Digital Church vs SimpleUpdates
Digital Church
digitalchurch.comSimpleUpdates
simpleupdates.comSide by side
| Figure | Digital Church | SimpleUpdates |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $15.83/mo | $20/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 9 |
| Spec score · Church Website Builders | 8.0 (#15) | 8.6 (#8) |
| Founded | 2014 | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Cleveland, Ohio | The company says it operates remotely around the United States and lists a mailing address in Gentry, Arkansas. |
| Security | Digital Church's DNS guide says its Cloudflare SSL/TLS encryption mode is set to Full (strict). | The terms allow HTTPS certificates for custom domains, while the current plans advertise SSL. |
Plans
Digital Church
- Starter$19 a month
- Standard$39 a month
- Premium$59 a month
- Starter$190 a year
- Unlimited$199 a month
- Standard$390 a year
- Premium$590 a year
- Unlimited$1,990 a year
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
Digital Church
Digital Church is a web- and API-accessible suite for managing church online ministry through a website or app. Its website builder supplies templates for more than 20 page types. The event calendar supports free or paid registrations and connections to streaming services. Sermon publishing can pull from YouTube automatically and handle notes, PDF downloads, audio podcasts, and series. The platform also includes online giving, live streaming, forms, and private small-group spaces for communication and sharing worksheets or notes. Forms can use Digital Church, Elexio, or Planning Center sources. Stripe Giving accepts card donations through Stripe Connect and routes them to the church’s connected Stripe account. The Unlimited plan includes hosting, updates, backups, security, and full content management for one website. A native app is not included in that plan but can be added for $49/mo. Plans are billed monthly: Starter is 19.00 USD, Standard 39.00 USD, Premium 59.00 USD, and Unlimited 199.00 USD. A 45-day trial is available, and there is no free plan.
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.