Church Directory Program
If you are looking for free online church management software, you'll love Bitrix24. Free for unlimited users, Bitrix24 is a tool of choice by many faith-based and non-profit organizations who have limited funds. More importantly, Bitrix24 has both social tools for engaging your congregation, like social network, user groups, polling, media gallery, shared calendars, video conferencing and business tools like CRM, telephony or project management that help you keep your affair in order. Finally, this ChMS (church management system) looks like it was created in 2016, not 1996. Yes, it works on mobile iOS and Android phones and mobile devices. Yes, it comes with instant messenger. And if you ever feel overwhelmed by Bitrix24, here's the.
Everyone loves free stuff.No matter what it is, —, or software— those four letters make you happy. However, sometimes free isn’t even worth the money you paid for it, and those four letters inevitably morph in to other four – lettered words. So how do you find software that is actually functional and worthwhile to help you manage your church without spending any money?Well, look no further—below I’ve come up with a list of free and open source that will have all the functionality that you need. For some of the software options, the free version is only for very small churches with less than 50 members, but there are others as well that are free for any size church. The software options are listed in alphabetical order.A member profile page in CahabaWorksCahabaWorks is installed church management software for managing members, groups, contributions, financials, and child check-in.
Free Church Directory Programs
Their standard edition, for small and midsize churches, is free and has no limits on people or total assets tracked, although there is no support offered. I t is $350 for the standard edition with support, and there are also different pricing options for their premier version.Pros: Based on, the system has responsive tech support (though only for the first 60 days with the free version), and is a great system for small churches. There are many options and it is very intuitive for managing and tracking finances, as well as being easy to download and install.Cons: According to users, there is a bit of a learning curve at the beginning.
Customer support is responsive, and could solve the learning curve problem, but it does cost an extra fee. There is no Mac version.Have you tried CahabaWorks?An attendance graph in Church Admin for WordPressChurch Admin is a free and open-source WordPress plug-in that includes a full church database with membership directory, email management, bulk SMS, attendance tracking, calendar, facility management, and more.They also offer a smartphone app for iPhones and Androids, for an extra £7.50/month (about $10) for the church. The app is free for members of the church who are using it, so only the church foots the bill.Pros: If your church already uses WordPress, this plug-in seems like a no brainer. It has lots of features, is free (except for the smartphone app), and integrates with your WordPress powered website.Cons: If you don’t use WordPress, or don’t plan to, this plug-in won’t do you any good.Adding a new family in ChurchInfoChurchInfo is a free, open source database that helps your church manage and track members, groups, donations, and payments.
It is supported by an open source community of people who volunteer to help in order to make the software accessible to churches. It is a web-based solution, and the system is completely free. It is most useful for small congregations.Pros: According to, ChurchInfo is a highly useful tool with a lot of the functionality that more expensive software has, so it is great for churches on a budget.Cons: The installation process is easy and the system is fairly intuitive, according to reviews, although it may require a bit of technical knowledge at the outset to get set up.Have you tried ChurchInfo?The ChurchCRM home screenChurchCRM is 3a because it is a fork built off of the ChurchInfo open source framework.
Because it runs on, you can use it on any device. ChurchCRM has been in development for less than two years, and already has membership management, calendar, finances, fundraisers, Sunday School, and volunteer management features. An active developer community is constantly working on new features, and is available for support via chat.Pros: ChurchCRM has the stability of ChurchInfo but with more features and a responsive user interface, meaning you can run it on desktop or mobile.Cons: Like ChurchInfo, you’ll need some technical know how to install and operate ChurchCRM. Unless you have a dedicated techie on site, you’ll probably be better off with a more.Updating a contact in ApostelloFrom the makers of (a free church directory and social network), Apostello is an open source SMS (text messaging) platform with some of the functionality of a church management solution. Church.io is also working on a beta version of, a presentation software for churches, but in the meantime, Church.io i s a great solution for small churches that just need a free and simple way to manage members and groups.
The software can also be used for event signups and even provides usage statistics.Pros: Church.io’s tools are great for small churches, which can probably get by with and Microsoft Excel while they’re saving up for a more expensive end-to-end solution. Comment by Paul Boudreau on Jul, 26, 2016 at 5:44 pmBe careful of any software that is built on Microsoft products that claims to be free. The software might be free but Microsoft will want licensing for MS Server Operating system,.NET languages and SQL server if you want to host it locally on your internal local network.
If you host these systems then none of that will be a concern. Also, if you want to run it on your own server keep in mind that any version of Linux will run more efficiently than any version or Windows. The point being that you can go buy a cheap used computer and it will run Linux perfectly fine, but not necessarily windows. Comment by Alwyn Barry on Apr, 21, 2016 at 4:46 amThere are two web-based solutions which, as long as you self-host, are totally free.
The one we have used in a medium sized church (250) is Jethro-pmm. It not only provides member information, but also for rotas, service schedules, service planning, groups, custom reports, attendance tracking, pastoral records and so much more. It is hugely capable, and even provides facilities for members to maintain their own details.
They provide a hosted solution for a charge (see ) but you can download and install it on your web host for free (see:). Few churches will need more features than it provides.The problem we’ve come across is a lack of integration with our main church website. So we’re looking at another free solution that works with WordPress (we’re actually moving from Joomla to BuddyPress to provide a social network for the church). The plugin churchadmin provides a full church database solution which is integrated with WordPress user accounts where needed. It also provides for groups, ministries, attendance tracking, rotas and more besides, though lacks the custom reporting capabilities of Jethro, has more limited Pastoral note keeping, and doesn’t include online service planning. But it’s email and SMS communication capabilities are slightly easier to work with. Read more here and here:So, there’s no need to pay huge amounts if you have a little technical know-how!
Comment by Don Fulano on Jan, 1, 2016 at 8:02 pmMaybe pointing out the obvious here, but the only truly FREE solution mentioned in the article is ChurchInfo. The rest are more like try-before-you-buy versions, at least if you plan on any growth. I am very thankful for the comments however, because 2 programs mentioned look like they have great potential: RockRMS can be installed on a shared hosting server, and OneBody also looks great once you sort out the method that you will use to host it.
Thanks, everybody! Comment by Ben Jacobs on Aug, 7, 2014 at 12:06 pmHey you should check out a new check in software for churches called GoConnect. GoConnect was built by a small ministry called GoTech Ministries. Our church has been using for over a year and it has drastically helped speed up the flow of check-in and check-out. They even have a really cool teacher roster function that teachers in the classroom can pull up their class roster on their phone or tablet.
This allows them to view child info and guardian info (including pictures). 7.0.302.433 anti avg edition professional single virus. It is pretty sweet!Here is the website for GoConnect:.
Comment by Tim Morgan on Jul, 30, 2014 at 2:10 amOneBody by Church.IO is open source and completely free web-based software for churches. While not a full-blown Church Management System, OneBody offers basic people database features alongside its extensive social networking and online directory capabilities.OneBody supports direct data entry from the web, import/export via CSV, or synchronization with external ChMSs via the desktop “UpdateAgent” application.The software runs on Ruby on Rails and MySQL, so a dedicated server or virtual private server with a cloud services such as Amazon or DigitalOcean is required, along with some I.T. Expertise for setting it up.Let me know if you have any questions!
I can be reached at. Our website is. Comment by Tim Etherington on Jul, 26, 2014 at 1:58 pmChurchTrac is not web based but also it can’t be installed on a PC that has the 64-bit version of Office 2010 installed. Also, it won’t run on a Mac either. These are a few cons that should get mentioned.To run ChurchInfo you have to have a server set up with PHP and mySQL installed on it.
So you either stand up a server in house or you pay a hosting service. That’s not too easy for smaller churches without an IT staff to get going.WorkingChurch CahabaWorks are not Mac compatible either.AgapeWorks price goes up to $149 PER MONTH for the enhance features, some of which are significant such as bulk emails, calendars, small group management, etc.ChurchEquip seems to be pretty good overall. Comment on this article:.
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