ChurchLume vs SimpleUpdates

ChurchLume is a web platform for building a church website and managing online ministry activity. Website Studio lets teams visually edit pages, sections, images, and content before publishing. The ministry hub combines giving, events, forms, prayer, live streaming, and people management. Churches can create branded watch and attend-online pages, collect registrations and prayer requests, and use workflows, reminders, and structured journeys for follow-up. Giving supports Zelle, Stripe, and provider-based options. Launch tools include domain setup, checklists, templates, and readiness cues. Starter costs $29 per month and includes a ChurchLume subdomain, website and studio, events and forms, prayer requests, and basic people management. Growth costs $59 per month and adds a custom domain, email notifications, unlimited people and teams, and analytics. Pro costs $99 per month and adds SMS notifications, advanced automations, multi-campus support, and priority support. A 14-day trial requires no credit card and can be cancelled at any time.

SimpleUpdates Studio is a hosted website builder and content management system for creating and updating websites without coding. Its visual editor uses drag-and-drop controls and offers more than 36 elements and 200 ready-to-use icons; the company advertises more than 100 templates. Content tools include blogs, galleries, a form builder, collections, and custom HTML and CSS. The free Starter plan is free and includes unlimited pages and storage plus SSL, with limited features. Pro costs $37 a month for one website and includes unlimited pages and storage, SSL, up to two domains and three email addresses, and all Pro layouts, blocks, and elements. Paid website plans include free personal calls and support for technical questions. The pricing page lists contact form app integration, while legacy CMS update notes document Stripe integration for store payments and forms. SimpleUpdates says it does not collect or store end-user payment information; that information is passed to the payment processors customers choose. The service is web-based and serves commercial and nonprofit clients, including businesses and ministries. The company says Darryl Hosford founded it as Hosford Web Service in 1995, before it became SimpleUpdates.com as the CMS was developed.