Assemblea vs Ministry Planner

Assemblea is web-based church management software for member records, giving, events, attendance, and finances, designed around evangelical and Protestant congregations. Member profiles can link families and record church acts and roles. Event tools support attendance check-in, named guests, child check-in with printed security codes, and a public calendar with an iCal feed. A guided importer has presets for exports from Planning Center, Breeze, ChurchSuite, and ChMeetings, plus a generic CSV option. Members can use a password-free magic link to update profiles, view giving, manage recurring gifts, confirm volunteer shifts, join groups, and browse events. Online donations go directly to the church’s Stripe account; Assemblea charges a 1% platform fee plus standard Stripe processing fees. The maker says data is hosted in the European Union, encrypted, and GDPR compliant. Security controls include field-level encryption for sensitive notes and prayer requests, granular permissions, and a tamper-evident audit trail. Churches can export, restrict, or erase an individual’s data using built-in tools. The responsive product works on phones and tablets without installation. The Free plan costs nothing; paid plans are Starter at $19/mo and Pro at $49/mo.

Ministry Planner is a web platform for church planning and administration, combining service planning, volunteer scheduling, team chat, online giving, and a church website. Its planning tools connect a teaching calendar and series library with service plans and personalized mobile run sheets. Volunteers can accept or decline assignments through secure RSVP links without creating an account or installing an app. Listed integrations include two-way sync with Planning Center, sync with Church Community Builder, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. A free tools option allows one standalone tool per church account, with limits that vary by tool; paid plans start at $49.00 per month, and a 30-day trial is listed. Online giving has no monthly fee, but each gift incurs a 0.5% Ministry Planner charge plus Stripe processing fees. The company says church data is encrypted in transit and at rest, churches can export it at any time, and it is not sold or shared. AI features include an assistant, smart imports, and engagement predictions; data is stated not to train models. A congregation app is listed as coming soon.