Planning Center vs WorshipTeam.com

Planning Center is a church ministry platform with products for people management, events, worship planning, donations, groups, and church apps. People centralizes membership information and ministry activity such as attendance, giving, and volunteering. Services supports worship planning, volunteer scheduling, team communication, and rehearsal tools. Other listed capabilities include group management, event registration, child check-in, and SMS messaging. Free plans are listed for Calendar, People, and Services: Calendar includes one room, People has an unlimited database and reporting, and Services includes five team members and 100 MB of storage. The pricing note lists paid access from $5/mo and a 30-day trial; a member limit of 75 is also listed. Services plans include unlimited feature access, teams, service types, and plans, with pricing based on the number of people accessing the system. The Services app supports iOS and Android phones and tablets, but not Windows devices. Integrations include SongSelect, PraiseCharts, Checkr, Mailchimp, Zapier, and third-party tools; an open API is also available. Planning Center states its products suit churches of any size.

WorshipTeam.com is an online planning service for worship ministries and music teams. It combines service planning with team administration, including people and skills management, scheduling, invitations, calendars, communications, and document sharing. The library has more than 20,000 preloaded songs with original audio, chord charts, and lyrics. Teams can build sets, transpose songs, set transitions, prepare lyric presentations, notify musicians, customize charts, and upload private songs. Audio, charts, and arrangements are synchronized. Imports include chord chart files, SongBase songs, CCLI song files, and sheet-music PDFs; lyrics can be exported to presentation software such as MediaShout. Website, mobile-web, Android, and iOS access are listed, and subscriptions include WorshipTeam and WorshipStand apps. WorshipStand provides chart viewing, user sync, and Bluetooth pedal compatibility. A subscription for up to five users costs $14 a month; new groups receive one month of free access. Pricing depends on the number of people accessing the group, not church size.