Ministry Planner vs Planning Center

Planning Center is a family of separate church apps, each priced on its own. Ministry Planner is one planning workspace with flat plans. Here's how they differ, including where Planning Center is the stronger choice.

Checked against Planning Center’s own pages, October 2026

Ministry Planner

For churches that want planning, scheduling, website and giving in one workspace at one flat price.

One workspace: teaching calendar, service planning, volunteer scheduling, groups, website and giving
Plan sermon series months ahead on a shared teaching calendar
Volunteers answer a one-tap link, with no account or app
A church website that reads from what your staff already keep
0% platform fee on gifts. You pay Stripe’s processing fee only
Flat monthly plans by church size, with unlimited users

Planning Center

For churches that want separate, specialist apps and to pay for each one as they use it.

Separate apps for Services, People, Groups, Giving, Check-Ins, Registrations and more
Services handles worship planning, volunteer scheduling and rehearsal
Music Stand for musicians
A free level on every app, then tiers by usage
Church Center, a custom mobile app for your church
Giving pricing: 10 donations a month free, then tiers from $15 a month, plus processing fees

Side by side

Ministry Planner and Planning Center compared
	Ministry Planner	Planning Center
How it’s built	One workspace, one login, one bill	Separate apps (Services, People, Groups, Giving, Check-Ins and more) that work together
Pricing	Flat plans by church size, unlimited users	Each app priced on its own by usage, with a free level for each
Worship and service planning	Service planner and song library	Services, plus Music Stand for musicians
Volunteer scheduling	Yes, with one-tap RSVP links	Yes, in Services
Teaching calendar	Plan sermon series months ahead	Not listed among its apps
Small groups	Yes	Yes, in Groups
Church website	Included, fed by your planning	Church Center app, plus Publishing for custom pages
Check-in	Kids check-in at a kiosk by phone or last name, name tags with room and allergies, and pickup codes. Free in the Attendance tool	Yes, in Check-Ins
Online giving fees	0% platform fee. Stripe’s fee only	2.15% + $0.30 per card gift, $0.30 per bank transfer

Planning Center details are from planningcenter.com, read on October 1, 2026. Their prices and allowances can change, so check their pricing page.

How the pricing works

Planning Center prices each app separately. Every app has a free level (Services is free for 5 team members, for example), and the next tiers grow with usage: Services starts at $15 a month for 20 team members and goes up to $239 for unlimited. A church using several apps adds them up.

Plant is $49 a month ($39 billed annually) for up to 250 active people, Grow is $150 for up to 1,000, and Multiply is $300 for up to 5,000. Unlimited users on every plan, and a 30-day free trial with no credit card.

Giving

Planning Center Giving lists 2.15% + $0.30 per card gift and $0.30 per bank transfer in the US, with a free level up to 10 donations a month and paid tiers above that.

Ministry Planner takes nothing from gifts. Your church pays only Stripe’s processing fee: 2.2% + 30¢ per card gift at Stripe’s nonprofit rate, or 2.9% + 30¢ until Stripe approves it. Every church is confirmed as a registered charity before its first gift.

Where Planning Center is strong

Planning Center is widely used: its Giving page puts the number at over 78,000 churches. If your worship team lives in Services and Music Stand, or you want check-in and registrations from the same vendor as your worship planning, it is a proven choice. Its free levels also let a small church start one app at a time.

What Ministry Planner does differently

Ministry Planner starts from the plan, not the database. The teaching calendar, service plans, volunteer schedule, groups, website and giving share one workspace and one login, so the people planning Sunday all work from the same calendar.

You don’t have to choose all at once. Ministry Planner connects to Planning Center: it can import your people, pull songs from Services, and push a service’s songs and scheduled volunteers back into a Planning Center plan. The Plant plan includes one integration.

Questions about Ministry Planner and Planning Center

Can I use Ministry Planner alongside Planning Center?

Yes. Ministry Planner can import people from Planning Center, pull songs from Services, and push a service’s songs and scheduled volunteers into a Planning Center plan. Plant includes one integration and Grow includes three.

Is Planning Center free?

Each Planning Center app has a free level with limits, such as 5 team members in Services or 15 members in Groups, according to its pricing page. Beyond those, each app has its own paid tiers.

Is Ministry Planner free?

Ministry Planner has free tools for churches, one per church account, and a free church website. The full workspace is a paid plan from $49 a month, with a 30-day free trial and no credit card.

Try Ministry Planner with your own plans

Start with a free tool, or take the whole workspace for a 30-day trial. No credit card either way.

Teaching calendar, service planning and volunteer scheduling in one place
A church website and online giving with no platform fee
Connects to Planning Center, so you can move at your own pace

Create your free account See plans and pricing →

Giving has no platform fee. Stripe’s processing fee applies, and your church is confirmed as a registered charity first. See the live demo →