Congregate vs SimpleUpdates
Congregate
congregateonline.comSimpleUpdates
simpleupdates.comSide by side
| Figure | Congregate | SimpleUpdates |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $10/mo | $20/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 10 | 9 |
| Spec score · Church Website Builders | 9.1 (#1) | 8.6 (#8) |
| Founded | The Congregate service was launched in 2009. | 1995 |
| Integrations | Congregate supports embedded or linked live-stream and online-giving providers and offers Google Analytics and Google Maps API settings. | Documented integrations include Google Analytics, YouTube, Zoom, Facebook oEmbed, iTunes podcasting and social-media widgets. |
| Licence | Terms assign Congregate platform intellectual-property rights to Congregate and its licensors and prohibit copying, reverse engineering, and derivative works. | The service is copyrighted proprietary software; the terms say some open-source components may be present and licenses are available on request. |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says collected information is not sold or rented and may be shared with service partners only as needed to provide services. | The privacy policy says end-user payment information is passed to the payment processors customers choose and is not collected or stored by SimpleUpdates. |
| Security | The service supports two-factor authentication for administrators and members. | The terms allow HTTPS certificates for custom domains, while the current plans advertise SSL. |
| Support | Free technical support is included in every service plan, and the company says it responds to support tickets within 24 hours or less. | Support is offered by email with a stated one-business-day response target, scheduled calls and telephone numbers. |
| System requirements | Congregate Admin runs in a modern browser on a computer, tablet, or phone and requires an internet connection. | The archived manual says any current internet-connected computer works and lists minimum browsers including Firefox 2+, Internet Explorer 7+, Safari 3+, Opera 9.5+, Chrome 1+ and Camino 1+. |
| What it does | Congregate combines a public church website, members-only area, and leadership management tools. | SimpleUpdates builds hosted business, nonprofit, church and school websites from an interview and supplies written draft pages. |
Plans
Congregate
- Virtual Library$10 a month
- Sermon Transcriptions$15 a month
- Economy$20 a month
- Members Only$20 a month
- Text Messaging$25 a month
- Voice Messaging$25 a month
- Classic$45 a month
- Self-Hosted WordPress$55 a month
- Unlimited$55 a month
- Congregate-Hosted WordPress$70 a month
SimpleUpdates
- STARTERFree
- Basic$24 a month
- PRO$37 a month
- Growth$39 a month
- Premium$59 a month
- Basic$240 a year
- Growth$399 a year
- PRO$399 a year
- Premium$599 a year
In their own words
Congregate
Congregate is a church management platform that combines a church website, member management, and leadership tools. Member features include a directory, attendance tracking, visitor registration and follow-up, and a leadership CRM. Communications include email, premium SMS, and premium text-to-speech voice messages. Its worship scheduler assigns positions and volunteer tasks, with support for blockout dates, replacements, confirmations, and reminders.
Churches can upload sermon media in formats such as MP3, PowerPoint, PDF, or YouTube links; the platform can create podcast feeds and support social sharing. The native members app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android, and includes member modules, a directory, Bible, and sermon audio. Congregate says more than 30 modules are included in each service plan. Plans include a public website and mobile app at $20/mo for Economy, while Members Only is also $20/mo and omits the public website and email accounts. Standard plans carry a one-time $499 setup fee, discounted by $50 for churches with fewer than 50 members. Free technical support is included, with ticket responses stated as within 24 hours or less. The site offers a free test drive but gives no duration. The service runs on web, Android, and iOS.
SimpleUpdates
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.