"Free" church software is real. So is the fine print.

Some free tiers are genuinely generous. Some are trials wearing a costume. This page reads the fine print for you — including our own.

Every claim below is verified against the vendor's published pricing page, July 2026.

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What the free tiers actually include

Straight from each vendor's published pricing page — the genuinely free parts and the caps that come with them.

Planning Center

People — the member database — is free with unlimited records. Every other product has a free plan with a cap: Services stops at 5 team members, Giving at 10 donations a month, Check-Ins at 10 a day, Groups at 15 group members, Registrations at 5 attendees, Calendar at 1 room. Card gifts on Giving process at 2.15% + 30¢ (US).

Credit where due: a free unlimited people database is the most generous free offer in church software.

Tithe.ly

The giving product is $0 a month with unlimited donations — the cost moves into the transaction: 2.9% + 30¢ per card gift (3.5% for Amex) and 1% + 30¢ for bank transfers (US). The ChMS, app, and website are separate paid products; the all-access bundle is $119/month.

Breeze ChMS

No free tier. Breeze is one flat $72/month plan (their simplicity is the pitch), with one month free to try it. Texting is metered past 250 messages a month, and Worship Tools is a $29/month add-on.

ChurchTrac

No permanent free plan on the published pricing page — a 30-day trial, then plans that scale by how many names you track, with accounting (+$15/month) and messaging (+$7/month) as paid add-ons.

Verified against planningcenter.com/pricing, get.tithe.ly/pricing, breezechms.com/pricing and churchtrac.com/pricing — July 2026. Vendors change pricing; check their pages for current terms.

Where the money reappears

Free software still has payroll to make. The pattern across the industry is consistent — the revenue just moves somewhere less visible than a subscription line:

Per-transaction giving fees — the most common model. A "free" giving platform taking 2.9% + 30¢ per card gift costs a church real money every single Sunday — it just never arrives as an invoice.
Per-module pricing — the database is free, but scheduling, check-in, registrations and publishing each bill separately. The full picture of your ministry ends up spread across four or five line items.
Tier caps that grow with you — ten check-ins a day or fifteen group members is plenty — until the month your ministry grows. Caps aren't dishonest; they're simply the conversion mechanism. Budget as if you'll cross them, because crossing them is the goal.

When free is genuinely the right call

If you're a church plant of 30 people, a free tier may honestly be all you need — Planning Center's free People database plus a per-transaction giving product is a real, working stack for a congregation that fits in a living room. Don't pay for software before you must.

The cost that sneaks up isn't the caps — it's the switch: re-importing your people, retraining volunteers, and reconnecting giving right when growth is stretching you thin. Whatever you pick free, pick it knowing what the paid step above it costs.

GLAD's free tier — held to the same standard

GLAD has a free tier too, so here is its fine print, written the same way we wrote everyone else's: what's genuinely included, and where the limits sit.

Starter — free forever, up to 50 people

Every feature on every tier: scheduling, presentation, giving, check-in, your website, AI credits — nothing is module-gated
No credit card to start, no trial clock, and your data exports anytime
The fine print: 50-person cap, 5 AI credits a month, 500 MB storage, subdomain only
Giving on Starter carries a 1% platform fee — it drops to 0% on paid plans (card processing fees always apply, as everywhere)

Outgrow it? Paid plans from $59/mo billed annually — see pricing

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Planning Center People is a genuinely free unlimited member database, and every Planning Center product has a free plan — with caps: Services at 5 team members, Giving at 10 donations a month, Check-Ins at 10 a day, Groups at 15 members. Tithe.ly's giving product has no monthly fee but charges 2.9% + 30¢ per card transaction. Breeze and ChurchTrac publish no permanent free plans — both are paid products with free trials. GLAD's Starter tier is free forever for churches up to 50 people. (All verified against published pricing pages, July 2026.)

Up to 50 people, yes — the Starter tier is free forever and includes every feature: scheduling, presentation software, giving, check-in, your website, and AI credits. The fine print: a 50-person cap, subdomain hosting, and a 1% platform fee on giving that disappears on paid plans. Past 50 people, plans start at $59 per month billed annually.

When your church is small enough that the caps genuinely don't bite — a plant of 30 people can run well on free tiers and should. The honest moment to pay is when you're juggling separate logins for people, giving and scheduling, or when a cap converts you mid-growth. Until then, free is not a compromise; it's good stewardship.

Three places, per their own published pricing: per-transaction fees on giving (Tithe.ly charges 2.9% + 30¢ per card gift; Planning Center Giving 2.15% + 30¢), per-module pricing where each product bills separately as you add it, and tier caps — team-member, check-in and group-size limits that move you to a paid plan as your ministry grows.

Free that includes everything — up to 50 people

Every feature, no card, no trial clock. When you outgrow it, the whole platform is one flat price.

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GLAD vs Planning Center → Breeze alternative → Tithe.ly alternative → ChurchTrac alternative →