Best Church Apps for 2026: 8 Platforms Compared
A research-driven comparison of Subsplash, Pushpay, Tithely, ChurchTrac, ShareFaith, Aplos, Faithlife, and Breeze, ranked by what each platform actually does for giving, engagement, and church management.
A church app is no longer a novelty. It is infrastructure. The congregation that cannot give, RSVP, watch the sermon, and message their small group from a phone has already lost the under-40s to a church that can. This comparison ranks the eight church app platforms that actually matter in 2026, with specific attention to what each one does, what it costs, and where it falls short.
We evaluated each platform on five dimensions that a church app must handle: giving, messaging and community, events and check-in, media and sermon delivery, and church management (ChMS). Pricing is quoted where public. Features are verified against each vendor’s current product pages as of September 2026.
Quick comparison: the eight best church apps for 2026
Pricing for Subsplash and Pushpay is not published. Both sell through a quote process that scales with church size and product mix. The figures above reflect publicly reported ranges and competitor comparison pages.
1. Subsplash
Platforms: iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Web | Pricing: Quote-based, typically $150 to $400+ per month depending on size and modules; giving at $0 per month with GrowCurve-negotiated rates
Subsplash is the most complete church app platform on the market. Its branded mobile and TV apps, giving, website builder, ChMS, media hosting, groups and messaging, events, live streaming, child check-in, and push notifications all run from a single dashboard. The company reports 20,000+ churches on the platform, including Harvest Christian Fellowship, Saddleback, and The Village Church.
The platform’s core advantage is integration depth. A sermon published once flows to the app, the website, the email builder, and the media player without double entry. The giving module charges $0 per month and uses a proprietary system called GrowCurve to negotiate processing rates downward as giving volume increases, which Subsplash claims produces the lowest effective rates in the industry.
Subsplash has invested heavily in AI for 2026. Pulpit AI generates sermon clips, discipleship material, and social posts from each sermon automatically. Trends AI builds custom dashboards from ministry data. Workflows, launched recently, automates visitor follow-up, connect cards, and room reservations. These are not gimmicks; they address the specific administrative bottleneck that small and mid-size church staffs face.
Real results reported by Subsplash include 14% more donations, 50% more media plays, and 3x more app users after platform consolidation. Support averages 1.5 hours first response time, with 565+ live help articles and 265+ Academy videos.
Where Subsplash falls short: pricing transparency. The quote-based model means a small church plant cannot self-serve a plan online. You must book a demo and sit through a sales conversation. For churches under 100 people, the full platform is overkill and the cost may not justify the value.
Best for: churches of 200+ who want one vendor for everything
Strengths
Most complete all-in-one platform in the category
Branded iOS, Android, and TV apps with distraction-free media
$0/month giving with rate-negotiation technology (GrowCurve)
Pulpit AI and Trends AI for sermon multiplication and data dashboards
Single-dashboard publishing across app, web, and email
Weaknesses
No self-serve pricing; demo required
Full platform is expensive for churches under 200
Lock-in is high once you consolidate everything on one vendor
2. Pushpay
Platforms: iOS, Android, Web | Pricing: Quote-based, enterprise; standalone Giving available
Pushpay is the enterprise church platform. Seven of the ten largest U.S. churches run on it. Eighty-four of Outreach Magazine’s top 100 churches use it. The company has processed $62.9 billion in giving across 310 million transactions from 11.5 million unique givers over fifteen years.
The flagship product is ChurchStaq, the all-in-one suite combining giving, church management, engagement, and a branded church app. Pushpay owns its payment processing infrastructure, which lets it offer Everygift, a proprietary technology that automatically secures at-risk donations, recovers failed transactions, and converts offline donors to digital. Pushpay reports $210 million in at-risk donations secured annually through this system.
The giving experience is fast. Apple Pay and Google Pay are embedded directly, and a donor can complete a gift in under six seconds without creating an account. The AI for giving data lets administrators ask natural-language questions about giving trends and receive real-time answers. The ChMS includes process queues that automate next steps for visitor follow-up and connection.
For Catholic parishes, Pushpay offers ParishStaq, a version built in collaboration with diocesan leaders, with SacramentTracker for automating the sacramental process.
Pushpay also owns Resi, a live streaming and on-demand video platform, and integrates with over 100 third-party tools including Engiven for stock and crypto giving, Gusto for payroll, and StudioC for app personalization.
Where Pushpay falls short: it is built for large churches. The pricing model, the sales process, and the feature set all assume a church with dedicated staff for administration, communications, and finance. A church under 500 will find the platform powerful but heavy, and the enterprise pricing reflects the enterprise target.
Best for: churches of 1,000+ and multisite networks
Strengths
Owns payment infrastructure; Everygift recovers failed gifts automatically
Fastest mobile giving in the category (6 seconds, Apple Pay / Google Pay)
AI for giving data and people search
ParishStaq for Catholic dioceses with sacramental tracking
Resi live streaming integration
Weaknesses
Enterprise pricing; no public rates
Overkill for churches under 500
Implementation requires dedicated staff time
3. Tithely
Platforms: iOS, Android, Web | Pricing: Giving $0 per month; All-Access $119 per month flat; individual modules $19 to $89 per month
Tithely is the value leader. Over 53,000 churches use it, and its pricing structure is the most transparent in the industry. Giving is free: no monthly fee, no setup fee, no contract. Transaction rates are 2.9% + $0.30 for credit and debit, 1% + $0.30 for ACH, and 3.5% + $0.30 for AMEX. Donors can cover the processing fee, and 60% do.
For churches that want more than giving, Tithely All-Access bundles everything into one flat $119 per month rate regardless of church size: giving, church management, custom church app, church website, service planning, volunteer management, background checks, kids and event check-in, email and text messaging, and groups. Individually, those modules would cost $228 per month. The bundle saves roughly $1,500 per year.
The custom church app ($89 per month standalone) includes automatic app building, custom branding, two-way push notifications, sermon live streaming, groups with chat, and a prayer wall. The website builder ($19 per month standalone) includes ready-to-use templates, mobile-friendly design, livestream embedding, an events calendar, and a sermon media player. No coding is required for either.
The ChMS module ($72 per month standalone) handles people profiles, service planning, email and text messaging, groups, kids check-in, church calendar, and background checks through MinistrySafe integration. It syncs directly with the giving data, so a giver’s profile reflects their actual contribution history without manual reconciliation.
Where Tithely falls short: the individual products are competent but not best-in-class in any single category. The giving experience is good but not as fast as Pushpay’s six-second flow. The app is functional but not as polished as Subsplash’s. The ChMS is capable but not as deep as ChurchTrac’s accounting. What Tithely offers is a complete stack at a price that no competitor matches.
Best for: churches that want everything for one transparent price
Strengths
Free giving with no monthly fees, ever
$119 per month All-Access includes app, website, ChMS, and giving
53,000+ churches; 4.7 stars across 2,400+ reviews
Transparent, public pricing with no quotes required
Five languages supported (English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese)
Weaknesses
No single module is best-in-class; breadth over depth
App builder is good but not as customizable as Subsplash
Accounting is basic; churches needing fund accounting should look elsewhere
4. ChurchTrac
Platforms: iOS, Android, Web | Pricing: From $29 per month, scaled by number of people tracked
ChurchTrac is the best church app for small churches. It has served over 14,000 churches since 2002 and is ranked #1 out of 130+ church management products on GetApp. Pricing starts at $29 per month and scales with the number of people you track, not with feature tiers. Every plan includes the full feature set.
What makes ChurchTrac different is that the all-in-one price genuinely means all-in-one. Every plan includes a people database, email and messaging, a free church website, a church app and member portal, online and text giving, check-in and attendance, groups and registrations, volunteer scheduling, events and calendar, worship planning, automations, fund accounting, and budgeting and reporting. There are no modules to add on. There is no a la carte pricing.
The Church Connect app is available on the App Store and Google Play as a member and communication portal. Members can update profiles, register for events, and give online. There is also a worship team app and a child check-in app. The platform reports saving churches an average of $877 per year by consolidating multiple tools into one.
The fund accounting module is a genuine differentiator. Most church apps at this price point offer basic contribution tracking. ChurchTrac includes bank syncing, budget creation, check printing, and full fund accounting that handles restricted and unrestricted balances correctly. For a small church that needs accounting and a church app, ChurchTrac replaces two or three separate subscriptions.
Support is a strength. ChurchTrac is based in Jacksonville, FL, and offers free one-on-one onboarding workshops, weekly live training webinars, 400+ tutorial videos, and 160+ help articles. The support team is U.S.-based and staffed by people who understand ministry context.
Where ChurchTrac falls short: the app is a member portal, not a fully custom branded app in the Subsplash sense. The design is functional but not premium. The platform is built for small and mid-size churches; a multisite megachurch will outgrow it.
Best for: churches under 500 who want everything for one low price
Strengths
From $29 per month with every feature included; no tiers, no add-ons
Free church website and church app included in every plan
Full fund accounting with bank sync, budgets, and check printing
U.S.-based support with free one-on-one onboarding
#1 rated out of 130+ church management products on GetApp
Weaknesses
App is a member portal, not a fully custom branded experience
Design is functional, not premium
Not built for multisite megachurches
5. ShareFaith
Platforms: iOS, Android, Web | Pricing: ShareFaith Suite from approximately $50 per month; individual products vary
ShareFaith is part of Ministry Brands, the same parent company that owns Tithely, Breeze, and several other church software products. Its strength is media and kids ministry curriculum, not the church app itself. The ShareFaith Suite bundles church media (100,000+ graphics, mini-movies, and worship backgrounds), kids ministry curriculum, a website builder, giving software, streaming, and church management software.
The media library is the real draw. ShareFaith offers over 100,000 church graphics, worship backgrounds, and mini-movies, with an online graphic editor and PSD file access for customizing content. The kids ministry curriculum includes downloadable Bible videos, games, comics, teacher-friendly classroom resources, family devotionals, and VBS bundles, updated monthly.
The church management software handles online event and group registration, interactions for tracking member milestones, mass communication and workflow automation, custom fields and reports, and child check-in with background checks. The giving software supports text, online, app, and kiosk giving with zero monthly fees on the giving component.
The mobile app is built through Ministry Brands’ mobile app builder, which integrates with the broader Amplify+ platform. It is functional and branded, but it is not the core competency of ShareFaith. Churches choosing ShareFaith are choosing the media and curriculum ecosystem; the app is a component, not the centerpiece.
Where ShareFaith falls short: the platform is a suite of acquired products rather than a unified system. The integration between media, ChMS, giving, and app is present but not as smooth as Subsplash’s single-dashboard architecture. The pricing structure across the Ministry Brands portfolio can be confusing, with overlapping products and bundles.
Best for: churches that prioritize media production and kids ministry
Strengths
100,000+ church graphics, mini-movies, and worship backgrounds
Full kids ministry curriculum updated monthly
Online graphic editor with PSD access for custom design
Zero monthly fees on the giving component
Part of Ministry Brands ecosystem with broad integration options
Weaknesses
App is a component, not the core product
Suite of acquired products; integration is not smooth
Pricing structure across Ministry Brands portfolio is complex
6. Aplos
Platforms: Web-based (responsive); no native mobile app | Pricing: From approximately $25 per month; 50% off for first 3 months; 15-day free trial
Aplos is not a church app in the mobile sense. It is fund accounting software built specifically for nonprofits and churches, and it is the best option for churches whose primary need is financial compliance rather than congregational engagement. Over 65,000 nonprofit and church professionals use it. G2 and Forbes rate it #1 for nonprofit accounting.
What Aplos does that other church apps do not: true fund accounting. Most church apps track contributions and produce giving statements. Aplos tracks restricted and unrestricted fund balances in real time, generates audit-ready financial statements and funder reports with one click, handles Form 990 mapping for IRS compliance, and supports budget tracking by grant, program, or project. Bank reconciliation is automated. Bill approval workflows and AI-powered bill entry handle accounts payable.
Aplos is part of the Velora suite, which includes Keela (donor management and CRM) and Raisely (online fundraising). The three products sync: online donations flow from Raisely directly into Aplos for fund tracking and reconciliation, and donor activity stays in sync between Keela and Aplos for compliant reporting.
Aplos also offers managed bookkeeping services. If a church does not want to do its own books, Aplos provides dedicated specialists who enter and categorize transactions, prepare monthly statements and tax documents, and maintain the books on an ongoing basis. This is a service, not just software.
Where Aplos falls short: it is accounting software, not a church app. There is no mobile app. There is no sermon media player. There is no groups or messaging system. There is no child check-in. If a church needs congregational engagement tools, Aplos must be paired with another platform. The pairing is clean (Aplos integrates with Tithely giving, for example), but Aplos alone does not solve the church app problem.
Best for: churches that need true fund accounting and compliance
Strengths
True fund accounting with restricted and unrestricted balance tracking
One-click audit-ready financial statements and Form 990 mapping
Budget by grant, program, or project with real-time variance reporting
Managed bookkeeping service available; not just software
Part of Velora suite (Aplos + Keela + Raisely) for integrated donor management
Weaknesses
No mobile app; web-only
No sermon media, groups, messaging, or check-in
Must be paired with a church app platform for congregational engagement
7. Faithlife
Platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web | Pricing: Free tier; Logos from $8.33 per month; Verbum from $9.99 per month
Faithlife is the parent company of Logos Bible Software, Verbum, Proclaim Church Presentation Software, and Biblia. It is not a church app platform. It is a Bible study ecosystem, and for churches whose app needs center on biblical literacy and study rather than administration and giving, it is the deepest option available.
Logos is the industry standard for digital biblical study. It aggregates tens of thousands of books, journals, and reference works into a unified research environment that cross-links texts automatically. Searching a Greek word surfaces lexical entries, grammatical forms, occurrences across the biblical corpus, and relevant commentary without leaving the interface. Recent versions have added AI-assisted sermon preparation, passage analysis, and contextual notes generated from a user’s licensed library.
Proclaim is Faithlife’s church presentation software, which handles service slides, lyrics, and sermon visuals. It integrates with Logos, so a pastor studying a passage can send content directly to the service presentation. The Faithlife Study Bible is a free resource available on mobile and web.
Where Faithlife falls short: it does not do giving, church management, child check-in, events registration, or community messaging in a way that competes with dedicated church app platforms. Faithlife has attempted to build community features over the years, but its core competency remains Bible study tools. A church that needs a congregational app should look elsewhere; a church that needs to equip its pastors and teachers with the best available study tools should look here.
Best for: equipping pastors and teachers with study tools
Strengths
Logos: the most extensive digital biblical library available
Cross-linked texts, lexical tools, and AI-assisted sermon preparation
Proclaim integration for service presentation
Free Faithlife Study Bible on mobile and web
Verbum for Catholic scholarship with Magisterium texts
Weaknesses
Not a church app; no giving, ChMS, check-in, or community features
Learning curve for Logos is significant
Library costs scale quickly with purchased resources
8. Breeze Church Management Software
Platforms: iOS, Android, Web | Pricing: From approximately $50 per month; tiered by church size
Breeze is a simple, intuitive church management system now owned by Ministry Brands alongside Tithely and ShareFaith. Its reputation is built on ease of use: churches that have tried other ChMS platforms and found them overwhelming tend to land on Breeze. The interface is clean, the setup is fast, and volunteers without technical backgrounds can navigate it.
Breeze handles people database management, contributions and giving, event registration, check-in, groups, email and text communication, and reporting. It includes a branded church app. The giving module integrates with Tithely’s payment processing, which means the free giving model (no monthly fees, 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) is available through Breeze as well.
Where Breeze falls short: it is intentionally simple. The feature set is narrower than ChurchTrac’s or Tithely’s. There is no fund accounting. The event management is basic. The reporting is capable but not as deep as Aplos’s or Pushpay’s. For a church that values simplicity above all else and wants to be running within an hour of signing up, Breeze is the right choice. For a church that needs depth in any single area, it is not.
Best for: churches that prioritize simplicity and speed of setup
Strengths
Simplest setup in the category; running within an hour
Clean, intuitive interface that non-technical volunteers can use
Branded church app included
Integrates with Tithely giving (free giving, 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction)
Part of Ministry Brands ecosystem
Weaknesses
No fund accounting
Narrower feature set than ChurchTrac or Tithely
Basic event management and reporting
How to choose: a decision framework
The best church app depends on your church size, budget, and primary need. Here is how to narrow the choice.
Best for small churches (under 200): ChurchTrac
ChurchTrac at $29 per month gives a small church everything: app, website, giving, accounting, events, check-in, and worship planning. No other platform matches that price-to-feature ratio. The free website and member portal app are included. The fund accounting alone replaces a QuickBooks subscription. For a church plant or a congregation under 200, ChurchTrac is the clear answer.
Best free church app: Tithely
Tithely’s giving module is free. No monthly fee, no contract, no setup fee. Transaction rates are 2.9% + $0.30 for credit and debit, 1% + $0.30 for ACH, and 3.5% + $0.30 for AMEX. Donors can cover the fee, and 60% do. If a church needs nothing but digital giving, Tithely is the best free option in the industry. The $119 per month All-Access plan adds the app, website, ChMS, and everything else for churches that want to grow into a full platform.
Best for giving: Pushpay
Pushpay processes more giving volume than any competitor. The Everygift technology automatically recovers failed transactions, converts offline donors, and secures at-risk donations. Apple Pay and Google Pay are embedded for a sub-six-second giving experience. For a church where giving volume is high enough to justify the enterprise investment, Pushpay is the best giving platform. For smaller churches, Tithely’s free giving is the better economics.
Best for engagement: Subsplash
Subsplash’s branded app, media player, groups and messaging, push notifications, and Pulpit AI give a church the most complete engagement toolkit. The platform reports 50% more media plays and 3x more app users after consolidation. For a church that wants to extend Sunday into the rest of the week with a distraction-free app experience, Subsplash is the answer.
Best overall: Subsplash
For a church of 200+ that can absorb the investment, Subsplash is the best overall church app platform in 2026. The integration depth, the AI tools, the branded media experience, and the $0 per month giving with rate negotiation produce results that no competitor matches across all categories simultaneously. The trade-off is the quote-based pricing and the sales process, but the platform itself is the most complete.
Best for accounting: Aplos
For a church whose primary pain is financial compliance, Aplos is the correct tool. True fund accounting, Form 990 mapping, audit-ready statements, and managed bookkeeping services handle the work that church apps were not built to do. Pair Aplos with Tithely or ChurchTrac for the congregational side, and the combination covers both ledgers and people.
What to avoid
Avoid any church app that does not publish its processing rates. Transparent pricing is a baseline signal of vendor trustworthiness. Tithely, ChurchTrac, and Aplos all publish their rates. Subsplash and Pushpay do not, but both are established platforms with publicly reported ranges. A vendor that hides pricing entirely and has no public track record is a risk.
Avoid building a custom church app from scratch. The development cost, the App Store and Google Play submission process, the ongoing maintenance, and the OS update treadmill make custom app development uneconomical for any church under several thousand members. Subsplash, Tithely, and ChurchTrac all offer branded app builders that produce a custom-feeling app at a fraction of the cost.
Avoid platforms that charge per-feature for essential functionality. A church app needs giving, messaging, events, media, and check-in at minimum. If each of those is a separate add-on with its own monthly fee, the total cost will exceed a bundled platform within the first year. ChurchTrac’s all-inclusive model and Tithely’s flat $119 All-Access are the benchmarks for transparent, predictable pricing.
Methodology
We evaluated each platform against its live product documentation as of September 2026. Feature claims are verified against each vendor’s current website. Pricing is sourced from public pricing pages where available; quote-based pricing (Subsplash, Pushpay) reflects publicly reported ranges and competitor comparison pages. We did not accept vendor-supplied metrics at face value; where a platform reports results (e.g., Subsplash’s 14% more donations), we note the source as the vendor’s own published case data.
The five evaluation dimensions are giving, messaging and community, events and check-in, media and sermon delivery, and church management. Each platform was assessed on whether it handles the dimension natively (not through a third-party integration that may break or require separate billing).