Churches across the country are realizing that they need to embrace mobile communities to reach their members and communities. With the average screen time per person in the United States at seven hours daily, with slightly more than half of that time on mobile phones, a church app is a natural step in a congregation’s outreach.
Mobile apps integrate a suite of church marketing features. These serve an essential role in improving church communication, accessibility, and interaction between members of the congregation and the broader community. This is made possible through several different features, including push notifications, live streaming, Bible reading, event calendar and event registration, group chats, online giving, digital bulletins, and more.
The best church app provider for your goals will vary based on your preferred app features, your level of ability to build and manage your church app, how well it integrates with your existing church marketing plan, and whether or not your budget matches the church app cost.
Today, we’re looking at the ten best church app companies, comparing their pricing, key features, and benefits.
1. Shoutem
Overview: Shoutem’s custom church app builder leads the pack regarding price, flexibility, and features. Its no-code app builder allows you to create your app by integrating different modules as you’re ready. With a tap, the app’s features can bring your church’s mission to your membership.
Pricing Plans: Plans start at $49 per month for DIY app creation plus hosting, or $1,499 as a one-time setup cost for professional app development with low monthly hosting fees after that.
Features & Benefits:
Shoutem’s church app builder features are both customizable and modular, so they can be added or removed as you’re ready to integrate them into your church mobile app. These include marketing and outreach tools such as an event calendar, event registration, push notifications, and text message (SMS) management.
Shoutem also integrates various ministry-focused features, including a prayer wall to which church members can submit requests, the ability to add recorded sermons and podcasts, integrated video, bulletins, classes (such as small group Bible study), daily meditations, and the ability to create a digital Bible. The app’s online giving platform integration modules allow donations to be collected seamlessly and securely.
Your congregation members will love the fact that your church app brings familiar components since each module is based on everyday applications they already use. Integrated social media, local check-ins, calendars of upcoming events, e-readers, podcast players, and embedded video feeds bring a familiar format that makes Shoutem’s platform a comfortable experience.
After setting up publisher/developer accounts on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, you can turn to Shoutem to help get your iOS and Android application loaded into them and optimized so your church members can download and install your app using a familiar, trusted process.
Finally, Shoutem is the only app builder on our “Best Church Apps” list to offer a 14-day free trial so that users can test-drive the system and even build a complete app to try out before paying anything.
2. Subsplash
Overview: Subsplash is a church management system (ChMS) that also offers mobile app creation as part of its more extensive service offering.
Pricing Plans: Subsplash uses a custom-quoted, a la carte pricing model. Sign up for a sales demo to receive pricing, including setup fees, hosting expenses, and ongoing software licensing.
Features & Benefits:
Subsplash is a Church Management System (ChMS), so it may be a good fit for churches looking to centralize the management of their membership records, financial records, marketing and outreach, event management, and church website builder. All of these components feed into their mobile app. Instead of using YouTube or other traditional streaming apps, Subsplash offers Roku and AppleTV apps that afford a branded live streaming experience.
Subsplash’s application features group messaging, Bible reading plans, and add-on church website services. It’s important to ask about add-on pricing, so if you start with just a mobile app and want to add features later, you’re not caught off guard by new fees.
3. Aware3
Overview: Aware3 is a website and mobile app platform that brings your members easy access to forms, registration, and online giving. Interactive features like video and chat are available with higher-priced plans.
Pricing Plans: Starting at $129/month for the essentials and $199 for their “amplified” engagement apps, pricing increases for larger congregations. Aware3 also offers various pay-by-feature services.
Features & Benefits:
Aware3 allows church leaders and church staff to centralize the collection of contact information and other data through forms management, text-to-give and other donation management, and church member profiles and updates. Aware3 users like the member profiles feature that, similar to a social media profile, provides an informative directory of church community members.
With its higher-tier plan, Aware3 includes a social profile component that allows members to learn more and connect, driving social engagement, interactive video engagement for users to chat and add notes during livestreams, Live polling and voting, and crowdfunding options for members to donate to specific projects, events, or fundraisers.
4. MinistryOne
Overview: MinistryOne is an application by parent company Ministry Brands designed to help churches coordinate their mobile presence with a very simple app.
Pricing Plans: Their basic app is offered as a free container app (not a custom-branded app) with other Ministry Brands services or partner programs, such as easyTithe, CloverGive, and Elexio. Additional fees are required if a church wants an independently branded standalone app.
Features & Benefits:
The MinistryOne app is an entry-level app for churches, so it’s suitable for churches that also use the company’s other services, such as their online giving platform, church management software (ChMS), accounting software, and website platform.
The app allows individuals to submit prayer requests, watch embedded live-stream videos, make donations, and complete event registration. The app does not include an in-app Bible, reading plans, sermon notes, or other common features without adding on custom programming.
5. DialMyCalls
Overview: DialMyCalls is a software service that connects companies to consumers via text messages, phone calls, and e-mail communications. Churches looking for simple communications without a mobile app may find this service suitable.
Pricing Plans: DialMyCalls users pay for credits starting at $49.99 per month for 1,000 credits. Every individual text message, voice call message, or communication sent costs between 1 and 2 credits, so a simple text message to 100 people costs 100 credits, or about $5.
Features & Benefits:
Unlike the other apps on our list, DialMyCalls offers a way to connect with your members or groups on their mobile devices using their carrier-provided text messaging (SMS) and voice-calling features. This makes this service useful for large churches with the financial means to pay for and administer a consistent mass-texting program.
While the service is not specifically targeted for churches, the company’s client list includes several mega-churches. This is likely because of the fact it may be difficult to convince thousands of parishioners to download an app and, therefore, it is easier to connect with them via text message. Churches using this option will want to ensure they also utilize mobile-compatible website links for longer messages that don’t fit on a standard phone screen.
6. The Church App
Overview: The Church App is Subsplash’s shared platform which allows churches to add their information to an app that is shared with other faith communities.
Pricing Plans: Adding your church to The Church App costs about $100 monthly when billed annually. There are additional charges for certain features, like in-app messaging. The digital giving solution is free, but a processing fee of 1.9–2.9% plus 0.30 is charged for each transaction.
Features & Benefits:
The Church App platform emphasizes media delivery where churches host, stream, and share sermons, podcasts, and other media without the concern about third-party advertising or content you might encounter on YouTube, Twitch, or other services.
Additional services include push notifications, event registration, and mobile giving. The app’s layout is reasonably customizable with your layout, color, and branding.
Since The Church App is shared with other religious communities by location, it’s always possible your congregants will use the app to search for other churches and activities in your region, so planning a wide variety of outreach is important.
7. Pushpay
Overview: Pushpay focuses primarily on online giving and expanded its service offerings with the MyChurch app and custom-branded mobile apps.
Pricing Plans: Starting at $149 monthly, Pushpay offers a generic app called MyChurch. Pricing on upgrading to a dedicated, unique mobile app requires a sales call and requires you to subscribe to either Pushpay’s Advanced or Complete plans.
Features & Benefits:
Pushpay started as a way for churches to collect donations via an online portal, and that’s where the app seems to shine. While full details about app features require registering and a sales call, Pushpay points out that their key features include dynamic home screens, which keep preferred content front and center, in-app, on-demand donations processing, media feeds, event calendars, and other standard communication features.
The Pushpay mobile app experience typically begins using the company’s generic MyChurch app, with additional fees and steps to rebrand as a standalone branded app. This process involves transitioning your congregation from one app to a new one, so it may make sense to test the MyChurch app with a small group first or make the investment into the custom app upgrade from the start with PushPay.
8. Tithe.ly Church App
Overview: As its name indicates, Tithe.ly was created as a way for churches to encourage online contributions from their members. The company expanded its services to include a mobile app for this primary purpose, with add-on features to support church members.
Pricing Plans: Starting at $89 per month plus a $149 setup cost, Tithe.ly was originally a portal for collecting donations and has since added app development as a service.
Features & Benefits:
Once you sign up for their app, the Tithe.ly church apps team designs it using your input, incorporating your existing digital channels including media, content, and web services such as YouTube or Vimeo. Most churches have a built-in Bible and prayer wall in their app and add sermons, podcasts, and a media player.
The app aims to simplify access to reading the Bible, taking notes, submitting prayer requests, and showing each other support to keep the body of believers connected.
Because Tithe.ly started as a platform for online giving, the QuickGive™ in-app mobile giving feature is the primary reason most churches choose them as their mobile church app provider.
Overview: Started as a media library for churches, ShareFaith’s website and mobile app leverages a library of media assets, but comes at a significant price.
Pricing Plans: To access the ShareFaith church app builder, you’ll need a ShareFaith Suite account, which costs $185 per month with a slight discount if you pay for a year in advance.
Features & Benefits:
The ShareFaith membership includes access to a library of media files churches can use in building their app, such as background graphics, video loops, and marketing materials. The ShareFaith app suite includes online giving, Sunday School and Vacation Bible School lessons, and calendar and event planning, real-time updates, including live streaming and recorded video of worship services and accompanying digital bulletins, sermons, sermon audio and podcasts, and notes.
Access to the ShareFaith media resources and library is provided by credits, of which you’ll get 1,440 per year. For reference, an average Sunday School lesson costs 10 credits, short movies cost 6, and activity pages cost 1. Unused credits do not roll over.
Users rate ShareFaith’s mobile app as easy to use, but often oversimplified. If you’re not using the provider’s church management system (ChMS) to support the application, certain functions may be limited or unavailable.
10. GoChurch
Overview: GoChurch provides (fairly) custom basic mobile apps for churches, relying heavily on your existing vendors for services like online giving and content sources such as YouTube.
Pricing Plans: The GoChurch app has a monthly hosting fee of $57 and one-time setup fees ranging from $397 for a self-designed app to $997 for an expert-designed app.
Features & Benefits:
GoChurch provides an application platform that includes the basics you would expect from any church app, including push notifications, event scheduling, and integrated forms for surveys and event registrations. The app relies on third-party embedding of videos from YouTube and links off-app to your website to handle much of the heavy lifting.
If you opt for the expert-designed app, GoChurch will provide a questionnaire that outlines the app’s design and function. They provide your initial app and three revisions without incurring additional fees.
Picking the Best Church App for Your Church
When narrowing down the best church app for your congregation, we suggest that you assemble a small group of evaluators. This should include the individuals who will be responsible for managing the app content and features and a select group of congregation members with varying levels of technical savvy.
When choosing the best app for your church, prioritizing ease of use is essential; look for apps that offer intuitive navigation for both administrators and church members, possibly with demo options for guidance. Ensure that the apps will reach both iPhone and Android users so you don’t leave anyone behind.
Integration capabilities with other software are vital for seamless church management. Finally, robust media features are essential for engaging parishioners through video and audio content, ensuring an engaging user experience within the church app.
As you start narrowing down the list, sign up for the 14-day free trial by Shoutem and become familiar with an easy-to-use no-code app builder with stellar reviews for affordability, ease of use, and mission-driven success.
