Facebook, Intercom and Drift. Online giving is Stripe-powered.

The branded app syncs with the church website and can carry sermons, events, forms, prayer requests, giving, groups and livestreams. But a custom app requires the On-demand team and is unavailable on the basic or premium plan, so churches should confirm that route fits their intended setup before choosing the platform for its app. Customer success support, training videos, webinars, articles, blog posts and chat support provide several avenues for help.

Pricing

The platform has a 14-day trial and no free plan. The priced options supplied are setup packages, rather than recurring software subscriptions, and their terms differ by page count, revisions and turnaround:

Simple setup: free, included with a yearly subscription. It covers up to 9 pages, allows 0 revisions and has a 3-week average turnaround. It fits churches that can accept a tightly bounded setup and do not need revision rounds.

Essentials setup: $299, paid once, a one-time fee. It covers up to 20 pages, 1 revision, a 1-week average turnaround and content imports (RSS required). This is the entry paid package for a larger site with a faster average turnaround.

Tailored setup: $799, paid once, a one-time fee. It covers up to 40 pages, 2 revisions, a 1.5-week average turnaround, initial SEO configuration, RSS-required content imports and a lightly customized design. It suits churches that want more page capacity and some design adaptation.

Custom setup: $999, paid once, a one-time fee. It covers up to 50 pages, 3 revisions, a 2-week average turnaround, initial SEO configuration, RSS-required content imports and custom design. It is the most suitable package for a larger site that needs more design work and revision room.

The Simple setup requires a yearly subscription, while the other three are one-time fees. The 14-day trial applies to the platform; setup package prices do not describe ongoing subscription costs. Churches should compare the page caps and revision allowances with the amount of content and feedback their launch requires.

Platforms

The Church Co supports web, Android and iOS. That covers church staff publishing on the web and congregants accessing the service on common mobile platforms; the branded app's custom-app restriction still matters for churches choosing it chiefly for mobile delivery.

Who it's for

The company presents the platform for churches and ministries of different sizes. It is most compelling for a congregation that wants a church-focused website with community features, uses Planning Center, and can select a setup package that matches its page count and design needs. A church that requires a custom app should first account for the On-demand team requirement. The company began in 2015 after founder Paul Cox identified a need for this kind of church platform.

Pros and cons

Pro: Sermons, events, giving, forms, groups, prayer requests and member access sit alongside the website builder, supporting more congregational activity than basic site publishing.

Pro: Planning Center can sync six categories of content and activity to the website automatically, reducing separate updating for churches already using it.

Pro: Setup packages offer defined page caps, revision counts and average turnaround times, with custom design available at the highest listed package.

Con: The Simple setup permits no revisions and is tied to a yearly subscription, limiting its suitability for churches that expect iteration.

Con: RSS is required for content imports in the paid setup packages, and page caps top out at 50 in the listed options.

Con: A custom app requires the On-demand team and is unavailable on basic or premium plans, which can complicate choosing the platform for app access.

Alternatives

Church Website Builders is the broader directory category for comparing church-focused site options. Choose Tithely Giving when a free giving plan with unlimited donations and transaction fees suits better than a website-centered platform. Planning Center is worth considering when its free Calendar and People plans meet the need, particularly for churches that want the system The Church Co can sync with. Choose Subsplash Church App to compare an app-focused offering with a free giving option that charges card and ACH processing fees. Mainfolk has a free plan with unlimited edits and about 10 AI assists per month, which may suit a church seeking that kind of website setup. SimpleUpdates offers a free Starter plan with unlimited pages and storage, making it an option when those limits matter more than The Church Co's church-specific feature set. Congregate offers a $20/mo Economy plan with a public website and mobile app, for churches comparing a bundled site-and-app plan. ChurchSpring Live Streaming offers a Grow annual plan at $116 a year with 25 GB storage and live streaming integration, for churches prioritizing those elements. GrowMyWebsite is another option to compare.

Verdict

The Church Co is a strong fit for churches that want a church-specific website with publishing, giving and community tools connected, especially those already working in Planning Center. Its setup tiers make page capacity, revisions and design support clear choices. Look elsewhere if a custom app is essential and the On-demand route is unsuitable, or if the setup limits and yearly-subscription condition on the free package do not match the launch plan.