ChurchSoftware Accounting vs Grain Ledger

ChurchSoftware Accounting is a free accounting suite for churches, with fund tracking, income and expense records, and financial reporting. It can track designated funds for purposes such as missions, building projects, and benevolence, and record tithes, offerings, donations, bills, payroll, and ministry expenses. Reports include financial statements, giving reports, and custom summaries. Online giving and donations connect to accounting for automatic recordkeeping. The vendor says its core platform is free for eligible 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches, parachurch organizations, nonprofits, and mission organizations, with no fees or trial period. The free core also includes people, groups, and volunteer management; check-in; event registration and forms; a sermon library; a church mobile app; custom reports; and customer support. It runs on Android, iOS, and the web. Optional services have separate listed prices, including a church website for $59/mo and payroll for $25/mo + $9 per employee. The vendor says it serves churches ranging from church plants to multi-site megachurches.

Grain Ledger is cloud-based accounting software for churches, built around double-entry fund accounting. It tracks restricted and unrestricted funds and supports a customizable nonprofit chart of accounts. Plaid bank sync imports transactions for categorization and reconciliation; expense tools cover vendor bills, approvals, accounts-payable aging, corporate card activity, and 1099 vendor information. Reports include GAAP-compliant balance sheets, statements of activities, and cash flow statements, with drill-down to journal entries and transactions. Giving features import donations and include donor matching, giving analytics, and annual statements with IRS-compliant disclosures. Listed integrations include Planning Center, Ramp, Bill.com / Divvy, Pushpay, OnlineGiving.org, Rock RMS, and Subsplash; Tithely is marked coming soon. The free Starter plan allows up to $20k in monthly expenses, one bank connection, three users, and one active budget. Growth costs $70 a month. Optional Grain Payroll costs $50 a month base plus 10 USD per employee / month.