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Household as a first-class object
Parents, kids, extended family all roll up. Birthdays, pastoral care notes, and relationships modeled correctly.
Buyer's guide · 2026
Church management software
Church management software (ChMS) is a platform for congregations to manage members, household records, giving, small groups, events, and communications.
The ChMS category is crowded, with Planning Center, Breeze, and Tithely dominating. Here is a practical guide for churches evaluating whether to switch or consolidate.
01 · Evaluation criteria
What to look for.
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Recurring giving built in
Not a separate tool. Recurring giving, one-time donations, pledges, capital campaigns in the same system as membership and events.
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Small groups and Bible studies
Small-group leaders manage their own rosters and attendance from mobile.
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Child check-in
Secure check-in for Sunday school with printed name tags, security codes, and authorized pickup verification.
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Pastoral care privacy
Pastoral care notes access-controlled to clergy. Audit trail for every view.
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Year-end giving statements
IRS-compliant statements generated automatically every January.
02 · Buying questions
Questions you should be asking.
What's the best church management software?
Planning Center dominates mid-size churches. Breeze and Tithely serve smaller congregations. Covey serves churches that want all-in-one membership + giving + events + community in a single platform.
How much does church software cost?
$15 to $50/month for small churches (under 100 attendees). $50 to $200/month for mid-size. $200 to $800/month for large. Most tools include giving processing fees on top of subscription.
Can church software handle tithing and offerings?
Yes. All major ChMS platforms include giving. Some (Planning Center, Tithely) charge lower giving processing fees than others.
Do you integrate with church accounting like ShelbyFinancials?
Most tools export to QuickBooks and generic accounting. For denomination-specific accounting (Shelby, Aplos), integrations vary. Confirm before signing.
03 · Tools to evaluate
2 platforms, side by side.
Covey
Wild Apricot
Pricing
$59–$999+/mo flat
$66 to $720+/mo
Migration
48h human-led, included
We've built a dedicated Wild Apricot import.
Free trial
Private beta
30-day free trial
Best for
Orgs that want considered design + fast migration
Small-to-mid associations, nonprofits, clubs, and chambers with 50 to 2,000 contacts.
04 · Where Covey fits
We built Covey for this.
Covey is built for organizations in the church management software category that want four things at once: a considered interface, transparent pricing, a 48-hour migration, and human support on every plan. If those four things matter to you, Covey is worth a demo. If you need something else (a specific vertical module, an enterprise-scale implementation, a particular integration), we will tell you and point you somewhere that fits.
Considered interface
Legacy membership platforms feel like they were designed in 2008. Covey is built by a small team that treats typography, spacing, and the quiet details as the product.
48-hour human migration
A real human pulls your members, levels, events, payment history, email templates, and posts from your existing platform. You're live on Covey inside 48 hours, not six weeks.
100% human support, every plan
No support tiers, no ticket queues that take four business days. Every plan includes a real person answering your questions, often the same person who wrote the feature.
Pricing you can read
One page, plain numbers, no 'contact sales.' The price you see is the price you pay. Migration is included, onboarding is included, support is included.
Ready when you are
Shopping church management software? Start your Covey evaluation.
Join the betaPrivate beta · No credit card · 48-hour migration from any platform