ChurchBuddy vs Planning Center
ChurchBuddy
church.worshipbuddy.org
Planning Center
planningcenter.comSide by side
| Figure | ChurchBuddy | Planning Center |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $15/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 11 |
| Spec score · Church Scheduling Software | 8.2 (#13) | 8.8 (#7) |
| Founded | 2025 | 2006 |
| Integrations | The ChurchBuddy site lists connections to WorshipBuddy songbooks and BibleBuddy resources, along with cloud storage, background checks, live streaming, and automated workflows. | The integrations directory includes services such as BoxCast, Checkr, Mailchimp, PraiseCharts, SongSelect, Zapier, Clearstream and ProPresenter; most connections are maintained by third parties. |
| Intended users | The maker describes ChurchBuddy as built for churches of all sizes and for ministry scheduling and team coordination. | Planning Center describes its products as suitable for churches of any size, including small neighborhood churches and churches with multiple campuses. |
| Security | The maker says data is stored on AWS with encryption at rest and SSL in transit, and production data access is limited to a few trusted team leads. | Planning Center states it is SOC 2 Type 2 certified and PCI Level One compliant, encrypts data in transit and at rest, and uses a multilayered backup strategy. |
| Support | The maker provides a ChurchBuddy guide for documentation and setup help. | Support is free for customers and noncustomers, with a stated response time of about one business hour Monday through Friday and a weekend crew for emergencies. |
Plans
Planning Center
- CalendarFree
- PeopleFree
- ServicesFree
- Services FreeFree
- Services 20$15 a month
- Services 50$32 a month
- Services 150$69 a month
- Services 400$115 a month
- Services 1000$179 a month
- Services$239 a month
In their own words
ChurchBuddy
ChurchBuddy is a free church management platform for coordinating ministry work across web, Android, and iOS. It handles volunteer scheduling, worship-service planning, recurring service templates, availability, conflict detection, automatic and bulk scheduling, and schedule export or printing. Churches can maintain congregation directories, family links, teams, groups, profiles, and Excel imports, with granular access control. Event tools provide registration forms, CSV responses, QR and badge check-in, plus transportation, housing, and meal management. Sunday school functions cover classes, curricula, teacher, parent, and student portals, attendance, gradebooks, report cards, and check-in scanners. The platform also lists announcements, push notifications, texts, email, targeted messaging, a unified calendar, room and resource booking, service timers, dashboards, analytics, form building, and online giving with payment processing. Integrations include WorshipBuddy songbooks, BibleBuddy resources, cloud storage, background checks, live streaming, and automated workflows. The maker says data is encrypted at rest and in transit, with no ads or data sales. The plan is free, billed Forever, with no hidden fees, premium tiers, or add-ons.
Planning Center
Planning Center is a church ministry platform with products for people management, events, worship planning, donations, groups, and church apps. People centralizes membership information and ministry activity such as attendance, giving, and volunteering. Services supports worship planning, volunteer scheduling, team communication, and rehearsal tools. Other listed capabilities include group management, event registration, child check-in, and SMS messaging. Free plans are listed for Calendar, People, and Services: Calendar includes one room, People has an unlimited database and reporting, and Services includes five team members and 100 MB of storage. The pricing note lists paid access from $5/mo and a 30-day trial; a member limit of 75 is also listed. Services plans include unlimited feature access, teams, service types, and plans, with pricing based on the number of people accessing the system. The Services app supports iOS and Android phones and tablets, but not Windows devices. Integrations include SongSelect, PraiseCharts, Checkr, Mailchimp, Zapier, and third-party tools; an open API is also available. Planning Center states its products suit churches of any size.