If you’re a church finance manager, or thinking about becoming one, there are some software solutions available for churches that will help improve your processes and save time. Church Financial Management Software can help keep track of church donation contracts, accounting, and much more.
Software for church financial management is a very important aspect to your activities and needs considering the kind of income you generate from your organizations. Their proper utilization demands technological advancements. There are well-researched reports that show efficient software can positively contribute to the overall output of the Church. If you are looking for software for supporting church financial management activities, these can be great options.
IconCMO
PROS
- Comprehensive church management features
- Childcare security add-on (separate fee required)
- Affordable for small and medium churches
- Includes unlimited users
CONS
- No fixed-asset tracking
- Expensive for larger churches
- Event registration feature requires an additional fee
- Can’t use Icon Check-in without an internet connection
Overall Score 4.07 OUT OF 5
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.98 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 3.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 3.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 4.44 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 4.38 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
We consider IconCMO our top pick because of its extensive list of accounting and church management features, including fund accounting, event registration, and online donation management. For an additional $15 per month, it offers a child check-in system (Icon Check-in), which is extremely helpful if your church runs a child care program. As a feature-rich church accounting software, it’s complicated to use. It requires more than basic bookkeeping training and experience. But once you get comfortable with it, IconCMO becomes a powerful tool for your church. If your church has paid staff, you can add payroll for unlimited employees for only $25 per month.
Pricing
IconCMO’s prices depend on the number of families your organization serves:
- 1 to 100 families: $35 per month
- 101 to 250 families: $49 per month
- 251 to 500 families: $59 month
- 501 to 750 families: $74 month
- 751 to 1,000 families: $84 per month
- 1,001 to 3,000 families: $94 month
- 3,000-plus families: $124 month
Available add-ons include:
- Icon Check-in add-on: $15 per month
- Icon Payroll add-on: $25 per month
- Event registration add-on: $15 per month
You can try IconCMO for free for 30 days with no credit card required.
Aplos
PROS
- Includes church management software
- Full suite of accounting functions and reports
- Track giving and create statements
- Integrates with Gusto Payroll (separate fee required)
CONS
- Base price includes only two users
- Base price doesn’t include donations by text
- Could be difficult to find an external accountant who is familiar with the program to assist you
- Invoices are not customizable
Overall Score 4.06 OUT OF 5
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.62 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 4 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 4.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 3.94 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
Aplos has served thousands of nonprofits with its easy-to-use and affordable accounting software. It is an excellent alternative to IconCMO, especially for churches with inexperienced bookkeepers. For only $59, you can perform a wide range of church accounting and management duties, such as tracking donors, managing donations, and allocating income and expenses. A unique feature is its website builder. If your church doesn’t need unlimited users or customized invoices, Aplos is for you. To simplify your payroll duties, we recommend integrating Gusto with Aplos.
Pricing
The standard Aplos suite costs $59 per month with key features like fund accounting, donation tracking, and event registration. For text donations, you need the Text To Give add-on. If you need advanced bookkeeping features, such as recurring transactions, fixed asset tracking, and income and expense allocations, you need the Aplos Suite + Advanced Accounting package.
- Aplos Suite: $59 per month
- Aplos Suite + Text To Give: $79 per month
- Aplos Suite + Advanced Accounting: $179 per month
You can try Aplos for free for 15 days with no credit card required.
Powerchurch Plus
PROS
- Choice of desktop software or online program
- Integrated payroll with no additional fees
- Includes fixed-asset management and tracking
- Desktop software includes unlimited users and installations
CONS
- Payroll tax schedules must be maintained by users
- Online version supports only four concurrent users
- Cannot prepare budgets of income and expense
- No mobile app and its mobile web lacks accounting features
Our Expert Opinion
For churches with only a few employees to pay, we recommend Powerchurch Plus as your next church accounting software. If you feel stuck between online or offline accounting, PowerChurch Plus lets you choose between its desktop or cloud-based program. This software tracks donations and pledges, processes unlimited payroll transactions, and manages your church funds. As a low-cost accounting system, it comes with several trade-offs, such as the lack of telephone customer support and no assisted bookkeeping service.
Pricing
PowerChurch Plus can be purchased as a downloadable copy for $395 or on a CD for $415. Prices for its online version, PowerChurch Online, start at $39.95 per month:
- Downloadable: $395 for new users and $159 for upgrades
- Physical Media: $415 for new users and $179 for upgrades
- PowerChurch Online: $39.95 for two concurrent users and $64.95 for four concurrent users
PowerChurch Plus offers a free demo version with sample data so that you can explore the program before buying.
QuickBooks Online
PROS
- Leading small business accounting software
- Share books continuously with a QuickBooks ProAdvisor for assistance
- Unlimited free customer support
- Monthly price includes multiple users except for Simple Start
CONS
- Expensive after adding third-party church management software
- Complicated to track income and expenses by fund
- Price includes books for only one organization
Our Expert Opinion
QuickBooks is designed to serve a wide variety of industries, including churches and religious organizations. The QuickBooks Online software isn’t purpose-built for churches, but it’s our top pick among our best six accounting software for small businesses. Also, it integrates with plenty of third-party tools to perform various church administration tasks like donation management, event registration, and member communication. On the downside, because it’s not a full-featured church accounting system, it potentially can be expensive after integration with other software. Nonetheless, QuickBooks Online offers what you need on a user-friendly platform, and we recommend it especially for churches that send a lot of invoices.
Pricing
QuickBooks Online is available in four plans with prices ranging from $25 to $150 per month, depending on the number of users and features you need. We recommend the Class tracking feature of the Plus version if you need to track multiple funds for your organization:
- Simple Start: $25 per month (one user)
- Essentials: $50 per month (three users)
- Plus: $80 per month (five users)
- Advanced: $180 per month (25 users)
You can also add payroll for $45 plus $4 per employee.
QuickBooks currently offers a 50% discount for the first three months or a 30-day free trial.
Wave
PROS
- Accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning features are free
- Offers affordable self- and full-service payroll packages
- Connect to bank and credit card accounts
- Offers an assisted bookkeeping option (Wave Advisors)
CONS
- Lacks church management features
- No budgeting features
- Bank reconciliations are automatic but don’t allow for any reconciling items like outstanding checks
Overall Score 2.48 OUT OF 5
Our Expert Opinion
Wave offers a simple way to track income and expenses for free. It offers a nice set of accounting features to keep your books organized. Wave does not offer church-specific functions, but it can help you streamline accounting for donations, tax receipts, payroll, and other financial processes while using separate software to manage other aspects of your church.
If you are new to accounting and you need personalized help with coaching, bookkeeping, or taxes, you can enlist the help of a Wave advisor for as low as $79 per month. This is also a good option if you are planning to outsource your bookkeeping or tax filing duties.
Pricing
Wave offers its accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning features for free. You only pay when processing financial transactions, such as payroll and bank payments.
- Accounting, Invoicing, and Receipt Scanning: Free!
- Credit Card Processing: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction (for most cards) and 3.4% + 30 cents for American Express
- Bank Payments: $1 per transaction
- Wave Advisors: Starts at $79 per month
- Payroll: Starts at $20 plus $6 per employee per month
FlockBase
Flockbase is a popular small church accounting software solution (also good for medium-sized churches) that offers a user-friendly and affordable option for church accounting. The Flockbase Accounting offering provides effective and simple management of churches’ income and expenses, alongside bank reconciliations, payroll processing and check writing all with the running of a church in mind. A range of accounting reports provide all the information needed to make good decisions about the churches finances. Flockbase prides itself on ease of use, with users needing no specific training to get to grips with its platform.
This is a popular church accounting software choice because the elements consider how to work best with how a church needs to work internally and also with the wider community.
Pros
- Easy to use
- All accounting tools needed
- Simple to set up
- Good user manual
Cons
- Dated interface
- Issues with support process
- Reporting elements not easily split
ParishSOFT/Logos
ParishSOFT is a church accounting and management software that is designed to be used by dioceses and parishes. The church is incurred on the basis of modules, with a great offer enabling you to get free access to updates and support for the first year. It helps member manage their schedules, memberships, religious education, etc. It can also enable the church staff to connect with the dioceses. This software is being used in the dioceses of Baltimore and Petersburg.
Pros:
- Great synchronization features of parishes to dioceses
- Software understands the needs of Catholic church management
- Impressive tracking capabilities
- Good support staff
Cons:
- Can’t create forms or fill scanned forms
- No impressive encryption technologies
- Not platform independent
- Very limited feature set
Conclusion:
Digital church accounting software is a vital component of many churches’ overall financial management. This software features all the functionalities needed and you need to stay on top of your ministry’s accounting. The right church financial software or solutions can help your church run more efficiently and better serve those in need in your community at large.