Grain Ledger vs Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software
Grain Ledger
grainledger.comPaxton Church & Charity Accounting Software
paxtonsoftware.co.ukSide by side
| Figure | Grain Ledger | Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $50/mo | £50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · Church Accounting Software | 8.9 (#7) | 8.6 (#8) |
| Budgets | Budgets can be organized by ministry and compared with actual results; Scale adds multi-scenario planning. | Fund budgets are supported in both editions, while project budgets require Advanced. |
| Documentation | The API documentation provides an introduction, quickstart, authentication guidance and endpoint reference, and was last modified September 15, 2026. | Public documentation includes online instructions, trial guidance, Standard and Advanced procedure guides, transaction and donor import guides, and a Members manual. |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee, United States | The registered office is 61a High Street South, Rushden, England, NN10 0RA. |
| Limits | Starter includes one bank connection, three users, and one active budget; it is for churches with up to $20k in monthly expenses. | Receipts and payments accounting is available only in Standard, while invoicing and foreign currency are available only in Advanced. |
| Praise: usability | A Capterra and Software Advice reviewer describes the interface as straightforward and easy to use. | The SoftwareSuggest reviewer found setup and data entry easy, with clear monthly and year-end reports and good support. |
| Purpose | Grain Ledger is cloud-based church accounting software built around fund accounting. | Paxton Church & Charity Accounting is built for charities and churches, combining fund accounting, donation handling and charity reporting. |
| Security | The maker says data is encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with TLS 1.2+, and that its cloud infrastructure is SOC 2 Type II compliant in a US region. | Paxton states that its online service is hosted in a UK data centre with current security certificates and three password-protected security layers. |
| Support | Support covers books and reporting, setup and migration, and giving or integration troubleshooting through a web form or [email protected]. | Subscriptions include telephone and email helpdesk support, maintenance, updates and new features. |
Plans
Grain Ledger
- StarterFree
- Growth$70 a month
- Scale$100 a month
- Grain Payroll$50 a month
Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software
- Standard£50 a month
- Standard£50 a month
- Advanced£75 a month
- Advanced£75 a month
In their own words
Grain Ledger
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.
Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software
Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software is paid accounting software designed for churches and charities. It runs through a cloud-hosted online version and a Windows desktop version, with access also listed for iOS, macOS and the web. Standard provides multi-fund accounting, purchase ledger, budgets, donations and Gift Aid, document attachments, Charity Commission reports, transaction imports, VAT processing through Making Tax Digital, user access levels, and telephone and email support. Advanced adds sales ledger, invoicing, sales analysis, foreign-currency processing, project analysis and project budgets. Reporting follows Charity Commission SORP requirements and can produce a SOFA in Charity Commission format. The software manages Gift Aid and creates an HMRC-format schedule. Bank transactions can be imported from statements, but there is no automatic bank feed. Standard costs £50 a month and Advanced £75 a month, excluding VAT, with a 30-day trial and no free plan.