MyVBS vs Stronghold

MyVBS is a free web platform for churches and organizations managing Vacation Bible School programs. Organizers can publish a registration website with a unique web address without needing web skills, allowing parents and volunteers to register online. Forms can collect standard and custom information and can be configured separately for children, volunteers, and other participant types. An account can manage multiple events and retain information from previous years. Organizers can sort participants by age or grade, create groups, assign volunteers to classes, and generate attendance rosters. Email tools support promotional and follow-up messages to parents and volunteers, including scheduled sends. MyVBS provides branding for nine Concordia Supply VBS themes and also allows users to use their own theme. The site directs organizers to Concordia Supply to browse and order VBS materials. The Free plan costs nothing, with no subscription costs or charges for features, and includes registration websites, participant and volunteer registration, event and group management, and email campaigns.

Stronghold is a web-based platform for managing youth and student ministries, kids ministries, camps, conferences, retreats, and mission trips. It combines student and family records with attendance, small groups, discipleship milestones, care notes, volunteer roles, and first-time guest follow-up. Safeguarding tools include guardian pickup codes, background-check gating, consent records, medical and allergy notes, headcounts, and incident reports. Camp workflows cover registrations and payments, forms and waivers, cabin assignments, squads, tournaments, schedules, trip check-ins, and secure pickup. Communication options include leader-visible messaging with keyword safety flagging, texting, email campaigns, announcements, and prayer requests; texting and email activate when a provider is connected. Stronghold also provides a white-label website builder and an installable student and parent app. Shepherd AI flags issues such as a drifting student, an uncleared volunteer, or a camper without a cabin. The maker says minor data is leader-only and not shared between churches. A 14-day trial requires no credit card to start. Youth and Kids each cost $29 a month; the Youth + Kids Bundle costs $49 a month.