Planning Center pricing

RealCostLabs is independent and reader-supported. We earn no commission from Planning Center or Tithely. Every price here was read from Planning Center’s own pricing calculator at each tier, August 2026.

The short answer

A church plant pays $0. A church of 300 running giving, services, check-ins and groups pays about $1,536 a year. Every product at its top tier is $1,434 a month, or $17,208 a year — a ceiling almost nobody reaches.

Three things make this pricing unusual:

• You pay per product, not per plan. Each one has its own ladder and its own unit, and you can sit on a different rung for each.
• People and Church Center are free with no limit — the membership database, reporting and the member app cost nothing, ever.
• Donations by bank transfer are 0% + 30¢, against 2.15% + 30¢ on cards. Not a reduced percentage. None.

One ladder, seven units

This is the thing worth understanding before anything else. Every paid product uses identical price steps. What differs is what the step measures.

Monthly prices per product. Publishing follows the same shape at its lower end: Essential free, Plus $15, Premium $32.

Always free, with no limit

People being free changes the comparison with every competitor. The membership database is the thing most church management systems charge for as their core product. Here it is the free part, and you pay only for the modules that do work on top of it.

Going over a limit does not break anything

Worth quoting, because it is unusual and it changes how you should pick a tier. Planning Center’s own answer to what happens if you exceed a plan limit is that nothing bad happens: the account keeps working, nobody in the congregation notices, and they email to suggest an upgrade if you exceed it more than once.

Most metered software hard-gates. This does not. Two practical consequences:

• Buy for your normal week, not your biggest one. Easter and Christmas will push you over, and the system will simply carry on.
• Registrations is designed to be moved up and down. Churches routinely raise it for a summer programme or a Christmas concert and drop back to free afterwards. There is no contract and no cancellation fee.

What a real church pays

The church plant: $0

Under ten donations a month, five volunteers on the rota, ten children checking in. Every product sits on its free tier and the total is genuinely nothing — including the member database and the app.

A church of 300: about $1,536 a year

Everything, at the top: $17,208 a year

Six products at $239 plus Publishing Premium at $32 is $1,434 a month. That is the ceiling, and it applies to a multi-site church with unlimited everything. It is worth knowing only so you can see how far the ladder runs.

Where modular stops being cheaper

Paying per product is excellent when you need two or three. It stops being excellent sooner than people expect, because the ladder is per product rather than per church.

Tithely Church Management is $72 a month flat, whatever you use. So on subscription alone, a church of 300 running four modules pays $128 against Tithely’s $72 — $672 a year more.

Then you add the donation processing, and it reverses.

Planning Center costs $672 more in subscription and $2,380 less in processing, so it is roughly $1,708 a year cheaper all in. The subscription comparison points the wrong way, and it is the one every review runs.

The processing rates, in full

No setup fees, monthly minimums or cancellation fees are charged on processing.

The US bank-transfer rate is the single most valuable number here. A $150 recurring gift costs $3.53 on a card and 30 cents by bank transfer. Across sixty recurring givers that is about $2,300 a year, recovered by changing a default rather than raising anything.

Full working in our guide to church management software.

Add-ons

Texting is cheap here but not free. A church texting 400 people weekly is 1,600 texts a month — $32 plus the $5 number, or $444 a year. That is a whole extra product on the ladder, so count it before assuming messaging is included.

How to pay less for Planning Center

1. Buy for a normal week. Limits are soft, so sizing for Easter means paying for Easter twelve months a year.
2. Move Registrations up and down. Raise it for the summer programme, drop it back to free in September. There is no contract.
3. Push recurring giving to bank transfer. At 0% it is worth more than any tier decision on this page — roughly $2,300 a year on sixty recurring gifts.
4. Check the free tiers before adding a product. Calendar is free for one room and Registrations for five attendees; plenty of churches never need to pay for either.
5. Count your texts. At two cents each, weekly messaging to a few hundred people is a $444-a-year line.
6. Compare all-in, not on subscription. Against a flat-rate competitor the subscription comparison will point the wrong way once processing is included.

FAQ

How much does Planning Center cost?

It depends which products you use. Each runs the same ladder — free, $15, $32, $69, $115, $179, $239 a month — and you pay per product. A church of 300 using four modules pays about $128 a month, or $1,536 a year.

Is Planning Center really free?

People and Church Center are free with no limits, and every other product has a free tier. A church plant with under ten monthly donations, five volunteers and ten check-ins pays nothing at all.

What are Planning Center Giving fees?

2.15% + 30¢ per card transaction and 0% + 30¢ per bank transfer in the US, with 1.5% added for international cards. There are no setup fees, monthly minimums or cancellation fees.

What happens if we go over a plan limit?

Nothing breaks. The account keeps working and the congregation sees no difference; Planning Center emails to suggest an upgrade if you exceed the limit more than once.

How much is Planning Center Giving specifically?

Free to 10 donations a month, then $15 for 75, $32 for 200, $69 for 500, $115 for 1,000, $179 for 1,500 and $239 for unlimited.

Is Planning Center cheaper than Tithely?

On subscription, usually not — a church of 300 running four modules pays $128 a month against Tithely’s flat $72. All in, yes: Planning Center’s processing rates are low enough that on a $400,000 church it comes out roughly $1,708 a year cheaper once donation fees are counted.

Can I change my subscription later?

Yes, at any time and in both directions. Churches commonly raise Registrations for a large event and return to the free tier afterwards.

Does Planning Center charge for text messaging?

$5 a month for a toll-free number and 2 cents per text. Weekly messaging to 400 people works out at about $444 a year.

What does the whole platform cost at the top?

$1,434 a month, or $17,208 a year, for six products at unlimited plus Publishing Premium. That is the ceiling for a large multi-site church.