Planning Center vs. Tithe.ly: Which Is Better for Church Plants?

If you've spent any time researching church software, you've encountered both Planning Center and Tithe.ly. They're the two most discussed platforms in Protestant church planting circles, and they're often compared as if they're doing the same thing. They're not. Understanding where they overlap and where they diverge is the key to making the right choice — or deciding to use both.

The Fundamental Difference

Planning Center was built from the inside out, starting with a worship scheduling tool (Planning Center Services) and expanding into a full church management ecosystem. Its DNA is ministry operations — scheduling, people management, and team coordination. Giving was added later.

Tithe.ly was built from the outside in, starting with online giving and expanding to include church management, websites, apps, and worship tools. Its DNA is financial stewardship. The ChMS came later.

Neither has displaced the other because they genuinely serve different emphases. Here's the detailed comparison.

Pricing: Head-to-Head

Feature	Planning Center	Tithe.ly
Free tier	Yes — genuinely useful	Giving only ($0/month)
People/ChMS	Free (unlimited)	$72/month
Giving module	Free up to 10 donations/mo; scales by volume	Free (transaction fees apply)
Worship scheduling	Free up to 5 team members; from $14/mo beyond that	$29/month standalone
Check-in	Free up to 10 check-ins/day; scales up	Included in ChMS plan
Church app	Free (Church Center app)	$89/month standalone
Website	Not included	$19/month standalone
All-in-one bundle	No bundle — pay per module	$119/month All Access
Credit card processing fee	2.15% + $0.30	2.9% + $0.30
ACH fee	$0 + $0.30	1% + $0.30

Processing fee difference matters. Planning Center's credit card rate (2.15%) is lower than Tithe.ly's (2.9%) by 0.75%. On $5,000/month in giving via credit card, that's roughly $37.50/month — $450/year — in savings. On $20,000/month, it's $1,800/year. ACH (bank transfer) giving is even more stark: Planning Center charges $0.30 flat; Tithe.ly charges 1% + $0.30. For large ACH gifts, Planning Center's fee structure is significantly cheaper.

People Management and ChMS

Planning Center People

Free, unlimited contacts, unlimited users. Planning Center People is genuinely excellent — robust filtering, custom fields, automated workflows (e.g., "when someone is marked as a first-time guest, add them to this list and trigger a follow-up"), household management, and deep reporting. It integrates natively with every other Planning Center module.

Tithe.ly ChMS

Tithe.ly's ChMS is $72/month. It's solid — covers the core needs of people management, attendance, communication, and giving records. The interface has improved significantly. But it's newer than Planning Center's people tools, and Planning Center still wins on depth of features and reporting power. The advantage Tithe.ly ChMS has is tight integration with their giving platform — giving records flow seamlessly into people profiles.

Verdict: Planning Center People is better, and it's free. Tithe.ly ChMS is good but costs $72/month and doesn't exceed Planning Center's capability.

Giving

Planning Center Giving

Free for up to 10 monthly donations. Scales by volume (small churches are typically $14–$34/month). Lowest processing fees of any major church giving platform. Clean, modern donor experience. Recurring giving, multi-fund, giving statements, donor portal. ACH giving at $0.30 flat is exceptional for large donors.

Tithe.ly Giving

Free to use (transaction fees only). Broader platform familiarity — more churches use Tithe.ly for giving, so some donors may already have accounts. "Cover the Fees" feature is slick and effective; roughly 60% of donors opt in when offered. Text giving is a $19/month add-on (included in All Access). The trade-off is higher processing fees than Planning Center.

Verdict: For lowest fees, Planning Center Giving. For platform familiarity and text giving, Tithe.ly. Most church plants should evaluate which matters more for their context.

Worship Team Tools

Planning Center Services

This is Planning Center's flagship product and the reason many churches choose it. Services is best-in-class for worship scheduling and planning: build service plans, assign songs with chord charts and arrangement notes, schedule team members by role, send automated reminders, track who's confirmed, manage equipment and media, and link directly to CCLI for reporting. Worship leaders who use it swear by it.

Tithe.ly Worship Team Tools

A newer addition to the Tithe.ly ecosystem. Covers the basics: service planning, volunteer scheduling, setlist management. Adequate for simpler operations, but doesn't match the depth and polish of Planning Center Services for worship-heavy teams.

Verdict: Planning Center Services is not a close competition. If worship planning matters to your church, Planning Center wins by a wide margin.

Mobile App

Planning Center — Church Center

The Church Center app is free. Members can access giving, groups, events, registrations, and service times. The branded app experience (custom church branding) is free. Premium Publishing features (sermon notes, custom pages) start at a monthly fee but are optional. For most church plants, the free Church Center app is excellent and entirely sufficient.

Tithe.ly Custom Church App

Tithe.ly offers a full custom-branded church app at $89/month standalone (or included in All Access at $119/month). The app includes giving, sermon library, events, groups, and push notifications. The quality is good; the cost is a significant premium over Planning Center's free app.

Verdict: Planning Center's free Church Center app vs. Tithe.ly's $89/month app is a stark contrast. Unless you have specific app features that Planning Center doesn't offer, the cost difference is hard to justify at the church plant stage.

Website

Planning Center

No website product. You'll need a separate website platform (like Squarespace).

Tithe.ly

Includes a church website builder at $19/month standalone or in All Access. It's clean and purpose-built for churches. Not as flexible as Squarespace, but easier for non-technical users to manage.

Verdict: Tithe.ly wins by default here — Planning Center doesn't play in this space. That said, for most church planters, a separate website platform gives more design freedom.

Customer Support

Planning Center

Email and chat support only — no phone. Their support team is responsive (typically same-day), and their documentation and help center are excellent. The trade-off is that you can't call when something breaks on Sunday morning.

Tithe.ly

Phone support available. For churches with less technical confidence, phone access is a meaningful differentiator.

Verdict: Tithe.ly has an edge on support accessibility. Planning Center's documentation quality partially compensates.

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Planning Center if:

• Budget is your primary concern — the free tier is genuinely useful for small church plants
• You have an active worship team and need serious scheduling tools
• You process significant giving volume and want the lowest processing fees
• You're comfortable with technology and can navigate a more feature-rich platform
• You're already using (or planning to use) any other Planning Center module

Choose Tithe.ly if:

• You want one vendor for giving, ChMS, website, and app — and are willing to pay $119/month for that simplicity
• You want phone support
• Text giving is important to your church from day one
• Your core team is less comfortable with technology and values a simpler all-in-one experience

Use both if:

• Many churches use Planning Center for their people management, worship team tools, and check-in, and Tithe.ly (or Planning Center Giving) for their giving platform. They're not mutually exclusive — Tithe.ly integrates with Planning Center People for giving record sync.

The Bottom Line

For the majority of church plants, Planning Center offers more value per dollar — especially when starting on the free tier. The lower giving fees, the powerful free ChMS, and the best-in-class Services module make it the default recommendation for most church planters.

Tithe.ly wins on simplicity and the all-in-one bundle. If you want to write one check and have everything work together, the $119/month All Access plan is a compelling offer for a church that's growing past the early stage.

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