Evaluating Church Management Software? Read the Reviews.

Much of the way we do business nowadays is online and “in the cloud.” Churches are no different, as you’ve got your own specific back-office needs. From bookkeeping to human resources, as your church grows you need more help than old fashioned ledgers and paper charts can give you. This is where church management software comes in.

If your church is considering moving to church management software, it’s important to do your own research. Rather than relying on what the salesperson tells you, there are many websites that provide product reviews and information.

One of the sites we like is Capterra, a clearinghouse of user-submitted business and nonprofit software product reviews and ratings in over 400 categories. They also produce their own content on their blog that can advise you on how to evaluate solutions based on your needs and priorities.

Image courtesy Capterra

They recently published a post that compares and contrasts two of the major players in the church management software space, Church Community Builder and Fellowship One. If you’ve narrowed down your software choices to include these two products, their post will help you get all the information you need to make a fully-informed decision.

Capterra looks at four major factors in the purchasing decision: popularity, affordability, user-friendliness, and customer reviews.

Popularity

Just because something is popular doesn’t necessarily make it the best. But popularity can give some insight into the quality of a product. Capterra compares the social media followings of both companies, as happy customers are more inclined to like and follow companies.

Affordability

Affordability is fairly straightforward: what pricing tiers and packages does each company offer? Are you prepared to pay $60 a month for software? How about $100? What if some of the features you really need are in a pricing tier that’s out of your church’s budget?

User-Friendliness and Reviews

User-friendliness and customer reviews are closely related, and rely on the ratings submitted by actual users of the products. Maybe you’re willing to put up with some minor flaws here and there if you end up saving a sizable amount of money. Or you might not be willing to cut corners and will pay whatever it takes to get the product you want.

Image courtesy Capterra

And the Winner Is…

So who came out on top? Check out the post Church Community Builder vs. Fellowship One to find out. It may be that neither of these solutions is right for your church, but there are over 200 other church management software platforms to research. Good luck, and happy hunting.

Want To Review Us?

Givelify is on Capterra too. If Givelify has helped your church increase giving, we’d love it if you took a few minutes to leave a review.