Ministry Designs vs SimpleUpdates
Ministry Designs
ministrydesigns.comSimpleUpdates
simpleupdates.comSide by side
| Figure | Ministry Designs | SimpleUpdates |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $20/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 9 |
| Spec score · Church Website Builders | 7.2 (#21) | 8.6 (#8) |
| Company history | The about page says Ministry Designs has served the church community for more than 10 years. | Darryl Hosford founded the business as Hosford Web Service in 1995; the CMS later became SimpleUpdates.com and the company says it has operated online since 2005. |
| Headquarters | Battle Creek, MI, United States | The company says it operates remotely around the United States and lists a mailing address in Gentry, Arkansas. |
| Integrations | The company says the builder works with major online giving providers and church management software at no additional cost. | Documented integrations include Google Analytics, YouTube, Zoom, Facebook oEmbed, iTunes podcasting and social-media widgets. |
| Product | Ministry Designs describes its product as a church website builder that requires no technical skills. | SimpleUpdates Studio is a hosted website CMS and builder for creating and updating websites without coding. |
| Security | The privacy policy says the website is regularly scanned for vulnerabilities and malware, sensitive information is encrypted using SSL, and transactions are processed by a gateway provider rather than stored or processed on its servers. | The terms allow HTTPS certificates for custom domains, while the current plans advertise SSL. |
| Support | The site lists a Help Hub, email support, and contact options, and says its team can help with domain changes and launch. | Support is offered by email with a stated one-business-day response target, scheduled calls and telephone numbers. |
Plans
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
Ministry Designs
Ministry Designs has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
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.