AltarDesk vs Church Social
AltarDesk
altardesk.co.uk
Church Social
churchsocial.comSide by side
| Figure | AltarDesk | Church Social |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | £17/mo | $60/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 13 | 3 |
| Spec score · Church Background Check Software | 9.2 (#1) | 8.3 (#12) |
| Founded | A Companies House data mirror records Rayscent Ltd as incorporated on 27 March 2026. | 2012 |
| Integrations | GetApp lists SMS, Google Drive, Stripe and GoCardless as AltarDesk integrations. | The public calendar can be displayed on a church website using the API or official WordPress plugin, and calendar subscriptions are supported in Google, Apple, or Outlook. |
| Product | AltarDesk is a church management platform for member records, donor statements, schedules, safeguarding and giving. | Church Social is church management software for helping congregations communicate and stay organized. |
| Security | AltarDesk says connections use TLS 1.3, stored data is encrypted with AES-256, and organisation records are isolated with row-level security. | The security page says the PostgreSQL database is encrypted at rest, HTTPS is required, and passwords are hashed using bcrypt. |
Plans
AltarDesk
- FreeFree
- Free (up to 15 people)Free
- Up to 75 people£17 a month
- 76–125 people£25 a month
- 76–125 people£25 a month
- 126–200 people£35 a month
- 126–200 people£35 a month
- 201–500 people£69 a month
- 201–500 people£69 a month
- 501–1,000 people£99 a month
In their own words
AltarDesk
AltarDesk is a church management platform for member records, donor statements, schedules, safeguarding and giving. Its member portal and app let people update their details, view rota duties, give and access giving statements. Paid plans include Gift Aid and GASDS management, direct HMRC claim submission and contactless giving. Bank statement imports support Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Monzo; member giving uses Stripe card payments. The free plan covers up to 15 people and includes 500 MB of storage. The displayed tier for up to 75 people costs £17 a month and includes 2 GB of storage. Member and giving records are held in UK data centres, while sermon video and audio remain in the church’s own Google Drive. AltarDesk says connections use TLS 1.3, stored data is encrypted with AES-256, and organisation records are isolated with row-level security. It also says it does not sell church data, share it with advertisers or train AI models on it. At a plan’s member cap, a church must move to a higher plan before adding people.
Church Social
Church Social has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.