Realm by ACS Technologies vs Planning Center
Which church management platform is right for your church? An honest, side-by-side comparison to help you decide.
Overview: Realm by ACS Technologies vs Planning Center
Realm and Planning Center both offer church management software. Realm, from ACS Technologies, is sold as three plans: Inform for church staff, Connect for the whole church and Multiply for multisite churches. 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.
This comparison sets out what each product's own site says about its features and pricing.
At a Glance
Realm by ACS Technologies
Church management from ACS Technologies
Strengths
- Member profiles, households and up to 75 custom fields
- Groups with discussions, rosters and leader tools
- Check-in with kiosks, mobile check-in, security IDs and allergy details
- Online, mobile, text, stock and crypto giving, plus pledges
- Pathways for automated follow-up, and volunteer scheduling
- Refresh Websites included, and Realm Accounting available as an add-on
Best for churches choosing between staff-only, whole-church and multisite plans, as ACS describes Realm Inform, Connect and Multiply
Realm has three plans: Inform, Connect and Multiply. ACS publishes the Inform price and a 30-day free trial on its online store (buy.acst.com). Connect and Multiply have one monthly price based on typical weekly attendance; see acstechnologies.com.
Planning Center
A suite of separate church software apps
Strengths
- People: church database with custom fields, forms, workflows, email and texting
- Services: worship planning, volunteer scheduling, a song library and key transposition
- Giving with recurring gifts, pledges, statements, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and text-to-give
- Groups with a group finder, attendance and chat
- 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.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
How Realm by ACS Technologies and Planning Center compare across key church management categories.
Realm offers member profiles, households, up to 75 custom fields and staff notes in one database. Planning Center People is a church database with custom fields, a directory, forms and multi-step workflows.
Realm supports online, mobile and text giving, stock and crypto gifts through Engiven, and pledges. Planning Center Giving supports recurring gifts, pledge campaigns, fund management, statements, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and text-to-give.
ACS's Worship Planning page for Realm describes volunteer scheduling, events, streaming links and dashboards. Planning Center Services covers worship planning, volunteer scheduling, team communication and rehearsal tools, with song transposition and imports from SongSelect, PraiseCharts and RehearsalPack.
Realm Connect includes groups with discussions, rosters and leader tools, and Realm's communication tools include newsfeed posts, chat and an inbox. Planning Center Groups offers a group finder, attendance and group chat.
Realm Accounting is an add-on available with any Realm plan, with fund accounting, a chart of accounts, disbursements, bank reconciliation and giving posted to the general ledger. Planning Center Giving reports by donor, fund, campus and payout, and Planning Center says its CSV exports can be imported into most accounting software.
Realm includes a free mobile app, Connect – Our Church Community, and ACS also offers the Shepherd pastoral care app. Planning Center's Church Center is a free mobile app and website where people can give, sign up for events and watch sermons.
Our Verdict
Realm suits churches that want one church management database from ACS Technologies, with plans for church staff (Inform), the whole church (Connect) and multisite churches (Multiply), and an accounting add-on.
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.
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
Who makes Realm?
Realm is made by ACS Technologies, which says it has helped churches since 1978. ACS lists its address as Florence, SC.
What integrations does each platform list?
ACS lists Realm integrations including BoxCast, Constant Contact, Engiven and Go Method. Planning Center's integrations page lists ProPresenter, Mailchimp, Clearstream, Checkr and SongSelect, and describes an open, documented API.
Do both platforms support multi-campus churches?
Yes. ACS says the Realm Multiply plan adds multi-campus administration. Planning Center describes its multi-campus setup as 'one system, one church, multiple locations'.
What mobile apps do they offer?
Realm includes a free mobile app, Connect – Our Church Community. Planning Center's Church Center is a free mobile app and website on iOS and Android.
Realm by ACS Technologies and Planning Center are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification purposes only. MosesTab is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Realm by ACS Technologies and Planning Center, 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].