Your church built a beautiful website. Your Instagram game is solid. But on Sunday morning, half your congregation is staring at their phones — and that website is three taps and a search bar away. A church app puts your sermon, giving button, event calendar, and prayer wall on the home screen, one tap from everything that matters.

But does your church actually need a custom app, or would a mobile-friendly website do the job? And if you do need one, which platform gives you the most for your money?

We compared the top church app platforms on features, pricing, and real-world usability so you can make the call without sitting through five demos.

Quick Comparison

1. Subsplash — Best Premium All-in-One Church App

Subsplash is the biggest name in church apps, and for good reason. Their custom-branded mobile apps are polished, fast, and designed specifically for churches — not adapted from a generic app builder. The app is part of Subsplash One, which bundles giving, websites, media hosting, live streaming, people management, groups, events, volunteer scheduling, child check-in, and messaging into a single platform.

Pros:

• Best-in-class app design — genuinely feels like a native, custom-built experience
• All-in-one bundle (Subsplash One) covers website, app, giving, streaming, ChMS, groups, and more
• Giving is $0/mo with competitive processing rates (2.3%+30¢ card, 1% ACH; lower with GrowCurve)
• Dedicated success coach, giving expert, and onboarding specialist included
• 7-day-a-week tech support
• Built-in live streaming and sermon media hosting
• Pulpit AI and Trends AI for sermon insights and engagement analytics
• Multi-campus support on Enterprise tier
• TV apps (Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV) included
• Strong push notification system with targeting by campus, group, or tag

Cons:

• Pricing requires a sales call — no published monthly rate for the full bundle
• Subsplash One pricing scales with church size and usage, which can get expensive for larger congregations
• All-in-one approach means you’re locked into their ecosystem for everything
• Giving-only tier is free, but you’ll pay separately if you want the app without the full bundle
• Less flexible for churches that want to mix-and-match tools from different vendors
• Setup requires onboarding (can’t self-serve entirely)

Pricing: Subsplash Giving is $0/mo (processing only). Subsplash One (app + everything) requires a custom quote — typically starts around $149/mo for app-only and scales up. Enterprise is custom. Contact for pricing.

Best for: Mid-size to large churches that want a premium, polished app experience and are willing to go all-in on one platform.

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2. Pushpay (Church App) — Best for Giving-Focused Churches

Pushpay built its reputation on mobile giving — it’s the gold standard for churches where giving velocity matters. After acquiring Church Community Builder and merging with Resi (live streaming), the Pushpay church app is now part of a much larger ecosystem. The app itself is solid, but its real power is the integration with Pushpay’s giving platform, which consistently drives higher per-donor giving than competitors.

Pros:

• Industry-leading mobile giving experience — fastest, most intuitive giving flow in church tech
• Deep integration with Resi for live streaming (Pushpay acquired Resi in 2023)
• Church Community Builder integration for full ChMS
• Push notifications with smart segmentation
• Robust donor analytics and reporting
• Recurring giving is frictionless — the default setup encourages it
• Strong multi-campus support
• Backed by a publicly traded company with significant resources

Cons:

• Pricing requires a demo — no published numbers, and it’s not cheap
• The app is primarily a vehicle for giving; other features feel secondary
• Prayer requests are not built in — you’d need Church Community Builder or a third-party tool
• You’re buying into an ecosystem that rewards spending more across Pushpay products
• The app UI feels more “corporate” than ministry-focused compared to Subsplash
• Minimum contract commitments are common
• Customer support quality has been inconsistent following corporate restructuring

Pricing: Custom quote only. Giving platform typically starts at $99-149/mo plus processing. Full church app + ChMS bundle can run $300-500+/mo depending on church size.

Best for: Churches where increasing giving is the top priority, and larger churches that want an integrated ChMS + giving + streaming stack.

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3. TouchPoint — Best for Churches Already Using TouchPoint ChMS

TouchPoint (by TouchPoint Software) takes a different approach: the church app isn’t a separate product you buy — it’s an extension of their church management system. If your church already runs on TouchPoint ChMS, the mobile app is included. It pulls live data from your database: groups, events, giving records, and directory information all sync automatically.

Pros:

• Church app is included with your ChMS subscription — no extra cost
• Real-time sync between app and church database
• Members can view giving history, update contact info, and register for events
• Prayer requests flow directly into the ChMS prayer module
• Push notifications for urgent communications
• Directory and group management built in
• No additional vendor relationship to manage
• TouchPoint’s open architecture allows customization

Cons:

• Only makes sense if you’re using (or switching to) TouchPoint ChMS
• App UI is functional but not as polished as Subsplash or Pushpay
• Sermon streaming is handled through website embeds, not native in-app streaming
• Smaller user community means fewer third-party integrations
• Not a standalone product — you can’t get the app without the ChMS
• Design customization is limited compared to dedicated app builders
• TouchPoint ChMS has a learning curve that may overwhelm smaller churches

Pricing: App included with TouchPoint ChMS, which starts at around $50/mo for small churches and scales based on membership count.

Best for: Churches already using TouchPoint ChMS, or those evaluating ChMS platforms who want the app to come along for free.

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4. Sharefaith — Best Budget All-in-One with App

Sharefaith has been serving churches for over two decades, and their approach is straightforward: everything in one subscription. Website, church app, giving, sermon hosting, presentation software, and a media library with 100+ church-specific templates. The app is included even in the lowest tier, which makes Sharefaith one of the most accessible ways for a small church to get a custom-branded mobile app.

Pros:

• Church app included even at the $39/mo Essential tier
• 100+ church-specific app design templates
• All-in-one: website + app + giving + sermon hosting + presentations + media library
• No technical knowledge required — setup is guided and simple
• Online giving integrated natively (2.9%+30¢ processing)
• Push notifications, event calendars, and sermon streaming built in
• Includes presentation software (Sharefaith Presenter) for Sunday services
• Good for churches with limited staff and no dedicated IT volunteer

Cons:

• App customization is limited — you’re choosing from templates, not building freely
• Giving processing rates are higher than Subsplash (2.9%+30¢ vs. 2.3%+30¢)
• App design feels dated compared to Subsplash
• No native ChMS — you’ll need a separate solution for people management
• Live streaming requires a third-party tool (not built in)
• Prayer requests are handled through forms, not a dedicated interactive feature
• Switching away from Sharefaith means migrating everything at once (vendor lock-in)
• Customer support is email-based on lower tiers

Pricing: Essential $39/mo; Complete $49/mo; Premium $69/mo (all include website, app, giving, and hosting). Processing: 2.9%+30¢ for cards.

Best for: Small-to-medium churches that want a branded app, website, and giving all in one affordable package — and don’t need advanced ChMS features.

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5. Church Center (Planning Center) — Best Free Church App

Church Center is Planning Center’s congregation-facing app, and it’s surprisingly capable for something that costs $0 extra. If your church uses Planning Center for Services, Groups, Check-Ins, or Giving, Church Center is already available to you — your members just download it and search for your church. No custom branding, but also no added cost.

Pros:

• Free — included with any Planning Center subscription
• Your church appears in the Church Center app (iOS and Android)
• Native giving integration with Planning Center Giving (2.9%+30¢ card, 1%+25¢ ACH)
• Event registration and group discovery built in
• Check-in for families with children
• Announcement feed for church communications
• Member directory (with permission controls)
• Prayer requests available through Groups
• Planning Center’s pricing is free to start and scales only with usage
• Widely adopted — many church staff members already have the app installed for another church
• Consistent updates and excellent documentation

Cons:

• Not a custom-branded app — your church lives inside the shared Church Center app
• No custom icon on the home screen (members search for your church, not tap your logo)
• Sermon streaming requires linking to your website, YouTube, or another platform
• Push notifications are limited compared to dedicated church app platforms
• No live streaming built in
• App experience is “good enough” but won’t wow anyone with design
• You’re dependent on Planning Center’s design decisions
• Less control over the member experience compared to a dedicated app

Pricing: Free. Planning Center itself is free to start; paid add-ons begin at ~$14/mo for Services Pro and scale based on features and church size. Giving processing: 2.9%+30¢ cards, 1%+25¢ ACH.

Best for: Churches already using Planning Center, smaller churches that can’t justify a dedicated app budget, and any church that wants to dip its toe into the “app experience” without spending money.

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Does Your Church Actually Need a Custom App?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most small churches don’t need a custom app. If your congregation is under 200, a fast, mobile-friendly website with online giving does 90% of what an app does — at a fraction of the cost. Your members can bookmark the site, add it to their home screen, and access giving, sermons, and events without downloading anything.

You probably need a custom app if:

• Your church has 300+ regular attenders and growing
• You want push notifications for urgent updates (weather cancellations, prayer requests, event reminders)
• Online giving is a priority and you want a frictionless, one-tap experience
• You stream sermons and want in-app playback with offline downloads
• You run multiple campuses and need to segment communication
• You have a midweek engagement strategy that depends on member interaction (groups, prayer walls, devotionals)

A mobile-friendly website is probably enough if:

• Your church has fewer than 200 regular attenders
• You primarily communicate through email, text, or social media
• Your giving volume is low enough that processing rate differences don’t matter
• You don’t stream sermons or are fine with YouTube/YouTube integration
• You don’t need push notifications

The middle ground: Church Center (Planning Center) gives you the app experience for free — no custom branding, but also no extra budget line. It’s the smart starting point for most churches.

How to Choose

Step 1: Decide if you need a custom app at all. Start with Church Center or your mobile website. If members are actually using it and you’re hitting limitations, move up.

Step 2: If you need a custom app, choose based on your priority:

• Giving-first? Pushpay. Their giving experience is unmatched, and the data backs it up.
• All-in-one with the best app design? Subsplash. Premium feel, comprehensive features, but you’ll pay for it.
• Budget-conscious all-in-one? Sharefaith. Cheapest way to get a branded app with giving and streaming included.
• Already using TouchPoint ChMS? TouchPoint. The app is free — just turn it on.
• Already using Planning Center? Church Center. It’s free and it works.

Step 3: Factor in total cost. A $39/mo Sharefaith subscription plus processing fees is very different from a Subsplash One custom quote that might run $300+/mo. But also factor in what you’d spend on a separate website, giving platform, streaming service, and ChMS. An all-in-one bundle might cost more on paper but save you from juggling five vendors.

Step 4: Demo two, pick one. Don’t demo five platforms — you’ll end up with analysis paralysis. Pick the two that best match your priorities, see them in action, and decide.

Our Top Pick

For most churches: Church Center (Planning Center). It’s free, it works, and it covers giving, events, groups, and announcements without a line item in your budget. If you’re already in the Planning Center ecosystem, there’s no reason not to use it.

For churches that need a premium, custom-branded app: Subsplash. The app experience is genuinely better than every competitor — faster, more polished, more engaging. If your church is large enough to justify the investment, Subsplash One delivers.

For churches where giving is the primary metric: Pushpay. No platform drives recurring giving like Pushpay. If increasing giving velocity is your main goal, start there.

Last updated April 2026. Pricing and features may change. Always verify directly with the provider before making a decision.