Planning Center vs Tithe.ly
Which church management platform is right for your church? An honest, side-by-side comparison to help you decide.
Overview: Planning Center vs Tithe.ly
Planning Center and Tithely (Tithe.ly) both offer church management and giving. Planning Center sells separate apps, including People, Services, Giving, Check-Ins, Groups, Calendar and Registrations, each with its own monthly plan and a free tier. Tithely started with online giving and now offers free giving plus Church Management (formerly Breeze ChMS), a custom Church App and Tithely Sites, sold separately or together in All Access.
This comparison sets out what each product's own site says about its features and pricing.
At a Glance
Planning Center
A suite of separate church software apps
Strengths
- Services: worship planning, volunteer scheduling, a song library and key transposition
- People: church database with custom fields, forms, workflows, email and texting
- Giving with recurring gifts, pledges, statements, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and text-to-give
- Calendar room and resource booking with approvals, and Registrations for event sign-ups
- Church Center: a free member app and website, plus an open, documented API
Best for churches that want to choose separate apps for people, services, giving, check-in, groups and events
Monthly plans per product. People and Church Center are always free. Calendar, Services, Registrations, Giving, Check-Ins and Groups each have a free tier, with paid tiers from $15/month to $239/month set by usage. Planning Center says there are no contracts and you can cancel anytime.
Tithe.ly
Church giving, church management, apps and websites
Strengths
- Free giving: online, in the app, by text, at a kiosk and with Tithely Tap
- Tithely Church Management (formerly Breeze ChMS) for people, groups, events and check-in
- Custom church app with push notifications, sermon live streaming and a prayer wall
- Tithely Sites website builder
- Service planning, with a Worship Tools upgrade that includes SongSelect
- Giving Insights dashboards and a QuickBooks Online integration
Best for churches that want giving, church management, a church app and a website from one provider
Free Giving is $0/month plus processing (card 2.9% + $0.30, ACH 1% + $0.30 per transaction). Church Management is $72/month, the Church App $89/month and Sites $19/month, or all of them in All Access at $119/month. Paid plans include a 30-day free trial, and Tithely says you can cancel at any time with no cancellation fees.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
How Planning Center and Tithe.ly compare across key church management categories.
Tithely Giving offers online, app, text, kiosk and Tithely Tap giving, with recurring gifts and card, ACH, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Planning Center Giving supports recurring gifts, pledge campaigns, fund management, statements, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and text-to-give.
Planning Center People is a church database with custom fields, a directory, forms and multi-step workflows. Tithely Church Management covers people, groups, events, check-in, volunteers and automation and follow-ups, and every Tithely account includes Tithely People, a free people database.
Planning Center Services covers worship planning, volunteer scheduling, team communication and rehearsal tools, with song transposition and imports from SongSelect, PraiseCharts and RehearsalPack. Tithely offers worship and service planning, with a Worship Tools upgrade that adds SongSelect, setlists and rehearsal tools.
Planning Center's Church Center is a free mobile app and website for giving, event sign-ups and sermons, and Planning Center Publishing adds custom pages, themes and media channels. Tithely sells a custom Church App with push notifications and sermon live streaming, and the Tithely Sites website builder.
Planning Center's paid plans start with the first 30 days free, and People and Church Center are always free. Tithely's paid plans include a 30-day free trial, and Tithely says its team provides free data migration from any church management platform.
Planning Center publishes monthly plans per product: People and Church Center are free, and each other product has a free tier and paid tiers from $15/month to $239/month. Tithely publishes Free Giving at $0/month plus processing, Church Management at $72/month and All Access at $119/month.
Our Verdict
Planning Center suits churches that want to pick separate apps for people, worship planning, giving, check-in, groups and events, starting on free tiers and adding paid tiers as usage grows.
Tithely suits churches that want to start with free giving and add church management, a church app and a website from the same provider, either separately or in All Access.
Compare each product's current features and pricing directly before you decide.
Why Consider MosesTab?
Full disclosure: MosesTab is our product. We aim to keep this comparison honest and balanced.
MosesTab brings giving, member management, events and communications together in one platform. Its plans are published on mosestab.com: Free, Growth at $39/month, Pro at $99/month and Enterprise at $199/month.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Planning Center Giving alongside Tithe.ly?
Tithely's pricing FAQ lists Planning Center Giving among the church management systems its giving connects with. Running two giving platforms for the same donors can confuse people, so most churches choose one platform for giving.
Does Tithe.ly offer a free plan?
Yes. Tithely Free Giving is $0/month plus processing, and every Tithely account includes Tithely People, a free people database. Planning Center People and Church Center are always free, and each other Planning Center product has a free tier.
Do both platforms handle recurring donations?
Yes. Tithely offers recurring giving by card, ACH, Apple Pay and Google Pay, across online, app, text and kiosk giving. Planning Center Giving supports recurring gifts, pledge campaigns and giving statements.
Can I build a church website with either platform?
Tithely Sites is a church website builder at $19/month, and it is included in All Access. Planning Center Publishing is a web editor for your Church Center app and website.
Planning Center and Tithe.ly are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification purposes only. MosesTab is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Planning Center and Tithe.ly, and they have not reviewed or approved this page. Product information is based on publicly available materials and may change; to report an error, contact [email protected].