Software
What each tool is bad at, who should skip it, and what the whole thing costs in a year.
Posts on this shelf
Church payroll and the minister's W-2: which products can produce one
A minister is an employee for income tax and self-employed for Social Security. The four gates a payroll product has to pass, prices read 29 July 2026, and the vendors that refused.
Read it
Church fund accounting in QuickBooks Online
The plan classes start on, the 40-class and 250-account caps, the report that ties funds to the bank, and a 95-account chart of accounts CSV to import.
Church file storage, priced: ten years of sermon video and the egress bill
Backblaze, Cloudflare, Wasabi, Amazon, Google and Resi storage and egress rates, read 29 July 2026 and worked into the real cost of a ten-year sermon archive.
What church software costs at 80, 200, 500, and 1,200 people
A full annual cost model built from prices read off fifteen vendor pricing pages on 29 July 2026, with the hidden costs, a calculator, and the price book as a CSV.
Church event planning software that stops the double-booked fellowship hall
Room booking, volunteer rotas, public calendar embedding, and approvals, with prices read off vendor pages on 29 July 2026 for Planning Center, Breeze, ChurchTrac, Elvanto, Skedda, and more.
Why your church live stream sounds bad, what camera to buy, and the CCLI license
The audio fix first, then camera specs and prices checked 29 July 2026 for capture, switchers and PTZ, the upload number that sets your ceiling, and whether the CCLI Streaming License is required.
Church accounting software that keeps designated funds straight
Prices checked 29 July 2026 for Aplos, PowerChurch, ChurchTrac, Wave, and Xero, the balance sheet a fund ledger has to produce, the $2,000 1099 threshold, and when a spreadsheet is right.
Free church management software, and the exact point each free tier stops
Which church management systems have a permanent free plan, which offer only a 30-day trial, which will not publish a price, and the member count where each free plan ends. Checked 29 July 2026.
Choosing church management software without regretting it in a year
The three jobs a ChMS has to do, the export test that predicts your exit, Breeze, Planning Center, Tithely and Rock RMS prices read on 29 July 2026, and a migration order that keeps the office open.
What giving platforms actually cost your church
Fees read off the Planning Center, Tithely, Givelify, Subsplash, and Stripe pricing pages on 29 July 2026, worked into dollars per year, plus the IRS receipting rules and the ACH question.
Best camera for church live streaming: five builds, priced 29 July 2026
Real models with prices read off manufacturer pages on 29 July 2026, why a camcorder beats a mirrorless body for a two-hour service, the balcony lens arithmetic, and when a phone is the right answer.
Church directory software: who can see your address, and who should not
Verified pricing for the tools that ship a member directory, a permissions matrix you can adopt, what a directory app leaks, and how to leave an at-risk household out safely.
Theology
Your church database holds more than a retailer's and is guarded worse
Addresses, giving, children's allergies, and confessed sin. Four tiers of member data, who sees what, where counseling notes must never live, and the breach plan an elder board can write in an hour.
Church calendar software, printed or online
Room and login prices read off vendor pages on 29 July 2026 for Planning Center, Teamup, Skedda, CalendarWiz and Breeze, plus a printable month and year template to hand out.
Planning Center vs Breeze vs ChurchTrac, priced at five congregation sizes
Every published tier read on 29 July 2026, the export test run against each vendor's own documentation, what each one is bad at, and a named recommendation by size. Tier table as a CSV.
Presentation and lyrics software that a volunteer can run on Sunday
ProPresenter, EasyWorship, OpenLP and FreeShow with prices read off the vendor pages on 29 July 2026, what the CCLI Copyright License actually covers, and the failure modes that show up mid-verse.
Church web hosting is $2.99 in year one and $17.99 in year two
Introductory and renewal prices for fourteen hosts, read on 29 July 2026, the four-year cash total, which free tiers a church is not allowed to use, and who owns the domain.
Small church bookkeeping, in the order the month has to run
The monthly cycle a church treasurer runs: two counters on the offering, designated funds, the bank reconciliation, and the January statements.
Sermon clip tools priced: Sermon Shots, Pulpit AI, and seven more, 29 July 2026
Prices read 29 July 2026 for Sermon Shots, Pulpit AI, Pastors.ai, Sermon Clips, OpusClip, Choppity and Descript, who owns the clips, and what we did not test.
Website options for a small church, ranked by who maintains it
The five pages a church website needs, four hosting paths with prices read on 29 July 2026, who owns the domain, and the launch order that gets a real site up in one weekend.
Theology
A church app buys one thing, and it costs $1,068 a year
Push notifications are the only feature a website cannot match. What Tithely, Subsplash and Church Center charge on 29 July 2026, a four-number test to run first, and the objection worth taking.
The newsletter
One list for the whole site. A post goes out by email the day it publishes, and nothing is held back for subscribers.
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Other shelves in the library
- Sermons Series ideas, single-text prompts, and the five study steps that come before an outline.
- Worship Two complete orders of service, four weeks of Advent readings, and the dates of the Christian year.
- Bulletins A seven-part page order, three formats, an inside-spread checklist, and a cut list for tight weeks.
- Communications Sixteen announcement examples, newsletter structure, texting consent rules, and social posts written out.
- Calendars A weekly rhythm, a sixty-minute monthly planning session, and the seasons those plans sit inside.
- Groups Reading plans for John, Ephesians, the Psalms, and Genesis 1-11, with a six-step way to lead any of them.
- Youth Games with rules, supplies, and running time, plus the guardrails that protect students.
- Kids Five-day VBS themes with one doctrine per day, safety rules, and follow-up for visiting families.
- Church growth Attendance, assimilation, and giving handled without church-growth-movement framing.