Planning Center Alternative for smaller churches

A Planning Center Alternative

All the tools your small church needs.
One simple price.

Planning Center is powerful — but its modular pricing means your bill grows every time you need another feature. Church Admin Plugin gives small churches everything in one WordPress plugin for a flat $9.99 a month, with no modules to pick, no tiers to navigate, and no bill creep.

Planning Center modules add up fast

Planning Center lets you start cheap — but most small churches end up needing several modules. Each one is billed separately, and prices rise as your congregation grows. Here’s what a typical small church of 100 members pays:

People — member database $14/mo
Services — volunteer scheduling $14/mo
Giving — online donations $14/mo
Groups — small group management $14/mo
Registrations — event sign-ups $14/mo
Typical monthly total $70+/mo
Church Admin Plugin — everything included
$9.99/mo
Every feature. Unlimited members. One flat price.
A small church using 5 Planning Center modules saves over $700 a year by switching to Church Admin Plugin.

Built for small churches who want simplicity

Planning Center was built for large, complex churches with dedicated admin teams. Church Admin Plugin is built for the pastor or volunteer administrator who just needs everything to work, without a learning curve.

One plugin, everything included

No modules to choose from, no tiers to compare. Church Admin Premium includes your member database, schedules, rotas, calendar, giving, small groups, sermons, communication tools, and the church app — all for one flat monthly price.

Lives inside your WordPress website

Planning Center is a separate platform your congregation has to find and log into. Church Admin Plugin lives inside your existing church website — your members use pages they already know, and your data never leaves your own server.

Your data stays on your own hosting

Planning Center stores your congregation’s personal data on their cloud servers. With Church Admin Plugin, everything sits on your own WordPress hosting — you own it, you control it, and it’s fully GDPR compliant on your own terms.

No price rises as you grow

Planning Center charges more as your membership grows and as you add modules. Church Admin Plugin is $9.99 a month whether you have 50 members or 5,000. Growth should be a blessing, not a bigger bill.

Sermon podcasting built in

Planning Center doesn’t include sermon management. Church Admin Plugin does — store audio and video sermons, organise by series and speaker, and distribute automatically to Spotify and Apple Podcasts, all included in the same subscription.

Everything in one plugin

No modules. No add-ons. No surprises. Church Admin Premium includes all of these from day one.

👥

People & Address List

A secure congregation database with household grouping, visitor tracking, follow-up tools, and GDPR compliance built in.

📋

Volunteer Scheduling

Build service schedules for every role, link volunteers by ministry, manage availability, and send the rota automatically by email or SMS.

📅

Calendar & Events

A full church calendar with recurring events, free and paid event ticketing through PayPal or Stripe.

💬

Email, SMS & Push Notifications

Communicate with your whole church, specific ministries, or small groups. Email works free out of the box or via Brevo or MailerSend. SMS is available by connecting your Twilio account. Push notifications are included with the church app.

💵

Online Giving

PayPal and Stripe giving forms with recurring giving, multiple funds, and Gift Aid reporting for UK churches — all included.

📱

Church App

The Our Church app for iOS and Android is free for your congregation. Members can view schedules, sermons, the calendar, and their own details.

🎙️

Sermon Podcasting

Store and publish sermons with audio and video, organised by series and speaker, with automatic distribution to Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

🏠

Small Groups

Manage home groups and courses, track attendance, show a map of where groups meet, and let people sign up online.

📊

Attendance Tracking

Track attendance at services, small groups, and classes — individually or globally — to spot trends and follow up with those who drift away.

Planning Center vs Church Admin Plugin

How the two platforms compare for a typical small church.

Feature Planning Center Church Admin Plugin
Member database✓ Extra module✓ Included
Volunteer scheduling✓ Extra module✓ Included
Online giving✓ Extra module✓ Included
Small groups✓ Extra module✓ Included
Event registrations✓ Extra module✓ Included
Email & SMS communication✓ Extra module✓ Email free; SMS via Twilio
Church mobile app✓ Included✓ Free on iOS & Android
Sermon podcasting✗ Not included✓ Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Attendance tracking✓ Extra module✓ Included
Data on your own server✗ Planning Center’s cloud✓ Your WordPress hosting
Integrates with your website✗ Separate platform✓ Built into WordPress
Fixed price regardless of size✗ Scales per module & members✓ $9.99/mo always
Typical monthly cost (small church)$50–$150+/mo$9.99/mo
“Having tried pretty much every other option out there, I can tell you that the plugin has everything you might need without the crazy prices or security concerns that seem to come with other developer offerings.”

Ready to simplify your church admin?

Get everything your small church needs in one WordPress plugin — no modules to choose, no bill creep, no data on someone else’s server.

Get Premium for $9.99/month

Annual plan available at $99.99 — equivalent to two months free. Small congregation under 50? Annual plan $50 available.