Mainfolk vs SimpleUpdates
Mainfolk
mainfolk.comSimpleUpdates
simpleupdates.comSide by side
| Figure | Mainfolk | SimpleUpdates |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $15/mo | $20/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 10 | 9 |
| Spec score · Church Website Builders | 8.9 (#4) | 8.6 (#8) |
| Headquarters | Gurnee, Illinois, United States | The company says it operates remotely around the United States and lists a mailing address in Gentry, Arkansas. |
| Licence | The Mainfolk platform, software, design system and templates are identified as property of Champlin Enterprises, LLC. | 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 Mainfolk does not sell personal information and uses Stripe, Mailgun, Cloudflare, its hosting provider and first-party Pulse analytics. | The privacy policy says end-user payment information is passed to the payment processors customers choose and is not collected or stored by SimpleUpdates. |
| Product | Mainfolk is an AI-assisted website builder and hosting service that creates a draft site from an organization brief. | SimpleUpdates Studio is a hosted website CMS and builder for creating and updating websites without coding. |
| Support | Free includes community help, Launch includes email support, and Pro and Civic include priority support; the company also advertises direct access to its engineers. | Support is offered by email with a stated one-business-day response target, scheduled calls and telephone numbers. |
Plans
Mainfolk
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- Launch$15 a month
- Launch$15 a month
- Pro$29 a month
- Pro$29 a month
- Civic$149 a month
- Civic$149 a month
- White-Glove Design$199, paid once
- White-Glove Design$199, paid once
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
Mainfolk
Mainfolk is a website builder for organizations, including churches, that generates an initial draft with AI. Church sites can include service times, visitor information, sermons and media, events, groups, ministries, and giving. Staff can edit page content directly, and Mainfolk says published changes go live worldwide in under a minute. Giving pages can link to an existing processor such as Tithe.ly, Pushpay, or PayPal, so the church retains its processor. Mainfolk says each site includes structured data, semantic HTML, and a per-site llms.txt to support discovery. Hosting, SSL, updates, security patching, and global delivery are included on all tiers. The service says it builds to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, while noting uploaded documents and third-party embeds can create accessibility issues. Free includes a Mainfolk subdomain, unlimited edits, about 10 AI assists per month, and community help. Launch is $15 a month, Pro is $29 a month, and Civic is $149 a month; annual billing is also listed for each. A one-time White-Glove Design option is $199.00 USD, with the ordinary plan price still applying. Access is available on Android, iOS, and web.
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.