Planning Center vs Church Krew: compare the workflows and costs

Choosing church management software starts with the work your church needs to do, not a promise that one product is best for everyone. Planning Center and Church Krew both cover multiple church workflows. Compare the same tasks with the staff and volunteers who will actually use them.

This guide was reviewed on October 19, 2026. Check current provider information before making a purchasing or migration decision. Product plans and usage terms can change.

Planning Center has connected church products

Planning Center offers People, Services, Check-Ins, Giving and other connected products. People has a free database, while other products have free options and paid plans based on their own usage measures. Giving supports donations, and Publishing provides content for Church Center.

It is inaccurate to describe Planning Center as having no giving or no church web content. If your church already has a working setup, document what it does well before considering a change. Preserve useful workflows rather than switching solely because of a broad feature comparison.

How Church Krew approaches the core

Church Krew’s core software is free for life, without a member cap or required contribution. It connects people and household records, groups, giving tools, service planning, volunteer scheduling, a church website and communications.

Optional products, including fund accounting and a custom domain, have separate prices. Transactions and communication usage can also have charges or credits. Use Church Krew’s pricing page to compare the actual work your church expects to do; do not assume that free software means every provider cost is zero.

Build a comparison around one real week

Ask each team to demonstrate a household update, a visitor follow-up, a service plan and a volunteer assignment. Then include a member’s experience: opening an event, finding the correct information or using a giving page.

For children’s ministry, rehearse check-in and pickup with the devices and printers you will use. For finance, review donor identity, fund assignment and the reconciliation process. Record permission requirements and how staff correct a mistake. Treat any untested integration as an open requirement.

Compare your own costs

Write down subscriptions, optional products, payment fees, communication volume, equipment and staff training time. Compare the same number of users and the same expected activity. Keep annual commitments and any data-export costs visible.

A single advertised savings figure cannot represent every church. Planning Center’s official pricing tools and Church Krew’s published prices are better starting points than an assumed monthly stack price. Ask for help if a requirement is not clearly covered.

Move in stages if you decide to switch

Save original exports, test a small import and reconcile member counts, households, donor identities and gift totals. Have the responsible staff approve the result before a full import. Payment account setup and any recurring giving arrangements need their own migration plan.

Run a service rehearsal before retiring the old system. Keep your exports and agree on a fallback. Church Krew’s migration checklist can help structure that review; it does not replace approval from the people responsible for your church’s records.